Bye Bye eBay.

[DREAMGLASS]

Like many traders who have sold long term on eBay, I have seen it deteriorate from a worthwhile trading venue, to an overpriced indulgence that has long forgot that it is the traders that actually provide it with its income.

Many traders vacated there when sellers were no longer able to leave negative feedback for buyers. It opened up the floodgates for non payers, scam merchants and generally unpleasant individuals to leave unwarranted and damaging feedback to reputable seller's reputations. Whilst I have managed to maintain 100 percent positive feedback, I have seen other traders businesses tarnished for many stupid and petty reasons. Best of all eBay charges the traders for the privilege of having their business slurred by these idiots.

The fees have just kept rising and rising to the point where it is difficult for traders to make a decent profit on there anymore. Combine that with ever more punitive rules that makes sellers jump through hoops just to keep on the right side of eBay and it all becomes little more than a bad joke.

The final straw has come for me this week with eBay announcing its new 'shopping basket' idea which will help shoppers by being able to put more than one trader's goods into a common basket to help buyers with 'comparative shopping'. Sorry eBay but when I'm paying good money for an eBay shop and listing fees I don't want competitor's products in the same shopping basket, as that is just taking the pee one step too far.

Fortunately my own web site has developed enough trade now to permanently ditch eBay forever. The real shame is that no viable competition has ever come onto the scene to challenge eBay's dominance of the market. I had hoped that an internet giant like Google may have ventured into that arena, but no. With no real competition in the marketplace, you end up with a dictatorship that has little connection with its paying customers. Just like a certain specialist ink manufacturer perhaps?

[Kaz]

Personally I like the idea of the shopping basket as a buyer and as a seller, it's no different to shopping in Amazons marketplace..

Later this year, maybe in the spring time, Tesco are starting an auction website to rival ebays..... hopefully. It's still in the construction/testing stages, but it will be a promising venture once it's up and running, and is something I'm keeping my eye on.

I still make a decent profit on ebay and I'm only a bronze PS, the 20% discount on fees is great, though not something I hold out on as it can be taken away at the drop of a hat.

As for the removal of sellers leaving negs, I've not had any problems since they done this nearly 3 years ago. And from reading the ebay forums, most others don't, it's only sellers with poor customer service that come on bleating about this. If you have your buyer requirements set properly it weeds out most of the problem buyers, and if you have auctions running, it's easy enough to see if a buyer is going to be a problem if they do get round your blocks by checking their feedback left for others.

I think the fees are OK, where else can you get to a worldwide market for a 30 day BIN for 40p?

[DREAMGLASS]

It's predominantly tees that I have sold on eBay, and eBay fees equate to around a third of my profit margins. Looking at other tee sellers number of listings and feedback numbers (allowing for fact that not everyone leaves feedback), they too typically have a third of their profits gobbled up by eBay fees. Some of the less fortunate ones end up with fees that equate to over half of their profit margins.

One of my competitors on there has lost their top rated seller status, as a couple of buyers left them negative feedback and poor dsr's as their items got held up in the snow before Christmas. They highlighted that fact in another forum and they too have now left eBay.

I pay £14 year for multi site hosting, which is less that one month's shop fee on eBay and I can have hundreds of products listed on there all year round at no extra cost.

With the masses of misdescribed foreign imports, eBay has just descended into a giant flea market where many customers want something for nothing nowadays. I saw someone left negative feedback the other day, as the item stamp cost was ONLY 61p. How much had the seller charged them? The grand sum of 95p. Unbelievable eh?

[John G]

Seems like sour grapes to me!
Sick of hearing all the time about ebay is doing this, and ebay is doing that with charges/rules etc. Where else can you market a business for pennies - either comply, or come up with something totally different to compete - but don't winge.

[DREAMGLASS]

Not sour grapes John, just a straightforward commercial decision.

I have been on there for over ten years now and been a powerseller for over six years, with a combined feedback of nearly 18,000 through my two selling accounts, but enough is enough now.

There are lots of places you can choose to market items for pennies, it's just a question of getting off your butt, seeking them out and finding alternative venues and markets for products.

For traders, eBay lost the plot a long time ago.

[John G]

There might be lots of places to market your items but nothing compares to ebay for the audience they have and the price they charge. You've proved it yourself with your 18K feedback, that equates to approx 5 sales per day, every day - FOR TEN YEARS And that's not even getting off your butt!

[Kaz]

It amazes me that every time eBay make a change, for the better, the number of people that come on the ebay boards whinging about how it's going to affect their business yadda yadda yadda and they are leaving because of it.

Like when they removed the ability for sellers to leave negs, a whole host of PS said they were leaving, and guess what...... nearly 3 years later the majority are still there. The ones that have gone didn't leave by choice.

[DREAMGLASS]

The problem is that eBay has changed over the years. Last Christmas I decided to buy some dvd's online as presents for others. Amazon undercut EVERY price I found on eBay and that was dealing with Amazon direct rather than going through their marketplace. The same applied to several other (non dvd) items I looked for at other sites and venues. It is hardly surprising when traders have to keep factoring in the costs involved with having an eBay presence including all the costs of items that don't sell. A lot of folks are now wising up to the fact that they can actually buy items cheaper OUTSIDE of eBay nowadays and for that reason they are starting to lose a lot of that foot traffic now.

The sales on my own sites now exceed those on eBay, thanks to an article I read on alternative marketing strategies last year. I can offer my customers lower prices than on eBay, offer a broader range of options, have pages of relative information, including details of forthcoming products, attendance at shows, etc and can offer a genuinely better buying experience. Unlike eBay they also have the choice of paying by Google Checkout as well as PayPal.

If folks were to look at how much they pay out in eBay fees, it could be suggested that could be better employed in finding more lucrative venues for selling their wares.

[skru]

I still use ebay but Im not happy with them !!!! if there is any other source of clients ill be there now ! I like what KAZ said : " ....Later this year, maybe in the spring time, Tesco are starting an auction website to rival ebays....." hope the Head office wil be in Tesco town in Tesco country ! lol ebay got payPal Tesco will introduce TescoPay .

[gstk]

I hate Ebay with a passion BUT where else would you get that much exposure for the amount they charge. I sell on Ebay but over the course of a year I get more business from Ebay customers than through ebay because people ring us direct for quotes and things and we do it direct. Contravening Ebay rules but hey they get their share.

Providing everything you sell on there you sell at a profit (and making sure you deduct all your true costs) and if we didnt sell one item in a month it would cost us £50. A advert in our local rag with a circulation of about 18000 houses is £108 a month. I think it makes Ebay a cheap advertising option. I would also have to say that if Tesco started an Auction site and demolished Ebay I would be one of the first to dance on Ebays ashes. Their attitude to traders is positively victorian and customer service twinned with the Third Reich. Sometimes you have to do a deal with the devil though!!