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 · ‎03-22-2019

@870jewel wrote:
Auctions do not do as well as buy it now in a lot of cases and if you add a buy it now you would still paying more in fees.

It would be a nice gesture if ebay would throw out a few bones whenever they take away something, and maybe they will in the Spring Update.

I've always felt that sellers that pay for stores and receive so many auction listings shouldn't have those listings limited to certain categories, and also be charged more for the buy it now feature.

Giving sellers some options to work with the new GTC rule would be good.

870jewel · ‎03-22-2019

I also made my call to eBay if you hate the GTC option call call call and keep calling until eBay does something about this stand up sellers you are the ones who make eBay happen not the big guys in the chairs upstairs with out the sellers you just have another site with China inventory and that is not what eBay is. I have been here a long time and one thing I have learned where eBay is concerned if the sellers unite the big wigs will listen. Call and write as many feedback post as you can.

If you are new click on Help & Contact go to the bottom of the page and have eBay GIVE YOU A CALL and let them know we do not want to be forced to list items we do not want to list!!!!! Let them know the reasons the GTC will not work for you and don't let them give you some lame excuse stand by your statements.

For some of us eBay is how we pay our bills and feed our kids, changes like this can really effect our over all income and time. Keep that in mind when you are buying, selling and talking to eBay.... Some small changes can have huge effects for both the good and bad but this change has no good effects that I can think of. Sellers always had the option to use it before so why FORCE all of us to use it now.

Let sellers decide how to run their own stores, problem solved.

vhtevuir-0 · ‎03-22-2019

@the_boatwiser wrote:
Hello All,

from a very successful professional outside sales person

Oh dear.

jfkw99us · ‎03-23-2019

Same basic premise re GTC and stores......pay the same cost BUT not given what we were when we originally signed up for it! Frustrating! Is Ebay LISTENING?

I stRted to END some of my listings today to sell elsewhere and the site

didn’t work. Guess others are busy doing the same.

Call Ebay to voice your concerns.

I posted their number but it was removed. Interesting.

jfkw99us · ‎03-23-2019

Totally understand. I too am looking into other sights.

Please call Ebay and voice your concerns and explain why you have left.

I posted their phone number but it wS removed.

look under help and comments.

i am in the process of ending items as not to get charged and the system has “failed”. Guess others are jumping ship quickly! Too quickly for EbY to handle?. Or

are they dragging their feet.

jfkw99us · ‎03-23-2019

Try again. Tell the rep. To voice your concerns at the monthly meeting they have!

i posted the Ebay phone number but Ebay removed it.

Call again and get another rep who is more ON THE BALL!

jfkw99us · ‎03-23-2019

Agree.....CALL CALL CALL

i POSTED the number but it was removed.

I also began ending listings and the ebay system couldn’t handle it....

hence my listing will STILL BE RENEWED. If they can’t fix the problem I will go over my limit and BE Charged a fee. 🤬

GET YOUR act together Ebay. If you implement a policy be prepared for the consequences! People are leaving......People are ending listings.....People are caLling with questions and concerns and getting rep’s that don’t understand your. new policy!

patso330 · ‎03-24-2019

I always list Buy it Now but listed an item auction style (to try to get around the GTC) and was charged a $.35 listing fee when I still have a lot of free listings available in my store. I called to question both things and was given a 5 minute speech obviously being read. I am going to list a few things on another site just to see how it works.

the_boatwiser · ‎03-25-2019

Update:

I usually leave for work on Mondays with an average of 6 packages to ship. Today I am leaving the house with 2 packages. So what do you think?

art8095 · ‎03-25-2019

I agree - my sales are dependent upon buyers that watch my ending date, and BIN or make offers with that in mind. I've just tried using the 10 day auction format with the make an offer option - but my offers have dropped bigly. Buyers don't understand how making an offer on an auction item works. Speaking of which - this is Not a good idea for buyers like me that are used to sorting by new listings.
And exactly what you are doing - is what we are all trying to come up with - ways to get around this (ending listings sooner than the buyer expects, coming up with new "instructions" they have to follow) - this is not helping buyers. It's a confusing mess.
:^(

fern*wood · ‎03-25-2019

@patso330 wrote:
I always list Buy it Now but listed an item auction style (to try to get around the GTC) and was charged a $.35 listing fee when I still have a lot of free listings available in my store. I called to question both things and was given a 5 minute speech obviously being read. I am going to list a few things on another site just to see how it works.

There are only free listings in stores for certain categories. The category you used isn't among them, so those are charged the normal fee.

@patso330

fern*wood · ‎03-25-2019

@jfkw99us wrote:

I also began ending listings and the ebay system couldn’t handle it....
hence my listing will STILL BE RENEWED. If they can’t fix the problem I will go over my limit and BE Charged a fee. 🤬

If you have items listed prior to March 18th, they will end on their own as before, unless you chose GTC at that time. GTC listings created after the 18th have until the middle of April before they would renew automatically.

jfkw99us · ‎03-26-2019

Auction is ONLY on two categories. Doesn’t help me at all. 🤬

krys888 · ‎03-26-2019

Many of us sellers who are leaving are also buyers.

*old*tiques · ‎03-26-2019

It is not ebay’s right to decide if we, the seller, want to relist an item or not. Only we should be able to decide if we want to list an item again or not. I typically list items as auction first, then if it doesn’t sell, I list as fixed price. If after a month it still doesn’t sell, I usually won’t relist again, or if I do at a later date. This new policy is wrong. It is just another way for ebay to collect money from their sellers. They need to go back to the way it was before. Sellers need to have the ability to decide if they want to relist an item or not. Now, I will need to pay attention to when Fixed Price listings are ending and end the item manually. One more thing that I have to remember to do....