eBay

jujus5gkids · ‎08-02-2018

I have been buying/selling on ebay for YEARS but I am seriously looking for another venue. Drop shippers have taken over it seems... or most everything I order comes from Amazon fullment center. Ebay seems to be doing all it can short of kicking us "in hand" sellers off completely. There was a time when a seller had to have the item listed in their hands!
1 - Customers can no longer search by store name.

2 - If you are out of stock on a particular item, instead of ebay suggestions other items within your store, they suggest your customer shop elsewhere. What store owner would do that? WE work hard to gain regular customers and ebay is trying to turn them other directions!

3 - Ebay for some ungodly reason, has starting making buyers pay for items that qualify for free shipping and items that have calculated shipping separately, causing a hassle for buyers and costing the seller an additional paypal transaction fee. Previously, buyers could pay for both types of shipping all at the same time with one payment. WHAT is ebay thinking? Maybe they are simply NOT THINKING!

4 - Uploading tracking on time is not a problem, however, if you live in the country and have a rural carrier, you never know exactly what time the mail will be picked up. I don't know how ebay calculates that but I always ship the day an item is sold by my cut off time or the very next day. All of a sudden, it seems everything is running late.

Guess I will have to start driving 40 miles to a post office every few hours..LOL... NOT!

5 - It is too easy for a buyer to leave negative feedback and ebay will not step in and remove it any longer unless the buyer agrees. If the buyer doesn't respond, ebay will not even remove it. Ebay needs to investigate the negative feedback and toughen the rules for leaving it. I see too much unwarrented negative being left for some of my favorite sellers these days and usually left by buyers with very little feedback.. NEWBIES need to be more considerate and realize how it affects the seller and work with them.

Anyone know of a good new selling venue? It seems ebay just doesn't want quality sellers any longer! They seem to prefer the big warehouse sellers who never lay their hands on items they sell or China sellers who claim to be in the US or either dropshippers... all of which I prefer to stay away from. Give me a new site like the OLD EBAY! Between all of ebay changes and the USPS mis-deliveries, lost mail and damages... we small sellers don't have a chance.. LOL!

ijazzu · ‎08-03-2018

You are so right, the old days when you had to have the item in hand in order to list. Buyers and sellers could communicate freely before and after. If any problems occurred you worked it out and if there was a problem with feedback you could have squaretrade to mediate and have it removed by just proving you took care of the problem.

Buyers and sellers actually communicated about anything. It was fun, you didn't need MBG, defects, time frames we all loved what we were doing and eBay actually permanently removed non paying buyer without haveing to report them.

Buyers would log in and send good morning emails, I had a buyer that ever Friday paypal me $10 and called it Ice cream day and every Friday I went and bought ice cream. Buyers were your friends..Oh can I get another pair of those purple glasses when you list them again, my blind aunt Sara the one with the deaf poodle sat on another pair..How are you doing? You had loyal buyers that if they liked you wouldn't think to buy from someone else, we used to see feedback from everyone and both parties could leave whatever they felt was their opinion. International sales were through the roof because first class with no tracking always reached your buyer. Anything you listed sold, power sellers had a portal you could buy eBay gear, insurance, discounts on stuff. eBay used to send out award cerificates for sale goals, feedback goals, certifcated for power seller and top rated every year. I used to have a wall of framed eBay certificates....lol They used to send out aniversary cards and birthday cards to the sellers.

All that is gone and it's not so friendly anymore, it's a different world a very different word..The people are genuinely good means nothing anymore.

When you have immediate payment required on your listings, your buyer can use the eBays shopping cart and purchase them all at once to get combined shipping. If the buyer has an item with a shipping cost and one with free shipping, they are only charged the shipping fee for the one item.

Print a scan sheet when printing your daily labels for all your packages you are shipping out that day and have the carrier scan it.

Listen, eBay now is a big business that cares about one thing and that's sellers making buyers happy so they now are going to link all those red tops in a product listing and whatever seller has it listed at the right price gets the sale. Your red top listing will have a link to see more red top from other sellers.

"instead of ebay suggestions other items within your store, they suggest your customer shop elsewhere"

NO No, eBay is suggesting you don't have to go elsewhere, you came to eBay to buy the top ...we have ten other sellers that carry the top, goal is to sell a red top on eBay, they don't care if it's your sale or my sale. Buyer got what they wanted and they got it on eBay.

NEWBIES need to be more considerate and realize how it affects the seller and work with them. No..this is the yelper generation, they leave feedback for everything they eat, drink, watch...places the go..for uber drivers..those days of thinking a feedback means anything are pretty much gone, my friend.

Your right....it's a slow death unless you get with all the new programs. Teach an old dog a new trick and maybe we might live it out. Ahh I miss those good old days, having fun, making money, good people...

Best of Luck Friend

View Best Answer in original post

castlemagicmemories · ‎08-02-2018

https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/Rules-of-Engagement/td-p/26164369

#13

luckythewinner · ‎08-02-2018

There was a time when a seller had to have the item listed in their hands

No there wasn't.

They seem to prefer the big warehouse sellers who never lay their hands on items they sell or China sellers who claim to be in the US or either dropshippers

{snip}

We small sellers don't have a chance

The sellers with items that can't be drop-shipped certainly do.

yuzuha · ‎08-02-2018

@jujus5gkids wrote:
I have been buying/selling on ebay for YEARS but I am seriously looking for another venue. Drop shippers have taken over it seems... or most everything I order comes from Amazon fullment center. Ebay seems to be doing all it can short of kicking us "in hand" sellers off completely. There was a time when a seller had to have the item listed in their hands!
1 - Customers can no longer search by store name.
2 - If you are out of stock on a particular item, instead of ebay suggestions other items within your store, they suggest your customer shop elsewhere. What store owner would do that? WE work hard to gain regular customers and ebay is trying to turn them other directions!

Lots of stores do that. If someone comes in to the B&M store where I work looking for something we don't have, we will try to direct them to someplace nearby that does sell what they're looking for. A customer who comes into a store to buy a red blouse isn't going to want a blue blouse instead just because it's there, and we don't want them to buy something they aren't going to be totally happy with just to have them return it a few days later when they finally did find exactly what they were looking for.

jujus5gkids · ‎08-02-2018

lucky, I can tell you have not been on ebay as long as I have. I started in 2003 and at that time, we were not allowed to use "stock" photos and had to have the item listed in our hands. Back then, it was much easier to communicate between buyers and sellers and much easier to know exactly who you were dealing with. I could drop ship but I order my inventory and have it in stock as I want to know exactly what I am sending my customers and know it is first quality. I also try to be sure that is the case with anyone I shop with on ebay. Sometimes it is really hard to figure that out these days though.

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎08-02-2018

@jujus5gkids wrote:
I have been buying/selling on ebay for YEARS but I am seriously looking for another venue. Drop shippers have taken over it seems... or most everything I order comes from Amazon fullment center. Ebay seems to be doing all it can short of kicking us "in hand" sellers off completely. There was a time when a seller had to have the item listed in their hands!
1 - Customers can no longer search by store name.
2 - If you are out of stock on a particular item, instead of ebay suggestions other items within your store, they suggest your customer shop elsewhere. What store owner would do that? WE work hard to gain regular customers and ebay is trying to turn them other directions!
3 - Ebay for some ungodly reason, has starting making buyers pay for items that qualify for free shipping and items that have calculated shipping separately, causing a hassle for buyers and costing the seller an additional paypal transaction fee. Previously, buyers could pay for both types of shipping all at the same time with one payment. WHAT is ebay thinking? Maybe they are simply NOT THINKING!
4 - Uploading tracking on time is not a problem, however, if you live in the country and have a rural carrier, you never know exactly what time the mail will be picked up. I don't know how ebay calculates that but I always ship the day an item is sold by my cut off time or the very next day. All of a sudden, it seems everything is running late.
Guess I will have to start driving 40 miles to a post office every few hours..LOL... NOT!
5 - It is too easy for a buyer to leave negative feedback and ebay will not step in and remove it any longer unless the buyer agrees. If the buyer doesn't respond, ebay will not even remove it. Ebay needs to investigate the negative feedback and toughen the rules for leaving it. I see too much unwarrented negative being left for some of my favorite sellers these days and usually left by buyers with very little feedback.. NEWBIES need to be more considerate and realize how it affects the seller and work with them.

Anyone know of a good new selling venue? It seems ebay just doesn't want quality sellers any longer! They seem to prefer the big warehouse sellers who never lay their hands on items they sell or China sellers who claim to be in the US or either dropshippers... all of which I prefer to stay away from. Give me a new site like the OLD EBAY! Between all of ebay changes and the USPS mis-deliveries, lost mail and damages... we small sellers don't have a chance.. LOL!

Drop shippers have been around for some time...and there are many US sellers that are also drop shippers. Drop shipping is allowed and has been allowed.
You are not and were never forced to buy from them.
And drop shippers are on most sites...it is an allowable form of selling.
And there are pleantly of quality sellers on ebay....ebay has standards set up to weed out a lot of bad sellers for a reason. Just because a seller drop ships doesn't make them a bad seller either.

If an item is out of stock from a seller...then it makes perfect sense to help the buyer find that item they want with a seller that actually has the item in stock. They want the buyer to find what they are looking for and buy it.
Showing them other items you have isn't helping the buyer to find or purchase what they are actually looking for.

Buyers always had the ability to leave negative feedbacks...it is no easier than before. If it doesn't violate policy it will remain, just like before.

As for items lost or damaged int he mail..that is why sellers purchase insurance from the carriers. If you choose not to then that is your choice and no one else fault...and you will lose money but it is up to you to purchase insurance and you alone

jujus5gkids · ‎08-02-2018

yuzuha, before this latest ebay change, I simply offered to special order any items my customers wanted that I might not have in stock or if they were in a hurry, I would set up a special listing for them on ebay and contact my supplier to drop ship to them but all of that was arranged and they knew where the item was coming from. I can ship to customers for less than the company I buy from so they come out better letting me get it for them. I have actually had customers get upset about being sent to another ebay store when I was out of something. Folks are not dumb.. if they want something I am out of they can search for themselves or contact me. They do not need ebay leading them elsewhere like a baby. I shop a lot on ebay myself and I HATE being directed to a seller I am not familiar with. I search for what I want and feedback usually determines where I go to shop. If I go to a B&M store and cannot find something I want, I ask a salesperson and if they cannot get it for me, THEN I may ask if they know where I can get what I want but I prefer they offer to get it for me. Don't send me somewhere else like you don't have time for me.. LOL

gopetersen · ‎08-02-2018

"3 - Ebay for some ungodly reason, has starting making buyers pay for items that qualify for free shipping and items that have calculated shipping separately, causing a hassle for buyers and costing the seller an additional paypal transaction fee. Previously, buyers could pay for both types of shipping all at the same time with one payment. WHAT is ebay thinking? Maybe they are simply NOT THINKING!"

For years, eBay has been trying to coerce sellers into offering Free Shipping. Buyers are not stupid. Many of them know they pay more for "Free Shipping" if they buy multiple items and will look for Combined Shipping. I know they do this because many will actually message me to CONFIRM that I provide Combined Shipping.

So, I suppose eBay hasn't FORCED it on all of us because some buyers still want Combined Shipping but eBay would like us to offer it because buyers who buy singles don't care one way or the other and it looks good (even though there is no such thing as Free shipping).

jujus5gkids · ‎08-02-2018

gopetersen, I offer free shipping on all items over $25 and I do not jack up prices to cover the shipping cost (although I know some of my competitors do). I also offer FREE US shipping on any purchase of 5 or more items paid for at the same time. This recent change is messing that up and making buyers pay for items separately based on shipping setup on each item, instead of combining the payment of 5 items to get free shipping, regardless of shipping set-up and that means they are not getting the benefit of paying for all 5 at the same time with free shipping on the entire order.

LOL..don't get me wrong, right now, I am annoyed with all the changes ebay is making, but I do love it.
It is like a bratty child that is out of control... you just pray things will get better. Maybe ebay needs to offer two versions.. "ORIGINAL ebay" and "NEW ebay" !!! After all, that seems to be the "going trend" with all products these days.

hioctane62 · ‎08-02-2018

@gopetersen wrote:
"3 - Ebay for some ungodly reason, has starting making buyers pay for items that qualify for free shipping and items that have calculated shipping separately, causing a hassle for buyers and costing the seller an additional paypal transaction fee. Previously, buyers could pay for both types of shipping all at the same time with one payment. WHAT is ebay thinking? Maybe they are simply NOT THINKING!"

For years, eBay has been trying to coerce sellers into offering Free Shipping. Buyers are not stupid. Many of them know they pay more for "Free Shipping" if they buy multiple items and will look for Combined Shipping. I know they do this because many will actually message me to CONFIRM that I provide Combined Shipping.

So, I suppose eBay hasn't FORCED it on all of us because some buyers still want Combined Shipping but eBay would like us to offer it because buyers who buy singles don't care one way or the other and it looks good (even though there is no such thing as Free shipping).

Agree with this 100%, gopete. As far as ebay splitting up the transactions, I'm quite sure that every time that happens, ebay logs 2 transactions on their books instead of 1. They need to inflate the number of transactions in order to continue the illusion of growth.

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎08-02-2018

@jujus5gkids wrote:
lucky, I can tell you have not been on ebay as long as I have. I started in 2003 and at that time, we were not allowed to use "stock" photos and had to have the item listed in our hands. Back then, it was much easier to communicate between buyers and sellers and much easier to know exactly who you were dealing with. I could drop ship but I order my inventory and have it in stock as I want to know exactly what I am sending my customers and know it is first quality. I also try to be sure that is the case with anyone I shop with on ebay. Sometimes it is really hard to figure that out these days though.

Truth is you have no idea how long any reposnder has been on ebay. Responders use posting ID's and well as possibly having multiple accounts....and it has nothing to do with anything being posted about.
This is 2018, not 2003 and ebay provides photos sellers can use..some of them are stock photos.
Buyers and sellers can still communicate if they chose to..there is a contact link in every listing for just that reason.
And today's buyers do not really care who the seller is for the most part...they want what they want when they want it and that is it. They do not want to become friends or develop relationships...and they don't have to.
Figuring out ebay isn't all that difficult...they send you updates and make announcements of changes..all you have to do is read them and keep up with them.

mr_lincoln · ‎08-02-2018

@jujus5gkids Re: "If you are out of stock on a particular item, instead of ebay suggestions other items within your store, they suggest your customer shop elsewhere. What store owner would do that? WE work hard to gain regular customers and ebay is trying to turn them other directions!"

_________________________________________________________________

I think its more about eBay seeing everything listed for sale being theirs and they don't care who gets the sale, just that somebody does and they get a fee for the conversion.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

geo2061 · ‎08-02-2018

It's nice to think that a helpful action will hopefully bring this customer back to your business.. good actions return equally good re-actions. (but only in a perfect world)

everything-from-trinkets-to-treasures · ‎08-02-2018

@mr_lincoln wrote:
@jujus5gkids Re: "If you are out of stock on a particular item, instead of ebay suggestions other items within your store, they suggest your customer shop elsewhere. What store owner would do that? WE work hard to gain regular customers and ebay is trying to turn them other directions!"
_________________________________________________________________
I think its more about eBay seeing everything listed for sale being theirs and they don't care who gets the sale, just that somebody does and they get a fee for the conversion.

If a buyer actually finds what they actually want on ebay and are not made to look to other sites for the item...it is better for ebay and for sellers in general. It is better for everyone to keep the buyer on the site where they will hopefully continue to make purchases.