eBay is Clueless

[stillriveroutfitters]

I just got done reading the eBay release about their proposed payment intermediation and once again, they are imposing nonsense on sellers. Not only that, but this is all extremely vague and invokes skepticism about what eBay is really trying to accomplish. If they are trying to be more like Amazon, they need to reverse course immediately. I've been buying and selling on eBay for a decade because it is different from Amazon in many noticable ways. Mimicing Amazon is not the same as competing with Amazon and I will not continue to have an eBay store if this is the case.

From the article: 

Specific Customer Benefits

For sellers:

• Lower Costs and More Control of Their Economics. Most sellers can expect their costs of payments processing to be reduced after they transition to eBay’s intermediated payments model, and benefit from a simplified pricing structure and more predictable access to their funds.
• A Central Place to Manage Their Business. eBay is working on solutions to provide sellers with information about their eBay business, inclusive of payments information, in one place so that sellers can easily track and manage all of their transactions and customer interactions on eBay.
• Greater Buyer Reach and Improved Conversion. By offering buyers more choice in how they pay and expanding payment options into more geographies, eBay believes sellers will be able to reach more buyers and improve conversion.

 For buyers:

• More Payment Options at Checkout. eBay is focused on providing consumers greater choice in payment options at checkout.
• An Integrated Checkout Experience. eBay will manage the entire checkout experience, delivering a more streamlined experience for consumers.

If eBay were wanting to lower costs for sellers, they would restructure their Final Value Fee system, reduce the fee from 10% to 6%, but then increase store subscription costs by 2%. Or, increase the Top Rated Seller discount from 10% to 15%. My eBay fees are always higher that shipping costs and PayPal fees by at least 2% and on some items, eBay makes more than I do. 

Sellers don't need another central place to manage anything. The Seller Hub is the only worthwhile thing eBay has done in the last 10 years and unless they create a system that works exactly like Intuit Quickbooks, I don't see any reason for a central place to manage my business.

I agree that there should be a lot of focus on attracting buyers from other parts of the world but "greater buyer reach" is meaningless unless there are adjustments to import/export regulations and laws. Who cares if someone can pay for an item if their government doesn't allow me to ship it to their country? 

How many more payment options do buyers need? The current checkout system works fine and is fast. Everyone who shops online has a PayPal account and if they don't, they still have a credit card from a major issuer and can pay using that. Here's an idea, start allowing Cryptocurrency payments.

Isn't the checkout already "integrated?" You don't have to leave eBay to complete the checkout and if you set your account up properly, it takes just seconds for you to buy an item and then complete the checkout. I know this because I get notifications when customers buy something and then when they pay for it; and the notifications occur within seconds of each other.

What I see, as someone who has been in the retail economy for 14 years, is eBay trying to fix problems that don't exist and innovating without a realistic long-term plan. If eBay truly did care about making the seller's experience better, if eBay has any intentions on retaining sellers, they need to do the following:

-Reduce the Final Value Fees. If eBay remains too expensive to sell products through, sellers will go elsewhere.

-Implement manditory feedback requirements. There are too many buyers who refuse and "forget" to leave feedback for the sellers, this need to end. If a buyer does not leave feedback for a transaction after 15 days, eBay should automatically give the seller 5 star feedback for that transaction.
-Give sellers more control over their interactions and transactions with buyer. Eliminate provisions in eBay Buyer Protection that permit eBay to override a sellers terms and conditions. The buyer is responsible for knowing what they are purchasing, understanding the sellers return and shipping policies as well as reading what the sellers put in the description. eBay should never involve themselves in a transaction unless there is fraud, illegal activity or unless the buyer or seller ask eBay to interveine. Also, the buyer is not purchasing a product from eBay, they are purchasing a product ON eBay from a third party seller who is using eBay as a marketplace. 

Bottom line, treat sellers better and make eBay less expensive or we are out. 

[lloydsteventaylor]

The Ebay announced payment processor change is only one side for us to consider. If you look at the summarized Ebay/Paypal split agreement the non compete clause goes both ways. 1)Ebay cant create its own payments platform. And this was what the announcement speaks to. And this is what everyone has been focused on here.

But maybe more important is 2)Paypal cant create its own marketplace. I would be excited if Paypal created its own marketplace (after their agreement ends)to compete with Ebay. Can you imagine how good it would be if Ebay actually had competition! Just on these boards I have seen untold numbers of sellers over the years say they are here because there is no alternative. Many many have gone to other venues and came back because they didnt sell. Many have left disgusted. All you have to do is read the posts here to find sellers who are upset with Ebay. What if there really was an alternative and there was another marketplace that competed for sellers. Imagine.

[chrysylys]

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lloydsteventaylor wrote:I would be excited if Paypal created its own marketplace (after their agreement ends)to compete with Ebay. Can you imagine how good it would be if Ebay actually had competition! .

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In addition to the 20 or 30 already out there?

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

If Paypal created their own marketplace it would have the same buyer protection as this marketplace. That is what credit card companies and buyers choose.

They're not going back to the days of allowing stealing from buyers and the ability to neg on top of it.

The only thing they could do better is to permanently remove proven scammers. However Ebay could do that too.

[webwanna]

This doesn't have anything to do with providing better service to sellers or buyers on Ebay.  This is about Ebay capturing more potential profit out of each transaction.  

Plain and simple.  You're over-thinking it.

(Ofcourse that's because they released a statement to obfuscate that fact. ) 

& Yes, I agree this could be disastrous for sellers on Ebay.  It would be a miracle if they delivered on adding this capability when they can't even seem to master what is supposed to be their core competency.  Its as though the have given up on trying to make more money by competing better with other online retailers and auction sites.  They decided that's too hard.  Instead they are looking for ways to integrate other functions that they have no core competency in to add profits.

[sandmansales]

Yep. And Disney just announced an across the board price increase to "give customers a better experience."

If companies said what was really going on instead of the laughable corporate spin, there would be protests in the streets. Bottom line is to increase their bottom line. Period.

[hawgryders]

There are many reasons for the move --- but only one that matters to me as a very small part-time seller

Paypal allows 180 days for a return --- regardless of the reason

This, ladies & gentlemen, is reason enough to quit them --- which most of us would given an alternative

Remember --- Paypal was forced upon eBay sellers --- it never was for the sellers/buyers --- it was, and still is, about shareholder profits ...

[webwanna]

Actually Paypal's Buyer Protection plan is limited to either never receiving the item or: 

• You received a completely different item. For example, you purchased a book and received a DVD or an empty box.
• The condition of the item was misrepresented. For example, the description when you bought the item said “new” and the item was used.
• The item was advertised as authentic but is not authentic.
• The item is missing major parts or features which were not disclosed in its description when you bought the item.
• You purchased three items from a Seller but only received two.
• The item was materially damaged during shipment.

Personally, I have had 0 returns through Paypal as a result of this policy.  Ebay has a similar policy alreay that has a 30 day window.  The vast majority of buyers take care of this type of return within 30 days.  

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Paypal gave Ebay the mechanism to be able to protect buyers. Once most payments were flowing through there, they were able to create buyer protection policies. It was impossible when sellers took all different kinds of payments.

How do you force a refund on Canada Tire dollars or goats?

[nawlinsron2]

Some people can't see the forest for the trees...

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ebay/insideractions

[tellmemama]

---

wrote:

<I truncated to this part>

What I see, as someone who has been in the retail economy for 14 years, is eBay trying to fix problems that don't exist and innovating without a realistic long-term plan. If eBay truly did care about making the seller's experience better, if eBay has any intentions on retaining sellers, they need to do the following:

-Reduce the Final Value Fees. If eBay remains too expensive to sell products through, sellers will go elsewhere.

-Implement manditory feedback requirements. There are too many buyers who refuse and "forget" to leave feedback for the sellers, this need to end. If a buyer does not leave feedback for a transaction after 15 days, eBay should automatically give the seller 5 star feedback for that transaction.
-Give sellers more control over their interactions and transactions with buyer. Eliminate provisions in eBay Buyer Protection that permit eBay to override a sellers terms and conditions. The buyer is responsible for knowing what they are purchasing, understanding the sellers return and shipping policies as well as reading what the sellers put in the description. eBay should never involve themselves in a transaction unless there is fraud, illegal activity or unless the buyer or seller ask eBay to interveine. Also, the buyer is not purchasing a product from eBay, they are purchasing a product ON eBay from a third party seller who is using eBay as a marketplace. 

Bottom line, treat sellers better and make eBay less expensive or we are out. 

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And this is where your argument is shot in the foot.  If the fees are too high for you, you're either paying too much to acquire your inventory or you aren't accounting for any expenses like packing supplies, etc.  If you can't make eBay work for you, you shouldn't "work" for eBay.

Again with the suggestion of automatic feedback?  Really??  All that will accomplish is buyers will leave the feedback they probably would not have otherwise.  If I have a "meh" transaction, I don't leave any feedback.  If I have eBay leaving it for me, you won't get a positive with all 5 stars.  You'll get what you should have gotten.  Oh and since the dawn of eBay, feedback is 100% voluntary on both sides.  You may want to Google the definition.

Ebay unilaterally enforcing a seller's TOS?  Not a chance.  Without even considering some of the completely unenforceable stuff some sellers try to pass off, some of it is exactly opposite of what they claim.  Like offering a return policy but stating in the TOS that it is for not as described only.  Guess what?  If you offer a return policy, it's for any reason at all.  In some cases eBay will back up a seller's no return policy but the buyer has to be honest and select the remorse reason in the first place.  Sadly that doesn't happen all too often anymore with the increase of buyers who are "entitled".

If you prefer the good old days of eBay.  I suggest you build a time machine.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Realistically since it's Ebay's playground, sellers are trying to overrule ebay rules not the other way around. Sellers should not be allowed to adopt an Ebay policy then put weasle words to get out of it.

I don't get the feedback thing either. Nobody is due MY opinion. You want it so bad that you're going to force me to give it you're not going to like it.

[percgrabbe-0]

Most likely you arent selling anything here these days anyway. You may have stuff for sale but it isnt selling. Only a few sellers are doing really well.