eBay

bobbyshangups · ‎10-07-2019

Dear Mr. Sweetnam - I would like to wish you Good Luck and welcome back to eBay. I read in an article that you posted that you wanted to hear feedback from sellers. I have been with eBay for 20 plus years now and I used to have a wildly successful business. Since 2006 my sales have have dramatically decreased and they continue to be lower every year. My suggestion, and I'm sure many others will agree, would to maybe rectify the following issues

Search Engine Change: A word search type search and not the current way of searching on eBay.

Payment: Back to the Paypal and other options. Let people opt out of the Managed Payments and then get rid of it.

IT: Expand the operations to show all of our searches whether adding addition memory or cloud memory

Feedback: 2 way feedback

Advertising: Get rid of the advertising running through our listings.

Promotions: Get rid of promoted listings

GTC: Get rid of Good till Cancel and bring back the other options of listing times.

Returns: Let the sellers decided their return policies.

Duplicates: The listings from the Chinese of duplicate listings are bad. Also the faux pricing of .99 and then the listings show 14.99 and up. (.99 are for the instructions or ? )

Delivery: Get rid of the guarantee delivery. The post office doesn't guarantee delivery except on the expensive shipping option.

Make nice with Google and work things out with them.

I may be a dreamer, but I think these things would definitely help. I have many other issues that I could list, but this would be a great start.

Sincerely,

Bob Sellars

bobbyshabgups

whatmorefabric · ‎10-07-2019

The old days are gone.

Paypal broke with Ebay, not the other way around, so Paypal only is no longer an option.

Internet shopping has changed. How people shop has changed. There are simply to many listings out there to simply place things in a first listed order. Promoted listings are a must on every site, not just Ebay.

Returns are a must. Sellers expect to be able to easily return items. One of Ebay's biggest image problem to this day is that buyers feel like they run the risk of being burned and stuck with faulty merchandise on Ebay. A seller not taking returns will just keep this problem front and center. Figure out how much returns cost and roll it into your prices. My returns cost me around 17.00 a month.

Making nice with Google is not the issue. I still get as much traffic coming in from Google as before the so called Google break years ago. It is all about the title, the description and whether or not you are selling what people are searching for and buying.

muskingum_relics · ‎10-07-2019

ebay has created many of their own problems with un-wanted or needed changes. It has got out of hand and what may work for some may not work for others therefor is why there should be options. Many of these changes makes no sense at all and they are not seller friendly ! In fact they are hurtful ! Some of the old ways better come back or ebay will not make it unless the sellers from china selling their junk keeps it going. And now they have let veit nam join ebay !!! Now that is a crock and I do not like that one bit

whatmorefabric · ‎10-07-2019

They need these changes to stay competitive.

The days of unique flea market fines are over. Young buyers are trying to figure out how to get rid of Mom and Pops junk, not buy it. They like Chinese junk. They want to be able to return things. They do not want to sit at the computer and sort throw listing after listing.

You would be much better off figuring out a new business model than coming here and howling at the moon. They are only doing what every other on line seller from Amazon to Etsy are doing.

muskingum_relics · ‎10-07-2019

have been been around a college campus lately ? I do not think you can accuse too many young people nowadays of being that smart ! And it is those vintage collectables sellers that made ebay not the chinease junk ! We are in the USA why not buy from here ?

suebqb1 · ‎10-07-2019

I have been on Ebay for 10 years now . I have seen a lot of changes. Some good some not so good.Right now I see Ebay chancing Amazon. I dont think that is a good idea. Then again They do have some great ideas . The problem is not all good ideas work for everyone. I have only a couple issues and the rest is just a learning curve. The hardest thing is being a small seller. I do every part by myself . I sell to supplement my income. When I started improving my sales was when I started using more keywords. It help me get found. Now that doesnt really matter cause people have caught on to it. Yet my sales are down from last year. The only two new changes I have problems with are Managed payments or now nick named mangled payments. and good till canceled on all fixed price items. Here is my reasons behind why I feel the way I do about the two programs. Managed payments. for a small seller is very hard. I spend my money that I get from buyers to pay the shipping. Without those funds there I have to dip into my disability check to cover them till I get enough sales to just have it funding you guys instead of me cause you never know when a return will happen and you have to pay for shipping. This defeats the purpose as I can not use my money when I want to. I do free returns. Im a Top Rated seller. I have a basic store. I do promoted listings and from time to time run sales.I write good and sometimes outstanding titles and fill in item specifics. I opt not to use the global shipping program cause as my items are light weight it saves them money from the mark up from the people that ship for us through the program. Good to canceled on all fixed priced listings. It just frustrates me. I feel that it is hurtful for us small part time sellers (which I believe started out as the bread and butter of Ebay) I have to watch my listings like a hawk to make sure that I dont go over my limit. Yet if you dont post daily or doing something with your store daily you drop in search results. Also if you dont change something on each item and it stay just the way it is your spot drops. I think it would be st if we could go back to a choice of how long those listings run. The reason behind that is my sales are low enough I can afford to move up to the next level of store. Another it allows me to rotate my stock skipping an item for a month or two. This allows it to look fresh and comes up as a new listing.I used that system for years with great success. This is just not really working for me. If it wasnt for Ebay I would not be able to go home for holidays and be with my family. My disability check just dosent allow for there to be extra money( another reason to do away with managed payments). With the decline in sales I have cut back on how often I go home and gifts are getting smaller and cheaper. I miss my thriving little business. There is a third item now that I think of it. Being I am hearing impaired . Can you please look at close captioning all classes and online stuff. I miss out on so much. I would love to talk to you on the phone about my concerns and share more one on one. I even have ideas to help some of this get fixed. Not that sellers get heard very often unless your one of the bigger ones. Us little guys should have equal say. Just my feelings and two cents into everything.Welcome back. I hope you can fix stuff. Maybe its just me but I hear the same from other seller with what I shared as a problem. I do hope you read this

Thanks Sue

aka suebqb1

muskingum_relics · ‎10-07-2019

Thank you Sue. those are my thoughts as well and many others. I have been a brick block and stone mason 40 years and still doing that with a broke back and sore everyday ! In Ohio we have some bad winters where weather sometimes prevents my kind of work. This year rain during the summer has kept me from putting a nest egg for those bad winter times ! Ebay has helped supplement income and I have depended on it to help get by, now ith all these changes sales and views and at a near standstill ! Something has to change real soon !

racingcollectablies · ‎10-07-2019

all of your ideas sound great. i am a seller for over 15 years here. but i do not see any of these ideas being put in action.

ebay has all but forgot about the small seller. this site used to be 100% of my sales, today it is about 25% as i have moved on to other sites.

dirk12955 · ‎10-07-2019

To the OP: You can ask or beg ebay to stop making changes that add to their bottom line.

They aren't going to listen. And seriously, Why would they?

Ebay is in business to make money. That's it. If the buyers and sellers are unwilling or unable to adjust to the
changes that have occurred, Then ebay will wave bye-bye to us in the rear view mirror as they drive away.

Maybe ebay will tank. Maybe enough sellers will leave to actually make some sort of difference.. Maybe that's all true and going to happen in the future. But what's important is today. This month, This quarter, This year.

The stockholders care little for the buyers and sellers on ebay. They care about the value of their stock and the dividend amount if there is one.

muskingum_relics · ‎10-07-2019

so far this year I have paid just under $6000 in ebay fees and if they want to wave bye bye to that then that is their option but it really does not make them too smart does it ? Plus if more feel the way I do then they really would be waving bye bye to lots of money !

divwido · ‎10-07-2019

How about let the Chinese sellers sell to China and let US sellers sell to the US? It would cut down on the useless lying listings for us and make it easier to be seen on eBay. And ban dropshipping.

Good Moms let you lick the Beaters.

Great Moms turn them off first.

muskingum_relics · ‎10-07-2019

that is a good idea that does not hurt my feelings one bit !!!

dirk12955 · ‎10-07-2019

@muskingum_relics wrote:
so far this year I have paid just under $6000 in ebay fees and if they want to wave bye bye to that then that is their option but it really does not make them too smart does it ? Plus if more feel the way I do then they really would be waving bye bye to lots of money !

I've given them about $4000.00 so far this year. Whether they're smart or not? No clue. Time will tell.

I remember all the sellers screaming when ebay forced us into taking Paypal. Now we're creaming that we're going to lose it.

The reality is that ebay only cares about ebay. We (The sellers) are not that important in the short term and the decision makers aren't concerned about the long term.

muskingum_relics · ‎10-07-2019

lol you are right when pay pal first came out I did not like it but it did not take long to like it because it worked and was fast n easy ! And sadly you are right about how ebay feels about the sellers and the sellers really ebay. it does boils down to this and they better wake up soon because there are many many unhappy sellers ! NO SELLERS =NO BUYERS =NO EBAY ! I just think if they had any sense at all they would bend some to fit more needs of the seller being shoved under the rug !

mvls1 · ‎10-07-2019

Therein lies the problem doesn't it. SHORT SIGHTEDNESS. Maybe they need a new pair of corrective lenses to see the long term properly? Could the new CEO possibly redirect EBay in the proper direction? Time will tell.