Discussion: The Modern Buyer: How Baby Boomers and Generation Xers Shop Now

[scene.of.the.crop]

Hi, everyone!

We’ve posted our next installment in “The Modern Buyer” blog series where we are exploring the current global shopping habits of the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and Generation Xers (born between 1965 and 1980)—two generational groups that pioneered eBay in 1995.  As part of our four-part blog series that started earlier this month, we’re continuing to dive deep into the shopping experience today’s buyers expect, and what this means for eBay sellers. Let us know how are you thinking about the direction for your business in the short and long term as it relates to new buying behaviors.

I’m Jennifer Deal, eBay Seller Marketing Manager, and I’ll be popping in and out of this thread to answer your questions over the next couple of days. We also did a Facebook Live discussion on this topic, be sure to check it out:

Join the discussion below!

[gramophone-georg]

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@scene.of.the.crop wrote:

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@sharingtheland wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

@retrose1 wrote:

ebay does not.  Had a recent buyer that lives less than 3 miles from me and I sent an email after they paid asking if the wanted me to drop it off or meet someplace to pick it up and ebay censored it and sent me an off ebay transaction warning for trying to save the buyer a pile of shipping bucks.

@retrosel - This is a tough situation. Your intention was to help a nearby customer save on shipping and time but if your listing didn't offer local pickup then it does fall outside of the policy. 

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Maybe this has already been addressed; I'm only on page 5 or 6 of this thread.  I'm sure rose has responded and I'll see it.   

But this was a paid and completed transaction.  So these warnings are sent for communications both before and after a sale?  There is no distinction?   What sense does that make?

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@sharingtheland

The specific case was that an email was sent to the buyer after they paid asking for arrangements for drop off or pick up of the item. I don't have the details of the listing but if local pick up was not offered, then the conversation is noticed because there is a  different process than what was set up in the listing. 

As @ittybittyattic pointed out in the thread (I once bought a pair of shoes from someone in my same town and found that they stuffed them in my mailbox. Wrapped in plastic bag. They pocketed the shipping) there are other scenarios where the intent is not on par. 

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ittybittyattic's example didn't need any contact whatsoever through eBay messages to happen.

There are always outliers. Always. Trying to eliminate all the outliers always results in plugging up the works.

[gramophone-georg]

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@sharingtheland wrote:

@sharingtheland

The specific case was that an email was sent to the buyer after they paid asking for arrangements for drop off or pick up of the item. I don't have the details of the listing but if local pick up was not offered, then the conversation is noticed because there is a  different process than what was set up in the listing. 

From brian.t in Weekly Chat yesterday, 1-24:

Once a transaction is complete and payment has been made, you can share contact information with the seller in order to arrange payment. 

Can you see how sellers get confused?  Did brian.t mean "share contact information with the seller* in order to arrange pickup?"

Either way, he states that:  "Once a transation is complete and payment has been made, you can share contact information..."     No mention of bots trolling for words that indicate "different processes."

Other than ebay's fee on shipping, what difference would it make to ebay how the item was delivered to the buyer as long as it was satisfactory and beneficial for the buyer?  

Again, this is a respectfully submitted question on behalf of sellers who are mightily concerned.

*buyer ??

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I can tell you from personal experience as a buyer that brian.t's info may be how it's SUPPOSED to work but it isn't how it ACTUALLY works. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@sharingtheland wrote:

  The parents of the grandtwins research/shop online, using both phones and computers.  They are Gen X'ers, barely, make a lot of money, shop constantly, and are absolute wizards with both phones and computers.  They do not ever look at ebay.  For sure not for preowned, vintage or collectible and not for new items.

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My oldest son and his wife are in their early 30s with a 6 figure income. Highly educated with five bachelors degrees and two masters between them.  Son works for a MAJOR computer software company, and my daughter-in-law has her own graphic design business. They KNOW how to use the internet and have every connected device imaginable. 

They bought their first house a couple years ago and furnished it all MCM, and bought a lot of stuff from a website that begins with E, and it wasn't Ebay. I asked him why they didn't consider shopping on Ebay, and I quote:

"Mom, I know you sell things there so don't take this the wrong way, but Ebay is full of scammers and fakes.  We want the real thing, not fake, and we want to be able to shop without all the hassle. I can't find anything on Ebay without wading through junk."

Ebay, this is your reputation among educated buyers with money. This is why I'm embarassed to tell people I sell here. Why not do something to change that instead of constantly catering to buyers with "more time than money" and sellers of fake and substandard merchandise?

[sharingtheland]

Exactly my point, sweet tea.  

Occasionally, make that closer to rarely, my oldest will ask me if something on ebay is "legit."  She could be asking about either the item or the seller.

The other two, mentioned above, don't even ever ask.

PS - Mine are like yours; their jobs involve sitting in front of computers all day and the sophistication/technical levels of what they do/use are not available to us commoners.

[gramophone-georg]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

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@sharingtheland wrote:

  The parents of the grandtwins research/shop online, using both phones and computers.  They are Gen X'ers, barely, make a lot of money, shop constantly, and are absolute wizards with both phones and computers.  They do not ever look at ebay.  For sure not for preowned, vintage or collectible and not for new items.

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My oldest son and his wife are in their early 30s with a 6 figure income. Highly educated with five bachelors degrees and two masters between them.  Son works for a MAJOR computer software company, and my daughter-in-law has her own graphic design business. They KNOW how to use the internet and have every connected device imaginable. 

They bought their first house a couple years ago and furnished it all MCM, and bought a lot of stuff from a website that begins with E, and it wasn't Ebay. I asked him why they didn't consider shopping on Ebay, and I quote:

"Mom, I know you sell things there so don't take this the wrong way, but Ebay is full of scammers and fakes.  We want the real thing, not fake, and we want to be able to shop without all the hassle. I can't find anything on Ebay without wading through junk."

Ebay, this is your reputation among educated buyers with money. This is why I'm embarassed to tell people I sell here. Why not do something to change that instead of constantly catering to buyers with "more time than money" and sellers of fake and substandard merchandise?

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Hammer, meet nail head.

I can't tell you how many horror stories I've heard in my niche of beginning collectors who bought an "antique" outside horn gramophone on eBay that was made in India last week, or expensive fake parts that wound up being junk.

eBay even FEATURES these "reproductions" that, according to "policy", are strictly "not allowed"!

[professor-t]

Just to give you an example of how the generalizations are loads of meaningless fluff:

I am 69.  I needed to buy a gift for my 92 year old mother.  She collects thimbles.  We somtimes shop at Antique Malls, but I knew she wanted something unique.  I looked on eBay and found a fascinating silver thimble of a design I had never seen.  I bought it and she was delighted.  My wife and I do a lot of our buying online.  We look to Amazon for new stuff and eBay for interesting and vintage items.  I sometimes look in other sites (alibris, Etsy, etc...) for the odd and unusual.

My problems tend to be with people who can't put down their smartphones long enough to deal with the real world.  

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@sharingtheland wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

@retrose1 wrote:

ebay does not.  Had a recent buyer that lives less than 3 miles from me and I sent an email after they paid asking if the wanted me to drop it off or meet someplace to pick it up and ebay censored it and sent me an off ebay transaction warning for trying to save the buyer a pile of shipping bucks.

@retrosel - This is a tough situation. Your intention was to help a nearby customer save on shipping and time but if your listing didn't offer local pickup then it does fall outside of the policy. 

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Maybe this has already been addressed; I'm only on page 5 or 6 of this thread.  I'm sure rose has responded and I'll see it.   

But this was a paid and completed transaction.  So these warnings are sent for communications both before and after a sale?  There is no distinction?   What sense does that make?

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Sherry, it has been said that warnings don't go out post sale but some havbeen receiving these warnings post sale as threads have attested to this.  The latest one was by gopete, but she was not the only one that has posted about this.  I brought this forward at Chat yesterday.  

I apologize again for leaving out the word out, when I said, this was NOT directed at you.  Without the word NOT, it said, it WAS directed at you, so I am so sorry about my typo!

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Sherry, it's ok. The comment was directed at me, not you. All is good.

[hioctane62]

I have purposely avoided this thread and not read any of it, but I just wanted to say this before it gets locked.

My first thought when I read "How Baby Boomers and Generation Xers Shop Now" was; Maybe they need to learn how to shop, rather than us re-learning how to sell.

[tunicaslot]

I don't think the shopping problem is with boomers per se but late gen x-ers and millenials.

I use to say that my kids never bought on here - but in the last couple of years - they've been buying new items on Amazon but buying older items that are out of print or can't be found on Ebay - one is a Gen x and one's a millenial. 

Although we don't have the amt of people shopping here like we use to 20 yrs ago - that is bound to happen. People gravitate toward the new and what their friends are wearing, doing and using. It's not the end game for Ebay - and the demise of Ebay has been going on for years now - heck - I was one of the ones that swore with every change - Ebay was going down - I was wrong and am very happy that I was wrong.

[tev4all]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

I don't think the shopping problem is with boomers per se but late gen x-ers and millenials.

I use to say that my kids never bought on here - but in the last couple of years - they've been buying new items on Amazon but buying older items that are out of print or can't be found on Ebay - one is a Gen x and one's a millenial. 

Although we don't have the amt of people shopping here like we use to 20 yrs ago - that is bound to happen. People gravitate toward the new and what their friends are wearing, doing and using. It's not the end game for Ebay - and the demise of Ebay has been going on for years now - heck - I was one of the ones that swore with every change - Ebay was going down - I was wrong and am very happy that I was wrong.

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Valid points. 

  The genxers an milliniels were growing up  seeing/hearing the problems ,mom, dad, aunt, uncle, g'ma, g'dad or legal guardian were having with the site and  now don't want to get envolved with what may go wrong here now.

All the while ebay was grappling at trying a "better" way of getting those problems under control with changing things around, disruptively innovating the site in spurts and constantly trying to mimic another, The big A was buying up relevant companies that would compliment their actual inventory, branching out to systems that people wanted, (they understood what their members were saying and working towards making intelligent choices to make the noise be silenced).  More than books on the site, they did IT. Reduced shipping costs, they figured IT out. Wow, we have all these dvds in the warehouse, let's figure a way to get some cash from them. guess what, they did that too. I imagine if they had gotten their hands on skype they would have figured a way to monetize that too. Let's not  forget funding/producing original online video content.  That Bezo ain't no Bozo.

[tev4all]

 Don't get me wrong, I'm happy ebay is still here also, Couldn't and still can't afford A's fees as a hobbyist. I like ebay, I just don't love IT. 

[scene.of.the.crop]

Hello! Thank you all for your participation in this second chat about The Modern Buyer, baby boomers and Gen X.  On behalf of my team, we appreciate the constructive conversation, ideas and all comments. We know you're taking time out of your day to be engaged, and we appreciate that!

I’m wrapping up the conversation, but look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks when we discuss the next generation in our series, the Millennials. 

If you haven't already, check out the chat I had with Griff yesterday on Facebook. The recording is linked below and pinned at the top of this thread.

Enjoy the rest of your week!