eBay advice, suggestions
LOL!
When I go to Active Items, I see advice/suggestions across the top of the page.
Been noticing one that says my Prices are Higher than others by 10%.
Few days later is 24%.
Today it was 38%.
Little link below it to Fix it / adjust prices.
So I clicked on it just to see what happens.
It only pulled up TWO listings. Wanting me to change one from $20 to $14. And the other from $15 to $10.
After looking at the two items, I was curious as to what other seller was trying to GIVE these items away (after shipping)
Time for a search, or 20.
I AM THE ONLY PERSON ON EBAY THAT HAS THESE ITEMS...or anything even remotely related.
But I'm 38% higher....Interesting...LOL
32 comments
meme6253
·1 year agoAre you in competition with yourself?
redlinear
OP1 year agoNo. According to eBay, I have an item that is 43% higher than other sellers with the same item.
Yet, Mine is the only one on eBay. There are no others.
And that percentage appears to be increasing daily. LOL
mam98031
·1 year agoI've ran into this many times myself or something very similar. I simply do not find Ebay very accurate when they give these average prices on the site.
short_circuit.lineman61
·1 year agojust remember, the goal of all ebay suggestions is to increase ebay short term revenue.
mam98031
·1 year agoThat is simply inaccurate. I often see their suggestions for pricing well below what it really should be. In fact I would venture to say for me, it is mostly too low.
steve_stuff
·1 year agoKnow that 'shingles doesn't care' commercial?
Well ebay doesn't care what you sell 'it' for, just that you sold it and they get their cut -- not that there is anything wrong with ebay getting it's cut - or 'them' really not caring if you lost money on the sale, because they didn't care or lose money..
mam98031
·1 year agoI didn't say that, the poster I was responding to is the one that thought Ebay had their own agenda with recommending high prices.
redlinear
OP1 year agoThe best price ALWAYS wins...IF, that price is SEEN. Deny it all ya want and suffer the consequences.
But, that's not the point of this post.
I made this post because I simply thought it was funny that eBay is telling me my prices are too high compared to others. Yet there are no others.
AND, every few days, eBay increases the amount that I'm too expensive.
It's just funny
lakefor94
·1 year agoI agree that price is king. When I do not have new items to list, I am checking pricing against the competition.
Price comparisons are a lot of work. I try to keep up with 1300+ listings.
Been running through that exercise over the past couple of weeks.
Finding items I need to lower the price on and also items I can raise the price on.
Any ebay suggestions on pricing are nearly always irrelevant.
redlinear
OP1 year agoUsed to be able to shut down competition that popped up here on eBay. I specialized in parts for a certain vehicle.
I'd run a semi-generic search for said vehicle, filter to parts and then used.
I'd see 1500 listings, and I knew 1000 of those were mine.
If I saw 1800? I knew somebody else (or more) was trying the same.
I'd work my tail off the next two months, double down on listings, and drop prices to the point where..If you needed that part, you just about couldn't say no.
Between the listing and the shipping, it'd look like a tornado around here. We wouldn't even answer the phone that busy.
Can't do that now. You can drop prices to nothing. Doesn't help much if you're not seen.
steve_stuff
·1 year agocaptain paranoia again
On another ID we have 27 listings for odd brand maybe working camera, that are relisted as a group at auction with BINs. Most have been here for years.
Last time active sold nine. Must have been our turn at bat.
redlinear
OP1 year agoDear Captain Paranoia,
Most of my storage is in tubs/totes. We can go through an unlisted shelf of 20 year old misc inventory. List those parts in a day, put them in Tote-320.
Tote-320 probably has around 40 parts in it....off of 30 different vehicles.
Two or three times per year, we will get to work one morning, and pull 4 or 5 parts out of Tote-320 to ship.
This happens most every day, but a different Tote.
It's not coincidence.
tronfan3010
·1 year agoUnfortunately, eBay doesn't care. They want you to pay them to get views.
I've been an active seller on ebay for years. Never had a problem until 2025. They just became greedy, that's the bottom line.
These "mentors" don't help, they just blame you for doing something wrong when you didn't.
It's funny, because I just searched for a 2011 Ford tube pipe last week (I already got it for friend, sorry!) but I DID NOT see your listing at all. I looked at your stuff and not only do you have a great page, but you're not getting views because ebay wants you to pay them.
Sad but true friend.
I have some sneakers that everyone is buying now for super cheap and I can't get more than 5 views a day and a bunch of watchers who don't want to buy even for a LOWER PRICE! LOL!
Good luck. Thanks for posting this, glad I am not the only one.
steve_stuff
·1 year agoWe have the same deal, our two are the only two. Checking that 'list' was my laugh of the day, but since we relist unsold it's starting to repeat.
Call me 'captain paranoia' but just because ebay is only showing you 'yours' and nothing anywhere even remotely related doesn't mean it's just not showing you stuff that's there. We have found auctions the next day where repeating a search to see if anything new had popped up - that were active when we searched the day before. And no, we didn't just miss it - hard to miss something in a list of four or six.
We buy stuff for people who look but don't buy on net. My friend tells me brand, size, style number AND PRICE of item. I find 50 but not that priced one. Get item # and boom - shows up. Recheck search landing page, not there. RESET page to show best match ... guess what .... Best part was 10/15 shown on 'price lowest' were much cheaper.
Ebay in it for ebay, we're just along for the ride.
redlinear
OP1 year ago@steve_stuff
exactly.
I'll walk past some shelves, look at something, and wonder...."WHY is that STILL here??"
Search and Search and Filter and Sort and Filter some more..... finally end up finding it down under "results matching fewer words"...even though every word I searched is right there in the title.
Check "sold" items and see where several have sold, less quality, more money.
Seems like any more, you can't "out business" your competition. Instead, you just have to wait your turn to sell something.
gator08041971
·1 year agoThe only time you need to worry about pricing is when you are selling a product and competing with a lot of others selling the same thing. For example, I sell items that compete with thousands of other sellers selling the same items. Mine aren't the cheapest either, but I still sell things pretty often despite not being the lowest priced among the thousands listed.
If you are selling an item that say only 1-10 exist when you search, you can set the price how you like. But you can still compare it to ones you see listed, and you can search for sold listings of the item to see what they sell for. That can tell you more about pricing than what they are listed at. I have a hard to find RC car from the 90s listed for example, and at the moment less than 5 can be found of it available, and not all of them work. My price is set where I'm willing to let it go for. eBay can tell me all it wants that the price could be lower, but I still have watchers and steady viewers on it. Eventually one will make a deal and it will be gone.
Patience works too, if you aren't in a hurry to sell items. If you are in a hurry, then you price it to get it to sell quickly.
tronfan3010
·1 year agoSorry, this just isn't true.
I've had a very in demand comic that I'm selling for 50% off and I'm not getting the views.
It has nothing to do with patience. eBay wants you to pay them to get more views, period.
mam98031
·1 year agoSince you feel you know everything and Mentor's can't help, I will just wish you well.
redlinear
OP1 year agoUpdate. A LOT has changed over the weekend.
I go to my active listings page and I'm now 43% higher.
Of course, there are still only two items in question and they are the only two on eBay.
This just funny
parts-n-pieces-usa
·1 year agoYour item might be in better condition.
Your listing might have better photos.
You might ship from a closer location to a potential buyer.
You might have a higher feedback score.
You might have a better reputation for good customer service.
You might have a more attractive return policy.
You might place higher in search results.
I could go on and on, but the point is there are many justified reasons for asking a higher price than your competitors. eBay is rarely aware of any of those reasons, so their opinion means nothing.
az93
·1 year agoIgnore all ebay advice and suggestions.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoIMO what items have sold for on Ebay are rarely representative of their value. The Ebay process forces the values of most items down, and raises the prices of others to pass their value. The high prices are usually never reached again.
If you are effectively selling commodities, and I guess that used autoparts are commodities, you have a third choice other than the two you name. You can price higher and not promote and wait for everyone else offering one to sell out.
If there is no aftermarket part which replaces your part, there is a limit to the number of 25 year old examples of a vehicle being parted out.
This, obviously, requires that you have faith, cashflow, and space to implement this strategy. I knew many people who parted out cars and advertised in print media (Hemmings) who got their prices.
In my current low volume business, all of my recent sales exceeded the Ebay Terapeak prices when I checked.
aerospacesurplusnett
·1 year agoI NEVER take eBay advise, its not real life, its a algorithm or a computer generator response, ebay main goal is to make money for EBAY, the seller is far down their list of priorities
redlinear
OP1 year agoYour X3 control arms. EBay says that are 80% too expensive.
I agree.
Let me know 1st when you fix that issue. LOL
(I see where I have you saved as a seller from sometime in the past).
Must have bought something from ya?
We part out buggies too
mam98031
·1 year agoI've learned that Ebay pricing is rarely correct. Something to do with what they are comparing to I would suspect.
When we set up a new listing, Ebay gives us the average price on the site of what we are selling. I find it really hit and mostly miss. Sometimes what I'm posting would be the only one on Ebay yet they give me an average price. Anyway I've learned to ignore them.
mr_lincoln
·1 year agoHi @redlinear
-Price your items for what you need to sell them for to cover cost, eBay fees and desired profit.
-Ignore any subjective information eBay provides ...
-eBay's M.O. is to try to get Sellers to pay them more Fees via Promoting their items either on site of offsite or to sell their items for less. Both suggestions do nothing but reduce a Seller's profit margin
redlinear
OP1 year ago@mr_lincoln
My items don't actually work that way.
I used to compare what's on eBay and price like items, cheaper. When search, sorts, and filters did as they say and before the promoting thing............that strategy worked great.
Now I'm torn between cheap and no promotions-vs-higher, but reasonable with promotions.
I really think I'm going to have to accpet and embrace what appears to be a new fact as it concerns what I sell and eBay.
And that is: eBay is just going to cost me half of every sale. As an average, but one way or another....it's just going to be 50%
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@redlinear
I use PLS successfully for a couple of years. 5%-7% ad rate on a 30 day campaign once a quarter, ran them like clockwork. Then in early 2022 eBay rolled out PLA, changed how Views were counted and magically doubled and tripled the "Suggested" ad rates in my categories. My 30 day campaigns stopped performing like they had previously, my BIN items lost visibility and sales in between campaigns. after 6 campaigns like that I ran a short 17 day campaign using the higher ad rates eBay wanted (12%) ... BANG, sales shot right back up to the pre-2022 levels. I never jacked my prices up for my campaigns, they were just a boost in sales that I was willing to absorb 5%-7% on. Needing to kick in 12% plus normal FVFs eBay wants about 24%-25% of every sale, NOT sustainable and of course it would only go up from there over time.
At the end of 2023 I abandoned Promoted Listings but sales continued to decline through present day. I am slowly trying to work my way out of the sales decline that was through no fault of my own to put it nicely.
titipeo
·1 year agoAlways research similar items when listing, check on your competition.
redlinear
OP1 year agoFor the two items...eBay now claims I'm 43% higher.
There is no competion...The two items in question are the only ones on eBay.
stainlessenginecovers
·1 year agoFirst thing when clicking on your listings- a MAP Sensor for 2001 Dodge Ram Turbo Diesel, used for $28.50
(used?? How in the world do you know it works??);
Anyway, shows 4 others, 1 being the exact same vehicle, engine, turbo diesel, 2000-2002 for $16.81
That is 41% lower
redlinear
OP1 year agoQuite often, I don't know if it works. But, the chances are pretty good that the truck didn't hit that tree because the map sensor was bad.
And it has no physical damage.
Lots of parts can be tested prior to removal, and/or after removal, and again prior to shipment.
Which isn't a guarantee, but it is assurance.
Only MAP sensor like that, that I have left. No problems selling those for $28.50 (last dozen or so sold for $32.50). But, I'm trying to change gears and get rid of certain inventory.
Any mechanical part, motors, things that function on a car can go from good to bad and any time.
Sold some seat motors a few weeks ago, tested prior to shipping. Returned as non-working (INAD). Along with a message from the buyer...THESE DO NOT WORK...NEITHER ONE OF THEM...LOCKED UP SOLID!
Opened the return package, connected to 12v, zoom zoom like they should.
I'd have told him to clean the sticky pennies out of his seat track. But, he cried about price several times for a week before he bought them, then that ALL CAPS message.
And, @stainlessenginecovers always remember.......... ALL cars run on USED parts.