Food for thought - good video on what's going on on eBay

[rugerskick]

Ran across this one today, wanted to share.  Thought it approached it objectively.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPKjeC53rJU

[mam98031]

There is a lot to digest from that video.  Lots of food for thought.

[campanaelia]

One point in the video I totally agree with is "the only unique reason to come to ebay at this point is their auctions". To me that's exactly what stands them apart and what keeps me active here. If auctions were gone I might be too. And of course by being here already for auctions mainly I'm still buying items using BIN listings too. Sadly Ebay decided to make combined shipping for multiple items impossible in the past year, so overall I am buying substantially less here currently due to that issue.

[mam98031]

I can see where that is important to some buyers.  But there is a reason why auctions are only about 20% of all the listings on Ebay.  Auctions are not as popular as they once were.  They still do great in some categories which is why the 20%, but they don't do well in many other categories.

Auctions are not Ebay's bread and butter.

What do you mean by this statement?  "Sadly Ebay decided to make combined shipping for multiple items in the past year, so overall I am buying substantially less here currently due to that issue."  Why would combined shipping be a problem, it typically saves the buyer money.

[psfhobbies]

HiBid Autionzip and Proxibid going very well for them. I see sales much higher for most items than on ebay I sold on Hibid and did Ok not great but was only 2 auctions at the time. The sellers are also getting HUGE handling fees we could never get here yet it fails to stop people from buying there.I  just paid 19.00 (reluctantly) for 5 small pocket knives to ship in a 1st class package through USPS less than one pound..probably cost 8 bucks actual.You have to google search the seller and check their ratings for shipping and such before you bid.Money is out there, people buying but getting less here for sure. Im having a hard time making a decent profit on my new hobby items with all these fees here

[campanaelia]

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@mam98031 wrote:

What do you mean by this statement?  "Sadly Ebay decided to make combined shipping for multiple items in the past year, so overall I am buying substantially less here currently due to that issue."  Why would combined shipping be a problem, it typically saves the buyer money.

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Combined shipping is a problem due to auto-pay. I use to buy all my computers on ebay through auctions. Ebays original plan was too implement auto-pay for all auctions too. So before they did that too me first I switched buying most of my computer stuff from other sources. I always had the contacts but ebay pushed me to make the move. They also still have auto-pay for offers so I haven't made an offer in over a year since that started. And most recently they added auto-pay to offers received from sellers with no way to commit to buy and then wait for a combined shipping invoice, now they call it "You snooze you lose". To me it's one big mess I don't want to waste my time on anymore. I may switch back eventually if I see they did away auto-pay completely but for now I refuse to deal with it.

Here is a post of mine from another thread with more of my thoughts on auto-pay if you're interested

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Looks-Like-A-Bumpy-Road-Ahead/m-p/34444332#M2394254

[campanaelia]

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@mam98031 wrote:

I can see where that is important to some buyers.  But there is a reason why auctions are only about 20% of all the listings on Ebay.  Auctions are not as popular as they once were.  They still do great in some categories which is why the 20%, but they don't do well in many other categories.

Auctions are not Ebay's bread and butter.

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Maybe ebay should try to reinvent the auction portion , IMO auctions is the only thing that truly stands ebay apart from the rest. Over the years they became just another online store with BIN listings becoming the majority. The addition of the B/O was great too for negotiating deals but then auto-pay and no more combined shipping ruined that option for many buyers.

[slyders_finds]

I think I have heartburn.

[dbfolks166mt]

     Very well done video and very factual although comparing eBay and Amazon stock prices these days is a poor analogy since Amazon is FAR from simply being an ecommerce marketplace these days. Every environment/industry/system/business has limits and constraints with regards to ecommerce there are only so many buyers which constrains the opportunity for sellers to compete and remain profitable. 

     The US auto industry is a prime example. Prior to the depression there were 2,000 auto manufacturers in the US that number shrank to around 40 during the depression either through consolidation or failure. There are now basically 4 and Detroit's population has changed drastically. 

     Ecommerce will probably go through the same surge/contraction as competition continues to increase until it reaches the point of market saturation at which point mergers/acquisitions will begin and/or failures/closures will happen. Whether eBay is flexible enough to change and adapt or to simply remain at a constant state is a TBD. As long as a company is profitable it doesn't necessarily have to grow to remain successful. 

[ulfesharpe]

Simply comparing numbers like that guy in the video is doing doesn't prove anything important, he points to a thing but doesn't fully explain why ebay is not achieving its goals even with an excessively expensive and unfair infrastructure to its users. The real reason is that a C2C auction platform with direct sales is importing an alien, xeroxed, unfitting business model from big tech companies like Amazon and ebay isn't a big tech company. If you don't invest everything you've got in keeping the costs attractive to its users, you're playing the wrong game. 

I have a $12 mechanical pencil in the cart. Seller is announcing $12+$25 shipping (which is already crazy since you can ship internationally for $8), but then when I go to checkout total instead of $37 the bill is $48 because ebay is collecting taxes that do not even exist in the US.

(And no they do not send that VAT tax to the Customs Office here because there's no such mechanism)

So that item is still in my cart. It's been there for 6 months now.

[farmalljr]

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@mam98031 wrote:

I can see where that is important to some buyers.  But there is a reason why auctions are only about 20% of all the listings on Ebay.  Auctions are not as popular as they once were.  They still do great in some categories which is why the 20%, but they don't do well in many other categories.

Auctions are not Ebay's bread and butter.

What do you mean by this statement?  "Sadly Ebay decided to make combined shipping for multiple items in the past year, so overall I am buying substantially less here currently due to that issue."  Why would combined shipping be a problem, it typically saves the buyer money.

---

Auctions are important to many buyers. Shopgoodwill's model is nearly 100% auction format. They sell used/donated goods and in many/most cases, find final values that are much higher than can be bought here BIN. 

There are also many sites that offer auction type listings and they sure are not hurting for bids. The market to buy via auctions exists, and lots of buyers are fine with buying that way. Perhaps the issues is not that people do not like auctions, but that eBay does a totally poor job of running them. 

Auctions are better for a platform for two reasons:

1 Once an item gets a bid, it's going to sell in the time limit of the auction. No waffling for months or years on end. 

2 Bidder "fever" causes many items to sell for more than they are worth. And since platforms make money on a sliding scale depending on final price, it's better for the platform and the seller. 

eBay has caught itself in a poor decision to pursue high end shoes, purses and watches. Those things are fine when an economy is booming, but not when people are watching their wallets. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@farmalljr When Jamie came on and announced that Wenig had lost his foolish battle against Amazon, and Jamie would not be competing against Amazon? I actually had some hope that Jamie would realize , if he wants to return ebay to its glory days, he would recognize that ebay's shift away from auctions was tied to ebay's shift to new, in season merchandise under Donohoe and Wenig. In short, I was hoping he'd realize that reviving auctions would be a good place to start rebuilding ebay into THE site for used and vintage.

Didn't happen. 

And then, when it became clear that "live, video auctions" had become very popular on other sites, some of which weren't even designed for such auctions, but resourceful sellers managed to adapt them to their needs, I figured ebay would see the value in that. And ebay did open up "ebay Live" videos in beta. Where it still is. And where it is still restricted to certain focus categories and a handful of selected sellers. While sites like WhatNot are expanding from live auctions to a mix of live auction and...fixed price. To say ebay has been slow to respond to this new format is an understatement. 

And most recently, one of the few tools ebay provided to auction sellers, PL Express, was removed and replaced with PLS, which many auction sellers see as a wrongheaded move by ebay which will only make it harder to sell via auction.

This is a company that should OWN the pre-owned market, AND the auction (regular and video) market. But years of strategic mistakes have come home to roost, and the company that was once at the forefront of this stuff is now being outmaneuvered by newer rivals.

And, as always seems to be the case with ebay management, the shiny new thing---Ooooh, look at AI!!!---is more attractive than the proven but "old" tools. 

ebay should have been spending the past few years reviving regular auctions and building up live auctions. 

ebay is still where I sell. It is still a viable site.

But it could be so much better for sellers, buyers and ebay.

[ferrucciobusoni]

Another absurdly one dimensional view. 

Selling on Amazon?  Sure, if you don't mind going mad (just look at their seller boards).  

And Craigslist?  Is that a joke?  You want some psycho coming to your house?  

There are millions of success stories on eBay. 

Not to brag, but I have done well year after year since 2000.

It boils down to fundamentals:  buying low, selling high in a category that is populated mostly by an educated and wealthy demographic, excellent customer service, accurate listings, same day shipping, and paying for merchandise returns.   I'm top rated plus and get dozens of Google referrals from first time buyers.

I always give the customer the benefit of the doubt.  I make a profit here that allows me great freedom to do so.

[orangehound]

Good video, particularly after about the 9 minute mark.  Three points / quotes that I found particularly insightful ...

1. Why bother with eBay? eBay is essentially charging Amazon or Walmart level fees, while offering Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace level of service.
2. eBay operates with a 27% [profit] margin, compared with Amazon's Marketplace's 1-3%.
3. [eBay has] been reduced from being one of the most dominant online retailers, to milking sellers for as long as they can.

[ittybitnot]

And Craigslist?  Is that a joke?  You want some psycho coming to your house?

@ferrucciobusoni 

Personally, I would make arrangements for such probabilities.  For instance, I have a kiln for sale.  Why would I sell it on eBay?  It weighs too much, I can't even lift one side of it.  Even if it was "pick up only" I will be on the hook for a long time if I accepted anything but CASH....for a buyer (pick a lie) return.  .........and NO FEES, imagine that.  

As long as you don't sign up for the "will ship" (pay fees) format on F.Book, selling is basically no charge.  I can ship on my own, and send invoices through the Pal or my own website, or cash for pick up.   What is the advantage of using eBay for my $500 gold bracelet?   FEES and a much higher probability for scams, have outweighed any benefits of eBay selling that I can see at this point for most merchandise.