Weekly chat useful or not?

[moldosgifts]

As title says is the weekly chat helpful or not?

So this week we learnt that private accounts from late January will get restricted again.

"I understand the frustration with the reporting.  EBay continue to review accounts and are taking action which is not always visible. In terms of measures being introduced to manage private accounts they have reduced the listing allowance from 1000 to 300 and most recently they are introducing that from 20th of January 2025 the discount tools will no longer be included for private sellers with Shop subscriptions . This  will be Coupons, Sale Events and Order discounts. Additionally, private sellers will no longer have access to the Multi-buy discount tool." ( quoted from the weekly chat)

Sounds good but they still get access during peak selling period so too late for most of us.

Trying to compete with those illegally trading is breaking me slowly.

When you get the non descript answers fobbed off is exactly what i feel.

I dint participate this week thing would have burst a blood vessel if i had.

RANT OVER

[bojangled]

Hi @moldosgifts 

I read but don’t partake anymore. I feel the teams responses are so heavily guarded/scripted, they really can’t reveal anything. However I am grateful for the business sellers that articulate the frustration many of us are feeling. 
Edited to add : I really would like to see a higher up management rep on those chats, I don’t believe they get the full understanding of the situation. 
I do think there will be more changes in the New Year, hopefully geared towards business sellers. 
If nothing positive is forthcoming then I have choices to make. 
Jo

[auctiongabble]

I feel its a pointless task, ive raised a few things and highlighted errors with the site, search results and how  private sellers are clearly traders.  As you know same generic textbook response.  As its a community board and they have no real power or involvment to privately commuinicate with members about the issues then what is the point of it if all they will do is send feedback to be reviewed.  Im pretty certain this wouldn't even be looked at.  I was told to contact ebay funny that i have and nothing is done.

It's a loosing battle and one ebay will find out very soon early next year, business will not put up with it anymore.  Ebay want more money from business sellers via promoting items and will not give anything back that is reasonable or going to help and support businesses.

It's easy to get bogged down with this when us members can all see the problems, 

My advice, put the time spent to better things for you and your business.

I will be doing just that and move to my own ecommerce site, why spend thousands in fees when you can run your own site, have your own rules, run your business how you want to and not be dictated by other companies.  I will be in a position to offer my items at better prices too to my customers with reduced costs.

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

It's a total and utter waste of time.

The responses are the same week in week out, nothing changes, nothing improves.

[auctiongabble]

I also agree that i believe there will be some changes / additions for business sellers in the new year.  I know there will be a buyers fee being introduced , dont know when and don't fully know how it will be introduced.

A corporate company has to provide corporate type responses, i do understand that 

[leadhills_scot]

Complete waste of time. They just pay lip service and fob sellers off with copy and paste answers. 

[vintique*violet]

I am sorry you are all going through this, as a private seller what "more " restrictions will we be subjected to? 

I am hardly selling anything no matter what I try ( re-listing , ending listings , tweaking etc ) and are continually bombarded with " lets improve your listings " messages... 

I do not need to know my conversion rate or the impressions and apparently my page views have decreased by nearly 60 percent ( obviously because there are barely any watchers or sales etc ) ... 

So I am shown an image of two of my listings , one of which was only listed yesterday and told to add more photos, change delivery time , etc and to " chat" with a eBay specialist to help me? Is this to encourage me to " pay to promote?" I believe so.  

I have been on ebay nearly 17yrs - mainly I have bought but sell too and it helped with a move to clear items and funds to facilitate, or for an unexpected bill.  I had to take a long break due to ill health, and actually missed the " interaction"... things have changed so much and there seems to be a " dog eat dog" vibe - the platform certainly isn't the same as it was back in the day or even a year or so ago, it seems that it is being purposely " dismantled? ( not sure if that is the correct word, but hope people know what I mean)... and there are thousands of foreign sellers appearing. 

I can understand true business sellers position, I almost want to leave as a  private seller because the joy has gone, this is not just the " vibe" and  the use of the " tech" which certainly is not user friendly especially for those who do have " difficulties" due to health reasons, but feel that " private seller" no longer has a true meaning since "businesses" have taken advantage of the free to sell.  I do not understand why eBay have not weeded them out... only yesterday when searching for an item, a " private seller" had hundreds of listings and had sold over 17K items ... it was clearly a business re-seller but they have been operating as private it appears for years, so now they can use the free to sell because eBay have not done their due diligence either. 

I do not know what the answer is - but the lack of views on listings is hitting everyone I feel, and if buyers cannot see what you have then of course there will be no sales. I was told to sell something that buyers want? How? I can only offer for sale what I am clearing out, I have old toys to list which were my children's  when younger, and now wonder if I can be bothered.  I am tired of reading A.I descriptions - they are not full descriptions, far from it and of a few potential buyers who ask me to reduce my asking price because it is " free to sell"...

*sigh* 

[krafty-kreations]

I can imagine the chat they had beforehand

Them: we are constantly getting asked about private sellers on business accounts and they are fed up of being fobbed off with the replies we give

Ebay Higher ups - that's okay tell them we are stopping private sellers from using discount tools, that should cheer them up

😑

[the_book_seekers]

I read bur never comment. I think if I did I might earn myself a ban. 

Somebody reported seeing private sellers listing limits dropping to 100 per month which later disappeared - has there been any more on this? 

[vintique*violet]

What discount tools? 

I do not think I have  any discount tools , if they are there I have never seen/used them. 

[krafty-kreations]

For those with shop subscriptions private sellers will not be able to access Coupons, Sale Events and Order discounts from the 20th January 2025 and no private seller will be able to use the Multi-buy discount tool.

It is under marketing in your seller hub 

[vintique*violet]

Thank you - I do not have a shop, so that explains it. Appreciate the clarification. 

[johnwash1]

---

@krafty-kreations wrote:

For those with shop subscriptions private sellers will not be able to access Coupons, Sale Events and Order discounts from the 20th January 2025 and no private seller will be able to use the Multi-buy discount tool.

It is under marketing in your seller hub 

---

I can't imagine what interest genuine private sellers would find in any of those tools.  Especially multi-buy.  I've never listed anything with multi-buy, I think the only things I could find that would apply would be quantities of old sticks of ram.

What benefit does a shop have for private sellers?

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

The fact that private sellers can have a shop shows how messed up the system is on this platform.

Has anyone ever known a shop that isn't either a business or a charity ?

[johnwash1]

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@british-ceramics-and-paintings wrote:

The fact that private sellers can have a shop shows how messed up the system is on this platform.

Has anyone ever known a shop that isn't either a business or a charity ?

---

It isn't even clear what a shop is, not to me anyhow.  I always thought it was just some way of getting ones items displayed in a 'gallery' layout across the page, rather than vertically.  If there's more to it than that then ebay's doing an appalling job of communicating.  Especially since, as I've picked up from posts recently, it seems one has to actually pay for a shop.

[vintique*violet]

I actually thought that a shop was for business sellers - imagine all my years here, unaware that I could have had a shop 😉 - but why would I - I am not a shop, nor a store, nor a business... what advantages ( if any) does it give?  I cannot get my head around it. 

[vintique*violet]

I have used multi buy , in fact three times in 17yrs. 

It is useful if you have two of the same,  ie plants or a pot, saves listing twice...but it is very rare, I used it because it was an option.   

[thesmi42]

If you go to your profile you'll see that you do have a 'shop'. I might be wrong but I thought it was something that been  introduced for all 'private' sellers some time ago for the reason suggested by johnwash1.

[the-nutwood-collection]

What benefit does a shop have for private sellers?

A shop enables the private seller to neatly organise their hundreds - or thousands - of items into categories.  Makes it easier for the buyer to select from ' Dresses, Size 10; Dresses Size 12 ... Dresses Size 20 etc. etc.

They can also use the promotional tools for sale and markdown, multi-buy over several items,  the buy [n], get [n] free tool.

Everything a private seller needs when they're clearing out their garage.

Shops weren't available to private sellers when I cleared the garage.  Goodness knows how I managed sell the stuff.  Just luck I guess. 

[jonat_broad]

That’s the point isn’t it. A private seller selling off random stuff wouldn’t necessarily have a need for the marketing tools.

but a business seller on a private account would.

this would indicate eBay find it too difficult to ‘prove’ a business is on a private account, so would rather remove the features an actual business might find useful to force their hand.