Ebay items just not selling any more - not even getting views, what has changed?

FFHillbilly

I notice on one of my accounts I'm being offered a deal on promoting my listings??
might this have something to do with the downturn in sales? maybe now private sellers don't pay anything to list or sell they are at the bottom of the search, unless you either pay to promote your listing (or get the offer and promote it for free) and the your listings can actually be found and sales might go back to normal?

troglodyte

I suspect it must be to do with that. You can list your item for free - but no-one will see it unless you pay!

soolin

My private sales were slow, but in the past 10 days they have started to fly. I assume a lot of it is for Christmas presents, but frankly some of the items that people are buying are going to make the strangest gifts!

I imagine a lot of grandparents and parents will be getting things with the message, I know you were around in the 1950s/1960s and thought you might like this widget from that date.

I was putting my holiday settings on today, but am tempted to leave it until Monday now just to mop up a bit more money for extra Christmas presents.

vacheron

Based on the christmas theory, based on the past 2 weeks, someone this year is getting a 250gb hard drive, an awful garish alligator belt, a broken mantel clock and a 1898 Denon 3-Head cassette deck (also broken) 

soolin

vacheron said:

Based on the christmas theory, based on the past 2 weeks, someone this year is getting a 250gb hard drive, an awful garish alligator belt, a broken mantel clock and a 1898 Denon 3-Head cassette deck (also broken) 

There does seem a bit of desperation around to find novelty gifts  - but some of the stuff I've sold is going to be seriously disappointing to people. I prefer not to say exactly what I've sold, but think along the lines of a glass sugar cube pot C 1970 or a toffee hammer for a block of toffee, plus strange things like Diddy men toys and books about aircraft spotting (war era).

Probably putting my holiday settings on today or tomorrow though as postage is still a bit slow and I prefer to stop selling than end up with emails on Christmas Eve asking where their very important item is for aunty Flo that they bought specially. 

horsewithnoname

soolin said:

vacheron said:

Based on the christmas theory, based on the past 2 weeks, someone this year is getting a 250gb hard drive, an awful garish alligator belt, a broken mantel clock and a 1898 Denon 3-Head cassette deck (also broken) 

There does seem a bit of desperation around to find novelty gifts  - but some of the stuff I've sold is going to be seriously disappointing to people. I prefer not to say exactly what I've sold, but think along the lines of a glass sugar cube pot C 1970 or a toffee hammer for a block of toffee, plus strange things like Diddy men toys and books about aircraft spotting (war era).

Probably putting my holiday settings on today or tomorrow though as postage is still a bit slow and I prefer to stop selling than end up with emails on Christmas Eve asking where their very important item is for aunty Flo that they bought specially. 

A toffee hammer! I remember them - you used to get a block of toffee with it back in the day, hopefully the person getting the hammer will also get a block of toffee! 😁

Spoonie_Turtle

horsewithnoname said:

soolin said:

vacheron said:

Based on the christmas theory, based on the past 2 weeks, someone this year is getting a 250gb hard drive, an awful garish alligator belt, a broken mantel clock and a 1898 Denon 3-Head cassette deck (also broken) 

There does seem a bit of desperation around to find novelty gifts  - but some of the stuff I've sold is going to be seriously disappointing to people. I prefer not to say exactly what I've sold, but think along the lines of a glass sugar cube pot C 1970 or a toffee hammer for a block of toffee, plus strange things like Diddy men toys and books about aircraft spotting (war era).

Probably putting my holiday settings on today or tomorrow though as postage is still a bit slow and I prefer to stop selling than end up with emails on Christmas Eve asking where their very important item is for aunty Flo that they bought specially. 

A toffee hammer! I remember them - you used to get a block of toffee with it back in the day, hopefully the person getting the hammer will also get a block of toffee! 😁

Homemade, maybe!

Whalie

Apologies to all the posters that asked after my comment in Nov. where I now buy instead of E bay.  I have made a few purchases from the local Facebook sellers page but doing my homework first and actually collecting the item from their homes paying cash.  I mostly buy from charity shops if not buying new but have been more Moneysaving by asking myself do I really need this so buy a lot less than I did 10 years ago.

danny69

I think ebay rely more heavily on the Promoted Listings income these days. Private sellers get loads of 80% off FVF days, and new business sellers (like myself) have no fees at all until the new year. 

It is all well and good eBay targeting certain types of seller, but firstly they need the sellers to be in the right category of account. Next year for me as a business is going to be impossible to compete on price with ‘Private’ sellers who are listing items on ‘Pre-order’ 🤡🤡 I thought there was a rule that you couldn’t sell an item unless you had it ‘in hand’? Isn’t that the case any more? The playing field could certainly do to be levelled out. Starting with a standardised fees structure. Instead of offering gimmicks/promotions of low or no fees, they could reduce fees drastically, keep them low and make it fair for everyone. 

soolin

danny69 said:

I think ebay rely more heavily on the Promoted Listings income these days. Private sellers get loads of 80% off FVF days, and new business sellers (like myself) have no fees at all until the new year. 

It is all well and good eBay targeting certain types of seller, but firstly they need the sellers to be in the right category of account. Next year for me as a business is going to be impossible to compete on price with ‘Private’ sellers who are listing items on ‘Pre-order’ 🤡🤡 I thought there was a rule that you couldn’t sell an item unless you had it ‘in hand’? Isn’t that the case any more? The playing field could certainly do to be levelled out. Starting with a standardised fees structure. Instead of offering gimmicks/promotions of low or no fees, they could reduce fees drastically, keep them low and make it fair for everyone. 

Re your first paragraph, it’s worse than you think. Private sellers get 300 listings a month free of FVFs, and each month there is a new 300 allowed, so that’s 3600 free listings a year if they use BINs.