Regarding Ebay providing buyers with the sellers complete contact information including phone number I am furious. I have been called at my regular DAY employer every other day for a week now by Andale.com marketers! I've told them to bug off yet they keep calling and leaving messages. Andale.com has not bought anything from me yet they have my telephone number which they could have only received from Ebay. This privacy intrusion caused by Ebay's lack of seller protection must stop!
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Hello!
I have been on your AuctionBytes newsletter mailing list for a couple of years, now. I have commented on articles in the newsletter a couple of times to you.
I am curious as to why the auction management program SOLD!, published by TimberCreek Software, isn't on your list of auction programs and services on your AuctionBytes site. See this link for info on SOLD!:
http://www.timbercreeksoftware.com
Two years ago, I spent over 100 hours of my time researching auction programs and online services, and SOLD! (formerly known as AuctionTrakker) was the best. Nothing has changed my mind in that time.
I have no connection with the company, other than using & liking the program.
Just curious.
Thanks.
Karl
I really love your newsletter. But I need at least a good hour to read and absorb it all! Sometimes I feel overloaded with info!
The storefront info from Vendio is good...I joined Vendio a few months ago and after a frustrating start on how to use it...( so many pages that need further explanations) I must say I am basically very happy with it!
I tried reading the requirements for a Vendio Store...but gave up!
I do think taking the 2 week free trail is probably the best advise and the way to go! I will definetly look into it further as your article gave me some very positive reasons to go in this direction.
Thank you again for all your efforts...oh, by the way, while not happy about price increases at eBay..I have never used another auction site. Diligent work, the moon in the right place and the usual luck (sometimes) has proven for me...that eBay works! Three years into selling sporadically, I am convinced that joining Vendio has helped me become a more consistent and fortunate seller! As a buyer..well, always was...always will be!
Best regards,
Joy
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Ina,
eBay's double whammy of raising the listing fee and doubling the 10 auction fee has hit me hard. If I continue with 10 day auctions I'm looking at about a 25% increase just to list. At this point I'm thinking I'm gonna dump the 10 day feature.
Robert
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In a story about Trading Assistants, eBay's Walt Duflock said that "currently, the overwhelming majority of eBay users are buyers, and there's a real need for more sellers."
Did you ask him how he thought the listing fee increases would affect this "shortage" of sellers? Sounds to me like ebay is figuring out how to cut out the sellers and get a bigger piece of the pie.
Robert
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Hello all.
I am wondering you people don't know any more auction sites but ebay!!? 55% to 76% talking about ebay. Not 1000's but list 100's auction sites out there most site from u.s. some very low fee or free or what ever. Why don't you people get the work find some other sites. Most of us know what is going on at ebay and paypal any way both sites send us email every week so PLEASE don't wait for easy news go find some useful things for all of us seller and buyers.
My 2 Cents
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Since eBay is doing so well, is anyone going to ask Meg Whitman why it is necessary to raise its rates next month? Seems to me that rates need to go up if income is diminishing not if it keeps rising. Can you broach this notion with Ms Whitman?
As one of those people who keep paying eBay the fees that make up its profits, I am fascinated by the notion that I need to pay ever more money for ever diminishing customer services.
Kal
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I'm forwarding a post I made on Ebay. A fellow seller suggested emailing you as you publish an auction newsletter:
We pay Ebay several thousand dollars monthly in fees. We're a Gold level powerseller. We reported a bidder for unwelcome bidding. Ebay suspended our account by mistake.
Obviously it was re-instated. This process caused approx. 3000 auctions to immediately cease to exist. Our email box was jumping with what happened messages from customers - many new ones decided we may not be trustworthy since our account showed as not a registered user and they all received item ended email. We had to relist 3000 items in 24 hours. There are approx. $300-500 in outstanding bids on any given day typically. This is all gone. We figure it'll take at least 7 days for the cycle to begin again. We had to send our help home without pay since they work on commission ( I'll make it up to them ).
To make a long story short it's cost me about $4000 not counting labor to restore customer concerns, answer emails, scramble to re-list, etc. We have a web site which performs very well. From time to time a router may go down, or a box will require rebooting, or some trivial event that may last a few minutes. On our website we control our business.
On Ebay, however, we struggle with the validity of Ebay as a true valid business endeavor for the item mentioned above and some 1/2 dozen odd Ebay caused catastrophes over the past 2 years that, each in it's own, has cost us time, money, and aggravation.
We sat down and took a serious look at Ebay:
It is profitable. However the profit vs effort ratios are directly inverse to our website and wholesale operations. Ebay requires 80% of our time for 20% of our profit while our other operations require 20% of our time and make 80% of the profit.
It seems rather obvious that although Ebay is a profit center that there are far better solutions for operating successfully on the web.
In regards to this specific issue of having our account suspended it would have been less of a financial hit on us if Ebay could have simply reinstated the auctions with the proper remaining time. Instead they re-instated the auctions as ended and refunded listing fees. This was the technical faux pas that directly cost us approx. $4000.
Do you think the Press would be interested in this or is this useless everyday heard it before life on Ebay?
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
