Very interesting insight. I think you are dead on about the big shift after going public. Before it was a "horse traders" haven. But now Amazon and eBay are trying to be like each other.
I took a break after the returns started being automated because I paid some return shipping when I think it was buyers remorse. Today I decided to re-list some things and not use auto returns. So I'm working on some listings and find issues with the shipping policies, payment policies, and returns - had to figure out you use all or none - 2 hours - then why won't the 30 day listing stick? Err. More Googling to figure out the problem. Thank you for posting.
I am not a store nor a full time seller. I just like hunting and collecting junk and sharing the spoils on eBay. I put in the time my first two years reading all the message boards and the seller handbook to figure out some strategies that worked for me and my schedule. For me, I liked to list stuff as an auction first. Then, if it did not sell I'd make it a fixed price and I'd rotate items. 30 day duration was perfect. I could re-list or not. Maybe I had new items to list, or maybe I had an offer for some free listings and I put up stuff that didn't sell before.
I really don't want to open a store, and why would I when the policies change so often.
So at the end of each month, I guess I have to manually end the items that did not sell if I want to list different things in the next month. Or just stick with auctions. I'm sure a new policy will come out to screw that up too. I'm going to stick around a little longer, but I think I'm on the downhill side of my eBay phase. I don't expect anyone at eBay to care about the small non store owners like me, but I think that's where some of the variety of items came from. If I was a store owner, I'd only be putting up stuff that was in demand, not what someone might be randomly looking for. That was the fun part for me.
