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Nancy: I would think that from a purely metrics standpoint, that Sell Similar would be better than a Relist. This is because when you Sell Similar, you are creating a fresh listing that has 0 sales history. When you Relist, even though it is a new listing number, the sales history from it’s past listing numbers are attached to it.
For us though, we are technically Relisting based on how we use SixBit. We have our listings set to automatically relist when they end. John at SixBit confirmed that when that happens, the prior listing history is still attached to the new number (PS – Just because you get a new listing number doesn’t mean it is 100% new. If you Relist or Sell Similar, both get a new listing number, but the Relist has the prior sales history attached behind the scenes). So we are “Relisting” as that is how the Auto Relist feature works in SixBit.
The good news is that with SixBit, we can also choose to have our listings Sent as New. We can’t do that with the Auto Relist, but every few months, we have our items end rather than Auto Relist. At that time we can review older items to see if we need pricing adjustments, new titles, etc. Then when we send them back to eBay, we can check the box to Send as New. This blows away the prior listing history and is a true 100% fresh new listing. Because we are managing this through SixBit, we avoid having duplicate listings (something that happened when we tried Sell Similar direct on eBay).
End of the day, this helps your listings, but by how much is the question. Like a lot of the other issues we talked about, your placement in Best Match is really a mixed soup. Price, Title, Sales History, Promotions, Free Shipping, etc… these are all ingredients in the soup that add up to your placement in search. No one item is the GameChanger that will bring lots of sales. The best you can do is to have the best ingredients in as many of these categories as possible, and sales will follow.
As we talked about before, Jay and Ryanne do very well with lots of “Stale” and “Stagnant” listings. But with the types of items they are selling, that ingredient isn’t needed. They make a different flavor soup and they sell it well!
a New Orleans Girl: I can’t seem to find your store. Can you sent your seller ID?
–How many items are listed?
–How many new listings have you done this week?
–Are these summer type items?
–Are you seeing similar items from other sellers sell?JulieB: No problem! That was basically my thinking, that since we are here, we can try to get the Trash Elf Nation’s questions answered. It really is a good conference, even if you don’t attend any breakout sessions. Even just spending a full day with the eBay Tech Team, getting questions answered, getting ideas in front them for them to improve, that is huge. And the I came away with some new friends, some new business contacts, and new plans for our next phase of the business. Well worth the time.
And a Tax Advantaged time in Vegas doesn’t hurt! Finding lots of local spots to hit, and hit one last night. The Bootlegger Bistro, and meet up with George Bugatti, a great singer and even nicer guy.
Marshall_G: I hear you. I have seen throughout the implementations that I have done that you have the pressure of Executives that need to get the project done vs the Team that never feels like it is ready. I’ve been on both sides and every place in the middle.
I don’t have an issue with the Managed Payments program at all. It will work out fine. There is too much risk for them to not have it work fine. For us though, we can’t take the risks for our business with it in the stage that it is now. If we could keep SixBit, ShipRush, and GSP, I would be moving forward right now. But losing those tools, right before Q4, when we are full time…too much risk.
I think there are a good number of people that are part time, or that don’t use the 3rd party tools that will be great to sign up and get going. The risk is lower for them. But it just isn’t a match for us right now. That is why I sent the message to Bob explaining our reasons for declining and that when those hurdles are crossed, that we want to be part of the next phase.
Sharyn: I was a little surprised as well, but I think that with Devin saying “it is unacceptable”, and alluded to personnel changes taking place after that, people saw that he took it serious, made changes, and is moving forward.
buytikiselltiki: No problem! Hope I helped get some info to eBay and some answers to you all!
Almasty: Yes, there is a good segment of the Open that is geared towards the newer seller, and that will probably have to always be there, as there are always new sellers. That was why this year, I only attended a few of the breakout groups. We hit all of the General Sessions, and then did some breakout groups on Day 2, but we spent most of Day 3 in the Expo Hall, getting in depth with vendors and with eBay Techs. It was great to have access to them one on one and really have a conversation on issues and ideas for improvement. I could really see the challenges they have maintaining a platform for everything from the small new seller to a large corporation, but the also really listened to the issues and ideas we had. There were a number of times that they were taking notes from us on ideas for improvement and thought we had great ideas to make things better.
PS – I will tell you that even the higher ups are willing to listen. I sent a long message to Bob Kupbens on why we were going to have to pass on the Managed Payments first wave, and Bob responded back later that day. If you have some items that you want to discuss with him, reach out at BOB@EBAY.COM. That really is his email, and he really does read and respond. And he put that out there for everyone at Open, so he invites feedback.
Yep! It is like you guys on one end and Tim on the other….
I was hearing rumors of significantly discounted fees, but even at the figures they were talking, it wasn’t worth the bloody nose.
For what it is worth, the eBay Employees are already on the new Managed Payments. At least they are truly the first ones through the door…
I think because all eBay is trying to to is convert listings to sales. They are trying to use as much data as possible to make that happen. If they see a listing that is converting a lot of sales, they figure more buyers will like that listing. If they see a listing that is old and hasn’t converted any sales, then they figure buyers will be less interested in the listing.
Again, this is only one part of the equation. Just like having the lowest price isn’t the only factor in converting to a sale. You guys routinely make sales with higher priced items, and with “Stale” and “Stagnant” listings. So since you are making sales even if Stale or Stagnant, it isn’t everything.
Just one part of the soup.
Almasty: That was our understanding. For those that are opting in as of September, all Third Party Apps will not be supported.
So, I can’t use SixBit to list, I would have to list through eBay. All labels would have to be printed through eBay, I couldn’t use ShipRush. All accounting interfaces with GoDaddy would not be supported.
This is only temporary. For the first wave folks, they can’t use these tools until they know that it is working properly before they start adding the functionality back.
They didn’t have a timeframe, but it sounds like probably sometime in early 2019 that these will be added back. I told them and Bob that I’m more than willing to go on after the 3rd Party apps and the GSP is back working. But they are too important right now, especially before Q4.
Mike: Yeah, I’m really kicking myself for not asking if tweaking a listing moves it out of “Stale” status. In my mind, I want to say no, as I don’t think that was the intent.
But to be honest, I just don’t know for sure.
I have a message out to the eBay contact I have in this area to see what I can find out. No promises though…
Jay: So the Stale/Stagnant listing is part of the overall soup that Cassini uses for best match for buyers. How old the item is (if it is Stale/Stagnant) is only part of that mixture. So it is only one of many items that is used by Cassini.
How much? They won’t say. They can’t tell everyone everything or everyone would game the system the same way. But does the listing being Stale/Stagnant hurt? Yes.
We don’t know how much, but we know it was enough for them to include it on our one page report that they sent to us on our store. So like many other factors we discuss, it is just one metric to be aware of. It isn’t a “gamechanger”, no one item is. But getting as many items as right as possible will get as many sales as possible.
Not all ingredients help convert to a sale (which is what Cassini is looking for, listings that convert), but the better the ingredients, the better the soup that people will buy.
We are 30-Day, and with SixBit, it resends the listing.
Technically, I think that SixBit is “relisting” for us if we use the Auto Relist feature.
I spent time with the SixBit group and got more information. When you relist an item on eBay, there is a history on that item that has it’s previous listing history associated with it. So listing #789 is created, and eBay knows that it was previously listing #456, and previously #123 before that. And the sales history follows that (this is the “Relist” vs “Sell Similar” discussion, as Sell Similar is a fresh listing, no history).
So when we have SixBit Auto Relist, we are essentially “relisting” our items. However, if we want, we can let our items end, and when we resubmit them from SixBit, we can click the box for “Relist as New”. This will blow away the previous history and send the items to eBay as completely new listings.
Agree. Not there yet, but I’m going to take Devin at his word that he would put some tools in place to handle this. If he sees Etsy do it, I would think he would say eBay should be able to do it as well.
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