Ebay help & advice

timeforacoffee

Hi,
Apologies for any errors as this is my first ever post but I am looking for advice from others who are experienced
I have only ever read the house selling/buying boards before but have started reading a bit more of the site over the last few months so decided to join in the hope that I could gain advice and also possibly help others in the future

I'm looking for a little advice from any experienced people who have ebay shops and really really don't want to post on any ebay boards.
I'll try to keep it as brief as I can but I'm not an experienced poster so sorry if it reads badly !
I have been on ebay for about 5 years now and maybe bought / sold up to 10 items a year at most
Anyway, I sold about 20 things a few months back, my primary aim was to spring clean the house !
I sold them all within days and realised that buyers were there for this type of item, so I sold some more etc.
After a few months I decided it was cheaper to have a shop etc. and then later on decided to set up a little business (any income being a bonus etc. as I like my job and don't want to leave and although the listing etc. is quite a lot of hard work and time at first, but through managing my time better I feel like I could continue
After selling over 75% of my stock in the first two weeks of every month, I have asked for more listings. Each month I am told I am allowed more listings (not that many more) if I sell 80% stock, then last month 85% stock and now being told I must sell a minimum 90% of what's there for them to increase my selling allowance. My allowance is only in the low hundreds I might add, not thousands !
Everytime I get near to the % they have asked me to sell, I have noticed my sales suddenly stop virtually flat for a week or so ?? These are the same products that are selling fast in the first 2 weeks so I don't know what to make of it really ?
Having read some of the community boards there seem to be all sorts of 'theories' being discussed as to invisible sales and even though I wouldn't normally consider certain 'theories' I can't help but start to believe it as it is happening to my sales ?

justjohn

LOL ....the search does not work properly on ebay. for whatever reason. (there are various theories)

If these are buy now's multiple quantities see below.

When sales die were are you in ebay app Listing Analytics.
or if you have not got that free with your shop. Were are you in best match in comparison to when your sales were flowing?

Best match demotes listings that do not get a sale, too many views and no sales are a bad thing.

RFW

timeforacoffee wrote: »

Having read some of the community boards there seem to be all sorts of 'theories' being discussed as to invisible sales and even though I wouldn't normally consider certain 'theories' I can't help but start to believe it as it is happening to my sales ?

Well there are theories and always have been, some hold water, some don't. There really isn't a good way of finding out or doing anything about them.
Some more basic facts are that many people get paid monthly and budget accordingly, items that sell well in week one of the month will not be selling as well in weeks three and four.
There are also other factors, check out your competition. Best match also has a boost towards the end of a 30 day cycle and again at the beginning, in the middle part they may be shoved down a bit.
I have one item that is constantly number one or two on best match in a certain category, sales of it are erratic. There isn't always a reason.
One thing I do when there is a dip in sale is use markdown manager and put item on sale with 5-10% discount for 1-3 days. This usually gives a boost.

RFW

justjohn wrote: »

Best match demotes listings that do not get a sale, too many views and no sales are a bad thing.

That's not supposed to happen any more, search is now supposed to boost items that get more views. Whether it works like that I've no idea. I know Ebay are supposed to have spent fortunes on Cassini, their newer search system, I can't say I've noticed a difference.

timeforacoffee

Thank you for your reply
I just feel a bit...sort of deflated at the moment and I don't have enough experience at the moment
I feel a little frustrated I suppose as I have spent so much time preparing, registering and all the other legal type stuff so I didn't rush in and now I feel like I've been given 'targets' that are unrealistic. I didn't expect that after a few months of selling 70%-80% of stock per month (different stock though, I don't have any item that has never sold) that I would be told ''We'll increase your allowance at 90% sales'' and now all sales seem to have stopped dead. I have to sell a few more listings of the very few that I have got left but it doesn't work like that for what I sell
Say for example I sell 70 different items, but have them in 10 different colours etc. I feel like I have to guess what 'colour' people will want to buy this week instead of just having them all available as they all sell at different times etc.
I just find it really weird that since I've been given this 'target' for sales, my sales have slowed right down and on some days virtually stopped ?
I have seen sellers with thousands of items for sale and feel like I really have to perform exceptionally to ever get anywhere near this
My feedback is fantastic with a good sales record now so I can't understand why they would restrict sales of something that sells well ?
The last ebay person I spoke to from selling allowance team said my sell through rate is way way above what the average is but still Ive got to wait

timeforacoffee

And I've just found the 'thanks' button so thank you for your replies

timeforacoffee

Did anyone else experience anything like this when they first opened a shop ?
Last week I had to choose between 3 items, one that had sold 98, one that had sold 72 and one that was newer but was catching up at 49 and I only had 3 more items left to list so I had to let 2 of them end as I couldn't add any more and felt gutted as they were my best sellers - has ebay always been like this ?:(

justjohn

RFW wrote: »

That's not supposed to happen any more, search is now supposed to boost items that get more views. Whether it works like that I've no idea. I know Ebay are supposed to have spent fortunes on Cassini, their newer search system, I can't say I've noticed a difference.

incorrect ....I can cook the view counter so there are 100+ unique views . it demotes the listing.

a listing with 150 views and 2 sale will appear higher than a listing with 1 sale and 1000 views.

trust me lol
its also stated on one of the ebay pages that this is what happens.(don't ask me to find it)

justjohn

timeforacoffee wrote: »

Did anyone else experience anything like this when they first opened a shop ?
Last week I had to choose between 3 items, one that had sold 98, one that had sold 72 and one that was newer but was catching up at 49 and I only had 3 more items left to list so I had to let 2 of them end as I couldn't add any more and felt gutted as they were my best sellers - has ebay always been like this ?:(

All my accounts are old so I am unsure what listing restrictions ebay has put on new accounts. (I have a few business/shop accounts)

I have a private account I also list on, this will be converted to a business/shop account at a later date.(I assume I will bypass any restrictions by doing this)

timeforacoffee

Are the listing allowances really strict even with sales and good feedback ?
I'm gutted as I have been getting regular customers who now can't buy because I can't put on stock !
I was hoping for some pearls of wisdom from any experienced business sellers on ebay as to whether I'm doing anything wrong ?

justjohn

I have no restrictions on my accounts that I know off...other than if I use all my free listing I must pay for more.