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,
The Nigerian Scammers have infiltrated eBay - HARD
I got hit 3 weeks ago, one Nigerian scammer registered and in 2 minutes did five BIN's for $760. I reported them immediately, had a heck of a time getting other naive sellers to do the same, and they were suspended.
Last night it happened to another ... boardie... I emailed every seller and prompted them to file Negative FBs immediately to prevent this scammer from doing more harm. They all did as they should and that seller reached -4. But they are STILL REGISTERED.
This is a HUGE PROBLEM. eBay requires us sellers to use ID Verify or register with a credit card to sell. But in order to register to bid you only need an email address? We don't recoup our listing fees when an auction ends early with a BIN even if we aren't charged FVFs. eBay is now raising store selling fees to "...get back to the essence of eBay."
What are they giving the sellers? They're not giving us anything. No security, no mention of the problem other than "Hey gang, if you get a suspicious email, uh, report it."
This is just wrong and eBay's refusal to address it is hampering everybody's sales AND putting sellers at risk of losing more.
Thanks,
Lisa
********
Hi Ina,
Well, Mr. Cobb and the gang stepped in it, have tracked it all over the place and now want someone else to clean up their mess.... I bet there is a broom and dust pan in the corner somewhere.
Well at least now it is clear what happened to the volume of shoppers and bidders on ebay. Now ebay has chosen Yahoo and turned their back on Google. Too bad... it seems the power of eBay has been the power of Google to drive traffic to them. They could have made a ton accepting Google Checkout or just being a good friendly internet neighbor to Google.
So the sellers, bidders and ebay take a huge hit, never mind the stock holders. 4 billion in cash, no debt. Can't go chapter 11. But seem to have dug a hole of no integrity they can't buy there way out of. Disney must have known something when they snubbed Meg a while back.
My ebay sales have disappeared from a high of about 27K last February (nice profit in there for a one man band) to about 10k last month almost no profit there, just trying to recoup some inventory cost. This month so far I am not sure I have done even 1k. But now that I know the secret was Google all along.... I can see what Google can do for me. Soon I hope.
I have found a job, not my choice as I was really enjoying life full time on ebay. But the Meg & Bill show ruined a good thing. All they had to do was take a bow and smile from stage now and then and leave well enough alone. In about 6 months they managed to destroy 10 years of success.
Remember the push for everyone to have an ebay store? All the advantages and strategic possibilities etc. Now Bill "blames" store owners for problems with the "core". If so many people weren't being hurt it would be laughable...
THEN to find out he has been actively selling his ebay stock options, conveniently in the 40's, just a few months ago. Hmmmm, knowing what happened to the stock in Jan 2005 in the last round of increases, he wouldn't have sold in anticipation of a similar move now, nahhhh, that would be wrong. Martha Stewart may have to comment on the wisdom of that action.
I wouldn't know about that stuff, I am just a stupid store guy on ebay. If it wasn't for me this would never have happened HA!!
Good thing Meg and Bill are wealthy. Any other company that would hire them would have to have their own integrity examined closely. Forgiveness is easy, regaining trust is another story.
I am looking hard at the LikePhate site in your newletter. Very interesting to say the least.
Regards,
Ray
********
Hi Ina,
Here's another big problem Ebay has...I listed a Dell printer brand spanking new - selling for a friend. She had purchased a system that came with the printer and she already had a printer so asked me to sell it for her. Well I used Ebay's PREFILLED INFORMATION based on the USBC or barcode number whatever it's called. So Dell told Ebay to cancel my auction and I have gone back and forth trying to make Ebay understand that there pre-filled information they offer (& shouldn't) is copyrighted by Dell.
Sellers should be careful about using the pre-filled information offered by Ebay since Ebay is so screwed up. So I finally listed the printer on Overstock. There are times when I hate Ebay. So customer service.
Cindy
********
Ina,
This latest round of fee increases is just more proof that eBay is running a stock, not a business. It shows their desperation to grow earnings in order to justify the still inflated stock price and since they cannot grow through expansion they must take a larger and larger slice of the shrinking economic pie that is the eBay marketplace.
With lower and lower sellthrough rates (25-30% on average) and lower and lower sale prices realized, eBay is a deflationary market; a shrinking economic pie. And eBay raising fees is taking a larger and larger slice of that shrinking pie. This act of desperation should signal to Wall St (and apparently has based on the 3 year low the stock is at now) that eBay is in trouble.
eBay is just a venue; a glorified BBS. The sellers are the marketplace, not eBay. The sellers do all the work but eBay wants to take all the profits. eBay has made far too much money from being just a venue and while that is acceptable as long as sellers are also making money, it is not acceptable when their greed forces sellers out of business because they cannot turn a profit. Rest assured, the whopping increase in store fees (up to 500% increase) is about desperation to grow earnings, not "balance" or the previous "vibrancy" shtick. It's about greed, plain and simple.
John
********
Just about everyone that has mentioned store, mentions closing it, as unaffordable anymore and not selling that much from stores.
********
Do any of these places realize that the more they raise their fees, the more encouragement they give to sellers to open their own websites?
Or do they think everyone is dumb enough to just continue to suck it up? (welll, then again...ebay does it and people still do that, they just whine about it...)
********
Ina,
I suspect you have been getting the scoop on the store fee changes announced today.
While I am not surprised, I am continually shocked by the Ebay hubris and chutzpah.
There remains a group of Ebay sellers who just plain defend ebay with a "that's life" attitude. However, I think that in addition to the folks who are openly wringing their hands because they got hooked into the store promotion era (and invested time and money into trying to make it work), there are plenty of people who are just plain quietly disgusted with the years of bait and switch tactics.
While Whitman says that there always is an outcry when they raise fees - but that folks get over it, I think she is completely out to lunch. Whitman's strategy 3 years ago was to turn buyers into sellers and get them to open stores.
And now she is telling everyone that they didn't do a good enough job with their stores because there is just so much stuff hanging out and not selling. Even though store sales spiked from mid February to early April - simply because the items could be found in the searches - and then tanked because they can't even get the search back to the prior levels. Nor can they get Ebay Express off the ground, but they seem to blame the store item listing volume for that too.
But Ebay is still on the same path - as though none of those buyers they turned into sellers have any memory of what has transpired in the last three years - let alone us really cranky folks who have gone through 7 or more years.
Just bizarre. My ebay fees would go up more than 300%. How they mushed the numbers to get a 6% hike means that they think that people who have ebay stores with only a small number of items won't care if a few pennies are added to their store fee. It also tells us that most of the ebay stores don't have many items or much sell through, so they really did succeed in turning alot of buyers into hopeful sellers.
Ten unsold store items at 2 cents/month is 20 cents + 14.95/month store fee = 15.15 versus 50 cents/month (if they are less than $25) at the new rate = 15.45 - comes to about a 2 percent increase. So depending on the product price mix and sell through rate, they are saying that the average store owner has only a few handfuls of items, doesn't sell much and won't notice the change.
Hmm. If that kind of distribution is the majority of the store owners, then I think the little guy might say - hey it wasn't paying for itself anyway, thanks for reminding me, I'll drop the store and I have such a bad taste after being swindled for a few years, I won't be buying either.
Then people like me who have thousands of items - and the discussion boards are full of them commenting on the real percentage increase to them - will look at the already marginal utility of Ebay and really change their business plans.
The "that's life" folks figure that they will hang in because there will be more customers and less sellers.
But I think that they underestimate how many sellers are buyers, and just how many folks just quietly move Ebay out of their daily lives.
I thought last week's search problem was bad. This almost has me speechless, but I still can type
Sharon
********
Hi Ina - thank you so much for the article on seller's Ebay plight.
Have you had any response from Ebay? We certainly haven't except a few condescending 'phone calls to a few sellers. We have had these before & some Ebay rep listens to your side of the story & comes out with "cut & paste" replies, gives you their contact details & then disappears never to be heard from again. Certainly nothing ever eventuates from it. It feels like they are playing amateur psychologist by allowing a few sellers to vent verbally in the hope members will quiet down & go away.
I have emailed Oztion suggesting they advertise on your site as it is widely read by the auction community.
regards,
Christine
********
Hello Ina,
in the Netherlands the story is the worst of whole eBay. Store fees increase up to 2000% and the commission is doubled.
Mr. Cobb said that eBay want more bidding than shopping on eBay, therefore he probably presented an increase up to 100% for the Dutch eBay site.
Also the final value price for items over 500 euro will more than triple! I wonder, is this why eBay Express was introduced?
Regards,
Alderd
********
Ina,
eBay reported financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2006, and announced a stock repurchase plan. In a separate announcement to users, eBay said it was increasing fees for its Store owners.
I assume this is the reason they need more of my money. Buying all that stock back will cost a pretty penny. Why does it have to come out of my pocket?
********
Ina,
I think in the middle of the night last night, this all became a reality to me. It hit others immediately. I have just realized that i can no longer continue to carry 2400 items in my ebay store. I feel devastated. I have a free vendio store. I am feeling that i will use ebay for auction and then relist any unsold items into my vendio store. That will save me a ton in ebay fees. I also have a vendio website that i use to lead buyers to my ebay store.
If i knew how to add a check out and program this website to use, i would do that and save on fees period.
I just can't figure where Bill Cobb figures this is a raise of 6%. Going from 2 cents to 5 cents is 150%. At least when i took math in school it was.
That is without even figuring in the raise in final value fees. I feel ebay is playing a game of Russian Roulette. Las Vegas got to them and they still playing the game, only problem is, ebay is the one that will lose. It's too bad because this was a very good business until all of this came along two days ago.
Linda
********
I have been a loyal follower of your newsletter for quite some time, and have to congratulate you on your expertise. Your news letters are very informative, and well written. Please keep up the good work, and I know it is work.
Your last info on Ebay is nothing out of the ordinary, not meaning the writing, but the history of Ebay, It is sort of like reading of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
The day of the auction is not dead, nor will ever be. But, Ebay, like other business enterprises, will rise and fall. There are other auctions rising, or at least trying to rise against the formidable Ebay, and sooner or later, a few will succeed. Ebay, in it's infinite wisdom and money, wants to over control - to the extent of payment methods, pricing and shipping methods, and inventory.
Such is it that one idea blossoms into a small business, then a middle business, then a small corporation, then a corporate giant. Then the CEO'S seem to want to take over the whole industry, if not the world.
There are a lot of upcoming auction sites out there. What they need is our support and advertising, Just like the infamous Ebay got before it became a Tyrant. Ebay is word of mouth now- which is extremely powerful in advertising - gee - Jay Lenno show - David Letterman show - and Auctionbytes.
Hip Hip Hooray for Ebay!! They were born, and grew and grew, to become a mystical giant. Everything has a life span. Maybe it is time for retirement
Thanks for your time and Best to You,
Jim
********
Well if server space is a problem for the stores get rid of the blogs. Or stop having stores support eBay Singapore
http://pages.ebay.com.sg/help/sell/storefees.html
If they just sell on their site, no insertion fees, no store fee, no FVF, no gallery, nothing.
Karen
********
Ina,
I just read about Google's new pay system and also the latest ebay news in our local newspaper. I don't see how ebay can get away with not allowing us to use Google's new pay system. This is a free country after all and we have laws against monopolies. I guess ebay is extremely afraid of competition and from what I read about Google's new system it is supposed to be easier to use and cheaper. Seems like ebay doesn't like competition and of course they don't want to lower their fees to be competitive. I'm both a seller and a buyer and I've noticed as a buyer that a lot of auctions say they do not use Paypal and I'm sure that's because of their high fees. It seems that ebay wants to monopolize the auction market and the on-line banking market and I for one hope they cannot get away with it!
Sharon
********
Re: Google Checkout for Online Auction Transactions - Part 1
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m07/i18/s03
Loved your Google CHECKOUT article on Mr. Ling. First-rate!!!
I'd very much like to see more coverage of Google related news AS WELL AS other selling venues, or, at the very least, more coverage of Amazon.com.
I tried to post your article to DIGG but someone had already beat me to it.
All the Best.....Bob
********
Re: "Online Booksellers React to Amazon.com Feedback Changes"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m07/i10/s04
My thoughts:
They are simply going to the same type of format ebay uses (where I have been selling for six years as a powerseller).
The complaints are nothing new to ebay sellers. We get put on the cross (and get negatives) just because the post office takes their sweet time delivering a package.
I also work full time, and have noticed the postmarks on the (even) regular sized letter envelopes I receive. One 39 cent letter took a full ten days to get from Chambersburg PA to Columbia MD! I could have walked it there faster!
Cannot tell you how many emails we receive that state something along the lines of: I paid for this 10 days ago and I have not received it yet and I am going to make a complaint to ebay! (Like they are going to do anything!)
All I can do is give them the shipping date and DC number and hope that is gets there sometime before they leave their negative remark in my feedback page.
For the persistent ones, I try to explain that they rather have a beef with the Post Office, but there are still those that think I am in control of their package until the day it shows on their doorstep, so I lose out on them.
I currently have an ebay store with over 3,000 books, and 9,000 more to list (when time permits with my full time job) but I swear I am getting out of this soon.
It's just no "fun" anymore.
********
Hi
Just noticed you do not list Ioffer? Is there a reason? Or are you not familiar. They do not have all those killer fees that the others have and it is easier to list quickly. Anyway I just wondered and want to say your calendar is a great resource for newbie's.
Have a cool Summer!
Sincerely,
Patricia
