eBay

overstockplanet · ‎09-05-2018

Anyone else currently experience a sudden sales drop off?? I was selling 5 to 7 items a day with only 50 to 60 listings and now I’m selling zero with 130 listings. Did eBay change their algorithm? What is going on? Why are sales coming to a halt?? Is anyone else experiencing the same problem?

plmal · ‎09-06-2018

So, please excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference with "promoted listings"? Isn't this just another money grab for eBay? I have listed and relisted my items as I always have with their bulk relist tab. How do I change the current listings to be "promoted"? I am so frustrated and basically have wasted listing for the past 6 months. It does not matter what I list, it is hardly being seen. 😞

orangehound · ‎09-06-2018

@plmal wrote:
So, please excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference with "promoted listings"? Isn't this just another money grab for eBay? I have listed and relisted my items as I always have with their bulk relist tab. How do I change the current listings to be "promoted"? I am so frustrated and basically have wasted listing for the past 6 months. It does not matter what I list, it is hardly being seen. 😞

Promoted listings simply means that from time to time your listing bypasses the normal eBay search results and gets promoted near the top of search results ... and, thus, your listing gets more visibility before customers that are searching. (Do a search, and you should see some listings with "Sponsored" in the upper left ... those are promoted listings).

Promoted listings are helpful if your item is not showing up on Page 1 of search results, but if your item is already on Page 1 then it would be a waste of money.

Here are more details:

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/listing-and-marketing/promoted-listings.html

zamo-zuan · ‎09-06-2018

Ouch. Seemed like the sales issues were getting better for a little while... now it seems like it's back again in full force...

equid0x · ‎09-06-2018

@orangehound wrote:
@plmal wrote:

So, what are the exact changes they have made? They have denied that anything is wrong with my listings and apparently "reset" my account. Nothing is working. How do 105 auctions close with no bids and hardly any lookers or watchers or clickers?? After 20 years on eBay, I feel like it may be time to say goodbye.
@plmal
No one is quite sure "exactly" what eBay has done, only that things changed. But there are two things that are known:
eBay is penalizing known drop shippers who are doing retail arbitrage (e.g., reselling things from Amazon, Home Depot, Wal-mart, etc.). Perhaps they are using price models to do this, or they are using shipping tracking to identify the sourcing of products, or they are looking at the listing descriptions. Whatever the method, when it happens to an account, then that seller's listings are all dumped way down in search (moved off the first page of search) and the only way to elevate listings again is to use promoted listings.
eBay is changing their marketing strategies. One clear move that they have made is that they are now very selective about how they are marketing on Google shopping. I used to see my items all the time on Google shopping, and this year it seems that it is rare that I see my stuff there.

There is something ro #2. I don't see my ebay items marketed on Google anymore. However, you can still market these yourself.

membersinceaug2001 · ‎09-07-2018

@orangehound wrote:
@plmal wrote:

So, what are the exact changes they have made? They have denied that anything is wrong with my listings and apparently "reset" my account. Nothing is working. How do 105 auctions close with no bids and hardly any lookers or watchers or clickers?? After 20 years on eBay, I feel like it may be time to say goodbye.
@plmal
No one is quite sure "exactly" what eBay has done, only that things changed. But there are two things that are known:
eBay is penalizing known drop shippers who are doing retail arbitrage (e.g., reselling things from Amazon, Home Depot, Wal-mart, etc.). Perhaps they are using price models to do this, or they are using shipping tracking to identify the sourcing of products, or they are looking at the listing descriptions. Whatever the method, when it happens to an account, then that seller's listings are all dumped way down in search (moved off the first page of search) and the only way to elevate listings again is to use promoted listings.
eBay is changing their marketing strategies. One clear move that they have made is that they are now very selective about how they are marketing on Google shopping. I used to see my items all the time on Google shopping, and this year it seems that it is rare that I see my stuff there.

I don't think so. Every new item I search for has sellers that are drop-shipping, usually via Amazon Gift. Reading the sellers feedback is a giveaway. And these sellers are always at the top of search.

membersinceaug2001 · ‎09-07-2018

@plmal wrote:
So, please excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference with "promoted listings"? Isn't this just another money grab for eBay? I have listed and relisted my items as I always have with their bulk relist tab. How do I change the current listings to be "promoted"? I am so frustrated and basically have wasted listing for the past 6 months. It does not matter what I list, it is hardly being seen. 😞

Just another money grab. I always see promoted items near the bottom of the list, never at the top.

Too many people believe everything BigCorp tells them!

equid0x · ‎09-07-2018

@plmal wrote:
So, please excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference with "promoted listings"? Isn't this just another money grab for eBay? I have listed and relisted my items as I always have with their bulk relist tab. How do I change the current listings to be "promoted"? I am so frustrated and basically have wasted listing for the past 6 months. It does not matter what I list, it is hardly being seen. 😞

I will put this to you... I did a test run on promoted listings and sold 50% of the marketed listings within 1 week of the promotion.

Now, would they have sold anyways? Dunno. I haven't changed my methodology of the listings in any way. So, I can only conclude that the promotions did help. Then again, I have to pay more to make it happen.

I don't think there is a conspiracy to get people to post promoted listings but at the same time, I think marketing nearly always results in more sales. Its been my experience not only with this ad platform.

Is it a money grab? Well, depends how you look at it. Are you willing to spend what it takes to make a sale?

The fact is, internet marketing and marketing in general is not easy. You have a good platform here for $.35 a pop... gets you decent exposure... if you want some more, you can pay eBay more, or Amazon, or Google... or whoever. The fact remains that the more you advertise, the more sales you will make.

So, I don't think its all complete **bleep**. Could eBay be doing more to promote its own sellers? NO DOUBT! Should we have to pay again to get it? NO!

But the reality remains. More adverts, more sales. This is not unique to eBay. Every business that ever existed gets more sales by advertising unless they really screw it up.

For my category... this time of year is always low sales. People are spending money on their kids for school and vacations and whatnot. Accept that the market will change and vary... accept that you can do more by paying more for advertising. Accept that you can wait this out and unload a ton of inventory at Christmas 🙂

To run an ad campaign... I think you need to be on the seller dash > marketing > promoted listings.

Pick what you want to promote. eBay will give you suggested expenditues. Accept or reject those.

equid0x · ‎09-07-2018

@membersinceaug2001 wrote:
@plmal wrote:
So, please excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference with "promoted listings"? Isn't this just another money grab for eBay? I have listed and relisted my items as I always have with their bulk relist tab. How do I change the current listings to be "promoted"? I am so frustrated and basically have wasted listing for the past 6 months. It does not matter what I list, it is hardly being seen. 😞

Just another money grab. I always see promoted items near the bottom of the list, never at the top.

Too many people believe everything BigCorp tells them!

I haven't seen this. How long have you listings been up without a sale?

gopetersen · ‎09-07-2018

I'm still getting daily sales, but year-by-year it's a steady decline.

My biggest loss has been international sales. I used to ship many products to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, EU, and U.K. (and sometimes other places).

Two things have changed...

international postal rates have gone up dramatically (and the postal regulations on customs forms have changed), and
other countries now have their own sites (eBay is no longer the only game in town).

There's nothing I can do about the postal rates. I still get a few international sales for lightweight items, but rarely for heavier items and even lightweight items cost much more to ship than they used to.

As for the domestic market, it's mostly gone too, due to the much lower shipping rates of products coming from China. I earn abouth a third of what I used to, but I still have to invest the same effort in listing, answering questions, etc.

vtbanne · ‎09-07-2018

Me too!! Mine and my husband's (he has his own account) have tanked in the last month. We sell entirely different types of items and our sales remained strong even in the lousy economy we had. Now nothing.

orangehound · ‎09-07-2018

@equid0x wrote:
@orangehound wrote:
@plmal wrote:

So, what are the exact changes they have made? They have denied that anything is wrong with my listings and apparently "reset" my account. Nothing is working. How do 105 auctions close with no bids and hardly any lookers or watchers or clickers?? After 20 years on eBay, I feel like it may be time to say goodbye.
@plmal
No one is quite sure "exactly" what eBay has done, only that things changed. But there are two things that are known:
eBay is penalizing known drop shippers who are doing retail arbitrage (e.g., reselling things from Amazon, Home Depot, Wal-mart, etc.). Perhaps they are using price models to do this, or they are using shipping tracking to identify the sourcing of products, or they are looking at the listing descriptions. Whatever the method, when it happens to an account, then that seller's listings are all dumped way down in search (moved off the first page of search) and the only way to elevate listings again is to use promoted listings.
eBay is changing their marketing strategies. One clear move that they have made is that they are now very selective about how they are marketing on Google shopping. I used to see my items all the time on Google shopping, and this year it seems that it is rare that I see my stuff there.
There is something ro #2. I don't see my ebay items marketed on Google anymore. However, you can still market these yourself.

Just to be clear, you can market your items on many platforms, but you cannot market your eBay listings on Google Shopping ... only eBay can do that.

orangehound · ‎09-07-2018

@membersinceaug2001 wrote:
@orangehound wrote:
@plmal wrote:

So, what are the exact changes they have made? They have denied that anything is wrong with my listings and apparently "reset" my account. Nothing is working. How do 105 auctions close with no bids and hardly any lookers or watchers or clickers?? After 20 years on eBay, I feel like it may be time to say goodbye.
@plmal
No one is quite sure "exactly" what eBay has done, only that things changed. But there are two things that are known:
eBay is penalizing known drop shippers who are doing retail arbitrage (e.g., reselling things from Amazon, Home Depot, Wal-mart, etc.). Perhaps they are using price models to do this, or they are using shipping tracking to identify the sourcing of products, or they are looking at the listing descriptions. Whatever the method, when it happens to an account, then that seller's listings are all dumped way down in search (moved off the first page of search) and the only way to elevate listings again is to use promoted listings.
eBay is changing their marketing strategies. One clear move that they have made is that they are now very selective about how they are marketing on Google shopping. I used to see my items all the time on Google shopping, and this year it seems that it is rare that I see my stuff there.
I don't think so. Every new item I search for has sellers that are drop-shipping, usually via Amazon Gift. Reading the sellers feedback is a giveaway. And these sellers are always at the top of search.

My comment #1 is not speculation, but fact. eBay was recently sued by a company in Israel for doing this. Still you are correct in many instances because some products on eBay are only sold by drop-shippers (e.g., some heavy furniture), so they will always show up high on search.

itisvintage · ‎09-11-2018

I think it has something to do with the new "promoted listings" you can do right now. I have two theories. One being that a lot of sellers are using the new option to promote their listings and are selling more than the ones that are not using it, OR, eBay has manipulated the search results, driving sales down for some, so as to influence us to spend more money to promote our products. Kind of like what Facebook did when they cut everyone off from the general search engine and made you start paying for promoting your listing. Facebook got everyone used to selling their products, then all of the sudden everyone's sales started dropping because they had to pay for the same exposure they were getting for free. I hope this makes sense.

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/listing-and-marketing/promoted-listings.html#how-and-what

nilis13 · ‎09-19-2018

i too having no sales issues for the past 2 days now going on day 3 - i understand the weather, back to school,etc...but it boggles the brain that selling for years and sales every day and now zilch! I called this morning i asked if there were gtliches, algorithm , etc...rep looked at my acct said all is well and i list new items each day and i have a large array of items - she said she was going to message the "tech" team. I know it will go no-where..sorry i just needed to rant a little also - it's very disheartning if they are somehow not showing listings like they should and not hidin them - how does this benefit them or us sellers? Thanks for listening 🙂

cosmicwolfclothing · ‎09-22-2018

I wonder if the recent hurricane on the east coast has soemthing to do with this big drop in sales. I have been experiencing a similar drop. I live on the west coast and most of my buyers are on the east coast, so I have been assuming that a chunk of my normal buyers are going through some aweful times right now and buying something online is the last thing on their mind.