topic Re: Closed My Store And in Selling

Closed My Store And

southaustraliacardshop — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 10:49:31 GMT

Hi All

I just closed my Feature Store which I have had for some mine. $49.99 per month I should also state for the past 6 months it has been Free. One of eBays Promos.. anyway I closed it as it was completely dead I have over 300 listings there and nothing was happening for about 6 weeks. I closed it and eBay wanted to know why so I told them. Nothing in 6 weeks where as I was selling at least 1 or 2 a day but fot 6 weeks Nothing. I told them turn the lights back on.. Now it the past 2 Days I have had 6 sales. So as far as I am concerned eBay DO Control the sellers buy limiting what they sell.

Paddy

Re: Closed My Store And

bottomoftheharbour — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 22:30:29 GMT

The same thing happened to me around 12months ago. Closed my store and in that last couple of weeks, sold heaps. Thought, well maybe I should stay open so I did so and nil nothing closed it again. It's just eBay trying to get you to stay open. That's what I think and maybe you are right about controlling your selling.

Re: Closed My Store And

joethenuts — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 22:38:11 GMT

how does ebay control your selling i can click on your items now and buy what i like , are you saying if i click buy now it will say sorry dont enter, also dont ebay make money when you sell something , so why and how do they want you not to sell ,

Re: Closed My Store And

*tippy*toes* — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 23:04:17 GMT

@joethenuts wrote:
how does ebay control your selling i can click on your items now and buy what i like , are you saying if i click buy now it will say sorry dont enter, also dont ebay make money when you sell something , so why and how do they want you not to sell ,

There have been plenty of threads on this subject, but let me refresh your memory. If you click on someone's ID like you did, of course you can see their listings. However, when someone's lights are out, their items don't show up in search results when people search. For example, if you were selling a purple lampshade and someone put a search in for purple lampshade, your listing wouldn't show in the search results.

EBay don't care. That buyer will still buy a purple lampshade, but from a different seller. EBay still gets their payment because the buyer still bought. It is common knowledge that this does occur and ex eBay employees have revealed that it does happen.

Now lets see if I've opened a can of worms here........

Re: Closed My Store And

joethenuts — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 23:11:31 GMT

well i have never had that problem before , and what would ebay gain on lights out to a lampshade seller.for instance.

Re: Closed My Store And

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 23:56:10 GMT

So as far as I am concerned eBay DO Control the sellers

yep, i'm convinced that is the case

Re: Closed My Store And

*tippy*toes* — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:14:10 GMT

@joethenuts wrote:
well i have never had that problem before , and what would ebay gain on lights out to a lampshade seller.for instance.

It helps to protect their protected sellers. It ensures the protected ones have the monopoly on sales.

Re: Closed My Store And

nuthinbutposters13 — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:15:35 GMT

I think what eBay gains by turning lights out on sellers for a period of time, is instead of one seller selling all the purple lampshades, everyone that sells them gets to sell a few, meaning all sellers continue to list items, pay for stores, etc, while ever they are getting a few sales

Re: Closed My Store And

joethenuts — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:16:51 GMT

even on second hand books and clothes

Re: Closed My Store And

*tippy*toes* — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:18:30 GMT

Yes

Re: Closed My Store And

saarzi — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:51:23 GMT

I always find this "belief" thing in regard to Ebays throttling / lights out controlling sales thing really bizarre. Its like someone saying "the grass is green", and the other person saying "hmmm i dont know, Im not sure I believe it". Umm.. ok.

Controlling sales is a normal part of any large retailer in the world. Sales of ALL lines of goods and brands are controlled in EVERY large supermarket or retail chain in the entire world.

Walk into any Coles, for example. Every single product, on every single shelf, if placed there to control the sales of that products. Eye level sells more. Those things at the end of the isles sell more. It doesnt end there. How many ROWS of each product on each shelf is controlled, how much space, how long the product is there, and when the placement is switched with something else.

Also, they dont want *everything* to sell like crazy. Its controlled. They have contracts, they have a huge business model thats nutted out to maximise profits. one or two products selling like crazy stuffs up the game. For example - Georges fish cakes. Removed from sale because they were outselling other products that made Coles more profit. Now customers are forced to chose the higher profit products. Even if actually sales dip slightly because Georges Fish cakes were removed, the overall profit is STILL higher. Ive seen soooo many ebay sellers here say things like "but why would you remove something that is selling like crazy - profit is profit!"... no. profit is not profit. The largest profit / maximising profit is what matters, and nothing else.

Supermarkets have contracts with their suppliers, and obviously, they dont all get the same treatment. Suppliers pay supermarkets to have their product placed in certain locations, to take up certain amounts of space, and/or for certain time periods. Payment can be as a lump sum, per item sold, marketing, kickbacks and a hundred other things not directly related to each sale. This benefits supermarkets because it maximises their profits - to the cent.

Why do people think that Ebay would be any different? Why would Ebay say - "Screw this, we're NOT going to maximise our profits - we're NOT going to control sales, we're NOT going to have a tier of contracts for different seller types like everyone else in the world, lets just make it a free for all and lose millions" ???

There was never a question of whether they have different contracts for different types of sellers (ma/pa vs. big retail) - they DO. There is no queston of whether they control sales in order to meet their obligations in these contracts. THEY DO. It isnt some scam or unethical thing. Its completely normal business practice in the world of retail.

For them not to have different levels of contract, and not be controlling sales - that would be an almost non existant anomoly. It just doesnt happen because its stupid, it would lose business millions / billions. And big retail are NOT stupid - that includes Ebay (for the most part!).

Re: Closed My Store And

joethenuts — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:56:36 GMT

well then in your theory smaller ebay sellers selling a book at $10 compaired to a large target store selling the book for $10 ,

ebay would give more preference to the smaller sellers as they prob pay 10% fees compaired with targets 6% fees.

Re: Closed My Store And

saarzi — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 01:14:04 GMT

ugh. No joe. Read the post again. Maximising profit does not come to large retail companies only from individual sales. Google a little about how retail businesses actually work. Its not my "theory" or my opinion, it is practice in almost all large stores / chains / businesses (not just retail), worldwide.

Re: Closed My Store And

imastawka — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 02:30:52 GMT

for the past 6 months it has been Free. One of eBays Promos

I'd like to know how that came about.

Anybody else have this wondrous offer?

Re: Closed My Store And

allfixelectrical — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 06:20:13 GMT

I agree totally with what Saarzi has said.

In every marketplace there will be a finite supply and a finite demand. Ebay will be fully aware of stats for any particular market and probably even to individual products within that market due to previous sales history.

If for instance 100 sellers are selling the same thing and 75% of them own a store then it makes sense that ebay will promote all of those sellers items at least some of the time so that they don't lose the store subscriptions, but they are unlikely to push a single seller all of the time either for the same reason as they may make less profit from that particular seller's pricing.

If everybody selling the same product gets a little slice of the pie then they are more likely to keep selling which in turn make ongoing profit for ebay from the subscription fees as well as the selling fees.

It makes no difference to ebay who sells the product but what does matter is an overall increase in the market share for that product against ebays major competitors such as Amazon and other large online retailers.

It is competition with those sort of marketplaces that causes ebay to offer unrealistic customer expectations so as to be comparable with what Amazon is offering their buyers.

Us small sellers are merely pawns in a much larger chess game.

Re: Closed My Store And

theforcemedia — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 06:44:19 GMT

I just wish they were open about it. Their 'doing it behind closed doors' is the part I feel is unethical.

And if wishes were ducks we'd all be quacking!

Re: Closed My Store And

kopenhagen5 — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 07:58:50 GMT

Controlling more than people know.

The following has been and is part of many business models.

In eBay's case I believe eBay staff are set to task by purchasing a certain amount of goods on eBay and resell at cost or a small loss.

When a member closes a store, it is possible a message is sent to "internal purchasers" whom are at different locations, making a few purchases if the goods are easily posted.

The small losses on such is comparatively low versus the gains.

Keeping a business active in times of a downturn by proactively engaging in purchasing it's own products is often a necessity.

Re: Closed My Store And

sueken4812 — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 23:44:27 GMT

@saarzi wrote:

Controlling sales is a normal part of any large retailer in the world. Sales of ALL lines of goods and brands are controlled in EVERY large supermarket or retail chain in the entire world.

Why do people think that Ebay would be any different? Why would Ebay say - "Screw this, we're NOT going to maximise our profits - we're NOT going to control sales, we're NOT going to have a tier of contracts for different seller types like everyone else in the world, lets just make it a free for all and lose millions" ???
There was never a question of whether they have different contracts for different types of sellers (ma/pa vs. big retail) - they DO. There is no queston of whether they control sales in order to meet their obligations in these contracts. THEY DO. It isnt some scam or unethical thing. Its completely normal business practice in the world of retail.

For them not to have different levels of contract, and not be controlling sales - that would be an almost non existant anomoly. It just doesnt happen because its stupid, it would lose business millions / billions. And big retail are NOT stupid - that includes Ebay (for the most part!).

Be that as it may. I pay them rent, I expect my goods to be visible ..... whether it be on the top shelf or bottom shelf, they are still visible.

Imagine walking into a shopping centre, and half the shops are shut. When you ask why, the answer is, "Oh, they've sold their share this week, we have to give the others a chance, so they can pay their rent".

Re: Closed My Store And

rachelle011273 — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 06:42:46 GMT

totally agree with your sentiment

I am at the stage where sales have dwindled to non existent and it really is no longer viable for me to purchase any new stock

I shall run out the stock I have and then no doubt close up shop

Re: Closed My Store And

southaustraliacardshop — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 06:49:55 GMT

@imastawka wrote:
for the past 6 months it has been Free. One of eBays Promos

I'd like to know how that came about.

Anybody else have this wondrous offer?

I posted the first thread when I thought someone was having me on This is the Original Post.

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/Received-A-Phone-Call-From-eBay-on-quot-How-To-Create-Effective/m-p/1857612#M114601

Once I received my invoice I checked it and this was the follow up Post

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/I-Got-My-Feature-Store-For-FREE-for-6-Months/m-p/1865269#M115984

This was back in September 2015

Thats as much as I know

Paddy