eBay

thebarterersdog · ‎04-18-2016

Had a buyer complain to me about all the changes eBay keeps making recently and how things aren't working on the site (as if I can do anything about them lol). Do you think this has anything to do with why sales seem to have taken a nose dive? I'm beginning to wonder if eBay has lost a lot of buyers lately. There just doesn't seem to be the traffic that used to be on the site. This has been the worse week for us here; now, is it because of the switch to Canadian $$ on .ca or just a coincidence?

Janet and Paul

jersey..authentix · ‎04-18-2016

US tax time may have something to do with it. It seems to be my Achilles heel. Most of my customers are US . I have been very sluggish this entire month.

That being said, I do feel that over all, buying performance has gone down since the same time last year. It does seem that buyers are getting harder and harder to come by year after year. Maybe there is an over abundance of sellers and items.

As a seller I wish I could see some action from E bay where they are trying to draw customers to the site, instead of in house changes that honestly seems to do nothing more than agitate sellers.

Sometimes I feel I have sold to every buyer who is buying items like mine and there aint no more. LOL

xeposter · ‎04-18-2016

@thebarterersdog wrote:
Had a buyer complain to me about all the changes eBay keeps making recently and how things aren't working on the site (as if I can do anything about them lol). Do you think this has anything to do with why sales seem to have taken a nose dive? I'm beginning to wonder if eBay has lost a lot of buyers lately. There just doesn't seem to be the traffic that used to be on the site. This has been the worse week for us here; now, is it because of the switch to Canadian $$ on .ca or just a coincidence?

It is getting near the summer.

There are never as many buyers in the spring/summer as there are in the winter. Everyone wants to be outside in the spring/summer...but in the winter, they want to be inside on their computers/phones.

That doesn't mean there are NO buyers in the summer. Some stay, but a lot don't want to mess around on eBay.

Alex

This is my POSTING id.

pierrelebel · ‎04-18-2016

'There are never as many buyers in the spring/summer as there are in the winter."

???

Where do you get that "information"?

eBay's quarterly financial statements for the last twenty years (public information) clearly contradict your statement.

xeposter · ‎04-18-2016

@pierrelebel wrote:
'There are never as many buyers in the spring/summer as there are in the winter."

???

Where do you get that "information"?

eBay's quarterly financial statements for the last twenty years (public information) clearly contradict your statement.

Why should there be more buyers in the summer?

Can I have a link to what you are talking about?

Alex

This is my POSTING id.

ricarmic · ‎04-18-2016

There are so many variables anymore it is almost impossible to compare, unless you are comparing to your nearest competitors.

I'm a stamp guy.

I sell WW so during my summer here, it is winter in Australia, and my sales to Australians increase.

This time of year is normally a stronger time for me, we're entering "blow your income tax refund" season, always my favorite time of year!

My sales have been strong since February. The last week has been slower but still better than last year.

Yesterday I listed 5 items, China stamps (which are strong sellers but also very prone to scammers and buyer problems).

Apparently my opinion of their price was low compared to the collector base, the 5 lots all sold to 3 different buyers within 10 minutes of being listed! (I had hoped my record of 3 minutes from listed to sold was broken but the quickest buy was 4 minutes so no new record :-()

Had problems with one of the buyers, eventually they asked to cancel.

Increased the price marginally, relisted it this morning, it sold in 10 minutes again.

So there are buyers......

(PS I always have and continue to list only on .COM)

femmefan1946 · ‎04-18-2016

I'm seriously considering opening a 'sales are lousy and it's all eBay's fault' at 12:01am on the first day of every month.

That way the people who don't understand that sales ebb and flow, that there are seasons in retail,and that products go stale, will have somewhere fresh to complain each month.

I've been on eBay with one name or another since 2001, and this is a perennial complaint.

thebarterersdog · ‎04-19-2016

Well I do understand all about retail as I've been in it for far too long; however, I was wondering if there was a tie in to all the lack of sales for us to the changes implemented by eBay recently. No sales is extremely unusual for us regardless of the time of year. They may slow, which is expected at times, but nothing? Very odd FOR US.

I am also wondering if there is a connection to buyer dissatisfaction and all the darn glitches.

Janet and Paul

pierrelebel · ‎04-19-2016

Morgan Stanley lowered its rating and price target for eBay, based on signs of weakness in international marketplaces, lower spending from buyers and increasing competition from Amazon.com Inc.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-19/ebay-falls-as-morgan-stanley-downgrades-on-interna...

dosagushi · ‎04-19-2016

I went from 37 sold listings in the first two weeks of march to 7 sold listings in the the first two weeks of april after switching listings to cdn $ AND lowering prices.

This is a big drop.

Definitely not a coincidence. Sales this time last year were also higher.

It is tax time for everyone, which also means tax refunds for many. So I do not consider this a valid reason.

bargainbookscanada · ‎04-20-2016

There is one simple, one word answer to account for the drop in sales and lack of business across Ebay...Competition!

There is simply way more competition among sellers compared to as little as 5 years ago and way more than say 10 years ago.

I remember when I put items up and they were usually the only items aavailable or my competition would list at outrageous prices, giving me easy sales.

But now you look around and:

A) more competition on Ebay, I'm always surprised to see some items I used to list and get good $$ for have multiple listings, each with a seller trying to undercut the other.

B) Competition from the RIver. If you don't know the river, think of a very long river in South America.

C) Competition from smaller auction/ online sales sites.

D) local classified ads. This one's huge. Many sellers have turned the local classified ad into their own personal store.

E) There are many ethnic-specific online sales sites, you just don't know about them without speaking the language or being part of the culture.

F) The thrift stores and pawn shops have started getting into the business themselves. They are picking through their own stock and comparing prices to Ebay, often putting them in display cases to be visible.

G) Trade shows and conventions - seems like more of these than ever.

H) When a lot of sellers left Ebay, they opened their own online stores, taking many of their customers with them.

steam.gift · ‎04-20-2016

nothing wrong with selling on other platforms . But depending on what you sell for me everything is down on all selling platforms I use just slowed down this week mid last week . Assuming because of taxes being due and weather better . People will spend as much money but just on different stuff , flowers , out door furniture etc same thing last year but after these few weeks are over stuff picks up . I have never sold in usd on .com so I won't get a US sales difference like everyone else who is upset about the change .

jersey..authentix · ‎04-20-2016

That's all fine and dandy that spending is down and competition is up. I guess if I was to ask a question, I would ask, WHAT IS EBAY DOING ABOUT IT ?

Sitting in their cubical , making changes to Ebay just doesn't seem to accomplish much other than strain sellers. Its like Ebay wasting efforts on this currency issue.

You would think Ebay would have a marketing plan to get some interest back for new buyers. Maybe they do and Im just not seeing it. Believe it or not TV still works. When was the last time you saw any advertising for Ebay in Canada. The only time I here Ebay in the Media is when it is part of a joke. Ebay could be a lot better.

The USA is running an add with Ebay pasted on a truck. Too bad it was a USPS commercial.

pierrelebel · ‎04-20-2016

"When was the last time you saw any advertising for Ebay in Canada."

Never.

eBay is an American business owned largely by Americans for the benefit of American sellers servicing the American marketplace.

We all know that. Let's accept it.

Now, eBay also has a lot of profitable international business originating from the UK and Europe (both with very large population)

In Canada, we are such a small part of the total and always asking more (two languages, two currencies, etc) that we are largely ignored as we cost a lot to operate and do not bring in that much profit. At one time eBay had 700 employees in Canada (Vancouver area) they were all laid off seven years ago.

http://tamebay.com/2009/05/ebay-closes-vancouver-customer-service-centre.html

Now they have a dozen employees in Toronto. That's the Canadian presence. And they have a rather limited budget.

And life does go on.

If we want to use eBay to market our products through their sites (Canada, USA or worldwide) , we need to adapt to what they have to offer and the way they want to do things.

pocomocomputing · ‎04-20-2016

@pierrelebel wrote:
"When was the last time you saw any advertising for Ebay in Canada."

Never.

eBay is an American business owned largely by Americans for the benefit of American sellers servicing the American marketplace.

We all know that. Let's accept it.

Now, eBay also has a lot of profitable international business originating from the UK and Europe (both with very large population)

In Canada, we are such a small part of the total and always asking more (two languages, two currencies, etc) that we are largely ignored as we cost a lot to operate and do not bring in that much profit. At one time eBay had 700 employees in Canada (Vancouver area) they were all laid off seven years ago.

http://tamebay.com/2009/05/ebay-closes-vancouver-customer-service-centre.html

Now they have a dozen employees in Toronto. That's the Canadian presence. And they have a rather limited budget.

And life does go on.

If we want to use eBay to market our products through their sites (Canada, USA or worldwide) , we need to adapt to what they have to offer and the way they want to do things.

I heard an eBay Canada radio ad during the Vancouver Canucks post game show. I was shocked to hear it and almost missed it as I was not concentrating on the radio commercial at the time. I posted it in the forums here a few months back.

jersey..authentix · ‎04-20-2016

Pierre wrote; Never

All the more reason to switch to .com.

Like you said " we need to adapt" and I agree. I dont think staying with .ca is adapting though. Its surviving..

Personally if we are such a small market and we have neighbors with a much larger market. Why have Ebay Canada. We no longer have a Canadian call center. Not sure if we ever did. Its now outside the country. When we have to deal with Ebay we usually call San Jose. We should just join with .com. Fees would be in USD ,but if sales could improve, then its a good investment. Thats my 2 bits anyway.

Does our .ca leader even reside in Canada

retroman_studios · ‎04-20-2016

When it comes to slow sales, summer is slow for some, but it really depends on what sector you are in. My day job (Computers Sales & Service) is always slow in the summer, but gears up towards Fall (Back To School).

But if you sell clothes or other trinkets, you may experience no slowness or very slow, it just depends. People do tend to have more plans in the summer for sure, so that can take time from eBay shopping, but that's just speculation.

It's also Tax Time here in Canada, so no doubt many have extra expenses they may not have budgeted for, so that will put a crimp in spending.

I will admit, I only list in Canada with the exception of perhaps a few items that I feel would appeal to US Buyers. I should expand a bit more though, I'm just worried about shipping cost. Oh well. Take it one step at a time.

musicyouneed · ‎04-21-2016

Hi Poco, are you sure it wasn't ebates? It is easy to mix them up, I have seen several of their commericals.

pocomocomputing · ‎04-21-2016

@musicyouneed wrote:
Hi Poco, are you sure it wasn't ebates? It is easy to mix them up, I have seen several of their commericals.

I don't think so. I have seen some eBates TV commercials recently but not on radio. I rarely listen to the radio now so I do not know if there are eBates radio ads.

What I remember about the radio ad was that it was talking about selling on eBay. The ad ended when I started to pay attention. I even went to the hockey podcast the next day on the radio station internet site and listened to the post game show again but the ad was not there even though other ads were. It was half way through the post game show. This was the first time I listened to the end of a Canucks hockey game and radio show on my radio in my computer room in a long time. I have not listened to a Canucks game since except on the car radio driving sometimes. Canucks suck for the past year so my interest is low.

I probably misunderstood the ad somehow.