Best solution I have read yet to fix GTC problem for sellers selling one off items..Worthy of Repost

[micsett-99]

I really hope someone at eBay reads this, because there is a huge elephant in the room right now that has to be dealt with here.

This Good Till Cancelled change is KILLING small to medium sellers who sell "one off" unique items, and  inventory. 

I do not think there is any debate about that anymore.  The proof is in the pudding.  The boards here are chuck full of sellers saying this.  They are losing money, not making sales, and ebay is losing right along with them.

If you got the majority of your sales by using short term Buy It Now Duration listings before March 18th? 

Then you know exactly what I am taking about.  And these boards are full of sellers like this saying the same thing, GTC is simply not for them and it is actively killing their (our) businesses as we speak.

I just read an absolutely BRILLIANT solution to all of this, which is a compromise and a win win that ebay really needs to take seriously as a suggestion here. 

This would be an automatic "fix" for us sellers  who are being hit the hardest by this, and it would be the fairest thing to do here. 

Not to mention being a Win Win for everyone involved:

This is the very simple solution:

When a seller is listing something?  If the quantity of the item is changed to more than (1) item available? = That listing must be listed as a Good Till Cancelled Listing.  It does not get any other Buy it Now Duration option available to it.  

Anything with a quantity higher than (1)?  Is forced into GTC. 

I would agree with this policy, because GTC is the really the only way it makes sense to list multi quantity inventory on eBay.  This is what GTC was DESIGNED for in the first place.

It was NOT designed for sellers selling one off, unique items where they only have ONE.

So therefore, part two of the new rule:  If your quantity is only (1) in the listing?  You then would have the option again of using 3,5,7, 10, or 30 day listing durations, that have an END DATE.

This allows the sellers who are only selling one unique item?  To conduct business as usual, and to start getting sales again the way they were before this change.

This is simple, brilliant, and in one fell swoop?  Would immediately alleviate the problems that millions of one off sellers are experiencing on this site now with the GTC mandatory on EVERYTHING change...

There really is absolutely zero reason why ebay would not implement this, unless their intention is actually to drive off millions of sellers who do not sell long tail, multiple quantity inventory.

From all the outcry I've seen on here (and given the amount of times I have called ebay myself about this personally)?  ebay is going to have to do something here.

This is absolutely the best solution I have seen yet on these boards. 

It is NOT my idea, and I am not taking credit for it in any way.

I am simply reposting it in the hopes that ebay will see this, and so will many others; who will then start to suggest this to ebay as well, and maybe get this ball rolling here to help everyone.

I hope beyond hope that this gains ground as a solution here, because it would work wonders to fix this.

If you think so too?  Start reposting this as well as your own thread and with this suggestion. 

Let's keep doing that until eBay takes notice.

Very hopefully they will. 

[tunicaslot]

I like your suggestion and am hoping that Ebay will reconsider the new GTC policy. There are many other venues where you can list your item for free. Ebay is better than some of those because it does offer you worldwide exposure but my overseas sales on another smaller venue are twice the number of international sales here.

All platforms have pros and cons - each seller just has to determine what is best for them.

[micsett-99]

---

@tunicaslot wrote:

I like your suggestion and am hoping that Ebay will reconsider the new GTC policy. There are many other venues where you can list your item for free. Ebay is better than some of those because it does offer you worldwide exposure but my overseas sales on another smaller venue are twice the number of international sales here.

All platforms have pros and cons - each seller just has to determine what is best for them.

---

I agree with you to a point, but when a platform goes out of its way to create a HUGE "con" here for sellers who sell unique items (millions of them)?  I feel this is a problem that needs to be addressed by ebay.

eBay always had pros and cons.  For us ebay was more expensive, yes (con), but we got the fastest, highest priced sales on here consistently (huge pro)..There are many other pros and cons of ebay of course too..

When they create a policy though that is actively putting tons of people out of business on the site?  And people can no longer sell here because they cannot get sales??  Then that's the "con" that's going to break the camels back here...

And if eBay wants to stay in business and around any longer?  They need to address what they are doing here and fix this. 

That's the bottom line  If people can no longer get sales?  Then there is no longer any "pro" left to selling here...

[dhbookds]

Nope, the bottom line is no one knows how this will play out.......it's the first time all f/p listings have been GTC.........which is the norm in other sites.

To address your statement......many sellers have used GTC for years to list one  offs.......so the idea that no one uses it for those items is incorrect, as has been said on other threads..........

[weschurch]

---

@dhbookds wrote:

Nope, the bottom line is no one knows how this will play out.......it's the first time all f/p listings have been GTC.........which is the norm in other sites.

To address your statement......many sellers have used GTC for years to list one  offs.......so the idea that no one uses it for those items is incorrect, as has been said on other threads..........

---

You can keep saying GTC is the norm all you want however Ebays GTC structure doesn't compare to a site that give you unlimited listings until they sell for a monthly fee. Entirely different

[vinylrecon]

That's a splendid ideal!

[vinylrecon]

Very well said-a huge difference indeed

[sharingtheland]

Here's what I think we might get, and this opinion is based on pure speculation:

As a bone and/or because of disastrous sales results from GTC, 30-day FP listings may be reinstated.

No 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-day listings.  Those do clog up the site.

I realize many sellers are saying those timeframes worked best for them, and I am not against anyone using those in the past (also not crazy happy about those types of listings but I can't say they affected me one way or the other) but I don't see ebay relenting; 30-day may be all we can hope for.

[vinylrecon]

Also we have sites that one can list for free on with GTC and never pay a cent until the item sells,i do admit however they do not get the high volume traffic Ebay does....So imo its not worth hanging it up on Ebay just yet,i'm hoping the buyers will realize our dilemma and begin to buy from auction style listings more,i know most buyers,myself included when i'm buying prefer to make a Buy It Now purchase tho.

But i only buy with money i make from selling,so if i'm not selling as much,i'm most definitely not buying as much....

[sharp_edgeknives]

So what you are saying is the same thing that E bay is trying to do with tiny and small sellers without a store. Drive us ALL out we will in a few months see how that plays out when E bays revenue drops.

Everything E bay has done in the past has either benefited them money wise or the store owners.

Example for the store owners was the 30% BIN from 10% BIN

You want the 30 day FP listing, GTC for the most part is the same thing except the fees involved.

I am one seller that WILL not purchase anything until E bays gets rid of GTC.

[micsett-99]

---

@sharingtheland wrote:

Here's what I think we might get, and this opinion is based on pure speculation:

As a bone and/or because of disastrous sales results from GTC, 30-day FP listings may be reinstated.

No 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-day listings.  Those do clog up the site.

I realize many sellers are saying those timeframes worked best for them, and I am not against anyone using those in the past (also not crazy happy about those types of listings but I can't say they affected me one way or the other) but I don't see ebay relenting; 30-day may be all we can hope for.

---

You know I've heard this a few times, including ebay saying it recently: Short term durations "clog" up the site...

Ok, well I find that interesting because in one form or another, I've been on ebay and been selling on ebay since about 1996.

Never once, over all these about 25 years have I ever heard anyone say that "Short term duration lisitngs clog up ebay"..Never once, never mentioned, never happened.

Even during the absolute HEY DAY of ebay, when they had 10 times more listings on this site, and probably 5 times as many sellers as they do now?  This was never a concern of anyone's, ever, not even once.  

Now?  about 25 years later..When ebay is at an all time low of buyers, sellers and listings, and is basically going down the drain in every way possible? 

NOW it suddenly becomes this big issue that these listings are "clogging" everything up??? 

When exactly did this rational start?  Because it's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard..And its the poorest excuse I could ever hope to hear as an excuse to take away sellers BEST selling tools, and put them out of business in the process..

If for 24 years prior to March 2018?  There was no issue of short term listing clogging?   Let me tell you something: There's ZERO issue with that now...ZERO

You want to know the real answer.  Here it is:

"Well, Amazon doesn't have any listing duration times..So let's eliminate ours so we can be more like them!!  Great idea!! That MUST be the secret to their success!!"

Yeah..NO

So please, save it with the "site clogging" rhetoric..Because trust me?  If that was a true factor here?  It NEVER would have taken them 25 years to figure that out and change it...

[this*old*attic]

Not sure where you get your info...

EBay has MANY more sellers/users in general now and 100’s more items now than it did even 10 years ago.

Look it up.

[this*old*attic]

Perhaps “clog” isn’t the right word...

But when enough people repetitively use short durations (and there are many many thousands more sellers and listings than there used to be), it:

1. Games the system a bit by allowing multiple closely spaced boosts in visibility for 3/5/10 day items while 80% of the site only gets a single boost every 30 days, and

2.) I can see it annoying customers because a Newly Listed search just keeps returning the same items over and over and over again - giving the boring impression that no one is listing anything new anymore on the site.

Now add in the fact that the same practice creates a bunch of dead links via Google searches, which gives the impression that nothing at all is available on EBay and it’s a waste of time to click in at all.

[weschurch]

---

@this*old*attic wrote:

Not sure where you get your info...

EBay has MANY more sellers/users in general now and 100’s more items now than it did even 10 years ago.

Look it up.

---

There is no way to "look it up" because all you are seeing is Ebays dishonest, skewed numbers. 

I've searched this site everyday, hours a day for 10-15 years and I can tell you 100% NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, There are far LESS sellers listing currently than at any time in Ebays history! HANDS DOWN. I don't care what numbers Ebay throws out.

The only thing thats increased rapidly is the amount of CHINESE JUNK SELLERS and CHINESE JUNK LISTINGS!!

Anyone that believes Ebay has more sellers or more listings now is obviously not taking into account just exactly what is being listed and is a total puppet to Ebays dishonesty. Anyone that has searched this site regularly can see the listings are drying up at a RAPID rate!

[frenchblueshutters]

True Statement HOWEVER The Durations On the Other Sites Do Not Constitute Making a Living. Nobody Makes a "LIVING" on the Other Sites. A handful of Sales Monthly, Maybe. EBAYS DURATION CHOICES LET PEOPLE MAKE A LIVING. 90% of My Sales Have always Been on 7 Day Durations.. I didn't want GTC Knew it wouldn't work For Me and the Sellers of One Offs Using GTC Were Not making a Living Here. I Like this Solution Posted Above. Come On EBAY Help Here we are Sinking!!!