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.

[emerald40]

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@ifyouloveit wrote:
Isn't eBay pushing us to add, "Make an offer?" on a brand new listing EXACTLY the same thing? Price it higher with, "Make an offer", make the sale. Buyers are already keen to this new nonsense too. I have buyers messaging me now asking me what my best price is, as I don't have best offer listed on the listing.

eBay is doing just that with make an offer. Price manipulation. Sellers start your prices high, because they are coming down...... Buyers, this is not the real price, make an offer!

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Price it higher with make an offer.

Nope that is not what ebay is doing.

They are adding make an offer to listings that they feel  sellers have priced too high.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@emerald40 wrote:

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They are adding make an offer to listings that they feel  sellers have priced too high.

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Sellers are independent. They can decide how they want to price their items. It's not ebay's place to decide to add offers because "they feels sellers priced them too high." 

[castlemagicmemories]

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@lookng2015 wrote:

But they were searching MY store. If they want to search eBay in it's entirity that's what the GENERAL search bar is for.

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Actually it is confusing.  The first time I saw it, I thought the ability to search the seller's store was taken away.  Now I know to use it, but still, some may just think they did away with that.

[glenns2634]

They could have simply made a rule that for new listings the maximum sale for the first 2 weeks was 5%

and maybe a small incremental system for another 2 weeks.

It would stop new listings being over priced and prevent all this pain for sellers doing the right thing, these who are probably 99% of sellers on the site.

I also interprerted this change as for new listings, ran a 5 % sale for 24 hours on my kitkats and now cannot run a sale until almost the middle of next mnonth. Really bad call on this one Ebay.

[emerald40]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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@emerald40 wrote:

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They are adding make an offer to listings that they feel  sellers have priced too high.

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Sellers are independent. They can decide how they want to price their items. It's not ebay's place to decide to add offers because "they feels sellers priced them too high." 

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I do not know how I can be any clearer.

It has been explained numerous times.  Links have appeared.

What some sellers are doing is illegal.  And they are doing it on ebay's site.  As we know ebay has been sued in the past for allowing illegal practices.

So no sellers here are not totally independent when they sell on this venue.

The only think you are free to do here is leave if you cannot abide by the rules.

[abes_gourmet]

This is a big mistake for eBay that will only hurt sellers and in the long run ebay. We will no longer run promotions on this marketplace. Time to ramp up our website. I have shut my store down just to adjust prices.

[sunflowers_plus]

I understand the theory behind this new rule, with retailers falsely inflating prices and claiming huge savings over original prices. Limiting sales on NEW listings is a great idea that will prompt sellers to list at better thought out, realistic prices.
But why the 14-day wait on listings that have been running for a while at GTC? These items would not fall under "the law" because they will have been listed at the sellers original price the first 14 days (or 30 days, whatever the rule).
I've been using Promoted Listings to progressively discount stuff: 10% off the 2nd month, 20% 3rd month, and so on. Isn't that what Ebay wants? A quicker sell-thru percentage rate? Will sell-thru rates double now that items can only be discounted half as often?
The first rule in sales that the correct price is what a buyer is willing to pay... This new policy is hindering sellers from achieving that goal.

[hioctane62]

I set my prices below what other sellers or sites are selling for, when I can find it, then offer sale discounts from there. Not some arbitrary inflated price. I really don't appreciate ebay standing in the way of me doing so.

[lewisburggold]

Who ever came up with this idea is got to be not thinking right.  Best regards

[castlemagicmemories]

Trinton is on vacation.  Seriously.  He left Friday, June 29, and will be gone for 7 weeks.  

Tyler and Brian.T are covering in his absence.

[carlenes*treasure*trove]

There are a couple of problems with the new "14 day policy". If it applied to truly new items then I would be fine with it. However, with the bad experience I've had with the "Good 'Til Cancelled" feature, I list my items for 30 days. When they come off I do a review and then relist them. With this new policy I now need to wait another 14 days to put it on sale. The item isn't really new, but ebay now treats it as new. That is problem #1.

Problem #2. I use a graduating discont schedule to move certain inventory categories (about 1/3 of my store), with the goal to sell an item within 90 days. I go roughly 6 weeks at 10%, 4 more weeks at 20%, the two weeks at 30%. If the item hasn't sold, I get more aggressive with sales discounts, increasing the discount by 5% every two weeks. I started this system about 4 months ago and have found it to be a very good process, but this new rule completely makes this impossible to do.

This new policy has killed my sales. I have not been able to run a new promotion for the 4th of July because a sale ended that had about half of my store in it. I am already aggressively working on selling on another site to make up for my lost revenue. I also wish to change my anchor store status because of the arbitrary changes. I no longer have the business to support that kind of expense.

[Anonymous]

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@carlenes*treasure*trove wrote:
This new policy has killed my sales. I have not been able to run a new promotion for the 4th of July because a sale ended that had about half of my store in it. I am already aggressively working on selling on another site to make up for my lost revenue. I also wish to change my anchor store status because of the arbitrary changes. I no longer have the business to support that kind of expense.

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That's unfortunate, however the change was announced far enough in advance to make preparations for a July 4th sale. It was announced with enough notice that you could have downgraded your store in May with no penalties.

eBay can't force sellers to read the updates. They publish the information and sellers have to be responsible for reading it.

14 days between price changes and markdowns is the new policy and you can adjust your business structure to accommodate it if you so choose.

Your graduated discount schedule can be accomplished by manually changing the price instead of running a sale. You can still offer graduated discounts with sales but there will be a longer period between markdowns and adjusting the discount percent is something you can evaluate and experiment with.

Look at order & shipping discount promotions and figure out if that's something you can work with. I find them to be effective and I have more buyers purchasing multiple items in a single purchase. There is no 14 day rule for order discount promos - an item can actually be part of a markdown and an order discount promo at the same time.

I understand the frustration of having to change a system that's working for you - I am making some adjustments, too. I hope you find a new method that works for you.

 Your photos are very nice. I have a friend who buys a lot of clothing on eBay and I'm going to pass along your store link.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@getitright1234 wrote:

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@getitright1234 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@coniferclothingcompany wrote:

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.

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Hi @coniferclothingcompany, we have made changes to the length of time that an item needs to be on the site at the same price before it can be placed on sale to better serve our Community. When items are listed and immediately placed on sale, we have seen a negative reaction from many buyers. You can read more about this in our Summer Seller Update. 

If I list a widget at a competitive price and within day (5) of that listing I learn my competitor has listed it for slightly less,  I should be allowed to put my widget on sale,  Fourteen days, is too long for a Seller to be allowed to have a sale.   

If you regularly have some items in stock, I recommend using the Good 'Til Cancelled listing format with the out of stock feature - this will help you to minimize the 14 day waiting period for the sales you wish to run on these items.

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All of my listings are Good til Cancelled, yet when I attempted to used the markdown feature after a recent sale, it would not allow me to start another sale.    Could you please private message me on what you mean by:  " I recommend using the Good 'Til Cancelled listing format with the out of stock feature."  This ID is largely my posting id.  

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Thank  you.  I don't understand that as well.  I hope you will post what you find.

I also don't understand why buyers would complain when something is listed and put on sale.  

[castlemagicmemories]

@getitright1234 wrote:

@getitright1234 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@coniferclothingcompany wrote:

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.

Hi @coniferclothingcompany, we have made changes to the length of time that an item needs to be on the site at the same price before it can be placed on sale to better serve our Community. When items are listed and immediately placed on sale, we have seen a negative reaction from many buyers. You can read more about this in our Summer Seller Update. 

If I list a widget at a competitive price and within day (5) of that listing I learn my competitor has listed it for slightly less,  I should be allowed to put my widget on sale,  Fourteen days, is too long for a Seller to be allowed to have a sale.   

If you regularly have some items in stock, I recommend using the Good 'Til Cancelled listing format with the out of stock feature - this will help you to minimize the 14 day waiting period for the sales you wish to run on these items.

All of my listings are Good til Cancelled, yet when I attempted to used the markdown feature after a recent sale, it would not allow me to start another sale.    Could you please private message me on what you mean by:  " I recommend using the Good 'Til Cancelled listing format with the out of stock feature."  This ID is largely my posting id.  

Thank  you.  I don't understand that as well.  I hope you will post what you find.

I also don't understand why buyers would complain when something is listed and put on sale.  

[Anonymous]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

@getitright1234 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

If you regularly have some items in stock, I recommend using the Good 'Til Cancelled listing format with the out of stock feature - this will help you to minimize the 14 day waiting period for the sales you wish to run on these items.

All of my listings are Good til Cancelled, yet when I attempted to used the markdown feature after a recent sale, it would not allow me to start another sale.    Could you please private message me on what you mean by:  " I recommend using the Good 'Til Cancelled listing format with the out of stock feature."  This ID is largely my posting id.  

Thank  you.  I don't understand that as well.  I hope you will post what you find.

I also don't understand why buyers would complain when something is listed and put on sale.  

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GTC item is marked down, item sells, goes to out of stock mode, 7 days after the sale ends you restock, you update quantity on the listing, then you only have to wait 7 more days to mark it down again. If you started a brand new listing instead of using GTC with out of stock then you would have to wait 14 days.

Buyers complain because there are too many false sales. Items are listed high then instantly put on perpetual markdown. It's false advertising because the "sale" price is really the seller's regular price. There is a lot of discussion about it throughout this thread including links to laws on the practice. eBay created this policy because of sellers who abused the system.