30 day or Good 'Til Cancelled?

[Geegee83]

Has anybody experimented with the difference in sales depending on how you list it~?

Most of my stuff is GTC as it's unlimited stock as I make it myself.

Recently added loads more items and they sold like mad for the first few weeks and then dropped off.

So, would 30 day be better? I've noticed a lot of big sellers doing 30 day listings recently and it got me thinking.

Sales history doesn't seem to matter anymore it seems, but the 'Newly Listed' banner on a listing seems to shoot it to the top.

[rsot]

30 days are good if you want to set it and forget it - put a little Buy It now or Best offer and that can help too.

Worth experimenting - I use those when I have 20+ of something to sell and am not too worried about them moving.

Prepare for competition to drop prices to compete with you

[cookiecutter101]

It's also the new "feed" system where you type in your interests and it gives you new products, the key word is "NEW" every time someone re-lists or indeed lists something new it shows up on your "feed".

Personally, I have ended and re-listed most of my GTC for the simple fact that now my best match ranking is closer to normal, it dropped off a cliff last 2-3weeks ago.
Although I'm a powerseller and TRS with more recent sales, and better "value" as viewed by ebay bots it dropped me through the pages.

After relisting it immediately spiked a few sales, but more importantly I'm back to normal-ish search ranking. Something is still off, the only thing I've done in those 2-3 weeks is use the holiday mode, maybe that put a thorn in my side.

I would do GTC's and just end the listing, then re-list whenever you want, this way saving yourself insertion fee's every single time and jumping back onto the "feed" which will lead to sales.

[GreenBean]

@cookie

All part of the experimenting that.

Nice one.

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by rsot

30 days are good if you want to set it and forget it - put a little Buy It now or Best offer and that can help too.

I avoid best offer on new accounts to prevent limits issues.

[Geegee83]

This is on my 'normal' account, which is TRS & Gold Powerseller, 13,000 feedback and completely unlimited.

I still sell a lot, but I've noticed some old favourites have dropped off the scale big time, which is odd, and then the new listings being higher in the search results than old and established stuff.

cookiecutter - you have just described what I'll probably do next then, I had a feeling that would be the case.

I don't like best offer on eB... I like to set my price and people buy lol.

When I look for things on eB, I would prefer to see the most popular sellers, but they don't seem to do that. People with 100 feedback and poor feedback are higher than me in the results and I really cannot work out why. Who knows what's happening.

I'll try and do some experiments.

[cookiecutter101]

Don't get me wrong, I actually like the "feed" this way I see all of my competition relist or list new things

But the search ranking itself is getting on my nerves.

Example: I make a sale on an item, it's still ranked lower than a non TRS non powerseller and 97% seller who has not made a sale for that item in over 2weeks.
(this is even after 24h - as sometimes it takes time for search ranking to refresh)

Prior to 2-3 weeks this would not happen, if you sold an item and your competitors did not you would get bumped on the search ranking.

What I have also noticed with all of these newly re-listed items is that they in fact rank higher than auctions. (not talking about auctions that are near the end ~1hr or less)

What I have also just read is that cassini prefers 30day listings to GTC - assuming because eBay wants more $, GTC are free insertion for shop owners.

EBAY LINK!!!

Cassini - some interesting information - The eBay Community

[Geegee83]

Yep, I've read the community boards too, lots of info on there and yeah it seems Cassini likes the 30day listings.. I'll have to do some work this evening then and get some more listings up for 30 days!

I've had the same experiences cookie, exactly the same! So it'll be great to actually get a bit higher up the list and sell more.

I've got the Featured shop (I think), £60 a month.. but I don't think it makes much difference really in my search results, I've been pretty darn annoyed when searching to see who is at the top, and it certainly isn't the best match like eBay suggest.

[cookiecutter101]

I've actually tried searching whether or not the ebay shop subscription level Actually makes a difference in your search results, but so far I don't think so.

The only difference I see is your search ranking in the SHOP SEARCH category, for example when searching for shops that sell nike shoes, the featured or even anchor shops (level 2 and 3) are always higher even if they have less products.


I've been experimenting as well, also I would suggest not to do 30 day listings. (if you aren't lazy or have 10billion listings). I would do 7 days, and just re-list every 7 days, I believe it's slightly cheaper insertion fees on 7day vs 30 day listings.

[Geegee83]

Ah right okay. Yeah I can do 7 day listings easily, I'll just have a set day each week to relist, I guess you can relist in bulk anyhow, so should be okay. Good idea cookie I didn't even think of 7 days

I'll keep the other listings, and just add new ones and see what the difference is.

I've got 800 listings, so they are only 5p a listing. The shop makes it cheaper as I read if you have over 630 ish listings then you are better off (only slightly) by having the Feature shop.

I wish it was easier, eB used to be so much easier 'back in the day' lol.

[cookiecutter101]

Originally Posted by Geegee83

I've got 800 listings, so they are only 5p a listing. The shop makes it cheaper as I read if you have over 630 ish listings then you are better off (only slightly) by having the Feature shop.

That's why I mentioned having 10billion listings, most sellers don't have anywhere near the 600+ mark, for the simple fact that you must be quite a big business or sell extremely cheap merchandise, as just in stock this would easily be above the 7000gbp mark.
Unless it's 600+ listings, and only 1 item in stock per listing.

Ebay is getting more technical, because that's the only way to move forward and compete with Amazon. I'm in no way saying that this is of immediate benefit to sellers, in fact so far all it's done is hinder sales and progress.

But once we figure out the kinks in the new search ranking game, we can cash in It will take some time for everyone else to get up to speed.


As long as you change nothing in the listings, you can use the seller manager tool and select All then click re-list and go get some tea (it takes a while for the system to load them all) then click accept and you're done.

[cookiecutter101]

Forgot to add, eBay will definitely not add new "search" algorithms for a very long time, I'm sure they've already noticed the drops in sales and messed up search visibility.
The previous algorithm was used for 10years I believe, or something close to it and it worked well once it was updated and fixed, but it was sort of a failure anyway.

Example: listings with the keywords messed up - cars for sale and iphone samsung, etc in the keywords

wrong categories being used to sell "gray" stuff on ebay, etc.

Personally I always use the correct categories and keywords, so I will have no problems facing the change, but it will clean up ebay a little bit.

Also the descriptions will matter more now, as Cassini will scan through it and sort by relevance.

[Geegee83]

Yup, that's the plan, just let it do the work for me

My items are cheap (ish) but I usually sell more than 1 at a time, and as I manufacture them myself I don't have much cost in the product, just the fee's and postage. Plus, I don't have to carry much stock either, which is handy.

Like you say though, once the kinks have been worked out it will benefit those that know how to play the system to their advantage.

Luckily I also don't and probably won't ever have to compete with the Chinese sellers market.

I read about descriptions too, apparently it searches the first 200 words? I use HTML, so I don't think anything useful will come from my first 200 words, I might add some keywords that are hidden.

[tmastermind]

That is interesting info! I have more or less all my listings on GTC. I see bumps and slow downs on most items but figured it was more seasonal and time of month. I check my top selling product which is pretty much 3rd position in the listings and although someone who isn't a TRS (so isn't premium listed) has an item with less sales and watchers and is above me?

I'm not going to get rid of the listing its too valuable but I do think some new experimentation is required. I also read on here recently that alot can be down to the number of items in stock you list so I could increase sales by reducing the stock number (but then raising it before is runs out and ends the listing).

[Geegee83]

Yes, that's something I meant to ask.

When I listed my GTC listings, I had lots of variations, size, colour etc.. and for each variation I listed 1000 items, so each listing has something like 55,000 items available!

When I was researching getting a better position in the listings it mentioned a view/sales ratio.. so if you sell more per views then your ratio is higher as it's deemed to be more popular, or something.

I don't know if my 55,000 available has a negative impact, I think it will.

[cookiecutter101]

Originally Posted by Geegee83

I read about descriptions too, apparently it searches the first 200 words? I use HTML, so I don't think anything useful will come from my first 200 words, I might add some keywords that are hidden.

I'm not sure, I haven't read or seen that yet.

And yes, reducing stock count may affect your listing in a positive way as then ebay's system automatically ranks you higher and also promotes your item in those "hurry ending soon" banners for your watched items and similar.

Although in some cases it makes no difference, that aspect of the system is pretty much a wildcard.

[Geegee83]

I will experiment and see what happens.. I'll list a few with just 10 options or something, or no options and see if it changes anything.

I can't remember where I read that (200 words), may have been on that long thread about loss of sales on the Eb Community boards.. It was a theory suggested by someone who knew a little about Cassini.

I was thinking of adding keywords into the text before the HTML, and just making the lettering very small and white in colour, so it wasn't a distraction to buyers, but included all relevant keywords to the item that may not be picked up by Cassini otherwise.

No idea if that will help or not, but worth a try.

[cookiecutter101]

Yeah, I was thinking of doing the same thing.

I would also suggest to make sure all of your pictures comply with the new ebay requirements.
I think that's another reason 30day listings rank higher than GTC, as the new picture requirements aren't enforced yet for GTC listings, so this could be a way for eBay to push sellers towards the requirements.

As I know for a fact that cassini can scan pictures for compliance.

There is a wealth of free information on those community forums.

[tmastermind]

Worth a try indeed, by all means we should all try experiment and post our findings here, maybe then we can all benefit each of our product listings ready for the big xmas sale!

[tmastermind]

Originally Posted by cookiecutter101

The new picture requirements aren't enforced yet for GTC listings, so this could be a way for eBay to push sellers towards the requirements.

I didn't know that! I thought it applied to everything from 1st Sept. Well that answers why I saw a competitor listing with a load of graffiti still all over it! I was obviously still able to with a GTC listing!

[Geegee83]

Sure thing tmastermind, I'll let you guys know how they get on. New stuff always sells well for the first 2 weeks for me, then it dive bombs... because I have so many listings I tend to not notice it as such.. I go by the day to day sales total.

Pictures - most of mine should be okay, but I could do with reviewing them.

To be honest, I want to reduce how many items I have listed so that I can control them better, it's a nightmare having to adjust so many listings for picture or description changes

[Geegee83]

Yeh the community forums are good! I have a browse now and again, it's just very slow! Not many people on there..