[ritehook]

eBay is one of a handful of companies that more-or-less defined the Internet revolution that began mid-90s. (Which is when ebay started, '95)

However, it looks like the beginning of the end for ebay as it was known.

Beginning Feb 20, new policies in effect have a lot of regular sellers in an uproar. Many are claiming they'll desert the site and instead opt for craigs list, amazon, or will open thier own website.

The main objection seems to be that ebay is now skewing the so-called price decrease into a true price increase, around 50% more Final Value Fee for sold items, in exchange for a free "gallery" picture. (Used to be .35)

They are now favoring the Power Sellers, folks who mainly sell cheap new Chinese-made stuff, and encouraging small sellers (like those cleaning out their garages, or selling small collectibles) to leave.

They are also disallowing sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, tho not the reverse. This is going to dramtically increase extortion on the part of some unscrupous buyers ("Hey, instead of this $20 you are charging me to ship this item, make it five bucks or l'll crap on you with Feedback.")

To read the angry, bewilderd and frustrated threads and posts by ebay sellers, go to the ebay site, then Community, then Discussion Boards, and then Sellers Cenral.

And sell your ebay stock!

[Bill Dozer]

I can see raising the fees for power sellers since those are the folks running a business through eBay. I agree that doing that for the casual ebayer is going to hurt. One of the attractions is the ability to find every possible product that fills a need. You can go to ebay first, then... research those product options.

They are also disallowing sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, tho not the reverse.

I like this part. Avg. feedback ratings will go down but buyers don't have to be worried about trading negatives. It's not as if ebay allows sellers to turn away low feedback buyers anyway.

It will be interesting to see how shareholders react. Huge business change.

[pico]

Originally Posted by ritehook

eBay is one of a handful of companies that more-or-less defined the Internet revolution that began mid-90s. (Which is when ebay started, '95)

However, it looks like the beginning of the end for ebay as it was known.

Beginning Feb 20, new policies in effect have a lot of regular sellers in an uproar. Many are claiming they'll desert the site and instead opt for craigs list, amazon, or will open thier own website.

The main objection seems to be that ebay is now skewing the so-called price decrease into a true price increase, around 50% more Final Value Fee for sold items, in exchange for a free "gallery" picture. (Used to be .35)

They are now favoring the Power Sellers, folks who mainly sell cheap new Chinese-made stuff, and encouraging small sellers (like those cleaning out their garages, or selling small collectibles) to leave.

They are also disallowing sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, tho not the reverse. This is going to dramtically increase extortion on the part of some unscrupous buyers ("Hey, instead of this $20 you are charging me to ship this item, make it five bucks or l'll crap on you with Feedback.")

To read the angry, bewilderd and frustrated threads and posts by ebay sellers, go to the ebay site, then Community, then Discussion Boards, and then Sellers Cenral.

And sell your ebay stock!

i think i'll going to sell bunch of bricks in Wii boxes on ebay

[BadNina]

I am addicted to ebay. It is the devil. I like to win.

[Dark Horse]

Originally Posted by Bill Dozer

I like this part. Avg. feedback ratings will go down but buyers don't have to be worried about trading negatives. It's not as if ebay allows sellers to turn away low feedback buyers anyway.

Exactly. A lot of buyers don't leave negative feedback because they get slapped right back. And then get a request from the seller to each remove the negative feedback.

A lot of fraud on Ebay. Never so many movie posters signed by the stars...

Great place to pick up brand names cheap, though.

[Wrigley]

never have used ebay

[ritehook]

Originally Posted by Bill Dozer

I can see raising the fees for power sellers since those are the folks running a business through eBay. I agree that doing that for the casual ebayer is going to hurt. One of the attractions is the ability to find every possible product that fills a need. You can go to ebay first, then... research those product options.



I like this part. Avg. feedback ratings will go down but buyers don't have to be worried about trading negatives. It's not as if ebay allows sellers to turn away low feedback buyers anyway.

It will be interesting to see how shareholders react. Huge business change.

Right, the little sellers putting obscure items (collectibles) up for bid is what made ebay unique. Their idea now is mainly to turn it into a site for the giant sellers, many selling much the same thing.

On the neg fb -- oddly enough, Amazon just recently actually put this in. While it has been abused on ebay, it is defintiely going to let loose an avalanche of competing sellers trying to destroy their competition, by registering under different names, buying a cheap item, and dropping the neg. The end result will be that sellers will make it a TOS not to take bids from anyone with less than, say, 20 fbs. (Agaisnt ebay policy but there is a viable workaround)

One poster on the board suggestied just getting rid of feedback entirely, and go witht the new "star" DSR rating. Anonymous, and only buyers can so rate.

[ritehook]

Some buyers are also going to use the one-way feedback policy to try to blackmail sellers into refunding part (or all) of the selling or shipping price.

I have over 1000 in fb rating - and 100% positive. As I will not allow myself to be blackmailed I expect shortly to have the red negs show up.

And like othr ebay sellers will be starting my own website (should have done it 3 years ago when I saw the ebay handwriting on the wall), and tyring other sites, like Amazon (more than books, cds, and electronics are now sold there)

Let's see if the Power Sellers alone can turn around ebay's sinking fortunes - some of which are due as much to the very real recession as to any ebay policies.

[Bill Dozer]

Right. I'd be really surprised if they knowingly did something that squeezed out the little guy selling the unique stuff. ebay only has to look at walmart to see they do so well because they have everything. It's the reason Walmart has a vision center now and sportsbooks have tennis.

(yes, tried hard to work sports betting in)

[Poker_Beast]

I stopped using E-bay over a year ago. There is just way to much fraud going on there and the prices are just not as good of deals as they used to be.

[MoneySportsGuy]

I have bought one thing on Ebay. Actually looking to sell some never opend DVDS, clothes, and other computer stuff, where is good place to seel that? I heard craigslist might be better but just curious for those that like to buy stuff online. Send me a PM if you would like..

[rugbybdyb]

I love EBAY, I hope it does not go to the crap hole..

[jjgold]

I never used E-Bay

I don't buy used shit and stolen shit

[louisvillekid]

Originally Posted by jjgold

I don't buy used shit and stolen shit

why? i've got some good deals in the past on e-bay, buying old video game systems and games. i also don't mind buying stolen shit, a couple years ago at my local pawn shop, i bought a shitload of brand new tools for $130, there was at least worth $600 in there. someone obviously worked at Home depot and stole all the stuff then sold it to the pawn shop. everything was brand spankin new. i got a giant wheeled Stanley tote, a 50ft heavy duty extension cord, 3-piece Channel lock set, 8-piece Husky nut driver set, 75 piece Husky socket&wrench set, 20 piece Husky screwdriver set, 25ft and 30ft Stanley Fat-Max tape-measures, a 20oz Stanley Fat-Max Claw hammer, 3ft level, a set of metal snips, a right angle and t-square, chalk-line, Dewalt drill bit set, Lenox hand saws and blades, utility knives, etc, etc. it was a good f'in deal i thought.

[compaqDikk]

my ebay pirated porno ring filled chapter 11 today. fukk ebay

[flyingillini]

Just sold a card for 1,400 on ebay and the fees flat out suck.... Auction houses are the way to go from now on at least for my graded card sales

[Timetopay]

Originally Posted by flyingillini

Just sold a card for 1,400 on ebay and the fees flat out suck.... Auction houses are the way to go from now on at least for my graded card sales

you have a site or somewhere to see your stuff?

[flyingillini]

Let me know what you are looking for? I am liquidating my collection to add on to my house. Most of what I have are high end 1914 cracker jack sgc 60 and psa 5,6., t201 high end, t202 complete high end set that will be in REA auction house and t206 psa 7 cards.. Most will be hitting auction houses soon but if your collecting any of that stuff I may be able to help you out..

[louisvillekid]

Originally Posted by flyingillini

Let me know what you are looking for? I am liquidating my collection to add on to my house. Most of what I have are high end 1914 cracker jack sgc 60 and psa 5,6., t201 high end, t202 complete high end set that will be in REA auction house and t206 psa 7 cards.. Most will be hitting auction houses soon but if your collecting any of that stuff I may be able to help you out..

damn, you got the good stuff. all i got is some cards from the late 70's through the early 90's, then i quit.

[ritehook]

Originally Posted by Bill Dozer

Right. I'd be really surprised if they knowingly did something that squeezed out the little guy selling the unique stuff. ebay only has to look at walmart to see they do so well because they have everything. It's the reason Walmart has a vision center now and sportsbooks have tennis.

(yes, tried hard to work sports betting in)

I don't think ebay is going to deliberately try to force smaller sellers out. But their new policies are being interpreted by those sellers as that being the end result.

Walmart is a fair analogy, tho not totally accurate, as ebay is more like a flea market, or a giant mall, that rents spaces to sellers.

Whereas WalMart retails all kinds of items under one name, one roof. WalMart likely makes the most money on their big ticket items, but they also make it on a lot on fifty cents and dollar items, which brings in the heavy foot traffic. And, big thing, people who shop for a lot of nickel and dime items at Walmart will be more apt to buy their big ticket items there.

Most of the Ebay Power Sellers have their own websites. Most of the smaller sellers do not. Many big ebay sellers direct their customers to their websites - that won't do ebay much good.

And the people who buy small stuff on ebay may, if they go there less becuase there are fewer such sellers, they may not be as inclined to buy the big ticket items there.

Long-time CEO Meg Whitman (who parlayed slim exec ability into being listed on the Forbes mega-billionaire list) is leaving, and the new head man has referred to the avalanche of complaints about the new policy as mere "noise."

We'll see how it goes. Sales are already lame on the site for the last 7,8 months, due I think the national belt-tightening. I do think, tho, that eBay's best days are behind it.

Many of the smaller and mid-range seller are praying (and circulating a petition) that giant Google will step forward and run an auction site like ebay used to. But I doubt that Google wants to fool with that idea, now that they're going after bigger fish like alternative energy.

[LVHerbie]

ebay used to the golden shit... I used buy and all kind of stuff back in the day but everyone tries to screw you over so much on the shipping and handling it's not worth anymore...

[ritehook]

Ebay made promises several years ago to go after those sellers who gouge on shipping and handling, but never really did so. Some sellers do that because ebay only collects their fees on the item sell price,not on S&H.

The changes, according to posts on CNN Money, are worse than I'd originally thought.

For one, only items ebay deems "will sell" will get top billing in anyone's search. IE, most of the stuff from the smaller sellers will get lost on page 100.

Also, and totally absurd, is that sellers who take PayPal (I do, so do most sellers, this money transfer company is owned by ebay) will apparently now have to wait 3 weeks to have those funds available - the idea is that ebay/paypal will wait to see if they get complaints from the buyer before disbursing the money.

Uh-huh. There are some scammers selling on ebay. But the great majority of us are not. But we'll get hit with the same penalties as the scammers.

Here's a link to the CNN blog site that has a few of the seller's complaints. I've seen sellers angry before over some ebay policy or another - but never this angry.

[ritehook]

Here's the CNN Money link:

http://fsbfeatures.blogs.fsb.cnn.com...ler-rebellion/

[The Seer]

Originally Posted by louisvillekid

why? i've got some good deals in the past on e-bay, buying old video game systems and games. i also don't mind buying stolen shit, a couple years ago at my local pawn shop, i bought a shitload of brand new tools for $130, there was at least worth $600 in there. someone obviously worked at Home depot and stole all the stuff then sold it to the pawn shop. everything was brand spankin new. i got a giant wheeled Stanley tote, a 50ft heavy duty extension cord, 3-piece Channel lock set, 8-piece Husky nut driver set, 75 piece Husky socket&wrench set, 20 piece Husky screwdriver set, 25ft and 30ft Stanley Fat-Max tape-measures, a 20oz Stanley Fat-Max Claw hammer, 3ft level, a set of metal snips, a right angle and t-square, chalk-line, Dewalt drill bit set, Lenox hand saws and blades, utility knives, etc, etc. it was a good f'in deal i thought.

That's a helluva deal kid.

[ritehook]

eBay feels that its declining fortunes are due primarily to buyers having bad experiences with sellers.

That is correct. The new policies may remedy some of that.

But allowing buyers to destroy a seller, either one who is a competitor, or as a blackmail device to get an item cheaper or free, is the huge negative.

What ebay should do is to also grade buyers. (And, yes, there are lots of scamming buyers out there. I don't see many, selling collectibles mainly, but sellers of electronics stuff get them frequently.)

Ebayshould set in place a system that tracks buyers who leave a lot more negative feedback than is normal. They should then remove all such fb from seller's ratings, since such buyers are clearly out to damage people, esp if the items they buy are inexpensive.

Don't think ebay will do that, tho. It would also require tracking the buyer's computer to make sure he/she is not registering multiple times under many names. Or to discount neg fb from buyers with less than 30 fb rating

[BrentCrude]

I sold many items through E-bay years ago by contacting bidders who lost out on the same exact items I wanted to sell.E-bay used to let you e-mail other bidders and a few bidders actually got mad at me for cheating e-bay that way.I always ended up selling my land-lots with no complaints though and the people buying them got a price break and so did I by not paying E-bay fees.They quit allowing contact like that awhile back though as they saw people like me doing this stuff. I always waited to e-mail these bidders right as the auction was ending so they wouldn't really screw E-bay or the seller by seeing my proposals until the auction ended.

I have sold a few things through E-bay and my sister sells museum quality clothing she makes on E-bay and has made E-bay a ton of money down through the years so I don't feel bad having cheated them.hehe!

[zerocage]

Got out when they started taking more and more chunks of your cash.......craigslist is better!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ritehook]

Originally Posted by zerocage

Got out when they started taking more and more chunks of your cash.......craigslist is better!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Craigslist is mixed. If you're in a big city area and selling new stuff you may do well.

A lot of things don't sell well on CL. You almost have to give it away. Things that you can still get good money for on eBay.

Even tho CL tells its buyers NOT to buy long-distance, only local, there are still some people who list in the big metro areas (stuff like DVDs etc) and accept only USPS money orders (which are like cash).

[Gundog]

Ebay owns a piece of craigslist. Is craigslist next?

[Tchocky]

I've always hated eBay. They have the worst customer service in the world. Hope they go out of business soon. CEO Meg Whitman has already left the company. Good riddance to a good idea that got greedy and forgot about their users.

[louisvillekid]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Good riddance to a good idea that got greedy and forgot about their users.

I think i remember reading about the company was started by some dude who's wife collected Pez candy dispensers and it was a way for her to find other collectors.

[flyingillini]

I sell on Craig's list, Ebay, Memory Lane, REA ETC ETC...

It's like this.....
Craig's list is like Iraq and Ebay is like the Wild Wild West...

[purecarnagge]

Ebays trying to make too much profit. You can't really think the have all these costs that they can't sustain there business?

They are almost a rip now. Its almost easier to put a garage sale up then list it on ebay now. ebay is taking about 20% of the profit. Add the risk of fraud on there now and its just unbelieveable.

They have alot of servers/hardware, some customer support (most of which is prob outsourced) to deal with. Every year they seem to increase there charges, it just isn't worth it anymore. would I buy on ebay yes, would I sell on ebay. hell no.

[slacker00]

I bet Ebay has a lot more headaches with the small sellers. The big sellers don't need anyone to hold their hand.

[buztah]

You know what's weird? As huge as EBAY is, and even though I've swing traded the stock countless times over the past years, I've never once been on their website. The idea of buying shit on-line without inspecting it doesn't appeal to me. Never has, never will.