The head of eBay Americas Jordan Sweetnam said there has been a remarkable increase in traffic to the eBay site and shared some recent sales trends with sellers. He also advised them to watch for a forthcoming ad campaign on digital video and radio channels.
Sweenam posted a slide show of selling guides “designed to showcase some surprising trends” where he wrote the following:
What’s In Demand Right Now on eBay
A few weeks ago, I shared some key insights on what’s trending with buyers on eBay. Overall, there’s been a remarkable increase in traffic to our site; and eBay data offers a unique look at how everyone is adjusting their shopping behaviors.
While stay at home recommendations remain, many regions are finally enjoying some warmer weather. As a result, we’ve seen a renewed interest in “backyard improvement,” along with some new ways to keep busy at home.
With this in mind, I wanted to share updated insights around what is trending right now with our buyers. The below selling guides were designed to showcase some surprising trends, and serve as a reminder that people want a wide variety of items, conditions and price points. We hope this will be both interesting and useful to know what’s in demand with eBay shoppers right now, whether new or pre-owned.
Check it out.. a lot of interesting trends and some pretty funny ones as well!
One slide titled “Stay in your backyard” showed three-digit growth in demand for items like Swimming Pools, String Lights, and Swings & Slides. Another slide showed that Bread Machines experienced over 800% growth as people discover new ways to spend free time, “from baking to beekeeping.”
When a seller replied to his post on Facebook stating it sounded like a great time for eBay to run an ad campaign to leverage the boost in business, Sweetnam said he agreed. “We don’t normally do broad based ad campaigns, but will start this week across digital video and digital radio. Key theme being that shopping eBay is supporting your local businesses across America. We’ll be trying a few different messages (we’re open, we’re shipping quickly, and we have everything). So keep your eyes and ears open for our messages!”
You can find the post on the eBay Seller Announcement board.
What’s the point of listing anything for sale on eBay right now when all the carriers are having problems with delivery? Every day I hear sellers living a nightmare where the buyers (groomed and spoiled by Amazon’s private van fleets) try to get refunds just because their packages are a few days late.
It’s complete chaos. I am based in Sweden and there are major disruptions within the EU.
Shipping takes around 10-14 days longer or more. Every single buyer is opening a case asking for a refund.
Talked to eBay and asked if they could extend the delivery estimates from Sweden but they had no interest in doing that. Guess they are thinking that longer shipping estimates will lead to less sales. Less sales is less fees for them.
They promised in a news letter that they would protect their sellers during this pandemic but that is complete bullshit. They have now started to refund money to all buyers that asks eBay to step in. Refunds are made even though tracking shows that the parcel is on its way.
So shopping for free on ebay is a thing. I have now found a way to cheat the system. I have changed my shipping method to economy shipping from China. Shipping Estimates are now 3 weeks longer than previous. Sales went down a little.
But I rather sell less items and keep the money than sell tons and keep 0 money.
oh boy stuff in demand….
so now there is more stuff to price gouge on