ebay advertising practices killing its own sales

[percgrabbe-0]

In general when you post an item thats very common and has a UPC what ebay does is try to send the buyer to a big box store sellers ebay page or another sellers page where the item is being sold for less money.

It also can drive them off ebay completely looking for a cheaper price. 

What this in many cases does is effectively end the chance of a buyer buying from a potential seller and if they see a big box seller or another seller sells it they may just be going directly to that big box sellers page or google to look up the price of an item and buying it elsewhere.

I know that ebay has agreements with many big box sellers but ebay and their sellers lose ultimately in regards to such deals as its directing traffic off of ebay if they start looking at other prices or to beat the price they see initially.  

Many sellers are not aware of this practice unless they log out and look up the items as if they are a buyer. 

[slippinjimmy]

As a buyer I'm always very happy when a merchant (or maketplace in the case of eBay) directs me to a product that fulfills my needs and costs less.

If I am a seller and have the lowest price on an item I'm very happy that eBay directs buyers to me instead of me possibly paying more than I need to.

How would you feel as a buyer if eBay directed you to an item that was more expensive than you needed to pay? Would you be return shopper? Would you say "I love eBay, they always ensure I pay more"?

eBay wants a sale to be made and the buyer to be happy with the merchandise and the price, funny thing that's the exact same thing most merchants want at least merchants who plan to be around and be successful for a long time.

[cargo11]

It's nothing personal against the sellers - I am sure for every "click-thru" that ebay makes a commission on the outside sales and more if it sells - they win - the big stores get a new customer and ebay collects fees and they do not have to deal with buyers through their own site after re-directing them someplace else - Big Win.  It's a profit thing and we might not enjoy that - but it is our choice if we stay or leave this venue.  Unless you have time for your own w eb site or other lo cations  to g o to - Ebay still provides the greatest number of listings and you have a chance to sell your listing here.