GTC = The end of My Business

[crownsfieldcellular]

I've been selling on eBay for over 15 years..I'm a Top Rated Plus Seller with over 3100 positive feed backs, and I have a 100% positive rating.  I pay close to $1000 a month or more in selling fees, and I have a store subscription...

I really, really have to thank eBay in a big way for this latest update.  I had such a good thing going on here, we were both making money, and there's just nothing like that wonderful feeling of watching all your hard work go up in smoke; and realizing that this must have been done PURPOSEFULLY by the venue that you've been paying out the nose to for years.

eBay?  If you were trying to put me out of business?  For some bizarre, absolutely moronic reason?  I can see very clearly now that you are going to succeed in doing this in a very big way with this new change.

I sell ONE OFF high end iPhones on this site, I have no repetitive inventory, and I RELY on the URGENCY that 3 Day BIN auctions create during a certain time every week to make all my sales. 

My very tried and true method of selling all of my inventory weekly (which I HAVE TO DO to stay in business and keep cash flowing), was to list everything I buy through the week on Saturday morning on a 3 Day BIN which ended on Tuesday.

This is the peak buying time with my customers, and that 3 Day TICKING CLOCK was SO POWERFUL in creating urgency with them over the weekend? That typically I would sell everything I had in that 3 day time frame..And even if a few phones did not sell in those days?  I would simply lower the price a bit and run another 3 day BIN auction starting on Tuesday, and by Friday?  Everything was gone and we were both making a great deal of money.

This system I devised didn't happen by ACCIDENT.  It took me a great deal of experimentation to find out what WORKED, and start seeing the kind of success I have seen over the past year or so of selling these phones.  This took A LOT of hard work and persistence, but I got it done and I was making great money.

This mandatory GTC listing insanity started this week, and SURE ENOUGH, just like I knew it would - It has already destroyed my sales. 

I have sold exactly ONE PHONE this week, with 6 other high ticket, high demand phones lingering there getting "watchers", but of course NO BUYERS - Because the buyers no longer have ANY SENSE OF URGENCY TO BUY.  This is because there is no longer a TIME LIMIT on my listings where people HAVE TO ACT before a listing ends.

GTC Not only DOES NOT WORK TO SELL MY PRODUCTS, It is going to actively DESTROY my business. 

This change TOTALLY undermines the system I have developed, TOTALLY ELIMINATES any kind of Buyer URGENCY or DEMAND FOR ACTION. 

This entirely KILLS MY BUSINESS ON HERE...ENTIRELY.  The proof??  I have not had ONE SALE SINCE TUESDAY - NOT ONE!!  And I'm selling items that used to have an over 85% sell through rate on this site..

With GTC I can no longer TURN MY INVENTORY OVER QUICKLY, TO RUN MY BUSINESS..Unless of course I just want to sell everything for no profits, but obviously THATS NOT GOING TO WORK FOR ME...

I have been selling on this site for over 15 YEARS and I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT and what I am DOING...GTC listings are for STORE LISTINGS, and for sellers who have LONG TAIL INVENTORY....GTC DOES NOT WORK FOR SELLERS SELLING ONE OFF UNIQUE ITEMS THAT THEY HAVE TO TURN OVER QUICKLY!!!  NOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!!

Everyone is complaining about the possible added fees with this change???...Let me tell you something?  I would have taken a 2% FVF INCREASE OVER LOSING THE ABILITY TO SELL MY ITEMS COMPLETELY!!! 

I CANNOT HAVE ITEMS SITTING THERE FOR 2 WEEKS, 3 WEEKS, 30 DAYS, 60 DAYS - THIS IS NOT THE WAY MY BUSINESS WORKS!!

And I CERTAINLY am not alone...This change has to be affecting AT LEAST 30% of sellers who GTC SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK FOR...GTC IS NOT A BLANKET LISTING THAT IS IDEAL FOR EVERYONE'S BUSINESS!! 

WHERE IS THE RATIONALE AND DATA SUGGESTING THAT IT IS????

Do 30% of YOUR SELLERS have to LEAVE THE SITE eBay, or ACTUALLY GO OUT OF BUSINESS ON HERE BEFORE YOU FIGURE THIS OUT?? 

OR DO YOU HAVE TO DESTROY THE WEBSITE COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU UNDERSTAND THE RAMIFICATIONS OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING HERE???  I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO KNOW...

SOMEONE AT EBAY NEEDS TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION HERE TO CORRECT THIS AND GIVE US OUR SHORTER TIME BUY IT NOW OPTIONS BACK, THIS IS TOTALLY, TOTALLY INSANE AND YOU ARE PUTTING PEOPLE OUT OF BUSINESS!!!

[julia1]

I came here to see if anyone else was experiencing the same issues as we are.  I am part of a three listing member business, where we all bounce business off one another, sometimes we share inventory, and help each other when one has to go on vacation.  So this consists of three stores-the top store you can subscribe to, a starter store and a mid-level store.  This has been exhausting to deal with the GTC listings.  Our sales are way down, we are constantly looking at the end dates almost daily of the lower level stores so we don't get charged for a new listing fee-it's NOT good until cancelled if you get charged every 30 days, and we need the shorter listings back.  One of the stores has now been closed (the mid-level one) due to consistently being charged the listing fees, because the strategy of the store was to roll new inventory in almost daily-I can't keep up with ending listings every day and waiting until the allotment starts over-what a crock. I've moved to Mercari-and it is fabulous! I'm selling 8x my usual volume and the fees are less, the listing platform is far superior and fast, and the photo uploading is a breeze-no waiting for all your photos to load.  I think eBay has made a grave mistake.  40 million people have downloaded the Mercari app, or at least it's been downloaded 40 million times.  It's no wonder it's taking off in a big way!  eBay treats sellers like naughty children and constantly changes the rules, makes things more complicated, time consuming, sides with buyer, lets people rip you off...etc..I'm pulling my second team member to Mercari, I'm sick to death of the nickel and diming we get!  

[mam98031]

Have you tried to just run with the GTCs.  I understand your desire to rotate stock, but have you tested if GTC can actually work for you?  Do you know for a fact they won't work for you?  There are and were many sellers, selling the same type of stuff I see on this ID you are posting with.  Many of those sellers have used GTC for years.  

I am not at all trying to be disrespectful to your business plan or your opinions of GTC.  I know it has been a very difficult time for many sellers that want to rotate their stock.  

But have you considered giving it a try.  It is a great time to test it out since we are coming into the holiday season.  You just need to remember don't jump to conclusions.  A short test of this tells you nothing.  You need to test it for a few months in a row.  

Everyone that sells on Ebay and uses FP listings is in the same boat as you are.  So GTC has worked for many years for many sellers.  I know for myself, I've used them for years.  I rarely run auctions anymore because they don't do as well for me.

Just some thoughts to consider.

Oh, from your viewpoint, what is the drawback to GTC.  Is it that you think buyer's won't feel the urgency to purchase or maybe that your listings are somehow not a visible as other sellers.  What is it that you really don't like about the duration other than you can't rotate your stock month to month?

[dinpavent0]

I started selling on Mercari back in March and I love it!!! SO much easier and I just all around love it. Sales all the time. I had sales yesterday and today but nothing like i did a year ago on here or the year before that. I don't know if GTC has anything to do with it since I would always do 30 day listings and relist everything so basically it is not anything different than before except i am not manually relisting items when they go off. I have so much inventory to list and could have plenty to end and rotate but I also run my husbands store who has been on much much longer than me and has to rotate his items since he has so much stuff. I just don't have time to list all the inventory in all the trailers we haven't even touched yet. I can say tho since the GTC, my sales have dropped tremendously and I don't know why since I am not doing anything different other than not relisting manually on my own store. I been cross posting and find myself ending listings on here constantly because they sell almost immediately on Mercari. Wish I started on there before March. I don't know what the helk is going on here. I went a week or more at a time without one sale and i always had at least 1 to 5 sales a day on here even when it was very slow now I have days and weeks go by with nothing. I been adding new stuff too. Getting more watchers, tons of views, no sales. Same listings, I copy and paste on Mercari, it sells. I don't get it.

[hereandtherealot]

I will be going there as well.

[nobody*s_perfect]

This thread is nearly a year old. I just want to point out that the original poster who said "The end of My Business" is still selling on eBay, still has a Store, and has had thousands of dollars in sales in the past 90 days:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_ssn=click2buyus...

[chapeau-noir]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

This thread is nearly a year old. I just want to point out that the original poster who said "The end of My Business" is still selling on eBay, still has a Store, and has had thousands of dollars in sales in the past 90 days:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_ssn=click2buyus...

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Your post made bumping into this zombie thread worth it.

[kh-ornesh]

Hello Everyone,

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

Thanks for understanding!