Can I Close My eBay Store without a Penalty?

by: Philip Cohen

"offering dedicated customer service for Anchor Stores"

I look forward to users' evaluations of that eBay offer—LOL

by: pace306

offering dedicated customer service for Anchor Stores ....

err - eBay just called me and "gave me that" and I have a basic plan .... looks like ANOTHER mistake in eBays BRILLIANT (LOL) read: EVIL plan!

"Hello Mr. X ,
This is Rachel with eBay Seller Outreach and Coaching; I’m reaching out to you to thank you for taking advantage of this amazing opportunity and to expand about our Seller Outreach and Coaching program.

The eBay Seller Outreach and Coaching program is to help sellers grow their business with us. Whether that be by getting started on the site or providing guidance to existing sellers so their sales can grow. Our program provides our sellers with 48-hour fair warning (which is already on your account), and a direct helpline to directed support.

48-hour fair warning means that if we find anything wrong with one of our listings or your account we will contact you and provide you with 48 hours to fix the problem before we would take any action against your account. This feature will be available on your account for the next 70 days.

The direct helpline is to dedicated support that can help you with any questions you have. This helpline will remain open to you for 90 days from today (so it will end on 8/24/2016). The agents on the other end will be a one-stop shop for any of your selling needs. The number to the Reactive Help Line is 877-xxx-xxxx and is open from 5am-6pm PST.

Can you say DESPERATION????

by: bitbybit

@pace
''we find anything wrong with one of our listings or your account''

Is ''one of our listings'' on the same level as ''our customers''? Looks like eBay is once again confused. After sellers do all the work of acquiring the merchandise, taking photos, writing descriptions, shipping, etc...ebay not only considers buyers their customers but looks like eBay is taking ownership of sellers' listings and merchandise. If that is the case, this would make sellers employees of eBay and should be fully compensated.

by: Marie

Ebay use to have a dedicated team of very well trained CSRs for TRS sellers that were at least Silver level.  They were AWESOME.  Unfortunately we lost them in cut backs as Ebay changed the rules and took away the discount levels for PowerSellers.  

Not only that, certain level sellers had dedicated account managers.  That too worked pretty well, but was again lost way back when they pretty much too away all the benefits from being a Power Seller.  

Only time will tell if the new benefit for Anchor Store sellers, starting in July, is worthwhile or not.  With the stiff increases to the Anchor store fees and it's restructure, it is likely quite a few Anchor stores downgraded to Premium stores earlier this month.

by: RCL

I downgraded (free) to Basic at eBay and moved to Ruby Lane :) Very happy after 20 years at eBay to branch out--eBay is my smallest ''shop'', Etsy and Ruby Lane are getting the bulk of my inventory now. I'm much happier :) eBay is like a ship without a rudder.

by: wellspring

It really pained me to close one of my stores today. A year ago, I closed 2 of my 4 stores and after closing another today, I am down to only one. I have spent the last 4 years and 30+ hours a week building my stores. The fees % vs. sales no longer justifies having more than one store. To lower my store level was simply going to be a bandaid. I had to stop the bleading.

I crunched sales and expense numbers for the past 12 months and no matter how good a couple of months might be, my ebay expenses were averaging 38% of my sales, not including PayPal fees.

It's sad how ebay continues to suppress small sellers. Top rated, free-shipping, great service and 100% positive feedback ~ NONE of it matters. Small sellers continue to get squeezed out. And free listings? They are not free. Think of the 1,000 free listings as simply pre-paid listings by paying a store fee. And free shipping supplies? What a joke. Those are pre-paid too with the store fee increases. Ebay takes and takes and takes while they suppress out visibility. Sad. Very sad.

by: Philip Cohen

I have a particularly ugly painting habitually pop up on my saved search emails every couple of days; it's been appearing for some time now, so I looked at the seller: not only is his stuff uninteresting, he's running everything as three-day auctions; so, I looked at his completed ads: not one sale in the last 30 days; 30 days? Is my memory failing me or did not completed listings used to be 90 days? Well, regardless, I suppose 30 days of no sales looks better than 90 days of no sales; no wonder eBay did away with the "blood colour" to indicate "unsold"; but just because all the "no sales" are no longer indicated in "blood" does not hide the fact that the sharks are still circling the rusting old scow, in an even more frenzied state now ...

The eBay executive suite—where the incompetent mingle with the disingenuous, the unscrupulous, the malevolent, the outright criminal, and the just plain stupid. ...

by: Rexford

Wellspring says "Small sellers continue to get squeezed out."

And that folks is a fact, no matter how many times Wenig spouts that "reconnecting with small sellers" bs.

by: mindelec

@philip

If  recall completed searches show 30 days of unsold and 90 days of sold listing. So your guy hasn't sold anything in 3 months

by: Rexford

Rachel of eBay says "The eBay Seller Outreach and Coaching program is to help sellers grow their business with us"

How do they get away with these lies.  You can't grow a business when eBay hides your listings and when eBay place selling limits on you.  This statement is a lie!!!!

by: Philip Cohen

@mindelec,

So, not only have they stopped showing unsold items in RED, but they now only show completed items after 30 days (up to 90 days) if they are sold.

If you read between the lines its says, desperation, desperation, desperation; certainly there is little "green" showing ...

The eBay executive suite—where the incompetent mingle with the disingenuous, the unscrupulous, the malevolent, the outright criminal, and the just plain stupid. ...

by: cayenna

Hi, I have a 'basic store subscription' does this mean I have to upgrade to a different level to keep from getting penalized? If I do an upgrade will it remove my FB and my top rated status? Thank you!

by: wanda

cayenna... that is my question as well.  Ebay is delivering less and charging more, and it is deliberate and malevolent. But it isn't about money, if it were, they would revert to the near to perfect state they had when they began... each and every tweak is a twist of the knife.  My best seller, for the past few years, all of a sudden gets no sales and very few views?  I don't think so... mine is not a trendy product... it is time worn.  Something rotten is going on.

by: Marie

@cayenna and Wanda

NO you do not have to upgrade.  If a different level is better for your business, then do upgrade.  If it isn't, don't.

No matter what you would do to your account, Ebay would NEVER remove all your FB.  There is nothing you could do that would cause that.  

As long as you meet the requirements of TRS, you will remain TRS no matter what store level you choose.

Now do make sure you have the right store level for your little business.  Don't refuse to upgrade just because you don't like the fee increases.  You need to look at your current account and decide what store level offers you the most for what you normally carry on a monthly basis.

While there are more things to consider, but lets just look at how many BIN or GTC listings you run on a monthly basis.  

Some basic numbers to look at in regards to BIN or GTC listings.

For a Basic store without a yearly subscription, it benefits you to have the store if you run 83+.  With a yearly subscription 66+.

A Premium store w/o subscription, about 500, with a subscription about 450.

An Anchor store w/o subscription 3750, w/ a subscription 3400.

Again, there are other things to consider, but if you are running listing on a regular basis as stated above, it covers your store fee easily and that is before any of the other benefits.

Basic & Premium store levels did not increase by a bunch of money and new benefits were added that make up for the small increases.

It is the Anchor store level that took a HUGE jump in price.

by: cayenna

Thank you so much Marie!
I have a basic and pay a monthly subscription. I stopped selling a lot on eBay because of what they have been taking; almost all of my profit margin. I just did not want to get stuck paying even more than I am already for nothing, plus lose all of my hard earned FB etc. Your post has been helpful! Thank you.

by: toolguy

@ Philip

I was just at a neighbors house, he has never seen my ebay.

I pulled up an item I was selling.

I had him pull up my completed listings, it showed 391 items covering 90 days.

I had him pull up my sold items, it showed 304 items covering the same 90 days.

Maybe you have some preferences set up on your search that get different results. . .

by: Marie

Good Grief Toolguy!!  Just because it isn't happening to you or it isn't something you experienced does NOT may it untrue.  I realize you feel you are all seeing and all knowing.  That is crystal clear in your posts.  

What Philip reported here has and DOES happen.  It has for YEARS.  From time to time there is problems in this area and if you did a search on this site you would find articles on this very subject.

by: Philip Cohen

@Tool,

The question is not about SOLD items, it's about UNSOLD items; the inference is that whereas SOLD items are displayed for 90 days, UNSOLD items are not displayed after 30 days ...

Of course, all your items are undoubtedly 100% sold, so you won't notice the effect ...

Or, to put another way, do you have any items that did not sell showing in the 31-90 day range?

Nothing eBay does it above board; everything is done to obscure matters.

Still, I'm debating in my mind which is the most unscrupulous, deceptive entity on the planet, eBay or Donald Drumpf ...