eBay Shafting the Sellers Even More in 2009

JOhnny Depth

15 years ago

EBay is just unfair. I have an online friend who left them because of it.

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Charles E. White 15 years ago

Yep, they are pretty one-sided for sure, definitely not for the sellers. I think by the end of 2009 or start of 2010 they will be losing so many sales when they should be at their peak because of the economy, that there will be some big changes. The idiots don't realize they will lose everything without the sellers, that they are losing at a record level due to all the changes that go against the sellers and that makes it harder and harder to do business on eBay.
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Scott Ames

15 years ago

Wow.. I didn't know this.

I see what they are trying to do, but you can't regulate everything in life and make the world safe. Customers should be given some credit. If I happen to buy something for .99 and the shipping is $17.00 , my bad. All they need to do is make sure the shipping is displayed before item purchase.

I used to pop a nice bonus book or something extra in the package for customers, but now with the shipping police I"m sure that has to stop.

It is simply amazing that eBay is as successful as they are when they have a history of treating sellers like crap. They closed my account for some unknown reason once and wouldn't even tell me why preferring to send a message to "read the TOS". I've never been so frustrated in all my life. You can't even have a dialog with them.

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milamber

15 years ago

I think ebay is just abusing their power on the top 1.. Amazon will probably think of roots where they'll overcome ebay because of this one.

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firstdrum

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

I'll tell you one thing..Craigslist is gong to see a boost in their listings for sure. What a shame....to ruin a good thing like eBay was before all the changes of 2008 and 2009, not counting their outrageous fees they have now.

New eBay CEO anyone?

Craigslist is becoming more unfriendly all the time too. Being owned 25% by Ebay probably has little to do with it but is seems that these companies have gotten so huge that they get to the place of thinking they can start pushing the people around that got them to where they are.

Even the federal government is afraid of craigslist. If you or I started a classified ads site that allowed hookers to advertise their services and charged them for it (pimping is illegal), we'd be in trouble fast. But craigslist calls it free speech and has the cash to defend themselves so the feds back off. Very unfair.

The more you think about what some of these companies are getting away with, the more they need competition to bring them back to earth.

Sorry for the rant. Just had to get that off my chest.

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Charles Harper

15 years ago

Alternatives are growing and will grow over time. Just like anything else; people will get tired of the tyranny an niche out ebay in competition. The question is scale and speed. Here is something that my wife and other crafters are using:

Etsy :: Your place to buy and sell all things handmade

Ultimately, people who want to sell, need to spend 2009 building their list and getting the 2nd time purchasers off Ebay.

Then they will be your customers and you can do with them what you like.

I understand though, that they are trying to make that difficult although I have not verified this.

Is it still true that you can use your About Me page to put your Aweber code on there?

Charles

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jayden.fellze

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

Beginning 2009:
They are now telling you how much to charge on shipping.
This doesn't work, I had a heavy book I wanted to send media mail, the cheapest way for the customer and the most I could charge was $4.00. I had to pay the rest just to ship it.

Books
Subcategory Description Maximum Shipping Cost
Accessories Address Books $4.00
Blank Diaries & Journals $5.00
Book Covers $5.00
Book Plates $3.00
Bookmarks $3.00
Other $3.00
Antiquarian & Collectible Antiquarian & Collectible $4.00
Audiobooks Audiobooks $4.00
Catalogs Catalogs $4.00
Children's Books Children's Books $4.00
Cookbooks Cookbooks $4.00
Fiction Books Fiction Books $4.00
Magazine Back Issues Magazine Back Issues $5.00
Nonfiction Books Nonfiction Books $4.00
Other Other $4.00
Textbooks, Education Textbooks, Education $4.00
Wholesale & Bulk Lots Audiobooks $10.00
Books > 101-500 $20.00
Books > 11-50 Items $8.00
Books > 51-100 Items $15.00
Books > 6-10 Items $6.00
Books > More than 500 $30.00
Books > Up to 5 Items $6.00
Magazines $8.00
Other $6.00

*
DVDs & Movies
Subcategory Description Maximum Shipping Cost
DVD, HD DVD & Blu-ray DVD, HD DVD & Blu-ray $3.00
Film Film $6.00
Laserdisc Laserdisc $6.00
Other Formats Other Formats $3.00
UMD UMD $5.00
VHS VHS $3.00
VHS Non-US (PAL) VHS Non-US (PAL) $5.00
Wholesale Lots DVDs > 101-250 Items $30.00
DVDs > 11-50 Items $15.00
DVDs > 251-500 Items $60.00
DVDs > 501-1000 Items $120.00
DVDs > 51-100 Items $25.00
DVDs > Up to 10 Items $10.00
Mixed Lots $10.00
Movies Accessories $17.00
Other $10.00
VHS > 101-500 Items $30.00
VHS > 11-50 Items $15.00
VHS > 51-100 Items $25.00
VHS > More than 500 Items $120.00
VHS > Up to 10 Items $10.00

*
Music
Subcategory Description Maximum Shipping Cost
Accessories Accessories $5.00
Cassettes Cassettes $3.00
CDs CDs $3.00
DVD Audio DVD Audio $3.00
Other Formats Other Formats $3.00
Records Records $4.00
Super Audio CDs Super Audio CDs $3.00
Wholesale Lots Cassettes $10.00
CDs > 101-500 Items $30.00
CDs > 11-100 Items $20.00
CDs > More than 500 Items $60.00
CDs > Up to 10 Items $10.00
Other Formats $10.00
Records > 11-50 Items $15.00
Records > More than 50 Items $25.00
Records > Up to 10 Items $10.00

*
Video Games
Subcategory Description Maximum Shipping Cost
Accessories Accessories $6.00
Games Games $4.00
Internet Games Games > Guild Wars $6.00
Games > World of Warcraft $3.00
Software & PC Versions $6.00
Other Other $4.00
Systems Systems $15.00
Vintage Games Vintage Games $6.00
Wholesale Lots Accessories $10.00
Console Systems $50.00
Games $9.00
Other $9.00

Checks and money orders no longer allowed

What's changing with payments on eBay?
Beginning October 20 2008, checks and money orders will no longer be allowed as payment methods on eBay. All items appearing on eBay.com must be paid for using either:

* PayPal (funded by PayPal account balance, credit card, debit card, bank account, PayPal Pay Later, PayPal Buyer Credit or eBay gift certificate)
* Credit or debit card payment to a seller (through a seller's Internet merchant account)
* ProPay
* Payment upon pickup

In January 2009, all of the approved electronic payment methods will be integrated into eBay checkout. For example, if a seller offers credit or debit card as a payment option, buyers will be able to directly enter their credit card information securely in eBay checkout and their payment will be directly routed to the seller's Internet merchant account.

We are also working with other electronic payment providers currently included in our Accepted Payments Policy to integrate their services into eBay checkout in 2009.

This one is ok but a change and another eBay new rule for sellers

Hi everyone...Good news for sellers who are in the process of updating their listings to prepare for the holiday season. We had previously announced that specifying both your Return Policy and Handling Time would be made mandatory in late October. However, given the breadth of changes we're asking sellers to make to their listings this year, we're giving sellers a reprieve on these two items until after the holiday season.

My post about eBay losing money in 2008 was on the National news, just wait until they make everyone use PayPal to buy everything....they haven't seen anything yet. What I see is with eBay awful rules of 2008 then these of 2009, they will see what losing sales is all about shortly.

I am a powerseller with a store and I have a friend that accepts checks and money orders almost exclusively, he is a the highest level powerseller, platinum, I think. Anyway when they enforce this PayPal only payment he says it is his last day of selling on eBay.

What they really are doing is trying to force the buyer and seller both to use their services only...since eBay owns PayPal. I'll tell you one thing..Craigslist is gong to see a boost in their listings for sure. What a shame....to ruin a good thing like eBay was before all the changes of 2008 and 2009, not counting their outrageous fees they have now.

New eBay CEO anyone?

This is really shocking on the part of ebay. One must remember that websites such as these must also cater to sellers.
Recession doesnt mean that they do everything for the buyer and nothing for the seller!
If this is a boon for buyers, the cut is taken off the sellers!
This could hurt ebay like anything!

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zimzalabim

15 years ago

Blimey. I think I can see behind some of eBay's thinking though it does come over as rather dictatorial and "thou shall."

Was about to set off along the eBay/Kunaki trail probably still will though some of it might need a quick rethink.

ATB,

Andy.

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Alan Petersen

15 years ago

A lot of eBay's recent changes have been terrible for sellers. I don't sell much there anymore especially not for business just junk I want to get rid of. I understand where eBay is coming from though.

A lot of people were getting ripped off and they were getting a bad reputation as a digital fence for stolen goods and other shoddy characters.

They're trying to clean up but unfortunately it's at the cost of sellers and the bulk of them are good people. It's only the minority of sellers that are bad but like the old saying goes: it only takes one bad apple to spoil the lot. Those bad apples are wrecking eBay for us sellers that are good and honest.

Personally I stopped taking money orders and checks because I got a bad check once. I was clear that I wouldn't ship the item until the check cleared but my bank charged me a fee for depositing a bad check! I called to complain and they reversed the fee but it took time to deal with it all and it was frustrating so no more checks or money orders for me.

I agree with the shipping guidelines. Maybe they went too far but a lot of folks were using the S/H as their profit center. I can't even count how many times I saw something cool I wanted to bid or buy but the shipping charge was ridiculous! It was obvious they were trying to make a buck off the shipping charges by offering the item at a low price. So once again a few shoddy characters fleecing people on shipping charges probably brought on these new rules.

In the end eBay is big corporation and all they care is about their stock holders not sellers. They prefer to tick off sellers than stock holders. And no matter how important sellers are to the eBay business model they can survive even if many stop selling there and they know it.

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Chris Lockwood

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Alan Petersen

I agree with the shipping guidelines. Maybe they went too far but a lot of folks were using the S/H as their profit center. I can't even count how many times I saw something cool I wanted to bid or buy but the shipping charge was ridiculous! It was obvious they were trying to make a buck off the shipping charges by offering the item at a low price. So once again a few shoddy characters fleecing people on shipping charges probably brought on these new rules.

So don't order the item if you don't like the stated shipping charges.

Oh no, sellers trying to make money on ebay? Someone call the media!

Charging people an amount that is stated in the listing is NOT fleecing them.

A smart buyer will look at the total cost, not worry how much of it is for shipping. What's the difference between $20 plus 99 cents shipping or a 99 cent price with a $20 shipping charge? Nothing.

Just glancing at that list of limits, I can tell some of them are not enough to cover actual shipping costs, not to mention the cost of packaging materials, delivery confirmation, and so on.

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Alan Petersen

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood

So don't order the item if you don't like the stated shipping charges.

Oh no, sellers trying to make money on ebay? Someone call the media!

Charging people an amount that is stated in the listing is NOT fleecing them.

A smart buyer will look at the total cost, not worry how much of it is for shipping. What's the difference between $20 plus 99 cents shipping or a 99 cent price with a $20 shipping charge? Nothing.

Just glancing at that list of limits, I can tell some of them are not enough to cover actual shipping costs, not to mention the cost of packaging materials, delivery confirmation, and so on.

I don't. And if you don't like eBay's rules don't sell your stuff there. It's their company and they can do whatever they want. Don't like it start your own.

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thegoddessofeleven

15 years ago

WOW.

It's getting scary out there, isn't it?

I understand WHY they're doing it-- they don't collect fees against shipping, so they're missing out on profits when sellers list a $20 DVD for $.99 with shipping of $19.00. I think their monopoly has gotten to their heads, though, and they've forgotten that keeping sellers happy is vital to their continued success.

It sounds terrible to say, but I really hope they lose some business from this. It kills me how much crap people just roll over and take.

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Charles E. White

15 years ago

For those who think all eBayers pad the shipping and handling charges....I pack the item beforehand and before I list it and then weigh it. I go to the USPS website and see what the cost to ship it is, that is the exact fee I charge. No handling fees, no extra shipping charges.

Now, I did that with the book I was talking about in my first post of this thread and the cost to ship the book was more than eBay allowed, so, I had to pay the difference just to ship the damn book. How is that fair?

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John Rowe

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

For those who think all eBayers pad the shipping and handling charges....I pack the item beforehand and before I list it and then weigh it. I go to the USPS website and see what the cost to ship it is, that is the exact fee I charge. No handling fees, no extra shipping charges.

Now, I did that with the book I was talking about in my first post of this thread and the cost to ship the book was more than eBay allowed, so, I had to pay the difference just to ship the damn book. How is that fair?

In your specific case, it's not fair. But it's likely to be a rare experience too.

You may not pad your shipping and handling charges but many sellers do. They get a cheaper listing, better exposure, and eBay misses out on the money.

On the rare occasion your shipping is higher than what eBay allows, charge more for the item up front, and explain it in your listing. To me, that's fair.

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Debbie Songster

15 years ago

Originally Posted by John Rowe

In your specific case, it's not fair. But it's likely to be a rare experience too.

You may not pad your shipping and handling charges but many sellers do. They get a cheaper listing, better exposure, and eBay misses out on the money.

On the rare occasion your shipping is higher than what eBay allows, charge more for the item up front, and explain it in your listing. To me, that's fair.

Here's whats wrong with your rational.

The first thing that attracts buyers is price. When you run a search for a product what makes you click the link? The price.
I'm not saying you should pad your shipping but to run the shipping in the red isn't smart.
As for explaining it all in your listing - good luck - no one wants a sob story about how you need to charge more for the item because ebay is capping the shipping cost. All the customer wants to see is the price, shipping price and hit the buy button if its within their budget.
You won't get "sympathy" sales.

The days of using ebay as a business model are over.

I've had my own stores since 2003 and they have always done better than my ebay stores. I used ebay to blow out slow moving inventory. I know there are others who have done very well with their ebay stores but those days are numbered.
Its ebays play ground and they make the rules.

As for buyers - there are still plenty of people who think you can ship (and should ship) for $0.42
They forget (or choose to ignore) the fact that the packaging costs money, there are listing fee's, final value fees, payment processing fee's, your time to pack the item, etc. Not to mention, you have to factor into your sales the fees paid for items that DIDN'T sell.
I used Blackthorne pro to list my items on ebay and I loved the program because I would get a complete profit and loss report on each item.

A huge eye opener!

For those of you who sell products other than downloadables, a store of your own is the only way to go.
Stop using ebay as your primary selling platform - it costs more than its worth.

Especially now

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John Rowe 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Debbie Songster

Here's whats wrong with your rational.

You're absolutely right. I should have left out that bit about explaining it in your listing. it's not necessary. Just price your item accordingly so you profit. Starting too low so you can attract bidders is your business decision as a seller. Maybe it will pay off, maybe it won't.
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IMChick

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

For those who think all eBayers pad the shipping and handling charges....I pack the item beforehand and before I list it and then weigh it. I go to the USPS website and see what the cost to ship it is, that is the exact fee I charge. No handling fees, no extra shipping charges.

Now, I did that with the book I was talking about in my first post of this thread and the cost to ship the book was more than eBay allowed, so, I had to pay the difference just to ship the damn book. How is that fair?

I think that buried in the fine print of the new shipping policy is the exception that you need. I don't know where I saw it bit I did look it up a few months ago because I was concerned about this, too. Basically if the item is over the weight for the item number in one of the book, dvd, cd etc categories that they are trying to clean up the shipping on, you are allowed to charge those overage charges IF you can substantiate the weight and the overcharges in your listing. At the time, I thought that all I would need is a sentence that says 'this item is over the weight guidelines for this category and will be charged at the actual shipping costs. It weighs X, including actual weight and shipping materials. Actual cost, Y.' And they would let you do that if it's not the majority of the shipping exceptions in your auctions. Check the fine print. It doesn't make any sense to charge the flat rate for a paperback (with a several dollar profit built in by ebay for you as an almost windfall) or a huge heavy coffee table book. Ebay doesn't expect you to pay the difference--at least I hope not. On the other hand, I have purchased paperbacks from Amazon, too, and the same seller will NOT combine shipping on the items and each goes as a flat rate. This really ticked me off when I got two one cent paperbacks in the same package that cost me $8 flat rate. So I guess it goes both ways. I was one of the sellers who charged actual costs for shipping. Actual (wholesale costs) for packaging materials if a lot was required, like a huge box with bubble (not a padded envelope), that cost me money to provide. I was also one of the buyers who stopped looking at ebay for some categories that notoriously would have $53 shipping. Guess the angle they all figured on how to not pay higher listing fees or final value fees and keep the profit on the shipping sure did backfire on us honest types. On the other hand, ebay's half dot com has been using flat rate shipping since it's inception.

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Pat Blank

15 years ago

Originally Posted by IMChick

On the other hand, I have purchased paperbacks from Amazon, too, and the same seller will NOT combine shipping on the items and each goes as a flat rate. This really ticked me off when I got two one cent paperbacks in the same package that cost me $8 flat rate. So I guess it goes both ways.

I sold books for many years on ebay, and switched to amazon last summer. I like amazon better. Amazon's policy makes it nearly impossible to combine shipping, since it's amazon who does the billing, not the seller. I can refund the part of the shipping charge that I receive, but amazon keeps their part.

I sell less and less on ebay. There's still stuff around the house that I'd rather get some money for, than throw away. But it's becoming a big hassle. Oh, well, we can talk about the old days as much as we want. Best to everybody on wherever they continue to sell!

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UncleDearest

15 years ago

Originally Posted by thegoddessofeleven

WOW.

It's getting scary out there, isn't it?

I understand WHY they're doing it-- they don't collect fees against shipping, so they're missing out on profits when sellers list a $20 DVD for $.99 with shipping of $19.00. I think their monopoly has gotten to their heads, though, and they've forgotten that keeping sellers happy is vital to their continued success.

It sounds terrible to say, but I really hope they lose some business from this. It kills me how much crap people just roll over and take.

You got it! I can't believe how many people actually think eBay cares about your "safety" when shopping. Besides, what's the difference to a buyer between paying .99cents for a DVD and $10 shipping or $10 for the DVD and .99 for the shipping? I'll tell you....it's Possible to pay MORE with the LOW shipping because you can be taxed of the purchase but the other wayaround you only MIGHT be taxed on shipping. But people don't think. They just figure they're being ripped off when they see high shipping. eBay knows this and they also know that they lose millions a year with high shipping and low product cost.

If eBay wanted to simplify things all they'd have to do is say all sellers must offer "Free" shipping...as in all the prices have the shipping calculated into them from the get go. Even playing field for all...but that's too easy and would render their "Free Shipping" icons worthless.

I've bought and sold more than I care to say on Bay and I've bought many items for .99 with very high shipping. Nobody twisted my arm. I chose to buy because the price was right! I don't get eBay at all...but I love selling on there. You can get rid of anything and there's no other market place like it!

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captivereef

15 years ago

my brother is a power seller of airsoft guns on ebay and they are giving him a terrible hassle. Closed his store, stripped listings and alot of other garbage after a year of perfect business. He went over to amazon and has more sales, less hassle plus amazon has some cool features he was telling me about that really help sellers out.

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adamv 15 years ago

I'm Done!

I'm done with ebay. I'll be taking down my listings today or tomorrow. I sell DVDs and I like to ship via Priority Mail. Minimum charge for Priority Mail is $4.75 but ebay will only allow me to charge $3.

They've made more changes in 2008 than they have in all of the years before added together and none of them are good for the sellers. I don't need their B.S. anymore. I'm done.

I wonder if ebay will survive through 2009. The end is near.
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Loren Woirhaye

15 years ago

With crazy fees large books like dictionaries will be too
costly to ship, right? Goofy.

Anyway, probably Ebay is thinking that if they instigate
maximum shipping charges for books, for instance, they'll
be parallel with Amazon. Ok. I get that. Makes sense.

Even on Amazon some sellers get killed. I bought a copy
of a heavy book there for like $1 once and the seller probably
looked at his costs and effort and never bothered to
send it because the weight of the book ate up his margin.

I hope it shakes out and we can all figure out a way to sell
our products on there, make money at it, and deliver value
to the customers.

In the meantime I concur that Etsy.com is kind of cool. My
girlfriend turned me onto it. She sells a lot of stuff on there...
it's not a commoditized marketplace like Ebay is and it
may or may not become one. Everything is supposed to be
handmade or "vintage" but there isn't much regulation. It
has a strong sense of community on there too.

I've looked at a few Ebay alternatives and they were
pretty weak as of recently.

I ran across this Google thing recently where you can list
stuff on Google and it shows up God-knows-where, in
search results or something. Seems cool but there is
no central search mechanism nor regulation.

As I recall the MicroSoft effort to sort of combine Craigslist
and Ebay fell on it's face. I checked it out a year or
so ago.

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Steven Wagenheim 15 years ago

"Power corrupts...absolute power corrupts absolutely."

John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834-1902)

It's not the exact quote he used, but it comes from what he actually said
which was...

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men
are almost always bad men."

So it goes with eBay.
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- skinnye 15 years ago
  
  I wonder if they have a guideline for motorcycle and car parts as well, a lot of the extra parts I have lying around I've either sold or intended to sell on ebay. Looks like I may be using amazon. I like the auction format though.
  
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Ephrils

15 years ago

That's too much to put against the sellers. The model works because EVERYONE makes money on that end and everyone is happy because of the sent auction item.

There's alternatives though, like Yahoo Auctions and Amazon. In fact, Amazon will probably see a spike in business coinciding with this news.

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adamv

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Ephrils

That's too much to put against the sellers. The model works because EVERYONE makes money on that end and everyone is happy because of the sent auction item.

There's alternatives though, like Yahoo Auctions and Amazon. In fact, Amazon will probably see a spike in business coinciding with this news.

I'm pretty sure Yahoo auctions closed up shop about a year ago. There is no real ebay alternative that is very similar to ebay. The alternatives are things like etsy or selling on your own website.

I'm tired of all the changes and the crap that sellers have to put up with. I'll be taking down my listings but I'll keep my account in case there are some positive changes in the future. But I'm not holding my breath.

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seobro

15 years ago

Charles, Thanks for posting, I always use FREE SHIP to attract bids, but $3 for a VHS tape does not even cover shipping, let alone handling.

I still remember a friend who got rid of all his Star Trek figures for $500 back in the 90's. That would be impossible now because of all the fees.

Steven, you are so right. I rarely use feebay these days, prefer amazon.

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lynwil

15 years ago

I agree, I find it all a bit too much.
I'm pleased to read the comments from so many different people, but I hate to be pessimistic, but once a level of power is reached by an org.. it seems to get a energy-life source of its own and it won't matter how many people leave they will still thrive.

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Big Mike75

15 years ago

The fact of the matter is collosal giants like ebay and Google, can make whatever changes they want when it comes to their best interests, and it has to be accpeted. I think it's long overdue that a viable alternative to ebay emerged in the marketplace, no one likes singular domination, in the end it's the little people that get screwed.

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skinnye

15 years ago

The problem is ebay has a name reconition that no other competitor has. But as the fees keep going up, you have ask your self is it worth it. I use to sell some dvd's on ebay and was thinking about doing it again but I think I'll try a different venue and just try to sell my extra motorcycle and car parts locally.

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Charles Harper

15 years ago

Debbie:

I think that depending on what you pay for leads, Ebay as a loss leader can be a good deal. But you and I are essentially saying the same thing. You are using their traffic to get leads, in exchange you pay their fees. Once they are in your Aweber, you can develop a relationship and drive them to your network of sites. That is really what Ebay gives you even in today's marketing world....leads.

And in my calculation, the leads are still pretty cheap.

Ebay knows that. I believe. Thus they have no loyalty to the seller on a customer to customer basis. The truth of the matter is that leads are cheap and once you have all you want, you will not be back to Ebay. And you are trying to convert their visitors to YOUR customers, and if they like what you have THEY wont be back either.

So it makes sense to scrape the lining of your pockets as you and their customer walk out of the door for what could potentially be the last time.

Charles

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~kev~

15 years ago

This has been caused by people who were abusing the system. I have heard stories of people charging $20 to ship a 1 pound item just a couple of hundred miles. And now everyone is paying the price.

My wife does a lot of business on Ebay, I have not heard her say anything about the new rules. Guess I will have to tell her just in case she does not know.

The management of ebay made a lot of gun owners mad with their anti-gun stance and now its getting worse wither everyday items. When youy can not even sell an accessory, something is worng. And now people can not even charge a reasonably price to ship an item??? Bah and more bah!!

The overall quality of Ebay has gone down hill over the past few years.

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jayden.fellze

15 years ago

I thought I was the only one... I didn't know they were troubling others too. Actually I am not a regular seller and just wanted to get rid of some old books lying around my house. But they gave me a lot of problems regarding the shipping details and cost. Ultimately, I just gave up and closed my account.

Ebay used to be friendly place for normal people like me. But it has changed over the years.

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AskStevenSmith

15 years ago

eBay is excellent for newbies to get traffic to their offers. In fact it's probably the best website out there for that purpose. However the fees and all the rules have made it very hard to deal with. I will not sell there anymore. It's just not worth it. The profits that sellers make is oftentimes very small, and eBay keeps making them smaller.

Steven

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Mike Hill

15 years ago

Man I can't believe they can control the cost of shipping like that. I was getting a third party to ship my products and the customer would be charged in real-time. hat if the buyer is in another country and I want to mail them a DVD... It will cost more than $3...

What about all those sellers that use United Postal Service in real time? Are they subject to the cap on shipping charges?

Mike Hill

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bombdiggity 15 years ago

Seriously, if you're into book scouting or anything similar, use Amazon or Alibris to sell your used stuff. They're both a thousand times better than anything eBay has to offer you.
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OmarNegron

15 years ago

Ebay sucks man....thats for sure....

They hurt me and many other sellers out there...

Check out youtube vid I made about them..

YouTube - The Best Ebay Alternative. Internet Top...

Take care

Omar!

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jimrpips

Banned 15 years ago

[DELETED]

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capriliz 15 years ago

When I do find something I want on Ebay, I always check the shipping before I even think of bidding. If everyone did that, and did not purchase items for .99 that had a $20 shipping fee, the system would work.

Looks like Ebay is trying to protect buyers that don't have enough sense to check the shipping fees first. Unfortunately, that has a negative impact on many sellers.
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greenovni

15 years ago

Not to mention the changes within gaypal itself! 21 days hold on my $$ not on your life!

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adamv 15 years ago

If I decide to use Ebay anymore it won't be with auctions or fixed price listings but with there classifieds. $10 for 30 days is pretty good.

I have not checked the rules on classifieds lately but the rules for classifieds used to be way more lenient than other types of listings.
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Kate Carpenter

15 years ago

I sell collectibles on Ebay, mostly because it's something I can do with my dialup connection (even though it still takes forever!) and I do pretty well with it.
I am dismayed about these changes. For one thing, Ebay only calls it 'shipping'. I charge shipping and handling. The handling is for my time in packing, the gas I spend to drive several miles to the P.O., etc. I usually add about $2.00. Afterall, 'regular' companies charge you, why can't I? Time is $.
As far as Paypal exclusively, I use it alot, because it's convenient, but the fees are starting to impact me. I have been contacted by bidders asking if they can use a money order, which if it is a USPS one, I say yes. It avoids the Paypal fees.
I know alot of sellers used the high s&h fees to avoid the final valuation fee, and that's not right. But without sellers-who are the bread and butter of Ebay-they are shooting themselves in the foot...guns permitted or not! LOL.
I guess I'll be looking at alternatives, even though it appears to me that the collectors I'm after seem to favor Ebay. Guess I can't win.
Kate

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Debbie Songster

15 years ago

I haven't logged into my ebay account since Nov - it looks like there are a ton more changes.
For example all my history is cleared - even the stuff that didn't sell.
I thought I would do a search by seller ID to find a classified that I ran in Oct so I could show you the results.
You can't see closed auctions by seller that are over 15 days old now. You used to be able to see old listings for a lot longer period than 15 days. I guess they don't want you to know what sells

Anyway, I found the link I was looking for

This is in regards to running classified ads. I did an experiment in Oct to give away a free craft book.
I created a brand new Halloween site at Its A Halloween Thing - Halloween Costumes for adults, infants & pets | Ghost Stories & more and then created an ebay classified.
I was late making the Halloween site since I had some server/joomla/module complications that needed sorting out so I thought I would use ebay to drive traffic to the new website.

What started out as plan to drive traffic ended up being a test to see how effective ebays classified ads are.
Heres the ad
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360093028508

I ran this in Oct and the response to the page was dismal. Oct is the month for people to search for Halloween items. Well you can go to the ebay page and see what I wrote. By the end of the listing only 113 people visited the page.
It was a total waste of time and money.
I gave away just a couple of free craft books off the ebay ad. You will see my updated comments and when I changed the title to include "ebay sucks" you will see my traffic increased.

My new website was indexed within the week it was created and received more organic traffic in the first week than that ebay classified ad recieved in 30 days.
In the end my website made money for Halloween and the ebay classified ad was a bust.

I've had other similar experiences using ebay's classified ads and so have my clients.
I've also created and tested using the "about me" page for optin boxes etc.
My opinion, its not worth the time.

I've even played with posting items in the adult only section (which gets a lot more visitors than the rest of the site) That was a bust too.

Have I made money on ebay? Yes
Was it worth my time? It used to be but now its not and I don't think its cost effective.
I sell a lot of different items - Its not like I have one niche and that niche doesn't do well.

Someone above mentioned how much traffic ebay gets

Yea they do, but so does Google. Here's a secret about the ebay shopper - they are cheap. There is nothing wrong with cheap but its the same as building your list by giving away free items. When you try to sell something at a reasonable rate - they don't buy. They are too used to getting it for free.
Same with the ebay buyer. If its a mainstream product, it better be dirt cheap. The only products that bring a decent price are items that are hard to find or collector's items.
A couple years ago, I used to run my entire product line (over 5,000 items) on ebay (product from 2 of my stores) I had to price it lower than my store so "people could get a deal" because thats what they were looking for. That meant my profit margin was minimal because of the ebay fees (fees I didn't have using my own store).
Not only did my stores out perform my ebay sales but I made more money with them.

Over the years I have gone back and forth using ebay. I want to use them but they make it darn hard to like them these days.

Now the ebay motors stuff is different. We have bought and sold cars many times on ebay with great results - sports cars though.

In regards to shipping charges - In theory I totally agree with Chris Lockwood. But, in reality we all know shoppers don't look at the shipping costs and then they come unglued when they see the final bill.
The shipping doesn't have to be all that expensive but if its more than the price of the item, their brain can't rationalize it.
Yes there were sellers who were gouging - in fact I remember ebooks that were available that preached raising your shipping rate so you could make money on it.
I never did that - I always used the dynamic calculators and added $1 for handling.

Anyway, end of rant. I could go on and on as I have tons of stories. As you can see I have some definite opinions about ebay. I've tried and tested all the "guru techniques".
In the end I feel they aren't worth the work. So, let them keep screwing the sellers - in the end they won't last.
I'm still selling but they aren't getting my money

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Aaron Elliott 15 years ago

Ebay and Paypal bother overcharge its insane I give both of them over $500 a month and thats more than I make of Ebay.
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DennisM

15 years ago

Hi All,

eBay has obviously changed for the worse.

I've had my eBay account for over 10 years now (can't believe it's been that long). I used to be a PowerSeller back in 2003, 2004 flipping used laptops. I loved eBay but the changes are just ridiculous.

I'll tell you, that's horrible about their fixed shipping rule. I used to ship EVERYTHING USPS Priority Mail as the post office would let you order FREE shipping supplies right from their website but ONLY can be used to ship Priority. It was great as you never had to source or buy different size boxes. With the fixed shipping, you're now forced to source your own boxes. Now, eBay has created more work for the seller with a huge burden on absorbing the shipping costs up and above.

As others have mentioned here you really have to go another route. Won't be perfect as eBay is the only game in town online. Do we hope for a breakup of eBay like the US Govt. did in 1984 with the phone company?

Also, their "ended auction" listings only go back 14 days, not 30 days like before. I do recall eBay actually charging a fee to search expired listings but everyone went into an uproar on the private PowerSeller message boards. You can take it to the bank that they'll look at this revenue model again in 2009. With the 14 day search feature it's very frustrating for the casual seller trying to dump something used or a collectible seeing if it's even worth the time to list it. I guess eBay expects us to list everything at 99 cents? Gee.

Thanks for reading,
Dennis

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thehypnoguy2

15 years ago

The shipping rates are the rate you have to charge for your lowest price available for shipping. You can have higher charges you just have to have one rate that is at or below the price in that list. You can use UPS and have the calculator determined the actual cost and ship it for more than those prices listed. The lowest shipping price has to fall within that price structure.

One of the reason's they dropped the offline payments was to eliminate shill bidding. This eliminates that entirely so they do have valid reasons for these changes. It just seems that ebay these days are into constant change and it keeps affecting there seller base.

Martin

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Floyd Fisher

15 years ago

Charles:

Is there a way to rig it so it allows you to charge a higher shipping price?

Yeah, I can see that working so well...not.

You need to be able to ship by traceable means to do any business on Ebay (scammers will eat you alive if you can't prove shipment and receipt). That my friend, is hella expensive.

If this does not destroy Ebay, nothing will.

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Aaron Elliott

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher

Charles:

Is there a way to rig it so it allows you to charge a higher shipping price?

Yeah, I can see that working so well...not.

You need to be able to ship by traceable means to do any business on Ebay (scammers will eat you alive if you can't prove shipment and receipt). That my friend, is hella expensive.

If this does not destroy Ebay, nothing will.

Depends on what you are selling - I never use tracked shipped only ever had 1 item go missing ( out of 500 sales). Sent customer new one, I find so far most people are honest on ebay, esp if u selling bargins.

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BJ Min

15 years ago

I think ever since the NEW ebay CEO came, every thing has been changing...and yes, i don't like the changes either...they are only buyer-friendly which i understand but still it's the seller's that make ebay money...no?

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TheAtHomeCouple

15 years ago

Man, I've given up on eBay since early summer...

Too many legit aff's gettings screwed out of money..

Too many shifty changes and shifty tracking...

Not worth it man..

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BJ Min

15 years ago

I still sell stuff on ebay...but it's just not the same as before..the profits are smaller definitely than back in the days...plus now you have to send in CD's instead of digital downloads...but i use auction acrobat...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for digital product sellers on ebay...

regardless, ebay definitely not that great anymore...still use it to get some small income...better than nothing...

the WORST thing about ebay is that it seems you have to LOWER your price there...compared to your websites...that's why it's weird and tough...

BJ

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Andrew Scherer

Banned 15 years ago

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bottomline11 15 years ago

Tanks for the info.. Also, if you sell anything over $100 and have not sold 20 or more items in one year your money will be held by Paypal until 3 days after the product is received by the customer.
It seems that Ebay is trying to put constraints on its sellers that will cause sellers to leave. They are a convenience but people will find other options if they keep these types of changes.

Best of Luck

Matt
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leschwaar

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Andrew Scherer

Instead of being angry about his you guys should be *GLAD* Ebay is making ridiculous changes that further damage their business.

The more and more they screw up, it opens the door for niche auction sites which can take away their business.

Some ingenuity and a little action and YOU can be the owner of such a site, raking in some bucks.

Something to think about, I have been for the past few months.

Definitely. The sooner Ebay burns, the sooner the smaller sites will start to see some daylight.

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VegasVince 15 years ago

Yeah...Ebay sucks for sellers.

But the fact is, Ebay doesn't owe you or me...a living.

Last I checked...the right to sell on Ebay wasn't listed in the Bill Of Rights either.

Fact is, you'se can bitch about it..or move on.

Cuz if enough people do.....Ebay will have no choice but to react to "the market".

That's the beauty of free market enterprise... by the way......it's ultimately fair. A true litmus test for what is real and what aint.

Those who can..do. Those who can't...often bitch about the former. I gave up bitchin' about ebay and the corrupt step sister PayPal a long time ago. Why bother?

I am a former Ebay Powerseller who dropped them like a bad habit after they jumped in bed with PayPal a company I think is evil...and corrupt on many levels.

I choose not to play ball with either of them anymore......but the show has and does go on. I keep selling. With or without those two *******s helping me.

Never give any third party entity.... the kind of power over you that Ebay and PayPal seem to hold over far too many otherwise "smart" Warriors in this joint.

xxx Vegas Vince
Legend.
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Golelen 15 years ago

My sales on e-bay have tanked since they put the digital ban into place. Using Auction Acrobat to automate my delivery process has eaten up my profits significantly. My response to these changes has been to just put the shipping costs into the price of the item and offer free shipping. The people pay if they like the item or not if they don't.

This is why I work on multiple streams of income. If one stream trickles down, the others are still paying. It's risk avoidance through diversifications and that is just sound investing strategy. Nothing to get worked up about. It's just another day at the office.
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schabotte 15 years ago

There is no question that eBay is radically changing the way they do business.

There is nothing wrong with that. It is their business after all and they certainly have the right to pursue the business model that they fell will give them the most success going forward.

As an eBay seller, you also have the right to adapt or leave.

The unfortunate thing for me as an eBay seller is adapting means investing time and energy learning what changes have occurred, adapting my listings and strategies, finding out which eBay changes actually work and which don't or have been released too soon (like the often spotty best match results.)

And then it means doing it again when the next round of changes come around.

I still sell there but it is no longer an area where I concentrate a great deal of time and effort because I've decided that my time is much better invested in opening new markets for my products than in adapting to eBay once again.

---

On, one positive thing about the latest round of changes is that my fees have dropped quite a bit on a percentage basis so my profit per sale has actually increased. Unfortunately, the current model has resulted in less sales so my total net from eBay has dropped from this round of changes.
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- Alton Hargrave 15 years ago
  
  I sell or try to sell on Ebay too. The sales dropped when they made us mail the cds instead of giving people digital downloads. I still send the instant digital downloads, but also mail the cd. I make up the cd along with the label and envelope myself and charge 3 dollars to mail within the USA. I think that fairly covers my material cost and postage. But, it is stupid to do things that way. That is not what the sellers OR the buyers want. Why should they be interfering?
  
  I know there are lots of alternative sites out there, but are any of them going to make that many sales? What do you guys suggest? My suggestions to Ebay about their policies are shrugged off. They are determined to trash their company like so many other companies have done lately.
  
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Noel2010

15 years ago

I was banned from eBay November 2007 and made several posts about it. I was mad about it and predicted the end of ebay and paypal.
Any changes that they make will not benefit most sellers. There is not one genuine product there that is cheaper than at a reputable website.
Amazon is the way to go. Craigslist is good but no way to check ratings.
What I find interesting is that there is no great competitor to ebay. All these smaller auction sites have more sellers that buyers.
Same with Paypal. Google tried and failed with Google Checkout.

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Shane F 15 years ago

I feel your pain! I used to make good supplemental income on ebay. $1000 a month range, now its too saturated and I only use it to unload junk. I've had better success or higher profits using craigslist if your willing to put up with the emails and phone calls from buyers.
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AntonioWrightMV

15 years ago

Yeah, eBay has almost gotten insane with their prices. I can understand the whole "supply and demand" side of it, and how since it is so popular, they can't just be giving stuff away. But if they keep raising prices like this, sellers are going to start disappearing, and fast.

I sell a lot of clothing and accessories on there, and it's starting to drive me crazy with how they tax every little thing.

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Jared Alberghini 15 years ago

I just read this online, so it must be true... :rolleyes:

eBay Inc. - eBay Inc. Announces Three-Year Roadmap For Growth

.jrd
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- Charles E. White 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Jared Alberghini
  
  I just read this online, so it must be true... :rolleyes:
  
  eBay Inc. - eBay Inc. Announces Three-Year Roadmap For Growth
  
  .jrd
  
  Jared, they reported that their sales were down in 2008 after the new rules they installed and so what did they do, they installed even worse ones in 2009. Matter of fact, I read they were hiding the loss from investors, however they would do that, and not showing them all the complaints they are having.
  
  Anyone can make a report look good, that is how the businesses rip off the people and pad their reports.
  
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Rupps

15 years ago

I still sell on ebay. Until recently just a few things here or there. I have a store mostly thhat runs on autopilot. With the store I hardly make any sales becuase I do not run auctions to get people to my store. Every time I try that I lose money (this store sell inexpensive items).

I've recently started selling more expensive items, but with the current economy prices are down a little and what once was a sure sale is no longer but it brings a boatload of people to my website which is a decent trade-off.

I really should start using one of the alternatives. Until they get more listers they won't be able to advertise properly to go after ebays near monopoly, but it can happen (remember Yahoo being #1).

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Charles E. White 15 years ago

Here's the bottom line, when eBay put all the new rules on us in 2008, we should have boycotted them. We didn't!

Now they have more stupid policies in 2009, will we boycott them in 2009? I doubt it and if we don't they will add even more stupid rules in 2010. All against the sellers on eBay!

So, did their wonderful new rules add more revenue for them in 2008? Not according to them......sales were down in 2008. Will these new rules make a difference in 2009? Yep, still lower sales because of less sellers. Will eBay change anything? I doubt it unless they get a new CEO.
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nichewebstrategies

15 years ago

I will admit that selling on eBay has gotten a lot harder to make a profit. I was selling a lot of stuff last year during the holiday season, mostly older toys. There was a store that was going out of business in my area that had 70's and 80's toys still in the box that I bought for really cheap and made a ton of money on.

I tried selling some additional stuff this year and I wasn't getting nearly the demand or price for it. This was pre economy woes.

As an affiliate, I have several eBay affiliate sites that do really well. As a test case, I took one of my sites and did a PPC campaign with Google Adwords and Yahoo Marketing in December. I started this the 2nd week in December and as of the 31st, I had made $1050.00 in profit. Not bad for just one niche over 2 weeks.

I don't plan on selling much on eBay anymore, but I am enjoying some success with the affiliate program. As phase 2 of my test case, I am going to let the same PPC campaigns run through the month of Jan to compare.

So far it is going well.

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bio prez

15 years ago

i think eBay is creating a recipe for disaster with all these changes...problem is that there is not any comparable alternative right now to use...

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Charles E. White 15 years ago

Well, I shut down my eBay Store today and will no longer be a powerseller soon since I'm not listing anything there to sell. It's kind of funny, I feel like I lost an old friend but the damn friend was shafting me, so overtime it won't be a big loss, I guess.

I am going to try bonanzle for awhile and see how it does. I added google page rank on fire fox or foxfire (whatever it is) and it says eBay is only 5 of 10. That's not very good at all. Wonder if that is correct?
I also did Bonanzle and it says it is 4 of 10. So, we'll see how it does.
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- Alton Hargrave 15 years ago
  
  I setup a shop (booth) on Bonanzle too. They are really user friendly. Importing all my 43 items from Ebay was a snap. But, since I never heard of them until yesterday, I wonder how many people will visit there. Replacing Ebay may mean setting up shop at several other auction sites.
  
  Has anyone had any luck with an Amazon shop? My experience with them has not been worthwhile so far. And, their site is not that easy to use.
  
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valftyli

Banned 15 years ago

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adamv

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

Wow.. I didn't know this.

I used to pop a nice bonus book or something extra in the package for customers, but now with the shipping police I"m sure that has to stop.

Originally Posted by valftyli

I used to pop a nice bonus book or something extra in the package for customers, but now with the shipping police I"m sure that has to stop.

Is there an echo in here? If you want to pad your post count could you be a little more creative than copying and pasting from Scotts post?

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zigstonk

15 years ago

Great day! You can't ask your sellers to absorb shipping costs (particularly when you still get your cut)!

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askloz

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

Beginning 2009:
They are now telling you how much to charge on shipping.
This doesn't work, I had a heavy book I wanted to send media mail, the cheapest way for the customer and the most I could charge was $4.00. I had to pay the rest just to ship it.

What's your DSR score? 4.5? 4.8? or higher?
Higher it is, the less you're charged.
Longer you've been with them, less you're charged.
More sales you make per month, the less you're charged.
100% feedback rating, less you're charged
Be a power seller, less your charged
higher your star icon is, less your charged.
and several other factors.

*** the thing about the shipping costs, you can charge what ever you want. It's not just shipping, it's Shipping & HANDLING, shipping is one fee, handling is another, though most, including myself, don't charge handling fee.

Your best bet, is if you keep having these problems, put the extra fee on top of your initial bid price. problem solved

Start it at 0.99 cents, and set a reserve price. That way, you can sell it to the next highest bidder if you want and protect yourself from losing your account if you don't deliver it cos you only had one bidder at 99 cents.

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

Checks and money orders no longer allowed

Well, I spoke to an ebay staff, and I said if it was ok to receive a check, they said it was ok. I told the person who bought an expensive item from me ($400 or so), that I wont send it until it's been cashed.

I understand that you're a powerseller, but hey, i'm not being forced to do anything like you mention.

Are these just for the items you listed above, cos the items i sell are electronic ones.

Thanks
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Charles E. White

15 years ago

Originally Posted by askloz

What's your DSR score? 4.5? 4.8? or higher?
Higher it is, the less you're charged.
Longer you've been with them, less you're charged.
More sales you make per month, the less you're charged.
100% feedback rating, less you're charged
Be a power seller, less your charged
higher your star icon is, less your charged.
and several other factors.

*** the thing about the shipping costs, you can charge what ever you want. It's not just shipping, it's Shipping & HANDLING, shipping is one fee, handling is another, though most, including myself, don't charge handling fee.

Your best bet, is if you keep having these problems, put the extra fee on top of your initial bid price. problem solved

Start it at 0.99 cents, and set a reserve price. That way, you can sell it to the next highest bidder if you want and protect yourself from losing your account if you don't deliver it cos you only had one bidder at 99 cents.

Well, I spoke to an ebay staff, and I said if it was ok to receive a check, they said it was ok. I told the person who bought an expensive item from me ($400 or so), that I wont send it until it's been cashed.

I understand that you're a powerseller, but hey, i'm not being forced to do anything like you mention.

Are these just for the items you listed above, cos the items i sell are electronic ones.

Actually, your DSR is not according to anything you do. You're DSR goes down just because someone doesn't leave you any dsr at all. My feedback is 100% positive but my dsr is down and I don't get the discounts I should because people decide not to leave any dsr at all. Each time that happens your dsr goes down.

You must have a different deal than I do, I have been with them for years and my fees aren't any less than anyone who just started selling except for the 5%. They now do the powerseller discount according to your dsr, it is not my fault people don't leave me a dsr, there is no way I can control that but I get penalized for it by them.

Even with a 100% positive feedback I get a whopping 5% powerseller discount because my dsr is down, again, which I can't control whether people leave me a dsr rating or not. Before I reached powerseller level again my dsr was very high like 4.9 in all categories. Once I reached powerseller it went to to below 4.5 in some categories almost overnight. I think it is just another con game by eBay! The reason I say that is only one person that day even left me feedback so why would my dsr go down so much from one person, even if they left no dsr at all?

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forest1

15 years ago

Hello

I know this is an old post but reading about the ebay problems I thought I would make a suggestion I used to turnover about £8000 per month on ebay now its down to about £500, for those that dont know amazon is a fantastic place to sell, this stopped my business from going broke, I know their fees arent great but we seem to get a continual flow of orders and it does very well on products I could not shift anywhere else, I hope this helps someone with ebay problems.

Ebay are shooting themselves in the foot and will pay the price in the end!

Thanks
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Jenna Paulson

15 years ago

Originally Posted by forest1

Hello

I know this is an old post but reading about the ebay problems I thought I would make a suggestion I used to turnover about £8000 per month on ebay now its down to about £500, for those that dont know amazon is a fantastic place to sell, this stopped my business from going broke, I know their fees arent great but we seem to get a continual flow of orders and it does very well on products I could not shift anywhere else, I hope this helps someone with ebay problems.

Ebay are shooting themselves in the foot and will pay the price in the end!

Good idea. How do you sell stuff on amazon if it doesnt fit in one of their categories though?

Thanks

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Craig Fenton

15 years ago

Hi Charles:

It is a shame that EBAY was able to build such a distance between themselves and all the competition combined. How many corporations do you know that have the luxury of knowing that your entire competition combined has less of a market share than you?

Coke has to battle Pepsi as well as others, Hertz and Avis fight it out, Ford, GM, etc.

For whatever reason EBAY captured the hearts and the wallets of buyers and sellers from the beginning. Each year those that buy/sell have less of a voice.

Hope the weekend will be great.

Thanks

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Doctor Article

15 years ago

While I never got banned from Ebay, I did stop selling a while back. Why? Because I simply can't be bothered kissing their backside all the time. Sure, I was making relatively good money but it was a constant pain.

One thing that is hurting Ebay to a certain extent, is the new launch of Auctiva Commerce. Auctiva has been used by Ebay sellers for ages and from the way I see it, they were waiting patiently to make their move. Already, thousands of Ebay sellers have shut their stores and are signing up with Auctiva Commerce. I've been invited but I just haven't had the time to dig deep enough yet.

Anyway, if you sell on Ebay, go and have sneak around Auctive Commerce. If I remember correctly, if you sign up now then you lock in the monthly charge and also, I think it's free through to the end of April.

Hope this helps some of you.............

Thanks

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dsmpublishing

15 years ago

i was often nicknamed the queen of ebay, i was at one point selling 2000 ebooks a day on there and have also sold lots of other things and made a very good living. But once i discovered how profitable it was to have websites i pretty much gave up on it.

i still sold a few things but more on your 50 sales a day scale.

then i was selling products last year and had the typical bad buyer experience the buyer hadnt paid and gave me a crap rating on the stupid star system with this ebay stopped all my auctions on the grounds that my selling status i.e bad customer feedback wasnt good enough (99.9%) 4.8/5 for my stars.

Then a week later they simply said we have re-opened your account and you should consider improving your relationship with your customers - what a nerve they have!

Then when i tried to list a dvd from personal use that i didnt like that i had purchased from woolworths before it went bust i was told it had been removed as it was a copied dvd - it even said in the listing where it came from.

Now there doesnt seem to be any say for sellers at all, these new postage costs dont surprise me at all.

Its just a shame its gone so downhill whatever happened to the ebay we used to all enjoy selling from?

Thanks

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RedMatrix

15 years ago

Downloadable products can't be BIDDED on anymore. You, the seller, have to create a Classified Ad and the cost is $9.95 for a 30 day run. You choose a "buy it now" price and that's it.
(You can't make it less days... AND YOU CAN'T GET FEEDBACK)

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mydavis3

15 years ago

I know this is an old post but glad I found it. I was thinking about getting a store and know it doesn't seem like its worth it. It seem the seller is at the mercy of ebay and your pass history of 100% positive feedback, means nothing. All it takes is one stupid customer and their goes your rating.

I guest the only way to really make good money is to be a power seller or higher if you can ever there with all these changes.

Thanks

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singleshooter

15 years ago

I am with ebay from 2001. I was silver power seller. I closed my ebay store last year on November because ebay does'n care about seller anymore. Now I am using ecrater, bonanzle and ioffer. Much friendly environment. Amazon and craiglist are definitly better but too much competition for me. For me is better to be King among shits as a shit among Kings.

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Bert Ritz

15 years ago

Originally Posted by singleshooter

I am with ebay from 2001. I was silver power seller. I closed my ebay store last year on November because ebay does'n care about seller anymore. Now I am using ecrater, bonanzle and ioffer. Much friendly environment. Amazon and craiglist are definitly better but too much competition for me. For me is better to be King among shits as a shit among Kings.

I just recently heard about the alternative auction sites you mention plus one called bluejay. Fellow Warrior Sparrow had a WSO recently about them.
I'm curious...are you selling as much as you did at Ebay? I mean are there a comparable number of bidders, views?
I'm on dial up and it is almost painful-well, at least very frustrating, making my listings on ebay. Pages take from 15 to 45 minutes to load, then about 25% somehow get dumped and I must start over. I would love to find an easier, more profitable site!
I'd really like to know!
Thanks,
Bert

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Mario Brown

15 years ago

I gave up on Ebay 1 month ago.

I was selling Jerseys to Germany (I'm German living in the States) and It just wasn't profitable anymore, Ebay wants a too big piece of the cake.

I had to pay for listing, then after selling the product, I had to pay for Terapeak and paid for Supremeauctions.com, let alone the ebay shop.
Furthermore I had to give my customers shipping discounts because I was selling interenationally and they weren't willing to pay 13 bucks shipping for a jersey.

Now don't get me wrong, I've still made around 500$ profit each month and in the beginning that was nice for me, cause it was my first money made online.

But now It's just not worth the hassle ->ordering, taking pictures, making the listings, sending mails, packaging, waiting at the post office, handling complaints .....

Nah I gave up. But don't get me wrong, it's not like I was crying all day.

I gave up and I jumped on the IM train, now I'm selling my own ebook and I have
No shipping, No packaging, No ordering, No inventory and unlimited supply.

Good bye ebay in terms of physical goods.

So far I had no chance to tap into selling digital products on ebay, but I hear a lot about it. I will look into that for sure.

My 2 cents,
mario

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Floyd Fisher 15 years ago

I hear ebay is taking a royal beating over this. Whether they learn is up for discussion....but realize the crap they have been pulling has had quite the effect.
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1bad55

15 years ago

I had been with EBay since 02 and started mainly as a buyer. After a while I thought it would be good to become a seller and that was going great up until a few years ago when they started playing "GOD" they put all their efforts into supporting the buyer and completely ruining their relationships with the sellers.

The sellers are the ones paying the bills and EBay could CARE LESS!

I sold antiques that were heavy and usually cost anywhere from $50.00-$100.00 to ship and EBay was telling me to ship them for free. If I want a discount from EBay offer free shipping what a joke.

Because of their stupid star rating system that no one understood I lost my Powerseller discounts because people didn't like how much I charged for shipping. I only charged what it cost me to ship and not a penny more. I can not help it if the shipping companies all raised their rates because of fuel costs.

I down graded my store 10 months ago and since I am not selling on EBay anymore I am just going to cancel my store period.

I have had it with EBay as a seller and I hope they get what they deserve!

It sounds like I am not the only one here that feels the same way.

Thanks

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B00T

15 years ago

What currently are the largest auction sites besides ebay?

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hotlinkz

15 years ago

FeeBay is simply paving the way for a "deep pockets" competitor to come along and start snatching away their market share. Hopefully it happens sooner than later.

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InfoRose

15 years ago

This is horrible news. I'm really sorry to see these changes. I've used and loved ebay for a long time and this is really taking the fun out of it.

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grumpyb

15 years ago

And we down under in Australia thought it was only us getting shafted by EBay.

Last year they tried to force a Paypal only payment policy on us and we had to take them to the Goverment regulatory body our ACCC. Just before the ACCC ruled that EBay was acting ilegaly they EBay backed down but they did manage to get in a rule where Paypal is mandatory for all listings.

There is growing discontent among the Austrlaain Powersellers but several attemps at getting an alternate selling site up and running have not worked.
So we are stuck with EBay.
However the cahnges they are making every 5 minutes have made EBay an unstable platform for selling products.
I have 3 Poweseller IDs and in each case sales are seriously down and no sign of any recovery. They have change everything and very little of he changes have had any positive effect on sales outcomes.
The answer in my opinion is to further develop our web sites and continually strive for page 1 on Google. couple this with outside advertising campaigns to increase trafiic and awareness of your web sites.
EBay is becoming a much smaller part of our business because every time they EBay cause some more greif by their constant and often unneccesary changes I spend a bit more time and money protecting myself against what I see as the inevitable CRASH of EBay.
Its no longer a question of IF its just a question of WHEN.
They Ebay have totaly lost the Plot!

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reapr

15 years ago

I was heavy seller on ebay back in 99-2000 then I discovered affiliate marketing.

I was going to reenter ebay back a while ago but when they changed the feedback policy I backed out. I had even purchased a few scales and had things in order ready to go ...

I really have to thank eBay for my affiliate marketing career taking off. Heck I even get a check from them each month as ... an affiliate, how ironic is that. I came full circle and don't even have to deal with feedback.

There is one bright note to all you internet marketers out there. Think of creating an niche auction site ... I am not promoting guns but gunbroker dot com comes to mind ... there are plenty of possibilities.

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pj413

15 years ago

This is why I am glad not to be apart of ebay anymore.

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Joe Giannetti

15 years ago

Well I sell on ebay and I think you guys are overreacting......
sure if you ship priority mail in the us.....you can only charge $3

But if you ship first class international overseas you can charge as much as you want.....

Most of my customers are overseas so.....

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NBN

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Joe Giannetti

Well I sell on ebay and I think you guys are overreacting......
sure if you ship priority mail in the us.....you can only charge $3

But if you ship first class international overseas you can charge as much as you want.....

Most of my customers are overseas so.....

Yeah, that may come to an end shortly.

Thanks

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Charles E. White

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Joe Giannetti

Well I sell on ebay and I think you guys are overreacting......
sure if you ship priority mail in the us.....you can only charge $3

But if you ship first class international overseas you can charge as much as you want.....

Most of my customers are overseas so.....

Considering Priority mail is $4.80, doesn't seem like over-reacting to me. Personally, I do business in the U.S. and their limits doesn't even cover first class on most items let alone priority.

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Chris Lockwood

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Joe Giannetti

Well I sell on ebay and I think you guys are overreacting......
sure if you ship priority mail in the us.....you can only charge $3

But if you ship first class international overseas you can charge as much as you want.....

Most of my customers are overseas so.....

I feel so stupid now! Now that you've explained it, I see that my mistake was selling to other people in the USA. I should have made it overseas only, then I would get to fill out customs forms for every item and wait in line at the post office, rather than use the self-service machine.

What was I thinking, letting other Americans buy from me?

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Tony Vercetti

15 years ago

Well this is bad. The shipping maximums are set too low for some items. I do understand that some sellers were taking advantage of ebay, for example by selling an item for $0.99 and charging $29.99 shipping while it only costs $5 or $6 to ship.

I think its time to look for other alternatives to ebay for now.

Thanks
2 replies

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NBN

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Tony Vercetti

Well this is bad. The shipping maximums are set too low for some items. I do understand that some sellers were taking advantage of ebay, for example by selling an item for $0.99 and charging $29.99 shipping while it only costs $5 or $6 to ship.

I think its time to look for other alternatives to ebay for now.

While that me be true, but more often then not their listings were pulled. That's how that was solved. Shipping is going up, not down and feebay--oops I mean ebay is capping them really low, so you don't even get the handling costs, materials (boxes cost). Shame.

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Chris Lockwood

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Tony Vercetti

Well this is bad. The shipping maximums are set too low for some items. I do understand that some sellers were taking advantage of ebay, for example by selling an item for $0.99 and charging $29.99 shipping while it only costs $5 or $6 to ship.

As long as the shipping charges were clearly listed, the seller should be able to charge whatever amount he wants for it.

A rational buyer will look at the total shipped cost of the item. (If they don't, that's their problem.)

The actual cost of shipping charged by the post office or UPS is irrelevant.

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NBN

15 years ago

So I wonder, what's going to happen to those in Hong Kong, and other places that sell on ebay. Usually their shipping costs are higher.

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MichaelHiles

15 years ago

Here's the problem with EBay's stupid policy.

Sure the actual parcel shipping cost may only be a few bucks.

It actually takes time to put the item in the box. Tape it up. Etc... It takes time to procure the box and the tape.

There's an aspect to shipping called HANDLING. The time costs money, and for one, I am not going to work with any channel which dictates my operating profit or loss based on their arbitrary rules.

I stopped using ebay in 2007. Haven't missed it a bit. Power seller here. $250K a year in t-shirt sales.

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Chris Lockwood

15 years ago

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

There's an aspect to shipping called HANDLING. The time costs money, and for one, I am not going to work with any channel which dictates my operating profit or loss based on their arbitrary rules.

Also, delivery confirmation. I can mail something like a CD really cheap, but if I want proof of delivery to avoid being ripped off by the buyer claiming it was not received, I have to pay for a much more expensive shipping method.

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TE2 15 years ago

Soon you will be able to buy ebay's new book:

How To Self-Destruct A Successful Business
10 simple policy changes that can kill a business

It will be the last and only thing left for sale on ebay.

Regards,

John
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Charles E. White

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood

Also, delivery confirmation. I can mail something like a CD really cheap, but if I want proof of delivery to avoid being ripped off by the buyer claiming it was not received, I have to pay for a much more expensive shipping method.

Chris, if you're sending first class, of course, you know you can't add a delivery confirmation, here is the way to get around this...add a piece of paper so it has a bump in the package, then you can send it first class parcel and add a delivery receipt.

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IMChick

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

Chris, if you're sending first class, of course, you know you can't add a delivery confirmation, here is the way to get around this...add a piece of paper so it has a bump in the package, then you can send it first class parcel and add a delivery receipt.

Very clever. Thanks for that tip. If i need to get delivery confirm, that's the level I ship at, and that level only, like priority and up. But depending on what market I think I'm attracting then I don't bother. It has pretty much killed my legitimate use of media mail for that reason, though.

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Davmac40

15 years ago

Great thread,

the one thing that gets me is what is the alternative to ebay?

Only a business without competition can treat its clients like this so if there is another auction site surely we as sellers can start building that business as genuine competition to ebay.

I am sure that if thousands of articles, blogs, social network postings etc would have the power to drive buyers to an alternative auction site if one exists.

If an alternative does not exist then the only option we have is to use the lubrication, bend over the barrel and allow ourselves to be shafted.

Just my thoughts.

Davmac

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Jared Alberghini 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Davmac40

Great thread,

the one thing that gets me is what is the alternative to ebay?

Showcase Websites using phpBay Pro

That's just a few examples of thousands of "niche ebay" sites that are popping up all over the place...

Ebay's business model has been proven to work excellent, there are many copy-cats hot on the trail...
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jamsferguson

15 years ago

I think Ebay is positioning themselves perfectly for the wave of new sellers who are looking around their house desperately trying to raise a few bucks by selling some of their accumulated consumer "STUFF" as this recession deepens.

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hotlinkz

15 years ago

I wish I had a couple million to start an auction site. FeeBay is easy pickings at this point in time.

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eBay Shafting the Sellers Even More in 2009

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