mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@dressedbest4less wrote:I think sellers are getting frustrated with all the changes in ebay. Just when you think you got it figured out they change the rules. I have been selling for years and ebay used to offer free listings all the time. A few years ago the free listings seemed to go away. It frustrated me. I felt like ebay was doing this because I had a store. Even tho I have many listings with the store I love the free listings because I can add BIN to my auction listings without the extra fees. I hate that they have changed our fixed price listings to Good Til Cancelled. I think Ebay has forgot where they Came From.....it was on the backs of small sellers....with an auction format. If I want to shop on Amazon I will shop on that site. Ebay is trying to be another Amazon. Oh well enough ranting.
Then they have been frustrated for years. Change is something Ebay does all the time. It just doesn't seem to stop. Some changes bigger than others, but there are NOT more now than there was 10 years ago. It is just how Ebay does things and it is a constant challenge for sellers.
Your statement about Free Listings I find interesting. Posters on the thread keep expressing their concerns about added listing fees when they don't pay any now.
It isn't so much that Ebay has forgotten where they came for or how they got started as it is BUYERs have changed and changed significantly. And because of this Ebay has to change to survive. Up until about 5 years ago I could run auctions and have a very good return on how many sold. Now if I run, lets say 400 auctions, I'm lucky to sell a dozen things. In many categories buyers just don't want the auction process, they want to buy it, pay for it and move on to the next thing.
I sell on Amazon too. Their fees are higher, so what I sell there is higher priced than what I sell on Ebay.
@this*old*attic wrote:I’ve gotten that large an offer several times.
Lucky you. I get these 100 item promos but I haven't received one for 500 in months. I'm jealous. 
@dressedbest4less wrote:I too have not received free listings for years. Not sure how they pick and choose.
Maybe it is because you get quite a few every month, specific to your category with your store subscription.
I have a Premium store and if I sold fashions I'd get 500 auctions each month. But since I don't sell in that category, they are useless for me.
I don't know for sure if GTC is the reason, but it seems to be the stated reason many sellers are leaving. I read these boards a lot and that's what many state.
To subscribe to the notion that the 500 promo is due to the March 18th change regarding GTC listings means that all the years preceding the change that the SAME type of offer was extended to some sellers must have been in anticipation of the March 18th change. I'm not sure I can run with Ebay deciding 10++ years ago that they would make this change on March 18th of 2019.
I agree many sellers on the thread have said they are leaving because of it. And I think that is a very important note to make. But it is also important to know that the threads only represent a fraction of the sellers actively selling on Ebay. In the US there are 6.7 million sellers. While some sellers leave, other sellers sign up. We get new sellers all the time.
Please don't take me wrong. I firmly believe that losing sellers to the GTC change is a problem. And I'm happy to try and help anyone that wants help in trying to figure out how to survive on Ebay with GTC listings.
It's just sad, i think, that they can't be satisfied with a reasonable profit. Instead, they want ALL the profit. I've been watching Jim Sterling on you tube and SO MANY companies seem to ruin their products in pursuit of profit.
I think you are being misinformed. Most of the sellers that have been on the threads and unhappy with the GTC change do NOT pay listing fees at all. They always stay within the perimeters of their free listing allotments each month. So I'm not sure where all this money grab is coming from or all this profit Ebay is supposedly raking in. If a seller runs up 50 listings in the month of May for free and NONE of them sell, when they renew after 30 days they would still be within the free listing allotment of that seller for the month.
What some sellers that are upset by GTC like to do is rotate their inventory. Now that can be more challenging with the GTC change. Sellers would have to end some listings before they renewed to allow for the seller to run up new listings and stay within the 50 free listing allotment. This will require more management time of listings. But Ebay has updated the Seller Hub with tools that will help these sellers see what they need to do and be able to end many listings within just a few seconds if they so choose.
Ebay used to be THE online store--if they respected sellers and buyers' wishes a bit more, I think they could be close to that again.
Ebay is still big in the industry. Just not so much in auctions anymore. But then Ebay is one of the last remaining sites that even does auctions because they aren't as popular with the buyers of today.
On Ebay buyers are well represented when it comes to the rules. You'd have to be a bit more specific there as I'm not sure what else Ebay should do to make this even a better experience for them. They already have a return system that is pretty much a no fault system.
Sellers on the other had have lots of things that need attention. Fixing the search is at the top of my list followed by Seller Protections.
It's a complex subject and there is quite a bit that can be said about all of it. Far more than what I mentioned here. Just remember there is more than one way to look at things. We sellers are a diverse group of people from all kinds of walks of life and all kinds of needs. It is not a one size fits all situation, which is the direction Ebay is going. Which is what Amazon is. They are 100% all GTC listing with higher fees.
Just some thoughts to consider.
There is a difference between not getting them and doing away with them. I don't get as many as I once did either. But they are out there. Ebay runs several different promos at any one time. Sometimes I get invited and sometimes I don't. The Don't part seems to be the usual thing for me. While others get them all the time.
There are tons of sellers upset with Ebay no matter where you go. But it is human nature to speak out when we are upset by something or we feel as if some wrong has been done to us. What isn't represented in all this is the other side. The sellers that actually do fine or are able to figure out how to succeed within the ever changing rules of Ebay.
If Ebay is this horrible place to sell for everyone, Ebay would not have very many sellers. Certainly not enough to keep them afloat. They would just go somewhere else. Sellers are here to make money, if they aren't they will leave. Lots of seller that are very vocal against Ebay remain sellers on Ebay even though they think so little of the site. They do so because they still make money here.
I have plenty of issues with some of the Ebay rules and I'm pretty vocal about things I see as damaging to sellers. I will continue to voice my concerns. But I will also continue to sell here because for me it is the best alternative to the options currently available.
@tunicaslot wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
There is a difference between not getting them and doing away with them. I don't get as many as I once did either. But they are out there. Ebay runs several different promos at any one time. Sometimes I get invited and sometimes I don't. The Don't part seems to be the usual thing for me. While others get them all the time.
There are tons of sellers upset with Ebay no matter where you go. But it is human nature to speak out when we are upset by something or we feel as if some wrong has been done to us. What isn't represented in all this is the other side. The sellers that actually do fine or are able to figure out how to succeed within the ever changing rules of Ebay.
If Ebay is this horrible place to sell for everyone, Ebay would not have very many sellers. Certainly not enough to keep them afloat. They would just go somewhere else. Sellers are here to make money, if they aren't they will leave. Lots of seller that are very vocal against Ebay remain sellers on Ebay even though they think so little of the site. They do so because they still make money here.
I have plenty of issues with some of the Ebay rules and I'm pretty vocal about things I see as damaging to sellers. I will continue to voice my concerns. But I will also continue to sell here because for me it is the best alternative to the options currently available.
Point taken - and I will continue to sell here because I am still having sales - but sometimes people put blinders on unless someone has statistical facts and this is what I see from some on these boards.
Promos have decreased and if you want me too - I'll look back to where it was said by management that there was going to be a decrease in the promos offered. You don't run sales and promos if your store, venue, site is doing well. We've had an increase in the Bonus buck offers as well as the free promos. Free promos are targeted to get people to list more auctions, get people to sell and list in more specific categories be it electronics, baby or healthcare - because something is lacking in those areas.
People do often comment on how poorly things are - but the groups I'm in - people love to photograph and post all the packages they have going out - there are fewer and fewer of those postings as sales have decreased. You and I are going to continue to be on totally opposite ends of this discussion and that's fine - but some paint a rosy picture of most everything that comes up on this thread - I tend to be a realist - appreciate the good but I'm not denying the bad.
Yes I agree. But then sometimes people throw out things as if they were facts when it is just their point of view or opinion. It is a fine line. Sometimes getting the facts is something that is needed. Sometimes supporting what we say is important. You are right, we see it all the time on the threads going one way or another.
Promos and sales are the way to bring more people in. If we only ran them when things are good, then there shouldn't be so many complaints on the threads. Look at Macy's. They are always running specials of one kind or another. They schedule their sales events a year or so in advance. As I'm sure other big retailers do as well.
If you feel that I post to "...paint a rosy picture of most everything that comes up on this thread...", then I'd say you need to spend a bit more time with my posts because there is no truth to that. Yours isn't the only correct point of view, nor is mine.
