Insertion fees more automatic and AGGRESSIVE than ever before??

[ebaiysellslots19]

Hi all, I've been on eBay for a few years now, but couldn't tell if I was losing my mind up until I looked closely at the eBay invoice charges for insertion fees. I know ever since eBay killed the time length option on Buy It Now (30 days, 15 days etc) the only option is Good Till Cancelled which auto lists once time was expired after 30 days. Because of this I've intentionally kept my number of listings under the free amount given per month ( I don't sell a "whole" lot really), but some inexplicably seem to get through before the month is over and charge me for insertion fees? 

Is there a different method of avoiding this massive system-wide scam by upper management or are you all dealing with the same thing?

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@ebaiysellslots19 wrote: ... I've intentionally kept my number of listings under the free amount given per month ...

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You currently have more than 50 active listings.

[fern*wood]

Definitely automatic, but aggressive is a strange term to use.  You just have to keep an eye on your available freebie total if you don't want to pay any relist fees.  If you see some listings getting ready to roll/renew, and you are out of freebies, then you can preemptively end them and wait till you have freebies to relist.

When you keep your listings under the monthly total, are you accounting for ones that already sold?  The available freebies remaining per month is clearly shown.  The ones getting ready to roll may sneak up on you, but they aren't inexplicable.

[gracieallen01]

Apparently, many sellers have reported that what works for them is to manually end the listings and relist them.

[ebaiysellslots19]

Doesn't this ding your seller standing or something per how many listings you cancel out of the blue?

[ebaiysellslots19]

On the invoice it still shows 3-5 extra insertions despite it being 51 active listings. Hence asking if theres a weird monthly rollover than sneaks those in there, should only be 1 extra insertion with that logic.

[upgradedendmills]

Trying not to pick this apart, but, it sounds like you are talking about $2 or less on the invoice. If this is a concern, you need to be more aggressive in tracking your listings and durations. To be completely safe from automatic relisting charges you would need to consider the 50 free allotment as 25.  I absolutely hate the GTC policy but do not understand the petty complaints from sellers not willing to put in the effort to work around it.

[dtexley3]

eBay has "promised" that they will not charge a listing fee if a single listing renews twice in one month.  So if you do find 2 charges for single listings you should report this as it's supposedly not allowed to happen (yea right).

Otherwise you have to track your listings closer.  If an item sells shortly after it relists and then you add a new item it's easy to run over your allotment.  You may need to check your remaining free insertions on a frequent basis as you sell and add items over the course of a month.

[buyselljack2016]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

eBay has "promised" that they will not charge a listing fee if a single listing renews twice in one month.  So if you do find 2 charges for single listings you should report this as it's supposedly not allowed to happen (yea right).

Otherwise you have to track your listings closer.  If an item sells shortly after it relists and then you add a new item it's easy to run over your allotment.  You may need to check your remaining free insertions on a frequent basis as you sell and add items over the course of a month.

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I think that starts at a later date. May not be is effect yet.

[buyselljack2016]

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@ebaiysellslots19 wrote:

Hi all, I've been on eBay for a few years now, but couldn't tell if I was losing my mind up until I looked closely at the eBay invoice charges for insertion fees. I know ever since eBay killed the time length option on Buy It Now (30 days, 15 days etc) the only option is Good Till Cancelled which auto lists once time was expired after 30 days. Because of this I've intentionally kept my number of listings under the free amount given per month ( I don't sell a "whole" lot really), but some inexplicably seem to get through before the month is over and charge me for insertion fees? 

Is there a different method of avoiding this massive system-wide scam by upper management or are you all dealing with the same thing?

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One thing to remember is that the GTC runs on 30 days. Not a monthly thing. They renew in 30 days from the time listed, not at the end of the month.

Also some have run into the "out of Stock" renewal of sold items thinking that because they were sold it was done.  A check in "site preferences" will show if the OOS box is checked.

[coffeebean832]

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@ebaiysellslots19 wrote:

 Because of this I've intentionally kept my number of listings under the free amount given per month ( I don't sell a "whole" lot really), but some inexplicably seem to get through before the month is over and charge me for insertion fees?

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The month of May had 31 days and GTC listings are currently on a 30 day cycle. That will change on July 1st when it switches to a cycle based on calendar month, not number of days.

Personally I'm very disappointed they chose to go with calendar month instead of switching to a 31 day cycle- I'm going to have a deluge of listings renewing on the last day of shorter months.

[fern*wood]

Unless I'm not thinking clearly, it looks like several of the OPs listings started (or relisted) on May 27th.  So these may have rolled over from April,  so the 31 days in May doesn't seem to be in play.  Ebay is changing the 30 day roll to once a month starting on July 1st, I believe.

OP--just look at your available freebies under promotions daily, or often, to check how many you have remaining for the month.  There is no penalty for ending a GTC listing if you choose to so that you don't over.  

This may sound insulting, but just because you have 50 currently listed doesn't mean you haven't gone over the 50 available because some listed may have sold.

[chapeau-noir]

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@ebaiysellslots19 wrote:
Doesn't this ding your seller standing or something per how many listings you cancel out of the blue?

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No, that's if you cancel auctions that already have bids - which is indeed a bad practice. For fixed price, so GTC, you can cancel any time you want and it makes no difference.  This was verified at one of the eBay podcasts.

I simply look at the line item in my seller hub in the listings tab that says 'ending today', click on that and go through the list (I usually only have about 400 items running so it's never more than 10-15) and decide if I want to go ahead and let one or another automatically relist, or just unlist it for another time. 

[chapeau-noir]

FWIW, I've been doing a mix of 30 day and GTC for the past year (I quit doing the little durations when I realised it make no difference and was just running up listing bills). I found NO difference between the two durations insofar as selling went - I sold about the same.

Having said that, I'm just a basic small seller mostly in the pre-owned, one-off market selling clothing and old tech, sports stuff and media. Nothing fancy. When I went to all 30-day/GTC it saved me both time and money and made it much easier to track everything.

[coolections]

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@ebaiysellslots19 wrote:

I've intentionally kept my number of listings under the free amount but some inexplicably seem to get through before the month is over and charge me for insertion fees? 

Is there a different method of avoiding this massive system-wide scam ?

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So you think it is a scam because Ebay wants to charge you to use their site to list your items for sale ? OK If you'd been around 20 years ago, or even 10 years, you would really be upset as they used to charge not only insertion fees, but fees for pictures, fees for bold letters, fees for extra categories, and much more. Of course it's always up to the person if they want to pay to use someone else's site to sell things.