when does your "throttle" come on

[knewdoors]

Convinced that throttling is occuring..and it happens at a certain time for us..at around our billing cycle..just after our store invoice has been paid..when we start paying for extra listings..no sales..nothing..past 6 months same thing..then like many describe "the lights are turned back on" sales start happeneing..maybe this an approach Ebay uses to gouge more money from us...and like a You tube video we saw from a USA ebayer who argues you have a stretch of sales to keep your interest up and then..all of sudden nothing...it wasnt nothing like this  about 3-4 years ago and this was on or close to the GFC...

[rachelle011273]

the only pattern I have seen is when events such as christmas easter and now mothers day are coming up, my sales slump to almost non existent and no traffic to be seen, it is frustrating to attempt running a business on ebay with these kinds of inconsistencies

I have only noticed this since last September, prior to that I was managing quite fine on ebay, now its kind of like touch and go and I am less inclined to order new stock for fear that it wont be seen to sell

my suggestions only

[englishrosegardens]

I'm not fully convinced that it happens at all.  When I sold on qs my sales weren't the same every month and I'd never expect them to be.  Some months I'd sell five times what I sold the month before, for no specific reason.  There was definitely no throttle there.

Ask any b&m shop are their sales level every month (except for special times of year that are applicable to their products, eg. Mothers Day, Christmas etc) and most would probably tell you their sales fluctuate.  The only retailers that'd have fairly even sales would be those selling food, and even then it'd only be for certain categories of products.

[expanded_perceptions]

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@englishrosegardens wrote:

I'm not fully convinced that it happens at all.  When I sold on qs my sales weren't the same every month and I'd never expect them to be.  Some months I'd sell five times what I sold the month before, for no specific reason.  There was definitely no throttle there.

Ask any b&m shop are their sales level every month (except for special times of year that are applicable to their products, eg. Mothers Day, Christmas etc) and most would probably tell you their sales fluctuate.  The only retailers that'd have fairly even sales would be those selling food, and even then it'd only be for certain categories of products.

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Sales are only one part of the equation, and only one of the many indicators of throttling. If you believe most people, a high percentage of 'watchers' are people who have the same item and who are seeing how much it sells for, this then should not be a figure that fluctuates too much. However, recently my watchers, views, enquiries, even the silly offers have all reduced, and most enquiries that I do get appear limited to areas that are generally low sale areas for me personally.

Yes, sales are one way you feel throttled, but adding all those factors I mentioned above, you can see why it is not the only indicator, and appears to be more than economic patterns?

My sales have been dismal, last month I sold one item, or about 10-15% of my average sales. This month nothing as yet, low watchers, views, enquiries etc.. and given all my items are best offer, not many silly offers either!

[dylan11235813]

They actually admitted it as far as I know. There are quite a few days that I find sales down. The weekend to start (although I conceed that could be due to other factors), billing cycles, rating cycle each week, and the monthly TRS cycle. Oh I forgot, all the times they decide to make changes to the site. It seems there are state wide cycles as well, one week to Victoria and one week to Qld.

I have nearly an entire week sold to one part of the country and the next to another, no mix or anything. Plus the odd one out of place.

[expanded_perceptions]

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@dylan11235813 wrote:

They actually admitted it as far as I know. There are quite a few days that I find sales down. The weekend to start (although I conceed that could be due to other factors), billing cycles, rating cycle each week, and the monthly TRS cycle. Oh I forgot, all the times they decide to make changes to the site. It seems there are state wide cycles as well, one week to Victoria and one week to Qld.

I have nearly an entire week sold to one part of the country and the next to another, no mix or anything. Plus the odd one out of place.

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Yes, I agree, a lot of the instances or anomolies to the throttling appear to be largely buyers who have that item in their favourite or list to be notified. I have one item with only 2 views after about 7 days of it being listed. I would argue those are people that have the item in one of their lists?

[i-love-my-sheep]

I had a bidding war on an item tonight. 10 bids from 2 bidders. Funny, it was one of those items that has relisted repeatedly for a few months then suddenly 2 people want it. I digress. That listing had no watchers and 4 page views just before it ended. The first bid went on just after 3 this afternoon, then the second bidder came in just after 8.30pm. Both bidders must have left the page open for there only to be 4 page views.

Sometimes I wonder if the counter is broken, because I still have some that say 0 pageviews.

[harley_babes_hoard]

Must be my turn to be throttled this weekend, Friday's nights are normally busy for me but not one sale overnight.

[dylan11235813]

I can tell when the throttle comes on because I start selling stuff that has been active for months with no sales. Not just one sale but heaps all of a sudden.

[x3n0m]

Mine is on a monthly cycle .. whereby at the start of each month sales come freely but are then throttled .. the period of sales is getting shorter and shorter whereby I think the throttle is now in effect (since 8-May this month) .. no sales over the weekend which is a very reliable sign for me that sales will remain that way until the end of the month now .. so in short I now get sales for the first 10 days of each calender month and then nothing for the next 20 days .. the situation is just getting incrementally worse as time goes by but the pattern is that the sales are always switched back on at the start of the calender month and the window of sales opportunity is getting shorter as each month goes by .. what is causing this pattern of sales and no sales is unknown .. one thing is certain and that is I rarely get sales towards the end of each month .. the pattern has been consistent/persistent over the last few years but is incrementally worsening as time goes by .. sales turnover has been tapering since 2001 and sharply dropped in 2006 when stores were hidden from search which led to my bankruptcy ..

I now no longer attempt to run a business here but still need extra dollars to make ends meet so am unfortunately stuck here attempting to flog every last household item in my possession .. I am doing this before the total collapse of the Australian economy due to the Chinese free trade agreement that Abbott stupidly signed Australia on to and am preparing to live in the bush and off the land with minimal possessions as can see no other alternative as the international corporations milk the Australain economy via the singapore swindle whereby they sell at a "loss or break-even" to China/singapore then buy back at a premium price through all manner of shelf companies .. all the while the government taps the public purse to build all manner of infrastructure for these international fly by night exploiters in short welfare for the mega rich tax dodging big end of town whilst pointing the finger for the problem towards the people least able to defend themselvesw from this onslaught of abuse ..

all this abhorrent behaviour and tax loopholes and flawed industrial relations policy and lack of protectionism has the multiple affect of generating no tax revenue for Australia, depleting our public purse whilst sending the remainder of our fiscal pool offshore all the while offshore contracted labour is being exploited thus Australians are becoming increasingly unwanted in the workforce ..

The writting is now on the wall and there can be no doubt these are the end days of prosperity in Australia .. there can be no doubt we are under attack!!! and will in all probabilty soon be put to toil enmasse at the end of a gun so as to assure the proftability of the international cabal of tax dodging multinationals and swiss bankers who are busy dividing and conquering so that they can lead a life of luxury and privaledge at the expense of entire nations of people whose governments are run by pathetic born to rule moron sleazebags ....

[cq_tech]

It would appear that mine came on around the 1st of May, as during the last 11 days of April I made 26 sales, compared with just 5 for the first 11 days of May. I would usually have at least half a dozen sales over a normal weekend, but I've not had a single sale since last Thursday, which makes it my worst weekend ever.