eBay

grasshopperx · ‎10-26-2017

What a nightmare buying and selling here has become. All of a sudden everyone is a drop shipper. Some are great and ship fast, the rest take forever.

Then there is the chinese carp. It's all small. Once I bought a large shirt for my dog, and it wouldnt fit a 6 lb dog. If you ever even get your item, your lucky. Big scam.....

Also, all of a sudden , no one ships to a P.O. Box? Can someone explain to me whhhY??? Because if it's becaus of shipping fed-x? it does end up at the P.O. box anyway??????? The companies must be sharing rides to destinations?

Then there's selling.... We have been on here since 2001, sold thousands of items in the good ol days, and cant even GET A VIEW these days? so bad we quit.

Then there is the watch list and the cart... which dont work!

The fees are bad..... What the heck?

It's the natural evolution of failure, I find my self going even to Walmart... Because it's easier! This site is TOAST unless they clean up theit act. No future here at all. WHAT A PAIN!

jonathankirkland · ‎10-26-2017

Well yes ebay seems to be trending toward drop shippers, and to a less savvy buyer it certainly isn't always obvious if you are buying from one or not.

That being said, these "drop shippers" are held to the same expectations as any seller. Process and ship the order within a timely manner, and make sure it arrives to the customer in the condition promised.

If the above isn't true on a regular basis, or if they are getting "out of stock" defects, they are not going to last here very long at all.

The Chinese sellers... hmm yes... that is an in-depth topic all on it's own. Personally, I don't have a problem buying a cheap widget if they sell it from a distribution center in the US, or even a location that claims to be in the US as long as I get the item withtin the estimated handling time (less than 7 days). That being said, I try not to support these Chinese sellers too much, but something like a 99 cent HDMI cable and I only need to wait 3-4 days? It's very hard to resist that as a buyer here. Small carp, indeed.

Regarding PO boxes, no idea, I'm sorry.

As far as sales, I'm very sorry you're experiecning a lull. I just made a thread topic about this ploclaiming my sales have been excellent since I started selling here in just June of this year. Not to brag, but to try further gain an understanding of why I have been so fortunate to have steady sales when others have experienced a dip. I sell current gaming equipment and games so maybe that is why. But I do empathize with being frustrated about slow sales.

Not sure what problems you are referrting to with the watch list and cart not working?

The fees, yes I'm sure we would all love lower fees. For me as a small seller, the 50 free listings per month help out a lot and encourage me to keep at it.

As far as the future here having a bleak outlook... hmm I guess it all depends on who you ask. It's my understanding that "the little guy" feels like they are being pushed aside here and flooded out by all the Chinese sellers with their ridiculous repeated listings, thousands of them, like the new guy is now drowning in some kind of Chinese sea. That is very sad indeed.

However, in summation, I wish you all the best going forward and I hope your sales take a sharp turn for the better entering the 2017 year-end holiday season!

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-26-2017

Just some thoughts...

Vetting your seller and the listing carefully may help you avoid drop shippers.

Are there stock pictures on the listing? That can be a clue. Some will state the item will ship from their "warehouse". Another clue.

There are often issues when you buy from China.

Many sellers have a preferred shipper and an account and contract with them.

Thus they always use that shipper. UPS and FEDEX do not deliver to PO boxes.

The site is very problematic, the cart does not work and you can't get to your Watch List. I've used cart twice and don't use it anymore due to those experiences. It takes me MANY clicks to get to the Watch List, which is frustrating; you can't buy if you can't get to your list. I share your frustration. I wish re-design would take a back seat to functionality. That should be the prime focus.

mistwomandancing · ‎10-26-2017

Don't know what to suggest. Obviously, if it doesn't *work* for you... you go elsewhere. And that applies to both buying and selling.

I shop here, elsewhere online, and certainly in my own hometown stores as I'm out and about, so can't say as I ever have much trouble finding whatever it is I'm after. Most of what I'm after isn't a dropship-type item, so can't address that. And much of what I'm shopping for, I want to actually see and feel and handle before the purchase, so that's obviously from the brick & mortar stores here.

As to selling, I gave up the hassle of b&m stores years ago and sell online mostly these days with just a smidge of the flea market thrown in for occasional fun day. Ebay is my favorite online site for both buying and selling and where I've been most successful in each, perhaps because of what I'm interested in and deal in, so have nothing but success here.

Hope you find better shopping somewhere/anywhere. How disappointing it must be to run into a wall at every turn.

thenobletuckylife · ‎10-26-2017

Afternoon Grasshopper,

Last week we placed an order from Walmart...took advantage of the free shipping.

It was easy...convenient, well priced and fast and VERY WELL packaged.

Pretty much haven't set foot in, or purchased, from Walmart for almost 10 years except for an oil change.

So it's been Home Depot and now Walmart that have seemed to be the most user friendly. I even ended my Prime over on Amazon, got tired of all the damaged goods due to terrible packaging.

Mr C

stitchesandseamsct · ‎10-26-2017

ebay generates revenue from the sellers, not the buyers, whereas sellers generate revenue from the buyers. Ebay's only focus should be the sellers, and let natural selection take care of the customers. ebay should be focusing on how to manage the carts, and the watch list, not which customer gets to view which item. Natural selection will cause poor sellers to fall off the map due to inadequate customer relations.

I have resorted to drop shipping myself. I still manage over 7000 items in stock, but have slowly started rolling out in to drop shipping. If you cant beat em...JOIN EM!

I always loved ebay, however recent months have FORCED me to move away from ebay as fast as I can. It has become nothing but an insult to my work and efforts. I try to stay positive and keep marching on, however I am now generating 40% of my income from other venues other than ebay, after only 1 months of being on the new venues.

Everybody wants to be a beast, until it's time to do what beasts do.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎10-26-2017

How long do you think sellers would continue to pay Ebay if there were no buyers? If sellers are running their businesses competently they should actually be paying Ebay nothing since all the money comes from the pockets of buyers. Both sides are critical.

Regardless, credit card rules and consumer protection laws mean the days of "too bad, so sad" are over. As long as sellers on Ebay accept credit cards, the protection will lean towards buyers. If there was no buyer protection there would be very few buyers.

grasshopperx · ‎10-26-2017

I did too Mr. C. I keep trying to give ebay the benefit of the doubt, but I'm about done, I needed some white wire for my crafts, and it took me hours to find any, and I never did get it on ebay. Too cumbersome. I find myself just getting frustrated and leaving the computer. They seem to be more interstested in making the feedback more fancy, then sales. More intersted in bogging down this site with all this tech, "it" stuff then a sale. I hate the place now. it's just a mess. I know others will come along and say it has millions of members... yea right. I predict the end is soon, because if others are having the frustrations I am having. They wont come back. I have a sick love for ebay that goes back 20 years.

nawlinsron2 · ‎10-26-2017

ebay has developed, IMHO, a totally useless identity crisis.
They were...and ARE...the world's largest flea market...solid identity.
But, the ruling genii have decided that ain't good enough..."we" gotta be hip..."filled with color" if you will.
So, flashing pictures at the rate of one per nanosecond in an ad somehow creates that "new" identity?
Gag me with a spoon...

thenobletuckylife · ‎10-26-2017

Hi Grasshopper,

The other day while I was posting here on the boards I decided to go see what was happening in the "Organic Isle".

As folks know, we were a major seller of organic foods and other homesteading supplies.

I decided to check out "Organic Buckwheat Flour" one of our best sellers.

So sad...almost all of them are drop shippers now...and probably from Amazon...why do I know...cause I've known the business before business knew it existed. Mr Red Mill seems to have a lot of goods out there..."not"!

There are probably 30 vendors vying for a sale and then dropshipping it from a couple of the river folks...not enough inventory over there to fill orders if what folks are selling here all of a sudden becomes popular.

All we need is another DR Oz infomercial and goods fly off the shelf...it happened to us after he promoted Barley. There was almost nothing to be found in stock across the internet after 3 weeks...we completely sold out and it took months to restock. That was before there were a lot of dropshippers here...if it happened now it could cause a lot of problems for folks relying on the same couple of vendors elsewhere to fill the orders.

Mr C

goodluckselling · ‎10-26-2017

@grasshopperx wrote:
I did too Mr. C. I keep trying to give ebay the benefit of the doubt, but I'm about done, I needed some white wire for my crafts, and it took me hours to find any, and I never did get it on ebay. Too cumbersome. I find myself just getting frustrated and leaving the computer. They seem to be more interstested in making the feedback more fancy, then sales. More intersted in bogging down this site with all this tech, "it" stuff then a sale. I hate the place now. it's just a mess. I know others will come along and say it has millions of members... yea right. I predict the end is soon, because if others are having the frustrations I am having. They wont come back. I have a sick love for ebay that goes back 20 years.

Sounds like you might hve a problem with learning how to search for items online? Here is a simple search I did for white craft wire - Click here

This only took me about 45 seconds to get search results for white craft wire. Yes not all items are white but many are, and it is pretty easy to find the listing I would like to review further.

Not sure why a simple task like this is so frustrating and takes you hours?

Good Luck Selling!

southern*sweet*tea · ‎10-26-2017

@nawlinsron2 wrote:
ebay has developed, IMHO, a totally useless identity crisis.
They were...and ARE...the world's largest flea market...solid identity.
But, the ruling genii have decided that ain't good enough..."we" gotta be hip..."filled with color" if you will.
So, flashing pictures at the rate of one per nanosecond in an ad somehow creates that "new" identity?
Gag me with a spoon...

My opinion, FWIW - New stuff is what ruined Ebay. You can buy new stuff anywhere. Ebay should have been THE destination for vintage and pre-owned. Now Ebay is known for overpriced dollar store trash and ripoff Chinese sellers.

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell

grasshopperx · ‎10-26-2017

SERIOUSLY? I've been ON HERE 2O YEARS! give me a break. LOL

grasshopperx · ‎10-26-2017

One more point, good luck selling. You dont have to explain to any WOMAN how to click the buy it now button. HA HA HA

tunicaslot · ‎10-26-2017

I searched for white wire crafts and got over 6400 results - although sometimes I too find certain items hard to find - it's most often due to how the seller formatted the title.