Sunday, September 14, 2008

Ebay Today - a set of problems (Page 2)

3. Some time ago, PayPal tried to steal $600+ for us, that makes them less than a friend, more like an enemy. They only relented and turned the money over to us when we seriously threatened Class Action Lawsuits - of course the attorney fees cost us, not them. Ebay's promise to have Pro Pay on board end of October will likely be another broken promise. Ebay has made so many committments that are detrimental to sellers that they can't remember them all. So we have a changing environment, almost every day.

4. Ebay's software is now more screwed up than ever. In trying to list product:

The system sometimes can require an overnight shipping method, but not always. Many of us have jobs that require some travel and we have to close the office at times, and cannot comply.

When listing an item from a similar listing, the body of the listing might occur correctly, but often the title is wrong.

And there are a myriad of other problems, including restatement of shipping and handling costs, some of them very reasonable to the seller and the buyer, but not to ebay managment.

5. Every day I face a new problem in trying to comply with new poorly thought out rules. Other sellers do the same. The result will be reduced listings, eventually lower revenues and profits from the Ebay auctions/store listings.

Hopefully one of the alternative sites will soon step up and become a leader. Ebay's 10-year old development and success is currently at risk.

And by the way Ebay's new rules are working against buyers also. Besides the threat of not paying with check or money order, buyers are looking at increased prices. I know a lot of sellers are increasing shipping and handling fees and fixed price sales in order to account for the increased amount of time in dealing with new Ebay rules.

We will stay on Ebay as long as there is an Ebay, but in a reduced mode. More of our product will appear on alternative sites, and we will be down to 200-300 ebay listings, down from over 6,000 a couple years ago.

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