DECLINING SALES

[jooki22]

I'm sure a gazillion people have talked about this already....but I haven't seen much conversation around the idea that taking away the ability to set deadlines on BIN items has ruined sales. What motivation is there for a customer to buy when they think "oh well...I'll just put this in my watches for later...." Creating urgency to make a choice is part of retailing! I think we all probably had better success when we were able to list an item for the number of days we needed to, not this "good til' canceled" mess.  And who has time to keep going back ending items and relisting as a "sell similar"? 

[dhbookds]

GTC's have been around for many years........and people have used them for that long, so doubt there are suddenly ruined sales.  The urgency of someone else buying it is always there.....it's not only dates that create urgency. 

[jimw1776]

I agree w/ you.  I like BIN, and I like having an expiration date. I find my GTC sales only sell when they move up to the top of the list. I know, when I shop, and someone has 200-300 or more items, I don't browse- I don't scan through all the listings.  If I'm looking for something specific, I enter what I'm looking for in the search. But I like to browse, and I only browse a seller that has maybe 100 items. I don't know that GTC has been around "for many years". We had BIN w/ expiration dates.  And I  would LOVE for that to come back

[nilis13]

Totally agree

[slippinjimmy]

There was tons of ranting in March 2019 when GTC became the only way to Fixed Price listings, lots of seller predicting doom and gloom and the end of eBay.

You don't here much these days because the sellers who did run away in a huff mostly found out that GTC was actually better and easier than constant relisting.

You get all the urgency you could want because buyers who even think about these things know that a Fixed Price listing could be sold out at ANY moment, I've dithered on purchases quite a few times ("I'll get to eBay tomorrow and buy that widget") only to to find it had been bought by someone else and I'm out of luck.

It's happened twice in the past year for an item I've had a saved search going for almost 10 years and these were only ones that got listed in all that time.

[bargainnation]

There could be any number of reasons for declining sales so I think it would be hard to pinpoint the exact reason for declining sales. Also, sales have not declined for all sellers so again there could be any number of reasons for why sales for some sellers have increased.

We as sellers basically have no control over how eBay choose to run their platform. The best thing to do is to be flexible and ready to adjust accordingly.

Although the default is GTC, there are buyers who want an item as soon as they can get it and will pay the asking price while some buyers choose to wait to see if they can get an item at a lower price. Not to long ago I saw something in a store that I wanted and made the decision to wait thinking I could get it later at a lower price. The item sold in the meantime and I am still regret not buying the item when I had the chance to do so.

[hunkadinka]

I think that declining sales are due to item desirablity and competition with lower prices. I've had the same  15 items listed for months without even watchers. I've had up to 30 items but I've deleted most because no one showed interest. I've had to do some revisions after I looked closely at some of my listings and find that they contain erroneous info such as boxes with checkmarks that I did not do. Some prospective buyers ask me questions based on such intrusions by ebay. Your problems may be different but I'm sure it's ebay meddling where they have no business. But I am glad of automatic relistings as long as ebay leaves my listings alone as I've done them.

[coolections]

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@jooki22 wrote:

What motivation is there for a customer to buy.

Price, availability, demand, need, money etc. There are many things that motivate people to buy. Do you go to a store and think I better buy today there will be none tomorrow ?

[inhawaii]

When my sales decline ... that means nobody wants to buy what i am selling.

Why do so many sellers have such a hard time grasping that theory?

[domin-tomas]

Because it's just a theory.

[domin-tomas]

This could be why sales are down. Some Buyer just posted this on this board.

"Hello my payments are not going through. I have funds but still not going through"

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

"And who has time to keep going back ending items and relisting as a "sell similar"? "

To me, that would be a waste of time. If I want to create a sense of urgency, I'll send a limited time offer to a watcher, or I'll run a limited time sale or offer a limited time coupon.  

[frodobagginskennedy]

I use inkfrog to list.  One of the options with it is a widget that ends your listings shortly before they relist.  

Been using ink frog for years.  Never had any complaints.  Their customer service is quick and knowledgeable.

[2013grotz]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

"And who has time to keep going back ending items and relisting as a "sell similar"? "

To me, that would be a waste of time. If I want to create a sense of urgency, I'll send a limited time offer to a watcher, or I'll run a limited time sale or offer a limited time coupon.  

Not really.  You want your items to be seen?  Old listings don't get seen on the search engine.  This is what got lost on the GTC change.  Hence, you gotta renew your stuff every 15-30 days yourself since the system isn't doing it anymore.  Or buyers simply don't find your stuff.  And you get ... drumroll... declining sales when buyers can't find your stuff on site.

[gjs_16]

OOAK's have saved my day.

The secret once again is there is no secret, OOAK's require actual work whereas MQ's are easy money.

The heck with MQ's, I still have them but OOAK's are pushing my sales to record heights.

I'll put it this way, if my sales keep going the way they are?
It won't be long, my wife and I won't have much to worry about anymore.
It's not there yet, but I've only seen present sales once or twice before and it looks to be on track for far higher heights.