Why aren't people buying on ebay? Discuss...

[rocket2retro]

It seems the general consensus is that for many sellers (myslef included) eBay sales have dropped in recent times.

My question is why?

I'd be interested to hear why people think this is happening.

[4green2000]

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@erg-auto-electrical-wholesalers wrote:

Money is hard to come by these days, personally I feel. 

I used to buy heaps on Ebay, now I still use my old items even if broken until I really need it. People will wait till something is on discount.

In Australia, most work is on a casual contract now so everything is always in limbo.

That is how I feel about it.

I will also always seek an overseas seller, if I have the time to wait for it as well. They are reliable.. mostly. I do not buy expensive items from overseas though.

But I have had my share of horrors over there.

Things do not last long.

If it is a battery or something simple then I will buy it.

Stuff from Hong Kong is good and it is cheaper to post from there than within Australia. This system I do not like.

AP is so expensive.

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according to the news, australians have more money in their pockets today than 5 years ago. how ever they worked that out ?

[*tippy*toes*]

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@yeoldecoinco wrote:

Yes, I agree, good points, is it a hobby or a business?

If it is a business, it has to be approached in a professional manner.

Working from home requires a structure and some consistency, very easy to drift off into a mode where you think you are working, but really are not producing much.

I have been there a few times, thinking that I am working harder than I actually am.

Here, I will often go into my home office and shut the door.

To my wife and my lovely old dog, that means I am at work and am not to be disturbed unless important.

There are a number of people having trouble selling on eBay like they used to.

That is unfortunate, but there is usually a reason for it, it is often because the categories they are trying to sell in have become flooded with competition.

To quote Nicolas Cage from Lord of War - "The trouble with trying to make an honest buck is there is just no margin, everyone is doing it"

So true.

You either compete right back, or, if uneconomical, find something you can sell and make a quid on, or go back to work for someone else.

I look at categories that seem to attract a lot of problems or competion, such as second hand clothes or CDs and think to myself, you have to work real hard at those categories to make a buck, everyone is doing it.

Better to try and find a niche product or market you can learn and understand, than trying to sell what everyone else is.

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I went through several different lines before I settled on the one I've got now. Initially I had multiple lines going at once, but settled on the one that sold the best and for the most and let the other ones run out. When I first started I was selling off a heap of stuff that I'd bought to sell at the Sunday markets, plus a few things from around the house. The markets shut down for good about 4 weeks after I'd finished buying stock! The stuff I sell can be bought from overseas, with a much higher postage cost. There are very few that sell it in Aus.

Sadly, I'm one of those people who has to work for someone else. If I worked from home there would be too many distractions. Maybe if I had an office it might be different, but I don't. I earn way more working for someone else too! While I have a good line of product with less competition than a lot of others, there are weeks were I still struggle to make a sale.

Great advice you've given in both your posts!

[collect247]

Your posts are very good and now that I have been suspended from selling on ebay you have one less competitor

to worry about so that should make it easier for you shouldn't it? lol

But there are so many sellers selling coins but the good thing about it is coins do sell.

I'm also amazed at how some make way more money than others on the same items.

I don't think you will ever have too much trouble selling now or in the future.

[collect247]

Tippy yes you do have less competition so you should go all out and list alot more but still hold onto your main job.

[englishrosegardens]

There are probably a lot more businesses doing okay than anyone realises.  Most of those sellers aren't going to tell others in case they copy their ideas.

B&M businesses have always come and gone, even long before the days of ebay.  Some would do well for 20 or 30 years and then suddenly their sales dried up and they were gone.  A product or store can be the flavour of the month (or year) but suddenly everyone switches to someone or something else.  A lot of clothing shops don't last, though they do well for quite a few years so it's not because they don't keep up with trends.  I can remember in the 70s and 80s a lot of clothing shops that had been around for years were suddenly no longer there.  Some new ones lasted the distance, some lasted hardly any time, others did well for a few years and then disappeared.  It's the same for all sorts of businesses, it's just the way life is.

Some of the things I sell can be bought a lot cheaper overseas but many people were hesitant to buy from overseas for several years.  Now that postage has gone up overseas and the exchange rate is up, more are buying in Australia again - but you have to have the product they're after.  Just because someone has successfully sold the same product for the last ten years doesn't mean it'll sell well for the next ten.  Someone else may come up with a better product, or just a different one.  The market may become saturated or people may just want a change (something different).  Some things are in such plentiful supply that you're lucky to sell anything, especially something like jewellery.  You might make a top quality product but how do people find you amongst the millions of similar items.  Your opposition might lie about their product (some of my opposition do, unfortunately) but buyers don't necessarily know they're lying, only the other sellers with the same product.  Some sellers play really dirty but I won't buy from any seller who feels the need to run down or lie about their opposition in order to get more sales themselves.

Many think they're really good at selling but haven't really got a clue.  When I first started selling my current main product (on another site), my competition had woeful listings - very poor pictures, nothing to show the scale, and no actual description of the product.  Within a few months I was getting most of the sales in that category and within a year most of my competitors were gone altogether.  I described the size, the colour, and anything else that the buyers would have been able to see for themselves in a b&m shop but not online.  How can you expect people to buy if they don't really know what they're getting?  I showed the scale as well as having very clear pictures.  It took me 10 minutes each to do most of my listings (including taking pictures) so how much time were the other sellers putting in?  It's often just as quick to do a job properly as to be sloppy, but they either didn't know or didn't care.  I sell multiples of each item so 10 minutes is a small investment of my time, especially when it means I get happy, repeat buyers.  One of the other sellers was complaining about lack of sales but her listings were the worst of the lot and she just couldn't see it, and I see this time and time again when I browse.  I have to really want something to bother asking questions and I figure if they can't be bothered doing a proper description, what else haven't they told me, and what are they going to be like if something goes wrong?

[davewil1964]

I sell used books.

Whilst I have competitors and I will rarely be the cheapest Australian seller, my sales are steady. Listing more doesn't seem to make much difference (my sales have been fairly static for the last 2 years while my listings have doubled) but it DOES give my buyers a greater choice.

I offer a modest discount for bulk orders, but rarely get taken up on it.

I aim to pay my phone, internet and electricity. I do this with a bit of a surplus. I am a 'hobby' seller, in that I am happy to make $50 a week. It gives me something to do after work.

[englishrosegardens]

I agree that you don't need to be the cheapest to sell things.  That was something I meant to bring up in my last post.  It's taken me a while to learn this but last year I took a good hard look at what my competitors were asking (and getting) so I decided I was stupid not to ask more.  Whenever I put my prices up I usually sell more than before.  It seems to make people think, "Ooh, that must be good" or "Ooh, I really like that" and they want it more than ever.  I don't know whether it's a status thing, like buying designer clothes, but I don't think so.  It doesn't work with everything but it definitely works for some things! 

If something is worth $10, ASK IT!  If you don't, people will just get suspicious as to why it's cheap - "Is it poor quality?"  "What's wrong with it?"  "There must be something wrong with the seller if they can't sell it for that price."  It's a subconscious thing because I know I'm the same, even though my middle name is Scrooge and I'm a bargain hunter by nature. 

Too many sellers devalue their own goods so of course buyers (or a lot of them) will do the same thing.  Have you ever noticed how some people get jobs over others who are much more qualified?  It's because they know how to sell themselves.  I've seen the same on ebay - those who sell themselves (have confidence in themselves, and their products) get the sales, even though the pictures often tell me they don't deserve the sales.  I think it can be over-done but my point is that those who sell themselves seem to be able to sell their products. 

I'm not talking about hype because I find that a turn-off and run a mile. There's a fine line between selling yourself and hype, and I probably don't sell myself in my store, but I do make sure people know what to expect, and that my product can speak for itself - and it obviously does because my sales are okay.  I went through a slow patch last year when they changed categories and I wasn't aware of it, but it seems other sellers weren't either because nobody else's products had the item specifics that were required to get seen in the new category.  Once I did lots of editing my sales started again.  I'd say buyers would have been quite confused for a while and wouldn't have known where to find what was so easy to find before ebay messed around with something that was working just fine, but thankfully the buyers have figured it out now.

[sydneybristowwine]

I have noticed this as well.  It has become so quiet here...I mainly see my personal , used items, and I have not seen it quiet like this before!

Cheers to everyone

[aussie-picker]

 Yeoldecoinco Nailed it Overall in One 🙂

[yeoldecoinco]

Yes, mind you, that customer has been hard to find for me as well over the past week or so.

Very quiet out in eBay land at the moment, all of a sudden, however, my website is going well, at present, outdated as it is.

I use eBay as part of my overall selling.

Tough going to rely on eBay as a full-time income, but between eBay, my website and a few fairs/shows,  am certainly busy enough.

A 38 hour week ended for me 20 years ago, 38 hours a week? Who puts that in, running their own full-time business?

No-one who wants to succeed, that's for sure. Try 50-60 hours, for openers.

eBay is not the same for selling as it was a few years back, for many and varied reasons, but it is still a viable selling platform, if you have a product people want.

Mind you, it would be a lot more viable at about 4% for an eBay store (US and they offer TRS discounts) than 8.5% and no chance of TRS discount in Australia.

Might be economies of scale, but I find that hard to swallow, looks like jist another rip-off of a supposedly "rich" country.