@holdmygold2 wrote:
For those who don't sell new items like iPhones etc., the main thing that has changed over the years is the types of times which collectors will buy.
Over the years collectors grew more sophisticated and demanding after eBay appeared.
Condition is now of utmost importance.
Rare doesn't mean today what it meant 20 years ago because all but the rarest of pieces are now accessible to anyone who is willing to pay for them.
Sellers who adapted to the changes in collector demands were doing just fine,
IMO that was moving along a predicted trajectory and it was possible to roll with the changes until a few months ago and then something seems to have suddenly snapped.
I'm not sure what happened but I don't believe it was the eBay glitch.
Things have to fall back into line at some point as all these buyers didn't suddenly fall off the planet.
Do they?
Exactly!
I was seeing steady growth in my sales as I learned the system and researched and learned the optimum format for listings etc.
Then, as you say, something snapped. Business tanked, fueled by who knows what but certainly a lot of the new and ludicrous Ebay policies certainly aren't helping.
I had the most ridiculous conversation with a "supposed" Ebay customer service supervisor last evening. I have been tracking a problem with keyword guided search results being completely off and also exposing just how badly Ebay IS NOT handling sellers who are purposely miscategorizing listings and seeding keywords for search and browse manipulation. This phone call was the culmination of a month of effort and hours spent on the phone, mostly on hold and being bounced from dept to dept. Finally I get a call telling me that "Nothing is wrong with the search engine results and Ebay effectively removes violating listing" BRAVO SIERRA!
The supervisor told me that there are many "factors" that effect search result placement and the results are based on "Best Match" blah blah bla. It was obvious she was reading fron an Ebay website page and it was quickly becoming apparent to me that this so-called supervisor had NO CLUE what she was talking about so I asked what are some specific factors that I could pursue to improve my listings and their placement in search results? PAUSE...Then she starts reading generic garbage from another Ebay webpage that was not an answer at all to my question. I got fed up and basically said that if you can't/won't answer my questions this cal is over. I then hung up.
The point of this story is that along with all of the negative changes going on that effect sellers in an adverse fashion if you think you are going to effect any positive change through trying to work with Ebay and their representatives, FORGET IT. Most of them, if not sub 100 IQ are so poorly trained that they don't even know how their own systems work. I wasted a month of effort this most recent time and it was all banging my head against the wall.
Ebay has gone wrong, terribly wrong. Will any of us still be here in a year, 2 or will Ebay just be a mirror of Ali Baba flogging cheap Asian **bleep**!
thd
