eBay

imaschnore · ‎08-09-2015

Sales have been down for 6 months. The number of Buyers and Dollar average has been decreasing. Defect count has gone UP due to fewer Buyers over the months. Hmmm. Better pictures, accurate description, currency, percentage discount, combined ship discount. Can not Control Sales must Manage Expenses. Suggestions Welcome....

rose-dee · ‎08-16-2015

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:
You realize ebay gave up on ebay enterprise (nothing to do with the ebay marketplace anyway other then they got a few of its clients to lsit here) and just sold it at a large loss from what they paid for it?. Ebay enterprise was managing websites, fullfillment, software for large retailers own sites. Now ebay has nothing to do with it

Well that's odd, because they still have a website with eBay's name all over it (maybe they licensed out the eBay name too!):

http://www.ebayenterprise.com/marketing/affiliate-network

If they were experiencing a 20% take rate in 2014, I'm surprised they would have so quickly disposed of such a lucrative cash cow.

pierrelebel · ‎08-17-2015

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/16/us-ebay-divestiture-idUSKCN0PQ1B620150716

http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/15/ebay-enterprise-taker/

http://recode.net/2015/07/16/ebay-will-sell-enterprise-unit-for-925-million-as-paypal-spinoff-nears/

cumos55 · ‎08-17-2015

At first it looks like eBay had a significant loss when it sold enterprise for 925 million.

Yet there was an immediate spin off of several parts once the purchase was originally completed...

Major companies have chosen to become self-sufficient as opposed to working with Enterprise......

They did not need Enterprise.... because it probably cost less to hire the right people, and thereby have a greater control of what they want to do...

eBay saw that the future for Enterprise was going to be less than stellar...

pierrelebel · ‎08-17-2015

Good morning gifts_of_elegance

"But I refuse to accept the fact that falling sales are in any way "my fault"."

I agree,

I took the time this morning to re-read this thread, slowly, from the beginning. Nowhere did I see anything written by anyone stating, suggesting, hinting or implying that you were "at fault".

There is too much emphasis on this board in trying to "blame" someone when things do not go as we would like them to go. The obvious target has been and continues to be "blame eBay": they are the cause of the slowdown. I refuse to subscribe to that theory. It is too simplistic for the many reasons already stated in earlier posts.

Some sellers see their sales increase, some see their sales decrease and some are more or less constant. And yes Canadians selling online are facing more challenges than their competitors.

In post #7 bargainbookscanada is correct when stating:

"Here are the main problems right now, IMO.

1) Competition. There is just too much competition for..everything. Not only more sellers on Ebay, but more sellers on the River, more people using up classified ads, 3rd party website that have branched off of Ebay and now run their own independent sites. Not to mention thrift stores that use Ebay to comparison shop and sell items in their physical stores or online on their own thrift websites.

2) Though I think there are still more sellers on Ebay than ever. Many sellers have left because of Ebay policies and many sellers used to be Ebay buyers.

3) Time. Most products just have a limited demand. For example, out of print media. There are only so many people willing to pay, say 25 dollars for an Out of print DVD. Most categories are not immune.

4) Buyer expectations. A lot of the smart buyers know what a jam Ebay sellers are in and they are holding out, looking to buy mint condition collectibles on the cheap. I think the overall economy has changed. I mean you can buy a Chinese made 32gb flash drive for 10.00 online and mailed to your door. A lot of people think that everything should be ultra cheap and shipped right to their door."

cumos55 · ‎08-17-2015

eBay has a massive business worldwide...

Right now they have to consolidate what they have..... and sustain .....as opposed to build.

Many things have to be addressed... adjusted...

We as sellers have an appreciation of the current situation...... However, they are many things happening that even most of the sellers do not see.

--------------------------------------------

Sellers can be their own worst enemy..... They have their way of doing it.... things that eBay says ... NO... Thou shalt not do!

Many sellers have adjusted as the years passed...... and will continue to adjust.

The future for eBay.... Consolidate.... promote the good sellers.... and dispose of the not so good sellers.....

and perhaps more importantly ......find a away to put a limit on difficult buyers...

Everyone... sellers and buyers need a safe environment on eBay.

The future will not be easy.....

sylviebee · ‎08-17-2015

rose-dee: I've read your posts and have started to respond many times but always delete my post and I'll likely regret this one.

Getting in the thick of it between you and PierreLebel seems like a bad idea but my thoughts are very different from either of yours.

Nothing anyone can say will alter either of your opinions.

However: Here goes: You and I sell some of the same kinds of items and are in roughly the same area.

For example: You have some vintage jewelry listed as do I. I sell a few every month but sales are next to nil.

I continue to re-list because it's easier than re-shooing the listings to make up lots and/or going in and reducing prices but that's what I'll have to do if I want to sell.

With all the free listings it only takes a second to run them again and so I do but I know full well I should end those listings are revise them.

Costume Jewelery used to sell, but the way things are today why would anyone buy mine (or yours) when they can buy the same items for pennies if they look a little longer?

It's not eBay's fault that the market is flooded with it.

That holds true for many of your items.

Vintage and antique items that appeal to women, however, are HOT. That corset you have listed is priced higher than most but it's a piece that you are more likely to sell.

With your expertise and knowledge of Victorian clothing you really should do well if you expand a little. Don't they have auctions in your province?

They're great for the likes of us because bidders are over-represented by men and they shy away from "girly" items which means that they can be had for very very little.

rose-dee · ‎08-17-2015

@cumos55 wrote:

Sellers can be their own worst enemy..... They have their way of doing it.... things that eBay says ... NO... Thou shalt not do!

I completely agree that there are some people who have only themselves to blame for their troubles. My problem is in understanding why it is that sellers who have done absolutely everything eBay has told us to do to be successful and grow, aren't seeing results. In fact, the result has been a decline. There simply have to be reasons in the background why a lot of those type of sellers have been experiencing a noticeable and significant slump since the beginning of this year.

While I accept that the issues mentioned in Post #7 by 'bargainbookscanada' (as quoted by Pierre above) certainly factor into the situation, these sort of things don't suddenly change from one month to the next, they take time to have an effect on a large number of sellers.

In other words, those factors aren't sufficient in themselves to explain the sudden gap in sales that sellers like me have been seeing. I think 'giftsofelegance' has made some very cogent and important comments on this issue (Post #59) from the point of view of OOAK or vintage sellers.

The future will not be easy.....

Yes, I agree. I expect the ranks of the small, independent sellers will thin out even more.

cumos55 · ‎08-17-2015

One rarely finds women's clothing at a local auction.

There was one local auction when some women's clothing did show up... quite a collection

and the women were most active in buying...

One has a better chance at finding clothing at estate sales... private sales and thrift stores.

I have seen many a shopping cart full of women's clothing at Value Village

There are a few sellers of vintage clothing in Winnipeg..... and they do find the inventory to sell locally and perhaps on the internet... and perhaps eBay included...

rose-dee · ‎08-17-2015

@sylviebee wrote:

"Costume Jewelery used to sell, but the way things are today why would anyone buy mine (or yours) when they can buy the same items for pennies if they look a little longer?"

While I appreciate that you may have an opinion on my business from your own perspective, I hope you'll allow me to clarify (at length, I apologize) some points that you might not be aware of.

I have no particular interest in re-selling items that I have to purchase, especially items that may face a lot of competition on eBay. Doing so really only became necessary as a result of eBay's policies and seller evaluation parameters, especially once the defect system was introduced.

I never intended to become a seller of vintage/antique bric-a-brac or clothing, but it was the only way to keep my transaction numbers up enough to: (a) avoid being demoted in search results due to low sales volume; (b) avoid being significantly impacted by even one defect; and (c) keep the TRS discount that helps me cut costs.

In other words, the way eBay structured its platform had a direct effect on obliging me to move into an area I originally did not originally want to be involved in. Everything I sell that is aside from my own pattern line are simply fillers, because basically the truth is, it's pretty difficult to be a successful seller with a small inventory on eBay these days. I have no interest in becoming a "picker" or competing at local auctions with other sellers. Those activities would take even more time away from my goals.

My business focus is, and has always been as a designer and manufacturer, primarily of sewing patterns, although I do take on occasional custom orders. My patterns have always been my best sellers on eBay and elsewhere, probably because they are unique. I have a few competitors in the general field, but no one with products of a comparable quality and type. I honestly would have liked to have focused on eBay to expand my products, and that was my original plan several years ago when I started here.

A couple of years ago I was on the verge of expanding my catalogue into digitally-delivered product, but eBay put a stop to that, as you likely know. I won't repeat my comments (set out in another thread) on the utter stupidity and lack of creativity on eBay's part in making that decision, but suffice it to say that another site has, not surprisingly, taken up the challenge and succeeded with it, and taken the income too.

I've gone where I was welcome and could expand my business, and I've been doing very well selling on that site, and there is unlimited and unfettered potential to grow my catalogue there. Needless to say, I'm no longer looking at eBay as a primary place to build my plans, but more as a placeholder.

I'm afraid I disagree with your opinion that "it's not eBay's fault that the market is flooded with it." It is largely eBay's fault. It is their site, and they opened the floodgates to the legions of cheap Chinese and other such products (many of which are no doubt drop-shipped from Chinese suppliers). They somehow had never heard of supply and demand theory. Or maybe they thought they'd be the exception, who really knows?

"Vintage and antique items that appeal to women, however, are HOT. That corset you have listed is priced higher than most but it's a piece that you are more likely to sell."

I wish I could say that was so. Sadly, that particular item would have sold within days, if not weeks, a year ago. Now it sits and sits. The price is less than half of the average for an Edwardian garment in good antique condition (the majority of corsets I've seen on eBay from that period are in very poor shape, if not falling apart, mostly good for study only).

I feel there is little future left in such items on eBay. Why? Two reasons:
1) Many of the top quality, experienced vintage/antique clothing sellers I know of have left eBay. I see a lot of them on other sites, apparently doing well, or selling from their own sites, and just as importantly, I think many of their traditional buyers have gone with them; and

2) EBay doesn't want to focus on these items. They have purposefully promoted mass-produced consumer goods on this site, including a lot of cheaply made polyester clothing manufactured in dubious if not downright immoral third-world factories. Just take a look on any given day at the landing advertisements on eBay. How many times do they highlight vintage clothing? Not very often.

I am still convinced that this particularly remarkable slump in traffic since January however has newer causes that only eBay is aware of. And without Omniture to confirm that impression, who can even hazard a guess at what those factors are?

Some people here may think I'm somehow anti-eBay. I'm not. I used to be a big fan and promoter of eBay. One thing I do know: it is eBay that has changed for the worse in my main categories, not me. If offering more items than ever, more variety than ever, at better prices and with cheaper shipping than ever has not resulted in any gains at all this year, as 'gifts-of-elegance' pointed out, what else can we really do?

Frankly I imagine many of the people I now see selling on eBay in the vintage, OOAK, antique, etc. areas are the cream of the crop -- top sellers with TRS, 100% FB, no defects and excellent prices and terms -- they are probably the ones left after eBay has filtered out the rest of the old crowd of sellers, through its policies or direct action (such as the ejection of a huge number of sellers about a year ago), and the ones who got fed up and left have gone. The irony is that those experienced sellers are the very people eBay should be wanting to stay here, and in my view, should be doing something pro-active about retaining.

sylviebee · ‎08-17-2015

@cumos55 wrote:
One rarely finds women's clothing at a local auction.

I wasn't referring to clothing only, but you'd be surprised.

I've picked up some amazing over-the-top flapper dresses at auctions in addition to other deco pieces. You just have to know what to look for.

I no longer attend auctions but the type of clothing I'm talking about won't be found in Thrift Stores or Value Village.

sylviebee · ‎08-17-2015

Rose, as I said: I knew I'd regret the post, but I didn't quite expect that either.

I'm not going to pick your points apart one by one as you did mine. (Where do you find the time?)

rose-dee · ‎08-17-2015

@sylviebee wrote:
Rose, as I said: I knew I'd regret the post, but I didn't quite expect that either.

I'm not going to pick your points apart one by one as you did mine. (Where do you find the time?)

Like everyone else here, I'm simply stating my opinion as it see it and responding to others' comments from my own viewpoint. I'm sorry that I can't agree with everybody's opinions all the time, but no need to regret stating yours.

No one should ever consider a differing opinion, presented honestly, as a personal attack. It's part of the discussion process. I'm sure we'd all have a very different view of each other if we were sitting around in a café, especially if a liberal application of some good wine were involved.

As for where I find the time? It's been too hot and humid here today to get any decent work done, so here I am. I also happen to type about 120 wpm (a legacy of many years in the legal field where time was always of the essence and documents were always of great length), so I can rattle on basically at the speed most people speak.

jt-libra · ‎08-17-2015

@rose-dee wrote:

I also happen to type about 120 wpm (a legacy of many years in the legal field where time was always of the essence and documents were always of great length), so I can rattle on basically at the speed most people speak.

Your comment made me laugh.

I too type about 120 wpm. I remember when I first started working, typing was not a particularly highly regarded skill ..... just something that men thought most women could do -- like cooking or sewing. THEN when men, or non-typists, started to use computers, I think they finally began to appreciate typing skills. Of course, by then, it was too late to get commensurate wages for that skill since computers had grammar and spell correction. But how well I remember those long legal documents when you got increasingly anxious as you neared the end, praying you wouldn't make a mistake, because white-out was a no-no. Takes me back!!

cumos55 · ‎08-17-2015

Lawyers cannot afford to use ... spell check... when they prepare a legal document..... Found that out when a legal trust document was require.... The wrong word can change the real intent of a legal document.

Then the comment about men and typing took me back to high school... or was it Junior High??? ...when a friend took a typing course.

I never did too well in English courses...... However, I think my Grade 9 English teacher would be rolling in her grave... laughing at what I have written over the past decades.... paper, manuscripts... and now everything I prepare for eBay....

Something must have gotten through ... and thank to allof my English language teachers...

Yet the language keeps changing... and changing

My typing skills are ???? best not described... but then I can do it... my way.... as we all do on eBay.

cumos55 · ‎08-17-2015

Back to eBay.....

Many ... many listings...... maybe too many in some categories...

The backbone of eBay IS the small seller..... They provide the diversity of inventory found here.... the unique of unique

Too many see the big seller as a benefit to eBay..

Yet in the category of books... there are too many BIG sellers of books, with 100's of thousands of listings, that ignore rules about the gallery photo.....

and then how they use duplicates. ... and even triplicates and quadruplicates

They also ignore defects.... and consequently acceptable customer service.... They sell so much that defects are inconsequential

How they sell will affect the book category... mainly because they are so big....

Big guys cannot be allowed to ignore the basics of eBay

Small sellers that provide a unique type of inventory are a necessity.... They must also evolve with what they sell, and how they sell

sylviebee · ‎08-17-2015

OK, so I guess I got sucked into it a bit, and again I'll probably regret this post, but you've posted so much that I''m left wondering what it's all about.

I'm here on eBay to make money, and if I can do that selling what I love that's a bonus.

I just assumed that's why others are here as well.

Since everything other than your patterns is filler for you I checked out your patterns a little bit.

In you category Antiques, sewing pre-1930, patterns, the rest of the items are old and original articles from that era.

Yours are current patterns of pre-1930 articles of clothing and don't even truly fit the category very well.

You are alone in that category. Are you also the ONLY one on eBay selling current original patterns of pre-1930 articles of clothing?

If so, why would buyers for that type of item come to eBay when they search for a pattern like yours?

rose-dee · ‎08-18-2015

@sylviebee wrote:

If so, why would buyers for that type of item come to eBay when they search for a pattern like yours?

Well, they have been for many years, so I think I must be doing something right -- that is, up until recently when my buyers seem to have partly evaporated. I suspect that the .com "cart disconnect" that eBay won't fix has a great deal to do with it, but not all. The dramatic drop-off started just early this year, so there must be additional reasons than the cart problem (which has been an issue for over a year).

I think what you're misunderstanding is that people looking for antique sewing patterns tend to search by keyword, not category. I've known this for years (thanks to Omniture, and confirmed by remarks by eBay reps).

There is no specifically precise category for what I do. However my antique patterns do fit appropriately in two categories: Antiques/patterns/pre-1930 and Crafts/...patterns/costumes, and I tend to alternate between the two, although the "costume" category is really not as applicable and I don't prefer using it since my buyers are looking for authenticity. Strictly speaking I have no direct competitors that I'm aware of in either category (I have some "comparison" competitors), but I'm not alone in the pre-1930 category at all. This may sound contradictory, but it's not.

There are many sellers who list old/antique paper patterns in pre-1930, but buyers who do search by category are usually not looking to acquire an old document for collectible purposes, but rather to buy a historical pattern they can actually use. Unfortunately, it takes quite expert garment construction knowledge to sew from most antique patterns just as they are, as well as facility in French and familiarity with couturier jargon to use the French ones. Few average buyers looking for an antique design to sew have those skills, but unlike many eBay buyers, they do tend to read (thank goodness!) and will see from my descriptions that I have exactly what they want -- an authentic design that anyone with reasonable sewing experience can make successfully.

Old/antique patterns are fiendishly difficult to interpret without both language and advanced sewing skills. Most are in fact not even patterns as such, but multi-lined superimposed sheets of the smaller pattern pieces, with larger pieces given in reduced-scale drawings, and no patterns or guidance at all for ancillary pieces (cuffs, facings, collars, etc.).

My own patterns take many of those same antique "bare bones" patterns and make them accessible for modern users. In short, my designs are the authentic antique patterns, but I have translated, graded, re-drawn and fully reworked them, including writing my own sewing instructions, so that they are in a format similar to modern commercial sewing patterns. I won't bore everybody with the details here, but it's a very labour and time-intensive process requiring an unusual skill set. I have a description of the process on my Store Pages if you have any interest.

I am in a unique niche, but my pattern listings have never been invisible. In the years prior to 2013, each time I had a group reprinted, they all sold out within a few days to a couple of months. After the "cart disconnect" started in late 2013, it was more like a few weeks to 3 or 4 months (I used to have a lot of multiple purchases which dried up due to the cart problem), and about the same reprint cycle in 2014.

However this year I've done only one reprint so far and they are selling slower than ever. That in itself tells me something odd and rather sudden has changed. Taken together with the fact that other items that used to be highly saleable are now languishing for months, I can only conclude the problem is coming from somewhere other than my own efforts.

And yes, I'm here to make money and to do what I love. It was a great place to do so up until about 2013 but there has been creeping deterioration since then, with a very noticeable and rather sudden downward slump after January of this year.

I really don't know what else I can say.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-18-2015

I'm afraid I disagree with your opinion that "it's not eBay's fault that the market is flooded with it." It is largely eBay's fault. It is their site, and they opened the floodgates to the legions of cheap Chinese and other such products (many of which are no doubt drop-shipped from Chinese suppliers). They somehow had never heard of supply and demand theory. Or maybe they thought they'd be the exception, who really knows?

I am NOT a shopper. I never was. I always hated it and left buying to the last minute. I was in the market for cross stitch patterns that were more challenging. Someone suggested eBay. It was instant love and I had to tell everyone about it:

"If you had a favorite doll when you were a kid, you can find it on eBay!"

"If you want something unique, eBay is the place!"

" If you want a special collectible that you have been searching for, go to eBay".

My first purchase was a Swarovski pin that I never did wear followed by many more. I wanted a few smaller trinkets to decorate two small shelves in my kitchen and ended up with 332 pieces of china. I built up a huge collection of Swarovski crystal. I bought non stop. My family joked that when I went on holidays, eBay called. These made up the original inventory for Gifts of Elegance. I started to sell so I could buy more. Business was good! I was flying high! No sacrifice was too great, I had grabbed the brass ring. I was not alone. Many others soared high beyond their expectations. eBay was the first shopping venue of this nature and it became extremely popular. Collectors of all kinds flocked to its site and eBay became a household name. Jokes were made about all the unique items people bought and even a song written about it. It was a huge success.

"When something isn't broken, don't fix it".

But Johnny Ho didn't like it, it did not satisfy him and he had to brake it. His dream was to "fix it". Sellers that made this site great were purged to make room for big store sellers and mass producers of Chinese junk. Didn't he know that they could not offer anything we could not buy at our local mall? Or that there were many brick and mortar stores who sold nothing else but cheap Chinese junk?

reallynicestamps · ‎08-18-2015

My problem is in understanding why it is that sellers who have done absolutely everything eBay has told us to do to be successful and grow, aren't seeing results.

That of course assumes that eBay has some conception of how to run a successful eBay enterprise.

They even managed to mess up the GSP, by encouraging inexperienced sellers to use it, by not warning them when they should not use it, and by making the refund process difficult.

It should have made buyers happy by increasing the items available to them and sellers happy to have more happy buyers.

But we all know how that went.

Does eBay encourage its employees to sell here?

gifts_of_elegance · ‎08-18-2015

@pierrelebel wrote:
Good morning gifts_of_elegance

"But I refuse to accept the fact that falling sales are in any way "my fault"."

I agree,

I took the time this morning to re-read this thread, slowly, from the beginning. Nowhere did I see anything written by anyone stating, suggesting, hinting or implying that you were "at fault".

Hello Pierre,

You don't think so?
Then let me correct myself.
"I have done everything possible to build my business and to stimulate growth. Increase in inventory, continuous addition of new items, selection of popular brand name items available on the secondary market only and top priority service rendered. I COULD DO NO MORE!

There is too much emphasis on this board in trying to "blame" someone when things do not go as we would like them to go. The obvious target has been and continues to be "blame eBay": they are the cause of the slowdown. I refuse to subscribe to that theory. It is too simplistic for the many reasons already stated in earlier posts.

Sellers have no control over speed of postal delivery or postage costs. Yet, the DSR system is set up around rating these services and cost. Low ratings result in lowered visibility of our items. Who controls this? And how is it controlled?
By putting our listings at the bottom of search and certain "black outs" are just two examples. If purchasers can't see it, then they won't buy it. Who should we blame?

What is "Best Match"? We know it is the item that eBay has picked to be most visible and to a purchaser it means "Best one to buy". Who is doing the manipulating here??

Some sellers see their sales increase, some see their sales decrease and some are more or less constant. And yes Canadians selling online are facing more challenges than their competitors.

Yes, that is probably true. I was friends with one of my competitors and either she lied to me or actually got better treatment from eBay over the same issues, even though I was an older and a bigger seller than her. But I never felt "under-priviledged" because I was a Canadian seller.

In post #7 bargainbookscanada is correct when stating:

"Here are the main problems right now, IMO.

1) Competition. There is just too much competition for..everything. Not only more sellers on Ebay, but more sellers on the River, more people using up classified ads, 3rd party website that have branched off of Ebay and now run their own independent sites. Not to mention thrift stores that use Ebay to comparison shop and sell items in their physical stores or online on their own thrift websites.

There was a time when 75% of the Christian Dior jewelry were my listings. My eBay account manager said I sold more in numbers and dollars in this category than all the other sellers combined. Now I am down to about 30% of the listings but the difference is mine are new from old stock and the others are used, therefore I don't consider them "competition".

2) Though I think there are still more sellers on Ebay than ever.

This is true, there are more registered sellers but there are also more registered buyers.

. Many sellers have left because of Ebay policies and many sellers used to be Ebay buyers.

This is also true, there are less buyers now but also less sellers.

3) Time. Most products just have a limited demand. For example, out of print media. There are only so many people willing to pay, say 25 dollars for an Out of print DVD. Most categories are not immune.

Fortunately I do not sell out of print media. I sell jewelry and as long as ladies like to adorn themselves it will also be popular. Brand name jewelry increases in value with age.

Swarovski Crystal has a large following of collectors and the older items are available on the secondary market only.

Quality brand name items are mostly available in larger centers and very limited in smaller communities. Also, there are
people who will not settle for "Made in China" products.

4) Buyer expectations. A lot of the smart buyers know what a jam Ebay sellers are in and they are holding out, looking to buy mint condition collectibles on the cheap. I think the overall economy has changed. I mean you can buy a Chinese made 32gb flash drive for 10.00 online and mailed to your door. A lot of people think that everything should be ultra cheap and shipped right to their door."

There has always been buyers that targeted desperate sellers.

I think the overall economy has changed. I mean you can buy a Chinese made 32gb flash drive for 10.00 online and mailed to your door. A lot of people think that everything should be ultra cheap and shipped right to their door."

Maybe so, but I think the majority of people would still like to have quality even at a higher price.

Good night Pierre, I am sure you are sleeping as it is past 3 AM and thats what I should be doing as well.