eBay

jt-libra · ‎04-14-2018

I plan to close my media store at the end of the month, when my subscription is done. I was wondering if, at the time it closes, I have approximately 100 listings on each of .ca and .com, do these remain until the 30-day period is up? And then I can continue to list for free 50 on each of the sites?

(I didn't post this on the eBay Stores board because, from viewing the dates of the posts, it doesn't seem that many people visit there).

Thanks.

femmefan1946 · ‎04-14-2018

You paid for the 30 days, you get the 30 days at your Store rate.

(My fuss is that Store listings are not really free. The rate should be calculated as monthly subcription fee divided by number of listings.)

Store owners don't get the 50 Free Listings (which really are), so any you add to existing listings will be Free.

If your 30 day listings are on Good Til Cancelled, they will relist but at the new non-Store rate.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-14-2018

I’ve never closed a store but I’m sure that those listings will remain until they expire. If they are gtc you will have to end them manually unless you want them to renew and count as part of the 50 free listings.

jt-libra · ‎04-14-2018

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I’ve never closed a store but I’m sure that those listings will remain until they expire. If they are gtc you will have to end them manually unless you want them to renew and count as part of the 50 free listings.

No, they are not GTC. I plan to be selective about the 100 items I will list each month (50 on each of .ca and .com). I can't do any worse with 100 listings a month than I did with 250 - 300.

I opened my store this time last year after I had acquired about 250 new items. At the same time, I was fussing around with currency on each of the two sites and also eliminating active content, as well as setting up my store. By the time I had all these new items listed, it was summer. By then, media sales just tanked .... not just for me but many sellers.

Where I used to sell 25 to 30 items a month, I was, and still am, only selling 10 on a good month, but usually only 6 to 8. The little profit I make on these sales does not even cover the monthly store fee. I guess I thought sales might pick up, but they didn't. So as I'm slowly selling off my inventory on this H&B account, my plan is also to end my media account in the near future.

I think I might try selling items by renting kiosks from time to time.

When sales slowed the last few months and I wasn't adding new items, I found that I was actually enjoying life. I had time to do things around the house, binge watch some programs I hadn't had time for, and watch an entire hockey game without interruption (Go Jets Go!). And my stress level is significantly reduced. When I see upcoming changes that eBay is planning, I think .... well, I don't have to worry about that.

As I had fewer and fewer sales, and no need to buy new inventory, I've gradually learned how to live with the reduced monthly income.

momcqueen · ‎04-14-2018

This is off-topic but there are enough ebay sellers from Winnipeg, Manitoba on the Discussion Boards that I've often wondered if we should organize ourselves some type of loose coalition so we can do a joint market or buy plots of tables for the bigger fairs/shows.

jt-libra · ‎04-14-2018

@momcqueen wrote:
This is off-topic but there are enough ebay sellers from Winnipeg, Manitoba on the Discussion Boards that I've often wondered if we should organize ourselves some type of loose coalition so we can do a joint market or buy plots of tables for the bigger fairs/shows.

Wow, that's a great idea! Thinking outside the box .... something I've never excelled at. I'd be interested in seeing if any other Winnipeggers will weigh in.

momcqueen · ‎04-14-2018

Awesome, I think we could make a go of it. I don't do many if any markets right now because I need like a 'buddy' to cover breaks and to keep company or another watchful eye or whatever. I'd like to see if we could collect a few other local sellers to do something like this. And start small. But I think it could be a good and mutually beneficial experience for us.

jt-libra · ‎04-14-2018

@momcqueen wrote:
Awesome, I think we could make a go of it. I don't do many if any markets right now because I need like a 'buddy' to cover breaks and to keep company or another watchful eye or whatever. I'd like to see if we could collect a few other local sellers to do something like this. And start small. But I think it could be a good and mutually beneficial experience for us.

I agree. Obviously, we will have to organize this outside of this platform.

momcqueen · ‎04-14-2018

Er, yes. But I wouldn't say it works against ebay if we as ebay sellers put ourselves out there, together. We're spreading the good word, after all. All my promotional endeavours still lead back to ebay.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎04-14-2018

Just throwing this out there. For anyone that did have listings that were GTC or wanted to update their listing or they were closing a store, isn't there an over-ride to shut off that feature? Common sense would say there should be. Has anyone ever tried to update to 30 days or less?

-CM

jt-libra · ‎04-14-2018

@momcqueen wrote:
Er, yes. But I wouldn't say it works against ebay if we as ebay sellers put ourselves out there, together. We're spreading the good word, after all. All my promotional endeavours still lead back to ebay.

That's true. And, of course, we have our eBay packaging front and center!

zee-chan · ‎04-15-2018

Yes, if you listed 30 days FP while you have a store, those listings will stay until their 30 days are up even if you closed the store. I just tried that last year when we were barely getting any promos and had to keep my unsold listings alive.

rose-dee · ‎04-15-2018

@jt-libra wrote:
I opened my store this time last year after I had acquired about 250 new items. At the same time, I was fussing around with currency on each of the two sites and also eliminating active content, as well as setting up my store. By the time I had all these new items listed, it was summer. By then, media sales just tanked .... not just for me but many sellers.

Where I used to sell 25 to 30 items a month, I was, and still am, only selling 10 on a good month, but usually only 6 to 8. The little profit I make on these sales does not even cover the monthly store fee. I guess I thought sales might pick up, but they didn't. So as I'm slowly selling off my inventory on this H&B account, my plan is also to end my media account in the near future.

I think I might try selling items by renting kiosks from time to time.

When sales slowed the last few months and I wasn't adding new items, I found that I was actually enjoying life. I had time to do things around the house, binge watch some programs I hadn't had time for, and watch an entire hockey game without interruption (Go Jets Go!). And my stress level is significantly reduced. When I see upcoming changes that eBay is planning, I think .... well, I don't have to worry about that.

As I had fewer and fewer sales, and no need to buy new inventory, I've gradually learned how to live with the reduced monthly income.

I am so sorry to hear this, but believe me, I can completely sympathize. I think a lot of "boutique" sellers (including myself) are experiencing a serious drop in sales. I could count on a regular 20 to 30 sales per month for years, often with a number of multiple-item transactions. A very noticeably sharp drop occurred in the summer of 2016, and it's been getting worse ever since. I'm lucky now to get 5 sales per month. Even my local postal clerk is noticing I don't see her much anymore! I'm leaving my store subscription open one more year, but if this keeps up, well, it's pointless to carry on. Like you, I've had to cut back and economize in other areas to make up for the shortfall in income.

I really don't think we're to blame for the drought -- there are eBay factors and external factors at play that we sellers have absolutely no control over. One indicator to me is that items that used to get snapped up in a few days, after getting a hundred or more hits and a dozen or more watchers, are now just sitting for weeks, if not longer. I'd suspect the reason is that my traditional eBay buyers have gone elsewhere, but if that's the case, they haven't gone to the other venue on which I sell either. Things aren't much better there.

Another first for me --- in March, for the first time ever on eBay, I had only one solitary sale. The same thing is occurring on other venues, smaller sellers are complaining about exceptionally low sales volumes over the past few months. It seems one will have a hard time selling much of anything unless it's shiny and new, cheap like borscht and with free shipping (which describes much of the Chinese merchandise).

I don't know about the store subscription, but I would imagine that if you've paid for the month beyond the point where you cancel, you should still get your 30 days' worth.

Best of luck to you -- I hope things work out!

momcqueen · ‎04-15-2018

This is a symptom is an overcrowded marketplace, I think.

There are more 'online sellers' now than a person can shake a stick at. I use Facebook for personal and non-profit (as opposed to business) reasons and every third post is some total crud job 'sponsored/suggested post' ad for shady services or shoddy products or extremely low-quality Facebook-live testimonials. It's sickening. The one time I succumbed to one of these ads I bought a piece of costume jewelry that I fully expected to come from California within two weeks and low and behold six weeks later I get a package from China and it's lesser quality than anticipated.

Everyone and their neighbour's dog is selling something online now. Another company with whom ebay has recently partnered actively encourages people to open stores and outsource all their inventory and fulfillment so there are a slew of new clueless dropshippers too. It's all just noise and shoppers are reluctant to keep taking chances after they get burnt once by these rookies.

Also, with my own original product line, the diecast Cars, there is a finite number of collectors for it. Probably more drop-off than come to it, and the marketplace is currently outpacing demand with supply. Once day I will linegraph the ups and downs of items and pricing and products with supply and demand. But not today.

rose-dee · ‎04-16-2018

@momcqueen wrote:
This is a symptom is an overcrowded marketplace, I think.
There are more 'online sellers' now than a person can shake a stick at. I use Facebook for personal and non-profit (as opposed to business) reasons and every third post is some total crud job 'sponsored/suggested post' ad for shady services or shoddy products or extremely low-quality Facebook-live testimonials. It's sickening.

I might have thought that an overcrowded marketplace was the main explanation for the sales drop-off had it not been for the very sudden decline in mid-2016, and an even sharper dive downward starting at the end of 2017 (at least in my "world"). It seems to me that overcrowding wouldn't have such an immediate effect. But what happened at those two points? -- Trump. First nominated, then elected, and now running amok.

I still believe he and the whirlwind of uncertainty he's maintained are creating nervousness and a lack of confidence in the future, translated into people being far more careful about what they spend and how they use credit. It seems almost everybody in my area of interest (vintage/OOAK/antique) is struggling to survive, even those who are offering high quality, in-demand items. It's little consolation to know that my closest competitors are complaining too. Besides, this is an area where the Chinese have by and large been unable to make inroads. So I believe there has to be another explanation aside from market overload. I suppose we'll only know when those of us who last long enough see Trump gone, one way or the other.

I can't say I've had the same experience with Facebook as you describe, being pestered by incessant "in-your-face" advertising. I wonder if it has something to do with the way your preferences and blocks are set up on FB. According to Mark Zuckerberg, it should all be controllable by the user. Right.

jt-libra · ‎04-16-2018

@rose-dee wrote:

It seems almost everybody in my area of interest (vintage/OOAK/antique) is struggling to survive, even those who are offering high quality, in-demand items. It's little consolation to know that my closest competitors are complaining too. Besides, this is an area where the Chinese have by and large been unable to make inroads. So I believe there has to be another explanation aside from market overload. I suppose we'll only know when those of us who last long enough see Trump gone, one way or the other.

While my sales have almost ceased on my media account, and can easily be explained away by the decreased interest in hard copy media and increased access to streaming services, your situation is more difficult to analyze. If sellers of unique, one-of-a-kind and vintage items are all experiencing a slow-down (that's putting it mildly I know), then other factors come into play. When money is tight and the political/economic climate is uncertain, and there is no alternative market (China), I agree with you that purchases of these types of items do not place high on the "to buy" list. You, no doubt, are also seeing a low number of views on these items as well.

The media sales slowdown is easy to understand and, even with H&B items, let's face it, if you can buy a L'Oreal mascara at Shoppers for $10, why would you spend $25-$35 for a Lancome one when your hydro, water, gas, cable, and taxes, taxes, taxes, are steadily increasing. I've curtailed my spending dramatically on the few luxury items I could afford previously.

I wish you good luck as well! You have such beautiful items and I would love to see you do well.