Closed My Store Today Over Managed Payments - More Sellers Need To Take A Stand!

[wills_thrill]

I sell estate collections.  So one month I may get a stamp collection, the next month a doll collection, the next month a coin collection.

I recently acquired a coin collection (before being "invited" into managed payments).  When I received my invite to Managed Payment, I contacted E-Bay, because I had currency (and some gift cards) that I needed to list, but would not be able to if I went to Managed Payments.

So I talked to a EBay rep, Cristy, on the Managed Payments Team.  She told me my option would be to open a new account for currency (which I didn't want to sell currency from a zero feedback account), or get 50% of my active listings to be currency.  Then I could "call" (really means chat) back in and get opted out.

So I spent my time leading up to Managed Payment deadline to remove some listings and add others, getting over 50% in the currency category.

I contacted support again a few days ago.  I was told by the rep that they could not help me, but would send my request to an account specialist and I would hear something in 24-48 hours.  Well, I didn't hear anything back.

So today I contacted them again, and got back to the Managed Payments Team.  I asked for Cristy, but apparently they can't send me to a certain rep, so I got Lara today.  She was basically rude and useless.  She would not listen to anything I was saying.  She basically said there was no way my account could have been selected unless it was compatible with managed payments.  She kept saying that for the past year I had sold other items not coins, which is true, but I had already explained to her I sell estate collections, and usually never the same type of selection twice.

She almost acted like I was a liar about what Cristy had told me.  She said that was wrong and she didn't want to listen.  I told her to check the transcript of the chat with Cristy.  She wouldn't.

She just kept going back to if the computer picked me, it couldn't be wrong (even though you can find posts from many coin sellers who sold 100% coins, who got asked to enroll).  She refused to do anything, so I just asked her to close my store and waive the termination fee (I had just renewed Oct 1).

She transferred me to someone who did, and now my store is closed and E-Bay will get no revenue from me further.  I wasn't a huge seller, but sold $19,000 worth last year and $11,000 so far this year, plus the store fees.

If E-Bay can't enable me to sell the items I have to sell, then I guess they can do without the $2200 in revenue I generate for them each year.  Maybe when managed payments supports all categories so I can list the items I have to sell, I may come back.

If more sellers would take a stand against E-Bay policy changes, they would quickly change them.  If just 1000 small sellers in my situation would leave E-Bay, that's $2.2 million in lost revenue.  That might get their attention.

But if everyone just rolls over and takes it, they will just keep walking on their sellers more and more!

[alcoforever]

If a thousand sellers left ebay in one day, ebay wouldn't even notice it.  Ebay could lose 1000 sellers every day for a year and wouldn't even notice them gone.   Out of 25 million sellers, 365,000 is nothing.

Ebay wouldn't notice the loss in its bottom line either as the buyers would still be here and would just spend the same money but with different sellers.

Taking a stand is a great idea but, sadly, it will not work.   Sorry you got picked for MP but you will just have to adapt or go elsewhere.

[wills_thrill]

I literally can't stay on E-Bay because of their poor service.  I currently have hundreds of currency items to sell, but if I enroll in Managed Payments, I can't sell them.  So if I can't sell them, why would I pay to have an empty store, where I can't list the inventory I have to sell?

And what is the difference between allowing me to opt out of managed payments until all categories are supported, to sell in those categories, and keep my feedback reputation (and grow it), vs having me just open a new zero feedback account? There is no difference.  It's illogical!

I think you are mistaken about the impact of people leaving.  E-Bay was experiencing NEGATIVE sales growth, which prompted them to implement managed payments as another revenue stream to make up for the loss.

I believe E-Bay also only has 7 million US sellers.  Trust me, if 1000 sellers left and $2.2 million left with them, E-Bay would notice.  You don't miss $2.2 million walking away.

You are also mistaken about buyers simply buying from someone else.  When your sales strategy is to always sell at a price  that moves and turns over the collection, you will sell things that will otherwise not sell on E-Bay.  If you have one of a kind or hard to find items, those will not be easily replaced.

I have watched items sit on E-Bay in my watch list for a year, and never sell, because the seller price is too high.  But when I got one of those items and list it for half their price, it sells.  If mine were not there, it doesn't mean the buyer would just pay twice as much.

If we were all selling new socks out of China, you would have a point that it would just be bought from somewhere else, from another seller.  But if you buy where you can sell at a lower price than everyone else, or have a one-of-a-kind item. then E-Bay won't replace that sale.

It depends on the type of inventory, and your pricing.

And as I said, I've closed my store and removed all my listings.  I will give my money to a company who will listen and support my business needs.  I'm not opposed to managed payments per se (I sell on Mercari, and like their process less than MP), but I am opposed to not being allowed to sell the inventory I have to sell.

[mam98031]

It appears you have some misunderstandings.

Ebay is not forcing any seller into MP that historically and primarily sells stuff in categories in which MP does not support.  So if you are seeing something different, then you need to contact Ebay right away to get this fixed.  Ebay is allowing these sellers to stay on Ebay and use PP as their processor until MP can take on these categories at a later date.

If don't have history in these categories but you have stuff you need to sell in them, just open up another selling account and only sell this stuff under the new address.  New accounts do not yet go into MP immediately so you will be fine with the new account.

Ebay is NOT experiencing negative growth in 2020.  And they are very much aware that some seller will leave because they don't want to go into MP.  They aren't going to change because some will leave.  It is the direction the site is committed into going.  Sellers leave all the time and new sellers join all the time.  It has always been that way.  Ebay's active membership numbers have continued to grow.  Sometimes more slowly than other times, but growth all the same.

Good luck with finding a site that suits your needs. 

[wills_thrill]

Did you read what I wrote?  I said that I sell estate collections and so I am constantly selling different types of merchandise, with each estate I purchase.  I had recently purchased a collection with hundreds of currency items.  I had started listing those before managed payments invite, but they were not 50% of my listings.  Maybe they were 5% when I received my managed payments invite. 

And even at that, should anyone be asked to take down 5% of their listings and open a new account, just to sell those items?  Where did this number of 50% come from?  What is the difference between opting out the account vs forcing the user to open a duplicate account with no managed payments.  You can't build your brand, your feedback, or your metrics when you have to use another store to sell.  It's just incomprehensibly stupid!  And it is further proof E-Bay doesn't really care about the seller experience, just wringing a few more dollars out of sellers.

The first rep Cristy, told me I could open a new account, which I did not want to do.  You will have few sales with a 0 feedback account trying to sell money essentially.  Cristy said if I did not want to open a new store, I could balance out my store to be at least 50% currency listings, and E-Bay could opt me out then.  So that is what I did.

However, the second rep Lara told me Cristy was wrong.  She wouldn't read the transcript of my conversation with Cristy.  And I asked Lara and the previous rep to connect me directly to Cristy, and both said they could not do that.

And E-Bay was experiencing negative growth in 2018, 2019, and Q1 2020.  COVID saved their bacon with users signing up to sell items to get by while stuck at home from job layoffs and COVID restrictions.  

Once this blip is in the rearview mirror, E-Bay will go back to negative growth.  And they deserve it...

[chicohorsetack5]

Contact federal communication commission and let them no what’s up with eBay and what there doing to use small business owners 

from,Kew Cowboy 

[mr_lincoln]

@wills_thrill    I know of one member who has sold coins for a very long time and due to that they were basically told their account could not go in to Managed Payments at this time.  I think however, that eBay will eventually have coin / currency selling as part of Manged Payments ... Etsy uses the same Payment Processor, Adyen, if they sell coins there then it is possible.

While I am not a fan of Managed Payments the program does not affect the categories I sell in, so aside from the insulting delay in payments and 2 steps backwards on the accounting end its just a series of adjustments.  I think a number of their decisions in other areas are as bad or worse than MP but those are not part of your topic so I will not dilute your thread ...