01-08-2022 07:08 AM
I know this speculation has been around since the beginning but where there's smoke there's fire. I've noticed disturbing trends in sales that points to accounts being throttled to only allow me to make around a certain amount on a weekly basis. Why my sales could be so great for days and then drop down to almost nothing when I reach a certain dollar amount is suspicious to say the least. Then when a day rolls off the 7 day sales number and drops it down it will go back up again slowly.
This is not cool and I know I'm not wrong. It's been going on for years. I don't know why ebay won't allow me to have organic growth but it's not right. I'm trying to grow my business and post more but if I'm going to be held back by some kind of computer algorithm what's the point of trying to grow?
I need ebay to stop stepping on my coat tails and let me go. I can grow and make more for both of us but if my "silent partner" is going to work against me it's a losing battle.
I know I'm not the only one who's experienced these weird sales patterns so please feel free to share yours. I'm not looking for answers, I know not to expect that by now but I do hope that ebay will read this and lift the weight off me so I can start growing again.
01-09-2022 03:16 AM
You sell parts for old cars from the '30s to 60s that is targeted to a limited and shrinking market size (don't make em any more) - would believe it is common for lulls in sales especially during November to January time periods (holidays and it is is too dam cold to work on the horseless carriages in parts of the US/Canada or maybe some other seller(s) has a "better mouse trap" - do your research.
01-09-2022 11:23 AM
Oh, please.
Statistics.
Ebay has millions of items up for sale and anyone’s listings are a drop in the bucket.
That means your widget only has a 1/1000000000000000 whatever chance of being seen. If it’s not rare or hot/trendy, it’s pretty much a needle in a haystack.
This isn’t the EBay of even 10 years ago, where 50 items created a presence and sell-through was virtually 100%
Unless people think their stuff should be magically charmed somehow by its sheer special-ness?
01-09-2022 12:34 PM
I sell items that are commodities. Over the years I've noticed this happening and I've figured that there are a number of excellent full-time, top-rated sellers of the items I sell and that the algorithm is set to "give" each of us some approximate share of exposure.
01-09-2022 02:58 PM
@yuzuha wrote:
@katzrul15 wrote:It does make a difference - list several items every day or modify or tweak several every day. The more daily/consistent activity, the more sales. Has been like that the entire time I have been on this site.
Exactly. I've barely listed anything new in the past two weeks and it shows in my sales. I need to buckle down and start getting things listed.
And as a perfect illustration of just that, I listed a few new things last night and boom, two sales today.
01-10-2022 10:28 AM
You are completely correct. I experience throttling past October 2021.
01-10-2022 11:29 AM
This is a true fact. I read about it in the past, and have taken specific notice to it within my own store. It seems like it is the dollar amount, but it more so has to due with the seller's metrics and what the algorithm determines what you can handle. For instance, if your shipping is not 100%, they don't want to overwhelm you with orders that you can't handle. They know you can't go from 50 orders a month to 500 in the same period if you displayed that you don't always get 50 orders out on time. Perhaps they do watch the money, but only to keep you at par with what you've proven to produce well on...Another factor is stale content, if you're not keeping with fresh inventory they push the listings further down in order for someone who is listing fresh to get eyeballs on their ' new releases '. Every buyer in the trade, and eBay always want to know ' what's new '.
I've discovered ways around this problem and in essence building blocks for one's business. What has to be done is to run huge waves of desirable auctions whereas, you're going to increase your sales per week and deliveries per week. Maintain this over a period of time and it gives the system a chance to see that you can handle a higher volume of sales, thus increasing your throttled limit. It's not the auction format itself, but it's a way to quickly produce more data given by the sales you've handled successfully in a short period of time.
My suggestion for you is to round up a large group of items that you can part with cheaply and that are set to definitely get at least 1 bid and list 20 auctions that sell through a week for a month or so and I think you'll notice an overall increase in your BIN items too. You have an impressive amount of items, but they're all long-term holds which makes it even more difficult to showcase your stuff because of the niche aspect.
01-10-2022 11:32 AM
New listings go right to the top for the first day and are highly visible. Snatching that buyer and up selling with your store items is a huge advantage.
02-15-2022 10:01 AM
Bingo! This post is spot on. No free market on eBay. Plus they have conflicting programs such as Promotion and Promotion +. Its all controlled.
02-15-2022 10:04 AM
Throttling is real. They have been doing it for years. Conflicting promotion programs also. Makes no sense. No free market on this website. People will say your "crazy" and its a "conspiracy" but the people who have been selling for years know the real truth of what is going on. When you sell on the nanny company eBay, you must have perfect grades for the corporate slave masters and as another poster said they decide when to turn off the faucet on your listings.
02-15-2022 10:37 AM
@bonjourami wrote:Why in the world would Ebay reduce your sales?
Have you heard of promoted listings? Cassini?
That is exactly what they want, reduce someone so someone else makes more.
It is right in front of you.
02-15-2022 10:48 AM
Hmm I have noticed that indexing seems to be the problem, not the metrics of the seller.
How they rate a listing to show and when to.
Well read the new and improved user agreement.
It not guaranteed even if you pay, for your listing to show....
02-15-2022 12:00 PM
@donsdetour wrote:
It not guaranteed even if you pay, for your listing to show....
kinda the whole show ain't it?
It's why I start my ebay searches in google. This place is a mess but where else can we go that does better?
02-15-2022 12:02 PM
@monster-deals wrote:
@donsdetour wrote:
It not guaranteed even if you pay, for your listing to show....
kinda the whole show ain't it?
It's why I start my ebay searches in google. This place is a mess but where else can we go that does better?
So far with what I sell: no were else yet............
02-15-2022 11:56 PM
lol
02-16-2022 12:19 AM
@monster-deals wrote:
@bonjourami wrote:Why in the world would Ebay reduce your sales?
Have you heard of promoted listings? Cassini?
That is exactly what they want, reduce someone so someone else makes more.
That argument doesn't hold any water when it comes to sellers of OOAK items, though. If there's only one person selling a purple elephant lamp, a buyer who is looking for a purple elephant lamp doesn't have any other seller to buy that lamp from instead.