48 hour (and counting) visibility blackout ........................ HELP!

[goldrushfinds]

I have again entered what I believe to be the Ebay black hole. You can always tell when you've entered it by the following:

1) No sales (goes without saying)

2) No questions

3) No new feedback/reviews

4) Few views

This period will continue for an unknown period of time until like magic, at 10:32 a.m on a Tuesday all of sudden in 1 hour 3 items will sell, then again lights out. When you average the lights out to visible times, it is nearly impossible to make any reasonable amount of money. When things are hot, you can list items on a given day and usually 1-2 of them will sell within the day. When it's lights out, you can list 10-20 items and crickets. Frustrating!

[goodluckselling]

I just did a search based on one of your items and you came up first.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Chicago+Cubs+Hawaiian+Shirt+Mens&_...

Good Luck Selling!

[tunicaslot]

I haven't had any sales in 2 days but the weekend always creates more sales usually than during the week. Depends on who's looking for what you sell and when - especially if others can see your items.

[this*old*attic]

I don’t look at others’ listings very often because everyone has different taste. I can’t give advice based on that.

But do you regularly compare the number of all completeds to the number of how many actually sold on a majority of what you list?

Its important to get a general sense of what is currently moving on the site, and also look at why one item vs. another sold.

[ekmadonna]

1175 items listed one SINGLE $20 sale in 5 days! I'm sinking with you

[goldrushfinds]

red3rose - Yes, I always research every item I list/purchase for the ratio of listings vs solds. I also take into account intangibles like color, size, pattern, condition, etc. So I am well aware of what is hot and what is not. Of course availability of hot items is also an issue.

[hyperrush]

Seen overpriced items.

[this*old*attic]

I should add - while I don’t believe in the throttling theories people often discuss, I do think search is frankly mucked up.

Too much coding on top of coding, and too many goofy ideas to improve the buyer experience - like actually NARROWING both search capabilities and actual search results.

’Cause, ya know, who likes to browse?

[zamo-zuan]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

I haven't had any sales in 2 days but the weekend always creates more sales usually than during the week. Depends on who's looking for what you sell and when - especially if others can see your items.

---

They definitely tweaked the algorithm in the last couple days, it's performing much different than it did for a long time.

We have a high volume of traffic/sales and we check sales points 4 times a day, every day.

Usually by 10am, then 1pm, we have a semi-consistent amount of sales. The last 2 days prior to today (and today) it has been half at these times.

For some insight, having such slow mornings end on a normal day has not been a characteristic of our store for many, many months. Highly doubtful it's coincidental, as this is such a large statistical anomaly that has went on for a few days now consistently.

Also it's a bit strange, as the majority of auto parts sales comes by 2PM PST (due to that being the time mechanics order). The last two days we did end at an "average" sales amount for the end of day. So it's quite odd that the mornings have been half the speed of normal, but ended at an "average". 

Another oddity: Yesterday and the day before had the same exact number of total sales. And the total sales amount for the day was only $20 different.

This year they have been tweaking the algorithm more than past years. I'm assuming related to the effects GTC had. 

We just have to roll with the punches. 😕

[goldrushfinds]

ekmadonna - I feel for you (and know your pain). I guess Ebay has acknowledged that priority visibility is cycled and that you may have periods where your items are less visible than others. I just can't afford to play this game any longer. Sales are too erratic and prices are falling. I am afraid of getting stuck with a lot of inventory that will never sell. Time is money, and I am running out of time.

[zamo-zuan]

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@goldrushfinds wrote:
ekmadonna - I feel for you (and know your pain). I guess Ebay has acknowledged that priority visibility is cycled and that you may have periods where your items are less visible than others. I just can't afford to play this game any longer. Sales are too erratic and prices are falling. I am afraid of getting stuck with a lot of inventory that will never sell. Time is money, and I am running out of time.

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Sadly I don't get the impressions it's "intentionally" cycled. They are simply using too many different variables in their search results. 

They make prices weight a bit more in search, and that hurts everyone offering sponsored listings/free returns/guaranteed delivery.

They make Free Returns a bit more valuable in search, and that hurts the wholesale sellers who just focus on minimum prices and poor shipping/returns.

They up the reward of sponsorships weight in search, and every other seller suffers.

The actual solution is to fix the fundamental design issue and factor search based on variables that do not conflict with each other. Only then could there possibly be any form of stability.

[sunsync]

The problem is due to the AI (Arbitrary Intelligence) component of the search engine

[goldrushfinds]

hyperrush - I don't aim to the lowest or highest price, just competitive. I provide superior service, make sure my items are of high quality and disclose all defects. You can go cheapest, but often you get what you pay for. So no, 'seen overpriced items', is a unenlightened comment.

[zamo-zuan]

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@sunsync wrote:

The problem is due to the AI (Arbitrary Intelligence) component of the search engine

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That doesn't help, but I don't believe it's the cause. That's something that learns over time, which would lead to some form of consistency.

But for sudden changes to happen, that means it must be re-learning due to algorithm changes.

Or, of course it's a possibility that the AI had not been triggered to re-learn based upon algorithm changes (I wouldn't put that past the tech team seeing some of the issues they have had). 

[ekmadonna]

I don't think the "PRICES WEIGHT" has much to do with the algorithm. that one single sale of mine in the last 5 days was for a book priced at $19.99, mine was the MOST EXPENSIVE out of about 20 or so, some as low as 5 bucks but most between 5-12 bucks. Most of the other sellers except for 1 or 2 were not huge book dump warehoses with stock photos.