Community Chat, Feb 27 from 1:00 pm PT - 2019 Early Seller Update

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone! This week we announced our 2019 Early Seller Update and have set up a dedicated board here where staff will be answering questions throughout February 26th & 27th. Additionally, we will focus our Weekly Chat with The Community Team on Feb 27th at 1 PM PT on these announcements.

We look forward to hearing your feedback about the changes, new features, Seller Hub enhancements, and listing updates we're implementing. Looking forward to seeing you here!

[Anonymous]

Some sellers have had access to test this feature for some time and most have loved it and provided great feedback.  I recommend just giving it a try to see if it works for you or not!  Thanks!  

[gracieallen01]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

1a) what decides the timing of 'when the listing goes live', to be precise? When it is submitted or when it is indexed or .... ?

1b) What decides the timing of when a listing renews, to be precise? When it is submitted or when it is indexed or .... ?

2) If a seller, with a store, wants to avoid all insertion fees, by utilizing the number of free insertions that come with a store subscription, it would mean a seller would have to end ALL of their applicable listings 7 times a year and restart them a day or two later, as there are seven (7) - 31 day months in a year.      Is this correct?

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1a - they are generally live shortly after submitting, but if you want to know the exact amount of time left, you can see it on the active listings page in seller hub in the 'time left' column.  Sorry this isn't more specific but if you mention what you are solving for, maybe we can help with that?

2 - GTC listings are generally 30 days, when the month has 31 days i don't think it will charge you twice.  We are double checking with developers and will come back if we get a different answer.   

Thanks!!

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The reason I asked was two-fold:  1) the text I copied specifically referred to the present 30 billing period terms, and 2) The CEO's comment not too distant past about no more seller 'hand-holding'.

And, if the listings end before the month, there won't be any new month's free insertion quota to draw from - theoretically - thus, an insertion fee.

Thank you for your response.

[Anonymous]

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@dhbookds wrote:

Maybe I misheard on the discussion on facebook....

I thought I heard her say ebay would NOT charge twice in 1 month for GTC, even tho the listings were listed on the lst day of the month....and then rolled over on the 31st of the same month.........She seemed very assured that even tho it was stated 30 days......it actually meant the calendar month.

GTC listings have never been treated this way that I know of.........it's charged again when the relist comes, whether in the same month or not........  ???

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Hi @dhbookds

Thanks for calling this out, I am so sorry.  I just found out I was misinformed on FB live.  I was originally told it could not be charged twice.  I am so sorry, we are going to look into this and provide feedback that it should just be for a month.  So sorry.  

Thanks,

Kristi

[goodluckselling]

Many users are complaining that this is going to take a lot more time to manage there eBay selling account with the GTC changes. 

My question - When is eBay going to delivery the often promise of seller hub functionality that include the feature and function that turbo lister offered its users?

You made a big statement at the time of seller hub being released which was about the time you announced the ending of turbo lister and eBay assured us then that seller hub would have all these functions and more.

Could you give us an honest update of where we are with seller hub and creating listing all of which will be very important to the new fixed price conversion to GTC listing changes you are making.

Good Luck Selling!

[waltermooreart]

You are not alone at all, dgn5009. I have spent the past two days researching other sites, and will not renew my eBay store unless this GTC "feature" gets the axe.

It reminds me of when my old bank would gin up helpful schemes to bring in more fees. I have a credit union now.

[mam98031]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Some sellers have had access to test this feature for some time and most have loved it and provided great feedback.  I recommend just giving it a try to see if it works for you or not!  Thanks!  

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OK, maybe I will do that.  But I don't understand why the concerns stated are being dismissed as unimportant because you have some sellers saying they like the program.  You mean there is no room for improvement?  It is perfect as it exists now?  I am not trying to be difficult here, I just don't understand why it is not being seen as some thoughts that could improve the option.

Thanks for your time.

[mr_lincoln]

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@dhbookds wrote:

GTC listings are generally 30 days, when the month has 31 days i don't think it will charge you twice. We are double checking with developers and will come back if we get a different answer.

errrrr...........I think Trinton's answer immediately above yours is diametrically opposed to your answer??????

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I created a thread with explanation of how I calculated JUST 5 days in April and when items on those days would hit a future month and Relisted TWICE ... here it is:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/2019-Early-Seller-Update/GTC-Listings-and-how-to-Calculate-your-first-...

 Here the 5 days ... note the first 4 yield a double insertion fee this year:

April 1 listings will be doubled in May this year
April 2 listings will be doubled in July this year
April 3 listings will be doubled in Aug this year
April 4 listings will be doubled in Oct this year

April 14 listings will be doubled in Aug 2021

I have not done the entire year but that process with an EXCEL spreadsheet will allow me to pick listing days that have a double insertion month as far out as possible ... of course why should we be worried, this new thing will "increase" our conversion rate so much that all of our stores will sell out in a month and we can all retire ... errrnt.

[lrj0]

I agree with this!! Most of my items are also 1 item listings. I'm also have such a small number of listings that I can list free I don't want the same items being relisted month after month. I would much prefer to be able to list fresh items every month. It really annoys me that if I list as FP I will have to physically end my listings each month so as not to have them relisted.

[mam98031]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

GTC listings are generally 30 days, when the month has 31 days i don't think it will charge you twice. We are double checking with developers and will come back if we get a different answer.

errrrr...........I think Trinton's answer immediately above yours is diametrically opposed to your answer??????

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I created a thread with explanation of how I calculated JUST 5 days in April and when items on those days would hit a future month and Relisted TWICE ... here it is:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/2019-Early-Seller-Update/GTC-Listings-and-how-to-Calculate-your-first-...

 Here the 5 days ... note the first 4 yield a double insertion fee this year:

April 1 listings will be doubled in May this year
April 2 listings will be doubled in July this year
April 3 listings will be doubled in Aug this year
April 4 listings will be doubled in Oct this year

April 14 listings will be doubled in Aug 2021

I have not done the entire year but that process with an EXCEL spreadsheet will allow me to pick listing days that have a double insertion month as far out as possible ... of course why should we be worried, this new thing will "increase" our conversion rate so much that all of our stores will sell out in a month and we can all retire ... errrnt.

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This issue of 30 days verse 31 days and the result of having some months with a double ding on your free listing quota is a really easy one to bypass.  

Simply do NOT post all your listings on the same day of the month.  Stagger them.  For example if you have 100 free listings per month.  Maybe post 25 of them on the 1st, 25 on the 7th, 25 on the 14 and 25 on the 21st.  Or some similar thing.  Maybe 50 on the first and 50 on the 7th.  Whatever works for the seller.  This will prevent you exceeding your 100 allotment for a long long time.

[labs118]

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@carlqsportscards wrote:

Any answer yet on post #41 from 6 weeks ago? I asked about it 5 weeks ago and was told you hadn't heard back yet.

It was about listing GTC on the app, and whether the 8 relistings were free or not.

I think it was tyler@ebay 

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Thanks I was  just going to post and ask about this as I have been waiting to hear back from Tyler since I posted the question on Jan 16th Weekly chat 
My post was #32 
Tyler's response was # 41

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Community-Chat-Jan-16-from-1-00-pm-PT-Gene...

Thanks for this labs118 - I'll work on getting a definitive answer on this from the proper teams involved and update the thread when I have a response.

[vrykalak]

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@vrykalak wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

So unlike the GD program that I think is a win-win for sellers, this program was broken from the get-go!  I don't see how it will increase sales, unless a seller gets desperate and makes a fire-sale, low-ball offer.  But the same could be done by changing the listing price, now easily done through the Seller Hub!

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Some sellers have had access to test this feature for some time and most have loved it and provided great feedback.  I recommend just giving it a try to see if it works for you or not!  Thanks!  

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It won't work for me, period.
I list exactly as many items each month as I can list for free. 
At the end of 30 days, I want the listing to go away.
I may relist it later, but that should be my choice.
I don't want to be forced to continue to pay every 30 days for a listing I only intended to post once.

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'Course, I could keep track of which ones are about to expire, and end them all manually. That will avoid the repeated fees
...but then those items will just vanish, instead of moving to the Unsold list, which I "mine" to find items to relist when there's a promotion.

[buyselljack2016]

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brian@ebay wrote:

Hi everyone! The weekly chat is now open for questions. 

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Community Chat, Feb 27 from 1:00 pm PT -

2019 Early Seller Update

[dhbookds]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Maybe I misheard on the discussion on facebook....

I thought I heard her say ebay would NOT charge twice in 1 month for GTC, even tho the listings were listed on the lst day of the month....and then rolled over on the 31st of the same month.........She seemed very assured that even tho it was stated 30 days......it actually meant the calendar month.

GTC listings have never been treated this way that I know of.........it's charged again when the relist comes, whether in the same month or not........  ???

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Hi @dhbookds

Thanks for calling this out, I am so sorry.  I just found out I was misinformed on FB live.  I was originally told it could not be charged twice.  I am so sorry, we are going to look into this and provide feedback that it should just be for a month.  So sorry.  

Thanks,

Kristi

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Kristi.........hope you go back and inform your misinformer.  Not to beat a dead horse.......but had you read the board concerning these changes you would have seen much angst about being charged twice within the same month..........  THAT was/is a BIG deal for sellers........  If you had read that board, hopefully you would have questioned your misinformer closely about what he/she was saying.  We all make mistakes, but during this kind of "heat", it pays to be double sure about you, as an ebay representative, say..........

[shipscript]

@Anonymous 

@Anonymous 

"2 - GTC listings are generally 30 days, when the month has 31 days i don't think it will charge you twice. We are double checking with developers and will come back if we get a different answer."

This isn't just about double billing, it's also about the number of free insertions. According to the 30 day cycle, there may be no new insertions in Feb, but double insertions in March.

Out of Stock Control

Another topic to clarify with the programmers....

When a GTC listing is hidden using the "out of stock control", say for a month or two, while it retains its watchers and view count, will it return to its same status in search, or will that vacation lower its standing in search due to the months of inactivity (no fresh views, etc)?

Vacation mode.

It would seem that the GTC stock control could be used by sellers without a store to set up a vacation mode.  They could do so by setting their inventory to zero in all those listings.  I do see a lot of sellers asking for short term vacation settings.

Seasonal inventory.

It would seem that the GTC stock control could be used by sellers to put their seasonal items to bed for six to 10 months awaiting the next season. Is there a time limit on stock control? It would be costly in terms of insertion fees, but we see so many sellers looking for a way to preserve the work they have invested in creating listings that disappear after 90 days. Any solutions here? Could this be used to launch some sort of extended vacation setting?

[becksrelics]

Hi! Offers to watchers....the second time the item is offered ...will the same watchers get the offer the second time too? Or is it only new watchers?