Store suppression

[nerdarsenal]

I have clear 100% proof of store suppression, starting March 1st through unexpected events, I spent a lot of time in the hospital for about a week.. I was still active, accepting offers and shipping, but I didn't post anything for a week.. over the past 3 days, I've been posting like a mad man, 100s of items. My page views and impressions are exactly the same, everyday, no matter what. So that tells me it's impossible to grow on ebay. They are also giving warnings now, that your performance will be limited unless you promote at their suggested ad rate. This is soo shady.  So tell me, how can you grow, if no matter how many new listings you post, you will not get anymore page views???

 

[movieman630]

It is important to be competitive in your pricing.  Don't just slap a price on something without researching it first.  And don't just look as "sold" listings.  Look at what's currently listed.

Every time I update my listings I research prices to be more competitive.  It's the only way to survive.

[movieman630]

I think it really depends on what you're selling and in what categories.  Some categories are over saturated so it's almost impossible to be seen without a promotion.

Also depends if you're the only person who has a certain item...  And of course the demand of said item.

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@gator08041971 wrote:

I don't use promotions at all.  Never felt suppressed either really.  

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I never have either. I still somehow manage to make sales almost every day.

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[thecosmeticswholesalersllc]

We agree with you 100% nerdarsenal.  Our sales have disappeared and we are getting the same message.  We called eBay support only to be hung up on when we questioned about the suppression.  It is so blatant.  We sell on multiple eCommerce sites and have our own store and eBay is the only one with serious issues.  We will get 4 sales in an hour then no sales for about 12 to 24 hours which is absurd.  We are going to call eBay again tomorrow but it is disgusting what they are doing to their "valued sellers"  It's their site and they can what they want but if things don't change soon we are not going to put a lot of time in eBay anymore and just use that time for other marketplaces and our own site.

[isaiah53-57]

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@nerdarsenal wrote:

I have clear 100% proof of store suppression, starting March 1st through unexpected events, I spent a lot of time in the hospital for about a week.. I was still active, accepting offers and shipping, but I didn't post anything for a week.. over the past 3 days, I've been posting like a mad man, 100s of items. My page views and impressions are exactly the same, everyday, no matter what. So that tells me it's impossible to grow on ebay. They are also giving warnings now, that your performance will be limited unless you promote at their suggested ad rate. This is soo shady.  So tell me, how can you grow, if no matter how many new listings you post, you will not get anymore page views???

 I agree! And I also have proof(in my own mind) - But before I get to that, That line in your picture that says "Low Ad Rate May Limit Performance" is proof in itself. That 6% is WAY below their "recommended" rates of likely between 10% and 17% - They are telling you to expect "suppression" right there - I personally wouldn't call it suppression - No I personally would call it something worse, like price-gouging or borderline extortion.

OK so In regards to your point of suppressing growth? We sold for many many years here(2003 to 2022) on what grew to become a love/hate basis - The reasons for hate finally and completely overwhelmed the love as you can see by our current listings - One HUGE Peeve we had was it didnt matter how much we listed, it was like we were capped at a certain monthly dollar amount - It didnt matter what we did, we could never get over that limit. We had months where we could sell enough the 1st week of the new billing cycle to be 3/4's of the way to that limit, thinking WOW, we are gonna bust the barrier! - and guess what - the rest of the month, crickets, until the bill was due and ALL OF A SUDDEN (mind you) we would get a flurry of sales to come close or hit the limit just in time to pay our bill. (I mean, for those who remember monthly bills, who doesn't remember the flurry of sales JUST IN TIME for your monthly bill).

Coincidence?? I think not...

No I agree with you - seems to me since it seems they don't worry about growth, they figure why should you...

[gurlcat]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@shado-x wrote:

It is not eBay.  Try doing comps.  I will say that the US Postal Service under Dementia Joe is going to eat you up in income for low cost items, but it will increase your revenue.  

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Funny way to spell "Louis DeJoy".

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Good catch.  And more specifically, Trump appointee, Louis DeJoy. 

[hartungcards]

100% proof is actually known as 200 proof ethanol.

[hartungcards]

"Good catch.  And more specifically, Trump appointee, Louis DeJoy." 

DeJoy was appointed in May 2020 by the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service.

[chapeau-noir]

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@hartungcards wrote:

"Good catch.  And more specifically, Trump appointee, Louis DeJoy." 

DeJoy was appointed in May 2020 by the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service.

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Yes, the president can't appoint for this position, but a lot of peddling was done nonetheless. His appointment was made by the Board, majority at that time endorsed by Trump and who appointed DeJoy - a man with no experience and who owned interest in competing logistics firms, and was a major donor to Trump, on the recommendation of a Trump buddy (can't remember name). He's done a couple of good things, though has to be smacked upside the head from time to time to get his commonsense working.

[luckythewinner]

You are simply misunderstanding the statement.

A low ad rate may limit performance of using promoted ads because it limits the chances that it will be picked. 

Ad rates are like buying raffle tickets.

The more raffle tickets you buy, the greater your chances of your number being picked as the winner. 

The higher the ad rate you pay, the greater your chances of your listing being picked for one of the limited promotional slots. 

So if you choose a low ad rate, you may never get picked and this limits the performance of your promotion. 

[gurlcat]

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@hartungcards wrote:

"Good catch.  And more specifically, Trump appointee, Louis DeJoy." 

DeJoy was appointed in May 2020 by the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service.

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Yeah just in time to purposely cripple the Service particularly in cities with lots of minorities and/or college students, with zero F's given for the fact that mail-order commerce was spiking like never before because people couldn't go into stores, and then came holiday season .... thus Shipnado 2020 devastated eBay sellers with INR refunds, negative feedbacks, etc. from October through January.  And the ploy to hamstring mail-in voting didn't even work, lol.  

[ten_o_nine]

Many buyers that want the item will just ignore the invisible message.

[maxnroysmarket]

I agree that using a low ad rate is totally ineffective now. Impressions dropped from 500k to 300k when they began to give me the same message.  WHEN they started this "program" several years ago the "suggested rates" were often below 5%. over the years the "suggested rate " has climbed up and up. Rarely do I see anything under 10%. An agent told me to use the "dynamic" ad rate as eBay   "promotes" the newest program. So now, 6/19/24, to get this "warning" removed one must promote at 6% for both types of promotion.  The escalation of  the greedy fee raising folks continues. my total "cost" per sale has exceeded 20% for a long time.. I expect more greedy fee increases ahead. July 2024 postal increase for media will result in an over 20% increase in mailing this year. tack on the %14.95 fees on shipping tax and sale price itself easy to see why this platform has dealers seeking alternate venues. 

[onefootflipper]

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@thecosmeticswholesalersllc wrote:

We agree with you 100% nerdarsenal.  Our sales have disappeared and we are getting the same message.  We called eBay support only to be hung up on when we questioned about the suppression.  It is so blatant.  We sell on multiple eCommerce sites and have our own store and eBay is the only one with serious issues.  We will get 4 sales in an hour then no sales for about 12 to 24 hours which is absurd.  We are going to call eBay again tomorrow but it is disgusting what they are doing to their "valued sellers"  It's their site and they can what they want but if things don't change soon we are not going to put a lot of time in eBay anymore and just use that time for other marketplaces and our own site.

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You have a 6 month sell through rate, which puts you somewhere near the top 1 percent of items actually selling.