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In every issue, readers soundoff about issues important to them. From feedback to payment services, from increased fees to posting policies, AuctionBytes Soundoff gives you a chance to air your views.
Ina,
First, thanks for the great newsletter I've been subscribing for some time now!
Second, I wanted to bring an eBay issue to your attention in hopes of saving others from the same pain I am now living thru....
The "upgrade" from Turbo Lister I to Turbo Lister II here is my tale of woe ... you'll have to read from the bottom up
Thanks for passing on the word if you deem this "news worthy" and thanks in advance for any tips that might help me ... if you have any.
Jim
Editor's note: Looks like a lot of people are having problems with Turbo Lister 2 (http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jspa?forumID=34)
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Re: Editorial
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m06/abu0168/s01
Please consider one more I think is a critical issue:
Buyers who do not pay for items should be prohibited from leaving feedback. Both my neg. feedbacks (out of 5800 +) came from bidders who did not pay & later got "no longer a registered user", but their legacy lingers. Of lesser importance (to me) is the "private" feedback issue. It should be discontinued.
Have fun in Vegas.
Dave
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Re: Editorial
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m06/abu0168/s01
Ina,
A great article. I stopped the majority of my selling on ebay just because of the rudeness and disrespect they show towards the sellers.
Added to your list of complaints.
EFFECTIVE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
Bottom line, I will never do business with a company without a phone number again. Ebay needs at least an emergency phone number.
Last year someone hacked into my account and it took me 3 hours in a snails pace moving chatroom with four different very rude representatives who treated me like I was the criminal.
Basically, All I can saw is screw ebay, paypal and I hope Meg Whitman gets fired for the terrible way she allows ebay to treat sellers.
Sincerely,
Mark
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Dear Ina:
Unlike Ebay, YOU obviously pay attention to what eBayers are actually saying:
"Here's what I would like to see eBay do:"
"Fix whatever is leading to seller complaints of a major sales slowdown"
My sales have dropped dramatically over the last year. I think part of it (in my small ouevre, which isn't really indicative of the wider market) is due to increasingly postage, which makes sellers increase same so they don't lose additional monies to mail, the dishonest practice of PayPal (the leader in sales payments) forcing buyers to pay a high fee not only on the actual sale, but also on the post for that sale!!! It's obnoxious of them to charge a fee to sellers for postage and in turn makes sellers increase postage to cover that fee and ultimately buyers to make purchasing decisions based on postage as well as the actual price. If I'm looking for a DVD and two sellers charge the same amount, but are $3 apart in postage, which seller do I go with? There's also the "threat" as I read it of increased ebay fees every year. Ebay has made everything increasingly more difficult for sellers, that difficulty is passed on to the buyer, and the buyer cuts back on buying. Meanwhile, ebay makes record profits into the billions of dollars year after year.
"Dramatically improve customer service for all buyers and sellers"
They rarely reply when I ask questions and they have stopped confirming, for the most part, spoof emails.
"Improve basic functionality to make it easy to list, sell, search, bid and buy"
No lie.
"Eliminate all plans to launch new features"
Why do they insist upon fixing what is not broken? It's very frustrating.
"Increase seller verification"
"Institute a high minimum feedback requirement for foreign sellers wanting to list on non-domestic sites"
Not to mention making feedback mandatory. I'm tired of giving out positive feedback for a quick payment only to have to plead with the buyer to reciprocate if they are happy with the item. I've lost all kinds of positive feedback and have had to change my feedback policy to make it more reciprocal (when I can).
"Clamp down on sellers who offer low prices and inflated shipping charges"
Another "no lie."
"Retrain every employee so they treat customers and vendors with dignity and respect"
They used to "seem" to care. It's turned into a major lack of response in the last year.
"Bring buyers and sellers together, and get out of the way!"
"Get out of the way" being the operative phrase here. When they're needed it's like the cliche "Where are the cops when you really need them?" When they're not needed they are a gross nuisance.
Appreciate you voicing these concerns.
Jon
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Hi,
Just a thought on what you should get Ebay to do.
Ebay forbids USA members from selling a whole host of shooting related items to non USA members, that's neither right or legal.
Ebay forbids UK members from selling shooting related items to anyone outside the UK. That isn't right and it's certainly illegal under EU freedom of trade laws.
All the items I mention above are free to buy and sell in most of the civilised world with no legal restrictions. So why does Ebay consider that they have the right to control the flow of trade between different countries?
And finally Ebay forbids the listing of any item that has the image of a firearm included in the listing pictures. Apart from the dubious legality of that, nowhere does Ebay inform its members of this rule. How I wish we had ambulance chasing lawyers over here.
Your comments on this would be welcome. Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Terry
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Hi Ina,
I just finished reading the article "Going Once... Going Twice... Gone!" and enjoyed seeing you being quoted within. When you attend the Las Vegas eBay Developers Conference please keep in mind that although you are going to be rubbing shoulders with a lot of eBay sellers, in reality the people that make eBay as successful as it is won't be represented and that is small-time seller such as me. We are not represented since we are not Power Sellers or have eBay Stores or run businesses such as drop stores. We work out of our homes, sometimes little apartments such as our 400-square foot castle-in-the-sky! If possible, put in a word for us, the unrepresented. Thanks.
Cordially,
Edward
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Ina,
I wanted to tell you a story as a subscriber to your email. This is a story about my experience as an EBay Store Owner and Auction provider. I created a Company - internet based....
I decided to create an EBay store along with auctions on EBay to increase exposure to my Company and sell Inventory.
Wihin the 1st month of having an EBay Store, my account was suspended by EBay (EBay later told me it was their mistake), my account was reinstated in the same day, and then suspended again in the same day. A few days later, EBay reinstated my account. They never reinstated my Store. They never reinstated the items I sold under "My EBay". I have asked and I have been promised a telephone call which I still have never received. Some of my auctions were sold at prices lower than I initially wanted due to an EBay mistake. EBay also charged me for the 1st month of my store, when I was told it would be free. After I sent EBay a notice, they credited me, even thought they credited me the wrong amount so I had to send another email. I AM STILL WAITING FOR A TELEPHONE CALL.
Jeff
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Ina,
In reading some of the letters you print that have come from readers, it often occurs to me that I would like to view some of the auctions of these sellers in order to get a better idea of what they are doing and how they are doing it, and also to check their feedback. I can't believe some of the problems some people have and I always wonder why. I would like to make sure I keep avoiding these problems. It doesn't seem unreasonable that the writers ebay ID should be included with the letter. Maybe people would worry that ebay would come down on them but that seems hard to believe also. We, of course, are small time sellers, but we have been at this for about 8 years and have had virtually no problems with ebay, PayPal (except the fees) or about 99% of our customers. Just lucky so far?
Jerry
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Hi Ina,
I feel there is some manipulation of stores traffic going on at the anchor store level and now featured stores. I have started a thread about it in the stores board.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000151347
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Hi Ina,
You did a great job in getting all the pictures/info of ebay live to the rest of the ebay world!!!! I couldn't make it to the event this year and after viewing the pictures, etc. I felt like I was there!!!
Again, a great job and thanks!!
John
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Hello,
Your reporting is always interesting and so occasionally I drop you a line either on the discussion boards or via email. The eBay search problems that have been ongoing for some time are now well documented with screen shots in several places on the eBay discussion boards. The power seller board has one link that is pretty comprehensive, (http://digbig.com/4kpmg) (you must be a PowerSeller to access this board).
The seller central - and I believe the stores board - also contain similar information. The toll this is taking on sellers is palpable. People are reporting financial problems etc., and these in many cases are long time sellers.
Thought you might want to look into this as it effects buyers too.
Best Regards,
Linda
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I could enjoy more of your news if it was available on podcast. Any plans?
Thank you,
Gene
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Ina:
I'm absolutely incredulous regarding the marketing decisions that have come from the EBay Executive Suites over the past several years. From the onerous Selling Fee increases, to the insidious decision to exclude EBay Store Items from internal site searches, my perception of EBay is now likened to that of F.E.M.A.
I've already lost my Power Seller status and will probably be forced to close my store next month because my sales are non-existent as a result of EBay Express. What ever happened to the adage, "Take care of your customer, and everything else will follow"? Perhaps the corporate chant of, "I've got mine, so now I can afford to force customers to follow me" has been substituted.
In my opinion, EBay is a prime example of why Corporate America has pulled to the side of the road in order to allow other World Economic Powers to take the lead positions. How does a company which had such a universal vision, stellar reputation and loyal following - misstep so quickly and severely? I'll keep my reasons to myself. I just wish Donald Trump would just walk into an EBay Executive Meeting and say, "You are all FIRED!" I wouldn't feel bad though... I'm confident that the multi-million dollar pay packages for all of the executives are already securely in place.
(Ina,...should you decide to publish my tirade, please do not use my full name. I can't afford any type of retribution from Ebay...Thanks!)
M.
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RE: "Company Offers "Illegal" eBay Shill-Bidding Service"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m05/i31/s01
Ina:
Well, that is interesting. I speak German.
So I was looking at the XXLsell legal explanation. It looks like in Germany, shill bidding is not forbidden (http://www.rae-wess.de/artikel.php?id=238). If a user bids on an item that was "pushed" through shilling, the bidder is not protected by the eBay policy. So the company can do what they do.
And regarding the violation of the eBay policy, the company is writing that some parts of the eBay policy are not legal in Germany, so they are not binding. In court, the eBay user agreements are just like a "wish", but it is not against the law to do "shill bidding".
They describe it like this:
If eBay would write in their policy, that you need to bid on eBay with a red clown nose. Just because they write it, does not mean they can force you to wear a red clown nose to bid. It is your personal freedom to wear what you want to wear....
It is interesting, that eBay.com has - kind of - their own shill bidding service. It is called "Reserve Price". The difference, eBay charges some money if you want to use it. When you list an item, eBay writes to lower the price so it sells. But it is a bad idea when sellers do not want to sell low.
In Germany, they do not offer the reserve price. No wonder that companies are created to create a virtual reserve price.
At the end - I think - eBay can cancel your account, but they might not be able to do anything in a German court. But who knows. eBay has money...
Peter
PS: I'm not related to XXLsell.com
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Hi Ina,
Great Job at eBay Live!!
Interesting keynote comments. As Bill Cobb was describing the roll back to January search, it got better, but it seemed like they threw the "go back to January switch" as the words came from his mouth. Sadly no discussion of the indexing issues that still plague the site. Last I saw from the community boards last week, the eBay techie in charge of the repair said 7-10 days more AND that eBay would consider credits for sellers who have been hurt by this mess, but no forum on how to go about getting that credit.
AND NOW, Meg Whitman continues to take her salary while admitting she is has no commitment to eBay...hmmm that kind of thing is reflected allll the way down to the guy that sweeps the floors. It sure speaks volumes for the lack of action on real problems. If she had an ounce of real leadership in her she would already be gone. Apparently wants the title more than the job, very sad. More personal wealth than most wealthy people and nowhere to go. I will be leaving eBay once my inventory has worked its way down to the "throw away whats left" level.
I would love to hear Bill Cobb comment on sellers with consistent 90+% Sell through rates... No one does that on a monthly basis in the real world. Using Terapeak I have found a few. But then shilling generates fees, no avoidance, no foul I guess....
I signed up with Terapeak through your site. I hope you get a piece of that. You provide a great service... ever think about running ebay???? :) They must be looking for someone....
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Dear Ina,
I was one of the people who ended up buying Antique Road Show tickets off Ebay. I paid $20 and the seller emailed me them. It was not until I got down to the show, to discover that these tickets were free to the public. This upset me, and the reprehensive to hear that I had been lied to and scammed.
I wrote to the seller. First he tells me that he bought them off Ebay. When I asked for proof, naturally did not see any invoices. He then changed his story saying that he paid $15.00 by obtaining them online.
I then requested a refund. He ended up sending me oddly the link to your article, and to the Ebay Policy. Basically to tell me tough luck lady, nothing anyone can do about it.
He then proceeded to send me another email calling me a idiot, and moron. Then to leave feedback to state that I was not happy with the show and wanted a refund ending with a comment I was a stalker!
I have written to Ebay, to inform them of his conduct and selling tickets for profit that to what I agree with you should be against Ebay or any one's policy to do.
I am stunned that Ebay would not take this off Auction, and to now read that they will not do anything about this to the sellers that scammed and ripped people off.
I will no longer do any business with Ebay!
I can give my business to trusting other sites! It's the principal. I did enjoy the show, and it's experience, but not the defamation upon my character as a result of putting money in someone else's pocket. It's frustrating, and felt also your anger and frustration in your letter, as I am feeling now the same. What goes around comes around to those who do such is all I can say. Thank you for taking time to read this.
Wish you the best in hoping that in someway you can stop this from occurring to others. Maybe by posting it may save another.
Take care
Kim
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