Shipping fee changes

[sandrac927]

So about a week ago I got an email from Ebay explaining that they were going to be offering the Buyers discounted shipping. And I had commented that we’re still paying fees on the shipping. And until they want to get rid of the fees on the shipping why should I discount the shipping? I decided not to offer the discounted shipping. The discount covers my packing supplies and the fees. Has anyone noticed that their sales have gone down considerably for not using the discounted shipping feature? Are the listings getting moved further down because of not agreeing to that policy? Just curious if anyone else noticed this. 

[wooden_flower]

@sandrac927 

I think you would get a better response asking on the seller discussion board.

Since you have the option to add a handling fee, I don't think that eBay would base search results solely on using the retail rates. But - I'm sure that price + shipping is a factor in search placement - if your competitors are charging discounted shipping with similar item prices, their items will result in a lower overall price.

[sandrac927]

thank you for your response. So are you saying that items are placed in the search by pricing criteria? I’m feeling that the algorithms are specially placing listings that didn’t want to go with the new problem of discounted shipping lower in the feed. I’ve noticed a considerable drop in the amount of even views I’m getting. If that continues I’ll probably pull many items and bring to the resale store I use as i will not have to even deal with shipping. Soon all of this will be affected by our social credit scores also. I appreciate your thoughts on this. I’m wondering whether I want to add any more merchandise to my inventory. 

[wooden_flower]

@sandrac927 

We don’t know the secrets of search placement - I am just assuming that price is certain to be one factor, but probably not the most important.  

I guess one way you could test it would be to switch to the discounted shipping after a few weeks and see if you notice a difference. I would assume there are some natural peaks and dips in clothing sales, so  you’ll need a way to discount that.  Have you ever charted your sales month by month, year over year? If not, the sales performance charts can help -https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales

[glorybells]

I know that sometimes when im looking for something on ebay, i filter search results by "item price + shipping", so that will make me see the lower total priced items first.