PROMOTIONS MANAGER: Sale + Markdown Event NOT Working! Shows ZERO Items!

[bauble-babes]

I've had 5 Sales going on for quite awhile, all ending on same date/time, and I always follow the same procedure when they end: I 'Copy' each ended sale so I don't have to select the items again, set the start/end times and Launch.

Did that this morn with all 5 as per usual, but when they became Active, each showed Zero for the # of Items in the sale. I clicked on the Zero and below is an example of what I saw:

These "Skipped" Items were selected to be in the sale! All 5 Sales are showing ALL my selections as "Skipped!" This has never happened before and I've been launching these sales for at least 6 months. Further, there's no way that I know of to delete these faulty sales. Perhaps @Anonymous can shed some light on this new problem/error.

[brian@ebay]

---

@techwiese wrote:

Tyler,

Thanks for the explanation.  Looks like everybody got too excited too fast, thinking this mess or a big chunk of it had been solved.  The EBAY message said that EBAY had listened and responded, but I don't see how this little tweak solves any of the problems people have been crying and pleading to solve.  In fact I have read hundreds of the messages on tons of these blogs in the past week and don't recall anyone asking for this particular relief.

Unless I am missing something, it provides no help to anybody unless they use a good til cancelled.  I have never done that as it was my impression was EBAY didn't want millions of unsellable items sitting in good til cancelled listings and wanted people using 30 day Listings to more or less keep the community free of total long term junk. 

I am still unclear how good til cancelled is a good thing or how this change helps.  You cannot have an item in 2 promotions, so when one ends the price changes and then you have to wait 14 days.  You cannot end a promotion  to restart another as when you stop a promotion the price goes up and you have to wait 14 days to get the items in another propmotion.  What am I missing?

So what exactly is the benefit of todays change?  All it seems to do is force everyone into good til cancelled listings?  But even then it does not seem to address any of the problems folks have been trying to explain for days.  They need flexibility, they are not trying to scam anyone, just move thier merchandise using 10 and 30 day Listings.  They need sale % flexibility, they need to do weekend or holiday sales, they need to ability to move old inventory and seasonal items, they need flexibility to hone in on the right pricing for unique items, and people like me need sales and flexibility to move open box/customer return items.  Most of the sellers who have been crying for help have said they are running minimal sale percentages less than 20%.  Mine I think are all 15% or less except for some discontinued clearance tonneau covers I have at 25% off .  My regular price is well below other online pricing and even at 25% off that they take months to move.

However I could lower the price 5-10% and run a 15-20% off sale if we have flexibility to adjust prices and place items on sale strategically that helps everybody (buyers, me, and EBAY). 

So lifting the restriction for 20% off (or less) sales seems like it would actually solve the vast majority of the EBAY communities problems, and keeps things simplified.  This 14 day thing is a totally confusing maze of twists and turns.  I also think that if these confusing rules only applied above 20% you would have far less abusers and you probably would solve quite a bit of the problems you intended to fix as it would drive everyone to do sales of 20% or less. 

You would get most sellers simply adusting thier regular prices to a level that allows them to have a 20% or less sale with all the flexibility they need.   This is exactly what EBAY supposedly was trying to achive.  Then the scam sellers will be stuck with thier fake 75% off sales at most 15 days a month.  They would not last long and they could not price manipulate and if they tried they could never do a 75% off sale

Please look hard at recinding this new policy that seems to do far more harm than fix the small problem it was seemed to be needed for.  At least recind it for 20% or lower discounts that seveal people have mentioned.  It is obvioulsy killing all of us, and the relief we all got excited about getting this morning looks like it is not of much use in solving the concerns unless I am really missing something.  If possible please consider lifting all or  most of the policy for a couple months and have EBAY management work with sellers to find a good policy for all of us buyers, sellers and EBAY.    Then implement a smart and focused policy to address the problem that does not entangle good legitimate sellers.  Remember once buyers realize the bargains are gone on EBAY, we all will be in serious hurt as they won't come back once they are gone.  They will simply go to Amazon or some other online venue to shop for bargains as they will have it set in thier minds there are no bargains on EBAY except maybe a few days a month.  And that will not last long as the sellers will have to close thier doors if they are taking a 50%+ hit in revenue.

Lastly, in the short term,  if I am correct you are saying the only possible way to have items on sale more than 15 days a month is to convert everything to good till cancelled.  If that is the case why even have fixed price listings that are anything other than good till cancelled?  But if that is what EBAY wants I will start moving my 500 listings to GTC, but I'll give it a few days to see if any other changes are coming.

Thanks,

Jim

---

Hi @techwiese, thanks for those suggestions! We do evaluate feedback from members and take in into consideration, which is what brought about today's update. I can take note of your suggestion here!

Removing an item from a markdown sale does not count as changing the price and thus will not place it on a 14-day wait. Before today's update, there was a 14-day wait time after an item was removed from a sale before it could be placed in a new sale. today's update removed this wait time.

In regard to Good Til Cancelled listings, we think it's a great option! Each seller will need to evaluate which duration will work best for the item and their markdown strategy. If a seller wants to place an item on sale and keep it discounted for longer than 15 days, or if they would like to try different markdown discount percentages without a wait time, they would need to list it as Good Til Cancelled. A seller can then try different markdown sales without any wait times between those markdowns, and this is the benefit of today's update.

[techwiese]

Thanks Tyler,

Hopefully EBAY will see how many sellers are being harmed by the policy and it can be recinded or changed dramatically to give sellers the flexibility they need to move thier items and stay in business and make them and EBAY money.    We are all holding our breath!  But remember no sales means no money for anybody.  Please Please consider the 20% no restrictions several people have suggested in the last week.  It at least would give sellers some reasonable options and strategies short term.

back to the good till cancelled.  It appears you are now saying that EBAY is encouraging good till cancelled rather than discouraging it.  Is that true?  I have avoided GTC as EBAY and sellers have always said they frown on its use other than for high volume comodity items that a seller would be selling for years to come.  It was frowned upon for putting one of a kind or slow moving items.

It now appears that in order to use promotion manager your items will all have to be GTC otherwise it will always be getting hit with 14 day waiting periods and inability to do more than 1 sale a month.

So that begs the question, why would anyone do anything other than GTC now???

Is it EBAY's goal to only do GTC, as that will be the result???

Also is there a waiting period of 14 days when items are placed in GTC?  I am 7 days into the 14 day waiting period now for about 90 items and need to know if I should end them and change to GTC or wait 7 days and run a sale for a few weeks till the 30 days runs out then do the GTC.

has anyone thought about how many hundreds of thousands of seller hours and EBAY customer service hours have been wasted trying to figure this mess out?    For what?  All to stop a few scam artists who could have been topped  many other ways.  And God only knows how much money has been lost in the past week by sellers and EBAY.

Thanks,

Jim

[mountainskys]

They are just trying to wipe out sellers under Anchor store level again. Think back to last Christmas and the nightmare of errors all month during the busiest time of the year. Consier the poor troll customer service for any seller under anchor. These are not "techical errors" they are stragetic FU to drive sellers to other sites.

[mountainskys]

Another reason they do not want you ending promotions is they are "falsely" machine up the trending add rates. If you keep a sale going you will notice the trending keeps getting higher and higher...its over 15% in some catagory. End the sale and start over with the same items and trending is under 5%? They are getting like tophatter, gangster style and will not be happy until they have flipped the table on sellers to a 70% of sale to eBay and 30% to seller. So the answer is YES eBay is killing sales to steal sellers profits, giving more marketshare to their pet anchor stores and those who will accept a dismal profit.

[brdavis77]

I'm sure that my opinion is going to be in the minority, but I actually agree with Ebay's policy of not allowing any NEW items to be placed on sale before 14 days. My listings have been GTC for most of this year vs. 30-day before...I am happy that they allow a previously on sale item to now be included in another sale before 14 days as that more closely follows retails marketing. I also think that this potentially stops certain sellers from trying to game Ebay's CASSINI by relisting their items every day or few days to get their items at the top if they want to use the sale feature.

I work in Marketing IRL for a large company and I understand what the sellers are upset about as we are always trying to find a way to market/sell our product by pushing the boundaries without getting in trouble by our Legal Department. IMO, placing a sell on an item immediately is a UDAAP concern as it is deceptive. Where I have an issue with the rule is that Ebay is allowing certain sellers an exception to the rule...if it is a good policy, then it should apply to all.

My question for Ebay is...Did you also change the rule that changing non-price items such as title, handling time, pictures, etc. does not restart the clock for when you can markdown an item?

[bestbuypowerdeals]

When my sales ended on 6/29 and 6/30, I discovered I could not put them on sale again.

I read everything on this board.

I decided to try starting a new sale on 7/1 and I added everything in my store,

and put the end date 30 days out.

All my items have been listed for over two years, and have sold hundreds and even thousands

of the same item.

All my items have been Good Till Cancelled for years as well.

Everything came up as "Skipped" as I expected.

I left everything as it was out of frustration.

I was afraid to make any changes to anything, because it seemed ebay had become

a ticking time bomb, and one false move could "RESET THE STUPID CLOCK"

So I backed away carefully, watching all my items not sell at full retail price.

Now today, much to my amazement,

all of the items that I had added to my new sale,

which had been skipped 4 days ago,

were now magically on sale!

So that is great.

Ebay rewrote the new policy...

But now I am afraid to touch anything again.

When my sales run out after 30 days (on July 31st), will I have to wait 14 days again?

I have an IQ of 130, been programming computers since the 6th gade,

I fly airplanes for fun, and I read physics textbooks when I get bored...

But I still can't figure this eBay promotions 14 day thing out.

I still don't get it.

I'll figure it out eventually, until then, I am not touching ANYTHING until my sales end.

Treating eBay like an IED for now. A roadside bomb.

This can't be good for seller psychology.

But then, eBay has been schizophrenic

for about 10 years now,

so we are used to it.

[bigtreasures2]

I am having this same problem. I lowered my prices since a sale option was out of the picture and now I still have to wait 14 days. I shouldn't be punished for lowering my prices during this transition. Ebay should consider lifting the price change on sellers that lowered their prices so we don't have to wait 14 days. 

This also might be a stupid question but does adding or removing "best offer" on my listings fall into the category of "price change"?

[boston-blessings]

This policy IS hurting sellers and will continue to hurt sellers until eventually, sellers will just accept that all the work/hassle is just not worth it anymore on Ebay. Hopefully, those in a position to save Ebay will realize this before it is too late.

[boston-blessings]

This is certainly a recipe for disaster for seller and ultimately ebay as sellers continue to lose sales/money and leave.

[amysncfinds]

I went in and added best offer feature now I will wheel and deal now I am so fed up with Ebay running my store I am doing all the work and they are doing nothing short of causing more and more techinal issues that are hindering my sales with no discount on my ebay fees for their failures. 

[boston-blessings]

Right! People will pop on ebay more often when the sales are OFTEN. Grocery & department stores post sales minimum EVERY week, yet ebay doesn't get it.

[techwiese]

You saying you are in the minority is a HUGE understatement.  I think you are only the second person I have seen, out of hundreds that have posted on multiple threads and blogs about this, that agree witn EBAY's policy.  It is easily 100:1 against.

What blows me away is the suggestion that this is a good plolicy because you believe most of us sellers are gaming the Cassini Search engine or using deceptive practices.  This is exactly what led to this policy that was not well thought out.  And even you agree is difficult to understand

We were led to believe that only NEW listings would have a waiting period.  I could live with that.  The problem is it affects relistings as well, and those are not NEW.  They are simply continuations of an existing Listing that ended because it was listed for 30 days.  EBAY knows what items are relisted so item number changing is not an excuse.

Why would lowering my regular price a few bucks to move older inventory start a new clock?  I am giving the buyers a better bargain??  Nothing deceptive.  It has been done by retailers for for over 100 years.  Just go into any Brick and Mortar store such as Walmart, Target, Macy's etc.

I had only done 30 day listings for as long as I have been selling (other than more than 15 years ago when I did auctions).  How is that manipulating Cassini.  All I do is relist every 30 days and sometimes lower the price a couple bucks as the item hasn't moved. It was my understanding GTC was for commodity items that will be there for years, not one of a kind or unique items that once they sell will never be listed again.

I never use more than 15% off promotions with the exception of a handful of discontinued or clearance items that I run at 25% off (maybe 10 items total).  My regular prices are on the low end or lowest compared to EBAY and Amazon etc.  And I run 15% off sales as my items are open box to give people an incentive to take a chance on my perectly new and complete items that just have an open box or damaged shipping box.  How is that deceptive?

If you had read the hundreds of comments from other sellers, they gave a multitude of examples of the statagies they use with the former flexibility of promotion manager, and none was deceptive and perfectly logical, it seems offensive to me to suggest they are gaming Cassini or buyers with deceptive practices.

Have you ever put items n your cart at Amazon?  I have over 200 items in mine and everytime I refresh the cart 10-15 items have changed price and this happens every few hours.    It moves the merchandise.  Amazon did make the bonehead decision to not show a % off of typical prices last year (basically the sale %), and that lasted about a month before it reverted back as people want bargains and to get a sale.  No sale banner or deal, they have no reason to buy!

There are a lot of self proclaimed marketing professionals out there who make a ton of money and lose thier comapnies massive amounts of money or drive them out of business,  let me just say "New Coke", "Ford Pinto", K-Mart, JC Penney, Sears, Toys R Us, My Space.  Obvioulsy those high paid marketing managers and officers thought they knew best and ended up being in the minority compared to the American people and thier competitors.

We are providing feedback to EBAY to rethink this policy, not to manipulate Cassini, or be deceptive.  We are doing it as we don't want to see EBAY on that list.  We have invested our money, and time, invested in buildings and leases and equipment and employees for 2+ decades.  Us honest sellers need flexibility and simplicity to use appropriate strategies to move merchandise and attract buyers.  Which is good for buyers, sellers, and EBAY.  In my case all I do is every 30 days relist the item and slap on a 15% sale to attract buyers to my "new-other" open box items.

That is why a good compromise is to recind this policy for any sale of 20% or less,  There is no possible abuse at these small sale levels.   Also consider not including items that are New-other, used, refurbished, for parts, in this policy.

Then rethink a better mouse trap for sales above 20% to achive whatever the actual goal EBAY had for this policy, which we can only assume is abuse by a few sellers, as they never have actually told us what the goal was.  We can only speculate it was sellers offering 75% off when the sale price is the same or higher than what can be found at other sellers.  And maybe Cassini might bump large sale % to the top of searches?????  Both are deceptive and targeted was of addressing this is what should be thought out and implemented.

If you have a broken toe, you do not put on an entire body cast!!!!

Best regards,

Jim

**bleep** Financial Mangement and Marketing

AAS Electrical Engineering Technoloy 

**bleep** Electrical Engineering

MBA Executive Management

Holder of 5 US Patents

Author of multiple Telecommunications standards (ATIS, IEC, IEEE, etc)

Cattle Farmer - Scottish Highlands

3 successful businesses

And in my spare time 20+ year EBAY seller (with my son for over 10 years) with 100% perfect feedback and over $500,000 in sales on EBAY 

[techwiese]

Tyler,

Thank You again for all your concern and help.  I guess for some you have achieved some minor relief.

Us sellers are providing feedback to EBAY to rethink this policy, not to manipulate Cassini, or be deceptive!  EBAY management needs to understand this.  We are doing it as we don't want to see EBAY on the list with "New Coke", "Ford Pinto", My Space, K-Mart, Sears, Toys R Us, etc.  We have invested our money, and time, invested in buildings and leases and equipment and employees for 2+ decades.  Us honest sellers need flexibility and simplicity to use appropriate strategies to move merchandise and attract buyers.  Not a college degree in understanding complex and nuanced policies.  Flexibility and simplicity is good for buyers, sellers, and EBAY.    So is stopping unscrupulous and deceptive sellers and scam artists.  I am sure that all of us complaining about the new policy support EBAY stopping the bad apples as it helps us honest sellers.  WE would fully support targeted rules to stop them, but the current policy is highly flawed and entraps most honest sellers, and makes managing items highly complex and time consuming.  We want to set it and forget it! 

In my case all I do is every 30 days relist my New-other open box items and slap on a 15% sale to attract buyers to my "new-other" open box items.  No manipulation and no deception, but I am dead in the water, I have been averaging $10,000 a month in sales and in the last 30 days I am under $6500, and that $2500-$3500 in lost sales has occurred since June 25!!  That is about $350 lost by EBAY and multiply that by hundreds of thousands of employees and you get the picture!  Stockholders will not be happy, and sellers will be lost as well as buyers.  It is a death spiral.

That is why a good compromise is to recind this policy for any sale of 20% or less!!!  There is no possible abuse at these small sale levels.   

Also consider not including items that are New-other, used, refurbished, for parts, etc in this policy (that everything except the brand new unopened category).  You cannot have abuses you are trying to stop in these categories either.  These are tough sell categories that are unique and finding the right price and buyer can take long periods of time and there is no price norm or benchmark.

No one strategy works and flexibility is imperative to most of these sellers, but not having them on sale 50% of the time will cut visability as well as cut sales in at least half and drive away bargain hunting buyers.  They likely will simply go buy them new (if posible) at Amazon or a some other online outlet.  But the point is that if you drive the bargain hunters away for these item conditions from EBAY they simply will not even look!!  Once trained to stop looking, they will be gone forever.

Then rethink a better mouse trap for sales above 20% to achive whatever the actual goal EBAY had for this policy, which we can only assume is abuse by a few sellers, as EBAY has never have actually told us what the goal was?  We can only speculate it was sellers offering 75% off when the sale price is the same or higher than what can be found at other sellers.  And maybe Cassini might bump large sale % to the top of searches?????  Both are deceptive  and addressing this with a better mousetrap is what should be thought out and implemented by EBAY.

If you have a broken toe, you do not put on an entire body cast!!!!

Best regards,

Jim

P.S. I am providing my background below not to pump myself up, but rather to show I have a wide perspective and background, and the EBAY thing is not something I need, and can walk away from.   But I want EBAY, and other sellers to suceed, and as a buyer, make sure EBAY and deals are available for years to come.  But I really feel for the other sellers who are dependant on EBAY to pay mortgages, and put gas in thier cars, and put food in thier mouths.  A better policy is neded to help these sellers who at a ratio of at least 100:1 are against it.  They need flexibility and simplicity so they can focus on generating sales.

Bachelor of Arts-  Financial Mangement and Marketing

AAS Electrical Engineering Technoloy 

Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering

MBA Executive Management

Holder of 5 US Patents

Author of multiple Telecommunications standards (ATIS, IEC, IEEE, etc)

Cattle Farmer - Scottish Highlands

3 successful businesses

And in my spare time 20+ year EBAY seller with over $500,000 in sales on EBAY 

[gcthunder-2008]

This 14 day rule has destroyed my business. My store has been up for 10 years. Since when does Ebay think they can tell me how much to charge for my items. Change back or my store closes. Ebay is a monopoly that does whatever it feels like. They have NEVER backed the sellers.

[gcthunder-2008]

If Ebay doesn`t reverse, my 10 year old store will close. I`m sick and tired of this monopoly doing whatever it feels like. They`ve never backed the sellers.