Sellers been shafted....

[Anonymous]

I believe our listing views were blocked starting months ago in anticipation of the roll out of Promoted Listings Advanced.

We sellers have been taken in groups at a time, views gone overnight or rather suddenly.

If it were a natural event, the views would have tapered out......not how this is happening.

PLA is such a huge money grab, small sellers can't afford to participate. It would eat up all of our profits for the promise of views, not sales.

I was hit 3 days ago......my answer was to end my listings and take a vacation from selling for a couple weeks.

I will see if they are still doing this to us when I check back, but my vacation will most likely be extended.

There will be eBay cheerleaders and posting ID eBay reps get on here and say "Maybe it's the economy, or all the turmoil in the world right now ?"

I call bullspit, not possible with the way this is going down.

I challenge eBay to get on this thread and defend themselves against my theory.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@Anonymous 

"I was hit 3 days ago......my answer was to end my listings and take a vacation from selling for a couple weeks."

Well, you've already taken action based upon your theory; It seems unlikely anyone could say anything to change your mind. ebay (and online sales generally) is highly competitive. If someone wants to stop competing, even for only a couple of weeks, I see no competitive advantage to the rest of us in trying to convince him to do otherwise. Enjoy your time off.

[Anonymous]

Not your competitor with my 30 listings and your 715, and we sell very different items so no worries for you anyway.

I wish you many sales while you can, you obviously haven't been gathered by eBay yet.

[jda11121]

Off the rails.....

[Anonymous]

Spoken like a small seller who hasn't been gathered yet......

Good luck to you too, sincerely.

[jayjaspersgarage]

Or you could leave your listings up and take a break from worrying about it for two weeks just in case something sells you would have something to ship.

You have 71 sales so far THIS month (September 2021).  You're selling a classic toy from my childhood.  Do you sell the track?  We would combine all the sets each kid had in the neighborhood and use them on a downhill street for side-by-side races of maybe sixty or seventy feet.  

I was at a large chain retail store a week ago and a guy had a traveling Hot Wheels store set up in his vehicle and was selling off the back of his car.  He had four customers lined up wearing masks while discussing all sorts of geeky Hot Wheels stuff.  You need to make the opportunities happen in life.

Here is how I sell my antique furniture.  I look up the addresses of estate sales and drive a truck load of my slowest selling items and park out front across the street on the public road.  I can clear three hundred in an hour just from the people looking in my truck to see what they think I bought that morning.  You have to think outside the ebay box sometimes.

[7794heather]

@Anonymous  I feel about the same. It went from gang busters to holy moly where is everybody.

I went practically a WHOLE year with at least selling one item a day. My streak ended in mid August where I had one day I didn't sell anything. Then when I did, it was small purchases. Seems during the week I get small purchases, weekends were the hot spots. This Sunday I finally had a good run, but Saturday I only sold one item for $1.25. Before I was getting messages from buyers, offers from potential buyers.  Lately its  been silent.

Something in the algorithm is blocking our stores/listings...and then it opens up for just a moment before it closes again. Can't explain it. Ebay WONT explain it. It went from 70mph to 20mph QUICK!

I have a store so I'll keep the "doors" open just because I am paying for it, might as well make things "shown" IF they are being shown at least.

Have a good time off-do something you enjoy. Relax. Come back fresh and maybe the Christmas season will be prosperous for you!

See ya when you come back!

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@jayjaspersgarage 

"Here is how I sell my antique furniture.  I look up the addresses of estate sales and drive a truck load of my slowest selling items and park out front across the street on the public road.  I can clear three hundred in an hour just from the people looking in my truck to see what they think I bought that morning.  You have to think outside the ebay box sometimes."

LOVE IT! Well played, sir, well played!

[fashunu4eeuh]

”I challenge eBay to get on this thread and defend themselves against my theory.”

Guessing that eBay won’t show. They don’t frequent the forums, don’t engage in the conversations, rarely offer explanations, and likely are not interested in refuting one small seller’s outlook on waning or absent traffic, even if they did see your post.

[chapeau-noir]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I believe our listing views were blocked starting months ago in anticipation of the roll out of Promoted Listings Advanced.

We sellers have been taken in groups at a time, views gone overnight or rather suddenly.

If it were a natural event, the views would have tapered out......not how this is happening.

PLA is such a huge money grab, small sellers can't afford to participate. It would eat up all of our profits for the promise of views, not sales.

I was hit 3 days ago......my answer was to end my listings and take a vacation from selling for a couple weeks.

I will see if they are still doing this to us when I check back, but my vacation will most likely be extended.

There will be eBay cheerleaders and posting ID eBay reps get on here and say "Maybe it's the economy, or all the turmoil in the world right now ?"

I call bullspit, not possible with the way this is going down.

I challenge eBay to get on this thread and defend themselves against my theory.

---

Somehow I don't think they're gonna take you up on that.  😄  I mean, we're not exactly casting long shadows here. 

But post during one of the Wednesday chats - be concise about what you're experiencing and your conclusions.

And no, it's not the economy, etc. etc., it almost never is.

[jayjaspersgarage]

"I have a store so I'll keep the "doors" open just because I am paying for it, might as well make things "shown" IF they are being shown at least."

Exactly my suggestion to the OP.  Brick & mortar stores don't hide their sign each night when they leave.  Sometimes emotion gets the best of on-line sellers I suppose.

My experience over ten years on ebay is that once Labor Day passes, school is up and running and football starts people have switched gears and try to spend the last few weeks of good weather outdoors.  Fall house cleaning season is on with a bigger push than spring cleaning if guests are coming for holidays.  

[Anonymous]

Very kind and thoughtful reply, thank you.

I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but this lack of views is something intentional, not naturally occurring.

It would be interesting to hear from other sellers that have been suddenly cut off from views, there must be thousands at this point.

During my time off I will be working on my 1:1 Hot Wheel, a Dodge Charger. Plasti-Dipping some full length racing stripes and pinstriping. 

I'll be in my happy place and in no hurry, no worries or concerns.

[Anonymous]

Diecast cars, especially Hot Wheels, is a very lucrative business.

Very steady sales without waves, and I maintain TR status just selling them.

Until eBay suddenly shuts it down......

I was 2 years old in '68 when Hot Wheels came out, and I have collected, dealt with, and loved them ever since.

[coffeebean832]

Plummeting views has been a  trending topic lately. I've seen posts both here and elsewhere.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Have-you-seen-your-views-plummet-the-last-few-days-Is-the-view...

Some have a theory that it's caused by changes happening behind the scenes to get search up and running for things like Promoted Listings Advanced- and that when they stop making the changes, things will get back to "normal." Everything is speculation at this stage.

What does your traffic report look like?

[flyingmvp]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but this lack of views is something intentional, not naturally occurring.

No, you do not sound like a conspiracy theorist when you can see and record such a sudden decrease,

Ebay has been hiding listings for years now ( "We removed some search results to show you the most relevant listings") , they have been testing before on live listings, damaging visibility and sales as a result, it's not something new.

Keep your listings alive, give the venue the attention it deserves, no more, or less.

I can say that in almost every car event in our area (Southern California) there are always guys selling Hot Wheels/RC cars to the attending public, there is even a large  section at the LA Auto Show for hot wheels sellers, as jayjaspersgarage said,  thinking out of the Ebay box...

Good Luck.