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.

[love_of_cars]

The past few days have totally died for me in terms of sales.  Seems all three accounts are currently in their "dark" cycle of throttling, or whatever it is.

[love_of_cars]

Woke up this morning to a number of sales sitting in my inbox... seems my light shone overnight!

Still... wonder why days would pass with nothing, then suddenly a bunch all around the same time?  All vastly different items, going to different countries.

[springyzone]

I'm mainly a buyer these days and just yesterday I was thinking the opposite to what you wrote.

I was thinking that after a lull, I had been buying an awful lot on ebay recently, with more to come.

Maybe it lies in the nature of the items. For example, just this morning I bought some 3mm double sided tape. We're talking a new, low cost item from Australia.

Reasons I bought on ebay?

Convenient but more to the point, the local scrapbooking shop has closed & only sells online now. Delivery costs alone would have been more than I paid on ebay (which was about $3.40)

There are lots of other online selling sites, but I've used ebay a lot lately and for a range of things, from more professional sellers who obviously run small businesses, to private home sellers.

[smrt_1]

I won't buy on EBAY because the sellers use Australia Post/Startrack. This company will lose your package or it will be left (even though it needs a signature) for someone to steal.

I bought a clock about 2 months ago, said delivered (even though we were home all day) the item is nowhere to be found. They don't want to know about it when asked where they left it. 

Seller got paid, aust post got paid...customer got nothing. Good recipe for bad juju right there!

This company will tarnish and destroy any online sales you have!

Go to their complaints pages and you'll see.

[springyzone]

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@smrt_1 wrote:

I won't buy on EBAY because the sellers use Australia Post/Startrack. This company will lose your package or it will be left (even though it needs a signature) for someone to steal.

I bought a clock about 2 months ago, said delivered (even though we were home all day) the item is nowhere to be found. They don't want to know about it when asked where they left it. 

Seller got paid, aust post got paid...customer got nothing. Good recipe for bad juju right there!

This company will tarnish and destroy any online sales you have!

Go to their complaints pages and you'll see.

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If the problem is with Australia Post, then wouldn't you have the same problem, pretty much regardless of the online buying site?

I buy a reasonable amount of things online (other than on ebay) and most come via Aust Post and I rarely have any problems and (touch wood) haven't had problems in the last few years with ebay purchases either, even when untracked.

It sounds as if maybe you have just been unlucky or it could be your location-Are you on a busy main road or in a set of units?

[chameleon54]

One interesting thing with having old threads dug up is to see how those who posted several years ago are faring today. Rocket2retro, the OP for this thread still pops into the forums from time to time and usually has something constructive to say. I dont know what their sales where doing four years ago when they started this thread titled " why aren't people buying on ebay ? discuss " but with nearly 400 sales in the last 90 days, whatever the problem was, it seems to be solved now.

Its great to see regular sellers such as rocket2retro doing well in the current retail climate and shows there are still buyers out there in ebayland if you have the quality, sensibly priced listings that buyers want.

[*tippy*toes*]

I also find it interesting in old threads, like 4 or 5 years ago, where people come in for a rant, saying they will never sell again, yet you click on their profile and they still have plenty of items listed. Maybe they realised that eBay couldn't give a toss whether they sold again or not? Them stopping selling was never going to be the end of eBay. Cheap threats.

Edited to fix typos.

[countessalmirena]

Those are interesting reasons for old(ish) threads to be drawn up from the well of quiet inactivity.