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.    

[stonevintage]

For years Ebay has been harping about best and most complete/accurate titles/descriptions. That makes 'em lengthy by nature.  Also, using many photos was pumped up in "best practices"... then came mobile but!... I never saw Ebay come back and say use shorter titles and fewer photos which I also found helped somewhat for a year or so.  My best sales were when for several years, I was able to do the 3 day listings (without addn'l fee) AND use the sell similar function.  This was a work around they ended (fee for 3 day listings). 

It would be nice if Ebay would pick up the simple programming que for (see more photos) option.  This would keep them out of the way unless the buyer had zeroed in between your listing and one or two others and need to see more photos.  Condition will always be important and photos are the way to convey that - shouldn't be a penalty for mobile search.

[thatsallfolks]

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@stonevintage wrote:

For years Ebay has been harping about best and most complete/accurate titles/descriptions. That makes 'em lengthy by nature.  Also, using many photos was pumped up in "best practices"... then came mobile but!... I never saw Ebay come back and say use shorter titles and fewer photos which I also found helped somewhat for a year or so.

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They still want lots of photos, just not in the description section.

[goodluckselling]

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@vintageista wrote:

  There are definite patterns that occur & it seems to be geographical.  When I am on servers in California, New York or Florida, my sales are really good, when in the mid-west, not so good, probably has a lot to do with the type of items I am selling as much as anything or perhaps because being more heavily populated, there are just more eyeballs there! Sometimes I get 3-4 sales a day from the same state, then none from that state for weeks.

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• This has me completed confused? 
• How do you know when you are on state servers? 
• I was not aware that eBay had server farms in all 50 states,
• and they only show listings from that state?

Your post is suggesting you only makes sales to the states where eBay has there servers turned on?

Good Luck Selling!

[ymeagainlord]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

My default Search is Highest Price plus Shipping.

The lowest price is probably some fishy junk that barely fits in the category, and there will be hundreds of them. All with delivery date two months in the future.

Highest allows me to drill down through a few dozen to the properly described items in my price range.

I used to know an antique dealer whose policy was, if an item had not sold in a month, to raise the price. He would do that five times (six months in his shop) and if it still hadn't sold, he would put it in a local auction at the original price.

Most things sold in Month Three,he told me.

The more something costs, the more people respect it.

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Or as someone else once said "the perception of quality is influenced by price"

[tunicaslot]

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@dr.clockenstien 

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I just looked at your listings and did a search fo your items - your three dogs all came up  in search if I put Cookoo Clock Dog and filter to parts - as a matter of fact there are no other listings in Best Match for that search. When I search Cookoo clock figures - there is one ahead of 20 of your listings. Now unless you are talking about another acct - you even have great placement just searching for Cookoo clock.  I just don't think a lot of people are looking for cookoo clock parts.

As far as seeing two of the same listing - someone has promoted their listing - which duplicates the listing so it will be seen more often by buyers - they have to pay Ebay an extra per centage if the item sells. 

As far as why some sellers have more bids on their auctions - being the niche is so small - they may have already bought something from that seller and like what they received so will purchase from them again rather than take the chance on a new seller - or they know of this seller who has promoted their items here in different forums, message boards or groups for those with similar interests. Those people would come directly here to find that seller and their items.

As far as letting others offer suggestions who agree with the OP - take a look as his likes and see how many of those posters have weighed in - they haven't - they only liked the post and have nothing to offer - whereas those of us who don't believe all the tin foil hat theories - are the ones who can actually help the OP - but people have to get out of the mindset of throttling because they won't accept the ideas we offer.

[yuzuha]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

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As far as why some sellers have more bids on their auctions - being the niche is so small - they may have already bought something from that seller and like what they received so will purchase from them again rather than take the chance on a new seller - or they know of this seller who has promoted their items here in different forums, message boards or groups for those with similar interests. Those people would come directly here to find that seller and their items.

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I know that personally, I'm far more inclined to make a purchase from a seller I've already bought from and had a good experience with, even if their price might be a bit higher.  I have one particular seller I go back to consistently because he's been great and helpful, so why wouldn't I want to keep giving him business?

[tunicaslot]

I'm the same way - purchased tape once from someone other than the regular seller I usually go to - as it was cheaper. Well the tape received was the tape I could purchase at the dollar store and still in the packaging from the dollar store - mind you - the listing showed individual tape rolls with a different start tab so it wasn't even the same thing shown in the listing. I went back to my regular seller and haven't looked further since.

[bubbleman2010]

So use ebays completed sales history to price your items to make a sale? With a rolling less than 10% STR wouldn't you just be following other folks into the basement are people really that desperate trying to make a sale?

[stonevintage]

I've never seen anything like "don't put photos in the body of the discription, but in the photo area only - it's good to still max out to the 12 in Mobile?

Seems like if "too much information" is being displayed for mobile, and photos are always larger consumers of space - why would it matter, once that listing was pulled for viewing, if they were in the photo area or in the body of the description? I thought the initial "selection process" by the computer was dependent on Best Match unless the shopper selected otherwise - regardless of which position the photos were  in the listing.

[yuzuha]

People can price their items however they'd like.  But if you've got your widget priced at $50 and all of the ones that have sold in the last 90 days have been in the $20-27 range, don't complain when your widget doesn't sell.

[bubbleman2010]

If ebay would knock down all completed sales info prices realized on ebay would increase almost overnight and prices out on the junk route would tumble. They are the worlds price guide and get zip nada nothing for providing that service millions of dollars trade hands everyday and ebay gets nothing.... Yeappers real sharp business folks they are....

[tunicaslot]

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@blu_surfwear wrote:

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. 

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May I ask why this ships in discreet packaging if it's a wetsuit? I don't think Ebay throttles you as much as the fact the item is unbranded and probably from China. When using something like this a diver wants to know they have quality merchandise that will keep them dry  and warm. I'm not saing you're not selling a quality item - but most experienced divers would rather have a brand name suit that has gotten reviews and they know they can trust.

[tunicaslot]

Welcome back!!!

I see many problems with the "throttling" groups listings. One's been told repeatedly that his prices are too high. Another couple don't take returns - buyers want to be able to return items, another's merchandice is unbranded, and another is in a over saturated catepgory but expects his listings to always show - leaving all the other sellers "hidden". 

Continue with the throttling theory instead of changing your business policies or listings to gain better exposure - no skin off my back but it is money out of your pocket.

[stonevintage]

Are you seeing competition of like kind product outselling your offerings?  Your photos look great to me but you are a less than 10 feedback seller.  A little patience might be all that is needed. Buyers here, sometimes are a little wary of a newer seller.

[stonevintage]

Well, somebody's gonna say it so I might as well be the one.  THAT seems to be what the Chinese are doing.  Duplicate listings galore, multiple listings just to offer different colors, dummy listings where they are multi varational but the low price you keyed on will never be offered or available in a practical size (gaff).

It does make you ask the question, as with promotions - we don't like it, in fact we hate it but is that what it takes to sell here now??? Again, take a look at the bottom line and see what Ebay and share holders make money at. With a 10% sell thru rate, why do you think they're still happy?