Why is Ebay pushing out the small independent sellers?

[treasurequeen916]

How many more increases to fees and stores subscribtions - raising a store subscription that I was recently renewed for a year.  You guys don't even have your customer services here in the USA so we know you are saving millions why don't cut corners and pay your top execitives less then pull money out of the small independant sellers!   It's bad enough we have to compete with all the oversees sellers, you offer very little reward to us, I am not happy

[Anonymous]

Hi treasurequeen916,

Thank you for your feedback.  In case you are not aware, we have waived the early termination fee from now until June 4th, 2016 on yearly subscriptions.  If you downgrande or cancel your yearly subscription there will be no fee for doing so.

Thank you for being an eBay seller,

Shelley

@treasurequeen916 wrote:

How many more increases to fees and stores subscribtions - raising a store subscription that I was recently renewed for a year.  You guys don't even have your customer services here in the USA so we know you are saving millions why don't cut corners and pay your top execitives less then pull money out of the small independant sellers!   It's bad enough we have to compete with all the oversees sellers, you offer very little reward to us, I am not happy

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[jadedjypsy]

I think this is a pretty hefty increase for a Basic Store Subscription. It doesn't really look like we are receiving any extras at basic level for this increase. 

[lakotak]

I was just kicking around the idea of maybe having a basic store.  Well, this increase just kicked that idea out the backdoor.

[hewhohasanear · Accepted solution]

ur friends....in order to maintain your sanity, please keep the following in mind:

1. eBay is trying to be the next Yahoo and/or Amazon
2. They increasingly cater to the mega-seller retailers who want to sell old/slow-moving stock
3. The above group is their main meal-ticket, the mom & pops that made eBay, are more of a nuisance than anything else....and they (eBay) are, in our opinion, looking to weed those folks out...and push the public toward one of their Mega-auction "partners"...Deep Discounts and alike...and the "listing assistants" or whatever they are calling them.  They are large retailers that recognize the size and revenue to be gained from the secondary market, otherwise they wouldn't be participating.
4. They don't care about:
   
   1. You & Family
   2. Your business
   3. To believe anything else, in the face of what eBay has become over the past 10 years, is madness
5. Whatever and whomever depends on an eBay revenue stream must come to grips that the grassroots eBay has died.  It has been replaced by a regime who cares only about the bottom line, their stockholders and the directional re-positioning of their existence into THE Big-box outlet store.

So our mission is to help people understand this in order to minimize the impact of the ever changing environment on their sanity, and the impact on the family kitchen table of eBay sellers everywhere.

That is all - HeWhoHasAnEar  (wish eBay had an ear by the way.....or at least a hearing aid)

[labs118]

And so there is your answer
ebay is just fine with all the little USA sellers just cancelling their stores
See they like Big Box stores, China who invades the vintage categories with there copies, and all other categories with junk , the  Mobile device purchases
Not the little mom & pops that made it the great company It Used To Be, you know the ones that the CEO wants to find stuff from their attics & closets to sell. Because ebay isn't trying to compete with that other online market place. It has it's own special niche
Sadly You are preaching to the choir  

So as Shelley has kindly pointed out you can go ahead & cancel your store
Thanks for making ebay what it is today

[Anonymous]

Hi labs118,

Thanks for your comments.  My reply was to not to encourage sellers to cancel their stores.  My reply was to address a concern that a recent renewal on of  a yearly subscription could result in fees.  While we do not want to have sellers cancel their stores it is important for them to know that if they do we will not penalize them.  

Thanks,

Shelley

@labs118 wrote:

And so there is your answer
ebay is just fine with all the little USA sellers just cancelling their stores
See they like Big Box stores, China who invades the vintage categories with there copies, and all other categories with junk , the  Mobile device purchases
Not the little mom & pops that made it the great company It Used To Be, you know the ones that the CEO wants to find stuff from their attics & closets to sell. Because ebay isn't trying to compete with that other online market place. It has it's own special niche
Sadly You are preaching to the choir  

So as Shelley has kindly pointed out you can go ahead & cancel your store
Thanks for making ebay what it is today

---

[theheadphonecompany]

eBay has some SEVERE problems, and while we all hope (in vain it seems) that the NEXT seller update will fix these issues, all they are are money grabs specifically from the sellers that can least afford them.

I've been on eBay as a seller since 1998, and this pattern NEVER changes.

eBay like any publicly traded company has to focus on stock price. While its still early in his tenure, this CEO isnt much better (so far) then the last (for smaller sellers). eBay stock hasnt - and probably will not (at least any time soon) cross the $30 a share mark (while Amazon is at $300+). That says an awful lot, and now that eBay is borrowing money for what ever operations they speak about in their statements, they need to convince Wall Street and lenders that they are a "relevant player" (read be #2) in online commerce.

With Jet and Walmart nipping at their heels, and eBays outright refusal to change the worst parts of its platform (search, VERO, Chinese Sellers, platform stability, returns) all eBay can do is show increased profits - and since listings have become mostly FREE, traffic is down for most people around %35, and business in general is off more then that  - these fee increases are what eBay can show Wall street. Its just that simple.

Most of eBays management arent in the same "real world" the rest of us are in. When we get a liar buyer, when we get stolen from - it hurts and it hurts badly. Yes, ew can all prepare for that once in a blue moon loss, but not sustained losses from eBays beloved buyers.

There are also 2 other issues. 1) most eBay employees do not have to live off selling on eBay and so they dont know/care about "us" 2) a good portion of eBay employees have no retail/wholesale/etail/big box experience. They dont understand that (as an example) that most manufacturers have limited or NO returns. Therefore forcing (dont do it and you loose your status) returns in alot of cases simply means the seller eats that item ie takes the loss. And its all because of "buyer remorse" or "I saw a better price somewhere else" etc.

Its not that eBay is on an active witch hunt, its that smaller sellers simply "arent worth the trouble" and therefore if they leave - as eBay tells anyone who will listen - there are a billion more sellers just waiting out there to become eBay sellers - so the "net loss" (in their minds) is sustainable.

eBay doesnt believe in the "build it (something great) and they will come" motto/business plan. eBay's plan is "become Amazon lite". While alot of us recognize that those ideas are NOT what made/makes eBay great, eBays management doesnt see it that way, not at all.

eBay has 32,000 employees and only god in his heaven knows what they all do all day. Certainly they arent providing A+ class customer service, and from the recent spate of outtages, they arent fixing eBays programming either so - your guess what they do all day is as good as mine.

But its easier to squeeze the smaller sellers for more cash then to reduce the "head count". BTW, reducing the head count of some senior management (most of those who have no real experience) wouldnt hurt either - but that will never happen.

eBay also needs to raise funds for the NEXT golden parachute that they have comming form whom ever leavs next (you know - the one(s) who cant get the stock over $30) adn $23million is ALOT of fvfs - better off just raise the store pricing and give nothing in return.

We can all complain till we are blue in the face, but it wont change. Those in charge with no experience INSIST they no better then the rest of us (with experiences being we are in the trenches) so nothing will ever change.

[alexnbj]

The extra listing promotions they used to give were very helpful to small businesses that don't have the volume to become a "store", and would actually lose money having to pay a monthly charge on top of the Final Value Fees and PayPal fees.

As it has grown, eBay has developed a reputation of being store-friendly, and giving low priority to the mom & pop sellers that made eBay what it is today, but the promotions gave us a little parity, and supported the kind of American small business that Pierre Omidyar had in mind when he started the person to person business in 1995. 

Now it's become a major fiefdom with a paranoid management's bottom line being the primary goal. In fact, some of the rules and policies are of little benefit....and sometimes an absolute inhibitor....to the success of a small business.

The discontinuation of listing promotions, as well as some of the constraints eBay puts on sellers, is changing the face of America's small company online trade, and I hope the decision makers are proud of themselves to be putting people out of business in favor of the big moneyed stores.

I can't think that Mr Omidyar would be pleased at some of the practices in place.

[alexnbj]

I had given a similar answer to another mom & pop seller, but I then saw your comment.  You really put it all together, and every point you make is spot on.

Some of the rules and policies are so inhibitive to the success of small sellers that I almost suspect some are not even legal (forcing a seller who wants to add a Buy-it-Now option on an item to make it 30% higher than the listing price? Are there buyers who are crazy to pay a 30% premium?).

Forcing returns on a seller who is not Bloomingdales, and shouldn't have to cave to buyer's remorse is another thorn in our paw. 

I don't think Mr Omidyar would be happy with the kind of Nazi tactics of post-Pierre eBay.

[twnpopcards]

---

@alexnbj wrote:

The extra listing promotions they used to give were very helpful to small businesses that don't have the volume to become a "store", and would actually lose money having to pay a monthly charge on top of the Final Value Fees and PayPal fees.

As it has grown, eBay has developed a reputation of being store-friendly, and giving low priority to the mom & pop sellers that made eBay what it is today, but the promotions gave us a little parity, and supported the kind of American small business that Pierre Omidyar had in mind when he started the person to person business in 1995. 

Now it's become a major fiefdom with a paranoid management's bottom line being the primary goal. In fact, some of the rules and policies are of little benefit....and sometimes an absolute inhibitor....to the success of a small business.

The discontinuation of listing promotions, as well as some of the constraints eBay puts on sellers, is changing the face of America's small company online trade, and I hope the decision makers are proud of themselves to be putting people out of business in favor of the big moneyed stores.

I can't think that Mr Omidyar would be pleased at some of the practices in place.

---

Unfortunately Ebay is now a publicly traded company whose only thoughts are improving the bottom line and the stock price so the shareholders are happy.  They no longer care about their customers, employees or suppliers, just those numbers as their continued employment and salaries are based on these facts.  

What they don't realize is that without the mom and pops around not only as sellers but as buyers, those mega stores that they want selling for them won;t have a customer base to sell to.  As things have changed on Ebay I will admit my buying habits have changed also.  I no longer buy the majority of my online purchases on Ebay but utilize the other site I sell on (my sales tripled there last month) as well as Amazon for most of the items I need as many of the sellers I used to buy from are no longer on Ebay.  In fact one that I buy a lot of my pet supplies from has a website and I save more using that than I do getting my ebay bucks on here, so I switched.

David

Twnpopcards

[alexnbj]

They've been publicly traded for a long time. The trouble is that the people who make decisions about the buying/selling have never sold a thing in their lives, and the policies/rules are totally counter productive to smaller businesses' success. I sell pre-owned apparel & accessories, so I'm limited in venues. As a buyer, I prefer smaller business sellers or specific websites. I like Chewy.com for pet supplies. May not be the cheapest but great to deal with and fast shipping.

[angie19730_3]

WELL SAID!!!!!! THE PAST 2 YEARS WENT TO NO MATTER WHAT ,THE BUYER IS RIGHT.CATERING TO BUYERS SO MUCH SO THAT THEY LEARNED ALL THEY HAD/HAVE TO DO IS SIMPLY SAY,IT SMELLS..I  AM  SAD IN AS MUCH AS I QUIT WORKING,RETIRED TO DO EBAY.WENT GREAT FOR SOME TIME. ATTITUDES AND GREED SET IN- MORE HOOPS TO JUMPR THRU,ONE ITEM THAT THE USPS DID NOT GET THERE IN TIME, ONE ITEM CANCELLED, OR ONE ITEM JUST NOT RIGHT AND YOU LOST YOUR TOP RATED STATUS FOR OVER A YEAR. JUST A LITTLE BIT RIDICULOUS.ANY THING NOT TO LOOSE THAT PROMISED 20%  FOR TOP RATED.WELL ,WE'LL MAKE IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO GET. THAT 10% COLLECTED ON SHIPPING CAME OFF MY SALE AS WELL. YOU ARE RIGHT-GOING FOR THE MEGA SELLERS NOW. SO MANY ERRORS IN BUSINESS.JUST ABOUT DONE NOW WITH EBAY.- MAYBE A RARE FIND.THE PRICES DROPPED SO MUCH BECAUSE THERE WAS THIS INSANE,YOU MUST SELL BLANK TO MAINTAIN TOP RATED,BUYERS WANT GARAGE SALES PRICES..tHAT'S MY 2 CENTS.

[alexnbj]

Worth a lot more than two-cents! You're spot on with every point. Their greed and desire to control everything has changed the eBay selling experience 100%. The 30% Buy-it-Now rule has done me in, as well as falling all over themselves to please the buyer. I do not accept returns because it opens me up to so much buyer fraud, as you said. We're not Bloomingdales! But they still allow it....I'd love to see them tell the electric company how to charge customers....

[theheadphonecompany]

There are alot of things that are quasi illegal on eBay (in eBays TOS), and eBay counts on their being 5000x bigger then you , to make sure they never get challenged.

Im not a lawyer (I just play one on eBay), but I've had to learn alot about copyright and trademark law just to protect myself from the vultures over in VERO (which btw takes money from manufacturers to remove listings)(An eBay pink or blue will say Im wrong, but it happened in front of my with my issues with Skullcandy. "Remove all unknown/approved sellers (since they MUST be selling fakes) and we will create a platinum store on eBay). That deal ran just shy of being fraud (but I digress).

eBay knows you wont sue them - it would be so difficult and expensive - no matter what you won, it would still be a loss - they know this and rely on this fact. The dont have alot of high powered lawyers on the payroll for nothing.

Im not interested in suing eBay, Ive weathered their VERO **bleep** and Im still here (while Skullcandy is not btw!). Im ONLY interested in eBays concentrating on getting back to being a solid platform for good, honest decent sellers to sell on, nothing else.

I expect the $23million golden parachute nonesence - it happens everywhere - in alot of major companies. That the man who got it didnt deserve it ... ? thats the stupidity of eBays board of directors. They are the same people who approve of hiring execs to run a company with no practical experience (in the field of ecommerce), so what can you expect?  "He knows/knew where the bodies were buried (not real bodies - its an expression)" and so he got paid off.

BUT, none of that has anything to do with the Spring Seller RIpoff, eBays day to day choices on how they run things, or my decisions on what I post for sale.

The shame of it is, I used to LOVE eBay. I liked it more the Griff does now - and I dont get a salary from them. I used to move TONNAGE on eBay. I posted items and they would be gone in hours, now ... not so much ... at all - it takes WEEKS.

Each time eBay pushes me away (stupid returns rules, annoying and illegal VERO issues, increased costs for less return), it just makes me post more on Amazon.

I have no love for Amazon (or anywhere else) but Im determined also NOT to run from eBay just because they raised the store seller fees (AGAIN).

If they want to ban active content on their site - its their loss - not mine. eBay will (AGAIN) just not be a cool place (visa via the listings) to visit to buy something. Amazon has video reviews and other video content - not sure why eBay decided to disallow it - but as I dont do it myself its not a threat to me - its just ODD/WEIRD.

But thats eBay "modus operandi" ... do the wrong thing, do it backasswards, anger the very sellers you rely on. You would think that it would be smart to NOT do these things - but eBay likes to be "King Midas in Reverse" (to quote the Hollies).

Smaller independant sellers are what used to give eBay its flavor, and thats changed - years ago - that change goes back to 2007 and the last CEO. eBay brass seem to be OK with it, since the new CEOs seller outreach - seems mostly be towards your wallet and not to your heart/brain.

I want eBay to suceed, I really do. Id love to be all passionate about eBay again, but it doesnt seem eBay wants or needs that from me - or anyone I know.

So, it is what it is. They get an extra few dollars from me a quarter, I keep posting a majority of my items ELSEWHERE, and we all go on as if it never happened.

The greates trick eBay ever played was convincing sellers that they care.