Good 'til cancelled - 1 month in...

[thebeernuts]

Wow!  1 month into the good 'til cancelled auto renewal...  Sales dropped 41% from last month, and now I am stuck with things I did not want to re-list in that format.  Ebay is so busy lining their pockets with all those quarters... hey, they forgot about the final value fees they would have been collecting from me if I sold stuff.

     Hey Ebay...  YOU ARE NOT AMAZON.  YOU WILL NEVER BE AMAZON. 

     Do not try to compete with Amazon your business model is different.  Embrace the sellers, for they are what makes your marketplace.  SELLERS would like to decide if, what, when, and how long to list their merchandise.

Policies like the "Good 'til cancelled" policy are wrong, horrible, and a completely transparent attempt to steal money from your seller base.

     Want more money for your shareholders?   

Treat your sellers better, then you will have MORE happy sellers, more and better items, more final value fees and more profit.  Word of mouth goes a long way.  At this time I would not recommend Ebay as a sales platform to friends and associates.

[fern*wood]

Unless you voluntarily started using GTC a month ago, you shouldn't have any roll until the 18th that were forced to GTC.

[myboardid]

"and now I am stuck with things I did not want to re-list in that format."

How are you stuck?  You can take them down at any time and make any changes that you want before listing them again,  or not list them at all. 

[ultimate_collectables]

i have 2 accts (this is our smaller one) had sales beginning of month, no sales since having to list again with GTC in either acct. 100% sales drop! (tried auction w/BIN as well). and BTW, ebay suggested auction w/BIN for me.  i either have to set auction price lower than i want or BIN (which is an extra $1 cost) has to be way to high (dang 30% more thing) and no one will buy it now.  I get watchers, but no bidders. but my stuff sells with BIN set at 3-5 days for some reason.  LOL at those that say we have to wait and see how this plays out. it'll play out for me just like the last time i tried GTC on my own to save on fees. ZERO sales,  just likes it happening again right before my (and ebays) eyes!

[oceanviewengineer2015]

Sales down about 41%. Views way, way down- many auctions have zero views when ending.

[castlemagicmemories]

From the Chat of March 27, 2018:   Response from an Ebay Blue

At this point in time the change to duration options is permanent and there are not plans to adjust it. We believe that it will be the best format to attract and retain buyers to your businesses. However, if that proves not to be the case we could see things change in the future. Thanks!

[gizzme]

Yep....sales are down almost 50% for me which is a first in all my years of selling on eBay.  They have GOT to be feeling the decrease in final value fees by now.  I usually have somewhere between $500 to $1,000 in monthly fees and as of March 31:  just over $100. It kind of blows my mind that eBay would think this is a GOOD policy??  I never listed my items over ten days and was able to control my inventory very well.  Now I will have to scroll through my listings every couple of days and cancel them.  I am keeping watch on the number of views and watchers, too.  I just know how I buy, and if I add an item with a long listing time to my watch list, I almost never purchase it. It's just like local listing sites - people contact you and want to know if you still have the item. If you tell them "yes", you never hear from them again.  They only will buy it if they feel someone else also wants the item.  Now, if I have clearance items (which I often do if items do not sell after 10 days max) there will be NO urgency for buyers to purchase.  I dislike auction listings because: 1) they do not work for me; and 2) if you list and auction item at a low starting bid and try to add a buy-it-now price, eBay charges a fee for the buy-it-now price which I think is ridiculous considering I pay over $20 a month for a store subscription.  WTH??  This is a no-win fee that eBay collects as wouldn't they want the fees on the higher buy-it-now price and faster sales??? Who thinks up this stuff?  I am giving it two months TOPS but have my doubts about the GTC being a good thing. If sales are anywhere as bad as they are right now, I will close my store in June.  

[gizzme]

Yes....wait until it is REALLY broken. THEN try to fix it.  As more sellers leave, so go the buyers.  The damage will be done.

[kensgiftshop]

Unless you started early, it's only been 12 days.

My sales have been about normal for this time of year, for me anyway.

[coolections]

Looks like another excuse to put blame for no sales. Fortunately it has not been 30 days yet so that excuse cannot be used yet. I'm sure it will begin to be used within a couple more weeks though. In all actuality buyers really could care less if seller's items roll over, either they want items or they don't.

[gracieallen01]

Hmmmm, I thought I had read that 30 day FP listings would be auto converted when they ended.  Wouldn't that mean that they could have ended any time - depending up when they were listed - and have been relisted as GTC, irregardless of when GTC became mandatory?  Perhaps, even relisted as GTC the day after GTC became mandatory?

[coolections]

@gracieallen01 

Even if what you say is true they have still not been sitting for more than 30 days which makes lack of sales not a factor at this point.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@gizzme wrote:

Yes....wait until it is REALLY broken. THEN try to fix it.  As more sellers leave, so go the buyers.  The damage will be done.

---

Time will tell.  Hopefully no damage, but given the threads on this, it seems inevitable that some are or have been leaving.

[gracieallen01]

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@coolections wrote:

Looks like another excuse to put blame for no sales. Fortunately it has not been 30 days yet so that excuse cannot be used yet. I'm sure it will begin to be used within a couple more weeks though. In all actuality buyers really could care less if seller's items roll over, either they want items or they don't.

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True, buyers probably don't care how they are listed - IF they can still find them with the new search formula(s) vs the one that they used to find something previously.  And, depending on the search position of the item with the new GTC format and re-indexing.

[gracieallen01]

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@coolections wrote:

@gracieallen01 

Even if what you say is true they have still not been sitting for more than 30 days which makes lack of sales not a factor at this point.

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Sure, it does - if they come up in search differently than when the buyer found something the first time.

The next time 'it isn't there', so it probably sold or gone - have to look elsewhere.