eBay

musicyouneed · ‎03-18-2016

Nothing is selling, not making any money, no free promos, lost my motivation to list. Nothing exciting on the discussion boards.

I'm bored stiff. Anyone else feeling bored and unmotivated?

2nd-time-around-jewelry · ‎03-18-2016

I am not feeling bored but more discouraged. I have been selling on eBay for over 14 years. I rely on the promotions to relist over 800 items. I always sell items daily or weekly. I have not sold anything for weeks now. And all my listings ran out awhile ago. I will not relist as it is too expensive. And a store doesn't work for me. I also don't feel like buying on eBay lately. So eBay has lost me as a seller & a buyer. Not sure how that benefits them.

femmefan1946 · ‎03-18-2016

I have stuff ready to list, all written up and scanned, but I'm off to a science fiction convention next weekend and don't want to waste the free listings when I put my Stores on vacation for four days.

mr.elmwood · ‎03-18-2016

I put my store on vacation a few weeks ago. I don't feel like working. I am doing house renovations instead. Got a lot done the last week.

Took out the 73 year old altered double window disaster in the upstairs bathroom. Replaced it with a nice slider, insulated, drywall on top of the inside plaster. Wall and window make a massive difference.

So, instead of making $1500, I didn't spend $1500 on a contractor. Now I know how to do the rest of the windows in the house. I will save ten's of thousands.

I am the only one in Man-Sask doing what I do. All the supply wrecking yards: Winnipeg, Brandon, Regina, Saskatoon are all kine. I will never run out of cheap inventory.

.
.
.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎03-18-2016

I am not bored or unmotivated. I am FRUSTRATED! I knock myself out to list on this site, I am constantly upgrading my listings, improving my pictures and eBay is DUMPING my listings because there is no UPC. A while back, I spent four days to update all the UPC codes on my items (off the original tags) and eBay ruled them as "invalid". Now the listing will not even accept them.

hlmacdon · ‎03-18-2016

It has definitely been a bit slower of late but no such thing as free time it seems like. Building out a new site and continuing to transfer everything over to a new inventory system which should allow for much easier inventory maintenance on ebay or otherwise. The remaining bit of time is spent cursing the lack of a properly integrated inventory/accounting software platform that is multicurrency friendly.

j44b · ‎03-18-2016

Between golf, mowing lawn and yardwork no time to be bored.

orphanitems · ‎03-18-2016

I agree. It feels like a void out there. I think the Oil prices tanking here in Canada - and lots of people are feeling a taste of poverty for the first time here in Alberta Canada. The American picture looks bleak with the election run up going on...Uneasy times???

momcqueen · ‎03-19-2016

Unmotivated but not bored.

I'm trying to get my taxes done. And there was a death in the family late last month that hit everyone here hard. My store was 'closed' for that for around a week.

My sales slumped a little this quarter but I attribute it to the fact that I am, sadly, about four to six months behind in listing new items. I had exciting things piled up on my desk, waiting for their turn in the queue with photographing and listing, but I had to pack them away when the other stuff happened and now I am staring at paperwork instead. Which makes no one happy.

In my field, you either have to be the first seller with an item or the last seller with the item. In between, you're just part of the white noise.

While I'm not overly concerned about performance at the moment because, while the number of items I've sold this month has dropped slightly, the dollar amount has not. I do, however, worry when the feedback left for me as a seller shows less than a minimum of 10 responses in the month, as it does now. It looks like no one cares I am here. Which is not completely true. Feedback-leaving from buyers is also behind pace right now, for whatever reason. Still, I don't think it looks all that good for me to have a feedback of 8 within the past 30 days.

jersey..authentix · ‎03-19-2016

I guess I am bucking the trend . Sales are a little slower but still maintaining a good average. Cant complain, but can always hope for better..

Anonymous · ‎03-19-2016

eBay is going way too far with UPC. Who would ever remember the UPC when they are checking on eBay?? No one!! Sheesh!!

I have many items that don't have UPC as they were unheard in 1950s to 1980s or so!! eBay just don't get it!! They think we are listings items that were manufactures in 2000!!!! eBay gets on with the program and leave UPC out!!

hlmacdon · ‎03-19-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
eBay is going way too far with UPC. Who would ever remember the UPC when they are checking on eBay?? No one!! Sheesh!!

I have many items that don't have UPC as they were unheard in 1950s to 1980s or so!! eBay just don't get it!! They think we are listings items that were manufactures in 2000!!!! eBay gets on with the program and leave UPC out!!

Officially it is there for SEO purposes to improve search engine discoverability, but mostly it is going to be used to lump together your listings with other sellers and point the buyer towards the "best" ie cheapest seller. This is why they are pushing so hard on the issue. In terms of SEO, it won't help much at all, manufacturer part numbers are far more relevant there. It's a nightmare to try to implement on somewhere like ebay where you have many categories of items where it really doesn't apply. I'm not sure how many categories they allow you to use the Does not apply option for the UPC, thankfully my niche does. I can see them forcing sellers in other categories to either have a UPC or force them to list the item as used.

momcqueen · ‎03-19-2016

honeybed1950 wrote:
eBay is going way too far with UPC. Who would ever remember the UPC when they are checking on eBay?? No one!! Sheesh!!

I sometimes do. If I'm on my mobile device at a store and looking to see what the going rate is on ebay for something in the store on the shelf in front of me. It's easier to scan the UPC of the item in my hand than type with my thumb some search terms. And more specific. It helps me to decide whether to buy it in store, or to try my luck as a buyer on an auction somewhere.

gifts_of_elegance · ‎03-20-2016

I spoke with an eBay specialist in the department that handles UPC codes.

I got a lot of sympathy for spending four days to post UPC codes on my listings (ruled invalid) and have been given a 30 day grace period to change to "not applicable". Today some more of my listings were dumped. So much for the promises.

One more thing I was told: The reason for the UPC code requirement is so that buyers can find the item that sells the cheapest! We come to eBay to sell our items and they shoot us in the knees.

dutchman48 · ‎03-20-2016

They are moving up with the bullets!!

momcqueen · ‎03-20-2016

I think they are selling their buyers short if that is what they believe: that buyers are looking for something that is the cheapest.

My stuff is NEVER the cheapest.

I do, however, have a proven track record of good service.

hlmacdon · ‎03-21-2016

@gifts_of_elegance wrote:
I spoke with an eBay specialist in the department that handles UPC codes.

I got a lot of sympathy for spending four days to post UPC codes on my listings (ruled invalid) and have been given a 30 day grace period to change to "not applicable". Today some more of my listings were dumped. So much for the promises.

One more thing I was told: The reason for the UPC code requirement is so that buyers can find the item that sells the cheapest! We come to eBay to sell our items and they shoot us in the knees.

If only some clever soul in the marketing department hadn't decided to incur the wrath of google by hiring well known spam houses to write fake buying guides and category pages in an attempt to artificially inflate search engine rankings. Now revenue growth is left with the lowest common denominator as a go forward strategy...price.