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eBay 2014: Why You're Not Selling Anything on eBay, and What You Can Do About It
eBay 2014 Why You're Not Selling Anything on eBay and What You Can Do About It Author:Nick Vulich One thing I?ve found in fourteen years of selling on eBay is the market is always changing, and just when you think you?ve got it all figured out, either eBay comes along and changes the rules of the game, or the economy changes, and your niche implodes, sending your sales straight down the toilet. — One of the biggest things you?re going to have... more » to do is deal with eBay?s unending string of changes. As I?m writing this, eBay has just announced some of their fall changes, and let me tell you ? the entire year has been a crazy roller coaster ride for eBay sellers.
The 2013 Spring Seller Update raised store subscription fees for most sellers.
The 2013 Fall Seller Update was just released as I?m writing this. The good news is ? there are no crazy changes on the horizon for sellers with this one.
Here are the highlights from that update:
1) Additional top rated seller grace period. If you fall below the requirements eBay is going to give you an additional two months to move back into compliance. This way a bad sales month or one time bad feedback isn?t going to affect your status and discounts.
2) Expanded feedback removal policy. What this means is eBay is going to be more proactive in protecting your feedback rating. If you receive negative or neutral feedback from a seller who did not pay, was suspended, or is a habitual leaver of bad feedback, eBay will automatically remove the negative feedback for you.
Weather related feedback or circumstances that are out of your control will also be looked at in removing negative feedback.
The update also outlines the process for requesting eBay to remove negative feedback.
3) eBay managed returns have been streamlined and the policy for them updated. Key take a-ways: They are going to allow more time for returns, and return shipping is guaranteed to be no more than what you originally charged for shipping.
4) Item specific changes are being implemented in several categories.
Outside of eBay?s seller updates, there have been numerous other issues affecting sellers this year. One of the most stressful ones is having your sales come to a dead stop.
Many sellers liken the experience to eBay shutting the faucet off, and then turning it back on at a later date. If you haven?t experienced it yet, you soon may. And, the crazy thing is it just comes in waves. You can sell twenty items in two days, and then your sales just stop dead for a week or ten days. Then the faucet is turned back on and you get another two or three days of sales, before the cycle repeats itself.
Sellers affected by these shutdowns get a sinking hopeless feeling in their stomachs, because no matter what they try (lowering prices, offering free shipping, or refreshing listings) nothing works.
Believe me, I?ve been there a lot, and it?s not a good feeling.
So, what do you do?
I?ve been following all of the forums and blogs on this topic and here?s what I?ve found out.
Cassini Search does not play well with html, especially when the html code is at the top of the listing information. What that means for sellers is if you have a designer heading in your eBay listings, it may be negatively impacting your sales. One seller on Ecommerce Bytes Blog reported the phenomena occurring with his listings. After much testing he discovered when he eliminated the header from his listings, sales resumed at their normal pace.
So if you are one of the sellers affected by eBay?s leaky faucet my suggestion would be to examine your listings and remove any offending html code.
Html code has also been found to play havoc with mobile listing on eBay.
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