WHY IS IT NOW HARDER TO SELL ON EBAY ?

[polly.the.cat]

Over the last 18-24 months, l have noticed an extra amount of effort and forethought that has been required by ebay Seller's to list items to Sell. Many factors have brought this about, a number due to changes in the structure by ebay themselves.

However, some have been brought about by the pure greed and unprofessional behavior of a number of ebay Sellers who have made it harder for those doing the right thing.

One reason has been the postage issue change, brought about by ebay because some sellers were posting and item @99c  and then charging $25.00 for postage, to help cover any loss through the 99c sale, if it did not increase in auction time.

The amount of negative media coverage through paper, tv media, and written articles in journals. A quick search through google will show you many of the concerns of the Buying public in relation to ebay, here, and in the USA & UK.  These facts do not do well for Sellers trying to make a "living" or make a hobby a $ profitable outcome.

ebay's New MBG has just added fuel to the fire, along with an increase in Fee structure, ebay Shop costs, AP Mailing costs, and the behind the scene costs that we do not always see or take into account, e.g. taking parcels and postage to the local AP mail outlet, vehicle running costs, etc.

Bubble wrap, envelopes, printing labels, printer cart/ink, assembly of said item, etc, etc,  all take time and effort, then there is ebay to pay at or near the end of your month, next month, it starts all over again.

Those Sellers, ( and they know who they are ) who do not do the right thing by their Buyer, create an environment that is then very hard for those doing the right thing, to survive in.  Some Buyers still believe in once bitten, twice shy.

So why is it getting harder to Sell and remail "afloat" here on ebay ?  Anyone else have some thoughts or advice ?

[polly.the.cat]

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@aceantman wrote:

I will be leaving ebay on Sunday fo two months . I listed 150 items on my 4 accounts and sold 4 items.

they trick us with free listings, and then we make mistakes eg over listing so we pay them money to list. 

they remove the 3 automatic relist so we can list less, or pay min $1.50 per listing

they will soon be removing for non store holders the 40 free listings as well Customer service told me.

i can have an online store and run it my way.

Ebay was once a good place to sell.

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Here we go again, moving the Goal Posts in the middle of the game.  

..............they will soon be removing for non store holders the 40 free listings as well Customer service told me. - aceantman.

Is there no end to the surprises just around the corner from ebay HQ ?  It is just getting harder and harder to make a Dollar here. Just when you think that you are in the clear, ......another thing comes at you from nowhere, out of the blue.

Am really wondering, are we really wanted here ?  In 6 years, l have seen more changes here on ebay, than l have had Hot Turkey Roasts. Feeling the roast now !!!!!!

Wonderful ebay HQ.  Dont' ask for opinions, just dictate !!!!  (Dictate/Dictator ??)

[heihachi_73]

If the 40 free listings go, I will not even bother listing games on here.

$1.50 listing fee + ($3.00 game * 10% eBay fee) + ($2.50 postage * 10% eBay fee) = not worth the $1.45 profit at the end of the day, not even counting the 70+ games that are relisted countless times and never move. Aditionally, every time I pay $2.10 instead of $1.40 because a certain game weighs more than 125g, I actually lose since the bubble mailer costs more than 40 cents! To top it off, the price of large letters will increase soon from $1.40 to $2.00, and if it's over 125g, $2.10 to $3.00, making people even less likely to buy things once everyone increases the postage on their listings (or added to the item's price instead, for those giving away "free" postage).

[jessicadazzler97]

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@aussie-bazzar wrote:

Over the last 18-24 months, l have noticed an extra amount of effort and forethought that has been required by ebay Seller's to list items to Sell. Many factors have brought this about, a number due to changes in the structure by ebay themselves.

However, some have been brought about by the pure greed and unprofessional behavior of a number of ebay Sellers who have made it harder for those doing the right thing.

One reason has been the postage issue change, brought about by ebay because @some sellers were posting and item @99c  and then charging $25.00 for postage, to help cover any loss through the 99c sale, if it did not increase in auction time.

The amount of negative media coverage through paper, tv media, and written articles in journals. A quick search through google will show you many of the concerns of the Buying public in relation to ebay, here, and in the USA & UK.  These facts do not do well for Sellers trying to make a "living" or make a hobby a $ profitable outcome.

ebay's New MBG has just added fuel to the fire, along with an increase in Fee structure, ebay Shop costs, AP Mailing costs, and the behind the scene costs that we do not always see or take into account, e.g. taking parcels and postage to the local AP mail outlet, vehicle running costs, etc.

Bubble wrap, envelopes, printing labels, printer cart/ink, assembly of said item, etc, etc,  all take time and effort, then there is ebay to pay at or near the end of your month, next month, it starts all over again.

Those Sellers, ( and they know who they are ) who do not do the right thing by their Buyer, create an environment that is then very hard for those doing the right thing, to survive in.  Some Buyers still believe in once bitten, twice shy.

So why is it getting harder to Sell and remail "afloat" here on ebay ?  Anyone else have some thoughts or advice ?

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 I really try to cut down on packaging costs. I sell preloved clothing and for most items, like tops or shorts etc, I just put in the satchel with the packing slip. I've only just started to use tissue paper for formal dresses, but I've never had one person complain about an item arriving in bad shape or anything.

 Packaging costs generally aren't worth it, so cut it out as much as possible!

[robdav-qzfc4cwo]

Ebay and Sellers do what they do for 1 reason and 1 reason only. MONEY. 

[jessicadazzler97]

Very true, robdav! If we had all the money in the world, we'd probably say "stuff it" to eBay.

[ourphonecase]

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@saarzi wrote:

When someone blames other sellers, fees, buyers... everything but themselves for their failures... well... would you hire them? 

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That is so true, I see alot of the typical whining sellers putting blame to everything but themselves. Reminds me of competative gaming on League of Legends where the lower ranked players never accuse themselves of losing but others.

We are in this situation where it is eBay's fault or their competitors fault. I do check a few of my competors total sales for the day sometimes and I notice a trend, if I have a day with poor sales they too have a day with poor sales.

I would contemplate that its really is the period where sales are expected to be slumped which doesn't bother me. I've only been on eBay for 1 year and I've already garnered $200,000 revenue starting from 0 feedback.

I'd suggest anyone experiment your listings. If your item doesn't sell change something, look at your competitors. Look at what keyswords are being searched to find your item. Just last month my sales took a huge slump because my hard drive died and I had to hide my whole store listings for a month and a half, as a result when I came back my time offline made my items way too deep at the search rank and forced me to relist all my items to refresh search rank and losing all my previous sales history.

I've also done many things in the attempt to improve sales like changing photos, learning to use photoshop to improve the quality of photos and make the potential customers attempt to click on your photos. Change descriptions of listings/making it look much more professional.

I used alot of youtube to learn how to HTML/CODE/Photoshop within the past year.

I find that the older sellers (baby boomers/ gen x) generally don't adapt well into the gen y generation and as a result can fall behind.

[horizon44]

I'm in the same situation, if all of these changes happen im done with it as well 😕

[casbit33]

If the 40 free listings are removed and it still costs $1.50 for every listing, I will have no choice but to leave. I have 8 accounts and about 3000 items. It would cost $4,500 every 10 days. I can't afford that. I can't even afford a fraction of that.

Don't they realize that they would make more money if all listings were free. There would be a lot more items for sale. More sales. More $$$$$. It's not rocket science - just common sense.

[ourphonecase]

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@casbit33 wrote:

If the 40 free listings are removed and it still costs $1.50 for every listing, I will have no choice but to leave. I have 8 accounts and about 3000 items. It would cost $4,500 every 10 days. I can't afford that. I can't even afford a fraction of that.

Don't they realize that they would make more money if all listings were free. There would be a lot more items for sale. More sales. More $$$$$. It's not rocket science - just common sense.

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Why don't you just get a store subscription where it would be significantly cheaper to list items? Not to mention you get more free listings per month.

[casbit33]

I don't get a store subscription because they are not free. After I pay all my bills, I have a total of $12 left per week. I can only use free listings.