What is your #1 challenge for growing a ebay business?

[medcart]

Hi Everyone,

I am a former ebay seller that is interested to hear from people who sell on ebay full time or are thinking of making the transition.

What is your #1 challenge for growing a ebay business?

Best regards

Phil 

[bottomoftheharbour]

I have just made a comment in the PowerSellers board that ebay are not interested in buyers only sellers, that is setting up business and paying store fees.  That make millions alone from these fees, buyers are secondary.  

[rocket2retro]

As a full time seller for 14 years I wish I knew the answer to your question. After 10 years of growth every year (except one), the past 3-4 have seen a marked decline in my sales (at around a 20% decreases each year). Every year I have considerably more items listed (mainly driven by lack of sales).

This trend seems to be common among board members and there are inumerable posts relating to this.

Like many sellers on the boards & others I know in person, I am more focused on ways to leave eBay & find another avenue of income, than I am with finding ways to grow my eBay business. To be frank, I'm fed up & can't wait to leave.

I cannot explain the decrease and there may be many reasons. From my persepective eBay is no longer the place to sell 2nd hand items & I'm convinced eBay are headed towards only new, buy it now sales (if they had a vested interest in continuing auctions they would not have recently doubled the insertion fee).

I question their move towards this already flooded market & the big Chinese retail giant Alibaba/Taoboa (who are already larger than Amazon/Google/Ebay combined) is set to move into western markets (they've recently set up an Australian HQ in Melbourne).  Depending on how they decide to operate, eBay could find themselves in a precarious situation in the not too distant future. As you'd know the Alibaba CEO is an ex-eBay seller.

There are many other online selling avenues now & no doubt they are steadily eating into eBay's once domination.

Slow sales and ever rising eBay fees, site glitches, MBGs, etc, etc have made eBay a not very inspiring, nor enjoyable place to sell. You would be hard pressed to find anyone with a positive comment about eBay these days & this is applicable to both sellers & buyers

[go-tazz]

---

@medcart wrote:

I am asking as I put the agenda together for 2 major marketplace conferences. I want to know the pain points. I am the only one on the PeSA board that does not sell. Every other member has skin in the game. None of the board get paid. Board members regally help other members for nothing. Board members regularly meet with ebay to discuss these issues. As you have sold a few things I don’t think you really understand the history of PeSA and the time donated to helping people. Join the ebay sellers group Australia on Facebook and you will see.

---

Go through the Selling threads and see all the problems that eBay create and then refuse to do anything about.

Sellers getting kicked of the site because scamming buyers have defected them for no other reason that

they refused to give the "buyer" the item for nothing,(there have been a number of sellers come to

the board that get negative feedback from a buyer and when checking it's all they leave).

The only ones that get changed to positve are the ones that have refunded them,(getting items for nothing

on eBay is a habit a number of buyers are now getting into).

When reporting those scamming buyers it can take weeks to get them actioned.

So why would you invest in a business that is reliant on whether the buyer tells the truth or not and eBay

seem to automatically believe them as the buyer is more important than the seller?

One day you're selling hundreds of items a week and then one day eBay just shuts you down on the "word"

of a couple of buyers who lied,(that's not a very trusting system).

[medcart]

My job now is to spend my time connecting with sellers and educators that can spread their knowledge to help further people and business. We have a big job to do with our USA event and I already work 12-14 hours a day. We attended events each month and visit sellers at their offices.  After 7 years of selling on eBay and amazon I gained some great insights into the platforms. I agree with you that the game is changing constantly and that's why we rely on the likes of Tim Davies, Nathan Huppatz, Kate Morris, Lisa Wong, Shaun Obrien and many who are at the coalface.

PLEASE HELP: My title below needs to be updated. How does one do this now?

[medcart]

Thank you!

[allfixelectrical]

---

@medcart wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I am a former ebay seller that is interested to hear from people who sell on ebay full time or are thinking of making the transition.

What is your #1 challenge for growing a ebay business?

Best regards

Phil 

---

Ebay !!!