US eBay UK Sellers Dropping Like Flies

Part of being a successful eBay seller is to keep tabs on the competition. Right now, it looks like US sellers offering goods on the eBay UK site are giving up and heading for the hills. Just this week, 3 sellers that I follow have closed their stores. One is no longer a registered user – POOF – just disappeared. One seller even added a note to all of her store pages explaining that she won’t be offering her products on eBay UK, or worldwide, due to a weak conversion rate.

It doesn’t have to be this way! Granted, the USD / GBP exchange rate is at an all time low right now (1.45%), you don’t have to lose money or go out of business. Simply change your GBP prices to reflect the lower rate. For example, if you are currently offering a product at £10 and your profit is $8 based on a 1.9% exchange rate, just change the price to £12.75. Problem solved. (Be sure to change your shipping fees to reflect the higher rate.)

So why aren’t more sellers just adjusting their pricing? My guess, they are too lazy! Many have hundreds of listings and when they set up their stores, they never considered that the exchange rates would fluctuate. So now they are stuck with 500 – 1,000 listings based on a 1.9% exchange rate. These sellers are either making extremely low profit, or they are operating at a loss. Even worse, some don’t even know that they aren’t making any money as they never track inventory costs, fees, profits, or any other financial information.

This is another example of the attitude, “eBay is easy money.” Many sellers who open UK stores think that they can set up their stores, add hundreds of products, and watch the money roll in without ever having to make adjustments, check on their competitors, or fine-tune their stores. I see this happen all the time. Newsflash: NOTHING ON EBAY IS EASY. eBay is work just like any other business. The market, demand, and consumer buying habits will continue to fluctuate and to continue to make a profit, you have to make adustments.

You can go in one of two directions now.

Proverbs 12:24: “Work hard, become a leader. Be lazy, never succeed.”

As Bill Gates said, “I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.” In other words, don’t give up, just spend some time adusting your pricing. For more detailed information on eBay UK selling, check out my eBook, “How to Maximize Profits on eBay UK.”

[Image Source: Flickr, eBay Coach Photos]