were have all the buyers gone from ebay

[sawnuts69]

why has it become so hard to sell anyhing

[ooboonator]

11.7% is a big drop and its still going down.

Still...sales have been the most woefull in 3 years as of late, much more than a 11.7% drop...

I was pondering whether to invest more money into Ebay to boost product levels or put the money into infrastructure in another Business I have....looks like its a no brainer 🙂

[i-love-my-sheep]

It's a massive drop. Might explain why bidding wars on auctions are rare these days.

I just chucked in QS to get the stats on that, mostly because there has been a push for sellers to move there and while there is no graph, it says that in the last 30 days, there were 367,700 visitors to the site. Quite pathetic when you think about it.

Etsy has dropped from roughly 75,000,000 to about 65,000,000 since December '13. A drop of 4.4%. They did have a huge surge in visitors in December.

Trade Me NZ has dropped from about 7,800,000 in November '13, down to 6,700,000 in October this year. A drop of 9.2%.

Alibaba went from about 141,000,000 in December down to about 111,000,000 in Feb, then eased back up to about 118,000,000 in May and has stayed at that level. They have a drop of 13.5%

Aliexpress on the other hand, has gone from about 98,000,000 in October '13 and surged up to about 130,000,000 in May this year and has remained at that level. An INCREASE of 34.6%.

So, it looks like the move at this stage has been to Aliexpress!!!

I have a question. What does SEO stand for?

[pennyforum14]

Search Engine Optimisation, in other words, getting your website pages picked up by Search Engines to generate traffc.

[cq_tech]

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@i-love-my-sheep wrote:

Aliexpress on the other hand, has gone from about 98,000,000 in October '13 and surged up to about 130,000,000 in May this year and has remained at that level. An INCREASE of 34.6%.

So, it looks like the move at this stage has been to Aliexpress!!!

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Doesn't surprise me in the least, 'cos I'm one of them. I still occasionally buy local items through eBay but most of the Chinese items I used to buy here are now being purchased through Aliexpress, and for some very good reasons, not the least of which is that we're not forced to use Paypal, but can purchase via credit card instead (which still gives exactly the same degree of protection as it does through Paypal).

Aliexpress also have their own Buyer Protection policy in addition to that provided by your credit card, and if the item is not as described, you are refunded without having to return it. Furthermore, if the item you purchase is fake or counterfeit, you will be refunded 3X the original purchase price paid... http://www.aliexpress.com/buyerprotection/seller_guaranteed.html

It's not unlike eBay inasmuch as it's a conglomeration of thousands of Chinese sellers all trading under the one banner, but the advantage they have over eBay is that the range of items available is vast beyond belief and their prices are unbeatable, certainly a lot lower than those being listed on eBay. Shipping is either free, if you don't mind waiting the usual 15-30 days, but if you're in a hurry you can pay extra and have it delivered by Fedex or DHL within 3-5 days for an additional charge.

I can only see Aliexpress continuing to grow while eBay slowly fades into history, unless they completely revise their ridiculously expensive fee structure and their outrageous return policy which is why so many sellers are leaving eBay in their droves, and will continue doing so until things improve dramatically.

[old_holdens_never_die]

eBays practising site inteference & search & browse manipulation! ...ie they're burying your listings via the best match cr*p etc - maggots!

[pennyforum14]

cq, I noted your comment,

I can only see Aliexpress continuing to grow while eBay slowly fades into history, unless they completely revise their ridiculously expensive fee structure and their outrageous return policy which is why so many sellers are leaving eBay in their droves, and will continue doing so until things improve dramatically.

but I'm at a loss to understand how the Ebay policy is worse than what you describe here for Aliexpress,

Aliexpress also have their own Buyer Protection policy in addition to that provided by your credit card, and if the item is not as described, you are refunded without having to return it. Furthermore, if the item you purchase is fake or counterfeit, you will be refunded 3X the original purchase price paid...

I've underlined the bit that has me confused.  Isn't that as bad or even worse for sellers than what Ebay has just implemented?  At least Ebay are saying they will only allow the buyer to keep the item if it is under $10 (and therefore not worth paying return postage).  And 3 x the purchase price for fakes, who decides the item is a fake?  The buyer?  Aliexpress?  That seems to me fraught with opportunity for scammers to claim free goods AND cash bonuses.

[cq_tech]

I have no idea what level of proof is required Penny, but it seems to me that it would be a very stupid seller indeed who attempted to sell counterfeit items knowing that they could essentially be "fined" for doing so. Clearly the idea is to build consumer confidence in Chinese sellers and I'm sure there would be sufficient safeguards in place to prevent the serial scammers from taking advantage of their Policy.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Where have all the buyers gone from eBay?

After over ten years of buying here, for preference, from local sellers, I have moved to online shopping with major retailers.

My feedback number, if I received feedback from every transaction, would be about double.

eBay has changed, and not for the better.

Most of my favorite sellers, from whom I would repeat buy for years, have left.

For what I buy, there is very little left of interest or quality left now, in categories swamped with overseas sellers.

It takes a little time to weed them out of search results. It is much faster, and more convenient, to go straight to a trusted brand and purchase directly. Usually with Paypal protection and free returns.

The way things have changed here, are making it harder and harder for any local seller to be seen. eBay just does not seem to care. They appear to be driven purely towards a platform providing cheap imports.

eBay used to have fantastic, interesting things that were a pleasure to browse. Not so much anymore 😞

[5kazam]

After I made the decision to not sell on eBay any more, I did a scroll through my category about a week ago - Australian Pottery. No Chinese or big corporations in this area.  

There are still plenty of items for sale, but not many in the Contemporary Australian pottery range, where not so long ago (a month) one could still find some real gems of pieces of pottery (some drastically overpriced, but there nonetheless).  

Now it's like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

I fail to see how this is going to 'enhance the buyer's experience'.

But it does seem that Donahoe's plan of getting rid of the small seller is working.  

If this rate of attrition is applied over all categories, then the Titanic nomer is most appropriate.

[pennyforum14]

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@am*3 wrote:

You are very wrong about buyers being averse to purchasing from overseas.. ask AP how many parcels flow into Australia now from online shopping.

Heard of ASOS & Iconic? (clothes, shoes)... those are very popular especially with younger buyers, overseas companies.  One of them has free postage and free return. The other you pay for the return but to a NSW address. Urban Outfitters  (US) is another popular one, free post if payment by Paypal. Items can be returned for change of mind, not the right size.... any item not received is dealt with appropriately and promptly.

I have a young person living in my house.. parcels flow in frequently.. none from ebay, most from oseas. She wanted to buy somethng the other day from an Aust seller but  the postage charge was $6 ( which I told her was resonable) but she is used to free postage from these other places.

She did buy it  later as that site had a free postage offer.

As I posted above I have bought from an Aust website.. Item comes from US suppliers.. no email, no tracking, item turns up in a month approx.. $10 less than on here, for a lower value item.

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I didn't say ALL buyers, I said many.  You only have to read the complaints in the buyer forum from buyers who purchased items that were advertised as being in Australia only to have them arrive weeks or months later from China, to know there are MANY buyers who prefer not to buy from overseas, and MANY of those buyers would happily pay more for the same item from a true Aussie selller.  I'm one of them.

If price was ALWAYS the top consideration for all buyers there would be no David Jones or Myer.