GTC = The end of My Business

[crownsfieldcellular]

I've been selling on eBay for over 15 years..I'm a Top Rated Plus Seller with over 3100 positive feed backs, and I have a 100% positive rating.  I pay close to $1000 a month or more in selling fees, and I have a store subscription...

I really, really have to thank eBay in a big way for this latest update.  I had such a good thing going on here, we were both making money, and there's just nothing like that wonderful feeling of watching all your hard work go up in smoke; and realizing that this must have been done PURPOSEFULLY by the venue that you've been paying out the nose to for years.

eBay?  If you were trying to put me out of business?  For some bizarre, absolutely moronic reason?  I can see very clearly now that you are going to succeed in doing this in a very big way with this new change.

I sell ONE OFF high end iPhones on this site, I have no repetitive inventory, and I RELY on the URGENCY that 3 Day BIN auctions create during a certain time every week to make all my sales. 

My very tried and true method of selling all of my inventory weekly (which I HAVE TO DO to stay in business and keep cash flowing), was to list everything I buy through the week on Saturday morning on a 3 Day BIN which ended on Tuesday.

This is the peak buying time with my customers, and that 3 Day TICKING CLOCK was SO POWERFUL in creating urgency with them over the weekend? That typically I would sell everything I had in that 3 day time frame..And even if a few phones did not sell in those days?  I would simply lower the price a bit and run another 3 day BIN auction starting on Tuesday, and by Friday?  Everything was gone and we were both making a great deal of money.

This system I devised didn't happen by ACCIDENT.  It took me a great deal of experimentation to find out what WORKED, and start seeing the kind of success I have seen over the past year or so of selling these phones.  This took A LOT of hard work and persistence, but I got it done and I was making great money.

This mandatory GTC listing insanity started this week, and SURE ENOUGH, just like I knew it would - It has already destroyed my sales. 

I have sold exactly ONE PHONE this week, with 6 other high ticket, high demand phones lingering there getting "watchers", but of course NO BUYERS - Because the buyers no longer have ANY SENSE OF URGENCY TO BUY.  This is because there is no longer a TIME LIMIT on my listings where people HAVE TO ACT before a listing ends.

GTC Not only DOES NOT WORK TO SELL MY PRODUCTS, It is going to actively DESTROY my business. 

This change TOTALLY undermines the system I have developed, TOTALLY ELIMINATES any kind of Buyer URGENCY or DEMAND FOR ACTION. 

This entirely KILLS MY BUSINESS ON HERE...ENTIRELY.  The proof??  I have not had ONE SALE SINCE TUESDAY - NOT ONE!!  And I'm selling items that used to have an over 85% sell through rate on this site..

With GTC I can no longer TURN MY INVENTORY OVER QUICKLY, TO RUN MY BUSINESS..Unless of course I just want to sell everything for no profits, but obviously THATS NOT GOING TO WORK FOR ME...

I have been selling on this site for over 15 YEARS and I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT and what I am DOING...GTC listings are for STORE LISTINGS, and for sellers who have LONG TAIL INVENTORY....GTC DOES NOT WORK FOR SELLERS SELLING ONE OFF UNIQUE ITEMS THAT THEY HAVE TO TURN OVER QUICKLY!!!  NOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!!

Everyone is complaining about the possible added fees with this change???...Let me tell you something?  I would have taken a 2% FVF INCREASE OVER LOSING THE ABILITY TO SELL MY ITEMS COMPLETELY!!! 

I CANNOT HAVE ITEMS SITTING THERE FOR 2 WEEKS, 3 WEEKS, 30 DAYS, 60 DAYS - THIS IS NOT THE WAY MY BUSINESS WORKS!!

And I CERTAINLY am not alone...This change has to be affecting AT LEAST 30% of sellers who GTC SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK FOR...GTC IS NOT A BLANKET LISTING THAT IS IDEAL FOR EVERYONE'S BUSINESS!! 

WHERE IS THE RATIONALE AND DATA SUGGESTING THAT IT IS????

Do 30% of YOUR SELLERS have to LEAVE THE SITE eBay, or ACTUALLY GO OUT OF BUSINESS ON HERE BEFORE YOU FIGURE THIS OUT?? 

OR DO YOU HAVE TO DESTROY THE WEBSITE COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU UNDERSTAND THE RAMIFICATIONS OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING HERE???  I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO KNOW...

SOMEONE AT EBAY NEEDS TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION HERE TO CORRECT THIS AND GIVE US OUR SHORTER TIME BUY IT NOW OPTIONS BACK, THIS IS TOTALLY, TOTALLY INSANE AND YOU ARE PUTTING PEOPLE OUT OF BUSINESS!!!

[greg5000]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Ever heard of a poll? You know, ask 1000 people who they are going to vote for, then display the results. Does that 1000 people represent 350 million in America? According to you, no, its just a tiny fraction and those opinions should be ignored, the population as a whole didn't take the poll and thus the results are invalid. Ever think the fraction of people posting here could be a representation of the community as a whole?

@mongoose26 

I know you are upset.  This change is huge.  And it absolutely will not work for many sellers.  But misrepresenting what I said does not bolster your position.  It only means you are misrepresenting what I said.

There is no post by me that you can find on this thread or any other that says your voice is not important or should be ignored in any way because it is NOT something I've EVER said.

Are the voices here a fraction of the active sellers on Ebay in the USA.  Yes, that is a fact, not my opinion.

Do the voices here represent the majority of seller's on Ebay regarding this subject?  Probably not.  I don't say that to be rude or dismiss your concerns.  I say that because 80%+ of listing on Ebay prior to this were FP listings.  That would include a whole lot of sellers already using GTC.  

But again, it still is a VERY important issue for many.  I respect that.  I significantly impacts how many sellers function on this site.  And YES your voices are important to hear.  But then I've never said any different.

I know this is all a very upsetting subject for many and that really is as it should be due to the nature of the change.  Is it likely that Ebay is going to ease up on this mandate?  Honestly it isn't likely as it is the way most sites similar to ebay has gone because of how it impacts internet searches.

My position has always been that this change is harmful to many sellers.  Some will find a way to work with it and some won't.  We will lose sellers over this change.  And I personally think that is not a good thing.

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I believe that the voices and opinions here represent a valid sampling of the entire eBay Community and may even have more weight, as Experienced Sellers and Buyers are posting concerns.

[mam98031]

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@mongoose26 wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

I know you are upset.  This change is huge.  And it absolutely will not work for many sellers.  But misrepresenting what I said does not bolster your position.  It only means you are misrepresenting what I said.

Are the voices here a fraction of the active sellers on Ebay in the USA.  Yes, that is a fact, not my opinion.

Do the voices here represent the majority of seller's on Ebay regarding this subject?  Probably not.  I don't say that to be rude or dismiss your concerns.  I say that because 80%+ of listing on Ebay prior to this were FP listings.  That would include a whole lot of sellers already using GTC.  

But again, it still is a VERY important issue for many.  I respect that.  I significantly impacts how many sellers function on this site.  And YES your voices are important to hear.  But then I've never said any different.

I know this is all a very upsetting subject for many and that really is as it should be due to the nature of the change.  Is it likely that Ebay is going to ease up on this mandate?  Honestly it isn't likely as it is the way most sites similar to ebay has gone because of how it impacts internet searches.

My position has always been that this change is harmful to many sellers.  Some will find a way to work with it and some won't.  We will lose sellers over this change.  And I personally think that is not a good thing.

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I am not upset, so please do not put words in my mouth.

How do you know that the sentiments expressed here are not the majority? I seriously doubt that 80% number to begin with, but the vast majority of those using GTC before were the mega sellers, the big box stores, the Chinese conglomerates. While they may represent a majority of items, they do not represent a majority of sellers.

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Sorry.  My apologies.  I did the same thing to you that you did to me in your other post and I should NOT have made that assumption.  I am sincerely sorry.

How do you know they are?  You are right however, neither of us has that information.  

It is not unusual to doubt the number.  And it is your right to do so.  I didn't develop the number, so I can't attest to it's accuracy.  I do however disagree with your assertion that it is mostly Mega sellers that use them.  There are lots of sellers my size, smaller and larger that use them and have for years.  Many have been on the threads to help others to transition if they want help to transition.  

Look it is a hot button issue and you have VALID objections to this new policy.  Again I too do not think it is right for every seller.

BTW, the change was not made because of the majority of sellers.  It was made to improve the majority of internet searches for items sold on Ebay.  Agree or disagree, that has been what Ebay has said.  

I do sincerely hope that things work out for you.

[mam98031]

I believe that the voices and opinions here represent a valid sampling of the entire eBay Community and may even have more weight, as Experienced Sellers and Buyers are posting concerns.

That may very well be true.  While I know it is nice to support those that have opinions in line with your own, that doesn't mean that those that don't are any less important.  I've said that so many times to you, but you keep coming back to this.  I'm not sure how to get that point across to you.

There are experienced buyers and sellers that are posting on both sides of this particular subject and on others.  Neither side is more important than the other.  BOTH sides of this issue have valid points, NOT just those that are against it.  

WE ALL MATTER!

[weschurch]

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@greg5000 wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

Ever heard of a poll? You know, ask 1000 people who they are going to vote for, then display the results. Does that 1000 people represent 350 million in America? According to you, no, its just a tiny fraction and those opinions should be ignored, the population as a whole didn't take the poll and thus the results are invalid. Ever think the fraction of people posting here could be a representation of the community as a whole?

@mongoose26 

I know you are upset.  This change is huge.  And it absolutely will not work for many sellers.  But misrepresenting what I said does not bolster your position.  It only means you are misrepresenting what I said.

There is no post by me that you can find on this thread or any other that says your voice is not important or should be ignored in any way because it is NOT something I've EVER said.

Are the voices here a fraction of the active sellers on Ebay in the USA.  Yes, that is a fact, not my opinion.

Do the voices here represent the majority of seller's on Ebay regarding this subject?  Probably not.  I don't say that to be rude or dismiss your concerns.  I say that because 80%+ of listing on Ebay prior to this were FP listings.  That would include a whole lot of sellers already using GTC.  

But again, it still is a VERY important issue for many.  I respect that.  I significantly impacts how many sellers function on this site.  And YES your voices are important to hear.  But then I've never said any different.

I know this is all a very upsetting subject for many and that really is as it should be due to the nature of the change.  Is it likely that Ebay is going to ease up on this mandate?  Honestly it isn't likely as it is the way most sites similar to ebay has gone because of how it impacts internet searches.

My position has always been that this change is harmful to many sellers.  Some will find a way to work with it and some won't.  We will lose sellers over this change.  And I personally think that is not a good thing.

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I believe that the voices and opinions here represent a valid sampling of the entire eBay Community and may even have more weight, as Experienced Sellers and Buyers are posting concerns.

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Its does and one look at Ebays declining GMV supports the position that others feel the same way you do. Some will endlessly act like because some others do not post complaints, that they are by default happy.  It would seem that many have just quietly moved on over the years. 

[mam98031]

Its does and one look at Ebays declining GMV supports the position that others feel the same way you do. Some will endlessly act like because some others do not post complaints, that they are by default happy.  It would seem that many have just quietly moved on over the years. 

The decline in the GMV shouldn't be blamed solely on the GTC mandate.  That would be inaccurate at best.  Here is an article you may find interesting.

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2019/04/03/ebay-to-close-shopping-com-and-ad-platform-on-may-1st/

I do not ASSUME to know what others that do not post on the threads think.  You may, but I certainly don't engage in that type of thought.  

You are absolutely correct, many sellers have left over the year for one reason or another.  Policy changes and other reasons.  But there are also new sellers that have joined over the years.  I have no idea which is a higher number for any given period of time.  I've never found a place to get such information.

[ravensbeak]

Amen!

[joydiva]

 My business is down 50%. I am getting rid of eBay and getting a real job. This is ridiculous. 

[brokenspoke-27]

Different type of ebay seller but we have the same problem. I have to manually cancel store and then relist. I'm wasting several hours a week. Sales have fallen a lot since the change. We relied on 10 day listings for a lot of our sales.

[mam98031]

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@brokenspoke-27 wrote:

Different type of ebay seller but we have the same problem. I have to manually cancel store and then relist. I'm wasting several hours a week. Sales have fallen a lot since the change. We relied on 10 day listings for a lot of our sales.

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Can you use the 10 day auction format instead.  You can increase pricing to cover the cost of adding a reserved price so you make sure that you don't lose money.  Would that be something that would help?

[astrocommunications]

I agree. I like Fixed Price with Immediate Checkout 7-10 day listings.
Under this new GTC nonsense, I switched to Conventional 7-10 Day auctions with BIN options. Guess what, NO Payment on Last Two auctions that sold. I'm also letting my auctions run out now with NO intention of relisting until Fixed Price with 7, 10 day options come back.

[mam98031]

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@astrocommunications wrote:
I agree. I like Fixed Price with Immediate Checkout 7-10 day listings.
Under this new GTC nonsense, I switched to Conventional 7-10 Day auctions with BIN options. Guess what, NO Payment on Last Two auctions that sold. I'm also letting my auctions run out now with NO intention of relisting until Fixed Price with 7, 10 day options come back.

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@astrocommunications 

Ebay has said multiple times that they are not bringing back FP listings for shorter durations.

So you need a plan B.  Sorry I know it is beyond challenging for some

[money215]

GTC has practically destroyed my business. Time to start selling elsewhere. The way I see it, it is our stores, our items and they have no right to tell us how long our items should be listed. We pay the "rent" here and without our items Ebay is nothing but an empty lot. We can bring Ebay to it's knees if we all came together and and set a date to walk out on Ebay until this policy is overturned. See how they like getting no money like they have done to us.

[conwayair]

This. Yours is our story exactly.  We don't care about minor fee increases or listing counts etc when it comes to GTC. We just want to do good work, and sell how we sell. Watching 100's of transactions disappear since the GTC change is really hard. 

By removing short term formats, with timers that count down to the end, eBay has removed all buyer urgency. They have woefully misunderstood their buyers. eBay is by brand an auction site.  A BIN listing is simply a reverse auction. By removing the short term format, and count downs, they have homogenized the eBay platform to be just like any other E-Com store. Rather than attracting a buyer with a sense of "What deal can I find today?" they are now presuming "I can buy this thing whenever I want just like Amazon.

It's hard to watch.  In all the changes over 10 years, we've just rolled with the punches and kept on plugging away. This is the first time I've had to wander into the community boards to see how bad the fallout really is. 

[hereandtherealot]

I despise GTC!! It has created so much extra work for me. I hate having to watch everything so that my listings don't relist and get charged a fee!! Im considering just having yard sales to periodically sell my stuff...
Ebay obviously doesn't care.....pitiful

[mam98031]

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@hereandtherealot wrote:
I despise GTC!! It has created so much extra work for me. I hate having to watch everything so that my listings don't relist and get charged a fee!! Im considering just having yard sales to periodically sell my stuff...
Ebay obviously doesn't care.....pitiful

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It is a burdensome task for those that like to rotate their stock that is for sure.  I'm sorry you are having such a rough time.  

I see that you like to stay within your free allotment of listings you get every month.  Have you about just allowing them to renew the next month until they sell.  Then when some sell you can add new listings the next month while still staying within your free allotment of listings each month.  Just a thought to consider.