Thank you eBay for the monthly limits

[rocketscollectibles]

Just wanted to share a warm thank you to eBay since i will need to end around 100 listings in the next days

Pay to list while we already have to pay to sell (a very light 17% for me) is unnaceptable. This is just not viable and totally abusive that i would need to pay $30.00 for those 100 listings, to end around 25% monthly fees. Store is all broken i won't cede to subscribe to this scam

So let's do the very smart move to lose money together. Thank you eBay

[pjcdn2005]

You have 279 listings, you are allowed 250 so why do you have to end 100 listings?

[rocketscollectibles]

The count include listings sold that have been listed or renewed this month, auctions, relisted items count twice, etc

I actually only have 35 listings left, so after my next 35 new listings or renewed, i'll need to end every listing that renew before the beginning of next month to avoid additionnal fees

[recped]

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@rocketscollectibles wrote:

Just wanted to share a warm thank you to eBay since i will need to end around 100 listings in the next days

Pay to list while we already have to pay to sell (a very light 17% for me) is unnaceptable. This is just not viable and totally abusive that i would need to pay $30.00 for those 100 listings, to end around 25% monthly fees. Store is all broken i won't cede to subscribe to this scam

So let's do the very smart move to lose money together. Thank you eBay

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You are lucky you were not selling prior to 2011 when "free listing promos" became a thing. Prior to that there was usually only a single day free listing bonanza,  usually the week after Christmas.

Back in that time the total fees (for me, maybe not for all) were pretty much split 50/50 between listing fees and final value fees.

I can imagine that if unlimited listing at no cost were the norm eBay instead of having somewhere north of 1 Billion listings would explode to 10 Billion or more. Just like they went from around 100 Million to over a Billion over the course of a few months in 2011/12.

[mrdutch1001]

My guess is that OP had not sold anything in a while and was put into the new seller/occasional/infrequent seller status and still has listing limits???....

[rocketscollectibles]

But does fees at the end were higher? Paying a cost to list is not the thing. It's the total of everything that matters

It's that we pay 12.35% (just noticed it's 12.90% now...), plus $0.30 per sale, plus international fees, plus fees on taxes, plus fees to promote or it won't sell anything in a competitive category, PLUS fees to list. As said i'm reaching 25% monthly fees to sell on ebay, i think mafias extortion may be lower 

[femmefan1946]

I've always considered my actual fees to be around 20% of selling + shipping so that helps, along with many years in B&M retail which has much higher costs.

But it could be partly that, with the Free Listing Promotions, you were able to list a lot of cheap product.

Again, in my experience, there is a lower limit to what is profitable to sell.

There's a reason you don't see penny candy for sale anymore. It's too expensive.

 I looked at your Sold listings and of the 94 visible less than a third sold for over the $10 I consider profitable. You do have low shipping costs (you have posted about struggling to keep those down) so Free Shipping is reasonable for your items

If we have items that are worth less than $10 including shipping, we pretty much have to be selling multiples to the majority of customers OR making those low value items into bundles that will sell for more.

It's an ongoing problem.

Thank you for once again publicizing the difficulty of new sellers in a tough market. Your posts are appreciated.

[recped]

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@rocketscollectibles wrote:

But does fees at the end were higher? Paying a cost to list is not the thing. It's the total of everything that matters

It's that we pay 12.35% (just noticed it's 12.90% now...), plus $0.30 per sale, plus international fees, plus fees on taxes, plus fees to promote or it won't sell anything in a competitive category, PLUS fees to list. As said i'm reaching 25% monthly fees to sell on ebay, i think mafias extortion may be lower 

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In the very early days the overall fees were lower but by 2003 or so the total percentage was about the same at today.

It wasn't until 2006 (Stores To Core) that Fixed Price GTC listing became a thing, that was a big advantage for seller who had few listings but they were multi-quantity.

You are probably not aware but in the early days listings that were included in a general search were ONLY Auctions,  Fixed Price listings were only available in a Store, they were cheap, 5 cents but those listings did not show up in Search at all. This is why "linking to your Store" was a big thing because without directing people to your Store your Fixed Price listings were invisible.

From 1999 - 2006 I only ran Auctions because otherwise nobody would find them unless you made a big effort to promote your Store both on and off eBay.

[38e_avenue]

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@recped wrote:

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You are probably not aware but in the early days listings that were included in a general search were ONLY Auctions,  Fixed Price listings were only available in a Store, they were cheap, 5 cents but those listings did not show up in Search at all. This is why "linking to your Store" was a big thing because without directing people to your Store your Fixed Price listings were invisible.

OMG, I remember that! I ran auctions 4 times, and if they didnt't sell, I put them into the "invisible" store ...... good old times. It was so easy and pleasant to sell here at that time ...... buyer usernames were not hidden at all and - believe or not - seller was able to leave a negative feedback to a bad buyer!!!!  

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[pjcdn2005]

No, I think that they are complaining because the  listing special ended so they have to cancel listings before they renew.   If they still had a store they would still get 10,000 listings in some categories but they were unhappy with having a store.

[kosmic64]

Personally, I think eBay should have made the limit for free insertions for non-store sellers  500 per month. Just seems like a more fair amount when compared to the bumps the store subscribers received in the latest shake-up.

Store subscribers got MULTIPLES of their previous alotted amounts:

Basic got about 3X more

Premium got  10X more

Anchor 2.5 X more

Non-store only a mere percentage of 25% more then previous allotment.

[grandmas-great-items]

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@recped wrote:

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@rocketscollectibles wrote:

But does fees at the end were higher? Paying a cost to list is not the thing. It's the total of everything that matters

It's that we pay 12.35% (just noticed it's 12.90% now...), plus $0.30 per sale, plus international fees, plus fees on taxes, plus fees to promote or it won't sell anything in a competitive category, PLUS fees to list. As said i'm reaching 25% monthly fees to sell on ebay, i think mafias extortion may be lower 

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In the very early days the overall fees were lower but by 2003 or so the total percentage was about the same at today.

It wasn't until 2006 (Stores To Core) that Fixed Price GTC listing became a thing, that was a big advantage for seller who had few listings but they were multi-quantity.

You are probably not aware but in the early days listings that were included in a general search were ONLY Auctions,  Fixed Price listings were only available in a Store, they were cheap, 5 cents but those listings did not show up in Search at all. This is why "linking to your Store" was a big thing because without directing people to your Store your Fixed Price listings were invisible.

From 1999 - 2006 I only ran Auctions because otherwise nobody would find them unless you made a big effort to promote your Store both on and off eBay.

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Ah yes and to get free listings your auction had to start at 99 cents or less. Some higher value items I was too afraid to start at 99 cents and I didn't want to pay an insertion fee if it didn't sell if I started the bidding too high. That 99 cent or less free listing led to too many adding the cost of the item into the shipping. Which led ebay to make the changes they did with regards to FVF.

I loved the feeling and excitement of the auctions. To watch several people try to snipe it at the end in the last few seconds and boost it another $20, $30, $40 $50 was exciting. Some of my favorite auction memories were christmas cards I received from Elvis Presley that went for way more than I thought they would.

With regards to the current limits...I'm ok with them since I don't see myself going above that anytime soon.

I understand though how someone who got used to bascially unlimited free listings has run into a problem with either getting hit with unexpected fees or has to take down listings. And all the work to make those listings will go to waste since ebay only saves them for so long before they are deleted. So perhaps alternate listings each month to keep them "alive" until ebay opens up a 10,000 free listing or 100,000 free listing promo again.

[reallynicestamps]

So perhaps alternate listings each month to keep them "alive" until ebay opens up a 10,000 free listing

That'a a good idea.

And by using Sell Similar instead of Relist, the algorithm may think these are new listings instead of repeats and give a tiny boost in Search.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

So perhaps alternate listings each month to keep them "alive" until ebay opens up a 10,000 free listing

That'a a good idea.

And by using Sell Similar instead of Relist, the algorithm may think these are new listings instead of repeats and give a tiny boost in Search.

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Has anyone confirmed if ending a continuous or monthly promotion and restarting makes a difference to traffic? Is tinkering to that promotion a sales maker or just wishful thinking? Pretty much impossible for everyone to be on top when it comes to eBay search algorithms !!

-Lotz

[reallynicestamps]

Any boost will be tiny, given that there are over a billion listings at  time.

And of course, if the Search is About to Close, there woul be no boost.

And it would be ineffective if the Search is  Lowest Price .

It might help put the listing among the top 100 in any given Search.

The criteria seem to build in a certain vagueness.

And then there's the programming to reward sales with slightly more visibility.

And my favourite, where if we sell to, say, Idaho or Liechtenstein, we seem to get a little more visibility in those specific locations.  I base this wishful thinking on reports that sellers will get a sale from an unexpected location, then very soon get another sale, to a different person in the same state /town/nation.

[recped]

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@grandmas-great-items wrote:

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So perhaps alternate listings each month to keep them "alive" until ebay opens up a 10,000 free listing or 100,000 free listing promo again.

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eBay has made it pretty clear, the days of endless listing promos are OVER. The deluge during Covid was an exception that won't likely be repeated with any frequency.