Have you ever wondered why you see the same television commercial over and over again, day after day? Have you ever wondered why the sponsor don't just show the commercial once every 30 days? That's because repetition works!
Yes, I've read all the arguments against the new GTC policy for fixed listings......the sense of urgency that the 3-5-7 day listings create.....and I completely agree with all of those comments. But, I think another, and even better reason for getting rid of this suicidal new policy of Ebay is that most experienced buyers do not search by "best match". After all, who is ebay to decide what is a good match for me, as I look for antiques and collectibles and ebay wouldn't have a clue what is the right match for me. So, I search by "newly listed". I can't tell you how many times I have seen an item on ebay, didn't buy it, but then it came up the next week, or the week following that and I decided to finally pull the trigger. With the new policy, that item wouldn't come up again for another 30 days! That's hardly an example of an efficient marketing approach. Now, in addition to my buying on ebay, I also sell. What this new policy means is that for all those people who search for particular types of antiques and collectibles using "newly listed", if I don't get that sale right away, then there is a good shot no one is going to look at my item again for almost four more weeks, as it lingers in the bowels of ebay. That makes absolutely no sense. Almost all experienced buyers of antiques and collectables use the "newly listed" option. I check the listing for what interests me three or four times a day. But, I never look down past the items that I already saw earlier that day when I last checked newly listed items. So, for a buyer like me.....and again, almost all buyers of antiques and collectibles search using "newly listed", I'm not going to see that item again for 30 days. There are been many times I did not buy something the first time I saw it on ebay, or even the second time, but then I rethought the item and jumped on it using the Buy it Now figure the third of fourth time. From a seller's perspective.....and that's the perspective from which I am writing this.....that's the kiss of death. The new reality is that with this new policy, if an item I list with a fixed price doesn't sell in the first day or two, it's going to sit there and rot on ebay for 28 more days until it finally comes to the top of the list. Ebay, what were you thinking? Do you have anyone on your staff that actually buys antiques and collectibles? Anyone in this field knows that we have to check the listings multiple times a day to get first crack at an item, but we don't have to look at anything older than a day or two, since we would have seen anything older already. So, this new policy is going to be a knife in the back for almost everyone who sells the way I do .......put the listing up to renew every Sunday night. Get the item in front of people's faces often. After all, that's the exact same approach that every major advertiser uses when running the same commercial continuously. This is so simple ebay. How could you have missed it?
The bottom line is that when sellers sell less, then ebay makes less money. This decision is not only going to cost sellers a fortune, but it's going to cost ebay millions, as well. The people who thought this up at ebay have absolutely no idea how "professional buyers" search ebay. They're under the impression that every buyer is a casual buyer who will look at every item in every search result every time. That is just not the case. Ebay, this is the worst decision you have ever made!
