Throttling-what to do about it

[cb-boards]

Let me preface this by saying I understand that there is not universal acceptance that eBay throttles their sellers; I respect the opinion of those people who feel they do not and hope that they will do me the courtesy of respecting mine and to please not turn this post into a debate about whether or not eBay throttles sellers, to what extent they do, how or why they would do such etc.   I do not mean for this to come off as rude, I just would like this thread to stay on point and be an ongoing discussion amongst sellers who believe eBay does throttle us with tips on how to best deal and position ourselves in such an environment.

With that being said, I have a particular listing that up until 2 weeks ago, over the prior 3 months I had sold a whopping total of 5 of these items.  About 2 weeks ago I managed to sell 3 in a 2 day period to different buyers.  Over the course of the next 2 weeks I sold 19...about 4x the amount in two weeks then I had sold in the prior 3 months!!!  This is not an exogenous event, I have seen these types of patterns so many times that I can not possibly think it is an exogenous coincidence. 

 It seems very obvious to me that if you want sales, you need visibility for your listings.  In order to get visibility for your listings you need sales. A classic chicken vs. eg scenario.   eBay buries the listings of items that don't sell and give enhanced visibility to those that do.  I usually do a few things to circumvent this sort of throttling.  (This example above is one of the instances where I did nothing to the listing as an attempt to  illustrate my point about eBay throttling. )  But I usually:

1) When an item that doesn't have any sales within a 2-3 week period, I will usually cancel the listing.  Instead of "re-listing" I will "sell similar."  This way it appears as a new listing.

2) If my sales for a particular item that I have many of are slow, I will run a sale for a 3-4 day period droping the price to pretty much break even after I factor in my shipping, fees etc.  While I normally don't like to work for free this way, sometimes dropping the price will drastically will ignite sells over a short time and over the next 4 days I may sell 5 or 6.  While it is true that I may not have made any profits, however I:

A) reduce inventory 

B)  Now have several sales that might help generate more product visibility...so if I originally had it priced at $30 when it wasn't selling and lowered the price to breakeven at $18, now it might start to sell a little more regularly at $24 now that I have a little bit of a track record. 

I'd love to hear from other sellers who believe eBay throttles on what they do to deal with it.  Again, for those that don't believe in eBay throttling I respect your opinion but I ask that you please not discuss that here.  I would be happy to discuss this issue if you would like to start a new post.  I would like this thread to stay on topic and be a forum for sellers on how to best position our listings to cope with throttling.  It would be quite difficult to add value to this topic if one doesn't believe in eBay throttling to begin with.  So again, I hope my desire to stay on point will be respected.    

[blu_surfwear]

Right on CB!  

I also agree ebay throttles us.  Thanks for the tips.  Would love to hear others if anyone has ideas.

I know ebay likes sellers to have a lot of info in the item specifics section.  What about pics?  We have pics taken by a pro so I'm very happy about the quality of them.  But wondering if we might get better visibility if we were to show more.  Even if we have 10 pics of the same item item in our listing do you think we might get better visibility as ebay as they might not be able to distinguish between the (lack of) variety of pics but just on the number of pics provided.  Not sure just sort of thinking outloud here.  If anyone knows please share. 

[blu_surfwear]

When I said 10 pics of the same item, I really meant THE SAME pic displayed 10 times in the listing.

[generaluser3]

This is an interesting topic.  Thank you, OP, for posting it!

There are some amazing sellers in the category I watch, and the thing that they have in common is they are very active.  They consistently list new items daily, they apparently give fast and professional service based on their excellent feedback comments, and they Sell multiple products every single day.  Some have Free Shipping, some charge for shipping, some are TRS, some are not, some have products in mostly Very Good condition, and some have mostly Good condition.  There are so many variables.  The one thing they have in common, though, is that they are consistent.  It's this daily flow of products going in and out. 

I admire these long-time sellers and wonder if they ever take a break.  How can they keep it up, day in and day out?  Do they have a strong support system in place?  They can't do it all by themselves!  Or do they?

I find for myself, when I have the momentum going, the "flow" going, I actually sell things.  But as soon as I break the flow by not listing for a few days, everything seems to stop.  I then list something that's in demand as shown by searching Solds, at a very competitive price, which entices someone to buy, and the dribbles start.  Repeat that procedure more times, and eventually the "flow" starts again.  The thing is that it's just so dang hard to keep the momentum going when you're doing it solo.

So I've come to the conclusion that ebay gives visibility to the most active accounts, those that have lots of movement, things being listed, things being sold.  If there isn't much movement, things turn stale or stagnant, and they fall to the bottom of the pond.

This is my reality, for whatever it's worth (not much, I'm sure, but that's fine).  Wishing you all the best!

[rschissler]

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@blu_surfwear wrote:
When I said 10 pics of the same item, I really meant THE SAME pic displayed 10 times in the listing.

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Seriously?

Pretty funny, the notion that more visibility equals more sales.  Like, buyers are too dumb to buy anything based on rational thought process. Rather: "This item is much higher priced than others, but it shows 10 of the same pictures, so that must mean the seller really likes it, so it must be better!"

[caninekopz]

To OP

What ever you want to call it, and I belive throttling is a good term is real.

I tend to flex price to find that spot.  Sometimes higher, sometimes lower.

I have a lot that may not move then I find something in common that I have in inventory and put one at a stupid price just to attract attention.  Funny thing though once something starts to sell, I will sell a ton for a minute until it seems like Ebay realizes I'm on a roll.

Just find something else and do the same thing, so  will try to use association to drive sales sometimes.  

I belive it happens, just don't really care until they shut em down all the way, which happens once in a while.  I have a wide aray of stuff so I am usually selling something.  Listing daily seems to help as well, but with a B & M Store its hard to do sometimes. 

Rich

[blu_surfwear]

You are completely missing the point.  I am wondering if ebay places a listing higher up on page 1 all other things equal, based on having more pics even if all the same.  Like it was said earlier not everyone can be in the top 5-6 listings on page 1 for an item in demand with competition from many sellers.  But will ebay move that listing with more pics up closer.  So instead of being 23rd from the top if I just have 1 pic maybe I would be 11th from the top if I have 10 pics.

I feel for you CB.  I really do.  Trying to create a thread where you won't get attacked is impossible.  Thanks for trying.

[emerald40]

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Prices high compared to what? What are you using as a guide to determine what a items selling price should be?

_____________________________________

Whenever possible I look at similar sold items to get an idea as to what buyers are willing to pay.

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[blu_surfwear]

A few others said the same thing about listing every day.  Lets say I have 7 new items in to list.  Do you think it is better to list 1 a day each day or do you think I should list all 7 on one day, then on the rest of the days cancel some of the listings for things that don't sell so well and list it again by sell similar item, NOT relisting the same item.

[namtrag1]

I have posted many posts concerning my belief that eBay throtles.

I am fully convinced that they do.

After several months of me posting about this I've gotten no resolve on how to deal with it.

I've come to beleive that eBay throtles sales without any rhyme or reason.

I think of eBay as a Casino.  Everytime they change their algorhythms it mixes up the outcome.  Just like when a Casino re-dials their slots for certain outcomes.  And just like a Casino they don't care who "WINS" or loses just so long as the outcome is re-arranged....some machines pay out well, some machines get cold for NO logical reason other than to make as many people feel good.  This promotes the sellers to keep trying and spend more money on listings hoping that their sales will come back.

You can call me cynical but I speak the truth.

If it walks like a Duck, quaks like a Duck...it must be a Duck.

If the sales seem throtled, act like there throtled...they must be throtled.

I wish I had a resolve for this phenonomen but I don't...nobody does.

We just have to live with it and hope that things change.

[div_style]

I agree with a few previous posters that being active, listing regularly, and providing great service are the best defenses against throttling.

[kh-leslie]

Hello everyone,

This thread is getting a bit heated. Please remember that it’s fine to disagree with others, but discussion should always remain courteous and respectful.

Thank you for your cooperation.​​​​​​​

[usgamecollector]

I do #2 all the time and it works. If i'm selling 10 of something with no sales I decrease it to my minimum. I get a sale and gradually increase each time one sells and most of the time I get it higher than it was originally and a lot more sales.

[usgamecollector]

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@bubbleman2010 wrote:

Prices high compared to what? What are you using as a guide to determine what a items selling price should be?

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What the item has actually sold for within the past couple of months.

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ebay can and does throttle sellers even if their price is lower than other sellers not being throttled.

[chapeau-noir]

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@blu_surfwear wrote:

A few others said the same thing about listing every day.  Lets say I have 7 new items in to list.  Do you think it is better to list 1 a day each day or do you think I should list all 7 on one day, then on the rest of the days cancel some of the listings for things that don't sell so well and list it again by sell similar item, NOT relisting the same item.

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List 7 fresh items every day.  Even still it's tough to stay afloat - my opinion only.

Amazon was too difficult - we were specifically selling scarce books there and they would not accept books that did not have any other sellers.

This makes my book collector's heart sob.

[dr.clockenstien]

Okay, now I see that even ebay is not going to play fair.

Last night, I read two replies that were addressed to others instead of me, (J.kirkland,   and whomever caninekopz was itending to reply, but it was not me)

This morning, I see that the comments are now in reply to my name. 

They don't even line up with what they said in their responses.

This takes true effort, how can a glitch be so perfectly placed 'by mistake'?

Anyway, I can tell now that this is more manipulation from the ebay company rearranging the truth and spreading out more misinformation.

They like to play subtle games and then say, "who me?"    "we don't do that, it's against policy"

Typical from the people who do nothing, and try to make you look bad for doing something at the very least.

Another new low for ebay, whatever they are trying to do, but it's definitely not focused on our business interest.

I think you all should do something productive before they take away your ping pong paddles and hoverboards.