14 days sales rule - doesn't apply to everyone?

[vintageindiana]

I just watched a reputable seller on YouTube saying the 14 day sales rule doesn't seem to apply to him.  He said he was running sales right after listing an item.  I have heard this from others as well.

If this is true it is a grossly unfair business practice.

Does anyone know if this is true and how we can be added to list of sellers who can run sales before the 14 day period?

Thank you for your help with this!

[outfit_city]

Why would ebay just do that without letting seller know before hand? I already discounted 30% or more (manually) for 7/10 day listing and now this? When the sales goes active for 7/10 listing, it is discounting 50% to 70%. it is so frustrating

[blondbat]

Alan, that is wonderful news!

I'm glad eBay finally did make the decision to change the rule on sellers putting up sales anytime throughout the month. This 14 day rule was really hurting me and I am sure many, many other sellers.

I do hope they will keep it this way and not change it back.

Many thanks!

[thestylewriter2]

HOORAY!  

[alan@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

Alan, that's great and unexpected news. Thank you! (It's worthy of an official announcement, don't you think? Not just a post here?)

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Great idea, leave that with me! ✍🏼

[alan@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

Alan, that's great and unexpected news. Thank you! (It's worthy of an official announcement, don't you think? Not just a post here?)

Since you also say: "As we move into the holidays, our biggest priority is ensuring you have an easy and successful selling season.", may we assume that, with that priority in mind, ebay is going to return the banners to the top of listing pages as well?

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I haven't heard of any plans to revert this change. Keep testing out compelling offers to see which ones surface at the top of your listings. 

Thanks, @my-cottage-books-and-antiques. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Alan, ebay's biggest priority is for me to have an "easy" selling season.

I like that, I really do. But, here's where I'm confused. To my mind, here's an example of "easy"---I create a sale, the header shows at the top of all my listing pages automatically. Easy-peasy.

and here's an example of "not easy" : " Keep testing out compelling offers to see which ones surface at the top of your listings. "

So, in keeping with ebay's biggest priority, I will ask that you pass my post on to whichever team or teams is responsible for creating the "Spin the Compelling Offer Wheel, (Maybe) Win a Header" game. Maybe they can explain why testing, testing, and testing some more is "easy" compared to "create sale. done."

[alan@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
Alan, ebay's biggest priority is for me to have an "easy" selling season.

I like that, I really do. But, here's where I'm confused. To my mind, here's an example of "easy"---I create a sale, the header shows at the top of all my listing pages automatically. Easy-peasy.

and here's an example of "not easy" : " Keep testing out compelling offers to see which ones surface at the top of your listings. "

So, in keeping with ebay's biggest priority, I will ask that you pass my post on to whichever team or teams is responsible for creating the "Spin the Compelling Offer Wheel, (Maybe) Win a Header" game. Maybe they can explain why testing, testing, and testing some more is "easy" compared to "create sale. done."

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We've explained a number of times our thought process re why this change was made.

Poor offers across the marketplace were turning buyers away from eBay. We now highlight offers we believe buyers will find compelling - that's a good thing for sellers with good offers, as buyers won't have "offer fatigue" from seeing them everywhere they go on eBay.

Thanks. 

[Anonymous]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques

From what I can tell eBay will put the banner at the top if it's a large discount OR if there is buyer engagement. B1G1 10% off may be considered a small discount, but if buyers are purchasing multiples from the promo then eBay sees it's working and gives it a more prominent placement. Sometimes it's just by accident that the buyer wanted 2 widgets and used the shopping cart - they may not have known about the promo before purchase. I do find it helpful to post certain promos on social media to encourage buyer engagement.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

And thank you Alan. At least I can now give up any hope that ebay will change the header rule. bigger.fish.to.fry makes some good points (thanks, bigger!) I did see with my last MM sale that, after some items sold, eBay put the banner at the top....I guess because getting enough sales suggests to eBay's algorithm that the offer is indeed compelling enough to merit a header. And I've dipped my toes into the Social Media sphere, and will try to promote my sales there. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Works for the Marines, works for eBay sellers too!

[alan@ebay]

The Seller News announcement is live: 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/An-important-update-on-markdown-events/ba-p/29054144#M43...

Thank you all for your feedback & thank you for selling on eBay. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Thanks Alan---- glad to see an official announcement!

[alan@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
And thank you Alan. At least I can now give up any hope that ebay will change the header rule. bigger.fish.to.fry makes some good points (thanks, bigger!) I did see with my last MM sale that, after some items sold, eBay put the banner at the top....I guess because getting enough sales suggests to eBay's algorithm that the offer is indeed compelling enough to merit a header. And I've dipped my toes into the Social Media sphere, and will try to promote my sales there. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Works for the Marines, works for eBay sellers too!

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That's great to hear, thanks for following up and best of luck with Social Media. We had a workshop on that topic at eBay Open 2018. You can view the workshop on the site: https://ebayopen.com/

doug@ebay is the presenter! 

[a_double_play]

I Agree that ridiculous offers should not be available - So... (speaking with 40 years of software development experience) - Do NOT allow ridiculous offers to be created! An offer of 1% off simply should not be allowed to be created. It is simple enough to create such rules - far better than asking your sellers to try Trial and Error.  GIGO  (Garbage In Garbage Out) is a computer science term.  If the software allows garbage into the system, the system then provides Garage out. And that is what the buyer/user is seeing.

The first rule of interface design is to present a consistent experience to users. Some items showing banner at top, others at bottom - confuses buyers, reduces sales and hurts us all.

Having said above - Wonderful that the 14 day restriction has been removed! There have been 2 reasons for tanking sales over the past months - the 14 day sale restriction was one. The other is the awful Search filters which are applied with buyers not being aware - forcing them to shop on Amazon since ebay does not have what they are looking for.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Thanks Alan--- I attended the Workshops at Open...one reason I am trying Social Media...a lot of good advice in the workshops, which I'm trying to apply!