I'm not a natural worrier, so I try not to spend any unnecessary time fretting about what could go wrong, but rather planning on how to avoid problems as far as I possibly can.
The real problem for me, time-wise, is that as eBay's policies, rules and procedures become more and more convoluted and complex, I'm spending a lot more time on trying to understand them and put them into practice, including time spent on these boards reading about or discussing problems others have run into. I find that can be a help in preventing some issues before they occur, which is why I usually set aside about an hour each day to spend on the discussion boards (mainly Seller Central).
However, when eBay launches new major policy updates, I find I spend hours of each day for several days trying to sort them out and make sense of how I need to incorporate them, and many more hours over several weeks actually applying necessary changes to my store listings -- in other words, a lot of wasted time. It's no wonder I cringe when I see "Seller Update".
As for business planning (i.e., the positive, useful time input), it used to be proportionately far more than it is now. I certainly do still spend more time on that aspect (because I'm an author and producer of my own work) than on eBay policy-related issues, but I have to admit I resent being obliged to spend more and more of my time "adjusting" to every whim of eBay. I used to be able to spend almost 100% of my time focused on developing my business. Now I must set more and more time aside on a regular basis to cope with eBay's policy changes, simply in order to survive.
I see in another thread that Mr. Elmwood mentioned somebody has hinted there are more major policy changes coming for us smaller sellers in spring 2015. I really don't know how much more I can take....
@rose-dee wrote:I'm not a natural worrier, so I try not to spend any unnecessary time fretting about what could go wrong, but rather planning on how to avoid problems as far as I possibly can.
The real problem for me, time-wise, is that as eBay's policies, rules and procedures become more and more convoluted and complex, I'm spending a lot more time on trying to understand them and put them into practice, including time spent on these boards reading about or discussing problems others have run into. I find that can be a help in preventing some issues before they occur, which is why I usually set aside about an hour each day to spend on the discussion boards (mainly Seller Central).
However, when eBay launches new major policy updates, I find I spend hours of each day for several days trying to sort them out and make sense of how I need to incorporate them, and many more hours over several weeks actually applying necessary changes to my store listings -- in other words, a lot of wasted time. It's no wonder I cringe when I see "Seller Update".
As for business planning (i.e., the positive, useful time input), it used to be proportionately far more than it is now. I certainly do still spend more time on that aspect (because I'm an author and producer of my own work) than on eBay policy-related issues, but I have to admit I resent being obliged to spend more and more of my time "adjusting" to every whim of eBay. I used to be able to spend almost 100% of my time focused on developing my business. Now I must set more and more time aside on a regular basis to cope with eBay's policy changes, simply in order to survive.
I see in another thread that Mr. Elmwood mentioned somebody has hinted there are more major policy changes coming for us smaller sellers in spring 2015. I really don't know how much more I can take....
Canada Post will give you a changes warmup with new postage rates (hopefully no changes in services like Light Packet from 100 to 150 gram and a large rate hike for that new weight class) in Jan 2015. Always good for something different in recent years.
At least Canada Post only has one yearly major change unlike eBay with a Spring and Fall Update.
@pocomocomputing wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
I see in another thread that Mr. Elmwood mentioned somebody has hinted there are more major policy changes coming for us smaller sellers in spring 2015. I really don't know how much more I can take....
Canada Post will give you a changes warmup with new postage rates (hopefully no changes in services like Light Packet from 100 to 150 gram and a large rate hike for that new weight class) in Jan 2015. Always good for something different in recent years.
At least Canada Post only has one yearly major change unlike eBay with a Spring and Fall Update.
Yes, I'm never as worried about Canada Post as about eBay's Seller Updates -- that's actually what I was referring to above. Generally Canada Post yearly changes just mean higher costs, whereas eBay changes can seriously affect how we do business.
However I'm not sure exactly what Mr. E. was alluding to in terms of details -- it seems this is still in the rumour stage. I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope it doesn't involve more restrictions and difficulties for smaller sellers.
You know, in the end, I wouldn't even mind all those Seller Updates and layer upon layer of rules and policies if it actually translated into significant increases in sales. I can only presume that someone must be benefiting financially from all these rules, or eBay is the stupidest corporation on record.
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