Feedback and Concerns Regarding eBay's Automated Offers Feature

[rakdistribution]

Hello eBay Community,

I wanted to start a discussion about eBay's recent push encouraging users to enable the automated offers feature on their listings. While the concept is innovative and can potentially benefit both sellers and buyers, there are some fundamental issues with its current implementation that need addressing. These problems not only make the process cumbersome and time-consuming but also create a somewhat misleading experience regarding how discounts are applied to future price changes.

1. Incompatibility with eBay's Business Policies: A significant issue is the feature's incompatibility with existing eBay Business Policies. When automated offers are active for a product, it becomes impossible to adjust certain attributes, such as Handling Times, in the Business Policy. Since Automated Offers essentially puts the item into a continuous offer cycle, to update the Business policy for shipping, one must end the automated offer and wait for a lengthy 48 hours for all active offers to expire. This delay can be quite disruptive for sellers looking to make timely adjustments to their shipping policies.
   
   

2. Static Dollar Amount for Future Offers: The system currently converts the percentage of discount into a static dollar amount for all future automatic offers. This approach does not consider future price increases or decreases on the listing. As a result, sellers may inadvertently offer discounts that are either too high or too low, based on the original price at which the automated offer was set up. This lack of dynamic pricing adjustment can lead to unintended pricing strategies and potential losses or reduced margins for sellers.
   
   

3. Lack of Bulk Management Tools: Another critical issue is the inability to manage these offers in bulk. Currently, disabling automatic offers must be done individually for each listing. This limitation is particularly cumbersome for sellers with a large volume of listings, as it requires a significant amount of time and effort to manage offers on a per-listing basis.

I believe these issues warrant attention and discussion within our community and hopefully with eBay's development team. The automated offers feature has great potential, but these limitations can hinder its effectiveness and efficiency. I'd love to hear thoughts from other members on this topic and any potential workarounds or solutions you've found.

Thank you for considering these points, and I look forward to a constructive discussion.

Best regards,
RAK

[heckofagame]

If the program doesn't work for you, then don't use it. We don't need to form a committee.

[ebooksdiva]

I’m glad eBay came up with a way to discourage buyers  from bidding, making offers and not paying. 
Like the previous poster said “If the program doesn’t work for you, then don’t use it”. 
That’s my 2 cents on the discussion.

[rakdistribution]

@ebooksdiva & @heckofagame  neither of you have contributed positively to this conversation. It's recommended that you leave the conversation to those who actually care rather than spread toxicity on the platform.

[jameshen1]

Just because they don't agree with you doesn't mean they haven't contributed positively to the conversation.  They have both given great advice.  And I agree with them.  If it doesn't work for you, then don't use it.  There are sellers who it works well for and there is no need to change it and hurt them.

[ebooksdiva]

You asked for people to join your discussion, but when those of us aren’t opposed to the payment requirement for making offers and bidding, we’re not helpful. You said nothing about just discussing your dislike of the subject. 
I for one, am entitled to my opinion just as you are. 

[rakdistribution]

I disagree with all of you. When fundamental flaws of the tool are identified, we should work together to try to fix them. If you want no part of it, then ignore the conversation. This community is liken to a bunch if piranhas waiting to eat each other alive rather than to rally together, bring attentions to valid issues, and work to make this platform better. It's clear that many of you want none of these things since “If the program doesn’t work for you, then don’t use it” is not only poor advice, but enables eBay to continue with incomplete/broken features on the platform.

I'll wait for those who actually care.

Regards,

RAK

[boomersbiz46]

well the above answers/**bleep** was no help, just a lot of people in a **bleep** mood. Go have another cup of coffee and come back when you can tell people how this works. That's all I want to know. or tell me where I can find this out. 

[luckythewinner]

---

@rakdistribution wrote:

@ebooksdiva & @heckofagame  neither of you have contributed positively to this conversation. It's recommended that you leave the conversation to those who actually care rather than spread toxicity on the platform.

---

IMHO, trying to silence other people because you do not agree with their opinion is the only thing on this thread that is spreading toxicity on this platform.

[galacticmarketplace]

The original poster is right in his indignation of those who simply say if you don't like it don't use it. He brought up valid points about problems and issues the program has. Instead you accuse him of trying to silence you because you add nothing of substance to the issues he is talking about. This is not about you it is about issues with the program in question. Get over yourselves. He is correct there should be a way to change items in bulk. If you have thousands of listings it becomes a useless addition because of the time it would take to edit the listings would not be cost efficient.

I was thinking of trying the feature but now have decided not to. I need things to have ease of use not make my work harder.

So, thank you to the original poster.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Ebay faces a daunting task. It needs to support its sellers and their needs to lure buyers into purchasing, yet it has to continue its long time effort to leave its early negative image behind.

The presence of automated offers creates a tension with sellers who are fixed price retailers, reflect a significant number of Ebay sales, and are resistant to regular price reductions.

As is usually the case, Ebay's actions on price promotion do not make those who would use the feature or those who would eliminate the feature happy with what is implemented.

Other than "if it does not work for you don't use it", there is little to say without getting into far more contentious areas of disagreement.

[mam98031]

---

@galacticmarketplace wrote:

The original poster is right in his indignation of those who simply say if you don't like it don't use it. He brought up valid points about problems and issues the program has. Instead you accuse him of trying to silence you because you add nothing of substance to the issues he is talking about. This is not about you it is about issues with the program in question. Get over yourselves. He is correct there should be a way to change items in bulk. If you have thousands of listings it becomes a useless addition because of the time it would take to edit the listings would not be cost efficient.

I was thinking of trying the feature but now have decided not to. I need things to have ease of use not make my work harder.

So, thank you to the original poster.

---

The OP can be upset with Ebay, but being rude to a poster that doesn't agree with them, they do NOT have the right to do that.  We are all allowed our own opinions and viewpoints.  Much can be learn through civil conversation, the OP didn't want that.  They only wanted to hear from people with a like mind.  

The OP's points are valid for what they have to deal with.  Other seller may not have all those or some of those issues.  We are a diverse group of people with different needs and desires.

"Instead you accuse him of trying to silence you because you add nothing of substance to the issues he is talking about."  I'm not sure of this statement by you.  That is exactly what the OP did in post #4.  So in their own words they tried to dismiss and ask specific posters NOT to post.

FYI, this thread is a several months old.  Unlikely the OP will be coming back.

[kh-adrian]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.