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ebay has also said that photos that violate ebay’s “no watermark” rule are not accepted by Google Shopping. But ebay is now apparently starting to remove the watermarks before submitting those listings to Google. Which raises two questions: Since it is against ebay rules, why not remove them from ebay listings as well? And if they can do that, is there no way they can work around the calculated shipping (and, as you say, apparently they can work around it if you are paying for offsite ads.)
Yes, listing new is my priority, but I’m also considering the physical space taken up by older listings that might be so denigrated in search that they might as well be unlisted….so it’s almost as if I’m listing a new item. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
I do think if an item has watchers, and you lower the price enough, ebay sends a notice to the watcher…so even revising a listing can maybe move the needle a bit, without actually relisting.
But as a seller, trying to figure out the search algo is a nearly pointless guessing game: ebay is supposedly individualizing search results now, so you and I could use the exact same search term and end up seeing different results. (and of course, Promoted Listings further muddy the water) I focus on the basics: good photos, title, etc, and hope it shows up LOL
For Google Shopping, I’m considering going to free shipping on some things (like mens ties) which I think would allow me to avoid calculated shipping. But I’m on the East Coast, and I’m hesitant to use anything but calculated shipping for most things. That is interesting about the rules, I’ll have to look into that.
I am unimpressed with ebay’s own AI for sellers. I have fooled around a little with things like ChatGPT, and I know there are now several AI listing tools out there that some people think are pretty good. I find it interesting that ebay is claiming its new AI listing tools will allow every one to list faster, which means they want even more listings on the platform…but if they start getting more and more at a faster rate, how many will be the same thing, driving down prices? And what percentage will really get visibility, and what percentage will basically be shunted to the side?
I’d really like to see ebay improve things like stores and newsletters, allowing sellers more autonomy, with fewer restrictions on how we can communicate with our buyers and establish our “brand”. But I don’t see that happening , at least not anytime soon.
I do use General Ads, usually at 4% or so, but am not at all sure it makes that big a difference (maybe it would if I used a higher rate, but I’m reluctant to do that). I think maybe the biggest thing one can do, aside from creating good listings, is activity—–list, send offers, use the newsletter, revise, maybe even using their social media tools helps even if it isn’t very good….I think maybe ebay sees you are active and maybe you get a boost. I don’t know.
I would love to do more with social media. It’s funny. I run the Facebook page for our local Friends of the Library group and I have really grown the page (we are a very small branch library) and even the head honchos who run the library system have taken note.) But I can’t seem to bring the same effort to my own FB business page. And I do very little with IG , which I really should do more with. You seem to do well with it, any suggestions?
Hi @ChristineR — I haven’t posted in ages, but stopped by and I can see the Forum could use some new posts LOL
A couple things:
Calculated Shipping and Google:
I think this is correct: Google Shopping does not like calculated shipping, which is something you’d think ebay would have wanted to make clear to us all, like they had made the fuss about white backgrounds for a long time. But I’d guess calculated shipping is a revenue stream for ebay, and they don’t want to give that up?
In any event, from what I can tell (I need to study this a bit more), ebay items with calculated shipping can indeed show up in a regular Google Search, but they are not likely to show up in a Google Shopping Search (I’m guessing because ebay probably doesn’t even submit those with Calculated shipping)
End and Relist/Sell Similar
I watched the ebay guy and Google gal, and came away confused about this (as did many people). It does seem to me that he was talking about very frequent relisting, and, in particular, this might refer more to multi quantity listings than single quantity long tail items. But it’s hard to know, and hard to reconcile with the stale (30) and stagnant (90) definitions. Again, I think these actually focus on mutli quantity listings, and my understanding is the count really begins with the first day without a sale, NOT the first day listed. So, a multi quantity listing that has been up for 200 days might not even be stale as long as it has been making steady sales…but if it gets to the point that it has gone 30 says straight without a single sale, it is “stale” and is almost certainly lowered in search (making it harder to prevent it from becoming “stagnant”.
Many smaller sellers (like me) sell mostly single quantity listings, and over the years I’ve tried, with limited success, to get ebay to tell me how they determine “stale and stagnant” for these types of listings. ebay currently has about 2.3 billion active listings worldwide at any given time, so it stands to reason that ebay has a process in place to reduce search exposure for older listings (even if they are long tail). ebay had previously claimed that Search now has the ability to identify relists as relists even if you use Sell Similar and the item is given a new ID number. Add to this the fact that ebay recently provided us with a tool to auto reduce an item price every 3-5-7-14-or 30 days, and I conclude that ebay really, really wants us to speed up sales velocity. I have always been a Trash Elf , subscribing to the List it and Forget it view, and I do still get sales for items that have been listed a long time—that is the nature of long tail selling.
However, I suspect ebay is indeed lowering older single quantity listings in search, and whether that’s on a 30 day, 90 day or even one year period (or something else) for Single Items, I think I’m going to start spending some time each week ending, REVISING, and relisting older listings, and then maybe , after they’ve been up a while, running a sale to move them out.
But my emphasis will still be on getting up new listings. I have so much unlisted stuff , I really need to focus on listing new rather than revising old. But I think a mix of both tactics might be a good idea.
Hope all is well with my fellow Trash Elves!
Kaier’s was a brewery, and had beer taps in many bars, so it was sold in places other than the Opera House. It was in business from the 1880s through the mid or late 1960s. The Kaier family mansion still stands and is a Bed and Breakfast these days.
A number of things in the Update, some good, but what really stands out to me—as someone who uses Promoted Listings Standard—is a huge change to how fees are calculated:
<h3 id=”promoted-listings-fee” class=”m12b-subhead”>Change to Promoted Listings Standard ad fee calculation methodology</h3>
On June 1, 2022, the Promoted Listings Standard ad fee calculation will change to align more closely with how we calculate final value fees. Specifically, the ad fee will be calculated in all markets based on the total amount of the sale for each attributed sale, using the same basis we use to calculate final value fees (including applicable taxes, shipping and other applicable fees described here). Currently, in certain markets including the US, the Promoted Listings Standard ad rate applies only to the final price of the item.Here’s a quick example of what this means:
PLS at 5% rate.
Today: Sell item for $100 plus $40 postage and $6 sales tax= PLS fee is $5.00 (calculated on item price of $100)
June 1st: Sell item for $100 plus $40 postage and $6 sales tax= PLS fee is $7.30 (calculated on total price of $146.00)
Conclusion: With this simple change, ebay can dramatically increase its take rate and revenue, while at the same time reducing my profit margin.
The new listing flow—I think they refer to it as the new unified listing flow—is currently the only way to use the video feature. I’ve seen complaints about the listing flow, but I had no problem with it…other than the ten day video…
I tried a video…it was “under review” for TEN DAYS before I finally asked for help from Customer Service and got it put up. So, yeah, the video in listings feature needs work….(ebay’s help pages states it can take up to 48 hours, and, in exceptional cases, up to 7 days).
I don’t know….I imagine we’ll have some category/item specific changes…other than that…it’s anybody’s guess! Maybe something on videos in listings, now that they are finally rolling that out?
You’re right, Amatino! I need to get back on track here! My #7 is List a total of 50 ties, tshirts, or shirts. I don’t really have to source that amount, I’m sure I have 50 here….but getting them photo’d and listed is the challenge. Even if I do just 2 of them a day, I should be able to meet that challenge….Plus, my regular listing goal is 5 a day every week day (and that 5 can include the ties, etc.)
So…..time to start listing!
January pretty much a month I want to put behind me….never came close to meeting my listing goal and my other goal….to get my inventory room in order…well, I made a little progress….
So, here’s hoping I can focus more on ebay and less on other stuff in Feb!
Click worked for me. I have an Instagram account, but haven’t really been using it. I know I should start using it regularly. great stuff you’ve got there….
Only 12 listings this week. A lot of other things ended up taking precedence unfortunately, but I’m accepting that it is going to take me a while to really get set up properly to do my 5 listings a day….I did get a little work done on the Inventory room, but so much more to do there…
So, the listing part of the challenge is Monday through Sunday? In that case, 25 new listings, Jan 3 -9. As to my Choice Challenge, I made very little progress on the Inventory room. Hope to do a lot better this week on that.
Utahbill,
Yeah, it just depends on what you want to use it for: Public, you are basically running a sale for everyone on ebay. Private, you are targeting one or a specific group: as you say, maybe a grumpy buyer, or maybe if you are on Facebook, your Facebook friends. So, if you want to basically run a sale, I’d go ahead and jump in with the Public….
VintageTreasures—The coded coupon is very flexible, both in terms of what sort of sale you want to run (percentage off, dollar off, etc, etc) , some inventory, all inventory, and how you put it out there: from a coupon for one buyer to a regular Sale. If you do Social Media, you can post the Code to your Social Media page as a “reward” for your followers, you can add it to your store newsletter, etc.
