Does eBay inform BUYERS about the changes in fixed priced listings to "good til cancelled"?

[evodoor]

I  wonder what buyers will think of this change? Will they even be told? It is going to be a huge change in how a lot of us do business! So many of my customers wait until an item is about to end to send an offer, or purchase a fixed priced item. I anticipate my stuff sitting on watch lists indefinitely. Ebay needs to make customers aware of these chages in policy, so they can also decide how to shop!

[alexandrias.neo]

I don't like it either. was advised by ebay to post here about it. is that going to do anything about it? if ebay thinks a big change such as this is what sellers want, it should be voted on, not just imposed.

[alexandrias.neo]

Good til cancelled sends your listing to the end and new listings first. Half the battle is getting people to look at your item and even thirty day fixed price does that when renewed because it goes to the front. How many people in this busy world have the time or desire to see listings that GTC would send yours to ... the last pages. I never do even myself. I usually get tired of scanning through pages and often don't scan through more than 6 pages. Wish they'd return choice of time duration for fixed price.

[tsme35]

One example I have tonight, I'm finishing up for the night and I have 60 listings ending in the next 2 hours, I'm not gonna relist them until morning now because in 30 days I don't want to stay up and wait until last minute or end them 2 hours early, lose-lose

[jerzee908]

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

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@jerzee908 wrote:

Many sellers have been using Good 'Til Cancelled listings exclusively for quite some time with great success,

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I've been using it for awhile now and I wouldn't go back to 30 day listings.

If you do any off Ebay promoting, it's nice to not have to change your links every time you relist an item.

Not sure what that has to do with my question, but if eBay is using this message, "To help you sell your item, fixed price listings can only be listed with a Good 'Til Cancelled duration.", then I'd like to see proof.  I'd like to know how many items across the site sold under "Good Til Cancelled" compared to 30 day listings last year.  

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[reallynicestamps]

@tsme35 

I have 60 listings ending in the next 2 hours, I'm not gonna relist them until morning now because in 30 days I don't want to stay up and wait until last minute or end them 2 hours early,

With Fixed Price and a worldwide 24/7 market, any listing could sell at any moment.

Searches do use Newly Listed and Closing Soon. And GTC will not get the Newly Listed boost.

But we don't lose the Closing Soon boost.

YMMV, but I sell mostly one of a kind collectibles (vintage paperbacks, postal history and stamps, older  sewing patterns) and it's my opinion that my buyers Search by keywords.

Again, my opinion, but I have my doubts about the usefulness of Watchers on Fixed Price listings. I mean, there's the price. You have a PP account with a credit card attached. You want it. Buy it and be done.

If you have to wait to payday, you can't afford anything I sell (and most of my items are $10 w/Free Shipping).

Watchers and About to Close are for short term listings like Auctions, where it can be a good strategy to bid at the very last possible moment.

It's a pointless strategy for something that will be the same price today, tomorrow and a week from now.

I do agree that it will be a good idea to begin your Fixed Price listings at a time when you will be able to consider whether or not it's time to close them each 30 days. 

If for you that is morning, do it. If another seller wants to wait until the kids are in bed, fine. As a night person I do most of my listing (and deleting) around one am PST.

North America is four time zones wide, more if you count in Newfoundland (Atlantic) and Hawaii (Hawaii-Aleutian is 3 hrs behind Pacific Time).

[Anonymous]

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@readabouthorses wrote:

@Anonymous  I keep seeing references to using a white background. Has anyone been successful figuring out how to display a WHITE magazine on a WHITE background? It just doesn't work. That is why I chose to go to black for most of my magazines, especially when showing opened pages where much of the content may be white. Do the search engines not really care how good the image is? What about a white shirt on a white background? Or a white pair of shoes on a white background? Just doesn't make sense and I've been in the advertising business since the 1960s.

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Hi @readabouthorses, a white item on a white background is a great example of a time where a white background would not be advisable. The item should be clearly visible, but a different neutral background would be best in this situation. For most items, a white background would be the best option, but the most important factor is simply a neutral background devoid of patterns or color (ie. white, black, beige/canvas, etc.)

[tsme35]

Sometimes I'll let something end for a week or 2 just to rest it, sometimes it sells pretty quick when I do relist.
This isn't a business killer, not gonna go under if I miss a couple, just spending more time working, but its the idea that ebay isn't letting me run my business. Every quarter update my heart skips a beat just wondering what new hoop I have to jump thru. If ebay thinks something will help me along, fine, just set it up and let me decide if it'll work for me or not. I threw out my business plan years ago, can't have one if every 3 months something changes.

[Anonymous]

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@evry1nositswindy wrote:

@Anonymous 

I fail to see how you don't see this as a fee grab.  Here is an example:  I got up early this morning to get busy using the rest of my 101 'free' fixed price listings from my basic store before I leave for vacation next week.   Of course as I list my first item, I see the GTC message.  I then go to my active listings and count how many will 'end' and then relist while I am gone.  That number was more than my free listings, so eBay would have gotten 30 cents for each one.  So today, instead of listing new items for sale, I was ending listings so I wouldn't go over while I was gone.  How does that help eBay?  How does that help me? 

I, for one, would love to be able to use my 500 listings as I please rather than 250 auctions/250 fixed price (now GTC).  For example, right now if I want to auction a book that is collectible, I can't unless I pay a fee because it isn't on my list of free auctions.  This would also help when my items relist after the month is over.  Then I could add more items to sell without going over my allotted amount.  Other sellers have also suggested this as well.  It seems like a good compromise to me.   

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Hi @evry1nositswindy, I apologize but I may not be understanding your example - you proposed that this change has no value beyond creating more fees for eBay, then outline how you would have had items relist beyond your free insertion fee credit limit. However, even if these items were not Good 'Til Cancelled and you relisted them yourself, insertion fees would have applied. You stated that you were ending listings instead of creating new ones, but you are able to do both as you see fit and are free to end your listings when you would like if you are concerned with insertion fees/going beyond your free insertion fee credit totals. Our shift to Good 'Til Cancelled listings does not force a seller to pay additional insertion fees, it simply renews the listing automatically after 30 days. A seller can still manage their listings as they see fit, which includes planning for vacations or working to avoid unwanted fees.

Additionally, I would like to highlight that with the elimination of the 7 & 10 day durations, there will be fewer insertion fees assessed monthly. This in conjunction with the fact that sellers can end their listings when they like reinforces that this decision was made for the health of our platform and the benefit of our Community, not as an attempt to garner more fees. If our intention was to assess additional or higher fees, we would simply increase fees directly. 

To reiterate, I understand you are concerned with the possibility of being assessed additional fees for some of your listings. We have acknowledged the discrepancy between billing cycles (monthly) and relist cycles (30-day) and have confirmed we are looking into it. Many sellers in the Community have identified that at most, this could happen to a seller 3 times in a 2 year period and that it would require listings to be created on January 1st (and for those sellers to not identify that the listing will renew within the same calendar month, or neglect to take action if they so choose). Most would not experience this at all within a two year period. I do not say this to dismiss your concerns, only to clarify further that this change is not about generating increased fees from our sellers. Feedback like this has been heard and we appreciate our Community sharing with us the issues that they see so we can work together on creating a strong marketplace. Though I hear the doubts you have expressed on our intentions, I encourage you to review the information I have provided and consider that this truly is about visibility, traffic, and increased sales.

[mg152]

I use GTC a lot so I don’t understand the hoopla but if sellers wanna leave or shut down because of it then so be it. I’ve bern saying this since the announcement, it could be worse much worse. GTC is a small change that sellers will get used to using.
You’re right! There’s no increased revenue for eBay if there’s no sales.
Hey, I’m old! I hate change but I don’t mind this one. In fact I think it’ll make listing easier for me as I don’t have to remember to relist a bunch of junque.

[mg152]

That’s just not true. We’ve already been told how to get charged extra listing fees only twice a year for the GTC listings. It’s not a biggie to me so I didn’t save the info but someone here has it.

[sunsync]

trinton@ebay  What you write makes no sense to me since I've tried GTC in the past, which was a big fail for me for many reasons I won't get into here (but I'm available anytime you want to discuss).

Respectfully, what you write is typical company propaganda that is simply not true. BTW - your roll-out of this new policy was faulty, various eBay staffers were giving me wrong information and the roll-out date was not explicit. We still do not have complete certainty how GTC will affect search values vis a vis 'newly listed' & 'ending soonest' search results, any change there? Overall this has to be one of the most seller alienating new policies I've seen during my time selling on eBay.

I realize there has been several recent mgmt shake-ups, but you folks really need to get your act together. You have finally forced me to look for other selling venues, which for my field are many. I already downgraded from Premium to Basic store level, now that you've gone thru with this GTC policy, I'm downgrading to Starter level, if only to maintain my store organization in anticipation that you will reverse this policy. I don't like to name call, but recent developments on eBay are truly clownish...

[mg152]

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@tsme35 wrote:
Sad ebay doesn't read the boards or care what sellers think, I haven't seen anyone that likes it and thousands against it

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I like it and I’ve seen plenty of others that like it. I use GTC anyway on 9 out of 10 listings. Please don’t speak for all of us. Thank you.

[mg152]

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@alexandrias.neo wrote:

I don't like it either. was advised by ebay to post here about it. is that going to do anything about it? if ebay thinks a big change such as this is what sellers want, it should be voted on, not just imposed.

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eBay is not a democracy. They’re are a business. I like GTC and it appears that eBay is trying to minimize the fees that will be associated with using it. There’s still auctions available.

[vonandron]

Trinton@ebay, your response is insulting.  eBay's new policy is just another step of squeezing out all small sellers.  eBay won't be worth even shopping on since it will soon be only cheap t-shirts from China and expensive, rare items from sellers with stores. 

Let's play this out - I am a small seller who gets my 50 free listings per month.  I take advantage of promotions when eBay waives insertion fees so at any given time I have over 100 items listed - all with no insertion fee.  With the new policy, I can only list 50 items max since they will "auto renew" and if I have more than 50 listed, anything over 50 will incur a fee.  Furthermore, the listing is good for 30 days - there are several months in the year with 31 days and since my free listings don't start until the first of the month, anything that auto renewed on the 31st day would incur an insertion fee. 

How you could possibly claim that this change will in ANY WAY benefit sellers is a joke.  I assure you, this will have nothing but a negative impact on my business.  I will be listing less and less until I'm out of items and then it will be good bye to eBay.  eBay will lose my sales AND my purchases since the sellers on eBay are often the buyers too.  Please respond with EXACTLY how this will improve my sales and profits.  I would LOVE to hear your response.  

[mg152]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@evry1nositswindy wrote:

@Anonymous 

I fail to see how you don't see this as a fee grab.  Here is an example:  I got up early this morning to get busy using the rest of my 101 'free' fixed price listings from my basic store before I leave for vacation next week.   Of course as I list my first item, I see the GTC message.  I then go to my active listings and count how many will 'end' and then relist while I am gone.  That number was more than my free listings, so eBay would have gotten 30 cents for each one.  So today, instead of listing new items for sale, I was ending listings so I wouldn't go over while I was gone.  How does that help eBay?  How does that help me? 

I, for one, would love to be able to use my 500 listings as I please rather than 250 auctions/250 fixed price (now GTC).  For example, right now if I want to auction a book that is collectible, I can't unless I pay a fee because it isn't on my list of free auctions.  This would also help when my items relist after the month is over.  Then I could add more items to sell without going over my allotted amount.  Other sellers have also suggested this as well.  It seems like a good compromise to me.   

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Hi @evry1nositswindy, I apologize but I may not be understanding your example - you proposed that this change has no value beyond creating more fees for eBay, then outline how you would have had items relist beyond your free insertion fee credit limit. However, even if these items were not Good 'Til Cancelled and you relisted them yourself, insertion fees would have applied. You stated that you were ending listings instead of creating new ones, but you are able to do both as you see fit and are free to end your listings when you would like if you are concerned with insertion fees/going beyond your free insertion fee credit totals. Our shift to Good 'Til Cancelled listings does not force a seller to pay additional insertion fees, it simply renews the listing automatically after 30 days. A seller can still manage their listings as they see fit, which includes planning for vacations or working to avoid unwanted fees.

Additionally, I would like to highlight that with the elimination of the 7 & 10 day durations, there will be fewer insertion fees assessed monthly. This in conjunction with the fact that sellers can end their listings when they like reinforces that this decision was made for the health of our platform and the benefit of our Community, not as an attempt to garner more fees. If our intention was to assess additional or higher fees, we would simply increase fees directly. 

To reiterate, I understand you are concerned with the possibility of being assessed additional fees for some of your listings. We have acknowledged the discrepancy between billing cycles (monthly) and relist cycles (30-day) and have confirmed we are looking into it. Many sellers in the Community have identified that at most, this could happen to a seller 3 times in a 2 year period and that it would require listings to be created on January 1st (and for those sellers to not identify that the listing will renew within the same calendar month, or neglect to take action if they so choose). Most would not experience this at all within a two year period. I do not say this to dismiss your concerns, only to clarify further that this change is not about generating increased fees from our sellers. Feedback like this has been heard and we appreciate our Community sharing with us the issues that they see so we can work together on creating a strong marketplace. Though I hear the doubts you have expressed on our intentions, I encourage you to review the information I have provided and consider that this truly is about visibility, traffic, and increased sales.

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Very well written Trinton! I also wish people would remember that CS reps nor you or your colleagues make these changes. The suits, higher ups make the changes that come with the updates and everything else. Calling CS wastes manpower and time and blaming you guys does the same. I mean you work for eBay so even if you don’t like the updates you can’t say that. I don’t know if you are for or against the updates, I’m just saying you have a job to do and you can’t “betray” eBay. Do you get what I’m trying to say here? You all do a great job and have bern very helpful and patient throughout this whole debacle. I feel bad that you all are in the middle. Can we get an eBay exec to chime in here?