@annettedolls
January is normally our busiest month of the year. (Everyone spending Christmas cash on items others were too afraid to purchase for them, I guess.) If this is going to be the best month of the year, I'm not looking forward to 2023. 😪
Sales this past weekend were particularly bad. We had 1/3rd of the usual orders we process on a Monday. I suspect eBay is monkeying with something again. Search results manipulation would be my guess. They seem determined to do whatever they can to force sellers into promoted listings...
Here's a question: eBay only gets paid for promoted listings if the buyer ends up purchasing, right? So, if eBay is presenting items that aren't really what the buyer is looking for (because they're promoted) and 'hiding' items that may be exactly what the buyer is looking for (because they aren't promoted), resulting in the buyer giving up and buying elsewhere, isn't that bad for eBay??
Another promoted listings question: If participating sellers are routinely raising prices on items to cover the increase in costs (which I continually see as advice on this board), resulting in prices that are out of line compared to other venues, isn't it bad for eBay? It's certainly bad for the buyers (and sellers). I feel like eBay is saying: "We don't care if the buyer gets a fair price. We need as much profit as possible for ourselves." This comes at the exact worst time for most people. There have already been plenty of price increases recently. (Some legitimate and some due to opportunists, I'm sure...)
Can we expect a bad Q4 2022 for eBay because of falling sales? I hate to hope for it but I feel it may be the only way they'll realize the error of their ways with this promoted listing shakedown... (IMHO)
