Decreased sales!!!

[georgia_peach_boutique]

Friends,

I agree about low sales!!  I have several friends who have mentioned this to me.

I have tried to step back and look at the bigger picture at eBay and this is what I have come with.

Anybody that has a store will remember when promoted listed into affect this past year.  This was a way of boosting sales and moving items up the LISTING LADDER for greater amount of views.  This feature not only gained greater views but also allowed eBay to dip there finger into your profits.   I believe this was the starting of the bigger picture.  Now that we are no long able to control our inventory listing time it has become more of a challenge to review our sales and items at the end of any given 30 day cycle.    We as sellers were able to review our adds update & do changes and even decide if we wanted to continue on with the listing of the item.  No we are forced to to let our item s run to the bottom of the listing items or pursue the Promoted listing to gain more visibility and allow eBay to dip into the profit of our sales.  

If we have a decrease in out sales eBay is having a decrease in there wallet also.. 

Maybe they need to review and go back and restore what was working and not worry about what everyone else in the market is doing....

They need to be BOLD AND INVENTIVE NOT COWARD TO WHAT THE OTHERS IN THE MARKET IS DOING.

SET THEMSELVES APART AND MOVE FORWARD TO HELP THERE SELLERS NOT DISCOURAGE US!!! 

If this post does not post I am getting a Authentication failed error from eBay.  Also a Authentication Ticket Mismatched, failed authen

[lottadogs]

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@fern*wood wrote:

I can't figure out what defect you are talking about, but if defects were given for ending a fixed price listing then I'd be banned for life.

What defect are you seeing?

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I used the standard 'no longer available' to end the listing. Just followed the links to do the end of listing. Not expecting to see any sort of defect for that at all. I saw nothing else that fit the situation in the end an auction to choose as the required reason.

Nothing at all is selling since the change to the buy it now listings. Previously I had  small but steady sales. My bigger items at least got looked at and now they don't.

From where I sit eBay has shut down my sales and has made it impossible to change inventory without accruing defects for doing so.

[fern*wood]

There is nothing in that which tells me you received a defect.  Do you actually show a defect on your dashboard, and if so, what is it for?   There is none for ending a GTC listing.

[3eyedfishcatcher]

Ending GTC does not get aa defect. On your dashboard it should show you why you got the defect. Perhaps you got the defect by mistake and should call ebay and speak with the selling dept. to see why it happened and if it was a mistake they should be able to remove it. If it was a auction item and you had a bidder then it makes sense you would get the defect just as if the auction ended or a buyer selected buy now and after the sale you had to cancel due to inventory issues. 

[3eyedfishcatcher]

I tried ending multiple and single GTC listings and got no prompt to give a reason why I wanted to end the listing on both the old selling page and on the seller hub. I think you mentioned ending a auction before it ended so perhaps that is the problem.  Auctions may now have to run the full length of the auction so perhaps make sure your auctions are not set to auto relist and after the time has ended if you have no bidders then determine if you want to relist it or not. Also still call ebay there may be a different reason you should be selecting when ending the auction early to not get a defect.

[lottadogs]

No it was not an auction

It was a good until cancelled buy it now listing that was getting no action and has gotten none since the changes went in.

I followed the rules/links  to end a listing after clicking END ITEM in the list next to the item showing in my for sale account.

I now have a defect showing with a warning that if I get more its going to impact my rating.

No defect before I ended the item being up for sale.

How do you end a listing with no defect - is there some special secret link not on the item or the sellers page?

On top of that I got a notice I will lose top seller rating if I don't sell some items. Um lets see eBay has totally messed up my ability to change out my listings by penalizing me for ending an item and has totally messed up my sales chances  with its changes so I guess this is just all my fault. 😞

Oh and do I want to spend a couple of hours I could be making money  with my online job on the phone with people who cannot do anything, can't understand English,  and have no desire to fix anything and will be happy to lie through their teeth just to get rid of you on the phone? Not really.

[fern*wood]

Where on your dashboard does it show a defect and what is it for?   There is no defect for ending a GTC listing.  Sometimes when I end an individual listing I am prompted to pick a reason, but it is not a defect.   When I do them in bulk I don't have to pick a reason but neither way causes a defect.

Defects are only for out of stock cancellations or an unresolved by seller case.  Is your defect under one of those?

[saleencobra]

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@nonnaattic wrote:

Of course we can cancel it but we have to remember to do it before it automatically relists and waste one of the 50 free insertions. Everyone apparently has decreased sales so that speaks volumes. Ebay has never been on "our" side and this is further proof they don't care about sellers..

Theres no point to take pictures, write detailed descriptions and the whole 9 yards just to never sell.

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I see these 'my sales are lagging' posts all the time. I was there. doing my $700 per month, barely making money after paying my store subscription. Wondering why bother....oh right all these things I bought i want to sell.

Should you keep your store? Well there's a calculator that tells you where the break point is and I can tell you, and I knew it, its more than $700 per month in sales to profit from a 1% discount in FVFs. There's nothing wrong with NOT having or needing a store.

I no longer have to worry about my store fee as my sales have increased nearly 10x. Yes. 10 times. You need to stop reading the boards and commiserating and start looking deeper at your listings and those selling better. There ARE usually reasons. I didn't say good, just reasons that ebay thinks are good.

Maybe 2 pictures is all your item needs, but the guy with 6 will rank better. Maybe your description is COMPLETE and EXCELLENT, but the one with Item SPECIFICS ranks higher. And the more they sell, the worse you rank. Yes, successful listings make for better ranking. You'll notice how successful they are. No its no HIGHER prices get precedent, ebay is worried about the competition so they want to be CHEAPEST, but they also want 1 day handling (or better) they want delivery on time, they want you to accept '30 day' returns and they want your returns or item not received requests to be under 0.5%. If its not worth it to do these things, its not worth selling on ebay. 

I learned after being mad for a couple of years since i didn't want to waste my time with item specifics when all was included in the description. Its sad to see so many listings with literally no description, but ebay values pictures and item specifics over description. Give them what they want or stop selling on ebay. 

And its easy to look and see how ebays sales are. They will always climb. Sorry you won't be missed, there is ALWAYS someone new to fill the gaps, though there are rarely gaps anyway. 

You should also consider selling more than one type of item. All items rise and fall in sales by month, season, etc. Find new avenues. Don't look for drop shipping like the other thousands of get rich quick wannabees. Look around. Maybe there's a local business with a unique product you could bring to ebay. You make sales with your experience and help them grow also. 

[saleencobra]

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@weschurch wrote:

Ebay is over. The younger generation has so many other options these days and Ebay is a complicated mess and is always dipping your hands in your pockets. 

I mean lets face it, you have Ebay, where you pay tons of fees, can't easily communicate with the other person, etc

Then you have FB Marketplace, full of the younger generation, can send someone an instant messages, work out the details, and its all free.

Which one is more appealing?

Ebay is a neverending series of mishaps, policy changes, money grabs and terrible leadership. Ebay is a ghostland, god help the people that still try to use this archaic place for income

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Just because you are struggling a bit, don't assume everyone is. Sure lots of sellers come to the boards to complain about low sales. The rest do research and crush it. FB is free for now. It won't be forever and its useless. Nothing really sells. Try it. You'd think it would be great for heavier, hard to ship items. THose still don't sell. I try then list them on ebay, sell them for more money and enjoy the laugh. 

Sure ebay has its problems but BILLIONS IN SALES. don't recall a decline either. Go back and search for key words that match your items, but don't be too specific. See what comes up for sale, see what has sold - where do you rank in price, best match, low to high pricing search. Then Look and see how many pictures they have, do they offer free shipping, 30 day returns, short handling. Are they reliable enough for fast and free, do they use item specifics,......then go back to yours. Do yours compare? Be honest if you want to succeed. 

[fern*wood]

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@saleencobra wrote:

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@weschurch wrote:

Ebay is over. The younger generation has so many other options these days and Ebay is a complicated mess and is always dipping your hands in your pockets. 

I mean lets face it, you have Ebay, where you pay tons of fees, can't easily communicate with the other person, etc

Then you have FB Marketplace, full of the younger generation, can send someone an instant messages, work out the details, and its all free.

Which one is more appealing?

Ebay is a neverending series of mishaps, policy changes, money grabs and terrible leadership. Ebay is a ghostland, god help the people that still try to use this archaic place for income

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Just because you are struggling a bit, don't assume everyone is.

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No need to worry about that poster---they are struggling to sell because they haven't tried to since around 2013 (according to their own posts).   Writing this type of post is their "thing".

[3eyedfishcatcher]

Once again I just ended a single listing. I was not asked to give a reason why I was ending it and did not get a defect. You really should call ebay to have the defect removed.  What you are describing is for ending auctions. So is there a chance you sent a listing to auction by mistake? In your unsold folder look at relisted items and verify the type of listing it was. If it really was a GTC call ebay get that defect removed and report the issue so it can get fixed.

[ads*and*ends]

I've ended 800 GTC this month and close to 200 in the last 24 hours. I think poster is confused, but I agree, if there was a legitimate defect (specific reason still unstated after multiple requests for clarification) for a GTC ended listing, one would need to either call CS or message them on FB/Twitter and ask to get it removed. I don't doubt the poster has a defect showing up, I just doubt it was a GTC ended listing. If so, that's the first glitch of that kind I've heard of. Which is why there are so many inquiries into the specifics of this claim. Many, many people are ending GTC before roll-over and eBay has stated we can do exactly that if we choose, penalty-free.

[mis76can]

Hey SIxRoosters;

First, LUUUUUV your avi!!   Purrrrrr.......purrrrrrr.......purrrrrrrr.......

I'm mostly a buyer here on e-Bay and I've had items in my cart which I've had there for close to a year now.

I'm afraid the deceased sales are not your imagination.   My only suggestion would be to start with low opening bid prices.  I did that with some coins I had listed a few weeks ago and every one of them sold.

Remain determined; keep the faith.

😉

Jaime

[lottadogs]

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@fern*wood wrote:

Where on your dashboard does it show a defect and what is it for?   There is no defect for ending a GTC listing.  Sometimes when I end an individual listing I am prompted to pick a reason, but it is not a defect.   When I do them in bulk I don't have to pick a reason but neither way causes a defect.

Defects are only for out of stock cancellations or an unresolved by seller case.  Is your defect under one of those?

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Yes my item is no longer available to sell on eBay so in their terms it is out of stock because its in a flea market bin instead.

I do not understand why there is so much controversy over my stating I got a defect for ending a listing. Its not like I have nothing better to do than lie to people I don't know about something that you appear to believe never happened.

I saw no other way to end the listing than to say out of stock. Is there one that says I'm sick and tired of eBay ignoring my items so am ending the listing? Am I supposed to pick something that doesn't match the reason its ending? Is there some secret reason that doesn't trigger a defect?

I sell individual unique items not 'stock'. I do not have a store as its not worth it for me to even consider having one.

And where does the defect show? Why under transaction defect rate and where else would it show?

[lottadogs]

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@ads*and*ends wrote:
I've ended 800 GTC this month and close to 200 in the last 24 hours. I think poster is confused, but I agree, if there was a legitimate defect (specific reason still unstated after multiple requests for clarification) for a GTC ended listing, one would need to either call CS or message them on FB/Twitter and ask to get it removed. I don't doubt the poster has a defect showing up, I just doubt it was a GTC ended listing. If so, that's the first glitch of that kind I've heard of. Which is why there are so many inquiries into the specifics of this claim. Many, many people are ending GTC before roll-over and eBay has stated we can do exactly that if we choose, penalty-free.

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Sounds like you have a store? Maybe that is the difference as I do not.

As for FB or Twitter not happening as I use no such social interfaces having zero interest in being a member on them despite my friend selling a good amount on FB. 

Same deal I do nothing from my phone except make phone calls and use the app my work forces me to use. I don't post or do any work from that itty bitty phone screen.

So as no one has answered my repeated questions on how to end the listing without getting a defect I guess no one knows and the GTC listings I have will have to remain listed for infinity as I can't remove them without harming my account.

[patd3283]

lottadogs, you can bulk end your listings with no penalty.

Click on the ones you want to end then close to the top find Action with a menu below it.  The first item on the menu says end listing.  Click on that and it is done with no penalty or defect.

Patd