So Ebay are urging shoppers to buy second hand stuff this year...

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www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63463171

"Online marketplace eBay is going back to its roots this month with a decision to promote only second-hand or refurbished deals for Black Friday."

It's fine to generally promote the buying and selling of second hand items across a variety of websites and charity shops etc. What's not fine is for Ebay to be suddenly pretending they care about this. They have spent years scaring off their personal sellers with more and more ridiculous rule changes, and increasing numbers of people have jumped ship to other places like Vinted and Depop etc. After selling on Ebay for years, I finally joined Vinted this year because Ebay had changed something in their page counts which meant I was getting next to no views. It's not just that my stuff wasn't selling, it's that people couldn't even see my stuff in the first place. Admittedly I haven't sold much stuff on Vinted either but at least I'm getting views, favourites and general engagement, and I've also bought something. Unlike Ebay, they seem to actually want personal sellers to be able to sell stuff.

I'm not aware of a big name retailer that isn't maximising the available optics and additional revenue freely available from green-washing. More fool those that fall for it. At least there do exist on ebay, small businesses which are clearly profitable for some and a broader lean towards reselling in it's general purposes.

I still sell on ebay and haven't noticed much difference personally, though admittedly I think you do now have to spend longer ensuring you fill out all possible item specifics and be careful with titles to maximise reach, I think expectations are higher these days in the respect of photographing items and people are not willing to spend much on clothing that isn't branded or factor in postage costs. When I factor the postage cost into a buy it now price those items invariably sell quicker because of the 'free postage'. Equally if you artificially mark up the buy it now price buy a few pounds but invite offers I tend to find you sell for what you wanted anyway, because the idea of a bargain is what tempts a buyer.

I don't use depop as I don't really have a need but was interested to learn they are owned under the same umbrella as Etsy, which seems to get mixed reviews from sellers for their percentage cut and from buyers for not regulating scam sellers and upholding copyright. You can't please everyone.

Ebay search has been manipulated like that since they changed the search engine some years ago.

I watched my sales and noted that they came in batches, and within the same geographical area. Then they would stop, when they began again it was mainly to a different area.

The scoring criteria with stars and returns/cases, views etc. affects how high your item is in the search. It is not helped by Best Match being the default search and promoted listings which you can choose to pay for. However if you do choose this, it stands to reason that buyers will also view your other items.

A casual seller who doesn't make their listings clear or is lazy about creating a title doesn't stand much of a chance these days.

It very much depends on many things as to whether your listings are shown. If you are rated as a below standard seller you don't stand much of a chance.

Try Ebid.

@GeneratedRandomly My listings were always clear as day with detailed information, measurements and photos etc. I've been on Ebay for at least fifteen years with perfect feedback etc, zero returns requests, only had one problem buyer ever, always sold 1-4 items per month. When people used to complain about making no sales I used to think it was something they'd done wrong, but now I know it's just random when it happens to you. Ever since they changed the way they count page views, I've sold about two items in an entire year. A few years ago I was shadowbanned for a few months for no reason, but then it suddenly bounced back again. Now I feel like I'm permanently shadowbanned. Just wait until it happens to you.

Moved over to Vinted and suddenly people are interested in my stuff. Much easier to list, much more straightforward, far less faff. And it's well-known that Ebay is mainly populated by business sellers now, and they've been gradually hounding out the private sellers over the last few years. I don't really see any reason to go back.

They are trying to get their market share back for sure. I only sell intermittently but noticed last time I just wasn’t getting views when using the same titles and average or just better than average pricing. I still buy but I’ve cut down a lot although three Kemi Telford dresses in as many months might not say so 😆

That's pretty much what I was saying. I did have spells where things didn't sell, I used to fiddle with my titles and item specifics. I stopped selling when they changed the payment method from PayPal as I couldn't be bothered with it. They are continually messing abut with the site and half the time it doesn't work. I gave up after 23 years as it was a constant struggle with the way they treat sellers and having to keep everything buttoned up to fend off the thieving buyers and people who only looked at the first photo without reading the description of looking at the size.

I meant it must be harder for those people who don't fill in item specifics or put more than 2 words in the title, competition for the sellers that are selling the same tat as others, having to check their prices to undercut them every few hours. The unfair way listings are hidden instead of letting buyers wade through them all and choose for themselves.

As a buyer I get annoyed when I have seen something and not added it to watch, knowing full well it was there, going back with the same search criteria to find it again and it has been hidden. It is possible to find things again, but it takes a lot of messing about. This has happened several times. I know they hide listings, suppose if they are free listings they think it is OK. When they changed the search engine to Cassini they ruined it for sellers.

or looking at the size