eBay

radcofin · ‎12-14-2023

Been an eBay member since 2003 and have bought and sold many times over the years. I recently decided to sell some stuff after a few years off and it seems like such a different enviroment than before! I like to do auction style listings, which seem very rare now, and I think I understand why. On the 20 listings I have put up I have had 3 people cancel bids on active auctions, 2 that have asked for their winning bids to be cancelled, and 2 that have not decided to pay at all (from experienced eBayers to boot!). What the heck!

Is this just unlucky, or are other sellers seeing the same thing on auction style listings?

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-14-2023

Just based on what I've read on the board, this is very common with auctions.

marnotom! · ‎12-14-2023

Just to add to @pjcdn2005's post, it might be a worse problem for you given the merchandise you sell.

femmefan1946 · ‎12-14-2023

and it seems like such a different enviroment than before!

Ah yes , remember 2003?

Billpoint payments were newly introduced, Americans kept mailing domestic postal orders to Canada, no one had a cell phone, Stores were not in Search, we didn't pay fees on shipping or sales taxes....

Auctions are now less than 15% of listings and most of those have either Buy It Now or Best Offer options.

The basic change is that internet shopping is now normal. It's not a scarey , edgy behaviour that required patience and self-confidence, but how we buy christmas lights and rubber duckies (my last two online purchases).

I suspect that most of your bidders did not realize they were bidding in an auction and cancelled (or disappeared) when they did not win instantly. They bought a Fixed Price item instead.

You are also selling in a category where the product is mass merchandise, so buyers can get Immediate Gratification using Fixed Price, instead of waiting seven days for the auction to end, possibly unsuccessfully.

And games do attract gamers. And a gamers gonna game. They stiffed you for the lulz.

There is usually a resurgance in sales of Collectibles after Christmas, as collectors who spent their allowance on gifts for others surge back hungry for their passion which was on the back burner for a month. This may also apply to gamers.

Use what you have learned about the value of your games and switch to Fixed Price/ Immediate Payment Required. Those listings will stay open for 30 days or until someone pays.

I would also suggest using Free Shipping.

DON'T PANIC!

Which is cheaper : a game that sells for $35 with $6 shipping or a game that sells for $41 with Free Shipping?

We get a discount on shipping * which helps, you do have a Solutions for Small Business Card, right?

If you consider using Promoted Listings, stick to the Standard and keep it low. I use 2% which seems to bring me eyeballs. The "suggested rates" are a race to the top and very useful -- for eBay. And you don't have to use PL on everything. Put it on some of your listings and don't just leave them there.

*But don't count on the Tracked Packet USA discount of 53% which ends on Dec. 31

byto253 · ‎12-14-2023

Auctions would improve a ton if eBay modernized them and payment was automatically processed upon the close of the auction. For some folks bidding is not serious.

I have been lucky, even with video games but stuff does happen.

femmefan1946 · ‎12-15-2023

Autopay has been introduced on dotCOM.

There are a lot of members, both buyers and sellers, who hate it.

Buyers are either insulted that they are not trusted, and these would be the ones who do intend to pay, or upset about giving their financial information just to be able to bid.

Sellers are noticing fewer bidders, possibly because of the above reasons.

Sellers are annoyed that they were opted in without being told they would be.

It is at best difficult to combine shipping if the buyer wins multiple auctions from the same seller, which is not unusual with stamp sellers for one example.

EBay does not allow combined shipping charges with AutoPay. This allows eBay to collect 30c on each separate payment, which is not much, but it adds up.

byto253 · ‎12-16-2023

The big reason given against autopay is combined items, which is not a factor for me, and don't think it is that big a factor for most auctions or just in specific instances. I would suggest that the supposed buyers who hate it are not real buyers but mainly tire kickers. And people do adjust, as we have seen with many, many changes on eBay.

Combining items for shipping is also an issue with BINs with immediate payment requirements, but folks manage to buy stuff and we work it out.

I don't see any big difference in giving payment information between a BIN or auction, if you are going to buy you need to have a payment method. Perhaps for the casual eBay buyer that want to pay when they know they have won the auction I could see that, but that is the way the vast majority of online auctions work.

It should be an optional opt in though. I would put more up for auction if payment was done on hammer was an option. Not having it is a hold over relic IMHO.

hugo111171 · ‎12-17-2023

This is also the case now, and it happens that some people place a bid on some auctions and cancel the bid. It happened to me this week that two people who bid withdrew and canceled the bid one afer another, I'm not talking about people who don't want to pay for winning auctions, best regards

intimewithmusic · ‎12-17-2023

devon@ebay

Hi.

Can you let me know why I can't see listings when I click your "View Listings" link?

This also applies to @radcofin @marnotom! and @byto253

marntomi seems to know what you'r e selling. does your link work for them?

Is this a gliche only for me? Is there a workaround?

I have all the filters open. When I click any of these contributor's links all I get is a blank page with a username at the top. I'd like to understand the post but we need to know what it is people sell to do that.

It would be great if someone could bring me up to speed on these innaccessible listings.

Thanks!

PS The lisitings of all the other contributors posting are fine. It just these 3 that are not available to me.

intimewithmusic · ‎12-17-2023

I checked all of the parameters in my forum "Settings". There doesn't seem to be one that disables the "View Listings" link.

I've never put my store on vacation or "Time Away" so that could be it. Would that explain it?

Thanks

mrdutch1001 · ‎12-17-2023

I often use the "Time Away" feature for those occasions when traveling here and there across various parts of Canada...but that feature does not necessarily restrict anyone from viewing my items...depends on the chosen setting: When using the "Time Away" feature sellers have 2 options>1. "Pause sales for up to 30 days while you’re away" OR 2. "Allow sales for up to 15 days while you’re away"

intimewithmusic · ‎12-17-2023

Hi.

I notice that deactivation of the link is becoming popular so it must be an option. If it's not to do with Time Away and it's not an option/preference/parameter in my profile settings how is it deactivated when it still shows data like item count and feedback score?

Thank you.

mrdutch1001 · ‎12-17-2023

I have no explanation, have never encountered such and there is no obvious reason; so whatever the issue and/or the cause for it, perhaps this needs to be sent to and addressed by the Tech team.

reallynicestamps · ‎12-17-2023

It happened to me this week that two people who bid withdrew and canceled the bid one afer another,

@hugo111171

But that is a Good Thing.
You don't have to worry about filing Unpaid Item Disputes (UID) or fighting false Not As Described Claims (NAD).

And if you want to you can Block that buyer.

reallynicestamps · ‎12-17-2023

@marnotom! uses a posting ID.

I can't see any listings by @byto253 either, but their Sold listings do appear.

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-17-2023

@intimewithmusic wrote:
devon@ebay
Hi.
Can you let me know why I can't see listings when I click your "View Listings" link?
This also applies to @radcofin @marnotom! and @byto253

marntomi seems to know what you'r e selling. does your link work for them?

Is this a gliche only for me? Is there a workaround?

I have all the filters open. When I click any of these contributor's links all I get is a blank page with a username at the top. I'd like to understand the post but we need to know what it is people sell to do that.

It would be great if someone could bring me up to speed on these innaccessible listings.

Thanks!
PS The lisitings of all the other contributors posting are fine. It just these 3 that are not available to me.

I don't believe that there are any listings to see. It looks like @radcofin and @byto253 do not have any current listings. If you want to see what type of items that sell click on their view listings link, scroll part way down the page and on the left side click on completed or sold listings. That will show you ended listings. @marnotom! isn't a seller so has no listings to see.

intimewithmusic · ‎12-17-2023

Thank you!

intimewithmusic · ‎12-17-2023

@reallynicestamps wrote:
@marnotom! uses a posting ID.
I can't see any listings by @byto253 either, but their Sold listings do appear.

Hi.

Thank you. If you don't mind, what is a "posting id"? I couldn't see any option in settings for a seller to choose an alternate. If it's a choice I'm sure peaple have a reason. I just don't see anywhere you can make the choice.

There's an interesting dotcom thread asking sellers how their Christmas sales are going. People were posting but you can't see if they actually sell anything. Some have low feedback with a couple of listings. Others have thousands of feedback and listings.

No one seems to have a definitive answer as to why or how this is possible.

Thanks.

ricarmic · ‎12-17-2023

A posting ID is simply an unused ID (of theirs) that the poster is using.

Its either a new ID that they set up specifically for use here, or it is a secondary ID that they rarely use.

There are valid reasons why one might not want to use ones "real" id, for fear of pushback, problems from other posters. That is probably less likely here than on the US boards.