New ebay policy means sellers only have two selling options....Auction or Good 'til cancelled?

[recylefan101]

I've just called ebay because I was unable to list new items for 30 days. The only options are 'Auction - to 10 days' or 'Fixed price' which is Good 'til Cancelled'.  This is apparently applicable to personal and store selllers.  Coudn't find this new policy in my dashboard announcements.

Anyway, I was told the monthly 40 free listings will still apply, with payment of $1.65 for each listing above the allocated.

I'm wondering if my unsold listings will be pushed down the rankings each month? Also to re-list as a 'sell similar' which may give the item a boost? 

[kopenhagen5]

This happened a few months ago and plenty of threads about it here on the boards.

As for being pushed down the rankings, well GTC has always been better for holding rankings with multiple stock items available.

The more that are sold (or views) the higher in the ranks.

As for using sell similar, I don't know if that makes any difference in best match.

[gutterpunkz05]

Old news.  You have to keep up with your ebay health checks these days

[heihachi_73]

At least the 8 free relists weren't dropped from auctions with the same "upgrade", if that happened we would really be up ship creek.

[enigmabear]

Very very much so (maybe now more than ever with eBay making so many changes)

Plus keeping an eye on here can save a lot of nasty 'surprises' that could cost you a heck of a lot in fees if you are'nt prepared for it

[recylefan101]

Since posting yesterday I have, as you say, found a number of helpful sources on the topic.  Some not helpful but seem to relish posting on Youtube how they don't see any problems....much the same as before'.  Sorry, no it isn't!

I am a small seller with no store but list upto 200 items regularly. The Good 'til Cancelled means I will incurr listing fees each month automatically and at $1.65c per item, this will eat into any profit I'm making that month.  I do currently monitor daily my listings and weed out the ones with many views/no sales and either drop the price, take new photo's, alter the description..usually all 3 and relist with my 40 free listings first.  Then I choose to list further items and pay the insertion fees if I believe the item will sell eventually. I have to now ensure I do this before ebay automatically relist and charge this to my account.

So I will ensure I include the insertion fees each month along with the ebay/paypal fees and be more cautious in accepting 'offers' to ensure I'm not working for nothing.  Also, I caution sellers to cross reference their invoices with the listings 'start' and 'finish' dates to ensure ebay are not charging accordingly.

As to Casini Search engine, I don't know whether items will be eventually drop down, but in the meantime I will list a number of my items again as 'Sell Similar'.  Then watch and see.

Thank you all who replied with useful, respectful comments in the last 24 hours.  This was much appreciated. Good luck everyone.

[chameleon54 · Accepted solution]

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@recylefan101 wrote:

Since posting yesterday I have, as you say, found a number of helpful sources on the topic.  Some not helpful but seem to relish posting on Youtube how they don't see any problems....much the same as before'.  Sorry, no it isn't!

 The Good 'til Cancelled means I will incurr listing fees each month automatically and at $1.65c per item, this will eat into any profit I'm making that month.  I do currently monitor daily my listings and weed out the ones with many views/no sales and either drop the price, take new photo's, alter the description..usually all 3 and relist with my 40 free listings first.  Then I choose to list further items and pay the insertion fees if I believe the item will sell eventually. I have to now ensure I do this before ebay automatically relist and charge this to my account.

So I will ensure I include the insertion fees each month along with the ebay/paypal fees and be more cautious in accepting 'offers' to ensure I'm not working for nothing.  Also, I caution sellers to cross reference their invoices with the listings 'start' and 'finish' dates to ensure ebay are not charging accordingly.

As to Casini Search engine, I don't know whether items will be eventually drop down, but in the meantime I will list a number of my items again as 'Sell Similar'.  Then watch and see.

Thank you all who replied with useful, respectful comments in the last 24 hours.  This was much appreciated. Good luck everyone.

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Is it worth paying $1.65 in listing fees for the number of items you sell ?  On average it would appear you sell around 3 items per month at maybe $20-$30 avarage price. If you start paying $1.65 per month in listing fees for any number of items it will eat up all of your profit.

You may be better off paying for a basic store with 600 free listings, rather than pay for individual listings. That way you wont have to spend so much time monitoring listings and can put that time into building listing numbers. That assumes you have sorage space at home for the extra listings.

[davewil1964 · Accepted solution]

IF you are not eligible for the weekend mega promotions, with 200 listings a store, as said, would be the go.

500 listings included for $27.45 - less than the cost of 19 relists at $1.65

[recylefan101 · Accepted solution]

Yes, having a basic store is the way to go I now concede.  It's not as if I don't have a lot more items to list to make it worthwhile. I've downsized from two large homes with double everything,  to one small cottage.

Thanks again for your advice and support.

[recylefan101]

The changes are only just being introduced in Australia nor have they notified sellersso not 'old news' here. 'Keeping up with the health checks' and accessing this site is the way to go for sure.