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@kitschkovenwrote:

The throttling thing: is that true only for Ebay Stores? Or sellers in general? 

 

And yes, not many sales here either. I'm just selling a few things around the house to help pay bills. Things were going okay Christmas/New Year's, now selling about one item per week.

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Ebay havnt admitted to throttling sellers, but there seems to be some fairly credible information to suggest some form of throttling exists on some, but not all accounts. This includes a well known and regarded statement from some-one who claimed to be an ex ebay employee ( could be a hoax ) along with computer anylitics compiled by various computer experts who have studied the phenomina.

Another telling indicator is reports from sellers who claim to consistently sell the same amount on a rolling average month in month out. My accounts have shown this phenomina at various stages with my main selling account having regular sales figures variations of within 0.5 % on an ongoing basis.This is on $ four figure sums so too much of a coincidence.

I believe the throttling thing is quite complex with a number of layers and I have written extensive posts in the past on how I believe it works. But its too long to repeat again unless requested.

Around 8 months ago I downgraded one store from featured to basic. This account had been tied to my main store in the throttling thing. I was concerned downgrading it may see sales reduced when in fact the opposite occured. Sales increased dramatically and where much more natural in pattern. The action of downgrading the store seems to have released the hand brake on sales. The now " basic ' store is still achieving much higher and variable sales than when it was a featured store. That account is definately no longer affected by the throttling phenomina.

Having said that, the throttling thing seems to have either been axed, broken or changed dramatically since the start of January, with one store recording a jump in sales of nearly 90% and sales appearing much more natural in pattern. Maybe ebay have changed the parameters for throttled accounts to much higher sales figures and my accounts no longer "qualify" for throttling or maybe ebay have axed the system altogether to try to generate increased sales. Other sellers who appeared to have throttled accounts have reported similar dramatic jumps in sales. Maybe throttling is just a figment of our imaginations......

I am confident my accounts have been affected by the phenomina for the last few years, but the jury is still out as to wether they are still affected.