Seriously eBay?!?!?

[justforposting_1960]

I have a vintage Sarah Coventry Necklace up for sale for $9.99. Several weeks ago, I put it on sale at 20% off which brought the price down to $7.99. This morning I received the following message from eBay about this particular necklace. (Only the one necklace was mentioned in the message even though most of my items are in watch lists.)

 Seriously? Does eBay really believe that if I drop the price a whole 50¢ more it will magically sell? The necklace, along with other pieces, has also been on a Promotion Campaign for Mother's Day since April 6th. What an incredible waste of time. After a month I've had all of 24 clicks and no sales on any of the so-called promoted items!

Instead of sending ridiculous messages that have no basis in reality, wouldn't it be better if eBay actually promoted the promoted items? I suppose the silver lining to this is I won't have to pay the promotion fee since nothing is selling anyway. I will never bother with these so-called promotion campaigns again.

I've begun researching other venues to sell my vintage items. I have only sold 6 items in 2018! Granted, I am a very small-time seller, but still, I price my items competitivly, I describe them fully pointing out any & all flaws, I take lots of detailed photos, I ship quickly and have not had a single negative feedback or complaint in the 5 years I have been selling here!  I've never even had a return. I should be selling way more than I am.

Ebay is nickle & diming me to death. My store cost has now gone up $2/month. I think I am going to cancel the subscription to the store. Thanks to the cost of the store, I haven't made a profit since December. Instead, I have had 4 straight months of losses. Luckily, I am near my store anniversary, so hopefully eBay wont penalize me for trying to mitigate my losses.

(End of rant  .)

[nobody*s_perfect]

Due to the store subscription rate changes, eBay is not charging the Early Termination Fee for sellers who cancel or downgrade their store subscriptions during May.  Perhaps the new "Starter" store subscription level would be a better fit for you.

From the Spring Seller Update FAQ:

[justforposting_1960]

Good to know. I guess I missed that. Thanks!

[d-k_treasures]

I got the email also - on an auction listed just last night, which has 8 watchers so far and 6 1/2 days to go.

What good is that email to me?

[percgrabbe-0]

There is nothing stopping you from raising the price on these items rather than lowering them 5%.  These emails arent more than suggestions. 

[justforposting_1960]

---

@percgrabbe-0 wrote:

There is nothing stopping you from raising the price on these items rather than lowering them 5%.  These emails arent more than suggestions. 

---

Yeah, I realize that. But it is still a stupid suggestion.

[percgrabbe-0]

EBAY only cares if you make the sale and not if you make money thats what it boils down to. Thats how they make fees. Sometimes I think ebay has buyers that they pay buy the items in those emails (which is why I suggest raising the price). While the end game might be this buyer sends the item back for a refund/INAD (thus making you buy a label for the return where ebay collects fee for postage again). At least the money will stay in your paypal until they do. 

[retrose1]

ebay wants sellers to become the internet version of those irritating used car sales people that hover over shoppers offering them a deal if they buy it today.

And this is the future that Donahoe believed in when he left the successful past behind for.

[whatmorefabric]

I get this on other sites also.    I don't pay anymore attention to the large list they provide than I do here.

[whatmorefabric]

I get this on other sites also.    I don't pay anymore attention to the large list they provide than I do here.

[luckythewinner]

---

@justforposting_1960 wrote:
Seriously? Does eBay really believe that if I drop the price a whole 50¢ more it will magically sell?

---

No - no one at eBay really thinks that. 

eBay wrote a computer algorithm that chewed through the roughly 1.1 billion listings on the site,  and for whatever reason your listing happened to get caught by the algorithm and so you received a message.

[percgrabbe-0]

Ever wonder if ebay writes algorithms that buy those items (using EBAYS paypal balance) and then has another algorithm script that returns them for an INAD and demand you buy a label to generate revenue for ebay (and make it look like sales # are higher than they are)? These kind of thoughts keep me awake at night.

[ymeagainlord]

You keep talking (posting) about eBay making fees of return labels, but you never answer when asked why you think this.

[the_fancy_fox]

We pay eBay, eBay pays the USPS. Do you really think eBay as the middle man provides the label for free? All that cash just floating by.....

I will bet most postage companies skim a few cents off every label they sell.