EBAY SYNCING not working

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  • edited October 2021 2 LikesVote Down
    with the huge savings on shipping ist class letters with tracking (most all are 53 cents- would be $3-$4 here or there before this option started) and the huge savings on the thousands of additional free listings (10,000+) the total savings are at least $200- $300 per month for me per the two stores there and allow you to bank and build inventory there in large amounts. and the sales are great. :-) are they bossy and sometimes the site is a bit wonky? yes.. :-) but i also now am top seller rating because i track (53c!) and ship everything quickly. this reduces fees also but minimal compared to the shipping and listing fees savings. and you get free shipping supplies each free box of supplies- stayflats (i get 3 per quarter) cost me $50 at unline. so that is $50 a month also.
    The shipping also includes free insurance and my claims of non delivery have went way down. hard to argue with a tracking # that states "delivered". :-) three claims this past year- all were denied by Ebay as clearly delivered.. and cost was 53 cents each. not cheer-leading for that site... but it does have it's better features that were added the past year. The managed payments is Ok and actually kind of nice, imo.
  • That's fine it works for you. But once you reach a certain size Hipstamp still is a much better value than Ebay. A store my size CAN NOT be put up on Ebay economically. (I have already crunched the numbers.) Ebay charges the store subscription whether or not you sell a single item, I only get charged Paypal fees when I get a sale. First off on a store my size would have to be cut down to fit within an anchor store which costs about 300 a month. Even with the extra listings it's only 100,000 listings. Once you go over 100,000 listings you have to go to an enterprise store at almost 3,000 a month and again that's without selling a single item. (My Paypal fees at the moment wouldn't even cover the store fees alone. Last year it was a bit over $3,100 for the entire year and that also included international sales.) Ebay by nature will limit the size of your store. Here on Hipstamp and Hippostcard you can have 2 stores with almost 2,000,000 listings for $120 per month. I think out of that difference I can cover the Paypal fees and come out much further ahead.

    I have to question why did Ebay front load so many listings with the premium stores at a cost of about $60 a month for 60,000 listings and yet if you go up to the anchor store why are they charging $240 more per month for only an extra 40,000 listings? I smell a rat and underneath the surface Ebay appears to be up to something. And I wouldn't put it past them to gut the fees to get people to list a ton of items, then break the sync to keep people from moving items off of Ebay easily and than after some time lower the number listings of back to closer to where they were in the beginning so that a lot more of the stores would have to upgrade their stores to the next level.

    As far as the postage, first off on Hipstamp and Hippostcard this year I have had 3,000 shipments and I don't use tracking on the lower value shipments. Ebay has always had a bit more of a problem with non-delivery shipment claims. Out of 3,000 I can count on 1 hand the number that have gone missing and have had to refund. Yes you paying 53 with included tracking, however if you are getting discount postage even at 80% of face that same letter is 46 cents. On 3,000 letters that's about 1590.00 in postage. At 46 per letter that comes out to about 1,380.00. That's over a $200 difference to help cover any loses for any lost letters. (And the refunds for lost mail this year have been less than $200)


  • edited October 2021 1 LikesVote Down
    I'm thinking 10-50,000 listings covers most stores on Ebay and I can understand your situation is double + on that. :-) I also think most sellers are content paying 53c for shipping that includes tracking and insurance but in in your case .. no.

    In my case 10,000 listings x2 stores (20,000) is all i would want though at the present time that would = 120,000 free listings for 2 mid level stores there. I suspect most sellers could work with that. Each seller has his or Her goals to work within. The point is this is one hell of a fantastic deal. this would be especially true if you have inventory that is selling for prices other than under $1
  • Michael and Jerry thanks for your continued insight with regards to these two different sites. It's provided me some valuable information. I might consider opening an eBay site for additional exposure, but if I do, I will not try to sync the two sites. I will maintain separate inventories for each site. I believe that solution will allow me more control. I won't need to rely on "E" and "Hip" getting along with each other.

    One additional question I need answered. Which site is easier to post new listings? I use the bulk lister hear. Does "E" have a similar tool? Is it as easy to use? Sorry, that was more than one question.
  • edited October 2021 1 LikesVote Down
    Probably easier to list here John but more sales there. I just list one item at a time using similar item there.. use to use turbo listed but that was discontinued. I enjoy listing there and generally list in groups of countries so no need to change much per item. Used/mint and picture, slight title change is all that needs to be done. also titles do not need to be different. most do not know this.

    and yes.. ebay pulling the rug out from under your feet is my concern also but having 10,000 listing for $60 is nice (i do not see this changing and it was 1,000) and the additional 50,000 per store they give is in my opinion - overkill and I agree they could stop the added 50,000 listings. i do not see them reducing the 10,000 listings as it is stated in the contract amount
  • edited October 2021 0 LikesVote Down
    John,

    I found that Hipstamp even without using the bulk lister was faster.
  • Jerry,

    I would disagree with the fact that for all sellers that the sales are better on Ebay. I have found that I have done much better here than I ever did on Ebay. It was just a matter of reaching a certain point of the number and mix of listings that did it. I found out for myself that time wise Ebay is more time intensive. I also found that the buyers on Hipstamp overall are much easier to deal with, less problems with missing shipments and far less hand holding with the buyers. Also I am just to busy on Hipstamp to deal with Ebay. But that's my situation and not yours.

    Neither Ebay or Hipstamp are a one size fits all. Ebay at one time was a good for me to use, I've just reached the point I
    have outgrown them and the best for me it will be is that Ebay would be an add on. I can understand your excitement on
    the Ebay changes because it works for you. I just can't get excited because it just doesn't really help me. It's just the difference between what our goals are.
  • Michael, I'm with Jerry on this one.

    I sometimes ask myself why I bother with Hipstamp? OK I mostly sell covers with a higher average item price of around £4+ as opposed to stamps at 25p to 50p each but sales on eBay greatly outstrip here with a ratio of Hipstamp = 1% against eBay = 99%

    This sync issue might be the last straw?

  • Tania,

    You're not in the same spot as I am in. My sales here at times are more than double than what they were on Ebay. You have a very limited stock of a little over 900 items. Please do me the favor of not using your price point as a reason as to why you aren't selling on here. I am calling it for what it is it is nothing but hog wash. I myself have sold covers for over $50 each and stamps for over $200 each on Hipstamp they don't always sell very fast but they do sell.


    And again when you asked for help with some of this what have you done with the suggestions that you were given? Some of those suggestions would help you on Ebay too but you haven't done anything with them. One of the suggestions you were which is just common sense and would help you greatly is to USE SG numbers when you list your FDCs. After almost 3 years you still don't do it. (I don't have a clue as to why.) Not everyone searches by year and your cutting off all the potential buyers that only search by numbers. If you use both the SG numbers and the year of issue you will have more potential buyers looking at them and it will help you on Ebay.

    After all this time and with what you stated time and time for years, that is what I would expect from you.
  • edited October 2021 2 LikesVote Down
    no need to be rude and i assure you Michael.. "NO ONE" is impressed with your bluster. :-) Picking on others for absolutely no reason is really not such a great idea and just exposes your inner personality faults. Never a good idea as you never know what effect it may have on those you do it too? :-) This is a Public Forums.. and Everyone here has the right to post their opinion as long as they are polite to the other posters. POLITE is the key word here. At NO point was Tania's post Rude or directed negatively toward you.. can you say the same? I suggest you Apologize.
  • I've put my hip store on extended leave mode - so it is effectively gone. I assume I won't be charged any fees in this state. If they get Sync working again I'll return. But I have tons of stamps to list and I am not doing the double work to list them in two places.
  • That pretty much sums up my situation also Richard. It is too much work to double list here for a fraction of the sales.
  • I wouldn't make the assumption you won't be charged fees in the extended mode. I would ask.
  • edited October 2021 1 LikesVote Down
    Well Michael the title of this post is about eBay syncing!

    What you fail to grasp is that when listing an item on Ebay the item title and item "specifics" are the most important factors in getting sales. I follow these factors/rules and achieve 99% more sales there than here.

    The eBay title box very often does not allow enough room to include the full SG# but you can include it in the items specifics which I do which then results in sales.

    The majority of my stock here is synced from ebay - if there is not enough room for the SG# in the title it won't get synced with that number and won't translate here. That's not my fault. I'm just telling you how it is for me. I've sold £400, £500 and £1000 covers on eBay and £550 stamps but nothing like that on this site.

    In my view "price point" is one of the factors effecting sales here for me - but not the only one? With everything else going on I don't have the time to list separately and exclusively on Hipstamp - it's just not cost effective - that's why I use the sync facility and if that is not even working properly then what's the point?

    Have a nice day!

    https://www.hipstamp.com/store/stampsfirst-day-covers-and-curios
  • edited October 2021 2 LikesVote Down
    Tania, I'm not sure why you believe price point is a factor effecting your sales here. Based on your current inventory, your highest valued items are 120, 115, and 79 pounds. If you don't list high values, you can't sell them. I currently have about 100 listed from $100 to $1,295 and have sold stamps here for $995, $995, $689, $650, $595 and many more from $100 to $450. If your point is that this site doesn't attract buyers with money to spend, I believe you haven't given it a chance to work for you.
  • edited October 2021 2 LikesVote Down
    Tania,

    First I want to apologize to you as I was letting my frustrations on this get to me. It's a bit hard to watch someone go through the same cycle year after year and from the surface when it doesn't look like anything has really changed. I really do want to see you do well here. You do have some nice material.


    With the title that does explain something you never stated before. I think there is a way to help you with the titles that you can get the SG # in the title without removing any major information.


    Take this one here.


    https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/2017-gb-stamps-windmills-and-watermills-first-day-cover-tallents-house-cancels/41515721

    Try this instead

    GB SG # windmills watermills 2017 FDC Tallents House Cancels

    You don't need stamps in the title as your listing in the cat stamps. FDC also works instead typing it out fully. (I know that works both on Ebay and Hipstamp because I listed them that way on both and they will show up under the FDCs) Also you don't need to use the and in the titles. Changing the title that way will help you out on Hipstamp. It will come up much better in the searches which is part of the problem that you're having. If this can improve your sales enough it may allow you to have a viable store on Hipstamp too. But you won't know for sure unless you try it.

    After looking at the titles I really believe that it has more do with the way your items are coming up in search here as opposed to Ebay, And the reason I say that is there is a guy from the UK and this is his store

    https://www.hipstamp.com/store/markbloxhamstampsltd

    go under his feedback and look at some of what he is selling. And he is selling 40 LB price point covers and stamps and even better items. Look at his titles in comparison to yours.

    As far as it not cost effective I do understand that. As far as the sync is concerned I hope for your sake they get it straightened out.

  • Thank you Michael.

    I suppose that part of the problem is fear?

    My titles at present work well for eBay but If I change them will I gain a small increase in sales on Hipstamp but a reduction in my level of sales on eBay?

    Proven methods on eBay do not necessarily translate (regarding covers and using the sync) over to Hipstamp?

    However I will start an experiment and do as you say with a sample of my cover listings and see if it makes any difference to those sales.
  • Tania,

    I don't blame you as change is scary at times. If I remember my sales on those items on Ebay remained about the same.
    Since you are using Ebay's item specifics don't change those, keep using those.

    I also understand about things not meshing 100% between Ebay and Hipstamp. That's due to different programmers writing different specifics.

    It doesn't hurt to try and I hope it works out for you.
  • The silence on this matter is deafening. :-) great move management. LOL

    If this ever gets fixed. or refunds are issues as they are certainly due us. i would appreciate someone posting here. I assume that the main effort put forth by Management is to ignore until this subject is forgotten. It does seem to be an effective way to deal with the pesky sellers that want to be treated fairly. LOL :-)
  • No further updates since the 18th.
    Communication is a fundamental element of running a successful business. Someone at the top needs to realise that staying quiet doesn't solve a problem it exacerbates it.
    Please read and listen to the people here that contribute to your bottom line. If you don't you may find your bottom line a bit short.

    Is the problem with this site or EBay?
    Do you have a timeline?
    Are you looking at waiving (or reducing) fees due to an integral part of your site not functioning?

    Simple enough questions, how about some straight answers?
  • I wonder what you do when you can't meet your payments on a 5 mil loan. Perhaps, you would just decide to screw your customers - get as much as you can from them then cut bait. That is just a hypothetical, but I wonder?
  • I see there are new banners and explanations of the ongoing issue up now. If you go to the banner it has a link to the synchorization spot that has a more full explanation of the current situation.

    My current experience is that some items are not being deleted, or they are very slow to be deleted as in up to or over 24 hours. I've been in contact with the support folks, have been providing examples to them of items slow to delete or that seem to have been missed.
  • Well we should now relax. The problem is "under maintenance". That is a useful fluff term. One month of maintenance should fix most coding and/or sync problems - treat your customers like dirt and they will leave you in their dust.
  • edited October 2021 4 LikesVote Down
    LOL, nothing has changed except they no longer list the Sync in the payment plans as included feature included in the plan you pay for.. this, i see as an admission of guilt - that they owe massive refunds here. it is also a pretty good indication that the sync will never be fixed here.

    the one functioning feature that they claimed to have is now only available via direct manipulation by the seller.. and that ONLY Functioning feature is to close items on ebay that sold on Hipstamp. But never fear as they are now officially under maintenance. What the heck does that mean? were we not under maintenance for the past month? I suggest the truth.. a banner that states the sync is broken and can not be fixed.

    What is not fixed and most likely will never be fixed:
    1- a refund issued to those that paid for a store with a working sync to upload and sync ebay inventory here,
    2- a method to upload current ebay inventory here as the old sync did
    3- a method to delete items here that sell on Ebay.. a much important function as items sell much more often there.

    Why the smoke and mirrors? Does Management really think we are this stupid? the smoke and mirrors are a major insult! just be honest.. you have fixed NOTHING except taking the last item that was left working (hipstamp sales to close on Ebay) and now make people go through the process to make this "previous" automatic feature work. I assume the programmers at Hipstamp .. do not know how to fix much or do not know what their job description entails? This is what programmers do, automate things.... not de-automate things

    I would think that the sellers here are pretty smart and will never fall for this new excuse. I would also bet most here know how to get a job done correctly.. That management, is a mark of true intelligence.
  • Well, I'm out. Not that I ever had a huge presence on this site vs. eBay. The lack of transparency, lack of communication, and no responses to any support tickets, exacerbated by the stealth removal of eBay Sync as an advertised feature makes me want to have nothing more to do with this site as a seller. There didn't appear to be a way to turn off autorenew on the store subscription other than canceling it immediately, so that's what I've done.

    Good job Hipstamp management... congrats on burning bridges. One hell of a way to (NOT!) run a business.
  • The Ebay sync is still advertised from Hipstamp. I find it strange it is not possible to find a solution at this moment after a full month of work. This sync is fundamental for my "need" of Hipstamp...
    Hip
  • edited October 2021 2 LikesVote Down
    Wow.. Tor.. thanks for sharing that. Total FRAUD and LIE -- how could they with any honesty ..POST THAT? this site has devolved to a stamp, postcard site having zero integrity. this is of course grounds for a credit card or paypal full refund complaint. Maybe after Paypal and the major Credit Cards get enough complaint cases they will deny services to Hipstamp for Fraud. They owe me $40 but I am thinking they owe others much more!
  • edited November 2021 1 LikesVote Down
    anyone notice any progress on this issue? I guess "under maintenance" is taking some time? :-) I'm thinking the 10% like me that refuse to sell here without a "Working Sync" is an acceptable loss. only time will tell the damages this issue has caused site, i recon? I have noticed almost nothing new to buy here in the areas i buy. zip, zero in a reasonable sane fair price range.

    My immediate conclusion is this issue will cause unfair outrageous prices and stale boring inventory to accumulate to the point of making the site not worth visiting to buy. Ebay Sync keeps the price down here on merchandise and keeps a steady fresh inventory of quality desirable items, and listed correctly. With out the constant Ebay inventory coming and going the outrageous bad quality overpriced items stand out boldly. my opinion.. many will not agree , I'm sure. :-) Since Management sells here big time, perhaps that was/is the point of not fixing this?

    I cant remember the last time I visited Delcampe.. This site reminds me of them in their poor management and lack of communication or care for their seller's well being. That site too had potential once and they totally ruined it also.
  • An update, regarding my intermittently deleted items (ie sometimes item does not delete here when it sells on eBay).

    If one uses the "out of stock" option in eBayland, that will cause the unpredictable results, ie some items will delete here, some will not. (out of stock changes the item quantity to ZERO but does not close the item in eBayland. It is meant for situations where folks have multiple item listings that they want to preserve the "stats" for if they run out, however it applies to ALL listings, it can't be done selectively).

    I was using that option. Along with the synchronization issue, it causes other annoyances in eBayland so I've turned it off.

    Since that time ALL items have been updating correctly here when they sell on eBay.

    I thought I should mention this incase other synchronizers use the out of stock option on eBay. The support folks here were in touch with me, I'm not sure if a "fix" is intended for folks using that feature or not, I think there are probably a very small number of folks that were using that eBay feature anyway.
  • I'm noticing that a few items I listed in my Ebay Store on October 1st just synched yesterday. Just tried listing something to see if it would synch.
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