A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

July 25, 2009

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

By: Ina Steiner

Sat July 25 2009 21:39:45

On Monday, eBay will announce its fall changes impacting sellers. All week we've been previewing some of the things we've been hearing, and in Sunday's AuctionBytes Update newsletter, I've created a Cheat Sheet as a guide to what may be coming. (We also include some things that the Wall Street Journal and Skip McGrath have been hearing.)

The article is a starting place to discuss what changes eBay should be making, and which policies they should avoid.

Also, keep your calendar free for Wednesday afternoon - eBay will be holding a Town Hall meeting to discuss the changes.

Comments (108) | Permalink

Readers Comments

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Fruity

Sat Jul 25 21:51:55 2009

I expect ebay will eventually charge for air or by the letter.

Ina, apparently Town Hall has been moved to WSRadio now? All the town halls are under griffs radio show. I didn't even know John D was taking calls on the radio on 7/21. they're doing that for a reason, so those WSRadio censors can fix the questions

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: John

Sat Jul 25 22:29:33 2009

....To ensure product availability, sellers may not list out-of-stock items or list an item they are selling outside of eBay....

I don't believe you will see this change happen. A diamond sellers nightmare.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Peter Leeflang / LEEFLANG ARCHIVES CORP.

Sat Jul 25 22:46:58 2009

The two new demands of Ebay that stuck most with me are:

1) 'Sellers are not allowed to be 'out of stock'.
Wake up Ebay, being 'out of stock' simply happens because humans make mistakes. one cannot mandate that humans do not make mistakes. An out of stock situation can for example happen by an accidental damage, or a storm flattens a warehouse, or one makes an ordering mistake or a listing mistake.
And the worst of this is that sellers of used, antique, old items, which cannot be reordered, will be powerless. They cannot fix the situation.
What is Ebay going to demand, that you compensate such a buyer with your first born?
We always had a policy to compensate such a buyer with a little extra credit, within our means, without givig the store away, but I can imagine many sellers cannot afford that. So those get chased away.

2) The discount that most powersellers now will get is at best 5%. That won't be worth our trouble. But, oh wait, if we do not jump through hoops then, we will get exiled from best match by Ebay, so no sales.
As I understand it Ebay is thus witching from the '80% carrot and 20% stick model' to the '80% stick and 20% carrot model' for powersellers.
Additionally it is an back door to raise the Ebay fees on sellers. They simply make it harder to get the discount, so collect more fees from us, without having to tell us that they 'raise the fees'. What a spin doctors.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Richard at Windmilltrading.com

Sat Jul 25 22:49:16 2009

Really not unexpected at all. Ever since JD came on the scene, eBay's been in bed with the big giga-sellers like Buy and has slowly pushed the real sellers who provide customer service to the fringes. Feedback for those giga-sellers really has no meaning at all, they fill a page of 25 FB comments in about 5 minutes, so who cares if someone leaves a neg?

I think you'll see continued erosion of the number of ''real'' sellers (people who actually care about WHAT they sell) and eBay will just become another uBid. (which, by the way, is also not doing so hot these days)
In the end game, all Powersellers as we know them today will probably have moved on to other venues. I know I will.
Today only about 20% of my income comes from eBay, where it used to be close to 80%.

Sayonara, eBay.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: i'd rather not say

Sat Jul 25 22:55:09 2009

"To ensure product availability, sellers may not list out-of-stock items or list an item they are selling outside of eBay."

= BYE BYE ME.

10 year seller gone. this is the last straw.

ebay was my everything 3 years ago. then it was my 80% 2 years ago. a year ago it was 15%. next year zero.

nothing is worth this bullsh*t. i have my own store now and i will also list books on the 6 or 7 booksites that serve me so well.

ebay bullies and drives away the men and women built it. the sellers. the guys that started small made some money made a good business and were proud they figured out and were part of the new internet economy.

a 10 year old with adhd could have run this company into the ground just as spectacularly a FAIL as the current despots and for a box of smarties a day.

to the board of directors i say: this former shareowner says - you do not know the quality of sellers you are losing which will lead to the eventual demise of ebay. you do not see that pirates took over the boat and now think they can turn it into a plane and fly it to brazil [you guys are such morons let me allude to my own amazon reference].

i am going to delist my 900 items [down from 5000 before they closed me down for zero reasons a year ago] as i may keep my id and try to sell it to shysters.

a pox on the house of ebay.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: GazLAnNaThai

Sat Jul 25 22:59:19 2009

If even a quarter of what Ina predicts comes true, it will be the end of eBay for us.

As for the PayPal policy changes, I am now actively looking for a suitable method to withdraw PayPal from all our sales channels, be they 3rd party venues or our own websites.

The PayPal situation is not helped by the fact they have begun charging a 5% fee for personal transfers between our PayPal accounts - we've had 2 incidents of this so far in July.

The only use I see for eBay going into 2010 is via the eBay Partner Network and monetising niche product websites that don't actually sell anything. It has become far to risky for vendors to sell on eBay, or to accept payment via PayPal for tangible goods, especially if you're primarily an exporter.

Gaz

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Toomanyraccoons

Sat Jul 25 23:02:30 2009

As a seller of unique, OOAK items, I don't understand how eBay thinks they can prevent me from listing my inventory in any forum I wish. I have never had an SNP complaint; I take responsibility for my inventory. If an item sells on another forum, I end the listing. eBay will NOT prevent me from listing on other sites.

The only problems I've had with inventory are eBay glitches that have repeatedly relisted items I've sold, doubled listings I list, and otherwise caused out of stock conditions that had I had absolutely nothing to do with.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: tulvog

Sat Jul 25 23:20:21 2009

I have been reading Ina's blog and everyone's comments since e-Bay went crazy. I've stayed with e-Bay while I pursue other venues but this new announcement is the last straw. This is my living and e-Bay sales are down anywhere from 30% to 60% compared to 2008. Why would anyone go to e-Bay for ''new'' products when they can go to any store's web site? I'll be at VintageChinaEtc.com as soon as I can get it up and running. The camel's back has been broken. Terry

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Jaxxon

Sat Jul 25 23:24:20 2009

I keep hearing that eBay is trying to be another Amazon. If so, there is a profound disconnect. Amazon began with just their own merchandise and gradually allowed other sellers on their site.

eBay has never had their own merchandise. Just what are they going to be selling after they have run off all their sellers?

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Diamond Haus

Sat Jul 25 23:32:24 2009

Out of stock happens. In fact it happened to BUY.com last December. eBay removed all their negs and neutrals for that item including ones that had absolutely nothing to do with running out of stock.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: brecklundin

Sun Jul 26 00:17:03 2009

Ina,

For the first time in months I read the eBay plans and did not cringe. Pretty much all of the changes in the ''Seller Responsibilites'' area have been LOOOOOONG over due. I love the whole rolling insurance into whatever handling fee there might be, stopping sellers from claiming they are not responsible for anything once the item is ''in the mail'' (common fallicy), curtail the banners crap...

But, dang it the last straw is no more profanity??!!! Great wooly jeebus, I now KNOW I am leaving eBay...

Not looking forward to the whole PayPal side of things because that is a rats nest of issues. But life goes on I suppose. I have about 14-18months of inventory left to sell, less if I get a fire under my rear end and then I am just a casual eBay seller of interesting antiques & collectibles, which I still get very good prices for as long as I am patient and deal honestly with people.

The things that rankle are the caprisious & fickle decisions like the recent issue of banning antique ivory...it is LEGAL to sell but overnight I lost a good $20K in sales this year thanks to the children now running eBay. It truly is an AmeriCorp with a middle layer that does whatever it can to justify their existence...

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Derek Williams

Sun Jul 26 00:22:14 2009

Dobohue is destroying ebay - GOOD RIDDANCE, this vile bullying overbearing smug imbecile has already destroyed the livelyhoods of hundreds of thousands of people, he is a greedy moron who is doing nothing more than grovel to big retailers. What an idiot, lets hope he completely finishes off ebay because we need the traffic back in the real marketplace so that this dead dinosaur can be replaced with something new, fair and exciting. WHY DO GOOGLE NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS AND CREATE A MARKETPLACE WE CAN USE INSTEAD OF EBAY

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: anonymous

Sun Jul 26 01:08:26 2009

Remains to be seen what the H they are talking about, what is a casual and what is a top-rated???

For the 8th time.

But if I am rated casual after spending nearly 100 grand in fees, they can kiss my heinie, EOS.

If anyone didn't get this message they are just plain stupid, THEY DO NOT WANT ANY MORE SMALL SELLERS.

DO NOT.

GET IT?

THIS WILL BE THE BUY SITE FROM NOW ON, they don't have the bollocks to just say to the small guy hey we don't want you anymore, bye-bye.

They have totally lost their collective minds.

And the idiots who work under john donkeyhole are a bunch of P______ s (guess, go ahead) because they won't tell him the truth.

They are so afraid of losing their really BAD jobs they won't tell him this is the death knell. What a bunch of boobs, don't they know they will lose their jobs anyhow?? What does he need those idiots for? Once buy and the other huge mega-retailers are listing, and only them, the site will run itself! they might just as well go ahead and tell him whatever they like, their jobs will be history, and soon!

Watch eBays numbers from October on.

And watch the alternative sites gain poularity, and numbers, I will surely use all the tons of dough I save to promote promote and promote elsewhere.

I suggest everybody who is fed up with this BS do the same.

Screw them.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Adam

Sun Jul 26 01:42:56 2009

Out of Stock?

Does this include custom made orders that dont exist until the buyers purchase?

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Nonsense

Sun Jul 26 01:55:22 2009

Limit communications between buyers and sellers.
Tweak its search algorithm to favor new products.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y209/m07/abu0243/
s02

They really have lost their collective minds.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Nonsense

Sun Jul 26 03:13:12 2009

http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2009/07/24/f_bst_ebay_ceo_paypal
.fortune/

Spread out to other venues. Most allow Google Checkout, checks, M/O's etc.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Kristoffer

Sun Jul 26 03:22:24 2009

Remember the days where most of us were cheering that Meg was leaving ebay? Never thought that someone could do worse than her in her last few years. I have no problem with them trying to clean ebay up and get rid of bad seller. The only problem is they are treating every seller as if they are a bad seller. Personally I am tired of feeling as if I am WORKING for someone else - when in fact ebay should be working for us the sellers. They should be helping us. The more money we make the more money they make. Why do they not get that?

I have tried my best to leave ebay. Once ebay started to feel like a job I hated I knew it was time to leave. I have listed every single item I have on ebay on two other sites. I have yet to have one sale though. Even if I could do as little as 30-40% of the business I do on ebay I would unlist everything I have and move completely off.

I am praying for the day one of these other sites really takes off - or Google jumps in the game. Like most of you I will jump ship, never look back and make sure that I bad mouth ebay to anyone and everyone that will listen.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: shipping out

Sun Jul 26 05:11:26 2009

I have no love of many of ebays current policies and no longer sell but there are a lot of poor sellers out there and anything that makes some of them clean up their act is good

Stating your item is advertised elsewhere is not allowed now and listings are removed regularly
Selling stock you don't have and haven't stated upfront that you can supply within 30 days is also not allowed under presale policy
There a difference between accidents where things have become damaged and the regular amount of complaints of sellers being out of stock because they are selling in more than one place . If ebay are going to enforce these points a bit stronger thats good
Currently there are masses of sellers listing and removing because they have sold outside ebay changing their mind 5 minutes after they listed not before time if ebay is really cracking down on some them and removal of the additional insurance rip off section is long overdue its all poor selling practice.

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Ed Gadfly

Sun Jul 26 05:49:29 2009

Same old same old.

Peter Fleawang you ought to give it a rest. You couldn't cut the mustard at eBay and Bonanzle (ha ha ha) and somehow that makes your keyword spamming bottom some sort of sage e commerce academic.

eBay's whiny customers (''ohhh - best match doesn't work'', ''Ooooh, PayPay is holding my money'') need to get to more local, non-disclosure signing events like the recent Faux eBay Live. Get out you sheeple and drink the kool-aid! Griff is just a big cuddly ball of mirth, and Johnny DonnieHo, well, he's just so tall and handsome!!!

Forget the fact that SELLERS, not customers, vendors, share holders, parasitical support services... SELLERS PAY the salaries of Griff, DonniHo and company.

Down another glass of kool-aid and try to forget that you married your business to a manage a' trois with Ike Turner and Tony Soprano. Have a nice honeymoon!

A Cheat Sheet of eBay's Pending Announcement

by: Our Announcement

Sun Jul 26 06:52:34 2009

Due to the neverending anti-seller policies and hatred for sellers on Ebay, we must insist would be buyers that have any type of question to also submit 3.00 handling fee with their question. (paypal not prefered but we have to accept it)

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