Adios Ebay.

[ammolitehunter]

I started my shop 10 ears ago selling quality ammolite jewelry and Ebay gave me my start for which I am grateful.

The business slowly grew over the years but so did the problems-- chief of which was Ebay allowing volume junk jewelry sellers to compete in the fine jewelry space--so much so in fact that Ebay gave precedence to the volume junk sellers and put mine and other sellers of fine jewelry way in the back of their listing precedence.

I wrote in many times about this but mostly got a deaf ear and nothing was done.

So four years ago I opened my own stand alone website and paid my way in Google ad adverts--and the website grew.

Today I am marketing top quality ammolite under my ammolite jewelry from canada name world wide and sales are very good indeed.

Meanwhile back here at Ebay my shop had dwindling sales because I was being lumped in with junk sellers and things were just going from bad to worse.

I am very glad I took the initiative four years ago to diversify and not rely on Ebay.

I now have my own shop and also list at another popular site that discourages mass junk sellers.

I will be closing my shop at Ebay shortly.

Good luck to all.

[nawlinsron2]

I just read on another thread why ebay allows China fakes. If true, it speaks volumes about the character of ebay.
Seems that fakes are ALLOWED in China....ergo, allowed on ebay.

[iart]

It's very clear that ebay would much prefer a $15 sale to a $300 sale.

Last week we had a $300 book up for auction (and it was priced very well but ebay hid is way back in the search reults). When it didn't sell ebay sent us a note suggesting we drop the price to $15.55.

We'd recycle it before we sold it that low.

Good luck!

[nawlinsron2]

ebay has a monkey on it's back...some call it the stock price.
They have to feed that monkey everyday. A sale is a sale is a sale...regardless how little profit/how much loss the seller takes.

[mistwomandancing]

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iart wrote:

It's very clear that ebay would much prefer a $15 sale to a $300 sale.

---

I think it's more a case of eBay preferring a thousand $15 sales to only five $300 sales.

Sales has always been a Numbers Game.  For eBay, this pays off for them many times over. 

Like the story of the little boy who would always choose the nickel over the dime when offered his choice.  The man showing his friends over and over how stupid the kid was, always offering him the choice of the nickel or the dime. 

Finally somebody asked the kid "didn't he know a nickel was worth only half as much as the dime?"... to which the kid replied that of course he knew that, but if he started taking the dimes, that would end the string of free nickels! 

[leadgard9]

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@iart wrote:

It's very clear that ebay would much prefer a $15 sale to a $300 sale.

Last week we had a $300 book up for auction (and it was priced very well but ebay hid is way back in the search reults). When it didn't sell ebay sent us a note suggesting we drop the price to $15.55.

We'd recycle it before we sold it that low.

Good luck!

---

What's the point of an auction, if you're starting your prices at what you want to sell them at? Just do a buy it now at that point. You're wasting auction space.  They aren't suggesting you sell it for $15.55. They are suggesting you START it at $15.55. If you're stuff isn't being bid up, then no one wants to buy it for that price, and therefor it isn't worth that price. That's how markets work.

[tunicaslot]

Your jewelry is beautiful - wish I could afford it - good luck in the future.

[d-k_treasures]

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@mistwomandancing wrote:

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@iart wrote:

It's very clear that ebay would much prefer a $15 sale to a $300 sale.

---

I think it's more a case of eBay preferring a thousand $15 sales to only five $300 sales.

Sales has always been a Numbers Game.  For eBay, this pays off for them many times over. 

---

And 800 unhappy buyers when they realize that they bought cheap chinese junk vs. 0 unhappy buyers when they actually get what was advertised and not have to wait 2-3 weeks to find out they bought fake gold or sterling jewelry.

All that 'fine jewelry' contents change was for was to allow the chinese sellers to list there. And it will end up killing the entire category.

[castlemagicmemories]

OP, your story makes me feel very sad.

I understand you have to do what you have to do, but every seller like this that leaves is a loss to Ebay.  Quality is leaving when that happens.

I am so sorry but am very glad that things are going well for you otherwise.

I wish you all the best always!

[d-k_treasures]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

OP, your story makes me feel very sad.

I understand you have to do what you have to do, but every seller like this that leaves is a loss to Ebay.  Quality is leaving when that happens.

I am so sorry but am very glad that things are going well for you otherwise.

I wish you all the best always!

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And ebay couldn't care less. They'll just let another chinese seller fire up another 10 ID's to sell the fake stuff.

[iart]

Many of our items are rare and value is unknown. We start our auctions well under what we suspect the value is. But there aren't always enough bidders especially when ebay reduces visibility in favor of mass-market junk.

And the best way to sell a $300 item for $15 is to start it off at $15.

We're not new here.

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@leadgard9 wrote:

---

---

What's the point of an auction, if you're starting your prices at what you want to sell them at? Just do a buy it now at that point. You're wasting auction space.  They aren't suggesting you sell it for $15.55. They are suggesting you START it at $15.55. If you're stuff isn't being bid up, then no one wants to buy it for that price, and therefor it isn't worth that price. That's how markets work.

---

[mistwomandancing]

---

There have been a lot of good businesses who got their start here on eBay, and then developed a good strong presence online in their own right, with their own website!  Congratulations to the OP and continued good luck!

Deciding where to position your business, how many sites to maintain a presence on, what to offer at each venue, etc. is a lot of work.  When you specialize in one certain area, sometimes it allows you to scale down one place at the same time you're expanding in another area.   And eBay is so VAST that competition is tremendous at nearly every level, with the more expensive merchandise occupying a higher level in the overall pyramid in pricing.  When you are buried under so much here, sometimes you just need to assess and choose whether to stay or move on, as is best for you. 

[mistwomandancing]

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d-k_treasures wrote:

All that 'fine jewelry' contents change was for was to allow the chinese sellers to list there. And it will end up killing the entire category.

---

Yes, it could. 

Although, the few times I'm looking for *fine jewelry* for gift giving for offspring or the grands, I tend to sort by price, and then sweep upward  through the cheapie stuff quickly.  I always check it out with an eye to the good item offered at a exceedingly nice price by a U.S. seller that can otherwise get lost amid the lower quality / lower priced offerings, but my purchases are almost never found in amongst the inexpensive listings, and.. not from China. 

I know awhile back, well, quite awhile back now... Etsy also opened the floodgates to merchandise from China, under the explanation that it had been created by hand and was, therefore, qualifying as *handmade / handcrafted* and worthy of the site.  YUK.  Strung together by hand with cheap labor, likely, and using cheap materials.  sigh...

[themagicmountain]

Yours is a story I've seen and heard too often here.

Unfortunately, I think something is going on like the USPS situation? They aren'trdoing well, and to prop up the balance sheet they took money from Americans and subsidized cheap Chinese postage, which gave the Chinese a huge advantage over American small business. 

The Chinese and junk dealers are being allowed to take over categories with fake junk, flood categories with multiple listings, and much more, and wiping out American businesses on Ebay. The USPS has a big hand in all this, subsidizing their cheap postage with money from the American public.

I am not going to tar and feather Ebay though

The Amzon/Wall Street collusion in creating a retail monopoly is hurting lots of American businesses, and Ebay is included in that. 

[cinjamanbooks]

Yep, we noticed that when we recently came into some rings.  It is very difficult to even get noticed in the jewelry category on here with the very high content of mass Chinese sellers.

By the way, your jewelry is absolutely gorgeous.