eBay

rdj831 · ‎04-26-2019

We have all heard from the sellers claiming that GTC is hurting their sales and I can empathize. These seem to be the sellers who listed primarily with the short duration fixed price listings (less than 30 days).

I would like to hear from the sellers who have always used GTC or 30 day FP listings that are seeing the positive side to this...

I have always used the 30 day option on my Fixed Price listings and track my numbers historically. My sales are up 27%, year over year, since GTC took effect on March 18th (thru today).

Any other sellers out there, who have always used 30 day FP listings and/or GTC prior to this change, that are seeing positive sales numbers since March 18th?

castlemagicmemories · ‎04-27-2019

@slideshopper wrote:
You must remember this is a whine and cry board. Positive statements are not allowed here. Only eBay is Evil statements are allowed.

It certainly can appear that way.

castlemagicmemories · ‎04-27-2019

@rdj831 wrote:
@tunicaslot
I'm not trying to convince anyone that GTC is the way to go. The purpose behind my question was to give people a chance to share what is working for them. We have been hearing a lot about what doesn't work. Success in selling on the internet is about adapting to change. EBay isn't the only selling platform that has drastically changed the way people sell.

I totally agree that GTC isn't right for everyone. However, there are sellers who are having success with it and I wanted to hear their insights. I'm still learning myself.
There are many struggling sellers that can benefit from those insights. Some of them are the sellers who use one set business model as a path to success, thinking that it will never change, and the money will roll in forever. Well, guess what, it doesn't. They can adapt and overcome or fizzle out. That is their only choice.

As for comparing your sales and listing count to mine- so what. I am selling to a niche market. It is apples vs oranges. I do just fine in the world at large. This platform isn't my top selling venue and I don't have all of my inventory listed here. I would like it to be my top selling platform because this is where I started. Time will tell.

I want to thank you for posting this thread. While not everyone may have success with the new change, or even want to try it, it will present the complete and full picture by showing that some may be having or seeing success~and might encourage some as well.

3eyedfishcatcher · ‎04-27-2019

It is not GTC that is hurting sale but having items pushed further down the list every time they relist can not help the real issue is the promoted listings. When they skewed the search results for best matched placing promoted items above all others that was ok. Normally people sort by date to see what is the newest and oldest about to end. Now when sorting by newest they are no longer showing listings by the date they are listed but showing promoted listings first. I checked a category I list in regularly and sorted by newest listed. I went and scrolled down each page and even at page 60 there were still only promoted listings. I also thought I saw the same items from time to time. So for a buyer who knows what they want they constantly have to dig through the same items over and over again being forced to look at items they do not want and that have had their priced raised past their value to cover the cost of paying ebay to manipulate the search results for them. Which is kind of funny as ebay keeps sending sellers messages telling you that you need to lower your price because you have a watcher. Yet it is the over priced listings that are clogging the search results limiting the number of buyers that can actually find your stuff that is the problem. Promoted listings is just lead generation pure and simple. While you may have changed the name to some buzzword it does not change the concept. It works only when a outside 3rd party finds customers that did not know your product existed or where they could buy it. The 3rd party spends their time finding potential buyers and pass them on to you and when they buy they get a fee or commission. However when you do it internally you are just impeding a buyer who knows what they want and where to get it from finding the items they came to ebay to buy and losing a sale over and over again. Clearly it is not working out as now ebay wants a ad fee on top of the percentage of the sale price. Just keep doubling down on bad ideas that do not work but the assumption that buyers and sellers will stay because there is no were else to go is wrong and out dated. Did a search for selling sites and from about 6 months ago the number of sites have more than doubled. All going with ebays old format reasonable fees and no search manipulation scams and have their number of users and sellers growing. Ebay needs to wake up as they no longer can afford to run users off as their competition is growing and their market share will start to shrink as users go else were. Just because a staff member has been on facebook or myspace for more than 5 years nd under years old does not qualify them to make decisions about how items are bought and sold and definitely is not the equivalent to a college degree in any field.

castlemagicmemories · ‎04-27-2019

Did a search for selling sites and from about 6 months ago the number of sites have more than doubled.

That's significant and quite an increase, IMO.

mg152 · ‎04-27-2019

My sales are up but I doubt it has anything to do with GTC. I’ve used it for years.

Patricia
eBay member for 25 years

mg152 · ‎04-27-2019

@rock_crushers_unlimited wrote:
OK so far your post got 4 replies. Your almost begging people to say Yay were with you. My sales are up ? NOT !!!! Just think 1000s of people on here and 4 agreeing with you. Sad isnt it. Dont get me wrong Im glad for you if you are a real person and not just a fake ebay implant. Im glad it works for you. I dont have REACCURING ITEMS. I have buy it once and their gone items. So now everytime i list something they go to the back of a million listing when MY ads dont work with that. The thing is half my inventory WAS GTC items where I had more than one but the other half I listed the other way I did very well with. See the problem lies with in the people like you. Ya know you contradict yourself. You say your sales went up since GTC but in another mouth your saying you have ALWAYS USED IT. See if you always used it then they didnt go up BECAUSE of GTC. Your statement must read ....Wow I never used GTC i always used the 10 days or less and now that I went to GTC My sales went Up WooHoo. Then and only then can you say it went up since the change. Thats why nobody is replying to you Your probably an ebay plant. If your not then understand IF and only IF your sales went up it wasnt the GTC if you ALWAYS BEEN USING IT.

Yay! I love GTC and have used it for years. My sales are up but I doubt it has anything to do with GTC.

Patricia
eBay member for 25 years

mcdougle4248 · ‎04-27-2019

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@slideshopper wrote:
You must remember this is a whine and cry board. Positive statements are not allowed here. Only eBay is Evil statements are allowed.
It certainly can appear that way.

At times, the boards do appear to have a lot of negativity being expressed. IMHO, more so right after a Seller Update. So, with the Spring Seller Update due out any day now, we could be seeing more negativity soon, depending on the announcements.

Often times when I am reading a thread, I do not necessarily see negativity, I see frustration. Many knowledgeable posters post regularly to these boards and I for one, am very thankful. However, a person that is experiencing deep frustrations may not always be in the mindset to take step back and allow themselves a chance to thoroughly process the information being presented. I have first hand experience with this situation myself. Life, in general can be tough sometimes and when one feels they have just been burdened with a straw that will break the camel's back, a negative outlook is not difficult for me to understand.

I hope everyone has a successful selling weekend.

castlemagicmemories · ‎04-27-2019

@mcdougle4248 wrote:
@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@slideshopper wrote:
You must remember this is a whine and cry board. Positive statements are not allowed here. Only eBay is Evil statements are allowed.
It certainly can appear that way.
At times, the boards do appear to have a lot of negativity being expressed. IMHO, more so right after a Seller Update. So, with the Spring Seller Update due out any day now, we could be seeing more negativity soon, depending on the announcements.

Often times when I am reading a thread, I do not necessarily see negativity, I see frustration. Many knowledgeable posters post regularly to these boards and I for one, am very thankful. However, a person that is experiencing deep frustrations may not always be in the mindset to take step back and allow themselves a chance to thoroughly process the information being presented. I have first hand experience with this situation myself. Life, in general can be tough sometimes and when one feels they have just been burdened with a straw that will break the camel's back, a negative outlook is not difficult for me to understand.

I hope everyone has a successful selling weekend.

You are absolutely right and I completely agree with you; thank you for bringing forth this valuable and wise perspective. I wasn't putting down anyone who feels the need to vent, but neither should the OP's voice be put down and stifled because he asks for positive feedback, especially due to misinterpretation. His voice is just as important as all those who are venting. Frustration can be viewed as negativity and frustration will be apparent when there are significant changes that can adversely affect sales or cause more fees to be generated, and that is understandable. There is always an outpouring after a Seller Update, as you say.

I completely understand and my heart goes out to those going through this, being concerned that their business or livelihood being no longer viable, it's heartbreaking. One would have to be unfeeling and have no compassion not to feel for this.

Thank you for speaking out for understanding and hopefully that understanding will be embraced by all, those venting and those seeking positive results information.

You know I think the world of you, @mcdougle4248 so I apologize if anything that has been said by me has offended you as such is never my intention.

I hope everyone has a great sales-filled weekend, too!

mcdougle4248 · ‎04-27-2019

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@mcdougle4248 wrote:
@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@slideshopper wrote:
You must remember this is a whine and cry board. Positive statements are not allowed here. Only eBay is Evil statements are allowed.
It certainly can appear that way.
At times, the boards do appear to have a lot of negativity being expressed. IMHO, more so right after a Seller Update. So, with the Spring Seller Update due out any day now, we could be seeing more negativity soon, depending on the announcements.

Often times when I am reading a thread, I do not necessarily see negativity, I see frustration. Many knowledgeable posters post regularly to these boards and I for one, am very thankful. However, a person that is experiencing deep frustrations may not always be in the mindset to take step back and allow themselves a chance to thoroughly process the information being presented. I have first hand experience with this situation myself. Life, in general can be tough sometimes and when one feels they have just been burdened with a straw that will break the camel's back, a negative outlook is not difficult for me to understand.

I hope everyone has a successful selling weekend.

You are absolutely right and I completely agree with you; thank you for bringing forth this valuable and wise perspective. I wasn't putting down anyone who feels the need to vent, but neither should the OP's voice be put down and stifled because he asks for positive feedback, especially due to misinterpretation. His voice is just as important as all those who are venting. Frustration can be viewed as negativity and frustration will be apparent when there are significant changes that can adversely affect sales or cause more fees to be generated, and that is understandable. There is always an outpouring after a Seller Update, as you say.

I completely understand and my heart goes out to those going through this, being concerned that their business or livelihood being no longer viable, it's heartbreaking. One would have to be unfeeling and have no compassion not to feel for this.

Thank you for speaking out for understanding and hopefully that understanding will be embraced by all, those venting and those seeking positive results information.

You know I think the world of you, @mcdougle4248 so I apologize if anything that has been said by me has offended you as such is never my intention.

I hope everyone has a great sales-filled weekend, too!

@castlemagicmemories

You have not offended me in anyway, shape or form My response was intended to simply add my thoughts to the conversation. I am pretty thick skinned, which I like to think is part of my personality, but may have more to do with my age and too much time in the sun

castlemagicmemories · ‎04-27-2019

tunicaslot · ‎04-27-2019

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@rdj831 wrote:
@tunicaslot
I'm not trying to convince anyone that GTC is the way to go. The purpose behind my question was to give people a chance to share what is working for them. We have been hearing a lot about what doesn't work. Success in selling on the internet is about adapting to change. EBay isn't the only selling platform that has drastically changed the way people sell.

I totally agree that GTC isn't right for everyone. However, there are sellers who are having success with it and I wanted to hear their insights. I'm still learning myself.
There are many struggling sellers that can benefit from those insights. Some of them are the sellers who use one set business model as a path to success, thinking that it will never change, and the money will roll in forever. Well, guess what, it doesn't. They can adapt and overcome or fizzle out. That is their only choice.

As for comparing your sales and listing count to mine- so what. I am selling to a niche market. It is apples vs oranges. I do just fine in the world at large. This platform isn't my top selling venue and I don't have all of my inventory listed here. I would like it to be my top selling platform because this is where I started. Time will tell.

I want to thank you for posting this thread. While not everyone may have success with the new change, or even want to try it, it will present the complete and full picture by showing that some may be having or seeing success~and might encourage some as well.

Please do not think that this shows the complete and whole picture. Mandatory GTC has not been around long enough to make a big difference in sales here and is only a small part of the picture. There are sellers that have always used GTC that are still showing a decrease in sales. Our friend zamo - knows better than many here - what's going on behind the scenes that can propel or decrease a seller's sales.

southern*sweet*tea · ‎04-27-2019

I've noticed no difference in sales. They're about average. I always used 30 day fixed for most things. GTC so far for me has made no difference either way. Of course, it hasn't been long enough yet to see if GTC will bring in more outside traffic. I've always had a little, hopefully it will increase.

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell

twnpopcards · ‎04-27-2019

@rdj831 wrote:
We have all heard from the sellers claiming that GTC is hurting their sales and I can empathize. These seem to be the sellers who listed primarily with the short duration fixed price listings (less than 30 days).

I would like to hear from the sellers who have always used GTC or 30 day FP listings that are seeing the positive side to this...
I have always used the 30 day option on my Fixed Price listings and track my numbers historically. My sales are up 27%, year over year, since GTC took effect on March 18th (thru today).

Any other sellers out there, who have always used 30 day FP listings and/or GTC prior to this change, that are seeing positive sales numbers since March 18th?

I have used primarily 30 day listings for the past few years. Sometimes i would put newly listed items up for 5 days so they would stay high in visibility for those first 5 days, but then would transfer them to 30 days with Best Offer. My sales are down considerably on both accounts since Ebay went to GTC - but it is also too soon for me to really be able to make a true analysis of the differences.

I do plan on ending my listings at 30 days because I rotate most of my inventory each month and remember that Ebay also lowers Sellers items in visibility when they are using GTC and the items have been automatically relisted a certain number of times. Ebay has stated this over and over before they suddenly became such a huge fan of GTC items, I do believe the only reasons for this are:

1 - Increase in fees from those Sellers who do not pay attention and their items automatically renewed and they are over their free listing limits (whether they are using the 50 free listings per month or have a store with the free listings that come with it.

2 - Ebay no longer has the ability to draw in new traffic without spending a lot more money than they care to ( they would probably show some losses for a few quarters if they did, just like Amazon did for all those years while they were developing their infrastructure. They are now counting on the GTC renewals bringing in buyers from Google when people do searches on there and are hoping that this will start bringing in more buyers.

I am seriously debating closing both of my stores at the end of this month as my subscriptions expire and I just have not seen Ebay doing anything to justify me committing that much revenue to them each month. My sales way more than cover my fees, but it is just becoming more and more work each time Ebay makes a change and at some point you have to decide if the additional work is still worth the amount of sales that Ebay produces. I may go to monthly subscription on one of the stores until i see how this plays out what the other shoe dropping is going to bring us wiuth the Spring Seller Update.

tunicaslot · ‎04-27-2019

This is what some are forgetting - the fact many sellers who used GTC saw their listings cancelled by Ebay because they hadn't sold. Everyone piled on these sellers last year when they came here complaining about listings going POOF! giving advice on what they should have done - updated them, use 30 days rather than GTC. some people insinuated that those sellers were lazy as they just wanted to throw a listing up and no longer worry about it ect...

This year Ebay is saying that most items don't sell until they've been listed 30 days - which to me is just a story to cover for the mandatory 30 days. I've had listings sell within hours and I've had some items that it's taken 2 years to sell.

Ebay has more of a selection of new, old, eclectic, modern, parts, pieces, complete sets - everything including the kitchen sink. This should be the number one venue a buyer thinks of. But buyers have lost confidence as have sellers. Buyers need to be able to find what they are looking for - sellers have to be confident that if they list here - they are protected. Both have found Ebay lacking the past few years. I'm not sure what eBay's focus is today but it's certainly not the marketplace. Devin had already said that they will be cutting advertising which until this year has been lacking.

If I find GTC has benefits after it's been in place for the next few months - I'll make sure to let everyone know how wonderful it is - but it's roll out after what they did last year to seller's that used GTC was quite a surprise and seller did not like one more decision on how to list their item be taken away from them.

castlemagicmemories · ‎04-27-2019

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
@rdj831 wrote:
@tunicaslot
I'm not trying to convince anyone that GTC is the way to go. The purpose behind my question was to give people a chance to share what is working for them. We have been hearing a lot about what doesn't work. Success in selling on the internet is about adapting to change. EBay isn't the only selling platform that has drastically changed the way people sell.

I totally agree that GTC isn't right for everyone. However, there are sellers who are having success with it and I wanted to hear their insights. I'm still learning myself.
There are many struggling sellers that can benefit from those insights. Some of them are the sellers who use one set business model as a path to success, thinking that it will never change, and the money will roll in forever. Well, guess what, it doesn't. They can adapt and overcome or fizzle out. That is their only choice.

As for comparing your sales and listing count to mine- so what. I am selling to a niche market. It is apples vs oranges. I do just fine in the world at large. This platform isn't my top selling venue and I don't have all of my inventory listed here. I would like it to be my top selling platform because this is where I started. Time will tell.

I want to thank you for posting this thread. While not everyone may have success with the new change, or even want to try it, it will present the complete and full picture by showing that some may be having or seeing success~and might encourage some as well.

OP, I know you simply asked if anyone had positive results to recount. That is evident.

While many are having issues and a lack of sales, and I do not negate those experiences or feelings (see zamo zuan's posts~he has thoroughly analyzed visibility issues), there are undoubtedly negatives to GTC; yet some have seen some success with GTC. I just want to clarify that there are many aspects to the big picture. It all figures in. Those seeking other viewpoints such as yourself have a voice that is just as valid as those who have other experiences or feelings, and who have been venting since the announcement.