Proof of eBay Throttling My Sales

[ripcityresell]

I had 4 sales the other day (yes, count them, 4!!) and they all came out of the same inventory bin. If that's not proof then I don't know what is!!

Yes, they went to CA, TX, MI and PA but it's obvious that eBay is looking at my custom field and selecting to only show items out of specific bins. I guess they noticed that I had a lot of items in that bin and figured they would even out my inventory.

I think this is wrong on eBay's part and my items should come out of every bin!

PS- Obviously, this is tongue-in-cheek, but all 4 sales did come out of the same bin 🙂

[where*you*crowin]

Lightren up.  Anyone without a sense of humor knows where the back button is. 

[rolenboy01]

There are definately patterns I have noticed that seem to suggest my items are only visible to buyers in certain states but I have no way to prove that is really what is going on or if it's coincidence.

[coolections]

@dtexley3

There are already four people who are starting to, or have already believed Ebay purposely hates them and hides there stuff. That is the reason to not lighten up on this very touchy topic. Ebay does not hate you and does not purposely hide your stuff, get it ??

[pjcdn2005]

I think that it is refreshing to see a funny tongue in cheek post about this subject.  Much more enjoyable than reading all the gloom and doom and conspiracy threads. People are going to start those type of thread regardless if there is or isn’t a thread like this around.   

[grasshopperx]

Oh, it's going on for sure. A month ago I listed a few items and got alot of views. Like 50 a day. Was like the good ol days.  Now it's back to ebays new normal ,3 views in ten days. WHAH HA HA. Sellers cant sell an item, with ten views in a month. Neither could a brick and mortar store. If only ten people came in thru the doors.  It's not worth the time anymore. Ebay has become BONANZA?

[tunicaslot]

Listen - people like I did skim - they are already frustrated with a lot going on here and something that is suppose to be light hearted can turn ugly very quick on these boards.

Give people a break as they're just trying to keep the boards running smoothly. Cute joke - but see I missed the ha-ha part  as I'm frustrated with other things going on here and others will too!

[deusxlunatii]

Um - Tongue in Cheek Trigger Warning---

Today I have found that maybe it is the buyers that are being throttled.

4 shipments today: 1 to a Joe, 1 to a Joseph, 1 to a Joey, 1 being shipped to St. Joseph, MI.

Perhaps a newly formed union? Insidious eBay plan - they are based in San Jose are they not?

All done without the benefit of Magic Bins!  Just a series of ever-increasing piles in the Whole Sort of General Mish-Mash.

Now if I can just get a line on the Robert/Roberta and other similarly-named-folk market...

But for today, Thank Joseph; for tomorrow I will be thinking of the Bobs.

[vikingsandpintos]

Thank you to the OP for the smile!

It is funny how streaks go, though... I'll have days of no sales, then a group of 3 or 4. A couple of weeks ago, I had a certain taillight, sold 3 of them in a couple of days, to different people. I had them listed as BIN for months, then suddenly got really hot for no reason, lol.

I've had it happen on CL too, where I'll have something listed for a while, and suddenly have 3-4 people all wanting it.  It truly is mostly about timing, and luck. I think too many people here look for patterns to justify an "Ebay is against me!" mindset. Just list your items, have good pics and descriptions, and fair prices. The rest will take care of itself! 

[cb-boards]

I do agree that eBay does throttle sellers both up and down but I'm not so sure that 4 sales from the same bin constitutes evidence of such.  I'd need to see much more sales data to think that was more then just a coincidence.   

I have probably 10-15 different items that I usually sell 1 of every 5-6 days.  Frequently, if I sell 2 in the same day, then my sales kick in and I sell one almost every day for the next 2 weeks....  ie eBay throttles up my sales by giving me greater visibility.  But if I go a couple of weeks without any sales for that particular  then they don't sell again for a month...ie eBay throttling down my sales by decreasing visibility.

So it seems like it is if you want more sales, then you need greater visibility.  If you want greater visibility for your items then you need greater sales.  So it becomes a chicken vs egg scenario.   

Very often if an item doesn't sell then I will end the listing and instead of "re-listing" it I will simply "sell similar item" so it shows up as a new listing.  Does anyone else have any other ideas to get better visibility for their items?

[lex-talon]

I don't use "bins" to store my inventory. How would ebay know what items are in your bins?😀

[calntom]

---

@lex-talon wrote:

I don't use "bins" to store my inventory. How would ebay know what items are in your bins?😀

---

What the heck is a bin?

[jnybuysell]

I know we are throttled. Been selling on here since 05' and remember the seller update when Ebay announced their right to show listings as little as they see fit.  Since then it has been a random assortment of bursts of sales, eerily similar month after month fees, and never once in the years since have we ever had a WOW day. By WOW I mean a day where we just sell like crazy. I am not sure of what year this update was, but literally not one day of Incredible sales. This is IMPOSSIBLE, unless it is being controlled. Did I forget to mention the days when we make no sales in 24 hours and then make 3 in an hour all to a certain region of the country in completely unrelated categories? Cracks me up you people who deny. You are either new to Ebay, have completely drank the Kool Aid(Which I did for years I understand), or you are not nearly as adept at tracking your trends as you let on. You are not crazy. Ebay does throttle our sales. That being said I have found that if I list ALOT I sell more and not just the new items. I have also found that when I hit certain milestones with listing numbers I tend to sell more. This is Ebay's game and it is only one in town for most of us. So we have to learn to play their game and get ready for more throttling. This new Seller updat was not a good one for us and the word is more serious changes are coming rapidly.

[dtexley3]

The OP was making a tongue-in-cheek joke.

[rixstuff]

Thank god - cuz I was about to give you such a talking to about your crackpot conspiracy theories.

[mr_lincoln]

@ripcityresell  I would tend to agree with you ... one ID here had a sale on the 1st, 6th and 8th of this month and last month sales on that ID were down 67% from the prvious 4 mnth period.   It is a newer account but showed steady growth until March hit.

Views and Watched item totals have not changed much in weeks ... its a month to month store and if things don't improve the 2nd half of April it comes off the Store subscription ...

It was switched to a store last year in the 3rd quarter ... known good selling inventory was shifted to it and as suspected it started to take off.  Then the must have hit the throttle account switch and no its like a ghost town's general store ...