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. 

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

Yes promotions in themselves can be useful (and legal). This is why there is a Promotions and Marketing section. In Canada a store can have a Sale etc

Except entering into a contract to place an item at eye-level and then finding them stacked at the back and labelled expired goods... And saying expired goods can be placed back at eye-level for a fee (because they are NOT expired in the first place) is another thing. So would certain sellers be able to uncompetitvely dominate promotion space while everyone else is mandated to be on GTC. How exactly are GTC listings ranked. As someone posted in the american forums:

An interesting article from @clu3 over on the dot com:

This article was on Tambay, February 21st regarding the GTC roll out in Australia.

https://tamebay.com/2019/02/will-ebay-force-sellers-use-ebay-gtc-instead-short-durations.html

In that article it states, "eBay told UK sellers that they would be fined 10p every time an eBay GTC listing renewed without a sale" !!! "Due to seller outrage, the fines were eventually scrapped before they kicked in."

eBay themselves keep track of how long an item has been listed, and mythically punish the listing as they see fit, yet they don't let a seller know how long the item has been listed to keep track of their own inventory?

And all this at the same roll-out of overpriced "Promotions"?

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

@digital*ghost Promotions can be legitimate and benefiticial. We run regular sales etc...

We're paying for equal shelf space yet forced GTCs rank lower then equal shelf space, and told to promote our listings to get what is advertised.

How to GTCs rank in the listings? Like expired products, except they allow us to promote listings (so apparently the listings aren't actual expired products). With this method large volume (spam & scam) sellers can stack the deck against legitimate unique listings. The promotions can be purchased by big sellers and monopolize the promotional space and the regular listing spaces.

An American posted this link about the UK:

https://tamebay.com/2019/02/will-ebay-force-sellers-use-ebay-gtc-instead-short-durations.html

In that article it states, "eBay told UK sellers that they would be fined 10p every time an eBay GTC listing renewed without a sale" !!! "Due to seller outrage, the fines were eventually scrapped before they kicked in."

eBay themselves keep track of how long an item has been listed, and mythically punish the listing as they see fit, yet they don't let a seller know how long the item has been listed to keep track of their own inventory?

[casbit33]

Yes I  can  change over to auction at 10 days with everything in one go. but - that won't put in the buy it now option or tick the auto relist bit, so I have to manually edit each one to do those.

[davewil1964]

How to[sic] GTCs rank in the listings?

As all BINs will now be GTC, equally, all things being equal.

You seem to be trying to muddy the waters - there are currently no penalties for ending a listing early, and buyers have no right to an expectation that a particular listing will run the full 30 days. Somebody might Buy It Now, shock, horror, before the 30 days is up. That's what distinguishes BINs from auctions.

[curraone]

the previous poster

tryubik-useonlyasdirected

is in Canada, which may have different rules.   He seems to be spamming all the threads here.

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

No intention to spam. Just tying to figure out whats going on. My sincere apology if my posts come across in this manner; they will be curbed back to IRL anyhoo.

eBay says (in Australia as well as North America) a Buyer is shown a listing will be available for 30-days in the search results.

In Canada it is illegal to tell a buyer one thing and provide something different. If eBay is asking me to do that I'm seriously concerned. Just trying to keep everyone honest. The majority of my sales are in the last 24 hours of a 30-day listing.

I have buyers in your end of the World and have no intentions of misrepresenting my products.  You're correct, Australian laws (ACCC? may be different; though I'm not the only one who has raised the concern in your forum.)

The input from other members of this forum have been invaluable. Many times posts have supplied help beyond expectations. As a seller of well over 13 years this is the first time I'm concerned enough to be vocal and post.

A Fixed Price Listing is a one-time-purchase. A GTC is a subscription.

[bluebudgies]

Buyers know they can take their time on ebay these days so having no end time/date might actually be a good thing. They won't know when it might end or be withdrawn any more than they currently know when someone else might buy it.

[bluebudgies]

It's still much, much quicker to do them one at a time within the bulk editing tool than to relist individually.

[digital*ghost]

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@tryubik-useonlyasdirected wrote:

@digital*ghost Promotions can be legitimate and benefiticial. We run regular sales etc...

We're paying for equal shelf space yet forced GTCs rank lower then equal shelf space, and told to promote our listings to get what is advertised.

---

Except promoted listings aren't (at least officially) there to give you equal shelf space, they are there to give you an advantage over everyone else, even the ones who already have the best position. And, as I mentioned before, you don't have to pay for them unless you actually get that advantage - and not in terms of visibility, but only if the promoted listing converts to a sale. Which is their basic business model anyway (i.e. the majority of listings on the site aren't paid advertisements, in the real sense. I pay for my store, sure, but technically I don't pay for my listings to be here). 

All things being equal, how do you rank 1 million listings in a specific category, if the buyer doesn't choose to rank them by something more specific (newly listed, ending soonest, price + postage - lowest first, etc)? Equality and rank is pretty much a contradiction in terms in this context - equality would mean the buyer is shown everything before they make their choice, and in most categories or searches, that ranges from impractical to impossible. If eBay only make their money when an item sells, it's logical for them to put best selling items front and centre, but there's a lot of options outside of eBay a seller has that can boost their sales (social media being one example). 

Things will change again when the conversion from listing-based results to product-based results is completed. Rankings will be irrelevant, except for 1. 

[davewil1964]

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@tryubik-useonlyasdirected wrote:

No intention to spam. Just tying to figure out whats going on. My sincere apology if my posts come across in this manner; they will be curbed back to IRL anyhoo.

eBay says (in Australia as well as North America) a Buyer is shown a listing will be available for 30-days in the search results.

In Canada it is illegal to tell a buyer one thing and provide something different. If eBay is asking me to do that I'm seriously concerned. Just trying to keep everyone honest. The majority of my sales are in the last 24 hours of a 30-day listing.

I have buyers in your end of the World and have no intentions of misrepresenting my products.  You're correct, Australian laws (ACCC? may be different; though I'm not the only one who has raised the concern in your forum.)

The input from other members of this forum have been invaluable. Many times posts have supplied help beyond expectations. As a seller of well over 13 years this is the first time I'm concerned enough to be vocal and post.

A Fixed Price Listing is a one-time-purchase. A GTC is a subscription.

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A GTC is a listing. If there is only one of an item (the vast majority of mine) when it sells or I end it, that's it. If the law in Canada is different, that is another reason to temper your advice/expectations when posting on the Australian boards.