It seems that whenever anyone asks how to make some extra money, especially from home, one of the answers is ALWAYS, “sell stuff on Ebay that you find lying around the house”. In the early days of Ebay, this might have been a great suggestion. Things have changed on Ebay…
I had sold a few things here and there on Ebay, but last year wanted to get more serious about my selling, so I opened an Ebay store. I sold mainly under the category of Self-Representing Artists, focusing on sales of my ACEOs (Artist Trading Cards). I certainly wasn’t getting “rich”, but I was happy with the sales I was making and looked forward to selling more.
Earlier this spring, I started noticing a slow down in sales. Where I’d had plenty of traffic to my store and listings before, now there was a definite reduction in the number of visitors. I hadn’t really changed my products, or the way I handled sales, so I wasn’t sure what was going on.
Keeping up with the Ebay Stores discussion boards, I found that I wasn’t alone in wondering why sales had dried up. Many others were complaining about the same thing.
As we headed towards summer, I decided to close my Ebay store and move over to Etsy to sell my artwork instead. Shortly after I closed my store, the now-infamous Bill Cobb letter went out to everyone, notifying all of us about increased fees.
This set off a fresh furor on the Ebay Stores board. For weeks, it seemed that all you’d hear about were boycotts being formed, people grumbling, and hordes of sellers closing their stores and leaving Ebay.
During this time, I briefly reopened my store to see for myself whether or not things were as bad as I was reading on the boards. Sure enough, it was bad. Traffic was practically non-existent. There’s been talk about an on/off “faucet effect” on the Ebay stores, where people have accused Ebay of shutting off access to certain bunches of stores at a time. I do not know whether or not this is true, but I do know that selling on Ebay now is not at all like it used to be.
I no longer have a store on Ebay. I don’t care for selling at auction, or, as Ebay describes it, in “core. I’ve listed one item at fixed price in “core” since I closed my store, and even though I had listed in a category where the same item had done well before, this time my item got only TWELVE VIEWS in seven days! It didn’t sell.
Things seem to have calmed down a little bit on the Ebay Stores discussion board, but not a lot. There are still many angry sellers posting there. It’s difficult to find positive topics there right now. Lots of the regulars have already left Ebay.
I’m enjoying Etsy. I’ve started making some sales, and Version 2 of the Etsy software is due to come out this weekend. From what I’ve read on the discussion boards there, it sounds like there are going to be several improvements and enhancements, which will, hopefully, result in more sales for everyone.
With the negative and chaotic atmosphere that seems to be reigning on Ebay right now, if you’re looking to make some extra money, I’d suggest you think twice before signing up to sell on Ebay.
Reference:
- To visit Ebay: www.ebay.com To visit Etsy, a venue for selling handmade items and artwork: www.etsy.com
