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!

[vonandron]

They are doing this to squeeze out all small sellers who are not worth their time and don't represent the majority of eBay profits.  Soon eBay will be nothing but huge sellers of cheap t-shirts from China and rare, expensive items from sellers with stores.  Gone are the days when I could sell a few of my own items for a good price to someone who appreciated it and we all had a positive experience.  I will be selling off my items until they are gone and then it's goodbye eBay.  

[sharingtheland]

Until this and some other serious issues are addressed quickly by eBay, I will not make any further purchases (except for one coupon eBay gave me for mistakes they made 2X).  

If you were truly in Solidarity (sic), you wouldn't use your free coupon.

I don't have thousands of listings and I'm just going to roll with the punches and see how this all shakes out.  I have no doubt that some adjustments will be made as the rolling out rolls on down the road.

People that are complaining that they have to stay up and monitor listings and end them early and it's lots of work (can't go on the motor home vacation), well, that's the way it is.  If I miss a few auto-relists, I miss them.   I'm not trying to be snide or critical but ebay doesn't care about anyone's vacation plans or other work schedules.  It's a business, as ebay always says.

I spend more time now tweaking every relist (sell similar) because we were trained long ago to change something - title wording, price, shipping cost - to make the relist look "different."  If that no longer matters (and we don't know the answer to that), I will have saved time.

Do I have to keep track so listings that I don't intend to renew don't renew?  Yes, I will have to do that.  As stated, my listings are in the very low hundreds, not thousands, so I can handle that.  

In no way am I defending ebay but I am realistic.  If this does benefit us by enhancing results in google search, I am all for it.  I'm tired of google returns as globs of not what I was searching but similar ebay listings instead or, most importantly, ended ebay listings. 

Do I believe ebay made this switch to help sellers?  Only to the extent that helping sellers helps ebay.   There has to be some kernel of supporting evidence to the google rationale or ebay wouldn't be blasting that at all of us.  Are weasel words being used?  Of course.

What I'll struggle with in this change is trying to figure out how to use Completeds as research for pricing/inventory/etc.  If every ended listing is shown as sold, that's going to have a major impact for me.  Now, or at least for up to 28 more days, if there are 283 ended listings and only 14 were sold then I'm not going to try to sell that particular widget.

Maybe I'm being very blasé about all of this because I know I'm leaving when Adyen invades my accounts.  

Again, I am not demeaning or criticizing anyone's comments or complaints (although I do take issue with people shouting THIS IS COMMUNISM); just saying this isn't as bad as, for example, the outrageous money grab of 10% fees on shipping.  

Whenever ebay makes changes to the TRS+ program, the crowd goes wild.  When that was first changed, years ago, I made the decision based on how I wanted to use my time and money to not chase that carrot.  At the time I was paying $$$$ fees every month but I did not want to be tied down to 1-day handling.  All of us knew what ebay was doing - trying to eliminate the number of TRS+ sellers and gain more fees - because ebay stated that publicly.  My money; my choice.  I couldn't "blame" ebay if I decided not to participate.

We'll see how this all shakes out.  I don't think ebay is going to have time to realize or reap the benefits, if there are any, because of other major changes like aggressive hedge fund investments.

I shall now deal with this as I have so far - go stick my head deeper in the sand (or maybe play golf this afternoon).  I have the luxury of not needing ebay sales to buy food, and I know that, but I sure as hell wouldn't be selling here if the money didn't help pay for other things.  It's not a hobby for me.  It's not even close to enjoyable for me.

[let_me_shop_and_no_one_gets_hurt]

OK, I guess keeping the same item number for something that will sit on ebay for months and months, is somehow useful to I don't know who.....

But I like to list fixed price items for 7 or 10 days, and they usually sell within 7 or 10 days.   Ebay encourages so much clutter, that forcing me to effective use 30 day (GTC)  means it will be 25 days until my item sort of stands out in an "ending soonest'  search sort.

Thanks as always for making so-called enhancements NO ONE actually asked for!

Perhaps your genius programmers can fix the mess they made 10+ days ago when they made it impossible for Window 7 users and I.E. 11  to open/load/view the ebay.com homepage!?!?!?

[let_me_shop_and_no_one_gets_hurt]

I cannot remember the last time, or if there ever was a single seller's newsletter that ever told me anything good for me...

[castanea_sue]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@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.

---

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.)

---

Okay, whether it is white or black or beige - many of us do not have photography studios. Up until now, I always thought the idea was to have the photo be eye-catching: glassware up to the light, clothing on a model or displayed on a stand. Nice scenery in the background. Stuff on a plain background to me is more of a commodity presentation. How important really IS this? I bought a few poster boards to set a few things up on, like books - but I sure as heck don't have anywhere to set up a full photography studio for my (very) varied items (I'm a downsizer).

[tsme35]

Oops sorry, your about the 3rd person so far in hundreds of postings. I'm speaking for the ones who don't want it, the option was there for who ever wanted to use it. Now the rest of us are force to use it. Will it kill my business, no, will it add more time, yes.

[jereusa1]

I find this ludicrous of saying it helps sales. All the stuff I have sold recently have been listing that ended that I ended up re listing and what do you know, those "new" listing are what sells. eBay is trying to pull this over your eyes. People are not stupid.

[vonandron]

Triton@ebay - still waiting for a response.  I see that you have responded to posts before and after mine - all of whom have stores - but you won't respond to mine asking you to outline exactly how this will help (not hurt) my business as you claim.  

I see in your other post that you claim sellers would only see an issue of items automatically being renewed in the same month and therefore incurring a fee only "three times in two years".  Hmmmm, interesting math.  Let's see - I list 50 items January 1st - they auto renew on January 31st - all incurring fees.  They then run until March 2nd (if February is a 28 day month) and relist on April 1st.  They then auto re-list on May 1st and auto renew on May 31st - again incurring fees.  From there, these same listings would incur fees in July, August, October and December.  That equals six times of incurring fees in ONE year.  Quite different from your claim of "three times in two years".  

I await your response.  *** Crickets ***

[evry1nositswindy]

Agreed that @Anonymous is doing his best to field all of the concerns.  The reins are tightening in on sellers and they are rearing up in response.  Store owner's don't have choices on making auctions in any categories like non-store owners, which is a big concern.  I have more items in unsold than my active listings and I would rather rotate than work on figuring out what to end and what to let relist.  Of course, I have to do it because that it was my 'boss' says, but just like any job in the real world, workers are going to b**** about changes!  It would be nice if the 'bosses' listened to the workers (sellers), but that isn't the case.   We will keep plugging away...until the next change comes along.

[weschurch]

Nothing says "a change good for sellers" like making such change mandatory. Being a puppet to Ebay only furthers the problem. 

[Anonymous]

---

@castanea_sue wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@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.

---

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.)

---

Okay, whether it is white or black or beige - many of us do not have photography studios. Up until now, I always thought the idea was to have the photo be eye-catching: glassware up to the light, clothing on a model or displayed on a stand. Nice scenery in the background. Stuff on a plain background to me is more of a commodity presentation. How important really IS this? I bought a few poster boards to set a few things up on, like books - but I sure as heck don't have anywhere to set up a full photography studio for my (very) varied items (I'm a downsizer).

---

Hi @castanea_sue, a neutral background is pretty important when it comes to third party search engines. A photography studio is not required, and many photo boxes can be collapsed for storage when not in use. Check out these search results for options. For larger items, cloth can be hung behind the item to attain similar results.

[Anonymous]

---

@jereusa1 wrote:

I find this ludicrous of saying it helps sales. All the stuff I have sold recently have been listing that ended that I ended up re listing and what do you know, those "new" listing are what sells. eBay is trying to pull this over your eyes. People are not stupid.

---

Hi @jereusa1, while I do not want to discount your personal experience, when we assert that this helps sales it is because we have factual data that backs up this statement. We have seen a higher conversion rate in items that have a longer duration. Good 'Til Cancelled listings provide the best opportunity for successful sales. 

[lafano]

I have had the same experience repeatedly.  I don't want to hear there is data to support this nonsense of GTC benefiting sellers.  People are not stupid.  Come on EBay.  You did it for US???

[lafano]

I have branched out and am selling on three other sites, something I would never have considered in the past because it's a hassle.  BUT, eBay continues to turn the screws on it's sellers in more ways than I would have ever thought possible.  This is just one more sad example.   

[Anonymous]

---

@vonandron wrote:

Triton@ebay - still waiting for a response.  I see that you have responded to posts before and after mine - all of whom have stores - but you won't respond to mine asking you to outline exactly how this will help (not hurt) my business as you claim.  

I see in your other post that you claim sellers would only see an issue of items automatically being renewed in the same month and therefore incurring a fee only "three times in two years".  Hmmmm, interesting math.  Let's see - I list 50 items January 1st - they auto renew on January 31st - all incurring fees.  They then run until March 2nd (if February is a 28 day month) and relist on April 1st.  They then auto re-list on May 1st and auto renew on May 31st - again incurring fees.  From there, these same listings would incur fees in July, August, October and December.  That equals six times of incurring fees in ONE year.  Quite different from your claim of "three times in two years".  

I await your response.  *** Crickets ***

---

Hi @vonandron, I am sorry if there was a misunderstanding - I have addressed the concerns you have raised in my other posts. Additionally, I do want to let you know that to ensure I see your question you will need to @mention me, which does require that you type the "@" symbol prior to typing my posting ID, and you will need to make sure you spell my name as it appears here on the boards, like this: @Anonymous 

I do want to call out that the math you have outlined is not quite right - a member of our Canadian boards has done the calculations already for listing on Jan 1, Jan 15, and Jan 31 for everyone's reference. You can see these calculations here. While you have outlined 6 extra charges within the first year if listing on January 1st, this would not be the case: listing on January 1st would result in a relist on Jan 31st, March 2, April 1st, May 1st, May 31st, June 30th, July 30th, August 29th, September 28th, October 28, November 27, December 26th, etc. This is only two additional charges in the first year, if the seller chooses to not end their listings within the 30 day timeframe. Again, a seller is not forced in to additional charges, as we make it very clear that a Good 'Til Cancelled listing renews every 30 days, and sellers should be aware that their are billed monthly. In addition to this information being readily available, I must reiterate that that we have heard feedback on this concern and more information is coming by May, as outlined in the link I have provided previously. I will share this again here for your reference.

Lastly, as you may be aware there are a large number of discussions every day where a member of the Community Team is asked to step in and clarify. We are here to elaborate or provide resources where we can, as well as pass along feedback from our Community. We will not always respond to every thread, or every question that is asked; sometimes the answer is provided by another member of the Community and other times the question may have been addressed in elsewhere in the conversation by a member of our team. Additionally, since our number one focus is to ensure that the feedback and insight of our Community is recorded and passed along to the appropriate teams, there will also be times where we simply are unable to address every question as we focus on other responsibilities. If you need Customer Service, you would need to contact them directly, as the Community boards are a peer to peer support forum and the Community Team is not able to provide Customer Service here in the way that you may need.

Again, if you are concerned with additional fees for auto-renewal, you are empowered to end your listings at any time and relist as appropriate. We are looking into the concerns raised regarding renewal schedules and billing cycles not syncing up, and more information is coming by May.