eBay

thriftgnome · ‎02-25-2023

I’ve been selling for roughly 6 months, averaging 5-10 sales a day, got top seller quick and all of that. My sales suddenly dropped to zero earlier this week! What the hell eBay? Does the algorithm suddenly hate me? I haven’t changed my tactics at all. I started ending listings and relisting, still nothing. Help!!

orangehound · ‎02-25-2023

The algorithm doesn't hate you, it just wants to spread the love.

The eBay algorithm balances sellers that are of the same class, distributing sales. If you run too far ahead on your typical sales levels, eBay will back you off and let others have more visibility if they are below their typical sales.

For example, at the first of February, our sales were on fire and about twice normal. Then, eBay throttled us - traffic took a nose dive. Seen it often.

But, don't worry, sales will come back.

us-best-bid · ‎02-25-2023

Hello

Try bulk editing all of your listings everyday. What I do is increase & decrease every listing by $0.01 Make sure its a dollar amount NOT percent. My impressions, click thru, page views & sale all increased. Also engage with your buyers by sending offers. Keep ending listings and relisting. Try to relist at least 10 a day.

Also Check out Lindey Glenn on YouTube. Alot of great content! Good luck!

thriftgnome · ‎02-25-2023

Interesting - I’ll definitely try this. Thanks!!

thriftgnome · ‎02-25-2023

Yeah it’s super disheartening. I really enjoy doing this and I seem to have a knack for it. I’ll stick it out and try to work the algorithm more in my favor. Thanks for the reassurance!

shar_27 · ‎02-25-2023

Haha, spread the love? balance?
I appreciate your great sense of humor.
Check this out then you understand what a dumpster fire eBay has becomed.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Please-help-when-in-my-store-if-you-click-on-an-item-it-brings...

We are once again about to face another sales decline unless they admit their mistake.
You know how difficult that would be. These eBay IT noobs are still wanting to get paid.
How would it be possible for them to admit their wrong doing?

This gonna take long.
Hold on tight, it's gonna be a bumpy road ahead.
Better diversify your selling.

-

chapeau-noir · ‎02-25-2023

@thriftgnome wrote:
I’ve been selling for roughly 6 months, averaging 5-10 sales a day, got top seller quick and all of that. My sales suddenly dropped to zero earlier this week! What the hell eBay? Does the algorithm suddenly hate me? I haven’t changed my tactics at all. I started ending listings and relisting, still nothing. Help!!

You probably ran out your New Seller Boost (every site has it) and now you're in the pit with the rest of us. Plus sales go up and down in retail, sometimes with wild swings. Stay consistent, stay active on the site, just keep going.

I'm surprised that Pliny the Elder T hasn't been snapped up - dang, they no longer bottle the beer and it was mythic.

“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” - Henry Kissinger

"Do not obey in advance." Timothy Snyder "On Tyranny"

Anonymous · ‎02-25-2023

Care to back that claim up by publishing the actual eBay algorithm here.

Then everyone can decide for themselves using math.

No eBay algorithm then you are just blowing smoke.

lawnmowerpartsstore2 · ‎02-26-2023

Gotta love it

retro_entertainment_collectibles · ‎02-26-2023

@lawnmowerpartsstore2 wrote:
Gotta love it

Everybody has their own way of making sales, me... Well, I put eBay's logo on a Potato Chip colors and all and chant to it.

orangehound · ‎02-26-2023

@Anonymous wrote:
Care to back that claim up by publishing the actual eBay algorithm here.

Then everyone can decide for themselves using math.

No eBay algorithm then you are just blowing smoke.

@Anonymous

What I wrote is based on something I read from an ex eBay employee about 10 years ago, information that eBay has officially communicated maybe 3-5 years ago, and then years and years of observation.

So, I don't have the algorithm, but it is more than smoke.

A seller can't fully control their sales volume simply by listing more. But there are four things that a seller can control:

eBay generally gives preference to inventories and listings that have good quality metrics (click-through-rate, sales conversion rate) and seller performance (e.g., TRS helps, and below-standard hurts). This is why eBay communicates this stuff to sellers.
New sellers also get a visibility boost for a period of time to help them get going - I don't know for how long, but it seems like it is on the order of 3-6 months.
New listings get a boost for a few days. And, eBay has communicated in the past that long-tail items will fall off in visibility the longer they gather dust on the eBay shelves, but I think it might be close to a year before the effect is seen. Relisting periodically is a valid strategy, but when you do then keep in mind that it could hurt Google search results for your items. (We do relists in the 9-12 month time-frame, unless the listing is multi-quantity and still generating sales).
Ignoring eBay best practices for listings could hurt sales and visibility. For example, in a video presentation a few years back, eBay communicated that visibility would be reduced if special characters were in the title.

Of course, a seller can also participate in promoted listings to bump up visibility (and reduce profit margins), but that's not necessary for low-competition inventory.

assorteditemsnow · ‎02-26-2023

@orangehound Hey! I definitely agree with you! My opinion on this: eBay gives sellers a cheap and affordable way to sell their items and start an online business. The customer service and owners still need money to make a living. If others pay more of their profit to get a promoted listing their listings will take priority as they are making eBay the most money. Honestly, this system frustrates me but it makes sense in a way. Thoughts?

orangehound · ‎02-26-2023

@assorteditemsnow wrote:
If others pay more of their profit to get a promoted listing their listings will take priority as they are making eBay the most money. Honestly, this system frustrates me but it makes sense in a way. Thoughts?

@assorteditemsnow

Promoted listings means less profit, but it does not necessarily mean more sales.

We've done promoted listings (using various rates), and didn't find much of a difference in sales. But, that may be because of the products and categories we sell in. For example, we had items that were not selling, so we put promoted listings on them but no change in sales. On the other hand, when we did a relist of items (without promoted listings), we see some sales.

I realize that's a low sample size, but overall our sales in most categories are not affected much by promoted listings. I imagine that there are highly competitive categories and products that promoted listings could be a big benefit, particularly if you are selling the exact same item as a dozen other sellers.

eBay will always give products some visibility in search, so when that happens you want your product to stand out and get clicked on by the customer. I still feel that sales are maximized by, in no particular order, (1) competitive price, (2) quality photographs, and (3) good structured data. I'm less convinced that things like free shipping, free return shipping, feedback, and the description text are significant difference makers.

chapeau-noir · ‎02-26-2023

@orangehound Just adding a bit here: I've both read and heard on eBay podcasts that for single items (i.e., not multi listings) at 90 days a listing is getting stale. IMHO it makes more of a difference in crowded categories than more sparse categories - if there are only a few items represented on eBay that period of 'stale' is a long longer than if one is selling in a crowded category.

“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” - Henry Kissinger

"Do not obey in advance." Timothy Snyder "On Tyranny"