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National News-eBay Sales are Down!

by Charles E. White
59 replies
It was on the National News tonight that eBay's sales are down. Do ya think? Duh!

How on earth could sales be down in these economic times..eBay should be a place to look for bargains especially nowadays.

Well, let me think, first thing is Mr. eBay....you tried to make everyone sign-up for a PayPal account just to purchase your products. Believe me people aren't going to do that...ever heard of Craigslist? Not only that, but do you know how many people email the seller and the product is sold behind your back because the buyer doesn't want a PayPal account?

Second, you have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in commissions when you banned digital products from being sold where people had the ease of downloading them to their computer instead of waiting on a CD.

Third, Mr. eBay your new policies suck and so does the evaluation process where customers rate you up to 5.0. The higher the rating the bigger the discount....just give me the discount I earned to begin with. By the way Mr. eBay when someone makes powerseller give it to them instead of making them wait until your damn good and ready and what is this crap about waiting until the following month to get a powerseller discount once you make the grade of powerseller? I'm a powerseller and I want my discount when I reach that level, not months down the road and so does everyone else that makes it.

Gee, with all the great stuff you have done in 2008, I don't understand why your sales are down. Unless you change your policies, believe me when I say this, things are going to get worse for you, Mr. eBay. It's not just the times, it's what you have done in 2008!
#ebay #ebay policies #national #newsebay #powerseller #sales
  • Profile picture of the author AndyCamden
    I agree that a lot of their new policies are hurting their business. Perhaps they will change. Only time will tell. All good things eventually come to an end.....
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
    You make good points. I wonder how amazon's sales are this year vs. last.
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    • Profile picture of the author granola
      I used to be a powerseller on ebay.

      Got sick of all the policies...

      They lost 5-10 sales a day from me.

      Keep up the good work.

      All big companies get big corporate heads...
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      • Profile picture of the author Charles E. White
        Originally Posted by granola View Post

        I used to be a powerseller on ebay.

        Got sick of all the policies...

        They lost 5-10 sales a day from me.

        Keep up the good work.

        All big companies get big corporate heads...
        I was a silver powerseller ($3,000 plus a month in sales) and quit selling on eBay last spring because of their stupid policy changes. Not only that...I had to bass fish, ya know? LOL
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        • Profile picture of the author granola
          Originally Posted by Charles E. White View Post

          I was a silver powerseller ($3,000 plus a month in sales) and quit selling on eBay last spring because of their stupid policy changes. Not only that...I had to bass fish, ya know? LOL
          Do I know?!?

          I'm a Greek living in Costa Rica...

          I Fish.

          LOL
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      • Profile picture of the author axeray
        Look after the little guy I say
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  • Profile picture of the author SolomonHuey
    Count another former PowerSeller that left because of their unreasonable rules. Lost 25-50 sales a day from me.

    Even though I struggled for a short time after that, business-wise, it was a great decision and things are even better than before.

    However, rather than bash ebay, let's take advantage of this info and use this thread as a learning lesson so that we don't make the same mistakes in our own businesses.

    Solomon Huey
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    • Profile picture of the author granola
      Originally Posted by SolomonHuey View Post

      Count another former PowerSeller that left because of their unreasonable rules. Lost 25-50 sales a day from me.

      Even though I struggled for a short time after that, business-wise, it was a great decision and things are even better than before.

      However, rather than bash ebay, let's take advantage of this info and use this thread as a learning lesson so that we don't make the same mistakes in our own businesses.

      Solomon Huey
      Solid advice!

      Way to use your noggin Solomon, too many posts go negative.

      I make it a point, no, I go out of my way to listen to my customers and make them happy.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ruth Hendrickson
      EBay truly has made some dumb decisions this year. It just boggles the mind that they actually thought those decisions would be good for their business. Hopefully they'll come to their senses and roll back some of the changes, but I'm not holding my breath.
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    • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
      Originally Posted by SolomonHuey View Post

      However, rather than bash ebay, let's take advantage of this info and use this thread as a learning lesson so that we don't make the same mistakes in our own businesses.
      I don't see any bashing here, just people making honest comments about some bad policies at ebay.

      I'm also unclear what the lessons are, since I'm not running an auction site and don't own a payment processing company that I can force people to join and so on.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheMagicShow
    Ebay was such a great auction market before, but now that is history, their policies, price hikes and strict guidelines have damaged their earnings and a lot of sellers have decided to not put up with that crap anymore.
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    • Profile picture of the author Charles E. White
      Ebay got a new CEO this year and that seems to be when these wonderful policy changes took place. Maybe, they need to keep looking for another CEO.
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    • Profile picture of the author rapidtronics
      Originally Posted by Magic Mel View Post

      Ebay was such a great auction market before, but now that is history, their policies, price hikes and strict guidelines have damaged their earnings and a lot of sellers have decided to not put up with that crap anymore.


      SO TRUE -The price hikes are just obsene and drove off lots of sellers. I rarely use them to sell anymore. Only to buy becaue it is a buyers market.
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      • Profile picture of the author George Wright
        rapidtronics,

        This is probably one of the most important benefits. Use to buy, sell elsewhere.

        I hate to say it, however, if you deal with a seller who is really trying to keep up with all of the junk that eBay is throwing at them then you pretty much are in the driver's seat, what with the one sided feedback and all. This shouldn't be abused but it sure makes sure that almost every buying transaction you get into will be handled with great customer service.

        I remember when Sellers and Buyers would have a standoff on feedback until both were "sure" about getting good feedback. Now the buyer is even prompted by eBay, (my words) "Are you sure you don't want to leave negative feedback?" "You can you know the poor seller with a 100% rating can't do anything about it."

        On the flip side I wonder if people even take feed back seriously at all now.

        George Wright

        Originally Posted by rapidtronics View Post

        SO TRUE -The price hikes are just obsene and drove off lots of sellers. I rarely use them to sell anymore. Only to buy becaue it is a buyers market.
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        • Profile picture of the author Scott Lundergan
          Kay really hit it on the nail when it comes to buyers' vs sellers from buying general items. If you notice when you search on amazon, the "find used or new feature" where sellers are competing for your purchase is much more efficient and less of a hassle than ebay because of the wonderful technology called...

          "Purchase With One Click"

          I actually haven't been on ebay for a few years now because of the extra hassle and amazon is very user-friendly.

          Re: craigslist and Josh's post.

          If you notice the type of people that put stuff up for sale on CG, it is because they want it gone and gone quick WITHOUT the hassles of ebay OR putting up a newspaper ad and to a buyer, it's the same..pretty much hassle free for local. If I need a part for my other car or some video piece in the next few days, that's where I go and somehow, what I need always seems to be there

          Anyways, alot of good learning lessons in this thread. I'm not "KNOCKING" ebay just really showing what great BENEFITS Amazon and CG have over Ebay to consider in our own businesses (especially that AWESOME "Purchase with one-click" feature of amazon)

          Scott
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  • Profile picture of the author esr
    Yep, eBay has definitely bit off their nose to spite their face. It's a shame.
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  • Profile picture of the author esr
    BTW, Charles, your picture is freakin' me out. Seriously, dude. LOL
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  • Profile picture of the author TheMagicShow
    Charles is a male model, don't be so jealous, that's how he makes his money...lol
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  • Profile picture of the author Debbie Songster
    I used to have 3 ebay stores - shut them all down when they made their changes.
    Don't need their price increases, their one sided feedback system or their crooked VERo program.
    My regular stores always did better than my ebay stores ever did so no loss for me but it was a loss for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheMagicShow
    I logged into my ebay account after 6 months of not using it and they demanded that I do a phone verification thing like craigslist for an account that was over 9 years old, talk about absurd. I use to be a huge ebay fan but they really brought this unto themselves, if they went back to the way they were a few years ago, then maybe they would get their powersellers back as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
    Originally Posted by Charles E. White View Post

    It was on the National News tonight that eBay's sales are down. Do ya think? Duh!

    How on earth could sales be down in these economic times..eBay should be a place to look for bargains especially nowadays.

    Well, let me think, first thing is Mr. eBay....you tried to make everyone sign-up for a PayPal account just to purchase your products. Believe me people aren't going to do that...ever heard of Craigslist? Not only that, but do you know how many people email the seller and the product is sold behind your back because the buyer doesn't want a PayPal account?

    Second, you have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in commissions when you banned digital products from being sold where people had the ease of downloading them to their computer instead of waiting on a CD.

    Third, Mr. eBay your new policies suck and so does the evaluation process where customers rate you up to 5.0. The higher the rating the bigger the discount....just give me the discount I earned to begin with. By the way Mr. eBay when someone makes powerseller give it to them instead of making them wait until your damn good and ready and what is this crap about waiting until the following month to get a powerseller discount once you make the grade of powerseller? I'm a powerseller and I want my discount when I reach that level, not months down the road and so does everyone else that makes it.

    Gee, with all the great stuff you have done in 2008, I don't understand why your sales are down. Unless you change your policies, believe me when I say this, things are going to get worse for you, Mr. eBay. It's not just the times, it's what you have done in 2008!
    I'm not and have never been a powerseller on Ebay, but I respectfully disagree with some of the things you've said here.

    1) Emailing the seller to purchase the product is against Ebay policy and is therefore not Ebay's fault.

    2) Now that you have to wait for info products to ship on CD, people don't get instant gratification. Boohoo. If the listing was good enough, I'd wait a week for my CD. Besides, sellers can sell a CD for much more than a simple downloaded ebook.

    3) To keep this short: Ebay has tons of features to make life easier, Craigslist barely has any features and is full of sketchy people. Therefore, Ebay>Craigslist.

    4) Instead of bashing Ebay, why not find new ways to profit with it, or not bring this up at all? This just sounds like a bitter post from a discouraged marketer. When Google decided to slap everybody, there were the whiners and then there were those who learned from it and then became mega wealthy. It's a matter of choosing which one you'll be.

    To all those who have made good money with Ebay in the past, I would strongly urge you to reconsider your decision to give up when the going got tough. Since you've already had success with Ebay, there's no reason why, if you put your mind to it, that you can't keep succeeding.

    I hope nobody hates me for this post

    Curtis
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Taylor
      Originally Posted by CurtisN View Post


      1) Emailing the seller to purchase the product is against Ebay policy and is therefore not Ebay's fault.

      2) Now that you have to wait for info products to ship on CD, people don't get instant gratification. Boohoo. If the listing was good enough, I'd wait a week for my CD. Besides, sellers can sell a CD for much more than a simple downloaded ebook.

      3) To keep this short: Ebay has tons of features to make life easier, Craigslist barely has any features and is full of sketchy people. Therefore, Ebay>Craigslist.
      1) It is eBay's fault if THEIR PayPal signup policy causes that behavior.

      Unintended consequence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      2) The desire for instant gratification causes sales. We are in this game to make sales. Not to endure moronic business men's tinkering with a proven system. YOU may wait weeks...but you are not our customer. The fellow who wants a digital product NOW is our customer. And I've seen plenty of ebook CDs that are selling for less than $5.00.

      3) Tell that to the classified department at any number of newspaper publishers. In the land of free, Craigslist has won. It doesn't matter is eBay has a better machine or reputation. Major newspapers also have better machines and reputations. Craig doesn't care.
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      • Profile picture of the author ExRat
        Hi,

        I've got used to the fact that huge companies will tinker with things and annoy people in the process. I try not to let it bother me too much and focus on what I can do. Ebay have done many things that I wish they hadn't.

        Incidentally, the ebay related side of my business just keeps growing and growing.

        Hint - if their business IS shrinking or struggling, they might be looking to throw money at expanding it again.
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      • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
        Originally Posted by Michael Taylor View Post

        1) It is eBay's fault if THEIR PayPal signup policy causes that behavior.

        Unintended consequence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

        2) The desire for instant gratification causes sales. We are in this game to make sales. Not to endure moronic business men's tinkering with a proven system. YOU may wait weeks...but you are not our customer. The fellow who wants a digital product NOW is our customer. And I've seen plenty of ebook CDs that are selling for less than $5.00.

        3) Tell that to the classified department at any number of newspaper publishers. In the land of free, Craigslist has won. It doesn't matter is eBay has a better machine or reputation. Major newspapers also have better machines and reputations. Craig doesn't care.
        1) I'm not sure I agree with that, but that's ok.

        2) I said "week", not "weeks". I also have seen plenty of ebook CDs going for less than $5, but normal ebooks usually go for around a buck or two. At least with a CD you can get away with selling for $4-5.

        3) You're right, CL has won in the land of the free. That's not exactly a win though, seeing as it's free. Craig Newmark said on TV that he doesn't plan on selling his company, otherwise he'd be a billionaire right now
        Craigslist - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Craigslist is partly owned by Ebay! LOL

        Curtis
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    • Profile picture of the author SolomonHuey
      Originally Posted by CurtisN View Post

      I'm not and have never been a powerseller on Ebay, but I respectfully disagree with some of the things you've said here.

      1) Emailing the seller to purchase the product is against Ebay policy and is therefore not Ebay's fault.

      2) Now that you have to wait for info products to ship on CD, people don't get instant gratification. Boohoo. If the listing was good enough, I'd wait a week for my CD. Besides, sellers can sell a CD for much more than a simple downloaded ebook.

      3) To keep this short: Ebay has tons of features to make life easier, Craigslist barely has any features and is full of sketchy people. Therefore, Ebay>Craigslist.

      4) Instead of bashing Ebay, why not find new ways to profit with it, or not bring this up at all? This just sounds like a bitter post from a discouraged marketer. When Google decided to slap everybody, there were the whiners and then there were those who learned from it and then became mega wealthy. It's a matter of choosing which one you'll be.

      To all those who have made good money with Ebay in the past, I would strongly urge you to reconsider your decision to give up when the going got tough. Since you've already had success with Ebay, there's no reason why, if you put your mind to it, that you can't keep succeeding.

      I hope nobody hates me for this post

      Curtis
      Curtis you make valid points. The main problem is (for me at least) was that the additional effort necessary to continue profiting handsomely from ebay was not worth it. For the same amount of work, I make a lot more money by going elsewhere long term.

      For example, right now I work significantly less than when I was active on ebay, but I'm at a slightly higher income level. As time passes this margin will only get larger.

      Maybe others leave for different reasons, but this is why I left.

      Solomon Huey
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      • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
        Originally Posted by SolomonHuey View Post

        Curtis you make valid points. The main problem is (for me at least) was that the additional effort necessary to continue profiting handsomely from ebay was not worth it. For the same amount of work, I make a lot more money by going elsewhere long term.

        For example, right now I work significantly less than when I was active on ebay, but I'm at a slightly higher income level. As time passes this margin will only get larger.

        Maybe others leave for different reasons, but this is why I left.

        Solomon Huey
        Point made, you now make more money with less work. Can't argue with that
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    • Profile picture of the author Charles E. White
      Originally Posted by CurtisN View Post

      I'm not and have never been a powerseller on Ebay, but I respectfully disagree with some of the things you've said here.

      1) Emailing the seller to purchase the product is against Ebay policy and is therefore not Ebay's fault.

      2) Now that you have to wait for info products to ship on CD, people don't get instant gratification. Boohoo. If the listing was good enough, I'd wait a week for my CD. Besides, sellers can sell a CD for much more than a simple downloaded ebook.

      3) To keep this short: Ebay has tons of features to make life easier, Craigslist barely has any features and is full of sketchy people. Therefore, Ebay>Craigslist.

      4) Instead of bashing Ebay, why not find new ways to profit with it, or not bring this up at all? This just sounds like a bitter post from a discouraged marketer. When Google decided to slap everybody, there were the whiners and then there were those who learned from it and then became mega wealthy. It's a matter of choosing which one you'll be.

      To all those who have made good money with Ebay in the past, I would strongly urge you to reconsider your decision to give up when the going got tough. Since you've already had success with Ebay, there's no reason why, if you put your mind to it, that you can't keep succeeding.

      I hope nobody hates me for this post

      Curtis
      Hi Curtis, Thank You for your post.

      First, when I mentioned people writing sellers it's because people don't want to be forced to have a PayPal account. I personally have never went behind eBay's back but I have had plenty of mails asking me too, so you know some seller and buyers will.

      Second, as far as digital products you download, when eBay quit letting you sell digital products they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions each month, it surely didn't help them financially, nor their sales, which was the National news headline.

      Third, I am still a powerseller so I found "new ways to profit from it" and not a "discouraged marketer".

      The point of this post was to maybe let eBay know what was wrong with their policies so they could change them to the better and let them see what people thought of them.

      Don't think people at eBay read the Warrior Forum's post? Think again, I have talked to reps who do. Hopefully, this thread will get in the right hands because personally I don't know the CEO's email to send this to them....do you?
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  • Profile picture of the author BizBooks
    well let's see...

    Ebay admits buying is down

    clickbank admits buying is down

    All the retailers admit buying is down.

    We, the sellers, are the ones that knew it first-- because by the time its on the news as "headlines" it's been felt by information publishers and the related industries for months already!
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by BizBooks View Post

      well let's see...

      Ebay admits buying is down

      clickbank admits buying is down

      All the retailers admit buying is down.

      We, the sellers, are the ones that knew it first-- because by the time its on the news as "headlines" it's been felt by information publishers and the related industries for months already!
      LOL...this is priceless. I love it.

      My friend from lodge used to say to me...

      Deny, deny, deny.

      OMG...these companies must know him personally.

      This may just be my most joy filled day of the year.

      David finally gets to spit in the eye of Goliath and say...

      "I told you so you big old fat clumsy stupid lummox"

      I'm gonna bust a gut today, I swear.
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      • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
        I sold a lot on eBay between 2002-2005 before I got tired of the seller unfriendly policy changes and my house looking more like a warehouse.

        I'm not so sure about their seller unfriendly policies impacting buyer activity though. Buyers actually like a lot of the changes because they're in their favor.
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        • Profile picture of the author Charles E. White
          Originally Posted by bgmacaw View Post

          I'm not so sure about their seller unfriendly policies impacting buyer activity though. Buyers actually like a lot of the changes because they're in their favor.
          The biggest complaint I have had from buyers is that they don't want to use PayPal for their purchases.
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          • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
            Originally Posted by Charles E. White View Post

            The biggest complaint I have had from buyers is that they don't want to use PayPal for their purchases.
            True, although I rarely took checks or money orders for the products I used to sell. I do explain to them that they can buy through PayPal with a credit card without having a PayPal account.
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            • Profile picture of the author Nathan Hangen
              I use eBay to sell discounted items and to draw traffic to my online store, but the issue are starting to quickly outweigh the benefits.
              1. 21 day holds on Items AND shipping are killing me. How can I afford to risk my money by waiting for pos. feedback or the buyer's "word."
              2. They need to remove Paypal fees for Ebay transactions...loading the transaction with 2x the fees is eating away at profits. Trying to price the item to account for this amounts in far less sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    I too was a power seller. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when eBay started putting links to competing products in my auction. Here we are as sellers trying to attract buyers and eBay places a link for a competing product on a page I've paid for. I pulled out when they started that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    ever heard of Craigslist?
    Speaking of that...

    I listed two items on craigs list for local pickup only... one for $150 and another for $550.

    9 Hours later I had $660 cash in my hands.

    It was faster, easier, and of course cheaper than ebay because the listing was free.

    The only thing I noticed is that if you are not selling for local pickup or buying local for that matter... craigs list is filled with far more scammers. I received contact from 3 scammers in those 9 hours and a 4th after the items were sold.

    People are making and looking for deals and Christmas is the perfect time if you have a deal that would make someone happy :-)

    Best thing of all... the buyers picked up the items.
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  • Profile picture of the author greenovni
    Surprised no one has mentioned the 21 day paypal hold on OUR money.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Charles, I loved that little rant. You sounded like the speaker of the house
      before Congress giving them all an earful.

      Priceless...just priceless.

      A 5 star post my friend.
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  • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
    Hey Charles,

    Great post man! Thanks!

    Btw, have a very merry Christmas, and a prosporous New Year!


    Mary
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  • Profile picture of the author Kelly Verge
    I also was a Powerseller. I backed away from eBay due to their actions:

    1: Raise fees
    2. Make a change that hurts sellers
    3. Repeat from step 1


    I have and will sell certain no-brainer items on eBay. However, even with these items, my eBay ads are just a doorway for customers to enter my funnel.
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    • Profile picture of the author Darrell Hagan
      I was an eBay powerseller for about 2 years. I started backing away when the DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) system was implemented. I do not like being graded like a child in school, too much room for abuse. For example, suppose an item sells at 7pm local while I'm eating or watching TV or something. Buyer sends a question or whatever. I may not notice the message for several hours or until the next day. Buyer thinks I didn't reply quick enough and leaves a low DSR for communication.

      Stupid crap like that is why I no longer sell anymore than absolutely necessary on eBay. eBay and its demon child PayPal have caused their own problems, and I really hope that it gets worse for them.

      I've also started shopping elseware too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anthony J Namata
    I never thought much of eBay (I guess I'm a snob). Especially after seeing a documentary on TV in the UK on how people accumulated tons of literally worthless junk from eBay which THEY thought they'd got for a bargain. eBay, according to the documentary, WAS destroying peoples' lives. So, I think they (eBay) deserve what they're getting. About time!
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by Anthony J Namata View Post

      I never thought much of eBay (I guess I'm a snob). Especially after seeing a documentary on TV in the UK on how people accumulated tons of literally worthless junk from eBay which THEY thought they'd got for a bargain. eBay, according to the documentary, WAS destroying peoples' lives. So, I think they (eBay) deserve what they're getting. About time!
      While I am certainly not an eBay supporter, I have purchased items from
      eBay, that I couldn't have possibly gotten anywhere else, and they didn't
      destroy my life.

      People destroy their own lives, not buying things from online stores.

      I mean let's get real here.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnSpangler
    I have to agree with everyone on this post because I was a silver powerseller on ebay as well (userid onemoredvd) and ended up leaving with all the stipulations, no digital products, fees being raised and the no negative feedback which killed me because

    I had a few bad eggs who held me "captive" by threatening to give me a negative comment if I didn't lower my price- GET THIS- AFTER- they had already won the auction- I had no recourse at all- so I no longer sell on ebay- to bad because I used to LOVE ebay, no longer- GO CRAIGSLIST.
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    • Profile picture of the author Charles E. White
      Originally Posted by JohnSpangler View Post


      I had a few bad eggs who held me "captive" by threatening to give me a negative comment if I didn't lower my price- GET THIS- AFTER- they had already won the auction- I had no recourse at all- so I no longer sell on ebay- to bad because I used to LOVE ebay, no longer- GO CRAIGSLIST.
      John, if they would have threatened me like that I would have saved their email and if they gave me a negative, then I would have sent it to eBay to get it removed.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        There is no real competition and threat to the ebay empire yet
        That's true for sellers - but not for buyers. That's part of the ebay problem.

        ebay used to be a place where you could find unusual items, great deals, etc but it's flooded now with pricing that combined with some seller's high shipping costs ends up being higher than retail. Also totally flooded with bad imports and rip-offs of major brands that are too often listed as "US" for location when they are from China and touch ground in the US at a port.

        For buyers - Amazon is beating the heck out of ebay for new products.
        Better pricing - free shipping - and they are reliable on shipping times.

        ebay is suffering on both sides - new rules and pricing has lost some good sellers - and many loyal customers now to go to Amazon instead.

        kay
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  • Profile picture of the author curious1960
    Negative feedback is death sentence for seller and without recourse an open door to abuse. What is stopping any unethical seller to try and do destroy competition by buying and leaving negative or two....eBay made a bad decision and should role feedback reciprocity back! This is plain as day...and why is not being corrected is beyond me!

    PS: See state of our economy now. Thank you overrated CEO's! Ebay sadly is in tow.....
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  • Profile picture of the author jbreezy
    Ebay is a monopoly.
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  • Profile picture of the author bombdiggity
    For those who are fond of getting their books from eBay (like I used to be) because they're usually cheap and you can use Paypal to purchase them, I'd like to suggest Alibris (not an affiliate link) for any used books that you may need instead. They now allow Paypal and their customer service is excellent. Every Christmas I buy myself a bunch of books to read over the new year, and I can't say that I've had any complaints using Alibris so far. They also have used VHS tapes and DVDs.

    I've been trying to limit my support of eBay over the years. This was just one more step in the process.
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    • Profile picture of the author ninja newbie
      Originally Posted by JoshuaCreighton View Post

      For those who are fond of getting their books from eBay (like I used to be) because they're usually cheap and you can use Paypal to purchase them, I'd like to suggest Alibris (not an affiliate link) for any used books that you may need instead. They now allow Paypal and their customer service is excellent. Every Christmas I buy myself a bunch of books to read over the new year, and I can't say that I've had any complaints using Alibris so far. They also have used VHS tapes and DVDs.

      I've been trying to limit my support of eBay over the years. This was just one more step in the process.
      Yes, I too have bought from Alibris in the past and they were great.

      Terry
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  • Profile picture of the author Christie Love
    This year I could definitely tell something was different about eBay. I sell cellular phones and my sales weren't at all what I expected.

    Oh, did anyone mention the fees!!!! They are ridiculously high. They'll tell you that an item cost .30 to post and you get a bill for $50 after posting only 10 times. At least that's what happened to me anyway.

    You're right... I think I'll go to Craig's List,where the only rule I've encountered so far is to not submit an identical post. Good riddens eBay. I sure wish one of our Warriors could put out an honest auction site that put eBay to shame.
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  • Profile picture of the author Habitat
    Now I don't know if I want to powersell anymore
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  • Profile picture of the author ciscopower
    Economic is going down, and finally it will hurt the online business also. Who knows when the economic will go up again!
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    • Profile picture of the author Charles E. White
      Originally Posted by ciscopower View Post

      Economic is going down, and finally it will hurt the online business also. Who knows when the economic will go up again!
      Actually, in eBay's case, the economics should be helping them, more and more people are looking for bargains.
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  • Profile picture of the author BizBooks
    That's one reason never to "put all your eggs in one basket!"

    Same goes for someone whoese entire business is clickbank. or adsense. or paypal. or even hosting all sites on one shared server with no (weekly! daily!) backup!
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  • Profile picture of the author cotum
    I love reading this.

    I was prohibited from selling on Ebay because I had 4 stars instead of 5 in one category. Why hasn't Google started an auction site yet?

    EDIT: I saw on the news a few days ago that Amazon had their best holiday season ever.
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  • Profile picture of the author curious1960
    I know from my own and some other peoples experience that sellers are giving their goods practically for free just to be able to acquire positive feedback and set a foot on ebay.

    Those are honest people who are paying ebay dues, run to post office with goods paying more than they received for shipping...all for ebay benefits and hope that they may one day make some money for their families.

    One wrong step and 100% feedback gets tarnished.

    What is ebay's thank you? Neglect and do not care attitude...

    Without small sellers ebay is nothing, and small sellers are discouraged. Also, the sellers are most avid buyers. If you lose a seller you lose buyer...simple as that!

    Amazon treats everybody well, no surprises! Thats why people trust it and use it like they did ebay upon the time.
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