Good Till canceled devalues Antiques and Art

[darwen8]

I am sure those who sell new merchandise would not understand .. nor does E Bay .. Not having the option to list one of a kind antique and many art items for 5 or 7 days actually devalues many one of a kind items .. Good till Canceled creates no urgency to buy ... As well as posting the views in the listing even when item has ended and I relist .. it shows the views since the start of the listing .. 200 views for example leads the buyer to believe guess no one wants it so neither do I .. I do not sell new merchandise .. I list most items auction style , but have items that I would like to list buy it now , but not for 30 days with automatic renewal of that listing is even more insulting . On E bay since 1999 and have been in the Antique buss. since 1975 .. I actually was paying more in insertion fees with shorter listing periods .. But was worth it !  Now I sell less with the Good Till Canceled , and realize I am screwed , just venting ... 

[ag-engine-kits]

Hidden thongs can definitely get dirty 😊

[dubiousgain]

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@moondogblues wrote:

"I knew when I posted that 90 % of those that might reply are in a different world .. No taste you might say : )"

Another cheap shot.

I was going to look at your listings but not now.  What an elitist mentality you have in my humble opinion.  And like Chapeau I have also been in the antiques/collectible business for decades...in fact since I was very young.  Both my parents were in the business and we all bought and sold anything beautiful, desirable, useful and/or collectible.  It could be something worth thousands of dollars or a couple of bucks.  Elitists we were not, eclectic yes.

We were also, and I still am, open to differing people's opinions and advice.  Why, OP, would you come here to belittle the very people offering insights and advice?  I could and should say more but I'd get in trouble here on the forum and you are not worth it....

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If selling anything kitchy, tasteless, garish, or gawdy were a felony, on more than one occasion I was likely public enemy number One. I don't think I would take seller darwen8 too seriously. His little emoticon, sticking out its tongue, took a lot of the curse off of it for me ☺️

Anybody take these boards too personally, I'm afraid they're in for a world of hurt.

[luckythewinner]

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@moondogblues wrote:

I was going to look at your listings but not now. 

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You really should take a look - so you get an idea what the OP means by "taste" and "art" and "antiques".  

[darwen8]

80 - 90 % of the comments left are not insight and advice , that is why I may get a little testy , there are a few that understand , you might want to read their lengthy remarks . Only a few .. although there are 8 that  checked helpful to my post ....  For ' Some ' rare , unusual items Good Till Canceled devalues the item !  30 days is too long , and automatically relisting is not nice ... Many do not understand that obviously .. 

[sesscath]

Small fix to your problem...I agree that not having a listing end has impact on the "scarcity"  element of antiques and collectibles.  You know that there are those out there who are biding their time, waiting for you to drop the price of your collectible (The watched items number rarely changes). So, do what any good brick and mortar store would do...rotate your merchandise.  The day before your listing reaches its relist date, end the listing,  Wait a while before relisting it.  This will force the "sitters" to look again as well as keep your "views" numbers accurate. It is a little extra work, but easily worked into a routine.

[moondogblues]

"You really should take a look - so you get an idea what the OP means by "taste" and "art" and "antiques".  

Thanks Lucky....now I have that image of the Easy Rider burned into my brain.....arghhhh.

[downunder-61]

I can't see the items 😪 

[chapeau-noir]

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@darwen8 wrote:

80 - 90 % of the comments left are not insight and advice , that is why I may get a little testy , there are a few that understand , you might want to read their lengthy remarks . Only a few .. although there are 8 that  checked helpful to my post ....  For ' Some ' rare , unusual items Good Till Canceled devalues the item !  30 days is too long , and automatically relisting is not nice ... Many do not understand that obviously .. 

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So you wanted agreement, only then.  Wrong place to come for that - opinions here are all over the map, and those who understand what you're saying are going to offer some work arounds. But you do you and all that.

[kensgiftshop]

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@darwen8 wrote:

I can tell by your listings you will never understand , have a nice day !!

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I under stand.

Looking at your listings, I see a bunch of auctions with no bids.

Most of the items that have sold at auction only had 1 or 2 bids.

While you keep relisting the ones that didn't sell, I let GTC do it's job and sell for me.

[chapeau-noir]

That Staffordshire teapot is quite nice.  The attitude isn't, though.  😒

[kensgiftshop]

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@darwen8 wrote:

For ' Some ' rare , unusual items Good Till Canceled devalues the item !  30 days is too long , and automatically relisting is not nice ... Many do not understand that obviously .. 

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Lets say you put an item up for a 7 day auction and you have to relist it a few times, does it devalue the item because you had to relist it a few times?

If you have a rare, unusual item, that'll sell in a 7 day auction, it should sell in 7 days listed as a BIN.

[hawkwind5454]

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@darwen8 wrote:

I am sure those who sell new merchandise would not understand .. nor does E Bay .. Not having the option to list one of a kind antique and many art items for 5 or 7 days actually devalues many one of a kind items .. Good till Canceled creates no urgency to buy ... As well as posting the views in the listing even when item has ended and I relist .. it shows the views since the start of the listing .. 200 views for example leads the buyer to believe guess no one wants it so neither do I .. I do not sell new merchandise .. I list most items auction style , but have items that I would like to list buy it now , but not for 30 days with automatic renewal of that listing is even more insulting . On E bay since 1999 and have been in the Antique buss. since 1975 .. I actually was paying more in insertion fees with shorter listing periods .. But was worth it !  Now I sell less with the Good Till Canceled , and realize I am screwed , just venting ... 

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If eBay had the bidding fire that it did 15 years ago, I would do auctions exclusively. Now, I mainly use GTC. I so miss the days when one could have a BIN listing for 7 or 10 days. I cut my listings down in the summer to a trickle. It has been MY experience, that the last part of July and all of August, [for what I sell] people have bigger fish to fry (vacations, swap meets, flea markets, etc.) than cruise ebay.  When I am looking to purchase, 

the GTC listings I see that make me roll my eyes, are the ones that are relisted month, after month, after month, at the same price.  Now, I realize with a BIN GTC listing it only takes one buyer... BUT. like Einstein said, *Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over and expecting different results* I guess I do what it takes; I am here to sell, and I would rather see it sell in one of my listings, then have it sell at my estate sale, for a nickel on the dollar. But hey, thats just me. We all just have to deal with the eBay hand we have been dealt. 

[chapeau-noir]

I agree.  People who just let stuff sit relist after relist may be missing one of the basics about GTC - GTC is nothing more than an automated relisting system - it has nothing to do with item value, price point, relevancy or anything else.  It's just an automated program, though there was good reason to implement it.  It's up to the seller to use GTC to their best advantage.  After a point (about 90 days), constant auto-relisting becomes futile, particularly in over-saturated categories (like clothing, where I'm currently selling), because it simply ages out in search and becomes 'stale'.  Insofar as that goes, I understand what the OP is saying. 

To expect the same sales from a site with a billion items on it and a wobbly buyer-to-seller ratio (last I read it was only 7:1) using the same methods as 20 years ago ('20 years' seems that that is the sticking point) is asking for disappointment. My listing methods are nothing like they were even five years ago, but it's kind of swim or sink in Fashion.

Yeah, I remember when auctions were hot, too - there was the eBay Pulse that I actually got onto twice.  Those days are now getting old enough to be drinking age, though.