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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.
You can also read the AuctionBytes blog, which has a place for reader comments under every posting (http://blog.auctionbytes.com).
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I wish I would have known about your site yesterday. I have been stocking up on Victoria Secret jeans & was going to make an announcement to my buyers & "launch" the new product. I got 10 up & Ebay stopped me claiming it was often a product that is counterfeited so I could only put up so many during a 7 day period. What a downer. And today I see the news about digital sales which affects a lot of my Ebay friends. I just started an Ebay store at the end of January because health problems caused me to close my other business. Now I'm questioning that decision. I am starting to agree with other small Ebayers that Ebay only wants the powersellers.
Dee
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Ina,
I'm (or was) a seller on ebay selling magazine subscriptions. Today I awakened to learn that with zero notice that they no longer allow the selling of subscriptions. I was wondering if you could do a piece on this subject. This company is beyond me...to give reputable sellers like myself no notice is unbelievable.
Thanks
Walt
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Hi Ina,
I was reading about the restricted digital deliveries. They have got to be kidding with that decision. That decision will put me completely out of business, as I'm sure it will many others.
I'm a Silver Powerseller with 100% FB and perfect DSR. I donate $100s of dollars to charities through ebay givingworks, and have an upstanding record with eBay.
Everything I sell, is digital delivery. 8 ebooks (mostly html and ebay help) I can delete those listings and give away free. But I sell auction templates, store fronts, ecards (not many), musical animations for templates (not many), and especially advertising, as that is my main source of income. I dont keep stock on hand and there is nothing I sell that requires a stamp.
I cannot afford $9.95 to list each template, or listing unless I'm allowed to list them all in one classified ad. And then if I'm not actually selling through ebay I will lose my powerseller status. eBay will be losing a lot of money by doing this. They need to rethink what they are doing just out of the blue, without notifying even their own employees.
Can you tell me who I need to contact to talk to someone about this decision they are making.
Thank you for your time,
Claudia
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Hi Ina, I read your column regularly.
Ebay has just created a new policy which puts people like me out of business. I sell auction templates, store logos and Ebay design work. I dont sell one dollar ebook, I sell a real service.
Please make this known to all in your column. This is just another stupid move on Ebays behalf.
Thank you!!
Sharon
PS: I have worked hard to build up my store on Ebay. I have been one of those who always follows policy and look where it got me.
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This is all so depressing. Well, it's been a good 10 years, I suppose. Time to move on.
Pam
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Dear Ina:
I registered with eBay on August 25, 1999. I can still remember the first item I purchased. It was a little monkey figurine missing from my Catlantis collection. I couldn't find it anywhere locally, and I tried eBay. I won it for my first bid and I was hooked. After a while, I decided that I needed to thin out some of my collections and started selling. I sold my first item, without even the benefit of a camera. I was shocked at some of the prices my used items garnered, but I used those funds to purchase other items on eBay. Eventually, I sold for other people as a trading assistant, and helped others thin their collections of clutter. I've had my share of not-so-easy transactions and I've even had one or two truly terrible transactions, but I kept on going. I enjoyed what eBay was....a great way to buy things that I wanted and sell things that I no longer needed. I read policies, visited the forums, asked questions, and became a pretty savvy eBay user. I "met" people from all over the world, many of whom I keep in contact with on a personal level.
I have recently begun a new passion: scrapbooking. I know this mostly ordinary hobby bores some people to tears, but I find putting my artistic flair to paper and making something truly personal for myself and my family, very cathartic after a hectic day at work. When I started scrapbooking, I didn't bother with the typical "chain" stores in my area for my supplies....I came directly to eBay. Searching for things was easy, finding great items at great prices was the reason I shopped here. I stuck to mostly BIN items (mostly because I'm very impatient), but once in a while, I bid on an auction. I discovered a whole new world of scrapbooking and I can truthfully say that I've spent nearly $3000 on these items in the past 6 months strictly from eBay. I've bought everything from one piece of paper at a few cents, to digital downloaded patterns for paper piecing at a few dollars, to a die cutting machine costing over $500. Never once in all those transactions, did I consider a time when eBay wasn't my "go-to" place for supplies.
However, now eBay has decided they don't want my business any longer. Or, they only want my "high-end" purchases to be made there. I have a problem with the way eBay has overlooked me in their equation of "the buyer experience". They never asked me one time what I wanted from eBay. I can tell you that there is nothing about the current and upcoming changes that "enhances" this buyer's experience.
First, there's no more bad feedback for buyers. Great you say? To that I'd ask, have you ever sold anything? Have you ever had a buyer hold you over the coals for partial refunds, rebates on shipping, freebies, etc? Have you ever been a potential victim of a scammer from Nigeria or Romania? Until you've sold something on eBay, and have been in that position, then you have no business making an informed decision about feedback. On three ID's I've never been denied access to a transaction as a buyer due to my feedback rating....even when it was a zero...and even when I've left deservedly bad feedback for a seller. Now, it's more difficult as a buyer to figure out if the seller was the problem or if the buyer was just unable to either read and agree to the seller's TOS. Were there problems with a few sellers and feedback "retaliation"? Sure, but why make everyone pay?
Next is the "best match" search. Do I really need eBay to tell me what they think I "ought" to buy? If eBay really cared about me as a buyer, they'd help me find what I'm looking for, not steer me into what they want me to buy. How does hiding a good seller's items from my search just because they have lower feedback numbers, no DSRs, or higher than "eBay acceptable" shipping help me as a buyer exactly? Some of the seller's I've seen on the top of the best match search lists have such truly negative TOS, that I'm not sure how my buying experience would be enhanced with one of these pillars of the eBay world.
Next, eBay, in their infinite wisdom, has decided that BIN items under $1.00 are a scam and only are listed to "manipulate feedback". If the above isn't eBay manipulating feedback already, what difference would this make? But, since many of the items I've purchased fall in this range of prices, especially all those neat little geegaws for scrapbooking, and since I traditionally buy dozens of under $1.00 items from the same seller at a time, can someone explain to me just HOW removing a large segment of items from my shopping experience can serve to "enhance" it? Where do I go now for these items? I have no local stores selling these items, and really...what need have I of 500 brads at $5.00, when 25 at 50 cents will do? Buyers of all sorts of items from trading cards, postcards, coasters, match book covers, swizzle sticks, craft items, and hundreds of other low-cost, but highly collected and dearly loved items, are now going to be removed from the site. Oh sure, there will be large "lots" of items at a higher cost, but what about those that don't want to spend a small fortune on a "lot" just to gain one item, or have no need of a lot? Some of the best Stores I've found on eBay, I found because of a low-cost item that I just had to have.
Next, is the removal of the digital download category. Doesn't affect you because you don't buy penny recipes for feedback you say? Well, unless you've visited the digital category and seen that there's a lot more than just penny recipes and e-books, then have some sympathy for those of us that use this category to find creative scrapbooking patterns for paper piecing, templates for digital scrapbooking, logos, original clipart, web design, and a whole myriad of other legitimate items. I don't want a CD sent to me in the mail for these items....I just want to download them onto my computer and keep my desk free from more clutter. CDs are expensive for sellers and the postage is unnecessary. Maybe eBay hasn't heard of I-tunes? For eBay to say that digital downloads are all scams for feedback manipulation is like saying that nobody could legitimately deliver a product over the internet without a nefarious purpose. If that's the case, I'd have to start questioning eBay's purpose in delivering THEIR product over the internet.
Lastly we come to the new 21 day paypal hold for some sellers. This is one change that seems good for buyers on the surface. It is designed to make sure that new sellers, or sellers with shipping or quality issues, aren't able to take a buyer's funds without delivering the item. I say seems good, because as a seller, you aren't really going to know about the hold until it happens...as a buyer, you aren't notified by paypal at all. Since the shipping funds are also held up, many casual sellers have the potential of not being able to ship the item to the buyer. As a buyer, do you really want to wait over 21 days to receive your item? Do you believe a seller when they tell you they're subject to the hold? How do you differentiate from a poor seller who is just too lazy to ship and uses the hold as an excuse? What happens if you purchase an item, the seller waits 21 days, then ships and the item has not arrived at day 44? Parcel post, media mail, and holiday/weather shipping delays can all cause items not to arrive in a timely fashion and most agree that its only fair to wait 21 days to begin questioning a seller when using some lower-cost methods of shipping. How many INR reports, chargebacks, and trashed feedback for sellers, who are just trying to sell stuff, are there going to be?
With all the changes on eBay, I question whether eBay really wants good, steady, constant buyers to remain or if they'd rather just have the occasional high-dollar buyer. Less sales, means less listing, which means less items, which means higher prices for the items remaining. Higher ending prices means higher profits for eBay, which after all is the goal of any business.
It's too bad that eBay can't understand that they need the steady lower-cost item buyer just as much as the guy who buys a car one time or that they've killed many a seller's business with these changes. It's no longer about adapting to the changes. eBay has made it impossible for many sellers to continue. And with it, eBay has made it impossible for a large section of buyers to find a reason to stay.
Very truly yours
Wendy
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John McDonald of eBay's US Trust and Safety team released a statement titled "Reminder: Safer Payments Requirements Go Into Effect on March 17th" on March 14, 2008, part of which included reference to PayPal's practice of holding funds paid to certain sellers for items sold until either PayPal proved the item had been shipped or the buyer had given the seller positive feedback.
My question: Is this practice legal? How can PayPal and eBay require any seller to ship products at their own expense and risk without any compensation? I sell on eBay, and do not meet the seller "qualifiers or requirements" to have payment withheld, but this still strikes me as a questionable practice. Please, can you have someone do an investigatory article about this? Thanks in advance.
Please sign me:
An anonymous seller on eBay
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Ina:
I think this would be a great thing to do a survey on for AB. I also believe that some people would complain if you gave them a new BMW! (G) My March invoice is 28% lower than it was last month. Has anyone else looked to see what their stats are?
I knew the new pricing would really be positive to me, but I'm surprised at how much! The DSR will give me an additional discount of $19.25 which will bring my costs lower. So I didn't boycott because I didn't feel that a boycott was needed as I was saving money.
I still don't like the feedback changes, but it's eBay's business to make these changes.
Jennifer
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Hi Ina,
I found out that you can get the same merchandise I wrote to you about the other day (other than the Powerseller items) at The eBay Shop which you can get to either by going to this link http://www.theebayshop.com/Catalog228/Default.asp or to : SITE MAP, MORE COMMUNITY PROGRAMS, THE eBAY SHOP. If you go there, check out what eBay charges for s/h while they are telling sellers to practically give away shipping and are brainwashing buyers to ding Shipping DSR's when sellers are trying to break even on shipping. Talk about a DOUBLE STANDARD!!!
Thanks,
Martha
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Hi Ina,
Remember when eBay said the sellers were "confused" when we saw the links to other sellers auctions running at the top of an "active" listing? Check out post #35 on this thread
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000667738&start=0
Although not exactly the same type of links we saw in the "test" auction, they are STILL using one sellers listing to promote other sellers.
Keep up the great reporting !!
Nancy
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Ina,
Is eBay getting ready to do some "House-Cleaning"??
If you combine this eBay announcement: "Making It Easier to Recover Listings" http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803.shtml#2008-03-25163634 with the below message sellers are getting when listing items, it looks like eBay is getting ready to start "cleaning-house" by closing auctions they feel are overcharging for shipping.
I'm sure eBay is not letting sellers "recover listings" because of a VERO problem (perhaps a few), it sure looks to me it is definately aimed at the auctions they are removing or will be removing for what they deem "excessive shipping charges"!
I'm sure you are ware of the current uproar from sellers receiving the following message from eBay when listing their items:
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Attention Seller!
We noticed your shipping cost looks high compared to other listings in your category with similar shipping services.
We've found that buyers are sensitive to shipping costs. Items with high shipping costs may be less likely to sell and may get less visibility in search results. Listings that violate the eBay Excessive Shipping Charges policy may be removed from the site. Please review your shipping costs and make changes if necessary. For help, click the Research rates link in the shipping section.
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Respectfully,
Kevin
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Ina
Just an observation that it looks to me like there is a dramatic decrease in the items I routinely search. I use a "static" search engine so there are no variables - I'd guess a half or more reduction in some searches.
Anecdotal as they say, but one sign is that a "search too broad, more than 1,000 items returned" warning has disappeared. I routinely got on this searches that were intentionally too broad.
Another is that I am seeing a tremendous influx of UK seller items - not sure if that means UK sellers in a slowdown are trying the US market or not - but what I do see is a search that might have 50 to 150 new items daily now has 30-75 including the UK items.
As noted before, I've been buying on eBay 10 years in July -
Charles
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Hello Ina...a faithful reader of your AuctionBytes newsletter! I would like to suggest that in light of today's article on OnlineAuctions that you please consider doing an article on....eBid!
We have, at last count, over 400,100 members, and growing steadily every day. I recently closed my store at eBay and moved my inventory over to eBid...and so glad I did.
http://us.ebid.net
The owners, Gazza and Mark, are two very dedicated individuals who have built from the ground up what I believe will be the next "big kid on the block"...eBid.
Thank you for considering doing a story on this wonderful place for sellers from all over the world to go to!
Sincerely,
Mary
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Hello Ina,
I'm writing you because I've read so many things you have written and respect your work and your knowledge.
As of last night, Ebay has banned me from the forums. No notices were sent, no reasons given. I have spoken to "Live Chat" and they don't know why either. She said there was nothing in my file. Flagrant censorship?
I believe it may be due to the fact that I write the newsletters for the boycott. (I did send out your piece to everyone about discovering Jose..........I thought that was priceless) I have been careful not to go against any of the forum rules and am not even in the forums often.
I thought I would write, as I didn't know if you had come across this before, and felt you would be the perfect person to ask. Would you know if Ebay is allowed to do that?
Thank you in advance
Beth
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Hello Ms. Steiner,
I am writing to you because of a proposed change in eBay's feedback policies that will negatively affect sellers!
In May of this year, eBay is going to change it's feedback policies so that buyers will be able to leave negative feedbacks for sellers, but sellers will no longer be allowed to do so for bad buyers! This is absurd. As a power seller on eBay, I don't want my reputation tarnished by unreasonable buyers when I can't leave the appropriate feedback for them.
I am writing to eBay as well, but I fear there is not enough time for a few people's voice to be heard in this matter. If an organization like yours could contact them, maybe we can stop this one-sided event before May!
I have heard of other sellers planning to or trying to boycott eBay until this is changed, but there doesn't seem to be any organized group yet.
Any help you could give would be appreciated.
Regards,
Dan
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