Keeping up with inflation?

[movieman630]

Anyone have any stories about how inflation has effected their stock and sources?

Are you repricing to keep up with inflation?  Are you able?  Have you noticed a difference this year as opposed to last year?

How do you regulate your ebay inventory price wise?

Also has your "invisible selling limit" kept up with inflation or not?  Personally my "invisible limit" has not been raised to keep up with inflation, at least not in the last 4 months.  It seemed that in the beginning of the year ebay was making an effort to allow our "invisible limit" to be raised in order to keep up with inflation but as of late we have not noticed this trend.  In fact what we're seeing is the opposite.

We're seeing a sustaining of our Yearly limit which in reality is a pay cut when it comes to inflation.  Also not noticing a boost in sales from PL's as promised only the same amount of sales but just higher fees do to that promotion rate.  It really would have been nice to see a boost in sales from promoting! 

What are you seeing?

[movieman630]

Ebay employees have admitted it exists in the past.

[inhawaii]

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@movieman630 wrote:

I don't know when they will or when they won't.  That's the point.

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If you don't know when it  happens and when it doesn't, then how do you know it's happening at all?

Makes no sense.

But not worth arguing.

You are welcome to believe what you want to believe.

Have a great weekend.

[dnasilver]

How would eBay know what a seller can handle? How do they know if a person only has items on eBay or has physical stores in the USA and other countries, are on numerous sites, and have their own site?

They do not know. Theories based on factual data is one thing, otherwise it seems like a bunch of conspiracies or excuses of why some businesses do not survive. 

[tsme35]

NOPE, I only sell half the inventory I did 5 yrs ago. Shipping increases alone has done the job, most items shipping has doubled. Sourcing inventory is a challenge, I buy large lots of items, so have to figure if the good stuff will pay for the non selling stuff and make a profit.

 Trying to make it another 5 yrs and file for SSI but afraid at this rate, looking to be done in 2.

[jg.mason]

As for sourcing, I've given up on thrift stores their prices have gotten way out of hand. I mainly source from estate auctions but the prices stuff is getting there is also getting out of hand. I used to sell a lot of Corelle, Corning and Pyrex but now the auction prices around here are as high as I can buy and have it shipped on ebay. It seems there are to many sellers that are happy if they only make a dollar.

As for keeping up with inflation on my pricing, I don't. I made my money when I bought it. The only exception is with the media I sell, I do free shipping with that so when Media Mail goes up I'll increase my low end media.

As for my "invisible selling limit" I don't worry about, it is what it is.

Lastly PL's I don't do it and I won't do it. I feel I give ebay enough already. If it gets to the point that I feel I have to, to be able to sell anything I'll load it all up and head to the auction house for a consignment sale.

[fashunu4eeuh]

@movieman630 wrote:

“Also not noticing a boost in sales from PL's as promised…”

Hi.

Just finished reading the information on eBay’s Help pages outlining PL. Could not find a single incidence of eBay promising a boost in sales. It is not likely they would guarantee such to any seller, but am open to being shown or directed to the text/policy.

[dbfolks166mt]

One theory is it's to "spread around the sales" and also limit the amount of work that ebay thinks a seller can handle.

     It's a nice "theory" but it would be counterproductive for eBay to do so. 

[mam98031]

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@movieman630 wrote:

Ebay employees have admitted it exists in the past.

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NOT Throttling.  That Ebay sometimes hides listings, that isn't the same thing and it covered in the User Agreement for anyone to see that would like to.

[onlinecentral]

Anyone have any stories about how inflation has affected their stock and sources?
a) I sell one brand of merchandise in several categories. I made my money when I bought it, on eBay, years ago. I stopped sourcing that in 2018.
b) I go to automotive salvage yards, pull parts off of cars and list them on eBay. The length of time a car sits the yard has increased from 60 to 90 days, originally, to 150 to 180 days. So that indicates something about the rate at which consumers junk their cars in order to upgrade to something better. The other dynamic is the yards started running one day sales in 2023 usually tied to a holiday. It could be 50% off, $69.99 for a wheelbarrow or $69.99 for all you can carry. In theory, one could pull parts off of cars for several days, store them in a row that will not be soon replaced, then complete checkout on the sale day to maximize their discount. For that eBay Motors category, the cost of goods has gone down, if one jumps through hoops.

Are you repricing to keep up with inflation? Are you able? Have you noticed a difference this year as opposed to last year?
a) I can minimize my labor by doing nothing and just let the listings sell out, over time. Then I don't have to fiddle with offers, counteroffers, sale prices or PL.
b) For other items, I will raise the price to offset shipping cost increases.

c) If the average or median price has increased, then I will raise my price.

Also has your "invisible selling limit" kept up with inflation or not?
I believe two bigger factors are the number of sellers has increased and sellers need to accept that they have undesirable inventory.

[adamcartwright]

@movieman630 

If "selling limits"  is what you're talking about, they seem to be pretty open about it.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-limits?id=4107&st=3&pos=1&query=Selling%20limits&...

[movieman630]

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

@movieman630 wrote:

“Also not noticing a boost in sales from PL's as promised…”

Hi.

Just finished reading the information on eBay’s Help pages outlining PL. Could not find a single incidence of eBay promising a boost in sales. It is not likely they would guarantee such to any seller, but am open to being shown or directed to the text/policy.

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What is the purpose of it then?  What is it's intention?

[fbusoni]

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@movieman630 wrote:

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

@movieman630 wrote:

“Also not noticing a boost in sales from PL's as promised…”

Hi.

Just finished reading the information on eBay’s Help pages outlining PL. Could not find a single incidence of eBay promising a boost in sales. It is not likely they would guarantee such to any seller, but am open to being shown or directed to the text/policy.

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What is the purpose of it then?  What is it's intention?

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Please see the comments here by @wilsonharborsales regarding the SaaS model (Software as a Service).

To me, his observations comport fully with everything that I am seeing on the platform and with the hundreds of comments I have read on these boards since signing up few a few months ago.

[mcdougle4248]

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@movieman630 wrote:

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

@movieman630 wrote:

“Also not noticing a boost in sales from PL's as promised…”

Hi.

Just finished reading the information on eBay’s Help pages outlining PL. Could not find a single incidence of eBay promising a boost in sales. It is not likely they would guarantee such to any seller, but am open to being shown or directed to the text/policy.

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What is the purpose of it then?  What is it's intention?

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Although not a promise or guarantee, I can understand how sellers would expect increased sales when they see this when creating a PL campaign

https://www.ebay.com/sh/ads/campaign 

[fbusoni]

The goal -- purportedly -- is for sellers to make more sales.

The purpose is for eBay to raise money by selling software services.

Whether the seller makes any money is, in eBay's calculus, irrelevant. 

EVERYTHING that takes place here does so within a political framework: "Economic Opportunity For All."

Meantime, selling software services (PLs) accounts for tens of millions in revenue for eBay.

There are other very effective and proven ways (in my personal experience over many years) for sellers to actually make money here without having to pay for PLs.  But most sellers do not want to offer 60 day paid returns and same day / 24 hour shipping.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@fbusoni 

EVERYTHING that takes place here does so within a political framework: "Economic Opportunity For All."

Nah, everything that takes place here does so within the basic framework of "Make Money for the Shareholders".