I’m not sure when this started, but today I discovered it is no longer possible to bulk-end Fixed Price / Buy Now (BIN) listings uploaded under Good Until Cancelled (GTC) duration using Selling Manager Pro (SMP).

Every September I upload my stock of Christmas decorations and party supplies using a mic of Store Inventory Format (SIF), and BIN and Auction listings using relist until quantity zero.  Then either a day or two before Christmas or immediately after Christmas, I end all unsold listings, and put all the unsold stock into storage for the following year’s season.

Today I discovered that one of the advertised features of the pay-to-use SMP seller tool has been blocked (globally) by eBay.  In past years, and even this year at the end of different seasonal sales periods, I have always used the SMP bulk edit or bulk ending tool to close the unsold items on a date that suits my marketing plan.  Today I could not do that.  I tested it on several eBay sites around the globe, and all of them had the same issue.  It is not localised to one or a few sites, this appears to be another unannounced global policy.

eBay now demands that all BIN GTC listings are edited individually and a reason for ending given.  The options list (as reasons for ending the listing) includes; item no longer available, error in start or reserve price and so on.  Nowhere does it indicate end of season or give an “other” option.

I have several concerns about this.

First is that it is damned inconvenient and significantly increases the workload and admin time required to use eBay, and that makes me less likely to list in past volumes in the future. (It also artificially increases the page views count for their sites, and that is a key metric for stock holders and investors, bringing this into share-price manipulation legal territory).

Second is that it is all too “Big Brother” and “Police State” – it feels like eBay are acting in the manner of some communist state’s thought police.  What flaming business of there’s is it why I want to end my advert that I have been pre-billed for?  The only logic I can see is that they are actively hunting for sellers who appear to be “selling off site” and that they are so damned desperate to capture every penny possible, that ending listings early now chalks up black marks on a seller’s hidden record, black marks that will ultimately affect the seller’s support level or listing privileges.

This is going too far eBay – back off, and let sellers sell.

Let us manage our businesses in a way that is the most profitable for us, and your own profits will increase organically … time = money, most especially for small businesses like the bulk of your paying customers.

Keep trying to take over our businesses by stealth and you’ll lose your own, because sellers will stop using your sites, and stop paying you.

Gaz