eBay Seller Capital risk

[1packofsportscards]

I was selling over 2000 plus items a year. Made the mistake when I really did not need to and now be lucky if I get 150 plus sales a year. You might feel lucky you are selling 30 items plus a month, but pay attention to your sales. I was busting my ass trying to keep on 3000 plus auctions just to find out eBay was making more money than me. They will push you to use Promoted Listing or promote with a percent off and you find your sell happy that you sold $3000 worth of items and your take was $895. I would always highly recommend eBay for selling by I would tell people to take caution. This is why I decided to try and stick it out on eBay but with less items listed. Just remember if you are using Promoted Listing and and giving a % off your item an it sells you would have to calculate the PL fee, eBay fee, % fee, tax and shipping. So my mural to my story is I lost more after accessing eBay Seller Capital because this is around the time Promoted Listing was taking shape.

[mam98031]

Promoted Listings is a choice each seller can make to use or not to use.  Some sellers use the program, others do not.  The program started in 2015, so it is pretty old program.  Ebay just really started pushing it on the site a couple years ago.  

I personally do not use Promoted Listings, most sellers don't.  But for some in certain categories it works very well for others not so much.

As to the percentage you choose to pay Ebay when using PL above regular fees, that is a choice too.  So if you find that you are not making the money you once were or not what you need to do, you may have selected a percentage that was simply too high for your business.

Then it is also important to realize that what worked 10 years ago on Ebay may not work as well today.  Buyers change with time.  For many categories Auctions do not work very well anymore and fixed price listings are a better option.  But there are a few categories where Auctions still work well.  You need to figure out what is true for you and what you sell.

Good Luck!

[diecastorbust]

What happened to me was I started extremely hot. Almost 40k in sales in my first month couldn’t believe it. Then literally over night views and sales crashed to zero. I had a listing that was up a little over a week have 700 views befor the crash after the crash 1 view in a week. I diddnt change my listings didn’t change what did change though was eBay’s emails informing me to use promoted listings (never used them before the crash)  at first it’s 4% PL and boom views and sale started to climb here we are 2 years later I haven’t changed my listings have because now eBay recommends 19.5 percent PL then I worry about am I really going to get paid for this because now about 50 percent of “buyers” don’t pay oh and I’ve never gone over 4k in sales in a month since my very first one with zero promotions. I’ve all but quit selling on eBay. 

[conservitvs]

As already written, PL is optional and those ad rates are only suggestions. Some use them, some don’t (like the “make offer” feature). 

Fixed price format listings with immediate payment required eliminates non-payers. 

[deltilogical]

I'll suggest your success at the start was due to you bringing very desireable and collectible material to the market that was immediately purchased.   Your remaining items just do not have that scarcity or desireability - not suggesting they aren't good items - just not top level that make the serious collectors click the mouse.  

When I break down a large collection I can count on immediately selling a portion of it - if the whole collection would sell that way I'd be golden, but it doesn't work that way.   30/30/30 seems to be a consistent rule: 30% sells immediately, 30% sells somewhat quickly over a year, and 30% will be carried around for years unsold, or, for my material, quarter boxes for club meetings and shows.   

[isaiah53-57]

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@1packofsportscards wrote:

I was selling over 2000 plus items a year. Made the mistake when I really did not need to and now be lucky if I get 150 plus sales a year. You might feel lucky you are selling 30 items plus a month, but pay attention to your sales. I was busting my ass trying to keep on 3000 plus auctions just to find out eBay was making more money than me. They will push you to use Promoted Listing or promote with a percent off and you find your sell happy that you sold $3000 worth of items and your take was $895. I would always highly recommend eBay for selling by I would tell people to take caution. This is why I decided to try and stick it out on eBay but with less items listed. Just remember if you are using Promoted Listing and and giving a % off your item an it sells you would have to calculate the PL fee, eBay fee, % fee, tax and shipping. So my mural to my story is I lost more after accessing eBay Seller Capital because this is around the time Promoted Listing was taking shape.

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And it aint gonna get better in our opinion - In just a relatively short time frame, their "recommended" rate has gone from around 3% to 5% to around 10% to 17%. If anyone thinks these recommended rates are there for the optional convenience of em',  they are in for a rude awakening - We believe they are being made essential and the company is "all in" on them.

Even now they are not optional in that your competitors listings are all over your listings - in that 2nd rate sellers have better visibility than conscientious sellers simply because they pay for it - in that the prices being seen by new users are insulting due to people gaming the system with PLs - in that the logarithms seem to be wacked out due to the all the different percentages and way PL's are shown. Contending with these things are NOT optional.  Watching as your sales gradually diminish either inadvertently or possibly even intentionally(?), in order to create the level of fear or paranoia necessary to push you toward the decision of getting on board or bailing - Thats gonna be the only optional part of it in our opinion...

The people here selling 5  to 25 items a month who say they dont use them and never will? - Their vote doesnt count - Many admittedly say they don't depend on sales here for income and they will all eventually go by the wayside finally seeing the complete and utter waste of time in trying to sell without opting into promotions. No...read the threads from sellers who are paying their mortgages with businesses they blindly built here that have needed, out of necessity, to gradually up their promotions to 10% to 15% to 20% or even more to keep sales steady - That are paying 30% to 50% of their items inflated price right off the top in a race to the bottom. Sorry folks, I dont see any way its getting better...

[redlinear]

Promoting Listings is optional.
You don't have do it.
Of course, you will suffer the consequences if you don't.
OR will you?  (now there's the million dollar question that NOBODY knows the answer to)

If you're a local plumber and ALL of your competition has huge billboards all over town, and adds running every hour on all local radio stations?  
Well, if you want to compete....guess what ya gotta do.

If you're happy with what business you already have and that amount of business is not dwindling?  Then of course Billboards and Radio adds are "optional".

But that's not why you posted this is it............

[broto_64]

So you accessed ebay seller capital (which means you took out a loan), and then opted in to promoted listings... And you had a lot of sales but after you did the figures you realized you may have in fact lost money.

Is that right?

I mean, if this is how ebay has chosen to weed out the seller glut you won't get much of an argument out of me.

[kensgiftshop]

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@isaiah53-57 wrote:

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@1packofsportscards wrote:

I was selling over 2000 plus items a year. Made the mistake when I really did not need to and now be lucky if I get 150 plus sales a year. You might feel lucky you are selling 30 items plus a month, but pay attention to your sales. I was busting my ass trying to keep on 3000 plus auctions just to find out eBay was making more money than me. They will push you to use Promoted Listing or promote with a percent off and you find your sell happy that you sold $3000 worth of items and your take was $895. I would always highly recommend eBay for selling by I would tell people to take caution. This is why I decided to try and stick it out on eBay but with less items listed. Just remember if you are using Promoted Listing and and giving a % off your item an it sells you would have to calculate the PL fee, eBay fee, % fee, tax and shipping. So my mural to my story is I lost more after accessing eBay Seller Capital because this is around the time Promoted Listing was taking shape.

---

And it aint gonna get better in our opinion - In just a relatively short time frame, their "recommended" rate has gone from around 3% to 5% to around 10% to 17%. If anyone thinks these recommended rates are there for the optional convenience of em',  they are in for a rude awakening - We believe they are being made essential and the company is "all in" on them.

Even now they are not optional in that your competitors listings are all over your listings - in that 2nd rate sellers have better visibility than conscientious sellers simply because they pay for it - in that the prices being seen by new users are insulting due to people gaming the system with PLs - in that the logarithms seem to be wacked out due to the all the different percentages and way PL's are shown. Contending with these things are NOT optional.  Watching as your sales gradually diminish either inadvertently or possibly even intentionally(?), in order to create the level of fear or paranoia necessary to push you toward the decision of getting on board or bailing - Thats gonna be the only optional part of it in our opinion...

The people here selling 5  to 25 items a month who say they dont use them and never will? - Their vote doesnt count - Many admittedly say they don't depend on sales here for income and they will all eventually go by the wayside finally seeing the complete and utter waste of time in trying to sell without opting into promotions. No...read the threads from sellers who are paying their mortgages with businesses they blindly built here that have needed, out of necessity, to gradually up their promotions to 10% to 15% to 20% or even more to keep sales steady - That are paying 30% to 50% of their items inflated price right off the top in a race to the bottom. Sorry folks, I dont see any way its getting better...

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As long as they can get sellers to pay the higher %, they'll keep suggesting a higher % until sellers say enough is enough.

Get rid of Pl and fix the search engine and give all sellers a fair chance.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Taking out a loan (Ebay Seller Capital) to buy inventory requires sufficient judgement to buy inventory which is in demand and not in oversupply. In spite of the claims for promoted listings, they are not a cure for items which are in oversupply. Items in oversupply, have demand problems, in part, be cause most of the people who would want them already have them.

When you promote your listings, you get a better chance of reaching the ever declining number of folks who do not already own them. It helps do that but often that help is inadequate.

[dy42963]

Are you still "below standard".

Overcoming that should be a "priority" to aid in increasing profits.

[mam98031]

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@diecastorbust wrote:

What happened to me was I started extremely hot. Almost 40k in sales in my first month couldn’t believe it. Then literally over night views and sales crashed to zero. I had a listing that was up a little over a week have 700 views befor the crash after the crash 1 view in a week. I diddnt change my listings didn’t change what did change though was eBay’s emails informing me to use promoted listings (never used them before the crash)  at first it’s 4% PL and boom views and sale started to climb here we are 2 years later I haven’t changed my listings have because now eBay recommends 19.5 percent PL then I worry about am I really going to get paid for this because now about 50 percent of “buyers” don’t pay oh and I’ve never gone over 4k in sales in a month since my very first one with zero promotions. I’ve all but quit selling on eBay. 

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As we all find out with time, views do not always = sales.  And the view counts are not always accurate either.  

The emails Ebay sends out regarding PL are invitation type emails.  They don't "inform you to use", they do recommend PL and they will often recommend rates for you to use.  Again, they are recommended or suggested.  You have to use your judgement if this is right for you and what rate you are willing to pay to use it.  Sellers have a choice.  PL works great for some and not so much for others.

If you have such a high rate of non payers, you may want to stop doing Auctions and just do fixed price listings.  But if Auctions still bring you the sales that make it worth it, then it may be the right thing to do and continue with using that format.

If what you are currently selling is no longer pulling in the buyers you want, you might consider expanding your inventory to some different stuff.  Over the years I have changed what I've carried as inventory as buyers buying habits or desires change as time moves on.