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@chameleon54 wrote:

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@dell1312 wrote:

I opened a store after jumping through all the hoops re “free postage”, item weigh and size, offering express postage etc  and finally getting stung with GTC changes. I have had it for a few weeks now and have noticed a huge decline in watchers and buyers. So I don’t know if lots of sellers have  also opened stores and the site is just full of listings for buyers to sift through. Or eBay has shoved my listings into oblivion because they will receive the store fee if I sell anything or not. Maybe, as some others on here have suggested, eBay is just not the go to place for buying any more. 

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Sellers need to understand how the cassini search system works to keep stores selling. Some of the things it rewards with higher visibility are

 

* Sales. As soon as you sell something all listings get a bit of a boost, particularly similar items. The more you sell, the more you sell. Conversly, the less you sell, the lower you drop in searches and so it compounds. The less you sell. This can cause a seller death spiral where sales grind to a halt and can be hard to break out of.

 

* Bulk phantom edits can refresh listings in searches. Ebay CS reps do this from time to time to help when people have problems, so it is definately true.

 

* Real edits of individual listings. Changing the price, ( up or down ) , new pictures or changing a couple of words in the title will boost a listings visibility.

 

* NEW LISTINGS - along with sales ( which the seller cant really control much ) doing half a dozen new listings each day can make a huge difference to sales. especially if some of the new listings sell quickly. When a seller does a few new listings, all of that sellers listings get a boost in visibility. Spend a day and do 50 new listings and you can re-kickstart a dying account. This is the biggest thing a seller can control to increase visibility of all items in searches.

 

* Sales - did I mention sales ? If sales are slow it can be worth listing a few cheap items at give away prices as a sacrifice to the ebay gods to get sales going again.

 

* Sales - the other kind. I ran a 25% off sale on one of my accounts a couple of weeks ago as things had slowed on that account. It definately worked and regular sales have continued since it finished. This stratedgy relies on having a bank of watchers and items buyers actually want. Sales wont help if buyers just aint interested in what you are selling.

 

* Which brings us to another important one. Sell unique items. If there are only three of the widgets listed on ebay globally, buyers will find them and buy them. If there are 27,000 ( womans T shirts ) how do you make your listing stand out from that sea of cotton ?

 

* And the associated point. Sell stuff buyers ACTUALLY WANT TO BUY !!!. No point in listing old baby clothes if people can get them for free from friends, family and $5 a bag from op shops.

 

* Any regular ebay activity helps. Answering questions, packing etc. all adds up to a vibrant account which cassini rewards. Slow accounts get pushed lower in searches meaning their sales slow further. Active accounts get a boost ensuring more sales and more activity. Ebay reward active accounts and penalise slow accounts. It is a way of ensuring succesful sellers stay and sellers with less attractive items tend to drift away from the site. It does make sense from ebays perspecive when youn think about it.

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Thank you, very useful.

Just one question, what's a "bulk phantom edit"?