Ebay Traffic Falling
EBay traffic is falling fast. According to Ina Steiner from auction bytes, eBay traffic declined by 32% from a year ago and 40% compared to four years ago. I’ve seen a massive drop in sales from my own store and I’m not alone.
A quick look around the eBay forums tells the same story. Storeowners are complaining about falling sales and less customer visitors. Complaints to eBay are met with the usual “nothing’s changed” response.
Things are changing though. There’s no doubt that traffic is falling fast. How much of this is due to the current economic situation and how much is due to the changes eBay has been implementing over the last few years is unclear. There’s no doubt that the trend is downwards, and it’s also certain that the ever rising costs of selling on eBay is driving sellers away.
Ebay seems to want to attract the big retailers to the site at the expense of smaller sellers. The constant rule changes are forcing many small sellers off the site, these combined with the high cost of selling on eBay are making it more difficult for small sellers to survive on the auction site.
It takes time and effort to sell on eBay, if the returns are low then more and more small sellers will leave the site. Personally, if I stop reaching my profit margins I’ll be one of them.
There’s no need to despair, eBay is just one avenue to use to make a second income online, there’s plenty of other ways. Don’t forget Amazon is a growing marketplace and direct marketing is a proven technique.
As eBay continues on its downward slide, it’s important that online sellers look for other venues to sell on. Don’t put all your eggs on eBay, on present trends they’ll get scrambled.
Well it’s a wet Sunday here in Leeds, I think I’ll go for a pint.
Cheers
Send some of that rain out here to California. We’re under drought restraints since we haven’t had ran in months!
Ebay…where does one start? I have no idea where it will end with John Donahoe and his “disruptive innovation.” Its unbelievable to me that they put a multi-billion dollar business in the hands of him and his wrecking crew! He has practically destroyed the Ebay we once knew – in favor of what? I sure can’t figure it out! I suppose with nobody to stop him he will take Ebay all the way down to its final conclusion. Everyone needs to be listing elsewhere and promoting those listings. Etsy, Bonanzle, OnlineAuctions, Craigslist should be on everyone’s tongue. Its the only way us small sellers will survive! Pay less attention on the doomed Ebay and more attention on the sites struggling for exposure and traffic!
Even heavier restrictions on sellers are coming down the tube just in time for the holiday season! I doubt there will be much of a holiday season on Ebay.
I agree Patricia. As sellers we need to be looking for other venues. We need to jump ship as soon as possible. Ebay is fatally wounded. A classic case of a thriving business wrecked by an incompetent management; and they get well paid for doing it. Where do they get these guys from? It takes real effort to destroy a monopoly but thet’re doing a great job.
It’s basic business sense that you don’t abuse your customers. Small sellers are Ebay’s customers; we provide the market with variation of products and quality service, it’s us that attract the buyers. You can only take so much stalinist abuse before you say, that’s it, I’m off. The only thing they had to offer was the traffic Ebay generated. Now that’s going south, there’s nothing left. Thanks for your comment. Hope it rains soon, we’ve had three days of it.
Paul