eBay

*familyman · ‎07-02-2018

I try to keep sales going all of the time. I normally increase my discounts once a week by copying the sale and increasing the discount and relauching the new one. I have several sales going on at all times. The longer I have an item on ebay the bigger the discount becomes. This week I did my normal 5% increase in the sale and ended up with nothing on sale instead of everything on sale. If ebay is going to make changes that stop sellers sales they should also compensate them for their lost revenue. When I called support they said it was because of buyer complaints and said overall sales were down on ebay.

It amazes me that nobody is saying the reason the sales are down is because the sellers are being forced to sell other places to make any money and the buyers are following them.

If ebay wants to stop the downward spiral they will need to learn to be seller friendly. It's almost like they don't realize without sellers there is no revenue.

cool-chaos · ‎07-02-2018

This is REALLY irritating. If this update is going to be two weeks, I guess I will just use this time working on another site. : (

busyfam317 · ‎07-02-2018

I have the same complaint. Had no idea this was the case and set a sale and had all my items "skipped". So frustrated!

ivylane.net · ‎07-03-2018

Suggestion: If items are GTC & Relisted they should also be on SALE GTC

I talked to eBay yesterday and am so mad about their new 14 day wait for sales I am lookig at other options to sale my items. I have been with eBay from day1 and every few months they come up with another rule that costs the sellers. (And... I won't even go into Free return shipping)

eBay send messages wanting Sellers to reduce prices to clear out old stock so I used Markdown Manager to put a sale on listings. It worked very well. Now they DICTATE that we have to wait 14 days before the sale starts! This is not going to help clear out old stock much at all and will hurt sales. I have 30 day sales so half of the month the items I put on sale are NOT on sale.

eBay said when an item is relisted it is given a new number (and of course charge for the relisted item) so it acts like a new item. If that is true then why is it relisted items go down to the bottom because they are "old"?

This is a problem on eBays end and should not be the problem for the sellers.

Make it simple... write a program that when an item is relisted it keeps the same number.

AND.... If an item is relisted and on SALE it has the same number (as stated above) and the SALE is also Good Till Cancled (GTC) . Sellers that want to end a sale could anytime. Why do seller need to take time to keep puting "OLD STOCK" on sale every month or every 45 days?

If eBay wants to keep making a profit it needs to CHANGE the 14day wait for sales becasue if eBay doesn't BOTH the SELLERS & eBay will lose sales.

eBay.... Why are you always making it harder or more costly for Sellers? Please take this into concideration.

I'm trying to suggest this nicely but I are so MAD I am concidering other selling options.

expertbattery · ‎07-03-2018

This is horrible. I believe all sellers should have the opportunity to use the Markdown Manager as they see fit for their stores. A few weeks ago, we received a message from eBay stating that the 14 day waiting period will not affect us. I assume it's due to our monthly sales. However, I do not agree with oppressing the smaller sellers.

fern*wood · ‎07-03-2018

I'll admit, I don't get it. I run a sale about every 3 months or so if I think about it, but don't really understand why some run them all the time. Doesn't this just train buyers to not buy unless you run a sale?

tunicaslot · ‎07-03-2018

Running a sale is suppose to raise your visibility on top of that sometimes if a seller's items are a little higher than others - running a sale will not only lower the price but attract sellers who don't bother buying price comparisons before purchasing.

My mom is like that - if an item is on sale - she views how much she is saving - not how much she is spending. The next store over may have that item and their every day low price is even cheaper as the item at the first store where the item is on sale - but she'll still purchase it because it's on sale and her excuses are - they may not have it at xx store, I'm here and it's only a couple of dollars more at xx store and I can put it on my charge - xx store is cash only.

I usually run a couple of sales a month. It's not the Ebay of old - most of us don't have regular devoted buyers who try to only purchase from us and would wait for the sale.

carlosishome · ‎07-04-2018

How are sellers to know when items are eligible to run on sale? I have listings end throughout the month so would have different eligible dates. So do I start a new sale everyday to catch those newly eligible? Will this affect the existing items on sale?

doubledz-a2z · ‎07-04-2018

@fern*wood wrote:
I'll admit, I don't get it. I run a sale about every 3 months or so if I think about it, but don't really understand why some run them all the time. Doesn't this just train buyers to not buy unless you run a sale?

Or perhaps buyers wait for the price to be lowered yet again. I am on my way out of ebay after 20 years cuz I retired but to intentionally list an item at an inflated price just to put it on half off sale immediately is what I guess ebay wants to curtail. IMO items on sale means price was too high. Lower price and make the sale.

tunicaslot · ‎07-04-2018

There is a button to click to include items in the existing sale once they become eligible. Thge problem with this as vloggers have addressed online is if you make any changes within the listing itself after you initially list it - say you decide to do free shipping instead of charging for shipping which it was when you initially listed it - the item would not be eligible for a markdown promotion for another 14 days.

I too - list daily and stagger my listings to always have new activity on my acct - so few of my items qualify for mark downs all at once. Also I often run a sale in the weekends and holidays and switch it up - one week if sales are slow - I may run a 15% off sale - another weekend when sales were better - I may only run an 8% sale. My typical sales run 3-5 days.

*familyman · ‎07-04-2018

This would be easy if you know what the price should be. I have been selling collectables and the prices are all over. So I check the completed listings in the last 30 days and thats what I list items at. If an item does not sell it is obviously priced to high so I mark it down 10%. I keep doing this every week or 2 until the items sell. Selling is kind of like fishing. You choose the bait you think will attract the most fish and start casting. After a while of casting if you don't get a fish you need to change bait. Ebay is saying wait 14 days to change bait. A lot of fish will be lost in 14 days and a lot of fisherman will go hungry.

tunicaslot · ‎07-04-2018

I'll get flack for this but at least I'm up front about it. I usually start my sales at 8-10%. If it doesn't sell I may raise the price of the item by 5% and then run a 20% off sale. The higher the sale % - the more interested buyers are. Did I cheat and raise the price a bit - yes - but in the end the buyer is still getting that item for 5% less than the original sale of only 8-10% off. Often tho - I make a sale at full price after the sale has ended - go figure.

It's buyer mentality all sellers deal with here. Item a is listed for $20 - item b is listed for $40 with a 50% off sale - item B will sell first because the buyer believes they are getting a better deal.

brian@ebay · ‎07-04-2018

I'm happy to let everyone know that because of the feedback we heard from members of the Community, we no longer require 14 days after an item is removed from a markdown sale before it can be placed on sale again. Please go here for more information

Brian,
Community Team

eunster1313 · ‎07-04-2018

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Markdown-Manager-Update/m-p/28694630#M1243130

tunicaslot · ‎07-04-2018

brian@ebay wrote:
I'm happy to let everyone know that because of the feedback we heard from members of the Community, we no longer require 14 days after an item is removed from a markdown sale before it can be placed on sale again. Please go here for more information

TY Brian!