EBAY OR AMAZON?

[aecisouth]

I just noticed during a search in eBay for an item we have listed the search results now include "2 new and refurbished from $18.00" and when you click on that it brings you to a screen I've never seen before in ebay that's starting to look a lot like Amazon.

Heck eBay wants to be Amazon so badly they have convinced me 100% to move everything we can from eBay over to Amazon and with 5400+ listings worth a total of $661,516.99 it's going to take a little while but looks like it will be worth it.

I mean we'll always need ebay to sell an old pair of sneakers and all but Amazon seems to be where it's at.  They did what 139 BILLION in revenue in 2016 compared to 8.9 for eBay?

Hopefully we can finish this before the March 2018 deadline when eBay is going to start removing our listings for the company logo on the photos we use to keep people from capitolizing on our hard work and excellelt photos by stealing them and using them to replace their crummy photos.

Thanks eBay for showing us the light, you guys are just awesome!

[stonevintage]

IMO it would be better if Ebay went back to selling rare, preowned hard to get items and left the sellers of new items to other venues.  This here, has just become a mess for all.

http://www.skipmcgrath.com/articles/amazon-vs-ebay.shtml

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

I can always tell when a seller is drop shipping from Amazon too, so it just takes me over to Amazon, and sure enough, it's listed $5-10 cheaper there. I bought two huge clothes racks off Amazon, and they were listed on Ebay for about $50 more. I order two, they were wrapped in cellophane shrink wrap and a thin cardboard box. Needless to say, they were damaged beyond use. I open a return on Amazon, they have me drop off at UPS and scans the return form, and I had my money back.

I wonder had I bought on Ebay, would they have been shipped better? Probably not, it was probably a drop shipper, but I would have had to wait a heck of a lot long to get my money back. Both kind of suck at some things, and are better for other. Overall, I've had the WORST luck on Amazon. But their refund policy is pretty nice.

[swenson8781]

I agree @stonevintage

It is unfortunate that eBay didn't/doesn't capitalize more on their used items.  They are a unique site with regards to that and their size.  There are other 'used' sales sites, just not near as well-known/visited.  Instead, from what I can see, they have spent a lot of time trying to compete with an online seller that is not in the same market.  That would be similar to me trying to compete with Walmart.

If they wanted to focus on both new & used items, they could've have easily created eBay - used and eBay - new, on 2 completely different sites.  Had that been done initially, they might have had a better chance competing overall.

[l888finds]

eBay is great for out of print, vintage, rare, collectables, semi-custom, or custom stuff. Or for seller that likes to have more flair/personality for their listings. 

While Amazon is more geared towards items that are currently in production (or those that you can get a ample supply of), and simply competes on the lowest total price with 0 personality for making a listing.

I hope that eBay do not become fundamentally like Amazon, as that would be pretty sad. 

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

The only consistent thing I buy on Amazon is this random dog ball my dog is crazy for. It's the cheapest place I can find them and their expensive. Of course I have a dog with expensive tastes, but that's like 98% of my purchase history there.

Everything else, I come here to look first. It's going to be a super hard habit to break if I decide to quit Ebay for good.

[stonevintage]

Amazon gives new customers a free 90 day trial on their prime.  They do this every year - which means that the holiday shopper can take advantage of this every holiday season. Like competes with like.  

Any questions?  We long term sellers never wanted to or expected to compete this time of year, except for what we are known for.  New retail sellers (of new items) apparently do... but this venue continues to do best for unique, one of a kind sales and frankly..... we that have been buried in 90% NOT unique or one of a kind and really wish (mega sellers new items and China) complainers would go to a more appropriate selling venue cause you're killing ours.

This never was the best place for you.  Go to other venues and compete with your like kind and leave us to try to recover OUR venue.....

[stonevintage]

Hi Fly - don't mean my previous post to be directed to you at all. Just a vent and I hit reply and responded to the wrong person.  I to have a hard time shopping anywhere else but Ebay first, but I do when I have to:)

[coolections]

I don't understand why everyone always want to compare Ebay to Amazon right before they move on over there to the greener pastures. Good luck over there.

[stonevintage]

swenson - absolutely... their  paying attention and making any effort to keep their core values...  would have prevented Etsy, Bonanza from coming to be and the Chinese (including those middleman reshippers) PLUS bulk buyers from Alibaba etc from totally destroying this venue.

What I don't get... is why there's not someone out here that is willing to create a site that will not yield to the highest bidder..... and change the values of their site for short term stock yields.

[ted_200]

If they wanted to focus on both new & used items, they could've have easily created eBay - used and eBay - new, on 2 completely different sites.  Had that been done initially, they might have had a better chance competing overall.

They actually did that, it was called eBayExpress and it died a slow and tortured death, it got shut down after a couple of years.  A lot of the initial "improvements" that started happening here in 2008 were recycled ideas from eBayExpress. 

It's all geared toward competing with Amazon...

 "2 new and refurbished from $18.00" and when you click on that it brings you to a screen I've never seen before in ebay that's starting to look a lot like Amazon.

... and that's why it looks more and more like Amazon.  And WalMart online.  Catalog pages, product reviews and user Q&A banter sections... pre-filled product specifications with disclaimers...

One site could support multiple market segments... used vs. new, BIN vs. Auctions, vintage vs. cheap overseas reproductions.   The problem One of the problems with eBayExpress was using a different URL and not directly taking advantage of the huge traffic numbers already on eBay.  But you have to integrate these market segments correctly so that buyers with different needs can still separate them. 

eBayExpress was not integrated enough.  What they're doing now is integrating it using a blender.  You can't stuff a pile of 99¢ + Free junk from China into your vintage store, you can't put antiques & collectibles in the middle of a giant WalMart, you can't try to run an Auction on Amazon, and you can't get Nordstroms level customer service out of automated processes and prohibitions on communication. 

I don't see why a big fixed price NIB consumer retail goods seller would make it an "or" decision.  Why not sell it here, sell it on Amazon, and sell it on Walmart's site too?  Oh... well... unless eBay starts trying to charge you FVF on your Amazon sales... LOL! 

[bradandamber]

Thinking that eBay will start a new website called eBay Classic. Separate New from old vintage items. This would make eBay a giant more than it already is. It would also unclog many or the problems with the site in general. My wife talked about this a few months ago and behold found it in a response to a letter from the CEO Wernig. They have lots of dollars parked and could do this in the future. Ebay the best of both worlds. What do you think?

[k-bar-ksaddles]

I belive Etsy is experiencing the exact same issue. The mega sellers from Asia have invaded and are flooding it with 'production' items made in a factory.  I know I've gone there hoping to find handmade horse tack, only to discover Hilason, Showman, and Prorider items have flooded the search results, and are priced insanely high - as though they were handmade.

Its aggravating, to say the least.

[*eponymous*]

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@k-bar-ksaddles wrote:

I belive Etsy is experiencing the exact same issue. The mega sellers from Asia have invaded and are flooding it with 'production' items made in a factory.  I know I've gone there hoping to find handmade horse tack, only to discover Hilason, Showman, and Prorider items have flooded the search results, and are priced insanely high - as though they were handmade.

Its aggravating, to say the least.

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I didn't have any trouble finding handmade tack there.

etsy knuckled under to the siren song ..... ka-ching!

[swenson8781]

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@ted_200 wrote:

If they wanted to focus on both new & used items, they could've have easily created eBay - used and eBay - new, on 2 completely different sites.  Had that been done initially, they might have had a better chance competing overall.

They actually did that, it was called eBayExpress and it died a slow and tortured death, it got shut down after a couple of years.  A lot of the initial "improvements" that started happening here in 2008 were recycled ideas from eBayExpress. 

It's all geared toward competing with Amazon...

 "2 new and refurbished from $18.00" and when you click on that it brings you to a screen I've never seen before in ebay that's starting to look a lot like Amazon.

... and that's why it looks more and more like Amazon.  And WalMart online.  Catalog pages, product reviews and user Q&A banter sections... pre-filled product specifications with disclaimers...

One site could support multiple market segments... used vs. new, BIN vs. Auctions, vintage vs. cheap overseas reproductions.   The problem One of the problems with eBayExpress was using a different URL and not directly taking advantage of the huge traffic numbers already on eBay.  But you have to integrate these market segments correctly so that buyers with different needs can still separate them. 

eBayExpress was not integrated enough.  What they're doing now is integrating it using a blender.  You can't stuff a pile of 99¢ + Free junk from China into your vintage store, you can't put antiques & collectibles in the middle of a giant WalMart, you can't try to run an Auction on Amazon, and you can't get Nordstroms level customer service out of automated processes and prohibitions on communication. 

I don't see why a big fixed price NIB consumer retail goods seller would make it an "or" decision.  Why not sell it here, sell it on Amazon, and sell it on Walmart's site too?  Oh... well... unless eBay starts trying to charge you FVF on your Amazon sales... LOL! 

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I don't recall eBayexpress (but sometimes my memory fails me!), or anything that separated out new vs used items on here.  I can see the benefit in keeping the same URL, esp since it would keep customers and keep confusion down. 

But easily, instead of having a bunch of large photos pop up on the home page, some talented programmer could create two large buttons...  two large boxes to click on, one that says 'want to purchase brand new items?' and one that says 'looking for used/vintage items?' that are clickable.  Depending on which one clicked, would take you to a site that houses all those listings accordingly.

Another talented programmmer could easily sort down & divide all the listings, since they are all required to have the item specific 'new' or 'pre-owned'.  Maybe I'm missing something, but at least it would create a clear divide IMO.   Then ALL items would be more easily searched/visible, and all areas would not be quite as bogged down.