my ebay store is finished, ebay is not.

[tradingcat888]

I know this type of topic has been done to the death, but still.

It was back in 2014 when I first started my business on ebay, selling gifts, fashion items, wedding accessories...etc; it was an exciting experience and I learned a lot.

2015 was my best year, over $600k business turnover (which means I paid almost 60K to ebay that year); I was busy, but happy, and really started to love ebay.

2016, things started to go downhill siginificantly, with new policies after new policies, I still pushed on; just work harder, things will get better I believed.

Now, 2017, my turnover on ebay for the last financial year was merely $100k, and my income isn't even enough to pay the bills anymore.

Time to quit.

How did everything go downhill so quickly you ask?

Ebay just doesn't give a S**T about us small or even medium sellers anymore.

They started to favour big big sellers, big brands that people already known of; as for us, we helped building ebay up, and now we are trash to them.

Most if not all traffic is now being guided to those big stores, or those extremely cheap but rubbish items from overseas.

This baffles me a lot, we pay a lot commissions to ebay, so do those big stores (I think), what makes ebay like them more than us?

Our item is more expensive than those from overseas, which means we need to pay more commission out of each sale, what makes ebay like them more than us?

If only big stores remain on ebay, would buyer still care about ebay then?

Obviously, if I want something from Good Guys, I go to Good Guys, why ebay? WHY?

Sale event you say? Discount voucher? As far as I know many of those sales events are straight lies, the price you get after you applied discount voucher is actually the same or even more than regular retail prices you get from elsewhere.

Yet still, every time ebay gives out vouchers for "selected" big sellers, my sale is dead.

Some other times my sale is just dead, with no clear reason whatsoever.

Yet I still have to pay extra for listing promotion, such shamless pratice and pathetic excuse for a rip off.

Also I have to suffer extra lose due to unfair requests opened by dishonest buyers aka scammers.

I tried hard to keep my feedback in good standing, and my seller status Top Rated, none seems to help even a bit.

Today I have decided not to list new items anymore, just clear the remaining of stock, and that's it.

I loved you ebay, you were so wonderful and made my dream come true.

Sadly it didn't last... we had a good run, but now, you have turned into a piece of S**T.

Farewell.

[davewil1964]

Didn't the new CEO, or the Australian minion, state only last year that they were going to concentrate on getting the smaller seller back?

That lasted as long as most of eBay's other bright ideas. Except that this one would have been useful. Which probably explains why it has fallen by the wayside.

[redders_60]

Some years back I was looking toward Ebay for my retirement income. I have no superannuation. For awhile I made good sales. But not for many years now. I don't even have a store anymore & have no incentive to list new & interesting old items. 

I don't use Gumtree; Too many scammers there & no backup help in place. I'm not good @ F/B but use their free service groups for PU items instead.

[digital*ghost]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Didn't the new CEO, or the Australian minion, state only last year that they were going to concentrate on getting the smaller seller back?

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I think that statement was largely met with sarcasm, cynicism and the odd snorting laugh. 

I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing that it was largely and not entirely. The modicum of hope their continued lip service inspires, makes the disappointments all the more frustrating, and probably keeps some people trying for just a little bit longer (sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's not). 

[lowanacrafts]

My daughter bought a DVD player from the Goodguys real store last week, ticket price $39 , got it for $26.00 . Must get the brand off her to see. So wonder if they up the prices for Ebay. I don't buy any electronic or electrical item on line.

[collect247]

Depends if you're a regular buyer from GoodGuys because if you are like I am then you will receive a discount every time you purchase from them.

[dazzledayz]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Didn't the new CEO, or the Australian minion, state only last year that they were going to concentrate on getting the smaller seller back?

That lasted as long as most of eBay's other bright ideas. Except that this one would have been useful. Which probably explains why it has fallen by the wayside.

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I'm still waiting to see the evidence of this policy but won't be holding my breath.

Sales continue on their downward spiral as does site functionality.

[lyndal1838]

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@lowanacrafts wrote:
My daughter bought a DVD player from the Goodguys real store last week, ticket price $39 , got it for $26.00 . Must get the brand off her to see. So wonder if they up the prices for Ebay. I don't buy any electronic or electrical item on line.

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Both the Good Guys and Bing Lee sell on ebay at exactly the same prices as you can get if you buy from their online stores.

Before buying anything on line I check out the normal price off ebay and only buy if I am getting a good buy.

Yes, if you walk into their stores with cash you can often get a 10% discount on their listed prices but that is for cash whereas by buying on ebay you can use a credit card if you want to and still get the ebay discount of 20%.

When the item arrives it has a cash register docket with it just as you get when you buy in the store normally so no problems with guarantees.

When I say I would not buy electrical items on line I mean I would not buy from an unknown overseas source.  Buying from a local chain store is a different thing altogether.

I am not too proud to get a 20% discount....if ebay wants to pay for part of my item I will happily let them.

[jjba6541]

I started in Ebay back in the early 2000.

Ebay was a goldmine then.I was able to pay all my bills and still had money left over.

Now I am lucky if I can buy and icecream at the corner store with the small amount of sales I make.

I just leave my listings there but hardly spend any time relisting .

Between my 2 user names I have nearly 400 listings.

I am lucky if I sell 5 items a month now and it always seems to be at beginnig of month or near the end of the month,

I found Gumtree to be non productive as well as facebook market place.

[chameleon54]

This is all very depressing isnt it. Like others I used to make a good full time living from ebay, including paying my mortgage, all household bills, replacing the car every now and then and sending the kids to low fee private school. That was five years ago. Today sales are not great on ebay, but it is still well and truly worth me spending some time here and plodding along selling stuff. With the lights on, lights off phenomina, I can reliably budget on how much I will sell each month and with a shipping container full of stock that doesnt owe me much, I can keep selling without buying anything for a couple more years, ensuring very high profit margins.

The latest spring release is very concerning. We will have to wait and see how the policies pan out, but the restrictions on items listed for longer than 12 months could spell the end of my store businesses. I,m busy listing the best items from storage, clearing them out in case my stores go belly up when the spring release comes into force. Until then, I will keep selling as usual and just wait and see how things pan out.

My guess is that ebay are moving quickly to product catalogue style business for new items, based around product identifiers. There may come a time, quite soon when used items are no longer able to be sold on ebay. Best to clear stuff out and make hay while the sun is still shining on used ebay sales.

[collect247]

I just received my answer as whether I would be selling again and it's also farewell from me.

I will no longer be buying on eBay as I'm not allowed to sell due to eBay letting scamming **bleep**en buyers get away with it.

Keep kissing those scamming buyers asses eBay and I hope you as a company go down the drain as you're as bad as the scammers.