Ebay's total disregard for sellers...re: new 15 day limit on putting items on sale

[coniferclothingcompany]

I have been a seller for a few years, have done everything right according to Ebay, gone along with new policies (offer guaranteed delivery, free shipping, have 100% positive fb etc) and was a TPS Plus until the free shipping requirement. This morning I found out that Ebay has instituted a policy that an item that was on promotion cannot be put back on sale for 15 days. I sell clothing and this policy is going to significantly hurt my sales. Over the weekend I put a large part of my store on promotion and consequently had a significant boost in sales. I now can't put any of those items back on sale for 15 days. If I were to put some of these items back on sale next weekend and would get a similar boost in sales how is that a bad thing? I called Ebay and was told that buyers have complained about sellers marking items up and immediately putting them on sale. So instead of targeting those sellers and working with them Ebay institutes a blanket policy that affects all sellers. When I run a promotion it's generally 10-20% off. I do not mark up items before they go on sale. Increased volume of purchases as a result of a promotion is good for me and ultimately Ebay too. Also, there is no way to tell which items are eligible to be put on promotion. If I go to the promotions page and format a sale there is no indication as to which items are beyond the 15 day restriction. Finally, as a seller shouldn't I have received prior notice to this policy? I found out from another seller.

I have always been one to defend Ebay when others complain about policies as a great venue for selling but after they have made free shipping a requirement for TRS Plus and now this I am very discouraged. I would think I am the kind of seller Ebay wants to keep happy as I am making them money. It feels like Ebay is trying to get rid of sellers like me.

[frenchblueshutters]

Neither Option Works. BUYERS LIKE TO SEE SALES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Period. One Way I Go 1/2 Month with No income Basically and the Other Way I Lose Money Because I don't HYPER INFLATE before Running a Sale... This restriction On Running Sales Should only apply to New Items, NOT ANTIQUES AND VINTAGE. My Prices are already Reasonable to begin with Before a Sale. Tell me the Purpose of an Anchor Store Now..

[frenchblueshutters]

So Punish Everybody because of a Few.. That is Democracy at it's Best!! NOT!! We Pay for a Store it is Up to US what to Price our things at NOT anybody else. No One Knows How Much we have in an Item to begin with. Running Sales is a Right of any Store Owner, Whenever They Want..If a Few Hyper Inflate to only Discount. Buyers eventually see through it and Won't Purchase. But for the Honest Majority Who Make it Fair For Buyers and Still Make a Living this is PUNISHMENT. IT SHOULD ONLY APPLY TO NEW MERCHANDISE!! I Have always Been Proud of My Ebay Business and Have Just Been EEKING by. Now I have No Clue what will Happen. 

[couldabeenworse]

So Punish Everybody because of a Few.

It was not just a few.  Even within the few posters on this thread, there were sellers that violated the laws because they were unaware of them, didn't understand them, or didn't think they applied.

Running Sales is a Right of any Store Owner

This really isn't about running sales; it is about a seller comparing his price to a fictitious "regular" price.  There are other options on eBay to run sales that do not involve Markdown Manager.

IT SHOULD ONLY APPLY TO NEW MERCHANDISE!!

And speed limits should only apply to cars that cost more than mine.  Unfortunately for both of us, the laws DO apply.

[frenchblueshutters]

What LAWS we are Talking about Store Owners Having CONTROL of thier Own Store. Period. THERE are NO LAWS anyone is Breaking. Even the Price Gougers are NOT Breaking any Law. Get real Comparing Independent Used Antique Store Owners to Car Speeds that everyone has to follow (Which is a Real Law) is simply silly.

[carlenes*treasure*trove]

I went through the policy and nowhere does it explain that that you won't be able to do back-to-back promotions. It also doesn't clarify that re-listing an item makes it "new" and that it would also fall under the 14 day rule. So yes, I am responsible to read policy changes, but ebay is responsible to make sure they clearly communicate what is really being changed. In this they dropped the ball. I spent some time with ebay customer service (a lady that knew what she was talking about) and she said that the policy was not clear in these areas and they have been flooded with complaints just like mine.

[hioctane62]

At the very least, ebay should give sellers the ability to INCREASE the discount % under the same promotion period. To me, that would be a good compromise. For example, I set up my sale event at 10% off for one month. After one week, I increase the discount % to 15%, 2 weeks, 20%, etc. We should be able to do this on individual items within the sale, not necessarily all items across the board within the sale.

[jaxjoy]

So I get that we can't start a new "markdown manager" sale until 14 days after last one ends or after a new listing is up but I can't even bulk change my fixed prices manually. Really? We can't even adjust our current prices without using markdown manager? This is insane. Is this right?

[vintage_villages]

There is no advantage if you use GTC, in fact it is disadvantage. 5 to 7 day listing works b/c I tried before and it works great. I only use 7 day listing on high price item.

[unbelievablefinds]

Unfortunately this is par for the course at Ebay. There is no other way to put it other than Ebay is run by a bunch of incompetent idiots who couldn't tell you even the most basic concepts of how to run a retail ecommerce business. The reason why is because NONE of the executives nor board members have even the slightest background in retail or ecommerce marketplaces. Ebay is run by Wall Street and Silicon Valley goons who have never worked a day in their lives behind a cash register or a desktop selling products. Just look them up, not a one from Amazon, Target, Walmart, Macy's, Home Depot or any big retailer with a strong ecommerce presence. They have ZERO knowledge of what actually happens on the site they run. This is why policies like this idiotic one happen. They lack any semblence of common sense, have no idea what happens day to day on the site and outright refuse to listen to sellers and their ideas. Throw in the fact that they have zero real world retail and ecommerce experience outside of the Ebay bubble they work in and you get this level of incompetence and poor decision making. 

Seriously, who writes code so poorly that they can't differentiate between a sale price and a regular price? I'll tell you who, the incompetent buffoons Ebay hires and continues to employ. Just when I thought Ebay might have turned a corner in a positive direction, they decide that it is best to cut revenue streams because they were too lazy to do their jobs in a constructive, competent and common sense way. I'm really starting to think that to be hired at Ebay you have to agree to a full lobotomy on day one. 

[frenchblueshutters]

All I Can Say Is this was Not Thought Out by ANYONE Trying to Make a Living in Retail Online or Otherwise.. If Buyers Become Immune to Sales Being Run They look at others Items... BUT That is not the Case. The Red Slash even if it is Constant with All New Items and Older Items Attracts Buyers.I Know it Does Me When I am Buying, and Tend to Buy More Than one Item That way from a Seller. Now almost a Full Week with No Sales.  Because Of No Sales Promotion. Last week I Made Less Than My Anchor Store Fees. I am Beside Myself with Worry. My Call to Customer Support said I Needed to Give it a Few Weeks to Level Out and Adjust all My Items... I Don't Have a Few Weeks at No Sales to even stay afloat Let alone give it time to Level Out. I Went from almost 200 People Watching My Items with Sales running to about 70 Watching without the Sales Running. It Isn't Rocket Science to Figure Out why??? People with Computer Logic Make No Sense of Real Time Retail Marketing. This is My Livelyhood Period!!! I went from Making a Living to Hardly Making Grocery Money with this Change. The Purpose of a Store is to Have the Ability To Run Sales anytime and However You See Fit. I Hope the Higher Ups at Ebay Realize this is Not a Good Policy and Reverse it... They Have the Ability To Reverse it.. This one Makes No Sense to ANYONE Buyers or Sellers. So I Don't know WHO it makes Sense to. My Store Flatlined in a Week and Is on Life Support!!!!

[emerald40]

Now I see what the problem is here.

Dozens of threads explaining this, but some continue to rant and rave.

And buyers don't read.

[sin-n-dex]

---

@emerald40 wrote:

---

@sin-n-dex wrote:

---

@vintage_villages wrote:

How you would know if the price is frictitious as you described it?  Do you have actual facts that support your argurment? Most of ebay seller don't sell new items, they sell used items. When you sell used item it is difficult to judge the price accurlately. It is not like there is price guide that we could use, in fact only tool we have is 3 months sale data from ebay and that is it. If you sell vintage item like camera, it is really difficult to judge the price accuratly since there is no sales data for it.

---

I sell rare tokens that are 50-100 years old and have no previous sales history (mainly because they're Canadian, and not a big market for that). I randomly make up a price... 29.99 sounds good. After a few months of not selling, I don't usually put it on sale, I revise the price to 24.99. Then to 19.99 until it sells.

I'm running a sale right now, but I'm busy and want to keep traffic in the store, so I put all tokens that aren't trade dollars at 25% off. I just run sales to push buying every now and again, but if the price isn't accurate, I revise the price to my new suggested retail price.

Cheers, C.

---

Do you usually price tthem at 29.99.  Then you put them on sale.

That is not what is illegal.

It is when all of a suddent you list them now at $50.  Then 30 minutes later run a 50% off sale and mark them down to $25.

That is what some sellers were doing and why we are now all paying the price.

---

I list them for what I want to sell them for. The sale is just what I do when things are slow. If I'm busy (not necessarily here, maybe with other jobs I do), then I don't have time to worry about increasing sales.

If something goes on sale shortly after I listed it (like the next day, when that was allowed), it's just because I add new stuff all the time, then decide "tokens" or "German States" or "banknotes", and it includes a new item. But if eBay is preventing the sale from taking less than 15 days, then I guess I don't need to worry about new items being included in the sale.

Cheers, C.

[sin-n-dex]

---

@vintage_villages wrote:

There is no advantage if you use GTC, in fact it is disadvantage. 5 to 7 day listing works b/c I tried before and it works great. I only use 7 day listing on high price item.

---

The advantage is not losing $1000 a month in lost wages by wasting my time relisting things and working on inventory when I can list it GTC and leave it be. When I'm not worrying about my inventory and relisting every day, I can dedicate my time to things that pay much better than eBay sales. The sales I get as a result of fresh listings every day (the 30 day thing) do not amount to more than $1000 of surplus revenue above and beyond what I normally sell. I also do auctions to boost revenue (boosts it for that week, and brings in new customers), so I think the GTC works well for me.

If you find 7 days is great and you make lots of money doing that, then by all means keep doing that.

Cheers, C.

[jayselectronics4u]

haha yeah, there's a furniture store where I live that has been going out of business for at least 20 years LOL

[berserkerplanet]

• there's a furniture store where I live that has been going out of business for at least 20 years LOL

The one with the perpetual "going out of business" billboard ad along 80 around Fulton?

I've been driving past that for decades. Ignoring it so hard now can't recall which one it is anymore (American? McCreery's?)