Where are the free listings?

[comedy2114]

Does anyone have any theories on why non store sellers haven't got the free listings in a long time?

[lousbloomingarden]

They are actually losing money by not making them free...Sellers wait for those free listings as lets face it ...$1.50 to list an item....?

Who wants to pay that on top of eveything else...Bloomin stinks.

[beallieblue-oz]

USA site has had 50 free listings for ages. Not sure what UK has.

[i-love-my-sheep]

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@comedy2114 wrote:

Does anyone have any theories on why non store sellers haven't got the free listings in a long time?

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I wouldn't exactly call 3 weeks a 'long time'. 

[redneck2013au]

lol i love my sheep

On the contrary 3 weeks is a very long time if you were one of the silly ones that used all 40 the 1st week and your waiting for

what might or might not come in free listings. We try to use 10 a week to stretch them out and if we get more that's great but if we 

don't oh well. Last ones were on 24th of sept. and we missed them due to a family crisis and we had to shut down for 3 weeks.

I wonder when people will learn they are not  guaranteed 

[cq_tech]

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@casbit33 wrote:

They should make all listings free. They make enough money from all their other fees etc. They don't need listing fees as well.

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Absolutely agree. It would cost eBay nothing to remove listing fees altogether and if all listings were totally free people wouldn't be restricting themselves to their limit of 40 per month and eBay's income from FVFs would go through the roof. Most people are simply not prepared to risk $1.50 on listings which are unlikely to sell in this current slow sales climate, particularly when the item price is $20 or less, as most of them seem to be these days. At the very least, increasing the number of free listings to even 100 per month wouldn't disadvantage eBay in the least and could only benefit them in the long term.

[justajunk]

I agree that 100 automatic free listings a month would be a good idea. I don't think unlimited free listings are a good idea though -- it encourages people to randomly create listings for non-saleable items, which in turn clog up the website. Only a few months ago, there was someone selling a used MacDonalds cup on the site...

[dotm2004]

Yes ... I think 100 free listings a month would be absolutely wonderful !!

I was receiving them regularly and now they've completely dried up.

When I rang eBay and enquired .... PLEASE, EVERYONE DO THAT 🙂    They told me that they are random and people are getting them all the time .... and to keep waiting (I have been waiting for weeks).     I don't know anyone who's had any for some time now ... well, none this month.

My theory is that, as I purchase the items I sell and don't sell at a very high profit, to add another $1.50 onto every item, isn't worth while.

When the free listings are there, I list as much as I can AND CERTAINLY NOT RUBBISH ....therefore, I make more money and eBay benefit by the final value fees.     Does that make sense to everyone?   I just don't see their logic.

I have been a 'loyal' supporter of eBay for years, and work within their guidelines.  I don't usually complain, but just lately I feel that selling has become a chore rather than an enjoyment (like it used to be).

I think it's important that we all let them know our feelings.

Fingers crossed for today ..............

[chameleon54]

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@comedy2114 wrote:

Does anyone have any theories on why non store sellers haven't got the free listings in a long time?

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OP, I,ve got a theory for you. Many reputable computer boffiny type people ( on large profesional computer forums and news services ) believe that ebay has not spent nearly enough money on upgrading its computer service capacity to meet a growing customer base. If true this means it does not actually have the infrastructure in place to keep all of the listings it has now visible all of the time. Many very experienced store sellers have well documented cases of their listings not being visible to their customers at all times. This results in a lights on, lights off type effect where stores sell a number of items in a few hours and then nothing for a day or two. Many believe that sales for stores are rationed, making it difficult to increase total sales over an extended period. While I have no proof of this, my experiences suggest something "very strange" has been going on for awhile. Maybe this could be part of the answer to your question.

[dotm2004]

Thank you chameleon ......

I think you've  hit the jackpot !!

I have been wondering why my sales have dropped dramatically, when in fact I haven't changed a thing.

How can we find out whether we are not getting the coverage we should ??

And again ..... LET'S ALL COMPLAIN EN MASSE !!!!

[chameleon54]

           In a recent thread, Digital Ghost noted that one of her regular interstate clients had searched everywhere on ebay for her listings and they simply where not visible. As a regular, the client contacted DG direct by email and sorted her buying requirements out this way. I list my items for sale Internationally ( and pay for international exposure ) . A reasonable % of my sales come from overseas. Of these sales around 20% come from Norway. You cant tell me that Norway is that big a country to regularly account for 20% of my International sales. ( My products are generic in nature ). the only logical explanation is ebay give Australian listings more exposure to Norway than other countries. ( read, our listings are not always visible everywhere like they should be ) .

          I regularly experience the "lights on, lights off" effect, selling 8-10 items one day then nothing for two days. I,m no computer expert, but the theory in previous thread would explain some of the strange things we see going on and account for ebays reluctance to allow us to list items for free. They simply couldnt handle the listing numbers with the rickety old, patched up, broken down, computer network that they have. This could also explain the recent push to discourage small store holders as it may be cheaper to reduce seller numbers ( keeping larger stores selling new items ) than to do a major, very expensive upgrade of a huge, obsolete, worn out, computer network.

         As to sales dropping dramatically recently, some of this has to be because of Ebays disputes with Google. Google introduced a new search system several months ago, which works against some ( dodgy ) strategies that ebay where using to push our listings up to the top of searches. Noe our listings may not show up untill page three or four in google searches, behind a number of independant sellers.