GTC - What is the problem?

[mypostingid15]

First, 

Free listings

it's a promotion used by ebay to entice new sellers to list their items, it's not an entitlement for others to manipulate the system.

second,

Stores

ebay offers stores that come with 250 free listings starting at $15, if you can't afford that, then think about this, it cost around $15 to ship a 2p package from east to west in the USA. 

Third,

OOAK

if you have an OOAK item and it doesn't sell in 30 days on ebay, then you can decide if you want to relist manually or automate.

It seems to me that this change will affect sellers that are gaming the system.

[sharingtheland]

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@ms.rodriguez* wrote:

Fees.. sellers will be paying more.  I had 450 items listed about 8 days ago. Even if I had a store, with 250 listings included, I will have to pay a fee on approximately 200 of them.  If you can’t see a problem, than you are not an Einstein.  I like to rotate my items. I like to try different end times .  Ebay is lying. No one that I know goes to Google to find an item on eBay.  Perhaps, part of the blame is Google who keep things on their search engines long after the item has ended. This is a bad move. There will just be too many stale items on eBay.

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My last name isn't Einstein and, again, I don't understand this ^^^.

Are you saying you listed 450 items for "free?"  If so, I wish I could do that.   If not, and you're paying fees, how is that different from paying GTC renewal fees every 30 (or however ebay fixes that little 30 vs 31 goof) days?

A point some are making is that people go to google to look for something; not that people come to ebay to look for something.  As in, ebay isn't the first port of entry in a search.  

I just spent a few hours researching possible inventory purchases.  Did I look on ebay for selling prices?  Yes.  Did I look on google?  Oh definitely yes.  

[dazzlecity]

Castle - I know - I know but I keep asking anyway - hope is eternal

[sheeplehunter]

Everyone should get 500 free listing per month. We should only need to pay ebay if they sell our items. The algorithms are pushing small sellers to the bottom of the search results already. Why should we have to pay for **bleep** placement?

[dirk12955]

What I think? I think Every EBAY seller should be allowed to choose whether he or she wants to list his items as Buy it now or regular auctions.

In addition I think those sellers should be allowed to choose 3-5-7-10-30 days or 30 days GTC listings.

I understand EBAY is not a democracy. We have no vote when it comes to the nuts and bolts of how things are done here. I've said in the past, it's ebays playground and they get to make the rules.

But EBAY continues to make changes and adjustments that a quanity of sellers find strange and counter productive. These changes are "For our own good" and to "Improve" sales and open up more visibility to increase views and to make it easier to search the site.

But here's what I think, EBAYS changes always cost me sales. EBAYS changes create more work. EBAYS changes in regards to GTC take a simple process that I've taken years to smooth out and a make almost perfect and make me have to sit down and re think everything.

The people at ebay that make the decisions have no idea of what it takes to run a store on this website. They think change simply for the sake of change is progress.

When I started here in 2000 the ebay employees we interacted with and talked to were also sellers. When you had an issue they listened. They understood what you were talking about and you could actually get some sort of dialog going.

Not so today.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@mypostingid15 wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

I fail to see how using free listings that eBay gives you is gaming the system.

If you get a sample in a store, do you feel you are gaming the system?

Here's the eBay announcement.  It simply says for sellers without stores.  It does not say it is for new sellers.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Sellers-List-up-to-50-FREE-every-month-Auction-style-or-...

If sellers want a store, that is their decision.  

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No, but if you're coming to get the same ample everyday, then it's gaming the system, even if allowed.

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Since you say if you are coming to get the same sample everyday, that analogy doesn't work.  You are changing the circumstances.  This is different; the sample comes to you~you are being given the sample.  You are not going out of your way to get or take advantage of the sample as in your analogy.  You would be foolish not to use it, if it benefits you.  If you don't care to use it, that is your choice and no one forces you.  

[castlemagicmemories]

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@mypostingid15 wrote:

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@dirk12955 wrote:
I sell vintage stamps. I've been running 10 day listings for years. Many of of my sales are items just listed, Or items ending soon.

I can live with 6-7 days of crickets chirping over my unseen listings. I can't live with 26-27 days of the same thing.

When I'm buying or looking to buy on ebay I use "Newly listed" or "Ending soon"
And I'll bet so do a lot of other ebayers.

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So you think other GTC sellers should live with it? and should end their items and relist every 3 days to compete with this free listing manipulation?

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It's not manipulation under the current system as everyone has the choice to use whichever format they want to.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@dazzlecity wrote:

Castle - I know - I know but I keep asking anyway - hope is eternal

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That's ok.  It's supposed to be!

I like your style.

[turquoisetulips]

When I'm buying or looking to buy on ebay I use "Newly listed" or "Ending soon"
And I'll bet so do a lot of other ebayers. dirk 

I always check lowest price first  and with the type of items I must buy it has saved me  money . Tulips

[turquoisetulips]

They think change simply for the sake of change is progress. dirk 

And we know that theory is often just dead wrong  on and off e bay .  Tulips

[mabearsattic]

Who sends the invitation  to use the extra free listings? Why send them if you don't want them used? You can't have it both ways. Either you want us to list more so there are more sales or you don't Don't invite me to do something and then imply I'm freeloading!!!

[dinpavent0]

You are wrong, including myself and many others, I look up on google a specific item i am looking for, then google brings up many different choices at many stores including ebay. If ebay has the best price or fits the best criteria then that is where I buy from or it may be another store that fits my needs best. Many many people use google to search for an item, if ebay has it, the links show up. I get lots of customers that find me thru googling the item they need and an ebay link appears and they buy from me and did not have an account with ebay. They either opened one that day to buy from me or used a guest account.

[dinpavent0]

I agree, my husband and I were just talking the other day, we both have a premium store, which works absolutely fine for me, I usually have listings i don't end up using, i could use all if I could get more time to list my items lol......but my husband on the other hand, has so much stuff, I know right now I have listed over 3000 items for him and we have probably at least another couple thousand items to list and more inventory coming in daily. He would definitely benefit from having a store with 4000 or 5000 listings. The premium store is not enough and the anchor store is too much. Would be nice if they had something in between.

[etrusca]

Before you post it might be wise to check your facts first-  I can understand perhaps why you have difficulty searching as it took me 4 clicks to find the actual prices and allowances that are no longer listed in policies you have to either go to User Agreement > fees now buried in a very round about way. or go to Seller Center. Yet again whoever is tweaking the ebay pages is either very dyslexic or disorganized - it could be one page spelled out  https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/run-your-store/subscriptions-and-fees.html

To clarify - as a long standing store owner -

there are no longer any monthly discounts for annual store subscriptions as there used to be incentive.

The current cost of a Basic store which gives you 250 Fixed Price > now GTC & 250 Auction monthly is

$21.95 monthly on an ANNUAL contract with significant penalties if you cancel. This does NOT inclulde Final Value fees including on shipping. So if your sales are low you still have to pay the fee - some of us have Selling Mgr Pro which originally was a free part of the package before which gives us added benefits. Seller Hub comes with regular Seller Mgr built in but not the Pro which is helpful and what we got used to - that costs an additonal 15.95 a month with a 4.99 credit given for store owners = 11.00 additional - so we are in fact paying 32.95 a month to begin with - if you exceed the allotment there is still a per item fee on either venue - which can add up and the FVF have also increased for those that cannot keep the TR Seller Plus status which requires free 30 day Returns - which means we forfit our 10% bonus on final value fees on base price of item sold not the shipping fee. Most smart sellers are not able to afford free returns as its a measured risk in so many ways.  So it is a bit more complicated than you are painting a picture of - clearly you have not opened a store.  Some of us are not able to list in the summer if we also run a seasonal shop and many go away on vacation and for certain catagories there is a real dip - so for me I dont list between July - Sept as I am too busy and inventory is being offered in a different venue with few buyers in our categories on ebay and one loses competitive bidding in auction format - so you add that back in and the per month cost is even higher.  I hope this is helpful - it is always better to ask if you dont know or ask where to find the information before posting  if you are unable to find it as you dont want to mislead other sellers - that is why we are all trying to be helpful and share the nuts and bolts about the potential impact of the new GTC based on cumilative years of experience - it has many facets and not just about fees.

[ladyindecadence]

Hi Dinpavent0, we did the math last year and found that the break even point for upgrading to an anchor store is 3400 listings at that point it cost just as much as having the premium store at $60 a month plus the additional 2400 listings at .10 cents each ($240 a month) = total $300, which is the price of an Anchor store.

[dinpavent0]

Thank you...lol I never actually figured the math out on it. Just thought it would be possibly better deal to have something between the $60 and the $300.