Community Poll 2 : is GTC Good or Bad for your Business? After a month what are your thoughts?

[gotoguys2000]

Just a simple poll for the Community.

Do you think the GTC format is beneficial for your current eBay needs?

IF eBay gave you a choice???? 

Would you have said Yes or No to a GTC format?  This is a simple yes or  no question.

This was a very interesting poll posted about two weeks ago.  My sales are down approximately 40% from last month and I feel the GTC policy is the primary reason.     In my opinion It creates a lot more work/time to manage and takes a way the "sense of urgency" from potential buyers.  I feel is it horrible for small/mid size sellers and will result in additional fees if sellers are not  very careful. 

Now that it's approaching a month since it was made the only fixed price option to sellers, what is your opinion?

Thanks

[orangehound]

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@winebreath wrote:

orangehound, what do you like about GTC?  thx

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Mainly it is a business efficiency choice.  It simplifies the relist process so that I can focus on more productive activities like sourcing, listing, price and inventory research, spreading the business out on other selling venues, revising listings, liquidating unwanted items, etc.

In my opinion, if a seller is business oriented (profit-oriented) then they would not be wasting their time trying to manipulate durations or juggling listings around trying to avoid a minuscule relist fee.  I think that is an unproductive focus that distracts from the real activities that make money.

[helen-dolls]

The GTC is VERY VERY BAD for my Business.   My Sales are 70% Down from this time Last Year since the NEW

Ruling was Put Into Effect.

I wish eBay would let the Sellers run their Business, and let us small to medium sellers run our own business.

Please eBay Board Chairman,  let us back to making money for you and for us again.

[disneyshopper]

Years ago, I used GTC so I didn't have to think about it.  But then people said you would get a boost for "Newly listed" and "ending soonest" and I slowly switched to fixed price 30 days.  I have a Basic store, so I do list everyday, to my 250 listing maximum (hate to pay ebay any more than I have to).

I have about 104 items in Unsold, and will be slowly adding them into my Active listings, switching the items to Auction-style if I only have 1 of that item.

I sell in a niche market, with no replenishing of items.  Once they are gone, that's it.  It is very rare that an item I sold months/years ago pops up and is available for me to purchase more of.

Since fixed price became GTC, my sales have increased.  My sales for January and February were in the dumps.

[ms.rodriguez*]

No. I have over 350 inexpensive diecast cars 4.00 to 9.99. I can’t  pay 35 cents for them to relist. So I am  synchronizing the ads to start in 2-4 days in the month. Then 28-29 days later I am ending the ads. I  will relist when I want. I am also going to rewrite some ads. So instead of 1 red Mustang, the ad will be for a red mustang and a blue mustang. The starting price will be higher. Of course, this ad might take longer to sell because often a buyer just wants one Mustang, not 2.

i am hoping that ebay will realize their grave error and give sellers the right to decide how to list.  GTC is bad for the collectibles market.

[collectfest]

so you say yes to no choice? GTC was an option already wasn't it. The point of most authors is choice vs no choice as I see it. The rationalizations amaze me of those who defend this issue.

[xenapup1]

GTC seems to have successfully killed off the small amount of traffic I had to my store.
I refuse to spend even more money with fleabay add-ons to supposedly drive more eyes to my items.
Pretty confident that my 20th year with them will be my last.

[collectfest]

As much as I want to disagree, I have to agree with the idea of acceptance. Acceptance DOES NOT mean I continue to support this platform in the way I use to. I just attended my first antique show in a LONG time and it was a huge success. I have booked 6 other shows this year already. As one door closes others open.

[gotoguys2000]

Understood. He may have skin the game you're right and he's definitely entitled to his opinion. I just get a little frustrated with people who pretty much say just shut up and like it and things will never change.  I thought the original poll was pretty interesting . I believe over 90% of those who responded were not happy with the mandatory GTC policy.  I was just curious if sellers' thoughts had changed over the last few weeks. 

[njcarrington]

NOPE.... I went from averaging $200-$250 a day to an average of $40 a day.. this is my business, it pays my mortgage, my health insurance, food for my family... I don't know what I'm going to do. I have had my eBay Store for 19years and now my business in the dumpsters the past 3 weeks.  There is no more urgency to buy, my store instead of having 3,000 items routing in and out, now has 12,000 items.... no one seems to care.... I have no idea how I will be making my mortgage payment in two months... 

[iart]

We've always used it and we've gotten a bump in sales since ebay did this but I don't think sellers should be forced into it.

That said, I'm concerned about what will happen after the first 30 days of the policy are up and loads of items automatically relist for months afterward. I don't think our bump will continue after that and I think a lot more sellers will be angry about it.

[katieboops]

I say no, no and no to the forced GTC. I sell handcrafted jewelry and make multiples of many of my pieces so I do list some pieces that sell really well as GTC but, I often list ooak items and it's a pain to remember to cancel those listing. In addition, I like to have about a hundred pieces listed and I like to rotate inventory seasonally and to prevent my selection from getting stale with same ol same ol listed month after month. So now I have to remember to cancel listings just before they end.

There is also a very obvious pattern regarding what days of the month I 'get any visibility'. I do list on the days when I know my items won't get seen but I don't want my items automatically relisted the following month during the time frame when I am in the black whole of no visibility thus, no burst of views for newly listed items. One last frustration is trying to get a handle on what items are still getting new views and watchers compared to a week or month ago. I used to be able to judge the interest in pieces by the number of views and watchers during the first week of a listing. Now I have to add little notes on each listing that tell me the date the item was listed as a GTC so I know if it's just sitting there getting stale and sometimes I note the current date and number of views/watchers so I can keep track of current buyer interest. The whole GTC makes a lot more work for this small seller. But eBay will be collecting some extra revenue from sellers due to the automate GTC... and that's all that really matters, right?
I long for the old days before algorithms and artificial intelligence. Both are supposed to fine tune your internet experience but in reality, do nothing but frustrate the beejeebies out of me when i search for anything online. Algorithms and AI just seem to stifle my visibility to all of the individual listings for products I'm looking for and limit my visibility to all of sellers in addition to sending back search results that have little or nothing to do with what I searched for. Don't even get me started on the annoying advertising that appears for anything I have researched. I know I strayed from topic but I spent a lot of time shopping eBay for beads this week and it used to be so simple. Punch in the color, size, quantity and material of the beads I want and hundreds of listings for the exact bead I was looking for would appear. I could shop for the best price, quality and trustworthy sellers I have purchased from before. Now, ten or twenty of the item I'm looking for come up and the rest of the listings are sponsored items related to beads or jewelry making items. It takes three times the amount of time it used to take to shop for inventory now with all the new fine tuned eBay experience enhancements. I try to stay loyal to shopping on eBay but man, they don't make it easy and I've been shopping for my jewelry parts on eBay for years. I can only imagine what is is like for new buyers trying to find items. It all used to be so simple and so much more enjoyable used to be so simple to list items and search for and buy items. Now, not so much.

[tomkat-13]

My Score:

Sales (last 31 days)United States

68.4%Down

Compared to prior period

I wish that ebay would let your ended listings stay more then 90 days so I can move my unsold listings in & out of active status. 

[majrdomo]

NO

[gotoguys2000]

I agree that's yet another piece of this GTC puzzle.  You've got to factor in the amount in inventory items that are approaching 90 days and need to be relisted or lost. There are a lot of moving parts with this.  You've got estimate your sales for the month, new items you'll being listing, older inventory to re-list and current GTC items that will need to be canceled before they are automatic relisted.  It will need a lot more work and attention.  

[sunny_ell]

Bad.

I used to sell more on BIN than auctions. Of course, sales were mostly at the last minute. In the past month, sales are down. My BIN listings on the old, we choose the duration, option are ending. The few that did sell waited until the end of the listing.

Test: I tried 2 listings on GTC and added an end date in the titles (mostly for my own memory). They're dead. 

Everything else I have listed/relisted has been by auction. Those sales are a little better. Still, buyers are mostly waiting 'til last minute to bid, but I'm sure someone will say that's nothing new.

I object to being forced. After my test, I will only use auctions. My mom taught me to have a brain and think for myself. I can actually decide how I want to list things - all on my own.

Too many options (say, being able to list for how ever many days you wanted with no restrictions. That would be a mess.) would be just as bad as NO options. 

I wonder when they will decide to have only one duration time for auctions. OOPS, I didn't mean to give them any ideas. Now I have to go wash my mouth out with soap.