PUNISHED FOR CANCELLING LISTINGS BEFORE ROLLOVER?? : GTC

[sunsync]

WAS I PUNISHED FOR CANCELLING LISTINGS BEFORE GTC ROLLOVER? : Sales were going along normally albeit slower than years past, and in order to avoid GTC automatically rolling over 200+ listings, I cancelled them, so I could add new items and remove what I considered stale items. Several days laters sales stopped cold, it's been 5 days without a sale, never happened before and here I was thinking to bump up to an anchor store to support 3-4,000 items. It's getting very hard to trust eBay in my decision making process. 

Also, anyone experience the "old fashion" shipping label window popping up recently? Strange... 

[this*old*attic]

No, penalty - GTC literally stands for good until cancelled. 

But summer creates a natural slowdown in many categories and there are MANY search algorithm problems and a variety of glitches/programming mishaps going on at the moment.

[goodluckselling]

Your theory that you are being punished (in capital letters) because you ended listings is very far from the truth.

When you end items they lose the opportunity for buyers to see them and purchase them.  When you relist the same and or different items they have to start all over and get potential buyer to open them and review them and hopefully purchase them. 

GTC listings when they roll over keep very important attributes that search result use to show your items in good placement. When you end and relist you already are behind GTC listings that rolled over and kept the important data.

GTC listings also keep the same item number and URL address which is used for all opportunities outside of eBay where potential buyers can click on and actually land on an active listing inside eBay.

Every once in a while the old shipping label does pop up, but it is rare and not an issue for us.

Good Luck Selling!

[turquoisetulips]

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@sunsync wrote:

WAS I PUNISHED FOR CANCELLING LISTINGS BEFORE GTC ROLLOVER? : Sales were going along normally albeit slower than years past, and in order to avoid GTC automatically rolling over 200+ listings, I cancelled them, so I could add new items and remove what I considered stale items. Several days laters sales stopped cold, it's been 5 days without a sale, never happened before and here I was thinking to bump up to an anchor store to support 3-4,000 items. It's getting very hard to trust eBay in my decision making process. 

Also, anyone experience the "old fashion" shipping label window popping up recently? Strange... 

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I don't think you're being punished because a lot of sellers have done the same thing ,, including myself .  When my items begin to reach the top  of the  sales list  then obviously they're  unlikely  going to sell the way they are  . So I'll end the listing , change the title , drop the price or bump up the % of promotion  and often tweak the item itself and then relist. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't . It would be very unfair  and unreasonable for e bay to punish sellers for trying this  method . I would assume they'd make more profit from an actual sale  than from the few cents they charge to auto relist . Tulips 

[chapeau-noir]

If you search completeds for just about anything, you'll see unsold items sprinkled through them - GTC has been in effect long enough for people to take the initiative to end listings themselves for whatever reason.  This is already becoming very common and simply another part of the listing process.

Your sales perhaps dropped because you had less listed after pulling all those listings?  I do know that if I don't list just about every day, my sales tail off, and my sales are generally very steady.

[pvcliff]

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@turquoisetulips wrote:

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@sunsync wrote:

WAS I PUNISHED FOR CANCELLING LISTINGS BEFORE GTC ROLLOVER? : Sales were going along normally albeit slower than years past, and in order to avoid GTC automatically rolling over 200+ listings, I cancelled them, so I could add new items and remove what I considered stale items. Several days laters sales stopped cold, it's been 5 days without a sale, never happened before and here I was thinking to bump up to an anchor store to support 3-4,000 items. It's getting very hard to trust eBay in my decision making process. 

Also, anyone experience the "old fashion" shipping label window popping up recently? Strange... 

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I don't think you're being punished because a lot of sellers have done the same thing ,, including myself .  When my items begin to reach the top  of the  sales list  then obviously they're  unlikely  going to sell the way they are  . So I'll end the listing , change the title , drop the price or bump up the % of promotion  and often tweak the item itself and then relist. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't . It would be very unfair  and unreasonable for e bay to punish sellers for trying this  method . I would assume they'd make more profit from an actual sale  than from the few cents they charge to auto relist . Tulips 

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Every time I get a promo and have free listings left over, I end stuff with less than 15 days to go and relist using the promo.  

[jeannicho22]

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@sunsync wrote:

WAS I PUNISHED FOR CANCELLING LISTINGS BEFORE GTC ROLLOVER? : Sales were going along normally albeit slower than years past, and in order to avoid GTC automatically rolling over 200+ listings, I cancelled them, so I could add new items and remove what I considered stale items. Several days laters sales stopped cold, it's been 5 days without a sale, never happened before and here I was thinking to bump up to an anchor store to support 3-4,000 items. It's getting very hard to trust eBay in my decision making process. 

Also, anyone experience the "old fashion" shipping label window popping up recently? Strange... 

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No, you weren't punished for cancelling listings before GTC rollover.

Curious, you currently have I believe it is 671 listings running.  If you have a premium store, this is plenty of accommodate the number of listings you have.  You've sold 105 items in the last 90 days and just barely over 3,000 in the last 19 years.... I'm thinking you should seriously reevaluate bumping up to an anchor store @ 5xs the price.... $59.95 vs $299.95.  I don't think your sales support the change.

[parkersparrow]

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@sunsync wrote:

Also, anyone experience the "old fashion" shipping label window popping up recently? Strange... 

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I noticed it switching back and forth for me this past week.

[mam98031]

I agree with the others.  You aren't being punished at all.  There are many reasons why sales could be a bit slower than we'd like to see right now.  

Summer starts in a couple weeks and so when the sunshine comes we tend to spend more time outside.  It's the end of the school year and there is all the stuff that goes with that.  Then there are graduations, weddings, vacas etc.  June can be a crazy month for many.

On top of all that, buyers are trying to adjust to internet sales tax in many states.  it is a real learning curve for many.  Lost of buyers are upset by it.  They will adjust with time.  But it is new for many and very upsetting.

When you go to post your listings again, make sure you know which way you want to go.  Do you want to relist or do you want to sell similar.  The two functions ARE DIFFERENT.  The result is the same, your listing gets posted, but there are some differences to make sure you understand so you do what it best for you.

When you RELIST, you want to use this function if there are watchers on the original listing or a sales history you want to follow so it gives you a little boost in the search returns [small, but there nonetheless].   When you RELIST a listing, any watchers that were on the original listing will get an email notification [if their site preference is set up to allow them] that the item has been relisted.  And any views and sales on the original listing follows the relisted listing.  Buyer's nor sellers can see the views are sales history, but Ebay can and does consider it for somewhere around 60-90 days when they determine search standings.  Oh and all this only happens the FIRST time you relist from a listing.

When you SELL SIMILAR from any listing, it creates a brand new listing as far as Ebay is concerned.  No views, sales history or notification to watchers will matter when you use this method of reposting a listing.  It begins anew again.

[this*old*attic]

@mam98031 

Just curious - why do so many people recommend using sell similar? Is that misinformation or is there a different but real purpose?

[mam98031]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

@mam98031 

Just curious - why do so many people recommend using sell similar? Is that misinformation or is there a different but real purpose?

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There are many sellers that actually don't understand or even know the differences between the two functions.  Relist and Sell Similar.  Even very seasoned sellers.  I've tried having this conversation with some and some can really fight the idea of the differences or what the differences are.

Relist is used freely to mean reposting a listing without consideration if that is really the right option to use.  

One thing I've learned on Ebay is to try and be as accurate as possible in word choices.  Ebay frequently has specific definitions for words that elsewhere may mean something else.  So in an effort to avoid even more confusion, I do what I can to use words in the manner in which Ebay defines them when posting on this site.  It certainly can be challenging at times and I'm certainly not always successful.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@parkersparrow wrote:

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@sunsync wrote:

Also, anyone experience the "old fashion" shipping label window popping up recently? Strange... 

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I noticed it switching back and forth for me this past week.

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I'm so tired of never having the same screens etc on all IDs.

All IDs but one got dumped into the Hub and all but one (a different one) have the 'new' label flow. etc etc etc

[ms.rodriguez*]

NO the punishment is that GTC is forced down every sellers' throats. That is the punishment. End them towards the very end. I have been lucky to be home and end all of them an hour or less before they end. So far, I only missed 2. I don't believe the **bleep** about a buyer being able to find my items. I sell mainly inexpensive diecast cars in the 5 to 10 dollar. If they can't afford to buy my item in the 29 days X hours that the listing is on, why should I pay 35 cents to see if the buyer can afford to buy it the next month? No . I end them . Save the 35 cents in relisting fees and I start it when I want. I like to move things around. If my car did not sell at 11:30 pm, I want to try and it list it a little later.

The important attributes that ebay claims (same ID number, same watchers) etc is not good enough for me. Did you know that whenever a GTC rolls over, it does NOT count as a new listing and it's already buried when it rolls over.

Sales are down now for many reasons, not just GTC. Hang in there.

[rograc-37]

I ended a large number of listings because many of them were ending at the same time and if I have to continue with GTC, I wanted different ending times. 

I did a sell similar when I relisted them. The first few days were fine, now it's dropped off. I did expect that because I basically put a load of brand new listings out. Generally it takes time to build up watchers. This time though, I think it is indicative of a lack of buyers more than anything else. It's been dropping slowly for a few years although it seems to have picked up impetus. 

[mam98031]

I ended a large number of listings because many of them were ending at the same time and if I have to continue with GTC, I wanted different ending times. 

Why?  I'm just curious.  They don't end, they renew as long as there is a quantity still available on the listing.

I did a sell similar when I relisted them.

Did you check for watchers before doing this?  So if you had any watchers, you lost them by choosing Sell Similar instead of Relist.

The first few days were fine, now it's dropped off. I did expect that because I basically put a load of brand new listings out. Generally it takes time to build up watchers. This time though, I think it is indicative of a lack of buyers more than anything else. It's been dropping slowly for a few years although it seems to have picked up impetus. 

Could be that.  Could be the loss of watchers from the original listings.  Or the time of year.  Lots of people on vaca, dealing with various school graduations, weddings, etc.  Also more and more states are coming out with Facilitator laws on sales tax and many buyers are not aware of these changes until they have to pay some taxes, then they are upset.  They will get use to it as it is not just Ebay, but this will take time.  The list of reasons can go on an on.