eBay

rockusone · ‎07-10-2019

It was my daily motivator to "get busy with eBay"... tweaking descriptions, reconsider pricing, doing research on competition, etc. Now I find myself procrastinating with non-eBay activities and distractions. Meanwhile, sales are dropping rapidly and the challenge of growing my business has been reduced to "what can I do to create that spark again?" Still have no definitive answer to that. I haven't given up, yet, and occasionally try something different. But for me, I long for what was working to my satisfaction and pleasure. The forced GTC policy has ruined my eBay experience at a time when I was most excited about it. 2nd Q earnings were down 25%, and 3Q is down 200% to date. There are no viable alternatives to my business model at this time, and changing my business model would mean a total restructuring... with no guarantee of success. I'm not exactly exited by that.

ed8108 · ‎07-10-2019

You were better off before ebay made it's change/ so called improvement, but it's necessary to make use of what currently is in place, since we don't possess the ability to bring back what once was.

greg5000 · ‎07-10-2019

@rockusone wrote:
It was my daily motivator to "get busy with eBay"... tweaking descriptions, reconsider pricing, doing research on competition, etc. Now I find myself procrastinating with non-eBay activities and distractions. Meanwhile, sales are dropping rapidly and the challenge of growing my business has been reduced to "what can I do to create that spark again?" Still have no definitive answer to that. I haven't given up, yet, and occasionally try something different. But for me, I long for what was working to my satisfaction and pleasure. The forced GTC policy has ruined my eBay experience at a time when I was most excited about it. 2nd Q earnings were down 25%, and 3Q is down 200% to date. There are no viable alternatives to my business model at this time, and changing my business model would mean a total restructuring... with no guarantee of success. I'm not exactly exited by that.

Sorry this is happening to you and many others here.

I was hoping to sell many items in 2019, due to an upcoming move to Hawaii. After numerous bad experiences earlier this year and with the many negative experiences I'm seeing posted here (regarding low sales, technical issues, unwanted changes, and poor customer support), I have no desire to try to sell on eBay.

eBay needs to listen to it's customers and reverse the things that aren't working.

castlemagicmemories · ‎07-10-2019

I understand and sympathize. Don't feel badly~it's just human nature to feel as you do in response to a myriad of issues.

greg5000 · ‎07-10-2019

@ed8108 wrote:
You were better off before ebay made it's change/ so called improvement, but it's necessary to make use of what currently is in place, since we don't possess the ability to bring back what once was.

eBay can correct the bad decision to force GTC on its Sellers.

The voice of the Customer is stronger than you think. When it's silent, not so much.

jgoebert2012 · ‎07-10-2019

Forced GTC has forced me to end all my items early. I am not getting full value on my listings.

And Ebay KNOWS the sellers hate it !

And every listing is pushing Ebay Promotions for JUST another 4-5%.

I have NO profit margin, I just do this for fun, The FUN is wearing thin.

rockusone · ‎07-10-2019

@ed8108 wrote:
You were better off before ebay made it's change/ so called improvement, but it's necessary to make use of what currently is in place, since we don't possess the ability to bring back what once was.

Being an activist most of my life, I can tell you apathy and cowering towards those in power is the least effective attitude to bring about positive change and the most likely to bring about negative change.

castlemagicmemories · ‎07-10-2019

@jgoebert2012 wrote:
Forced GTC has forced me to end all my items early. I am not getting full value on my listings.

And Ebay KNOWS the sellers hate it !

And every listing is pushing Ebay Promotions for JUST another 4-5%.

I have NO profit margin, I just do this for fun, The FUN is wearing thin.

It's not exactly fun for buyers, either. You might wait until closer to the end of a listing, only to go to your Watch List and find the listing is first in line to end but has already ended.

grampscoins1 · ‎07-10-2019

You KNOW that they were doing it for US (the sellers), right?

They weren't being bullies, trying to generate more profit! NO WAY!

Removing a tool from a mechanic, can only make him happy and work harder.

I don't know about you, but I always thought that if the conditions of a contract were changed, then it was no longer in effect, and could be cancelled?!

I'm half way through my 1st year contract, but as of yet eBay has NOT replied to my concerns, about what they have done to us with the GTC. And they don't even have the decency to reply for my requests, to cancel my contract.

BUT I will GUARANTEE, I WILL NOT be renewing it.

MY sales have also dropped like a rock, and the 'bread' that was making, is all going to them now, and they didn't 'butter me up', by saying that they did it for us.

We already had the GTC option, but chose NOT to take it!

estatecompany · ‎07-10-2019

I agree!!! Ebay has highjacked our listing pages. There is so much clutter it's hard to navigate between the advertising and the actual listing. We pay for our listing page, and Ebay should not promote other sellers on the pages we pay to list on. At least, not to the extent where is takes over the page. Even when an item sells, ebay immediately promotes a similar product, and guess what, it not from the same seller, as it should be. GTC forced listings is a great idea for Ebay, forced re-listings mean more $$$ for ebay. More fees for ebay, more work for sellers, if they want to control their listings, as they should be able to, and less visibility without items ending or being newly re-listed. I've been with ebay for over 20 years and I have started to sell on other sites.

coolections · ‎07-10-2019

@rockusone wrote:
It was my daily motivator to "get busy with eBay"... tweaking descriptions, reconsider pricing, doing research on competition, etc.

2nd Q earnings were down 25%, and 3Q is down 200% to date.

A couple of observations. First off eBay's stock is up 42% to date and they expect an increase in earnings this quarterly report next week.

As far as tweaking, pricing and researching you can still do that with GTC. Go to ending first and make all the changes you want. You can let them ride, or end them at your leisure.

uncseniorsportsfan · ‎07-10-2019

A couple of observations. First off eBay's stock is up 42% to date and they expect an increase in earnings this quarterly report next week.

Investors have little in common with eBay sellers and buyers. As eBay squeezes more fees out of sellers to increase revenues without actually gorwing the marketplace as well as cutting the workforce to reduce expenses - investors will be happy - makes no diffrence to management that users aren't.

As long as eBay management can put a positive spin on their often manufactured metrics and the bottom line increases, investors and analysts won't look too closely. Should the stock take a downturn - you can be sure management will bail and leave other investors holding the bag.

kensgiftshop · ‎07-10-2019

@estatecompany wrote:
GTC forced listings is a great idea for Ebay, forced re-listings mean more $$$ for ebay. More fees for ebay, more work for sellers,

I hear sellers complaining about these two a lot.

I've used GTC at least 7 years and it's never cost me any more money, never paid a listing fee or relisting fee.

As far as more work, I like being able to list an item once and not have to worry about doing it every 30 days.

Have a great day.

timomills · ‎07-11-2019

This is just another one of eBay's idiotic changes. Forcing the GTC just creates a bunch of extra work and makes eBay harder to use for sellers.

3eyedfishcatcher · ‎07-11-2019

You could just sort by ending soonest then go through the items ending that day or by groups of say 10 to 20 items. Do your price comparison and research you mentioned then make the changes to your listings or if need be end the item to give it a break. For a fixed price listing no one is really going to be watching the clock waiting for the last minuet to click buy now. Only on auctions do buyers watch and wait hoping to get last min bids that might keep the price down verses if they bid early on. So you can manage your items just before their time is up rather than waiting for the listing to end and get moved to a unsold folder. You just sort the active listings in the seller hub and go down the list of what is ending that day or week or so on.