eBay

the_boatwiser · ‎03-19-2019

Hello All,

I am a 20 year seller on ebay and have done quite well without ebay telling me how to sell my items. I have kept great records on the cycles of selling an item listed as a Buy It Now, which is all I use. A typical item I list with a 5-7 day Buy It Now will sell 75% of the time within the first 24 hours of listing it or the last 12 hours before the listing ends. The days in between start and end of the Buy It Now account for only 25% of my sales. Most buyers search new listings or watch ones that are about to end. Everything in the middle seems to get "lost" unless it is a very unique item folks are hunting down and those are the ones I sell during the "lost" period. I have no use for 30 Day or Until Cancelled listings - to me they just do not work. I utilize my 50 free listings during each month to maximize my main items and use the Freebies for my less profitable or less desirable items.

I am going to use my 50 free listings now each month in a 5-7 day auction format with a starting bid of what I would have asked in a Buy It Now format with a HUGE tag line in the auction stating that the first bidder that places a bid will have the opportunity to purchase it at the starting bid price by sending me an email. Then I will just respond thier email with an offer at that price and that will be that.

ebay has totally lost sight on what has made this site work - it's the seller. If the sellers scale back so will their final value fees. I will never pay a listing fee as I pay hundreds of dollars in final value fees now. Big mistake ebay, this post comes to you from a very successful professional outside sales person that uses ebay as a hobby. I know what I'm talking about.

fern*wood · ‎03-19-2019

If you wish to make the first bidder the winner of your auction you can just end the listing by choosing that option. I do it once in awhile and it's easy to do.

swi66 · ‎03-19-2019

Great idea, I have already started an experiment to list on other sites. Most other sites have much lower final value fees.

Ebay does not listen to their sellers...........

this*old*attic · ‎03-19-2019

Most other sites have a crummy search function and less traffic, too.

this*old*attic · ‎03-19-2019

Not too mention unwieldy listing platforms and seriously poor phone apps.

surfer6722 · ‎03-19-2019

I'm right there with you, you nailed it. 20+ years here also. For ebay to take away this option is mind-boggling. Trust the sellers, we are in there navigating this site daily, we know what works, and this won't! As you said though, we will find a way, always. I waited on hold for 33 minutes today, probably the longest hold time I've ever had calling in, to voice my displeasure. I suggest everyone does! Good luck all!

evry1nositswindy · ‎03-19-2019

This doesn't work for those of us with stores. We are only allowed to create auctions for free in specific categories only. Not the right category...fee.

evry1nositswindy • seller since 2013
Volunteer Community Mentor

reallynicestamps · ‎03-19-2019

@the_boatwiser

Another poster suggested that those who prefer shorter Fixed Price listings and do not want to use GTC, could use 10 day Auctions combined with Buy It Now.

The advantage being, the seller could get one of three acceptable prices.

The opening price
Or the BIN price which is higher than the opening price
Or if there are multiple bids, the winning price will be higher than the opening price.

While your suggestion is eBay acceptable, I would be concerned that a bidder (who put in a $20 bid on a $10 opening) would be frightened and suspicious to learn that he won the item when he thought he would have six more days to watch how it ran and perhaps to increase his bid.

Also, what happens to the snipe bidder who gives a strong bid to his sniping service to be executed on Day 7 Hour 23 Minute 59.85?

I suspect you could be leaving money on the table.

None of this applies to those of us with Stores, since we pay for BIN on Auctions.

castlemagicmemories · ‎03-19-2019

ebay has totally lost sight on what has made this site work - it's the seller

I see. Buyers not necessary.

the_boatwiser · ‎03-20-2019

My opening bid price would be set to what I need or what I would have set to the Buy It Now price previously - I don't care about leaving money on the table. I just want control of my auctions and be able to offer good products at a fair price. 30 day duration listings are a waste of time for me - they just do not work as I stated before most of my sales occur within the first 24 hours of listing an item.

castlemagicmemories · ‎03-20-2019

30 day duration listings are a waste of time for me - they just do not work as I stated before most of my sales occur within the first 24 hours of listing an item.

If most of your items sell within the first 24 hrs of listing an item, then the new GTC rule will largely not affect you.

skatefool · ‎03-20-2019

From the opening post:

A typical item I list with a 5-7 day Buy It Now will sell 75% of the time within the first 24 hours of listing it or the last 12 hours before the listing ends.

How do you think Good Till Canceled will help boost his sales in the second category?

oldschoolvideo4all · ‎03-20-2019

Total joke! I'm newer than most of you here but also only use the Buy It Now 3, 5, 7 day feature in all my listings because I can rotate my items in and out in when they expire if the do not sell. I also see a trend that my goods sell within the first day of listing it or the last day of the listing and everything else in the middle accounts for very few sales. I can just imagine the listing volume that no one will even look at from the 5th day to the 29th day!! Has ebay lost their minds to upset so many of their long time core members so they can just collect more relisting fees when we forget to cancel these GTC listings.

moonrockr · ‎03-20-2019

The GTC is a new ebay scam they cooked up to squeeze more fees out of us. It is utterly the worst thing they have done since the implementation of fees on shipping charges.