The new add item specifics on under $50.00 opals, is ridiculous.

[fra_419208]

Does eBay realise that a lot of people are leaving because of this ridiculous over describing a 10, 20 $ opal. Shape, size, weight,  colour, field and treatments is all that is required. I think this decision is over administered, I will be reducing the amount of items due to time that will be added to listing and revising items. Big loss in fees for eBay.

[countessalmirena]

@fra_419208,

I'm a buyer, not a seller, on eBay. I'm also not an eBay employee or director. (By which I want to convey I have no skin in the game.)

Yet I can say that eBay has no problems whatsoever attracting new sellers. Some will do well, and some won't. Some will take on board the challenges and restrictions that define selling on eBay, and some will not. Some will not like but will be resigned to the issues arising from item specifics requirements and other listing requirements... and some will not like it but be anything but resigned.

It all comes down to how one handles such frustrations as a seller. For serious sellers, they will presumably find the least time-consuming way of listing, because eBay offers exposure to a much wider pool of potential customers than many other platforms. But if it is so time-consuming and frustrating for you that it isn't offset by the sales, then I would agree - leave, and find a platform/way of selling that suits your needs, because you are the best judge of what does work best for you.

[springyzone]

38 fields for a $ 10 stone. Over the top. I agree for a 2ct sapphire you need certificates and specifics etc.   And lots of miners are leaving because with there lack of computer skills and time for admin. And eBay are looking at policy because of the worldwide backlash

I agree, that does sound excessive for a $10 stone. If ebay is looking at policy though, there could be some changes down the track. The only problem I foresee is your items seem to be auction, so even if they start at $10, ebay has no way of knowing what they will actually sell for.  Ebay has no guarantee they will all stay under $50

[fra_419208]

Thanks for bringing  some logic to the topic. Also not leaving just reducing the amount of items. I do opals as a hobby so the extra admin is a pain. For a $10 stone they ask questions that do not relate to stone, example certification gaa,gia etc which cost $70. And I understand for a 2ct sapphire valued $600 then item specifics apply, but for a jar of rough chips valued $10 it is a bit much. EBay should have a $ limit say $ 50 anything over then item specifics apply. Take care.

[jellybirddesigns]

When I do the item specifics, I just add "N/A" or even a simple "." in the field to indicate irrelevance. 

There are definitely some stupid specifics, even in the categories I sell in.

[fra_419208]

Thanks for the constructive advice. 

[fra_419208]

They put the same restrictions on buy it now and make a offer. Only on 6 categories jewellery which loose gemstone ( opal) comes under. Musical instruments, auto, sorry can't remember other 3. They ask stupid questions like metal type which you have 6 options and can't leave blank or put a n/a in. And if you look at my site I don't sell jewellery. I agree they can't estimate what one of my items sell for being auction, but a $10 stone is not going to get to $100, especially when for a 100 you can get a stone at least twice as good. I can say I know of 30+ miners from cooperpedy and the ridge that have left eBay from when they would not run sellers payments through PayPal only through ebay. The miners thought PayPal gave them better protection from fraud. Knowing these guys for 20+ yrs and how much they put through ebay the loss in just there fees would be 10,000s a year. Hopefully some sense will prevail and a $ limit will apply to item specific rules. Take care.

[springyzone]

Yes, I can see your problem. Your items seem to have fallen between the cracks and are being subjected to the same listing conditions as full on jewellery. 

I can understand ebay has probably wanted to tighten up the jewellery category so customers know exactly what they are getting and are not led to expect solid gold if they are getting costume jewellery etc

Maybe ebay should have another category-jewellery/loose stones where some of the options such as metal type could be deleted, they would not be applicable.

And yes, I can imagine if the listing conditions are too frustrating, sellers of gems/stones may go elsewhere.

All I can suggest is if ebay ever throws a survey your way (which they do do sometimes) very specifically mention your issues. I think they do take note of surveys but not so much emails or messages.

Good luck!

[chameleon54]

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@jellybirddesigns wrote:

Please supply evidence of people "leaving".

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The evidence is in ebays quarterly reports to the U.S stock exchange. During the global pandemic, large numbers of people where stuck at home often without regular income and it can be safely assumed many would try ebay for the first time. ( buyer numbers increased initially during the pandemic ) Ebays reports to the stock exchange show that seller numbers where basically unchanged recently, suggesting that many experienced sellers where leaving, to be replaced by new but possibly not " rusted on " sellers.

This was reinforced by the flurry of pro, long term seller announcements and inducements that followed the December quarterly figures. The " we have listened and ..... " stuff that really did address some of the major seller concerns along with large vouchers to spend on the site and phone calls from ebay reps offering targeted support to larger, long term sellers.

The reason for the reduction in long term experienced sellers ? While item specifics is one of a number of thorns in the side of sellers, ebay communications would suggest the introduction of managed payments was a much larger reason for long term sellers leaving the site.

[springyzone]

The reason for the reduction in long term experienced sellers ? While item specifics is one of a number of thorns in the side of sellers, ebay communications would suggest the introduction of managed payments was a much larger reason for long term sellers leaving the site.

That's interesting. As you know, I am a buyer only these days but one of the people I recently spoke to has been on managed payments for a long time, maybe a year or two, I am not sure. They quite like it although I was told they don't have a clue how any buyer has paid, whether it is paypal etc as it is all handled by ebay now.

But they did add one interesting thing.

I have done well but the last year or 2  ebay has gone down hill, maybe its amazon maybe its facebook.

Even the last few months all my items from ebay come with a $10 voucher from ebay. The catch is afterpay.   eBay have been trying to push sales. 

I am presuming that $10 voucher is paid for by ebay but I was surprised to hear that all this seller's items came with a $10 incentive.

Maybe it is ebay's way of trying to keep long term or higher volume sellers or bolster their sales, but it does make me wonder if ebay has seen a potential problem with a drop off in number of sellers.

I have noticed the voucher thing kicking in sometimes. I recently had a-I think it was 7% off? offer, but it only popped up on some items and not on others that were the identical sort of thing, same category but different seller.

[p9games]

I know of a seller who quit ebay because he had several hundred listings and it was too time consuming to manually edit the item specifics.  

I imagine for small sellers with a hundred or so items it's a pain but not a deal breaker.  Sellers with several hundred items being managed manually it would be a real pain.

Sellers with the right software it's a non issue.  I manage over 10,000 listings and adding a listing i just select the item in my system and press a button.  All the item specifics are mapped to custom fields in my catalogue or are set to static values, and everything is driven by HTML templates.