I understand why Ebay implemented this rule but this fix is like a zero tolerance rule with no flexibility and the unintended consequences effect 80-90 plus percent of users that don't do this as a way to drive sales. When I first started selling on Ebay I'll admit that I used to mark prices up on some categories of items and then run a 50% off sale on them. However when I really thought it through, I realized that the only time these items would likely sell is when they were on sale so abandoned it and opted for a straight forward pricing strategy and it's that's been working for me for years.
I'm just not going to complain about Ebay on this I'm going to post some solutions to the issue. First I'm going to lay out the problems I see with the current 14 Day Rule
1. It treats everyone as guilty. We are all restricted in how we run sales because of a problem they had with a small percentage of sellers. It took many sellers years to refine their sales process and this solution literally throws a monkey wrench right in the middle of it. Only half the items I put on sale now and if 60% of my sale came from running sales it is not mathematically possible that my revenue won't drop significantly when less that half of the items I put on sale don't even go on sale. This is straight forward logic. Currently my sales revenue hasn't gone up much from significantly from last year even though I have more than 150% increase in inventory. I'm not attributing all of this to the sale rule but it certainly isn't helping.
2. There's no viable work around. You can technically change your listings to Good Til Cancelled and your items will go on sale after the 14 Days and you can keep changing it. However the biggest problem that I find if you're selling items that aren't multi quantity is that your listings go stale on Good til cancelled when things aren't moving and that is undeniable you will get more watchers but you won't get people to buy more, they have no deadline incentive. I once had all my listings as Good til cancelled and when I changed most of them to 30 day I got a surge in sales and I never went back to that other than multi quantity listings.
3. It restricts freedom. It's like a government regulation and the more rules you have in place the harder it is for people who know their business a lot better than Ebay to have the flexibility to move their merchandise with sales that they know works best for them.
4. The animosity between Ebay and it's sellers is getting worse. I have never been on the blame Ebay for my business problems kick. However in the last year the relationship has clearly gotten more hostile with all of the new rules restrictions and fees they've tried to put in place has been undeniable and heavy handed. There doesn't seem to be cooperation just one way take it or leave it. You can't measure every factor of business like morale but if you're tuned in you can tell if it's good or bad. Just look at the forums, be transparent and work with the sellers to make this a better platform for all. This company is lacking innovation. A large window for so-called guaranteed delivery when our nearest competition is putting items on the front door within a day or two isn't innovation.
5. Make the tools more simple. I hear a lot of people that miss the simplicity of the old markdown manager. I spend now three hours a week to put items on sale that will never go on sale because of this 14 Day rule. If you going to have a such a restrictive tool how about doing it properly and have the items that aren't eligible to go on sale not show up when I run a sale to show up. If I have 3000 items and I go through all of them and then once I run the sale only 1300 actually go on sale I've wasted half of my time. Some sellers have fare more inventory and they like to go through all the items and markdown the what they feel will work best and it's more work and half of effective.
I could go on and on about how bad this rule is but I know until it hits Ebay's bottom line they don't seem like they're going to listen. I've heard many sellers propose solutions and here are a few I came up with.
1. Restrict the sales amount. Why not just have it to where can't markdown items more than 25%-35% This may not be the best solution but at least if I'm trying to run a sale before a holiday I can push 100% of my inventory not 40%. If you have to markdown your items by 40 percent or more you probably need to reduce the price of it being earnest.
2. Target the sellers who are getting the complaints and leave the rest of us alone. For me and most sellers I know we don't sell this way. Leave us alone we aren't doing anything wrong or unethical. Target the categories and people who are doing this and restrict them but this would actually take real work rather than a blanket policy that hurts 80 plus percent of us.
3. Make Good Til Cancelled to where you can have run whatever sale you want (For price stability) and restrict 30 Day to 25-35% there's nothing. If I changed all my listing to Good Til Cancelled I know my sales will suffer even more than they are but if I you were limited to a certain discount I could probably live with that with the 30 Day and other listings. At least it's a compromise.
I've heard other solutions from other sellers but this current fix seems like it was written by lawyers and not leaders. I know they're laws and negations in different countries that they're trying to adhere to but this current rule is a terrible response to it and if I didn't think it was so bad I wouldn't waste my time posting about it. I have never posted more about any other topic in this forum because this policy is literally a business killer. If I could increase the amount of revenue I sell in a month by just a few percent it could mean thousands of dollars and with this current rule hurts a lot more than it will ever help. Just listen to your sellers and examine how their sales are from last year to this year after this rule was put into place. It's very obvious what's happening.
