What was changed on ebay recently? My sales dropped 50%

[love_station_au]

Not sure what happed but guess ebay has made some changes on search results. My sales dropped about 50% recently. Anyone has noticed that?

[gizmoclearance]

Yesterday I watched a friend (casual ebay buyer) purchasing a product then I think I know what happened.

the default new "sellers on ebay australia" selection takes in so many overseas sellers that sells on ebay Australia. not to mentioned most average buyer won't even see the selection switch.

most buyer will not realize the difference between "seller on ebay australia" and "Australian Seller" and consequently make the purchase from the overseas seller because they are so much cheaper..

Being an overseas corporation, the sellers from "overseas" and local Australian seller makes no difference to eBay.

Guess the sellers in Hong Kong are doubling their sales..

[closet_nerds]

hi ebay admitted to me over the phone about a year ago that there 2 year business plan was to become the biggest online retailer in the world.

This means they are bluntly trying to wipe out second hand, a small sellers.  Every change that they bring in has proven this.

this month the new top rated seller plus program has started, If you have not changed your items to 1 or same business day handling time & offer a 30 day money back gaurantee + have free post & express post option you will not be eligible.

pretty much being a top rated seller is worthless now. in my opinion only large online business & wholesalers, retailers can meet these requirements.

normal top rated sellers will not be recieving the bonus item coverage. Top rated seller + will recieve all the bonus benifits

Its a shame that ebay bought gumtree now there is no competition, i would of thought ebay would develop gumtree into the old ebay to give us second hand, small sellers a place to go.

My sales this month are down 50% , resistance is futile !

[closet_nerds]

hi mate 100% true, i noticed this about a month ago. & what makes it worse every time i make a new search i have to keep selecting australia only. disgusting on ebays behalf !

[peridot55555]

"Its a shame that ebay bought gumtree now there is no competition" - from closet_nerds.

Watch this answer get edited.

There is another Aussie action site that eBay does not own, but not much of a competition - a lot of people don't know of that site.

They are having the same problems over there with not much selling - something to do with the announcement of the election I guess, as that is what always happens at that time.

I get an odd quick sales or 2 there, out of about 140-150 listings, but on here I am getting 1 to 3 sales out of 40 listings & I'm not charging very much at all.  So far this month it's been no sales & only 1 sale that is coming up.

[trishreid88]

I have to say there are a number of reasons I don't buy a lot anymore. Apart from some cheap stuff from OS.

The biggest reason is search difficulties. Huge amount of identical listings.
Items in the wrong category realy peaves me off and I eventualy just give up on trying to find what I am looking for.
For eg if I am looking for say a surfboard. I go through all the different categories but still have millions of "stickers" showing up in my search. Same goes for tents, you refine the search as much as possible and yet still have hundreds of listings of tent pegs etc.
These are just quick examples off the top of my head and some are easier to narrow down than others but you get my point.

As for second hand goods I am finding sellers have realy put prices up a lot. This could be because of ebay/paypal/post fees etc and not so much the sellers fault but for me as a buyer I have found second hand items have gone up a lot. Again maybe due to the same reasons but I have found NEW items including postage are now close in price to BM shops so I may as well buy offline with an easier access to warantees.

Another reason is that I used to have a selling account and would use the money from sales to buy things  that took my fancy. Due to a number of policy changes over the years including issues with having to offer paypal with no protection on pick up items led me to stop selling and therefore much much reduced buying. I think the pick up policy may have changed now but not before it cost me my business.

[tstore]

All you have to do is type in "Surfboard -stickers", or "tents -pegs" (not the use of "-") and those results will be eliminated

[trishreid88]

Yes I know that tstore, as I said they are just examples off the top of my head. What I am saying is you can refine it down as much as possible using for eg -stickers, but you still find some areas where no matter how many minus etc.. you put in you still get loads of "stickers" (just to keep to the example).
This is a real problem and I am sick and tired of having to refine searches with multiple minus, all because items are in the wrong category/key word spamming and nothing ever seems to be doneeven if reported.  Buyers are getting the pips with it and just giving up thus effecting sales.

[grounds.2009]

Yes, I for one noticed, I usually have between 7-10 even 11 sales a day, but now only between 2-4, 5 at most...

[davewil1964]

Violins at 20 paces.

However, it is well documented that when elections are called consumer spending drops. An election was called a couple of weeks ago.

Having said that, my sales this month aren't at the levels of the last couple, but are still well above long term averages. Maybe escapist fiction books are the 'in' thing at the moment.

[grounds.2009]

Yes, me too, I would like to know... pleeeeease !!!