EBAY'S NEW HEALTH CHECK - I think it is seriously SICK!!

[6508.froggy]

Just received eBay's latest assistance to sellers *Ebay's NEW HEALTH CHECK* .

This may be old news but they are moving timed BUY IT NOW and will move all my listings to GOOD TIL CANCELLED. Well that is not what I want but then again we have no say. 

This does not suit me for many reasons with something new I like to use 10 days as an option. The rest are 30 day listings which gives me the option to adjust the listings if they are not attracting buyers or watches. I will sometimes group them with other items etc. 

I find the 30 day listings far more manageable for my business needs. 

So if all fixed listings are good til cancelled I dare say the next step will be for those with ebay stores will be reduced with the amount of fixed listings in their subscription. 

Good til cancelled also means there will be a hell of a lot of old stock on there for years or if I remember correctly they were bringing in limited time for listings.

I have had my vent but OH SO FRUSTRATING makes me wonder why I am doing this. 

[heihachi_73]

Well, there goes my 216 listings plus the other 300-odd games I have waiting. I sell about 20 items per month including non-game items (DVDs, coins, collectibles etc.)

"Automatically relist this item up to 8 times if it doesn't sell - it's free to relist. Final value fees apply" does not mean relist once and get charged $1.65 176 times over ince the first 40 items automatically relist on day 31.

Setting up a store to get more than 40 "free" listings would mean instantly losing $25 out of the $30-$50 I make selling the items (not even counting eBay FVFs and PayPal Tax™).

So, where do I sign up for the worldwide class action if/when people suddenly get charged hundreds (or thousands) of dollars each for supposedly free relistings that were changed by eBay to GTC without their permission? That is nothing short of hacking people's accounts.

The return to eBay being auctions-only for small sellers (because 10 days x 8 relists (90 days) is significantly larger than 30 days Good 'Til Cancelled, assuming the free relists don't disappear at the same time) will be back to the old days of non-paying buyers and last-second snipes at the bare minimum price.

"Hello eBay CEO, thank you for your purchase of this vintage PMG manhole cover for $0.01 with free postage, it will be delivered through your window in one business day or less."

[pnc75]

Just wondering if anybody on here has Facebook. I don't have social media, but would love to know if there's much discussion about this killer new decision on there, and if in fact there is any follow up comment from ebay.  TIA. 

[jfmgray]

The discussion on Facebook is the same stuff as here. Nothing new from eBay so we are all just waiting to see what will be.

[pnc75]

Thank you. 

[jfmgray]

Rang eBay today to see if there is clarification. The rep said that the GTC as the only listing will start in February as a beta with sellers still able to choose a time limited listing (ie 10 days) from the advanced listing tool only.   Will be full implementation in June - no time limited fixed price listings. And listing fees on GTC will be charged as unsold listings roll over every 30 days.  Looks like I will have to turn off my out of stock option.  

[justcruising48]

Ebay told me yesterday that all present items will go to good till sold at no cost even though well over my 40 at the moment with ebays free listing offer recently. There will be no listing fees for the ones over my 40 limit. Then even tho I have over 40 listed, on the 1st of each month I will get another 40 free listings that will be good till sold, next month another 40. I could end up with 100s of listings with no listing fee, if nothing sells, and there will only be the selling fee if and when they sell. Does this match what other non store sellers have been told by ebay?   

[davewil1964]

That's what jfm was told initially.

What they probably didn't tell you was that the initial conversion would be free and every month thereafter all relists would come off your 40 or incur an insertion fee.

jfm today has reported something completely contradicting what he was told a week ago.

I believe the current rendition as that would be far more in keeping with eBay philosophy.

[brerrabbit585]

I actually turned on the out of stock option for the first time a few days ago. If the last one sells I believe the only time the out of stock option will cause a problem is if the last item sells immediately before the listing is due to roll over. If it's still got a couple of days (at least) to go, I can easily end it if I know I don't have any more of that particular stock.

I think it's all a case of wait and see how it works. I googled the other day and found a thread in the US forums where they talked about ebay trialling this last October, so why they're talking about trialling it here is anyone's guess. I can't remember all of what I read but it was mostly people using the quick listing tool that were forced to use gtc - and they also had best offer on their listings and had no choice about it.

[alittlepieceofhistory2011]

I contacted EBay yesterday and was told that they have received a lot of enquiries and will be excalating the enquiry to the Sydney Office for clarification and not to worry. Hmmmmm. 

[pnc75]

So I've just had a 'Call me back' chat with an ebay rep. 

Here's what I gleaned:

1. If you have the auto-relist ticked,  'Don't worry. All items not sold will get their free auto relists'

2. Despite what the Health Check email said, it's a default email and you'll still get the auto relists for fixed price items

3. In new listings after the 19th - will still be able to do new listings with fixed price or BIN and you can just check the duration that you'd like. 

4. The 2 types of listings will be Auction or fixed price and GTC is aonly a variation for the time you'd like to list it for.

5. Thay've received lots of complaints and they have been escalated to ebay for a response. She has no idea how long that will take, but emails will come out to everyone again.

I did get a reference number for our chat which I've recorded, not that I expect that will do any good if i have a huge bill from ebay for relists, as it's not in writing. 

I got the impression she was very interested in how long my listings had been up, and when I replied less than 2 weeks she assured me that Oh, I'd be alright then. Perhaps it's this long term listings they're after (silly because it often takes a while to find the right buyer, but eventually they do come along.).

I'm very suspicius because she kept telling me not to worry, not to worry, that 'yes, that's fine' etc. That always makes me very wary where ebay's involved. 

So take from this what you will; I'm just reporting my experience and sharing, but point #4 above seems very inconsistent with the health check email that came out. (Although of course, I shouldn't worry!)

Will be interesting to see what happens on 19th. Will be interesting to see if we ever get this promised new email, and if it too is as clear as mud!

Have a great weekend, folks.