Discussion interactions are currently paused. Buying & Selling Summary: The discussion revolves around concerns about eBay sellers falsely claiming to be based in Australia to mislead buyers, with several participants sharing their observations and expressing frustration with eBay's response. 49gran highlights issues with sellers in China posing as Australian, leading to delays and poor communication. sandypebbles lists signs to identify such sellers and comments on unrelated issues of sales declines due to AI and taxes. davewil1964 clarifies a point about the discussion focusing on Australian sellers rather than buyers. I have experienced a dramatic drop in sales in 2026. I have 620 listings currently and the only thing I have changed is to declare that I will not despatch to USA. The reason for that is that I will not get involved in the stupidity gnerated by that country's imposition of duties. However, I do not think that can affect my sales overall. In Australia there are some cost of living challenges but not of a magnitude that would stop people from buying on ebay. It feels like ebay has made a policy change or amended the visibility of listings but I have no specific indications of anything like that. Ebay's income must also have dropped so I hope they are on the case and can find a solution. My last two purchases have been nightmares. Been on ebay 20 plus years, Im done..... Many of the sellers say they are based in Australia when in fact they are in China and eBay does nothing to stop this. You can always tell when you try to get answers about items you have bought when they dont answer emails or even send the items within a given time frame. Ebay needs to stop this or more people like myself will stop using it. You can always tell by It shows where they are registered It shows in their feedback if they lie about where they ship from It shows by stupidly long delivery dates It shows by their photos being lifted from other (usually dodgy) websites It shows by Australian flags etc plastered over every ad eBay are aware of it eBay are not going to 'stop it' Buyers can choose every time not to support these dodgy sellers All of which has nothing to do with the post you commented on, which was to do with a drop in sales when sending to America due to AI and taxes The OP is an Australian seller, not a buyer. See ya. Don't slam the door. cinemascope2014 A drastic drop happened early last year when Trump and Musk went nuts. This time it will be a deeper and longer decline because of the Middle East situation and the very real prospects of a recession later in the year, with Australia Post already mumbling about a major increase in parcel costs in May, along with the expected price rises mid-year. It ain't going to be pretty. yup mine have dropped a huge ammount its insane. im hoping to find another platform to sell on as ebay are offering pretty much sweet f a "In some categories buyers can hardly find items listed by good, honest Australian sellers amongst all the scam listings" To add, when a seller is down to 19.1% feedback and the problem has now been ongoing for over a year The 48,950 items still listed do tend to clog up the system !!! https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/2-months-I-have-no-item-and-seller-won-t-answer/td-p/2634906/page/2 Disgraceful that any account can get down to 19% feedback and still have almost 50k items listed. Or any items listed, for that matter. " However, I do not think that can affect my sales overall. In Australia there are some cost of living challenges but not of a magnitude that would stop people from buying on ebay. Other ebayers are also complaining abou t reduced success rates" In some categories buyers can hardly find items listed by good, honest Australian sellers amongst all the scam listings, dropshipping rubbish, more often than not listed by Chinese sellers. eBay likes to call them 'Top Rated Sellers' Buyers are fed up with it and are increasingly leaving this site and shopping elsewhere. This ,in turn, affects ALL sellers , especially our Australian sellers Buyers are fed up with it and are increasingly leaving this site and shopping elsewhere. I completely agree with you Casey, 5 or more years ago I would have had 50 or so items on my Watchlist. What is it now ? Three......................!!! " However, I do not think that can affect my sales overall. In Australia there are some cost of living challenges but not of a magnitude that would stop people from buying on ebay. Other ebayers are also complaining abou t reduced success rates" In some categories buyers can hardly find items listed by good, honest Australian sellers amongst all the scam listings, dropshipping rubbish, more often than not listed by Chinese sellers. eBay likes to call them 'Top Rated Sellers' Buyers are fed up with it and are increasingly leaving this site and shopping elsewhere. This ,in turn, affects ALL sellers , especially our Australian sellers Ebay have just released their financials for the December 2025 quarter. Gross Merchandise Volume ( stuff sold ) up 10% on same quarter 12 months ago. Active buyers up 1 % from 134 Mil. to 135 mil. https://investors.ebayinc.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/eBay-Inc--Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2025-Results/default.aspx I couldnt find the active seller number easily, but unlikely to be 10% more than 12 months ago. SOOOO - there are still buyers out there and they are buying much more than 12 months ago. It just depends on what they are buying and who they are buying it from. As for the OP's post, I had a dramatic decline in sales a few weeks ago. It was only me as I benchmark against a couple of similar sellers in my categories and they were going gangbusters. The difference is they list new items every day, I list when I get some spare time. I started regularly listing high quality items daily and re-kick started the selling accounts. I had my best week ever in sales a couple of weeks ago. " I had my best week ever in sales a couple of weeks ago" I'm sure the OP will be very pleased to hear that !!! The best week followed a dramatic slow down that had me very worried. I thought it might be terminal for my accounts. As well as listing daily, I also sent out a stack of offers on old stock that had sat around for years. Price reduction averaged 30%. I had a huge response to the offers - much higher than expected. I have always believed the eBay algorythms have a strong response to new listings and sales. The more you sell, the higher visibility you receive and so you sell even more. The reverse is also true. Slow sales lower visibility and so sales drop even further. This can result in a death spiral if not addressed. I have found the way to address it is to list new items regularly, list popular items that you know will sell at a reasonable price to get things started and send out offers to get sales going again. I hope this helps the OP and others who are experiencing a rapid decline in sales and shows things can be turned around quickly and quite dramatically. brickworksmarket Lately I have been using AI to tweak my selling methods as I can get an idea if it may improve sales when I run it through AI. It gives a time advantage and when you include numbers your not spending time calculating everything out. End of the day ebay is a numbers game and time is money. cindysvintagestuff Agree. Ebay is a cat, it likes to be stroked and petted and when you stop it scratches you. Personally, we list 3 times a week, I send an offer on EVERY watched item, I use the email they send which asks you to go through the listings they provide because the items have not sold in 90 days (it's quite a handy function actually) and do little adjustments to make ebay happy, you must have promoted imo but I use 2% on every item (it's the lowest you can have), I have sales regularly on the listings I want to move (that's a weird thing because I find the items don't always sell during the sale but afterward) I also use the 'items ending today' before they click over to the new cycle and make adjustments on the items that have been hanging around awhile and the really hard ones to move I put up for auction (I am not a fan of auctions but they do serve their purpose on occasion). Also, ending items and then relisting them with some adjustments is a way to put the item up the top because it becomes a new listing. But I am on ebay every day, doing all the petting and stroking of the cat. You have to be on ebay every day. I don't put it on holiday as my employee is a gem and is very capable of managing but I am still watching every damn day because there are just some things that only I can do ( decisions on some messages and such). I learned the hard way that the algorithm puts all the items on the bottom and you have to work your butt off getting them seen again if you put it on holiday. The search is bad enough as it is without that. Save the paragraph. Is there any reason why you are bumping oldish threads rather than starting your own?

Ebay have just released their financials for the December 2025 quarter. Gross Merchandise Volume ( stuff sold ) up 10% on same quarter 12 months ago. Active buyers up 1 % from 134 Mil. to 135 mil. I don't doubt you for a moment. And it sounds as if your sales are going well. I also agree that there are unlikely to be 10% more sellers on ebay than there were 12 months ago, if buyer numbers are only up about 1%. So what that suggests to me is that there may have been a modest increase in the number of sellers plus there may have been an increase in the number of items listed by some sellers. And to me, that screams China. Admittedly, we only ever see a small cohort of sellers on this forum but the overall view I notice is that quite a few aussie sellers are not doing as well as they used to, although it does seem to depend a lot on what sort of stock they are selling. But casey has also pointed out at various times that there seem to be more scam accounts around, some of which carry thousands of items. Overall though, I suspect more Chinese sellers are on the bandwagon or else the same ones have increased their range of stock. It has changed the face of ebay, because I believe a lot of aussies who would once have used ebay have now moved to marketplace. Ebay is the online equivalent of pandamart-flooded with cheap Chinese stuff, some of it not so safe either. PS It is still better than pandamart though as you can still find some good stuff here, whereas pandamart is a wasteland. 😑 The thing that really stood out to me in eBays December Quarter 2025 results report was the VERY STRONG emphasis it was placing on pre-loved fashion and collectibles. This is a marked change in language and direction for the company and suggests it has stopped trying to copy a couple of other major sales platforms and is embracing its key strength and point of difference which is pre-loved fashion and collectibles. The following is an excerpt from the report ( my red highlighting to save people reading the scroller ) eBay delivered its largest-ever slate of eBay Live holiday shopping events, driving real-time engagement around pre-loved fashion, sneakers, collectibles and refurbished tech during a peak shopping season. The company released a beta of its next generation Magical Listing experience on iOS and Android for new and reactivated sellers in the US. The AI-enabled tool radically simplifies the listing process, enabling these sellers to generate suggested titles, categories, item specifics and pricing guidance from a single photo. Early results have been powerful and the company plans to expand access in the coming months. eBay launched a new AI-powered card scanning experience leveraging its Smart Lens technology, providing historical pricing, PSA population data and valuable insights to help support informed collecting and trading decisions. Against the backdrop of another standout quarter for collectibles, the company released its year-end eBay Collected report, using marketplace data to highlight the products, athletes and cultural moments that defined 2025. The report reinforced eBay's position as a leading destination for collectors and enthusiasts. Season 3 of King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch debuted on Netflix and ranked in the top 10 shows in seven countries, including the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada. The company launched "Built to Spec," a new series of collaborations with cultural figures, builders and automotive enthusiasts to design custom vehicles using cars, parts and accessories sourced from eBay. The series debuted with actor and comedian Pete Davidson and highlighted eBay Motors' vast selection of parts and accessories. eBay expanded its Authenticity Guarantee in Germany to cover apparel, shoes, accessories and jewelry, and introduced optional authentication for handbags, watches and apparel in the U.K. and Germany, enhancing trust across more pre-loved categories, brands and price points. eBay entered a multi-year partnership with Condé Nast as the official Pre-Loved Partner across a portfolio of leading global media brands including Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair. The collaboration underscores eBay's leadership in pre-loved fashion, expands cultural reach across key markets and supports discovery and trust in authenticated resale. Yes, I have noticed that too. (the new emphasis on second hand categories) There's another thread somewhere, put up by Twyngwyn I think, about AI being used to help direct buyers to second hand items in the luxury or collectable categories. I think for many years, ebay tried to downplay these and in fact, to actively change things. I think they wanted the mum and dad sellers of ordinary second hand items to move over to gumtree etc. They would boast on ads that 70% of stock was brand new. Brand new from China, a lot of it. The strength of ebay has always been that you could find almost anything on it, new or used. That is very much NOT the case on marketplace. I was always surprised they never pushed that aspect, that the rare, the unusual, the collectable etc was easier to find on ebay. I can see why they need to expand the authenticity aspect though. So it looks as if they are trying to rebrand as carrying lots of new stock but also as the place to come for high end second hand brands and collectables. cindysvintagestuff Sob... I hate Marketplace. I think its unsafe and people are awful. They waste so much time and so many are just idiots. I can't cope with it. (I am assuming you are talking about FB Marketplace) My husband has just semi retired and will be working with me and he will likely use FB as he has already used it for our other business. It's just not a place I personally am willing to work on. And there really is no safety net like on ebay. I mean ebay is definitely a buyers forum with sellers often getting the raw end of the stick but ebay has saved me from truly terrible customers on a number of occasions, I would never have got that on FB. But ebay is also definitely becoming a place where you feel you need to start thinking about a plan b because its just becoming harder and harder to use and, if you used all the prompts that ebay pushes you to do, you would literally make no profit. In fact, I added up one day all the costings, 13% fee 2% promotion 55c per item to manage payments plus the often 12 -15% promoted they want you to put on your item its like, that's like taking your stuff to an auction house who usually charge 25% but they do all the work! You just drop your stuff off and then get paid. Ebay is literally pushing for that kind of percentage but you source, sort, photograph, list, store, package, do customer service, and drive to the post office. And probably other things you can think of. I honestly don't know why people would pay anymore than the base 2% promoted (the items just don't get seen without it) It's highway robbery, and don't get me started on the percentage they take off the postage! And I do hate all the cheap chinese stuff up there, and the fact that you purchase it on ebay but it gets sent from Amazon. Grrr Sorry. Rant over. Depending on your selling category, sales can fluctuate seasonally. Generally many people are on holidaze in January and with back to school / work and Christmas credit cards coming in, you can get a push back in sales. Another issue gaining relevance is the switch to Ai search engines which appear to be dishing up mixed results, unless a buyer has very specific search terms. Plus as we all know, eBay is rolling out Ai every which way to save money, them, not us... We refer to Ai as 'Advertising Income' or 'Artificial Information' but more the former... Unless you pay eBay to promote listings, your listings will drop in 'best' match. If your category has buyers who don't sort by 'best' match (the default) then your listings will appear by whatever criteria the potential buyer selects. Unfortunately most buyers don't seem to understand how the site works, nor the search options available to them. I note that you have 4 feedback in the last month vs 72 in the last year, a statistical glitch of 2. Thanks Dave. I have not changed my categories, listing parameters and practices or anything else. I never paid ebay to promote listings even when my sales were higher last year. Other ebayers are also complaining about reduced success rates. This suggests, then, that ebay may have changed its practices without any clarity (in my perception) on the matter. I am disappointed that ebay did not react to my post so will ask the question on the help page. eBay staff very very read the member to member forum and they never reply to posts here That said, it is important to note that there are two scammers using hacked accounts who do post here pretending to be from eBay who have posted asked a member to message them with their details, and both who regularly post here, claiming to be 'eBay experts' and offering 'advice' They even have fake social media pages Other members here have frequently asked the mods to remove these people/block them from posting but so far have refused to do so IF you do get a message or a response from someone claiming to be eBay, it is not "and both who regularly post here, claiming to be 'eBay experts' and offering 'advice'" And S is now dropshipping from AliExpress / Temu ! No surprise when they are 100% supported by all parties in their scamming Thanks for the heads up An ebay representative confirmed that they have not chnaged their practices or methodology. He could see on my account that some nuyers have not posted feedback but that has always been the case. He also noted that there is one defect (couldn't find a sold book; refunded buyer and apologised). In the end he could only suggest I keep listing items and hope that sales will improve. cindysvintagestuff That is actually not true. Ebay is constantly changing and updating and AI has sent everything to hell. And their search engine is dreadful. And what is worse is when you purchase something and it comes from freaking amazon (I will not deign to give it a capital letter, the crooks). Anyway, back to the subject, the reps have a copy and paste script, I actually got frustrated at one and directly asked if I was speaking to an AI, she ended the conversation. I tried again a few minutes later and got a person who was actually able to help. But honestly, they don't know very much and are only able to help within a very narrow bandwidth. I feel sorry for them. But my sales have tanked since trump (again, I will not give him a capital letter, another crook) and I am beginning to become concerned. Sales always have their ebb and flow but I make my living from ebay and employ someone also so its a worry. All the best and just keep plugging away. It's got to get better ...right?! Yor rant relates to the question how? Everyone here is very well aware that eBay reps use a script And the Dumpster effect What is your advice for the OP? Yeah man, my sales are lower than the Mariana Trench over the past few weeks and I'm still selling to the US, UK and NZ.