20 Free listings every month

kalsha

Goldiegirl wrote: »

But I don't trust them to get things like that right...... I'm having a last hurrah re-listing spree, and will use all my 99p's by 13th May.

And if you do the free automatic listing, that would be 3 extra weeks or 3 x10 days!

Rotti

I think eBay will suffer a drop in FVFs as they are bringing in these double whammy measures at a time when sales seem to be at an all time low anyway. I sported £5 on listing 35 items of nice glassware last weekend and 33 were unsold, there were hardly any views, no watchers and no enquiries about international postage. Both items that sold went for a maiden £4.99 bid so I didn't have much to show for a morning's work. On that basis am I likely to pay them 35p to list anything?

If they had thought it through a little better, they might have left the fee restructuring for a while after removing the 100 free 99p listings. The people who rely on those just might have been willing to spend 10p or 15p listing their items, thus boosting the coffers, but there is no way they will spend 35p. If they open a shop to get 100 "free" listings - in reality 20p listings and only that if you use them all - that is also too big a hike for low value items so they will probably not bother at all. Their regular buyers who may buy other things will disappear and the whole character of eBay will change as all the quirky and collectable items vanish.

I did not get invited to the party this weekend for 100 free listings and yet my friend got invites on BOTH his accounts so how on earth did they allocate them? So they won't get any FVFs from me for a while and it will have a knock-on effect on my Hermes driver who will have no parcels. Great business decision there!

Mandy44

You should have a re-think the loss of your fvf's could make them go under.

Ebay aren't stupid they want to get rid of all the tatty 99p sellers and try to aim for a more commercial/business based site. I'm guessing they've seen Amazon overtake them in most areas with their almost Googlelike rise and realised the money they make from small sellers compared to the almost jumble sale like view it gives to their site isn't worth it. It's no surprise they bought out Gumtree to catch all their fallen jumble/boot fayre sellers.

If 33 of your 35 items went thru unsold you should be looking at your items not ebay, my last listing had 660 views , 110 watchers and maybe 10 overall bidders. I don't sell often on there but was more than happy with the amounts of action it attracted.

Rotti

Mandy44 wrote: »

You should have a re-think the loss of your fvf's could make them go under.

Ebay aren't stupid they want to get rid of all the tatty 99p sellers and try to aim for a more commercial/business based site. I'm guessing they've seen Amazon overtake them in most areas with their almost Googlelike rise and realised the money they make from small sellers compared to the almost jumble sale like view it gives to their site isn't worth it. It's no surprise they bought out Gumtree to catch all their fallen jumble/boot fayre sellers.

If 33 of your 35 items went thru unsold you should be looking at your items not ebay, my last listing had 660 views , 110 watchers and maybe 10 overall bidders. I don't sell often on there but was more than happy with the amounts of action it attracted.

The generalisation that 99p sellers are "tatty" is one that is getting a bit worn and tired and everyone has different ideas of what is "tat". And it is not at all a "jumble sale" unless that is how you view vintage and collectable items. I would say there is more junk on there in the technology categories like cheap and nasty memory cards and batteries from China. Having been at it for 9 years and been one of the independent pillars on which it was founded it is sad to see it losing focus on its unique standing on the internet as the only auction site and joining the race downhill to try to "keep up" with Amazon and the like.

I'm glad whatever it was you sold did well for you but that is not what a lot of sellers are reporting and according to CS agents they have had a lot of calls regarding the drop in sales. Doing away with the 99p free listings is one thing but a massive hike in fees is quite another and will put people off. As for "looking at my items" they were certainly not rubbish but high end branded crystal and stemware and should have generated more interest than they did - experience tells me that and as you don't sell often maybe I have more of that to go on?

Mandy44

Rotti wrote: »

Doing away with the 99p free listings is one thing but a massive hike in fees is quite another and will put people off. As for "looking at my items" they were certainly not rubbish but high end branded crystal and stemware and should have generated more interest than they did - experience tells me that and as you don't sell often maybe I have more of that to go on?

If it does put the lower end sellers off then I guess eBay have acheived what they aimed for.

As for assuming your items should have generated more interest, that's only your view and whilst the changes may put off sellers there's no reason it should put off buyers. Maybe they're not as high end as you assume, personally I have a hard job considering items selling at £4.99 as high end.

Rotti

Mandy44 wrote: »

If it does put the lower end sellers off then I guess eBay have acheived what they aimed for.

As for assuming your items should have generated more interest, that's only your view and whilst the changes may put off sellers there's no reason it should put off buyers. Maybe they're not as high end as you assume, personally I have a hard job considering items selling at £4.99 as high end.

What exactly is "lower end" in your world? It doesn't necessarily mean rubbish or comply with your personal opinion but could simply be small low value collectables like postcards and comics that collectors look for.

As you don't seem to believe what I am saying, look at the private and business discussion boards on eBay and see for yourself. Call up the customer service centre in Dublin (you probably won't get them as they are for top sellers) and ask them yourself.

My items were indeed high end - I assume you have heard of Stuart, Waterford and Royal Brierley Crystal? - but in an attempt to encourage bidding I started them low. Never been to an auction? That's how it works - start low to get the bidding going and watch it go....... only these days it isn't working on eBay as it used to. You don't seem to grasp that the changes that were made somehow affected buyers seeing items at all on eBay and some business sellers have lost their sales overnight and even been unable to find their own items on a search, so it isn't just about buyers going onto the site but what they are finding with their searches. Something changed at the end of February - all sellers did not suddenly get it wrong or have the wrong stuff at the wrong price overnight and I'm pretty sure Soolin will back me up on this one.

soolin

My items were indeed high end - I assume you have heard of Stuart, Waterford and Royal Brierley Crystal? - but in an attempt to encourage bidding I started them low. Never been to an auction? That's how it works - start low to get the bidding going and watch it go....... only these days it isn't working on eBay as it used to. You don't seem to grasp that the changes that were made somehow affected buyers seeing items at all on eBay and some business sellers have lost their sales overnight and even been unable to find their own items on a search, so it isn't just about buyers going onto the site but what they are finding with their searches. Something changed at the end of February - all sellers did not suddenly get it wrong or have the wrong stuff at the wrong price overnight and I'm pretty sure Soolin will back me up on this one.

I can't prove anything nor can I even explain it, but I agree there is something wrong with search. I can look for a widget by name on my iPad, and see perhaps 100 results, go immediately onto the PC and with the same search find 1500. Searching as a guest my own items are sometimes ranking half way down the first page in Best Match with a private seller with low stars and a neg or two ranking higher. Then 10 minutes later I am ranked as high as second in best match, assuming I can even find all my items in the first place.

Incidentally there are some users on here it is not worth responding to, they are out for attention not to have a useful debate- just saying

Rotti

soolin wrote: »

I can't prove anything nor can I even explain it, but I agree there is something wrong with search. I can look for a widget by name on my iPad, and see perhaps 100 results, go immediately onto the PC and with the same search find 1500. Searching as a guest my own items are sometimes ranking half way down the first page in Best Match with a private seller with low stars and a neg or two ranking higher. Then 10 minutes later I am ranked as high as second in best match, assuming I can even find all my items in the first place.

Incidentally there are some users on here it is not worth responding to, they are out for attention not to have a useful debate- just saying

Gotcha Soolin! :beer:

cestlavie

Thanks for heads up. Most I've ever listed in one month was about 50 items so I'm not that affected - although it would happen on the one week I have off and had prepared to really give ebay a good go! With 20 free listings I will be very choosy about what to list and won't be putting any 99p starting prices. The real shame is that I do have a mass of items that should be listed at that bracket, like vintage comics and postcards etc. will have to think again about them.

soolin

cestlavie wrote: »

Thanks for heads up. Most I've ever listed in one month was about 50 items so I'm not that affected - although it would happen on the one week I have off and had prepared to really give ebay a good go! With 20 free listings I will be very choosy about what to list and won't be putting any 99p starting prices. The real shame is that I do have a mass of items that should be listed at that bracket, like vintage comics and postcards etc. will have to think again about them.

There will still be free listing events- one is running at the moment.