Feeling defeated. Glad I am not alone!

[fiftyshadesoffashion]

I just wanted to thank everyone who is speaking up about how let down they feel by this platform. I have 2 premium stores and really have not a clue what I am paying for?!? I am up for my yearly renewal in a couple days and made the sad decision to downgrade in one of my stores. Then start spreading my wings. I just don't know how a platform that has been around for so long is having so many issues while other platforms speed ahead. And in all honesty, ebay seems to be a little tone deaf when it comes to the frustration from sellers. We are not stupid, we see patterns..problems, glitches...yet ebay acts like a Doctor treating a patient complaining of serious symptoms and responding with.."well, we will go ahead and give you this..but there's nothing wrong..it's all in your head." Please feel free to comment with any recent glitches you are experiencing. Communication between sellers IMO is very important at this time.

[gwzcomps]

The glitches have become self aware and are features now. Things have been picking up for me. If November doesn't go well I am still considering quitting eBay all together. I can put pictures and text on google drive for free if I don't want any sales. I don't think eBay is smart enough to know they will never regain the goodwill they have burned between the company and the sellers. Or they just don't care ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[fiftyshadesoffashion]

Things picked up a little for me today. But for 4th qtr. I am really worried. I am usually a very positive person and always hopeful when things start taking a wrong turn...but this has been a steady path of going no place good. I have tried to be patient...but patience kind of goes to the wayside when bills start piling up.

[gwzcomps]

It has been a really rough year to sell on eBay IMO. Too many site problems and bad policies. Only saving grace for me is I have enough padding to survive a few bad months. Not really what most people want to see as a business though.

[chapeau-noir]

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@fiftyshadesoffashion wrote:
Things picked up a little for me today. But for 4th qtr. I am really worried. I am usually a very positive person and always hopeful when things start taking a wrong turn...but this has been a steady path of going no place good. I have tried to be patient...but patience kind of goes to the wayside when bills start piling up.

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A lot of bad happened after the 10/15 update - I know you're a  much bigger seller than I am so this may not be welcomed advice, but if you haven't, it may be a good idea to go through your listings to make sure your item specifics are correct - I couldn't find my listings save if they were either rare brands, or I plugged in the exact title. Once I started correcting IS's, they began populating in search again and sales improved.

Anyway, something to think about.

[fiftyshadesoffashion]

So far I have revised about 250 listings when it comes to item specifics. I have also been editing titles etc. And yes, it helps some. The weird thing was, the store I have jewelry and other misc. items had no sales for 5 days. I edit clothing, shoes, and other IS's and then boom 2 books sell within an hour.

[nilis13]

Right there with you.  My sales have been flat since May.  Almost down 50% since last year.  Yesterday I had my first decent day in 5 months.  Back to normal?  But I guess not since not one sale today or no best offers.  I hope for me and all of us sellers going thru this it turns around really really soon.  

[lasantino]

@chapeau-noir 

Hi,  how do you determine what correct items specifics are for different categories?? ebay has so many item specifics that are redundant or unrelated or just nonsensical .   Did you also delete the old info you had in the listing..

for example.. the size issue has been mentioned , with the size not having transferred over when the oct 15 update occurred.  Do you fill in the blank item specif for size and then delete (remove) the redundant ones?

[escarchac]

Ebay doesn't care.  As long as they are making money, they will continue to throw their sellers under the bus.  I saw a post yesterday where someone said that ebay gets up to 4% new sellers every year.  So as long as people continue to sign up to sell, ebay will continue to try and get as much money from them as they can.  When it gets to the point where they aren't making money, or making enough money, they will sell the site to someone and cashout.

[disneygurll]

I finally broke down today. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. My main selling ID hasn't sold anything in 6 days. I literally have no money coming in. I used my last funds to pay my Ebay bill. I don't know what I'm going to do. 

[musicyouneed]

I share what you all have said.   It seems like we are all on a race to the bottom.  I think the biggest problem is when google search dropped ebay from the first or any page.  I think they had a fight or something. 

Ebay hasn't got an identity.  They need to stop trying to compete with amazon, but develop their own identity. 

They should go back to their roots.

Like: This is where you go to get that thing that you always wanted and couldn't find"  Great unusual gifts, relive your childhood.   Do funny TV ads like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu4TJ4sBzAg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SQKJkmTAhE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz_pS7n3vLk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJuPUIt_SXE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7oq26R6Kak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsqoHO5sE7Y

[pelqel]

Not that I sell as much on here as I used to, but yes... even trying to deal with the bulk-editing tool today there are glitches... so I have to do a few manually on the long form. Important things like Condition options were not appearing.

Seriously, the last straw for me after these past few years of Ebay making foolish changes and raising fees, was the GTC requirement. I had a system that relied on 30-day listings, and I still haven't come up with a better one. I'm just patiently waiting for another platform to rise up and do everything Ebay was built to do, but better than where Ebay is currently... and then I'll be following in the footsteps of many of our finest, small-time sellers that have now gone elsewhere.

[baantiques]

I hear you.  I've spent a lot of time over the years trying to figure out how to keep my sales up.  The last two and a half years have been especially bad - every time I figure something out and get my sales up, I get a few weeks of good sales and then it drops back down.  I've given up trying to make more than I do right now.  I can just coast along, listing maybe 10-20 new items a month if that, and sell the same amount as I do spending 8-10 hours per day.

[chapeau-noir]

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@lasantino wrote:

@chapeau-noir 

Hi,  how do you determine what correct items specifics are for different categories?? ebay has so many item specifics that are redundant or unrelated or just nonsensical .   Did you also delete the old info you had in the listing..

for example.. the size issue has been mentioned , with the size not having transferred over when the oct 15 update occurred.  Do you fill in the blank item specif for size and then delete (remove) the redundant ones?

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I just concentrate on major categories to fix. For fashion it's size, colour, material, type and IS's germane to the item - for tops neckline, sleeve length; for bottoms it's length.  I don't delete the old redundant IS's because I really don't know what eBay is doing about the remapping of IS's. There's a lot of IS's that make no sense and I ignore them, and with my buyer hat on I doubt seriously very many are going to be looking up "model", "theme" and the like.

[turquoisetulips]

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@disneygurll wrote:

I finally broke down today. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. My main selling ID hasn't sold anything in 6 days. I literally have no money coming in. I used my last funds to pay my Ebay bill. I don't know what I'm going to do. disneygurl ---  unquote 

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I'm right there with you . Although I made three sales in the last two days,, that money is already gone . One short trip to the grocery store this morning  for a few things is all it took.  I don't know what will happen tomorrow . When I first decided to start selling online  I really had better expectations . Sad  -  I really hope things improve for you soon.  Hang in there . Tulips