What do you think of eBay ecommerce web-hosting?

Ina · Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Posts: 452 Location: Massachusetts, USA

In Sunday's Editorial, I'm asking for readers' opions about the following article published on 6/14/05:
"Commentary: Does eBay Have Its Sights on Hosting Ecommerce Sites?"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m06/i14/s05

If eBay launched a service to enable sellers to create their own branded websites that used eBay software, would you be interested?

Do you already have your own website? If it became available, would you use eBay software to enter your inventory that could then be launched either to eBay or to your own website?

What are the pros and cons of an "independent" site hosted by eBay? How much would you be willing to pay?
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Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com

northforkpets · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 10:29 am Post subject:

I would have to hear allot more details before committing to opening shops there, in addition to my 3 current mall hosted niche sites. I would be very concerned about EBay’s ideas on shop standards.

Image? Would the site look like a blank box with text or a richer graphic environment? Number and size of photos are important as well. Would it continue the yard sale mentality or give a more exclusive air for nicer antiques and collectibles. Tube socks selling right next to Rookwood?

Would there be standards for both sellers and buyers, feedback, shopping carts, uncensored meaningful dialog forums. Would the dealer have the right to post their phone number, favorite links, an about me info page? Ease of intershop data upload? Will the new Google payment system be accepted? Will credit cards be mandatory for shop payment?

How would the shop be promoted? As a stepchild in search results or a positive stand alone venture. Are there any absurd restrictions like some malls have, where one must remain an exclusive to mall dealer or become deeply buried in search.

How independent would this arrangement really be? The customer service, response and respect I get at my current mall are exemplary, unlike a previous venture.

The dealer borne cost for such a site could only be determined by answers to the above; especially what specific traffic promotion plans would be in place. Commission or rent can be higher if profits are higher still.

Greg @ North Fork
www.northforkpets.com
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http://teardropmemories.blogspot.com/
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thecatspjs · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 1179

I will stay as far away from eBay as possible, as long as there are viable alternatives.

eBay already dominates the auction market and has repeatedly shown no concern for its dealers, poor customer service, inconsistent application of its rules and a failure to act even in the face of known misconduct.

I would expect them to apply the same behavior to any other product they become involved in.

My personal opinion is that individual dealers should do all they can to BREAK the stranglehold eBay has on the market, and not add to it.
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Teri
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BURIED TREASURES · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 12:53 pm Post subject:

Ebay has shown itself to be untrustworthy. Their pattern is always the same. Start cheap then when dealers build up something (stores, paypal etc.) they jack up the price. They have done this again and again and again. What they also do is buy anything that poses a threat to them. It is simple consolidation from their point of view. It is tyrany from mine.

To put it bluntly, a snowball has a better chance of surviving in the fires of hades than me allowing ebay any more access to my life and livelyhood. NO THANKS EBAY. Sincerely, John Leckrone John@hopkinsvilleantiques.com
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Millennium Raven · Joined: 24 Sep 2004 Posts: 607

Sounds like an interesting idea to me, and I would consider it.

A lot of individual ecommerce sites have a very unpolished look to them -- and the colors, text sizes and all-over poor design make them hard to read. Customers aren't going to buy if they can't read your instructions or descriptions.

While I can't say I've looked at every Ebay store or auction list, it's rare to find an unreadable auction or store listing on Ebay -- that's a huge plus for me as both a buyer and a seller.

Concerning the quality standards issues Greg mentioned, I doubt that Ebay would limit this feature to only high end sellers of antiques and art. Nor should they. I doubt there are any auctions for tube socks on Ebay at the moment listed in the Rookwood category or using Rookwood as a keyword. However, category spamming is not uncommon on all the major antiques/collectibles malls. Not Ebay's problem to fix. It's a non-issue.

What Ebay has to offer is a huge and extremely diverse customer base, younger and more internet savvy than a typical mall customer. I just don't know at this point if having my own ecommerce site makes sense in terms of where my two different businesses may go in the future.

Jana

materialpleasures · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 1477 Location: New Jersey

I agree with John...I would be waiting for the other shoe to drop. They are too unpredictable...unless you want to predict that fees will skyrocket.

I have no problem with relying on an 'outside source' for my shop...mine is on TIAS...I just don't feel comfortable with the way eBay generally does business.

And there are SO many other options.

My best,
Dana
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A large selection of affordable vintage textiles and related items.
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Ranger · Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 156

I do eBay for money, nothing else.
I once said "when the fun stops so will I", but at the time it was just wishful thinking.

As far as using their software, that is the biggest joke of the year.

They have so many things wrong with their own software right now that I sometimes have a hard time accessing their auctions because I keep getting an error message which they say they fixed.

Yeah and the "Cow Jumped Over The Moon"

I get this error message; "Parameters Incorrect" about 1 out of 5 times when I am listing or when I am refreshing a page on eBay.

This plus I agree with everything that most of you said above, so I won't waste space.

xppman · Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 327

I agree with Teri, John & Dana on this and I would add RUN as far away from
any products ebay my be offering in the future for the reason already stated above.
I've felt this way over the last few years when the B2B relationship with ebay and others
began to erode to the point it is now where fewer and fewer merchants trust them at all.
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Tim

litlux · Joined: 04 Aug 2001 Posts: 40 Location: North Adams, MA

eBay's history of constantly changing things would mean nothing but more headaches for any website under their umbrella. I am in the process of setting up my own store, and ease of inventory and new item listing is critical.

On eBay, when doing relists of sold items, I am continually faced with eBay generated changes to categories or item specifics and the extra work it generates. It is like trying to run a business with a loose cannon going off when you least expect it.

They are constantly "improving" things by making them more time consuming and complicated. Take their "Sell Your Item" process. They took one page and made it into five pages. eBay does not know how to make things streamlined and efficient. They could learn from Google.

I find my preferences are often changed without my knowledge. Like the time my items were changed from international to "US only".

eBay Stores, after all these years, still do not have a Shopping Cart, and the overall concept is still as bland as sand. The eBay stores have always had tremendous potential, but nobody at eBay seems to know how to make them an important sales element on the web.

I am also concerned that eBay would skew the search engine results so that eBay benefitted, not the individual stores. eBay tends to think that way.

So tell me again why I should trust them with my investment of an online store?

Setting up a website is complicated enough without having an unreliable and untrustworthy partner constantly screwing things up.

Larry Murray
litlux

xppman · Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Posts: 327

I couldn't have said it better myself Larry.

You are sooooooooo on target. Hello Google bye bye feebay.
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Tim

cjoe1 · Joined: 30 May 2003 Posts: 1031 Location: New Jersey

Thanks but I'll stick with my own sites and shops.
See ya, Country Joe
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scurcio1 · Joined: 06 Jun 2005 Posts: 7

I do believe that eBay has jumped into the independent ecommerce venue when they aquired Kurant.

I checked out Kurant because I need a shopping cart system for the site I am working on. It seems to be a full featured product, and the only hint of eBay is the fact that it offers the ability to list auction items. Hopefully they won't mess with a good system any further.

PrimalTrader · Joined: 11 Mar 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Beaver Dam WI

I've been considering selling on eBay, but for the all the negatives I've been hearing of late I'll wait. I'll wait even longer to see if this eBay web hosting will work. From what I've seen it's eBay's standard operating procedure to start low then raise it's fee's. Only if you could lock in a rate for a long time would I consider it and then only if I could cancel at any time with no consequences.

Dave

NoFreeLunch · Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 15

with a baseball bat before I would become any more dependent on Ebay.

Other than the possibility of Ebay providing eyeballs, I see no upside for me personally.

My primary worry is that Ebay takes their fiduciary duty to increase shareholder value to mean that they have no duty to the PowerSellers that actually create that value. Ebay cares about us in the abstract, but not as individuals when we need help to or want to participate in the decision-making process. To Ebay, we PowerSellers are fungible goods.

You can bet that Ebay would treat an e-commerce site like they have treated their auctions and stores - take every opportunity to increase fees and limit seller options if it threatened to even marginally reduce Ebay's bottom-line.

Thank you Ebay, but I am well into the process of opening an e-commerce site outside of Ebay because I frankly can not trust you and Paypal to "do the right thing" when faced with tough choices.

Charli · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject: Ebay

I currently have a wonderful shop geared to Wahm (work at home Mom and Dads) that gives us GREAT SERVICE (something missing with Ebay) and good pricing (another thing missing with ebay).

One always wonders when things will screw up when you're using ebay. It's not an IF it's a When.

They need to fix what is wrong with their site before they start expanding.

Ebay cares nothing for the people that list on their site they only worship the almighty dollar.

We moved off ebay when they screwed all the little guys 2 years ago and haven't missed ebay one bit. There are other venues to sell on and auction on.

Gene & Charli
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