mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
@e-cheddar wrote:the best solution would be for ebay to have auto-renews every 31 days.
Otherwise, as stated, the listings will have to be monitored at least periodically even if you start toward the second week of the month.
not sure how ebay plans to fix the problem in May, unless they change the auto renew period to 31 days to cover all months.
That would still run you into problems eventually to as not all months have 31 days. Simply a one a calendar month renewal would be best IMHO. But we will see what they decide to do in May.
Again, it isn't going to be a problem between now and May when they fix it if you don't post the first few days of the month. Now if they don't fix it in May for some reason, which I highly doubt they will go back on that.
This will help you decide on what is best for you.
http://www.isdntek.com/listingtools/billingcycles.htm
I would suggest that the responses by @mam98031 most directly and accurately address your concerns. As I understand it, you would be keeping only 50 active listings going at any given time.
GTC has been used in 80% of listings for years and sellers have never before been concerned about the billing cycle issue (nor have they complained about the extra freebies each February). It has only now become an issue for those sellers who want to stay under the free limits, meaning it is only a concern for smaller sellers, the ones who typically visit these forums.
And even for those using the free limits it only becomes a major issue if all 50 listings are posted on a single day, the first day of the month (or any of the first 6 days of the month). If the 50 listings are spread over the 30 days in a cycle, only a handful would see two billing cycles in a 31 day month.
Since eBay says they will address this concern by May, I thought I would look at the near-term forecast for those posting listings between now and the solution:
A seller can post on any remaining day in the month of March, and not see a repeat for about 5 years.
In April, a seller can post listings from the 7th through the end of the month and see one repeat a year or more later, and then none for 5 more years after that (don't post on April 6 - multiple repeats).
In May, listings posted from the 8th through the end of the month will see one repeat a year or more later, and then no repeats for 5 years (don't post on May 7 - multiple repeats).
http://www.isdntek.com/listingtools/billingcycles.htm
Use the tool to see how choosing dates after the 8th of the month will push out the date for the first repeat. Because the 30 day cycle is shorter than the average month, the 30-day dates creep earlier every couple of months and eventually reach the first day of the month where they can repeat. So posting a listing later in the month provides the longest duration of no repeats. However, avoid Jan 30 and Jan 31 due to the short month of February rolling those onto the first of March or April.
@e-cheddar wrote:So I do wonder, again, what is the point of auto-renewal at this point? Why don't they just give us 50 free listings? Is the answer simply so they can catch some sellers off-guard and collect more fees?
This is actually a very interesting question.
eBay's cost basis has always been term-based since it's beginnings as an auction platform. Everything is invoiced on term increments.
I can see that a listing could be set up as "free" by flagging the item ID instead of the rollover date. But then what happens when eBay wants to offer additional free insertion promos? They would have to be term-based, or else, after some time, there would be no new paid listings because everyone would be creating their "free" listings and "sub-letting" them to the entirety of their inventory. And what happens to listings when someone downsizes their store subscription and go from 250 free to 100 free or 50 free? Who chooses which items to remove from the "free" list?
But let's look at this from the accounting side instead. eBay does not really tag a specific listing as "free". Instead, they just look at the total number of insertions/renewals in the month and subtract the freebies and bill the remainder. Those renewals are specific actions that can be easily catalogued
So if they look at the number of active listings, and subtract the free ones, when should they look? On the billing date? Consider this image that consists of listings that end, begin, or reside entirely in one cycle, or where an existing listing is merely running through the billing period. Where in this picture would eBay take a snapshot to count listings and offer freebies?
@weschurch wrote:Ebay has told us their PERCEIVED "benefits" of using it, but what is the goal of FORCING it?
In the past two years, eBay has implemented a lot of new policies based on appeasing Google search (UPC and item specifics) or Google Chrome (active content and secure content). Historically, eBay had a nice relationship with Google where eBay items always appeared in the top slot on searches and where eBay pushed seller items onto Google shopping. That turned upside down a few years ago and it's been an uphill battle ever since.
Part of the upside down reason is that too many eBay links led to dead ends ("this item has ended") leaving shoppers disgruntled. So now we see eBay pushing its catalog and Item Specifics. Why? Because, instead of linking to an ended listing, eBay must now link to a catalog page offering a similar product. The potential buyer might now stay on eBay instead of complaining to Google and heading over to some other site.
And why has eBay moved to longer durations? For the same reason. Google exposure and a better visitor capture rate. Is this just eBay being greedy? Of course! eBay receives fees from sellers and if sellers are missing out on capturing Google visitors and don't generate the sale promised on Google, then fees dry up.
Granted, there are sellers who don't care about eBay's Google exposure or who may be using short term listings in another manner to garner better eBay exposure. They know how to best reach their market. Are they being greedy, or is eBay being greedy? It's a toss up, isn't it?
@e-cheddar wrote:i just went through a year...basically, if you start your listings, for example, on April 5 and leave them alone....if you keep doing 30 days (renewing on the 31st day, assuming that's how it works--correct me if im wrong on that), in about a 12 month period, your renew date will drift about 7 days, as the following year, the auto-renewal would happen on April 12...so it's not indefinite that you won't run into insertion fees but you do have 3 years or so where you wouldn't have to worry about it (I think!).
Yes, which is why I've said this doesn't have to be a big problem. Learning to work with it doesn't take much. But it will all go away in May anyway. Well as long as Ebay doesn't change it to a 31 day renewal period. If they do that, we are in the same position as today.
@e-cheddar wrote:i guess my next stupid question is why have auto-renewals at all? Why not just give us 50 free listings and be done with it?
what is the point of auto-renewals?
Your questions are NOT "stupid". Please don't say such things. You ask because you don't have answers. That just means you have a question. NOTHING more.
The biggest reason for this in internet search returns. There are lots of buyers that use Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. to search for some item they are looking for. When a listing ends after 30 days it will still many times appear in these search returns but when the potential customer clicks into the listing, they find it is closed.
That is because there are many sellers, as we have seen on the threads recently that like to end their listings after 30 days and then repost them. That reposted listing may not show up to the customer that just did that search I described in my previous paragraph. BUT if it is a GTC that renews every month, it would because when a GTC renews it retains the SAME listing number.
Research is telling Ebay that we are missing out on sales due to this. Time will tell us all if this is a viable concern. But it does sound logical.
