Low eBay Sales Caused by eBay's Category Removal

Sales are currently lower than normal on both eBay and Etsy.  This is no doubt tied to the economy and high inflation.  Sales also tend to be lower in the weeks before Tax Day.  Nevertheless, something else is at play on eBay.

In my previous post, "Using the Copyright Year in the Title of eBay Listings," I wrote:

My Nancy Drew books tend not to sell on eBay, but they sell just fine on Etsy.  Something is wrong on eBay, and I've felt for a long time that buyers cannot find my Nancy Drew books in the search results.  This is probably partly my fault.

I have not been consistent in using item specifics.  I find it hard to believe, however, that most Nancy Drew buyers rely solely on item specifics instead of looking at the items that are returned in their searches. So, I feel like it's more than just the item specifics. 

I know that more is going on.  My eBay Nancy Drew sales tanked sometime in the middle of last year.  Last summer, I created a bunch of small bulk lots of Nancy Drew original text picture cover books.  The books that were listed in those lots had condition problems and often had bookplates.  I didn't feel that those books were advisable to list individually, so I put them in the small bulk lots.  The lots were priced at from around $18 up to around $25 for three or four original text picture covers.  Shipping was free on the lots, so the buyers were only paying sales tax in addition to the cost of each lot. 

Years ago, the lots would have all sold within a few weeks.  The lots went mostly unnoticed.  Gradually over the months, the lots sold one at a time.  I still have one of them, and it's been close to a year since it was first listed. 

$6.66 per book plus sales tax is not a bad price.  While the books have wear, they are not in bad shape.  They are perfectly respectable copies, just like the others that took months to sell.  I have been astonished that these bulk lots have been so hard to move considering the high interest in the original text books.  

I can pinpoint exactly when the drop in Nancy Drew sales occurred on eBay.  I have taken several breaks from selling during the pandemic.  I reopened in March 2021 after a lengthy break.  At first, my Nancy Drew sales were fine.  My Nancy Drew sales began to drop by summer, although I didn't notice.  I was going through a lot at that time and was selling plenty of other books.  

I did notice that my original text bulk lots weren't selling, which was odd.  But I didn't stop to think about it and didn't notice that my Nancy Drew picture cover books priced individually had quit selling on eBay. 

I closed my store again in early August 2021 and reopened in late October 2021.  That was when I noticed the drop in Nancy Drew sales on eBay.  The books just weren't selling anymore.  I have had the same picture cover books listed since last year, and they don't sell.  Meanwhile, my Nancy Drew picture cover books sell on Etsy just fine.

I do know why this has happened.  In May 2021, eBay removed most of its categories.  Yes, you read that right:  eBay removed most of its categories.     

This image shows the subcategories available within eBay's "Books & Magazines" category.

There really aren't any.  There is a subcategory for "Antiquarian & Collectible" books and another for just "Books."  The "Books" subcategory has no subcategories of its own and is for all books from all genres.  

The children's book category is gone.  Vanished.  It no longer exists.  I mean, who would want to separate children's books from other kinds of books?  Certainly, none of us, right?  

The item specifics are supposed to take the place of the categories.  There is an option for "children's" in the item specifics.  The idea is that buyers can find the option for "children's" in the search results and select it to see children's books.  It sounds great in theory, but there's a problem.  Most sellers don't use that item specific for Nancy Drew books.

This image shows most of the topics used by sellers for their Nancy Drew listings along with how many listings were assigned to each topic.

Click on the image in order to view it clearly.  Some sellers did label their books as children's books, but many sellers did not.  The only way to use the item specifics to see all of the Nancy Drew books is to click on each one in turn, which would take forever.  Just running a search for Nancy Drew like I do, and looking at everything without using item specifics, is the only feasible way to do it.

Aside from that, many of the topics selected are rather... strange.  Notice that over 100 books are categorized as "farming."  I checked that one out and found many Red Gate Farm books and a number of the ND Diaries Black Creek Farm books.  How stupid.

When I was editing the item specifics for my Nancy Drew listings, I found that eBay automatically generates item specifics inspired by keywords from the titles.  That is how a large number of Nancy Drew books are categorized as "farming" books.  Not helpful, eBay.

The bottom line is that eBay's children's books category no longer exists.  Buyers are now on their own trying to find children's books.  Buyers are reliant on sellers properly using the item specifics, yet eBay hinders sellers by suggesting completely wrong item specifics in many cases.

Think of going to a library book sale with hundreds of thousands of books for sale, except all of the books are piled in bins and unsorted as to topic.  That is what eBay is like now.

None of this is a problem for searches that return few results.  I find that all of my books aside from Nancy Drew do fine on eBay.  A search for Nancy Drew returns over 25,000 results, so buyers are overwhelmed and unable to find what they want.

I found an article that indicates that eBay is trying to get rid of buyers and has apparently succeeded.  

Is Management Strategy or Reopening Economies Driving Customer Losses for eBay?

I have trouble understanding how getting rid of buyers is good.  However, the people who have run eBay over the years have sometimes shown very poor judgment.  For instance, a team of now-former eBay executives and employees allegedly executed a harassment campaign against the Steiners of eCommerceBytes a few years ago.  

Former eBay employees harassed couple who wrote critical newsletter articles, prosecutors say

Couple harassed by former eBay employees sues company and former executives

Former eBay executive to plead guilty to cyberstalking campaign targeting couple

With people like that connected to eBay, we shouldn't expect wise decisions.