ebay, downward spiral?
Discussion
We have been lucky and made decent money on the ebay platform over the years, I don't think it could be done now from a fresh start?
This weeks changes enforced managed returns, defects, lots of bad publicity to name just a few hurdles that need jumping as me thinking unless they change things and soon then they (eBay) will never recover to what they (the platform) once was?
This weeks changes enforced managed returns, defects, lots of bad publicity to name just a few hurdles that need jumping as me thinking unless they change things and soon then they (eBay) will never recover to what they (the platform) once was?
They are making it very unattractive to individual sellers as the costs and potential headaches are beginning to outweigh the benefits. It seems to be solely geared towards big business sellers now but I guess they are more valuable to eBay than an individual selling an old video game.
liller said:
They are making it very unattractive to individual sellers as the costs and potential headaches are beginning to outweigh the benefits. It seems to be solely geared towards big business sellers now but I guess they are more valuable to eBay than an individual selling an old video game.
I think it's this.It's a shame though, I used to enjoy searching for stuff and now you just get "10,849 items match your search" nearly all new and nearly all from big sellers.
Poking around for rare, used stuff, and bargains just doesn't seem as fun as it was.
eBay has moved itself away from the "tat bazaar" of old. Somewhere in the region of 75% (I can't remember the exact figure) of items sold on ebay are brand new and "buy it now" not auctions. It's really for business now. eBay own Gumtree, that's where they want the tat sellers to go.
NinjaPower said:
I think it's this.
It's a shame though, I used to enjoy searching for stuff and now you just get "10,849 items match your search" nearly all new and nearly all from big sellers.
Poking around for rare, used stuff, and bargains just doesn't seem as fun as it was.
Yes! It used to have more of a community vibe where you could hunt down random tat that you remember from your childhood or those super rare Nike airs that you always fancied. It's true that it all just appears to be buy it now junk shipped from China. It's a shame though, I used to enjoy searching for stuff and now you just get "10,849 items match your search" nearly all new and nearly all from big sellers.
Poking around for rare, used stuff, and bargains just doesn't seem as fun as it was.
mattdaniels said:
eBay has moved itself away from the "tat bazaar" of old. Somewhere in the region of 75% (I can't remember the exact figure) of items sold on ebay are brand new and "buy it now" not auctions. It's really for business now. eBay own Gumtree, that's where they want the tat sellers to go.
Trouble is, I don't want to use Gumtree as you have to deal face to face and that means I risk being shot in the face when someone comes round to buy an old gamecube game that I'm selling for 50p. Surely though, a fee is a fee and it doesn't matter where it comes from? liller said:
Trouble is, I don't want to use Gumtree as you have to deal face to face and that means I risk being shot in the face when someone comes round
That doesn't say much for society... and if you buy a dining table on eBay you still have to go and get it. Oh no, a person - that's like really scary? :runsbacktobedroom:As I said on this here thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
ModernAndy said:
It's a strategic decision from eBay. They want to be the online outlet of big brands in the next 5 years. What they're doing is actually quite good for customers but smaller businesses are going to be put under more and more strain while larger businesses will rely on their relationship with eBay account managers.
Potted history, we opened our eBay store in 2008, at that time 100% of our sales where eBay, since 2008 our total eBay sales have just passed the £2m mark.
Today around 40% of our trade is via eBay (reducing) 30% Amazon (increasing) 20% via our own website and the rest through the door, we are based in a unit on an industrial estate don't advertise and walk in trade is all word of mouth.
eBay probably takes up 90% of our time, Amazon takes up very little we haven't really pushed our website, its live and that's about it.
We have an excellent record on eBay, been TRS since inception and currently 100% feedback which for relatively large sales is no mean feat, I like to think the customer service we offer is as good as or better than I would expect myself, this is where the eBay problems start, they have gradually taken over any customer service we can offer over time to the point a customer cannot contact us without opening a defect giving case. For instance yesterday a savy customer contacted us, 1 of the 8 products he purchased from us failed, we replied bin it replacement on its way, had he gone the eBay route we would be left with a defect on our account also if we played by eBay's own rules the customer would/could have up to a 10 day wait for a response from us let alone a solution, they (eBay) say this makes for a better buying experience.
Im all for weeding out bad sellers on eBay but we should all be given a chance to resolve a problem before eBay step in with their sledge hammer, the customer above replied this morning praising our service saying he would be back, according to eBay if a buyer as to contact a seller with a problem they are unlikely to return to eBay, personally I think if a buyer as to go through the new returns procedure then that will for sure put them off returning to eBay.
Back to my original post, I think a small business like ours would struggle if they tried to do now what we did in 2008, they would soon become demoralised by eBay's draconian sledge hammer methods that make it all but impossible to offer a decent service on their platform, Amazon on the other hand, they must be laughing all the way to the bank, they may charge a little more upfront but the bottom line is bigger, their fair but firm guidelines are easy to work within and stress free.
That's my little eBay rant over, was just time filling really whilst awaiting a call from our amazon account manager so we can book in our next FBA shipment.
Today around 40% of our trade is via eBay (reducing) 30% Amazon (increasing) 20% via our own website and the rest through the door, we are based in a unit on an industrial estate don't advertise and walk in trade is all word of mouth.
eBay probably takes up 90% of our time, Amazon takes up very little we haven't really pushed our website, its live and that's about it.
We have an excellent record on eBay, been TRS since inception and currently 100% feedback which for relatively large sales is no mean feat, I like to think the customer service we offer is as good as or better than I would expect myself, this is where the eBay problems start, they have gradually taken over any customer service we can offer over time to the point a customer cannot contact us without opening a defect giving case. For instance yesterday a savy customer contacted us, 1 of the 8 products he purchased from us failed, we replied bin it replacement on its way, had he gone the eBay route we would be left with a defect on our account also if we played by eBay's own rules the customer would/could have up to a 10 day wait for a response from us let alone a solution, they (eBay) say this makes for a better buying experience.
Im all for weeding out bad sellers on eBay but we should all be given a chance to resolve a problem before eBay step in with their sledge hammer, the customer above replied this morning praising our service saying he would be back, according to eBay if a buyer as to contact a seller with a problem they are unlikely to return to eBay, personally I think if a buyer as to go through the new returns procedure then that will for sure put them off returning to eBay.
Back to my original post, I think a small business like ours would struggle if they tried to do now what we did in 2008, they would soon become demoralised by eBay's draconian sledge hammer methods that make it all but impossible to offer a decent service on their platform, Amazon on the other hand, they must be laughing all the way to the bank, they may charge a little more upfront but the bottom line is bigger, their fair but firm guidelines are easy to work within and stress free.
That's my little eBay rant over, was just time filling really whilst awaiting a call from our amazon account manager so we can book in our next FBA shipment.
1441 said:
over time to the point a customer cannot contact us without opening a defect giving case.
awaiting a call from our amazon account manager so we can book in our next FBA shipment.
EBAY - Big A4 note in with every order - NOT DELIGHTED CALL 1234556 We Love you or words to that effect awaiting a call from our amazon account manager so we can book in our next FBA shipment.
AMAZON - Call from someone for FBA - ???? all automatic or is this your first set up order (watch when the steal your stock if they run out)
Its such an interesting topic when discussing eBay and Amazon and how they fair in the view of an established seller or a new seller.
The general consensus is that eBay is getting worse and worse and I remember a few years back I said that the large companies such as Argos, Tesco that are on eBay will become very unhappy over time. I have no hard evidence to prove that they are unhappy but I get a feeling much like 1441 has pointed out that the time and investment needed for eBay to be successful is quite high and the equivalent time and investment on Amazon would yield A LOT higher results.
I find that eBay’s new algorithm is crap - it does not help the sellers who work their back side of in setting up quality listings, with value for money prices (note I didn't say cheapest) for a quality product.
Many are saying eBay doesn't do they cheap tat thing anymore however I find its worse than ever. When I source products I always source a very very good quality product, we get cheaper versions however we don't take buy them as we feel embarrassed selling them.
Other sellers do buy this tat and sell it cheap and if they get negatives or poor feedback it doesn't bother them, they have 99.3% feedback, no TRS and are still at top of search results; beyond my understanding.
From what I have seen some of my friends do on Amazon it very much seems to be sell a quality product at a good price and it will sell. It seems to be very slow to start with but once it picks up it stays at high up and becomes a steady revenue stream. eBay is not like this and fluctuates a LOT in my experience.
Another very important point I will raise though is that one HUGE problem with Amazon that ebay does not have is that Amazon is also a retailer.
No matter how much they convince you regarding FBA I would NOT TOUCH IT AT ALL. I know others do it and feel happy doing it but the horror stories I have read regarding them sourcing your product themself or contacting distributors direct etc etc is horrifying.
I would NOT take such a huge risk which could potentially shut my business overnight.
The general consensus is that eBay is getting worse and worse and I remember a few years back I said that the large companies such as Argos, Tesco that are on eBay will become very unhappy over time. I have no hard evidence to prove that they are unhappy but I get a feeling much like 1441 has pointed out that the time and investment needed for eBay to be successful is quite high and the equivalent time and investment on Amazon would yield A LOT higher results.
I find that eBay’s new algorithm is crap - it does not help the sellers who work their back side of in setting up quality listings, with value for money prices (note I didn't say cheapest) for a quality product.
Many are saying eBay doesn't do they cheap tat thing anymore however I find its worse than ever. When I source products I always source a very very good quality product, we get cheaper versions however we don't take buy them as we feel embarrassed selling them.
Other sellers do buy this tat and sell it cheap and if they get negatives or poor feedback it doesn't bother them, they have 99.3% feedback, no TRS and are still at top of search results; beyond my understanding.
From what I have seen some of my friends do on Amazon it very much seems to be sell a quality product at a good price and it will sell. It seems to be very slow to start with but once it picks up it stays at high up and becomes a steady revenue stream. eBay is not like this and fluctuates a LOT in my experience.
Another very important point I will raise though is that one HUGE problem with Amazon that ebay does not have is that Amazon is also a retailer.
No matter how much they convince you regarding FBA I would NOT TOUCH IT AT ALL. I know others do it and feel happy doing it but the horror stories I have read regarding them sourcing your product themself or contacting distributors direct etc etc is horrifying.
I would NOT take such a huge risk which could potentially shut my business overnight.
Edited by IATM on Sunday 28th September 10:34
Edited by IATM on Sunday 28th September 10:34
IATM said:
The general consensus is that eBay is getting worse and worse and I remember a few years back I said that the large companies such as Argos, Tesco that are on eBay will become very unhappy over time.
Minor point but Argos and eBay are working very closely together on their "click and collect" project (buy something on eBay, go and pick it up at your local Argos shop) so I think they are reasonably contented bedfellows at the moment.mattdaniels said:
IATM said:
The general consensus is that eBay is getting worse and worse and I remember a few years back I said that the large companies such as Argos, Tesco that are on eBay will become very unhappy over time.
Minor point but Argos and eBay are working very closely together on their "click and collect" project (buy something on eBay, go and pick it up at your local Argos shop) so I think they are reasonably contented bedfellows at the moment.Simpo Two said:
That doesn't say much for society... and if you buy a dining table on eBay you still have to go and get it. Oh no, a person - that's like really scary? :runsbacktobedroom:
It was meant to be tongue in cheek. If you sold everything on gumtree rather than ebay you'd be constantly having to deal with people not showing up, messing you around with times, turning up then haggling and so on. It's not about being frightened it's about not being bothered, ebay simplified and sped up the entire process of selling 2nd hand goods so it is a shame that they don't appear to want individual sellers using their platform.eBay isnt going anywhere. They dont want to recover what once was, they are growing in the areas they want to grow in....
Whilst there are some policies which are very harsh and annoying (defects are a bit crap), this is just what they have to do. If they want us to give service parallel to the top retailers etc etc then they have to kick arse with defects etc. If anything eBay have just moved with the times - buyers expectations have moved an awful long way in the past couple years, so eBays policies to keep us inline with these expectations have to change.
eBay today IS a very different proposition. BUT if you have a good product or can source a popular product at the correct price and can offer the correct level of service then the opportunity is still there and is bigger than ever.
Whilst there are some policies which are very harsh and annoying (defects are a bit crap), this is just what they have to do. If they want us to give service parallel to the top retailers etc etc then they have to kick arse with defects etc. If anything eBay have just moved with the times - buyers expectations have moved an awful long way in the past couple years, so eBays policies to keep us inline with these expectations have to change.
eBay today IS a very different proposition. BUT if you have a good product or can source a popular product at the correct price and can offer the correct level of service then the opportunity is still there and is bigger than ever.
As 'shop windows' to established businesses, both Ebay and Amazon fall far short of what I'd expect as a consumer (poor categorisation, the same item re-listed a million times for all it's variations, hard to make comparisons, difficult to communicate with the store, the screen's a mess etc. etc.), and it seems Ebay in particular falls short of what the shop owners would like to see (stronger problem resolution, fairer 'feedback' systems, better ability to personalise and organise shop fronts, better display layout and multi-media and so on).
It's interesting that would-be competitors to Facebook - undergoing a similar backlash at the moment - seem much more visible than for Ebay, which is almost achieving Geocities-levels of un-coolness. Clearly the barrier to entry is high (audience reach and awareness is key, as much as technology), but why aren't others taking them on?
It's interesting that would-be competitors to Facebook - undergoing a similar backlash at the moment - seem much more visible than for Ebay, which is almost achieving Geocities-levels of un-coolness. Clearly the barrier to entry is high (audience reach and awareness is key, as much as technology), but why aren't others taking them on?
Amazon is shocking honestly.
For the customer it is VERY difficult to find the item you want, how much postage will cost, returns policies, and complaints processes in comparison to ebay.
They fix this and ebay will decline. but until then ebay is by far the easiest way to quickly buy items
For the customer it is VERY difficult to find the item you want, how much postage will cost, returns policies, and complaints processes in comparison to ebay.
They fix this and ebay will decline. but until then ebay is by far the easiest way to quickly buy items
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