eBay

gozhven · ‎06-16-2023

So for some time now I keep getting messages from eBay about "opting in" to create ad campaigns.

Basically we are being told that if we opt in, depending on how much we want to spend, we can have our listings featured or favored in search results. This means that if you don't "opt in" that you listings will NOT be featured and will most likely be relegated to page 10 of search results.

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Think about this....if EVERYONE opted in to this program, then we would all be on the same equal footing that we were all in prior to the implementation of this program...except that eBay is a lot Lot LOT richer. How clever of eBay. What a great way for them to make everyone pay more for their listings without actually raising their prices.

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I am sure their argument is that we have a "choice" to opt in. But they leave out the fact that if you don't opt in, you will sell nothing. It's like paying "protection" money to the mafia.

I've sold between 20 and 100 items per week for the past 20+ years. Right now I have not had a sale for over 8 days. I'll be closing my eBay store for the first time since eBay started having stores. My merch will be getting clearanced on Facebook Marketplace and I'll set up at a flea market to get rid of the rest.

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Thank you eBay for being so extra extra greedy that you have destroyed what was once a great marketplace.

iamalwaysright · ‎06-16-2023

Related topic: upon routine skimming of some of my listings I found a few that were automatically opted into a PLA campaign. 100% certain I didn't do it so it had to have been ebay. Check your listings periodically people, ebay might just go in there and stir things up just so their IT people still have jobs.

onestopnerdshop · ‎06-16-2023

The "free" market has been pay to play for at least a few decades now, though eBays current level of greed would make the US government blush.

I could deal with the greed if this site wasn't an absolute disaster of bugs and glitches. They relist stuff I sold years ago and when I have to cancel the sale, they try to charge me for the promotional fee. They screw up and want me to pay them for it.

If your promotional % is "too low", you basically get disappeared. Current eBay is: "give us more money or we'll bury you"

vintagepl · ‎06-16-2023

this makes me sad. I understand where you're coming from though. I don't opt in for anything. Ebay sales are no longer a priority for me since I've retired. Nice to get a sale here & there, I'm good with it. If I were you I would leave the store up for awhile, as you sell elsewhere you remove the item. Have to be good at tracking inventory but more exposure.

luckythewinner · ‎06-16-2023

@gozhven wrote:
This means that if you don't "opt in" that you listings will NOT be featured and will most likely be relegated to page 10 of search results.

Do you have a source for this information, or are you just guessing?

And for Newly Listed and Lowest Price searches, You appear where you sort.

coolections · ‎06-16-2023

Sorry you are leaving. Do not forget to remove your 259 listings before you go.

inhawaii · ‎06-16-2023

@aldelbertmatthew wrote:
Right now I've got some items up to 15% promotion and they don't show up even when I search for the exact title.

Would you care to share one of those items with us?

Smoke From A Distant Fire - Sanford Townsend Band

inhawaii · ‎06-16-2023

I'm kind of glad the OP posted here.

I was looking at his listings.

I don't think i've ver seen a one-word title before.

Now I have.

Smoke From A Distant Fire - Sanford Townsend Band

iamalwaysright · ‎06-16-2023

@inhawaii wrote:
I'm kind of glad the OP posted here.
I was looking at his listings.
I don't think i've ver seen a one-word title before.
Now I have.

Ha ha. Gotta keep it below the character max limit you know.

jbbowers12012 · ‎06-16-2023

Hi, Seems that you have quite sometime invested into eBay selling. I would respectively suggest that before you make any decisions - that you try putting a few of your items into promoted listings & see how it works out for you. You can start out at 2.0%. You may find that you really dont' need to do it. Just dont' quit over this & abandon all of your hard work. Good Luck!!

comicbooknirvana · ‎06-16-2023

Wow, they have a one word title?! Well, that must mean everything the OP has stated is now invalidated right?

pls-consignments · ‎06-16-2023

Whenever I hear someone call PL a "helpful tool", or an "asset" and defend it "because other platforms are doing it", I throw up a little in my mouth.

gozhven · ‎06-17-2023

LOL. Chicken. Had fun with that one.

gozhven · ‎06-17-2023

I did do that. A couple of months ago. My sales only increased by less than 5%. And now, even with the promotions and other discounts I am offering, its been over 10 days since I had a sale.