Store Owner worried about the future selling on Ebay Australia

[ctradeaustralia]

I have had a store on Ebay Australia for 7 years now, its the only platform we use.

In order for me to get sales, now its costing me 30% every year in Ebay Fees.

If i stop the promoted listings my sales would be almost 0 per day.

I keep my prices very low to attract buyers and help drive sales, but being honest we are struggling to make any money after all the fees and we hold the stock and do all the hard work and offer free postage on all our items.

If we raise our prices the sales slow down we have tried all these things.

Everywhere i look on social media and google adds is Temu offering very cheap prices that Australian Sellers can not compete with.

It would be great if Ebay could start helping loyal Stores like me and come up with a positive solution.

Maybe more adds from ebay to bring in more customers would be great.

Open for suggestions.

[springyzone]

It would help if it was like the old days and Australian sellers and their products were shown first and International listings were under that.

Doesn't happen now. Depending on what you look for, Chinese ads can be right at the top.

I can't see things changing on ebay and one of the reasons is ebay itself is also competing against Temu.

I don't know if this will help but I once bought a few packs of diamante buckle sliders for making wedding invitations. I bought a few packs from an Australian seller and one pack from a Chinese seller.

The aussie ones were twice the cost. Why did I pay more?

The ad. It stated that these, unlike cheap Chinese ones, were much better quality and had superior sparkle. And the customer would be buying from a reliable Aussie seller where the goods would arrive sooner

That notion of quality swung me over. The Chinese pack was just for spares and also to satisfy my curiosity. To be 100% honest, when they arrived, they looked the same to me & would probably have done fine.

But you are in a perfect position to push quality. Just say that unlike some items that may come direct from China, these have passed Australian standards and are of superior quality. They contain no materials that may be toxic.  (as long as it is all true and you aren't drop shipping from China as that wouldn't end well).

It's not a level playing field, you can't lower prices so you have to spell out the points of difference and the advantages of buying local.

[ctradeaustralia]

Thanks for your valuable insights and tips

[bluediamondstudio]

There is almost no way to be competitive any more. When my colleagues at work talk about buying things, the first place they are looking is Temu. Several are wearing clothes from Temu, they bought decorations for the office from Temu at Xmas time and often show me the things they want to buy, all on Temu. Ebay doesn't even get a mention.

I do feel your pain - my own main shop (not this account) is barely treading water. There was one month last year I made all of $9 in sales, which is why I ultimately decided to stop investing in my stores. Once my stock is all gone, it's gone, although at this slow rate it will take several years to clear out. 

At the end of the day, Ebay does not care whether you and I sell here.  Having seen the writing on the wall some years ago when my sales started to dip substantially, 2024's lowest ever sales figures only confirmed that shops like mine were on the way out, so I went back into full time work which has taken all the stress out of worrying about whether I'll get enough sales each month to pay the rent. 

I'm not sure there are any answers - most of us will struggle to compete against the likes of Temu, so it will help to have a Plan B going forward.

[ctradeaustralia]

Thanks for your feedback

Yes i feel your pain also, its a worry that's for sure.

I contacted Ebay Customer support to ask why are my fees so high, they said they would look into it and never got back to me, i have been a loyal Australian Ebay store for more then 7 years now.

The only way to get sales on Ebay now is to do promoted listings, and as i said it will cost you 30% in Ebay fees per year just to get a few orders.

You are so true about Temu, my wife is an aged care nurse in Australia she told me all the residents there order from Temu and are very happy with there service.

A friend of mine did have an Ebay store but closed it down, he said he was struggling to get orders without using promoted listings also.

In his words he called it Fee Bay.

Hopefully someone high up in Ebay is coming up with a plan a positive solution to support Aussie Store Owners like me, but i doubt it very much as there customer support does not get back to me.

So i guess they don't care much about small business owners.

[davewil1964]

I don't do promoted listings and my sales are steady. I worked out long ago that there is no point selling at a loss or working for cents per hour.

Admittedly Temu don't sell what I do.

[ctradeaustralia]

Thanks for the insights

Yep we are working for cents per hour that is for sure.

I have asked Ebay Customer Support twice now to look into this for us, to see why we only get sales from promoted listings, and why its costing us 30% in selling fees per year on total sales just to get some orders.

They still have not got back to me about our situation.

95% of our orders show they are from promoted listings and not our generic ads.

Anyways i guess there is not much we can do but eventually close our store down.

[countessalmirena]

People buying from Temu ignore the risk of deadly toxicity just from an item of clothing, a toy, a pair of shoes…

Great value. Death is so cheap.

You will need to have a target customer who appreciates Australian-made or Australian-standards-approved goods, who doesn’t want to burn down their house with faulty batteries, who would rather not turn their insides into sludgy goo, and who doesn’t want the Chinese government having their personal identifying information on tap.

[ctradeaustralia]

Most people do not care about things like that, its all about the price.

From my research many people are happy with Temu.

The Australian Government do not care that many Aussie online business are struggling

because of Temu, the government is happy taking there 10% GST cut and do not care that all the rest of the money is going to the Cayman Islands to avoid Company Taxes.

Ebay needs to come up with a plan to win back there market share, and look after there Aussie bread and butter store owners better.

[chameleon54]

Any ebay business is going to struggle if they are trying to sell cheap products in direct competition with Chinese sellers or items that are manufactured in China and sold en-masse in shops and online. 

Sorry OP, but I can buy fishing gear in a dozen places within 1 km. of where I live including BCF, Service Stations and sports stores. Using in store offers of buying two or three packs at once, I can buy nearly as cheaply as you are selling, without any postage costs. I appreciate not everyone has a BCF around the corner, but you get the picture.

The best way to success on ebay is selling items that cant be sourced easily anywhere else and are preferably unique. Sounds hard, but there are heaps of things when you start looking. My most popular sellers are items I have manufactured locally that no-one else sells. They suit obsolete equipment that is  commonly used but parts are impossible to get now.

Another good seller for me is obsolete electrical components purchased in bulk for peanuts and sold in small lots or single packets. These are often sold to Chinese buyers who use them in new specialist equipment manufacture......... Selling coals to Newcastle.

The secret is to look and think outside of the box, rather than just copying what everyone else is doing and hoping to pick up a few crumbs from the big boys table. The more obscure or rare your items are, the more buyers will have to buy from you at whatever price you decide to charge because they wont get them anywhere else. Selling globally, there will be some-one out there on the planet who wants the unusual or obscure thing you are selling and who is willing to pay good money to get it.