Falling Sell Through Rates
About Me
Member since: Aug-12-04 18:12:04 PDT
Location: United States
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Falling Sell Through Rates ~ NOT the BEST MATCH

If you are a seller of beads, findings, or jewelry components on eBay then you have noticed that your sell-through rates on the items you are selling has dropped substantially over last several months.

A big contributor to this decrease in sales and relative increase in fees collected by eBay is due to the "best match" search result change.  Most U.S. based sellers in the bead categories will now find themselves 6-10 pages back in search results as international sellers enjoy top placement on the search results...

Why are sellers in China, Australia, and UK receiving the best placement?  We believe that it has to do with eBay's new algorithm which seems to calculate the distance the item has to travel against the associated cost to ship the item.

As eBay has not released the particulars of how it's algorithm works, (which takes MANY other factors into consideration as well) we have no way of knowing how to make items more search friendly for our U.S. based customers. 

Many of the sellers we supply have opted out of selling on eBay all together in search for greener pastures, or should we say "free-er" pastures.  We have received requests to sell our items on other free auction sites that don't employ such a complicated algorithm but focus on empowering their partners instead... 

We want to know how eBay's recent changes have affected your business and what you are doing about it.  Talk to us about the challenges you are now facing, and don't be afraid to log in and blog!

 

rememberthemagic!
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May-15-08 07:59:11 PDT Report this comment
ewannaksg
I'M WHAT IS CALLED A NEWBIE STORE AND BECAUSE OF THIS BEST MATCH CHANGE MY ITEMS HAVE DISAPPEARED FROM THE SEARCHES AND WHEN I CONTACTED THEM I BASICALLY GOT TOLD THAT I CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT IT. HOW DO THEY EXPECT US TO STAY IN BUSINESS IF WE CAN'T GET NOTICED? I TOO, AM LOOKING INTO OTHER VENUES, I'M TIRE OF NOT BEING SEEN AND UNTIL I HAVE SOME SALES I CAN'T UPGRADE TO HIGHER PROFILE TYPE LISTINGS. I'VE ALREADY TAKEN A BIG HIT SINCE I OPENED IN JANUARY.

BY THE WAY, I HAVE BEEN A CUSTOMER FOR A WHILE NOW AND JUST LOVE YOUR ITEMS AND ALL OTHER STORES UNDER THE JACOB UMBRELLA OF STORES.
May-21-08 13:48:05 PDT Report this comment
ewannaksg
IF DITANCE IS A KEY FACTOR THEN I SHOULD GET LISTED. MY PHYSICAL LOCATION IS IN GREECE!
May-21-08 13:49:01 PDT Report this comment
gemsrough
I am a medium to small buyer and I have been affected HUGELY by this best match. My sales dropped enormously and profit also. My top competitors can make more money because they used to sale their stuff for a longer time and I can hardly compete because he has a better rating. I am not too far behind but the small difference between him and me, puts him on top of the listings. I do not know why ebay did this, but it seems only the bigger seller are getting a boost of profit for free and small time and medium seller are getting "raped". I hope on some way that many small time seller move away and that ebay changes its practice because now it is affecting all small time vendors.
May-27-08 21:42:14 PDT Report this comment
lotsa-art
HI....I THOUGHT IT WAS ME!!!! WILL NOT SELL JEWELRY ON EBAY AS THERE IS NO PROFIT & I WORK CONSTANTLY TO CREATE....I SELL IN SPECIALTY STORES & HAVE REPEAT BY MAIL CUSTOMERS.
THEY KNOW THE QUALITY AND RECOMMEND TO OTHERS...EBAY TAKES GREAT SLICE OF THE PIE & I AM
UNABLE TO FIND MY LISTINGS IN SEARCHES...I AM AN ARTIST & SHOW IN GALLERIES...BOTH FINE ART AND ONE-OF-A-KIND JEWELRY...I ALSO MAKE PAINTED FURNITURE...THIS TOO IS IN GALLERIES.....I PAINT SHOES & FIND THEM DIFFICULT TO FIND WHEN SEARCHING...WHAT IS GOING ON??? I DONT UNDERSTAND THE BEST MATCH OR ITS PURPOSE....WHY SHOULD DISTANCE
HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH SALES/FEES......I HAVE GONE FROM MULTIPLE HITS TO UNDER 1 A DAY
WHAT IS THAT....I FEEL INVISIBLE...WHY SHOULD INTERNATIONAL SELLERS BE LISTED FIRST?? I
CANNOT INCREASE MY SALES IF I CANNOT BE FOUND...I SOLD A BAG TO A GIRL IN RUSSIA THAT
CLAIMED IT WAS WORN OUT...NOT TRUE...I HAD SIX PHOTOS AND SHOWED ALL PARTS OF THE BAG..
YET SHE GAVE ME NEUTRAL FEEDBACK & WROTE ME THAT SHE COULD HAVE RUINED ME ...BUT DIDNT!
I JUST TAUGHT YOU A LESSON! THIS DROPPED MY FEEDBACK FROM PERFECT. THE BAG WAS IN GOOD
PRE-OWNED CONDITION AS STATED IN THE LISTING & THE PHOTOS BACKED THAT UP...WHY WOULD
SOMEONE CHOOSE TO DO THAT? IT IS HARD ENOUGH TO SELL ON EBAY...THEN WHEN YOU CANNOT FIND YOUR OWN LISTING IN SEARCHES...ONE BECOMES DISCOURAGED! WHAT IS ALGORITHM? WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE? WHY HAVE I NOT HEARD OF IT? I WILL BE BACK TO YOUR SITE..I KEEP YOU ON MY FAVORITES...
Jun-03-08 09:53:48 PDT Report this comment
pedantic-bohemian-designs
Thanks for all this information! I dropped out of buying/selling beads and jewelry for 5 years due to a divorce and health concerns. Now that I'm back, I see things have changed for the worse here on eBay. I know now that I will be opening my storefront on Amazon instead.

I did notice the foreign offerings coming up first in a simple "beads" search! Personally, I won't do business outside North America. I was able to customize my searches by using the advanced search parameters to the left of the search screen. But newbies might miss this feature, and long-time U.S. and Canadian sellers are punished as a result. Not cool, eBay, algorithm or not.

I've found the handful of great U.S. sellers that I will repeatedly buy from thanks to this advanced search parameter (along with many whose ridiculous per-item "handling" fees have made me furious, forcing me to do something I almost never do - leave negative feedback). And, thanks to this post here on my favorite seller's page, I've gotten great advice as well!
Aug-27-08 12:21:57 PDT Report this comment

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