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I understand that Ebay, by giving up fee on the front end, listing side, is trying to make up the money on "final sale value" fees.......but 8% is outrageous!
Excessive fees like this will no doubt be adjusted soon or there will be a major exedus.....
A 4.8 average DSR is very hard to maintain as a large powerseller. However, I welcome the idea of eBay trying to promote honest sellers. It's the fly-by-night and shady sellers who try to mis-lead people with confusing item descriptions, extrememly overpriced shipping and handling, etc. that give eBay a bad name and make it harder for us honest sellers to survive.
Adding 50 cents to your S&H is not as cut and dry as stated above. If you deal with lower dollar items, you may loose buyers, receive lower bid amounts, etc. With that said, did you really make an extra $1,200?
eBay’s 4.5% DSR is not simple math ( it isn't 4.5 people - it can be people who give you positive feedback and then mark that they think you charged too much shipping) and they make it nearly impossible to find out how they rank these scores.
Plus sellers cannot tell if someone has a problem if they give positive feedback, It may look positive but eBay can count it against you.
As a seller, I only ask for a fair and equal feedback system, and a chance to compete on an open market. To me that was the real beauty of Ebay - the ability for everybody to shop and sell safely.
But this system clearly favors the folks who give eBay tens of thousands of dollars a month, they can afford to have hundreds of profit less sales a month in order to maintain a high volume and good feedback.
Huge volume stores that sell 50,000 items a month can absorb hundreds of bad feed backs, (and hundreds of zero profits sales) but a smaller store who might only make 100 sales a month can be penalized because of 2 people
Would your business survive if 2 customers could close you down?
Ebay has NO mediation, despite what they say, You are guilty IF someone charges you, and there is NO recourse for sellers what so ever. Some buyers make a business out of extorting sellers for refunds or threaten bad feedback and lie about damaged property.
I have had people give negative feedback because I asked the to send them item back to verify their claim, or because they were mad that they won the item and I expected them to buy it. EBay did nothing and made it clear I had to eat that cost.
Accountability should be a two way street
Buyer fraud on ebay8:14 PM [Factored from [[Buyer fraud on ebay]]] Anon - 1 changes - 43 hits
There is such a thing a buyer fraud
A standard brick and mortar business builds in well over 20% losses for theft, shrink and customer fraud, yet as an eBay seller I get 0%.
Seller who have smaller inventories and more individual products can get put out of business with just a few complaints - as few as 4 in one month - even if the complaints are not legitimate and are fabricated.
How does buyer Fraud rate impact smaller businesses?
For example: a seller of hand made children’s clothing only makes 100 sales a month and four of them fraudulent . They must be able to eat the material and labor costs ( plus pay all the associated fees) AND at the same time get penalized by eBay.
Without a diverse group of sellers, there is no customer choice
The changing DSR scores, on the surface, sounds like a great improvement, better feedback and creating more honest sellers. However as a power seller and avid eBay buyer, I think this will actually have the opposite effect.
Buyers will suffer because mom and pop stores will not be able to make enough money to stay on eBay and absorb the buyer fraud rate.
I've been an Ebayer for over eight years, and have an Ebay Store as well as our own on-line Store. When is Ebay going to make BUYERS accountable? Sellers are at their mercy, with NO EBAY RECOURSE! I've found over the years that almost without exception, it's the NEW BUYER, (feedback under 10), who ends up hurting you. Usually, it's because they are not well experienced with the Ebay system. I think that Ebay forgets that it would be nothing without both SELLERS and Buyers! We certainly pay enough.
And have many Sellers noticed the slow-down in traffic? Those Ebay television ads need some looking at. I've been in sales and marketing my entire career of forty+ years... I don't see how the Ebay ads will motivate potential Buyers to come to Ebay. Maybe it's me? :-)
The increased fees will hurt sellers. Period. It will, however lessen the costs for items that go unsold.
I have developed a fee calculator that runs both fee models and shows clearly that in the end sellers without high DSR will lose money after the 20th. Even those with the 4.8+ required for the 15% discount will still not realize the same profits they did before.
The Greed Factor of ebay7:58 PM [Factored from [[The Greed Factor of ebay]]] Anon - 1 changes - 28 hits
Ebay is very good at calling and suggesting how we can rev up our sales, and for one, I have sold postcards for 37 years, they have never taken any suggestions that I have made for improving their site, and when they have goofed up my positive account,took 6 months to straighten it out. I too, used Ebay for supplemental income and have over 5,000 positives with 99.9% percent rating. WHY DOES EBAY NOT LISTEN, A GOLDEN EGG THAT LAID THE WRONG EGG.
Many angry eBayers launched a boycott against eBay or feebay as they would call it. Long term eBay users are just plain fed up with eBay's greed. Since eBay started many people have been loyal customers but now eBay wants to get greedy and give their LOYAL customers less bang for their buck! The constant raising of fees and the limitations they are putting on feedback is a big slap in the face for everyone. They tend to forget who made them what they are! They are trying to run off the little people and only keep the customers who are "power sellers" who spend a fortune with them. This is wrong on so many levels! Ebay will crumble and in time just become a faint Internet memory!
So many people are turning to Craigs List. But, what most don't know is that Craigs List is owned by eBay. Sure you can list certain thing for free, but you have to list it city by city. There isn't a store option or any other options for that matter. Lets face it how long do you think it will take for eBay to make Craigs List completely overpriced as well?
There are alternatives. We at [USAuctionsLive]Create?.com have seen this coming for a long time. And like many of you we too were tired of being ripped off by eBay! We decided to take it to the next level and create an auction site that allowed live auction to be enjoyable once again. The sheer thought of having to pay out a percentage of your hard earned sale is sickening! And what you want your own store but you have to pay a monthly fee PLUS pay for every listing? It's obsurd; you should be encouraged to do so by receiving a huge price break! And that is exactly what we have done. If you take a look at our store prices you will see you only pay a SMALL flat monthly fee and you can list UNLIMITED items in your store. We don't charge additional listing fees, and close of auction fees. We believe it should be affordable and our customers should actually make a profit, not give it all to us.
Ive always said that ebay charges to much. If im not mistaken ebay owns [PayPal]Create? also so your getting double charged when customers transfer money to your account or you transfer money to someone else. I stop using them a long time ago. KEEP THE BOYCOTT GOING !!
"eBay has been standing firm with its changes. We think they may see the protesting sellers as a less-profitable nuisance eBay would not mind seeing depart, especially if they plan to be more friendly to higher volume sellers."
eBay is big business now, and they want to deal primarily with other big businesses that have deep pockets. The execs at eBay know that they have to keep eBay, Inc. profitable for their shareholders. So, if it means alienating the very people that MADE eBay - the small, "one-man-operation" businesses and the occasional 1-item-at-a-time seller, so that they're more profitable with the large-volume sellers, then on a business standpoint it makes financial sense.
Every business goes through this. That's why many of these "little guys" are leaving eBay and going to other sites. These other sites may not be well know and they certainly aren't as big as eBay, but if they offer the alienated eBay sellers a more cost-effective way to sell their items, then so be it. The new smaller auction sites will see an increase in their customers/sellers, while eBay gets "A Whole Lot of Moolah" from the big high-volume sellers they prefer to cater to.
There is life after eBay, you betcha.
We were silver level powersellers for several years, but left eBay about 5 years ago after having a variety of problems. We began offering and selling everything from our website at http://www.samsilverhawk.com/gems1.html and it was the best and smartest move we ever made! We post designer cabochons about once a week; most are sold within a few hours, and there are NO ebay fees to pay. It is ten times easier, much more convenient to our lifestyle, and a whole lot cheaper!
eBay made it big on the backs of the little people, and all along, eBay has been extremely clever at devising new and better ways to put more of their sellers' profits into their own pockets. There is a common mindset that once you are a seller on eBay, you're trapped there and cannot make it any other way. A boycott will not hurt the company itself, in any meaningful way, but you CAN save yourself. Over the years, I have watched countless auction houses come and go because they simply didn't get the volume of business necessary to survive. Not selling during any given week may be tolerable for some, but the truth is, many auction sellers are relying on the money coming in to meet their bills. In the big picture, a boycott will not make enough of a difference to eBay's bottom line, and the vast majority of sellers will be back on eBay the next week because they feel they have no choice. If you really want to make a positive change in your own lives, gather up your past buyers' email addresses, band together and pick one new auction place to migrate to. In addition, and most importantly, put up your own business websites, start a mailing list for your customers and let them know whenever you are putting up new items. Get people used to going to the new place, and especially, to your website. Once you get comfortably established at the new place, drop eBay entirely. That way you won't starve in the process, and in the end you can be free of them.
I have to agree that this little boycott will have a minimal effect on Ebay in the short term. That being said, I personally think that if Ebay had one site, out of all the hundreds of aution sites that are out there, that could really get going and proved to be major competition, then myself, as well as all these other little sellers who don't have enough inventory to have their own website, would finally have somewhere to go. I've spent the last couple days searching out the competition and found that www.wensy.com is set up much like Ebay, easy to use, FREE, and they have quite a few listings and registered users already! The other sites that I looked at didn't even compare!
I for one think that if enough people pulled together and helped one site grow then Ebay would finally see the error of it's ways!
I for one have had enoughof ebay. I like many used ebay to supplement my other incomes, I will do so no more. Ebay seems to have turned its back on the same people who made it what it is today. I sell mainly hi end hifi so have decided to set up my own site. It is www.hifiauction.co.uk hope to see you there, it is a whole lot cheaper than ebay!
User Leaving eBay7:57 PM [Factored from [[User Leaving eBay]]] Anon - 1 changes - 46 hits
I just closed my account on eBay not knowing anything about the increased fees or the boycott. I close my account because I was unhappy with they way they dealt with a situation in which I was awarded a buyer's strike because I did not proceed with a "buy it now" transaction. It was the first time I had tried this and I did not believe they really meant that the transaction was regarded as complete when I pushed the button. I couldnt see how it could be complete when there was no way of knowing whether the seller would even be able to send goods to Australia. As it turned out the freight charges were absurd and I bought from someone else. Ok it was my mistake - I was supposed to email the seller and work all this out before I pushed the button. But anyone can make a mistake - and i was annoyed that eBay just ignored me and proceeded with a buyer's strike. It is a clumsy and confusing website in any case.
I didnt like being treated like a transaction and I closed my account. I won't be back any time soon...
I was a member of Ebay for 4.5yrs as a buyer with impeccable F/B. I was a regular contributor to the Community Forums without any hassles until I was mysteriously suspended from Ebay for impersonation of an Ebay employee. Now who in their right would pretend to be a robotic moron?
After contacting Ebay and pleading with them to provide me with information regarding these accusations I was told via robotic email I had to provide Ebay with evidence to prove my innocence. How could I do this when I had no idea what this accusation was about, and Ebay refused to provide me with any information to help me prove this claim was false. Ebay told me they had conclusive evidence to prove my suspension was warranted.
After weeks of daily emails to Ebay begging them to tell me what this was about I was eventually told they had received a complaint which was an email porporting to be from me in which I claimed to be a Moderator (remember EBAY previously told me they had conclusive evidence the email was from me) With this information I set about my investigation because I was innocent of these accusation being made against me. With the help of my ISP and the Telecommunications Ombudsman it was proven the email in question was infact a fraudulent email from a member who had stolen my identity by altering the text of an email which was originally from me via my ISP. Ebay was given all the information by my ISP to prove the fraud committed against me. How could this possibly be when Ebay had conclusive evidence against me? Did I receive an apology, or an assurance the person involved in this fraud would be dealt with? No-way, in fact I was suspended for a further month because I proved Ebay's inefficiency beyond a reasonable doubt, and because Ebay can do as they please and they don't HAVE to give the plebs that support their Company any explanations.
I worked for a [PowerSeller]Create? on eBay before moving to my current job. Being able to leave negative feedback for buyers was absolutely critical to our business model. There are deadbeat bidders out there, and dealing with them is a total waste of time. eBay compensates you for the listing when a bidder bails, but they can't compensate you for the lost time to relist the item, as well as the fact that you lose all momentum you had for an auction. There are also people who make every demand they can and if you cannot meet these demands, they threaten negative feedback.
Some buyers are downright rude, and you should be able to tag these rude people with negative feedback for the benefit of the eBay community. By taking this ability away, eBay is essentially giving customers the right to abuse and possibly blackmail sellers based on a sellers' dependence on feedback for future business.
This ebay topic is very interesting, we have recently launched a new Star Wars Shop selling, toys, figures, vehicles, costumes etc , called:
Jedi-Robe.com - The Star Wars Shop.
A huge part of our stratagy includes ebay, but with five years private ebay experience and a number of offline and online auction tools, we are still finding the whole process pretty sticky.
Powerseller gone from ebay7:56 PM [Factored from [[Powerseller gone from ebay]]] Anon - 1 changes - 45 hits
power seller
I gave up on Ebay in Spring of 2007. I had been a powerseller since 2004 but was forced to close shop due to increasing ebay fees plus the paypal fees. I logged on one day to find that my business had been shit down by ebay, with no warning. I was part of a big sweep they did last year to 100's of sellers who were given a 30 day restricted account that may or may not be opened again. After that, I was done with Ebay and never looked back. Ebay can raise their fees and do whatever they want because they know there is no other medium out there to compete with them. Amazon is not the same. Yahoo stores was a bust and waste of money and Overstock was a complete joke. Ebay changed my life because they made me find a completely different way to make money without all of the hassles. Being a powerseller on ebay was almost like working for a communist country. I say good bye and good riddance to the constant stress.
[HollywoodTeen]Create?.net
Hi James
A quick reply to your insightfullness and obvious website designing experience.
First, yes I am the owner of [NameZilla]Create? Free Auction. I would be a complete idiot if I did not capitalize on acquiring some of the fleeing sellers from feebay.
I used to use eBay all the time for tickets but the costs have skyrocketed. Between eBay and Paypal they are raping the little guy. Don't even think about Stub Hub, they charge over 25% on every transaction. Its highway robbery. We started our own site to buy and sell locally, its called ticketflea.com. It will start in KC and take off from there.
stubhub
well, no wonder that stubhub charges so much, ebay owns them!
Occasional sellers on ebay7:56 PM [Factored from [[Occasional sellers on ebay]]] Anon - 1 changes - 39 hits
I stopped selling with ebay because their constant nagging got too much, especially about payment methods. I've looked for alternatives & have come to the conclusion that there is none yet. I tried ebid but found their support service very amateurish & unprofessional so I closed my account with them. I'm sick of hundreds of people recommending hundreds of auction sites, especially those ugly, homemade-looking ones with nobody there. Namezilla.com that someone (probably the owner) recommended here is one example - this is not helpful but just wastes people's time. Obviously new sites will not have a lot of buyers & sellers but if they are not good quality sites, they never will. Whatever happened to Google's idea of opening an auction site?
Occasional sellers
I stopped selling with ebay because their constant, nagging got too much, especially about payment methods. I've looked for alternatives & have come to the conclusion that there is none yet. I tried ebid but found their support service very amateurish & unprofessional so I closed my account with them. I'm sick of hundreds of people recommending hundreds of auction sites, especially those ugly, homemade-looking ones with nobody there. Namezilla.com that someone (probably the owner) recommended here but just waste people's time. Obviously new sites will not have a lot of buyers & sellers but if they are not good quality sites, they never will.
sorry I dont have time to really write this in perfect sequence. but...
apparently this is a pretty hot topic. its going to run strong. ebay will read it and gather all kinds of information that were handing them to use againts us. but we still need a platform.
maybe ebay can start a second company and make it for the small timers only? then everyone wins. I doubt that will happen. cmon ebay, you are oppressive! lighten up!
MAKE A BIG NOISE AND THEY WILL HEAR
Proceed with a boycott of ebay but do it the RIGHT WAY. You need to promote it on national news outlets AND INTERNET USERS to buyers BEFORE you do the boycott. and make it longer than a week. they laugh at that.
make it a HUGE DEAL. That will be as damaging as the actual boycott.
I started selling motors on ebay 4 yr ago and was making a profit, but now with all the added fees it is a total waste of time even putting the odd wreck on ebay..It is for this reason i am trying to set up my own website to sell cars, vans, trucks etc and it will be free for anyone to advertise their motor.. www.tjsautos.co.uk thus getting rid of another ebay fee..Anyone wanting to check it out are welcome, costs nothing to try
I stopped selling on eBay. I used to sell tons of fishing rods and reels. In protest, I decided to stick to my website Penfishingrods.com to make the bulk of my sales. I used eBay as an "eBillboard" to attract buyers based on a well put together ad. M.D.,CEO Penfishingrods.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvXbbUxoWk
Business > ebay
We have been using Ebay for some 10 years now, and have seen it change from the good to the bad and then the ugly, hopefully things may improve in this situation, but until then, it basically is all about setting up your own websites, or using alternative sites whi