Decline in sales since private sellers are free - No sales despite advertising | Seller Lounge

rmkrausgbr · 2025-12-02T12:43:19.271000Z

Hello everyone, I keep reading that overall sales on eBay are declining. My sales are also declining by double-digit percentages since private sellers have been selling for free, and that has been the case from the start. Additionally, there are 2 lines of advertising between the product images and the product description, which means that many interested parties are migrating. Since I keep noticing that private sellers are offering a larger number of items, not just used goods but also new goods, I am slowly wondering what value selling on eBay has for commercial sellers. I would especially be interested to know the percentage ratio of the number and sales between private sellers and commercial sellers. I also keep noticing that commercial sellers, with whom I have previously shopped, are withdrawing or have completely deregistered. I would be interested to know what status commercial sellers still have on eBay. At the moment, I don't know how I will proceed if sales continue to decline. In the meantime, my sales have dropped from five figures to four figures. Even when I place ads, there are no clicks and no sales. In the past, it always helped when I placed ads. What also annoys me greatly is that commercial sellers have to comply with legal regulations, such as the packaging law, tax regulations, terms and conditions, right of withdrawal, etc., and private sellers do not. Furthermore, we as commercial sellers have to pay fees and private ones do not. These fees also drive up our offering prices because they have to be included in the calculation of offer prices in order to make any profit at all. The transaction fees are currently, for example, 11% of the offer price including shipping costs + €0.35, which for a value of goods of €13 + shipping costs of €4.95 = €17.95 corresponds to a transaction fee amount of €2.98 and thus order revenue of €14.97. If you now deduct the purchase costs, the shipping costs, the listing fees or proportionally the shop costs, anyone can see that you can hardly make a profit. I can't estimate how things will continue with eBay, as I am increasingly getting the impression that eBay is becoming the former eBay-[not on eBay]. Best regards rmkrausgbr

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