eBay

brettyg599 · ‎07-24-2019

I am having a hard time understanding a lot of the stuff coming out if his mouth. I wrote some notes to bring attention for not only myself, but fellow sellers, and hopefully ebay employees.

Wenig said there is "good conversion and velocity for sellers in managed payments" Does he have or does ebay have any data to back this up? I have talked to most managers at merchant support and specifically asked them this question and people have said they have no facts on it, yet he just mentioned it as fact without having any data available to back his claim.

He said this new pay to click promoted is from surveying sellers about promoted listings. I am in the ebay expression group and an avid member of this board now and ebay expression team was not asked about a pay to click (Premium listing placement) format and I think I would be accurate in stating this board specifically set up as the only ebay community operated by ebay that I know of does not talk about wanting this. We want promoted listings removed. Would really like to know this large number of sellers he claims wanted this or any data on what he said. More likely I think his shareholders wanted this. How noone at ebay open booed during this announcement I can not understand. It made me so sick to my stomach I literally almost puked. Maybe TMI but I am passionate about ebay and my business.

He claimed they announced "negotiated postal rates" this year. Postal rates are higher than ever, and ebay gets the same business discount as any other small time business owner. Later he stated the fact 15% of USPS business is from ebay. That sounds like a large enough number to go to bat for us and ACTUALLY negotiate competitive rates with China and more importantly Amazon. They have done nothing to alleviate shipping costs for years on ebay. I pay the same as anyone that just sets up a stamps.com account. Instead they are focused on helping overseas sellers provide faster service on their shipping.

Also for managed delivery I have not seen any discussion of people wanting this on community board. I assume this conversation was between ebay employees and sellers not based in the USA that want to cut shipping time on their low cost products to trick buyers into thinking they were either made in the USA or support a USA seller. I personally am disgusted by the idea of making it even easier for China and overseas sellers to compete against. Honestly these items should say "fulfilled by ebay from outside the USA" even though I doubt they will let customers know at all of the origin. Their should be a 2nd ebay for "from overseas" type items, and for "USA verified seller" Not the idea to further merge these 2 so that a customer has ZERO ability to tell the difference. Also is ebay going to HEAVILY push items that are opted into their managed delivery system since they will be making such a big cut of the profits? That really scares me. REALLY THINK ABOUT THAT.

Wenig tries to come across as a real businessman, but then makes comments like "we are not trying to ship paper towels to people in 4 minutes" There is so many REAL scenarios he could of talked about, yet he chose a completely silly anecdote just to distract. Politicians do the same thing. Add a corny joke in to deflect from reality. Don't get distracted, stay focused on how bad this stuff will be for small sellers. Speak up.

I also have a problem with him saying how hard he is working for ebay and us. Anyone that takes on a secondary job during their job is basically making the statement.(Board of directors at GM as of late 2018) I have more time and energy left I could put into something else does not sound like something someone driven and focused on their task would say. It doesn't show how hard someone is working on something. This may not be accurate in the CEO world, but from a small time seller view I can't understand that logic to get a 2nd job then tell your customers how hard you are working for them.

Wenig mentioned multiple times he is receiving tons of feedback and positive reinforcement on the decisions and direction of ebay from sellers. This positive reinforcement seems to be coming from shareholders not sellers. I think that he should of been a little more honest with this statement since it is most likely misleading. As far as I know this is the only community member discussion board linked to ebay the company. I see the exact reverse talked about everyday of what he said. Can an ebay employee @triton weigh in on what community groups Wenig is drawing this information from? He also said he "talks to customers daily" Is this anything close to factual? I believe he almost never talks to customers if EVER. He really should not be allowed to go on stage and just make up facts. I personally would love to talk to him and have asked repeatedly to at least have my voice heard from him, or send him an email or message and have been told customers can not contact him. That is what I call a fact. Instead of just assuming you can't talk to him, I have asked repeatedly for a year to be able to talk to him.

Basically in conclusion I WANT TO BE HEARD. I WANT MEMBERS ON THIS BOARD; EBAYS PARTNERS TO BE HEARD. WE DO NOT HAVE A VOICE CURRENTLY. What can we do to be involved in the process of decision making? Do we have any say at all? Honestly I am just sad, at what has happened to ebay, and even sadder that Wenig can say all this stuff with a smile on his face and the people in the crowd applaud it. They are destroying small business's at the benefit of huge international companies selling on OUR platform. THIS IS EBAY USA. It needs to be taken back by USA sellers.

fashunu4eeuh · ‎07-25-2019

Thank you for the commentary, I read it with great interest.

"...As far as I know this is the only community member discussion board linked to ebay the company..."

I just wanted to say that since the forum is managed by an outside entity, Lithium, and not by eBay, they are not really invested in this community. Even though someone can navigate here from eBay's home page, I don't believe the forum will ever be used or seen as a source of credible information by eBay Corporate. It is far more likely that they have global market research businesses provide data. Not to say they don't collect data themselves, I'm certain they do, but a company this size with so much money at stake, is not going to rely on a small microcosm like these boards, to inform their processes. We are but a grain of sand in the ocean that is eBay. (Not to say a grain of sand is unimportant, it can be a mighty annoyance in the right place, at the right time.)

gamersbaystore · ‎07-25-2019

I can't agree more, the shipping rates are not only outrageous, they're scaring buyers away. USPS is giving ebay and its sellers a horrible deal. Given how much we all spend collectively, we shouldn't be paying $10 to ship a 1 lb item in a tiny box. This new dimensional weight nonsense is the real fraud.

I also agree that much of what Wenig stated was likely not discussed here, at least not to my knowledge. Especially not that he's receiving tons of feedback from sellers; more like he's always ignored his sellers if anything, including blocking them on Twitter.

I think Wenig has the capability to be a good leader, but he never will be if he continues to ignore the many grievances of his sellers. It seems like every decision he makes somehow negatively effects sellers. Such as the issues with identical listings, very little marketing and very little traffic that follows.

I honestly think Wenig is under too much pressure to perform for investors, and the even bigger problem is the fact the investors have taken over ebay's board: https://www.retaildive.com/news/ebay-to-cede-2-board-seats-as-settlement-nears-wsj/549438/

This is a huge conflict of interest, investors should never have their hands directly in a company's piggy bank like this. Anytime investors gain control, they pilfer all the money, and that's exactly what it looks like they're doing to ebay. More fees and very little actual investment in this platform just wreaks of Wallstreet greed.

Keep in mind, ebay cut advertising substantially this year, then gave those shareholders fat payouts, all while GMV was falling, and sellers obviously losing tons of money.

myjunqueyourtreasure · ‎07-25-2019

The dim weight doesn't concern me as much as the erosion through zone based First Class Parcel.

Reality is the leading cause of stress.

luckythewinner · ‎07-25-2019

@brettyg599 wrote:
They are destroying small business's at the benefit of huge international companies selling on OUR platform. THIS IS EBAY USA. It needs to be taken back by USA sellers.

You think eBay sellers should have the right to "take" the eBay platform away from eBay because they are focused on making profit at your expense?

So I assume you also think that eBay buyers have the right to "take" your business away from you because you are focused on making profit at their expense?

Populism doesn't stop at the middleman.

sharingtheland · ‎07-25-2019

He claimed they announced "negotiated postal rates" this year. Postal rates are higher than ever, and ebay gets the same business discount as any other small time business owner. Later he stated the fact 15% of USPS business is from ebay. That sounds like a large enough number to go to bat for us and ACTUALLY negotiate competitive rates with China and more importantly Amazon. They have done nothing to alleviate shipping costs for years on ebay. I pay the same as anyone that just sets up a stamps.com account

There is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that ebay has not negotiated much lower than Commercial Base or Plus rates with USPS; ebay simply pockets the difference between what sellers pay and what USPS charges.

JMO

YMMV

Sherry

=^.^= =^.^=
( ) ( )
" " =^.^= " "

mr_lincoln · ‎07-25-2019

@brettyg599 The majority of Sellers have little to no voice in eBay's decision making process. As to the speech, I have not listened to it nor read any transcripts ... talking heads do what they do, spouting unsubstantiated sales blather is the norm ... the real work is done in the trenches by Sellers, period.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

mr_lincoln · ‎07-25-2019

@sharingtheland wrote:
He claimed they announced "negotiated postal rates" this year. Postal rates are higher than ever, and ebay gets the same business discount as any other small time business owner. Later he stated the fact 15% of USPS business is from ebay. That sounds like a large enough number to go to bat for us and ACTUALLY negotiate competitive rates with China and more importantly Amazon. They have done nothing to alleviate shipping costs for years on ebay. I pay the same as anyone that just sets up a stamps.com account

There is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that ebay has not negotiated much lower than Commercial Base or Plus rates with USPS; ebay simply pockets the difference between what sellers pay and what USPS charges.

JMO
YMMV

You are absolutely right here, without any doubt. The next time anyone processes a return and pays for the label look at what eBay is charging you ... its been a while but the last one I paid for was 1/3 the original cost I paid, not what the Buyer paid, but what I paid. eBay negotiated and I believe published the fact that they have a reduced rate for Sellers on returns ... it goes without saying that they also are paying a hole lot less then what Sellers pay with their postage even with their discounts.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

dhbookds · ‎07-25-2019

So people expect Wenig to quote sources when he gives as talk.......otherwise what he says are lies?

Certainly there are few/non on this board who want pay per click or warehouse facilities, we are overwhelmingly one off, very small operators.......but the fact is there are, ebay is betting, those who will use them and pay for it........ they have the perspective of ALL sellers as well as the facilities to explore the "need" of the overall market for fulfillment centers.... It's sure a better fit for them to expand their business than Skype was when Meg bought it............

While I understand and concur with alot of criticism of ebay.......ignoring that ebay makes BILLIONS a year, even tho we, as individuals, aren't doing well, is simply being blind. Ignoring that they owe their stockholders FIRST, ignores a very basic tenant of business.

Ebay actually does more business internationally than in the US......I think the figure is 57%......those that think this is an entirely US business would do well to accept that fact.....it's pointless to try to convince ebay not to work in an international environment.

ersatz_sobriquet · ‎07-25-2019

@mr_lincoln wrote:
@sharingtheland wrote:
He claimed they announced "negotiated postal rates" this year. Postal rates are higher than ever, and ebay gets the same business discount as any other small time business owner. Later he stated the fact 15% of USPS business is from ebay. That sounds like a large enough number to go to bat for us and ACTUALLY negotiate competitive rates with China and more importantly Amazon. They have done nothing to alleviate shipping costs for years on ebay. I pay the same as anyone that just sets up a stamps.com account

There is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that ebay has not negotiated much lower than Commercial Base or Plus rates with USPS; ebay simply pockets the difference between what sellers pay and what USPS charges.

JMO
YMMV
You are absolutely right here, without any doubt. The next time anyone processes a return and pays for the label look at what eBay is charging you ... its been a while but the last one I paid for was 1/3 the original cost I paid, not what the Buyer paid, but what I paid. eBay negotiated and I believe published the fact that they have a reduced rate for Sellers on returns ... it goes without saying that they also are paying a hole lot less then what Sellers pay with their postage even with their discounts.

I'd really love to know how ebay sends returns via first class postage when the item weighs 3 lbs.

dhbookds · ‎07-25-2019

You might check the PO pages, about returns. They do treat them differently that regular mail...........

vulcansystems · ‎07-25-2019

Due to plunging sales of late in our ebay store, we, out of necessity, are trying to sell a few things on Amazon.

Prepared our first FBA shipment last week. 16 pound package from MI to IL. We have a UPS business account so we already get decent rates. Our cost to ship it ourselves would have been around $16.

Instead, we used Amazon's service where you can buy your UPS shipping through them to send your packages to their warehouse. The cost? SIX DOLLARS AND FORTY THREE CENTS. $6.43. I about fell out of my chair! A package that probably would have cost $20 to ship regularly and $16 through a business account only cost $6 and 43 cents through Amazon's UPS discounts.

THIS is why shipping is going up so much lately. Everyone else is subsidizing Amazon's shipping discounts.

mr_lincoln · ‎07-25-2019

@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
@sharingtheland wrote:
He claimed they announced "negotiated postal rates" this year. Postal rates are higher than ever, and ebay gets the same business discount as any other small time business owner. Later he stated the fact 15% of USPS business is from ebay. That sounds like a large enough number to go to bat for us and ACTUALLY negotiate competitive rates with China and more importantly Amazon. They have done nothing to alleviate shipping costs for years on ebay. I pay the same as anyone that just sets up a stamps.com account

There is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that ebay has not negotiated much lower than Commercial Base or Plus rates with USPS; ebay simply pockets the difference between what sellers pay and what USPS charges.

JMO
YMMV
You are absolutely right here, without any doubt. The next time anyone processes a return and pays for the label look at what eBay is charging you ... its been a while but the last one I paid for was 1/3 the original cost I paid, not what the Buyer paid, but what I paid. eBay negotiated and I believe published the fact that they have a reduced rate for Sellers on returns ... it goes without saying that they also are paying a hole lot less then what Sellers pay with their postage even with their discounts.
I'd really love to know how ebay sends returns via first class postage when the item weighs 3 lbs.

LOL! I learned in another life of sales that "everything's negotiable"! Your question sounds about like what my one return was where I noticed my return shipping cost was "just" over $ 3 but the original out of pocket shipping cost was over $ 9 ...

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

orangehound · ‎07-25-2019

@sharingtheland wrote:
There is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that ebay has not negotiated much lower than Commercial Base or Plus rates with USPS; ebay simply pockets the difference between what sellers pay and what USPS charges.

I had no idea that eBay was 15% of USPS business. And, you are spot on ... if it is really at that level, then eBay is getting a sweet deal, and it is yet another area where eBay is skimming profit from sellers.

brettyg599 · ‎07-25-2019

@dhbook

Thanks for the comments, and I do understand that perspective. I invest in companies as well and understand that aspect. With ebay though I think it is totally different. The marketplace is the worst I have seen in 10 years, and despite strong 2nd quarter numbers in 2019 I can't imagine these decisions will not start showing up in the investor numbers. Whether it be this year or next, I don't see how collective discussion from sellers about the decrease in sales across all sectors isn't going to hurt them.

If I was an investor of the company I would like to see growth and improvements in the marketplace, not growth and improvements about how to make more money from the people using my marketplace. This shows they have saturated growth and have likely given up on it to me. As I have said before, I love ebay and have put a 3rd of my life into this place, but I am not optimistic moving forward about the decisions that have been made the last couple years and even couple years before that.

I just started actively digging into all this because it tends to just cause me anxiety which isn't productive and I am hard wired to be productive. I am working 50+ hours a week now, even feeling like I need to work 3-4 hours on Saturday and Sunday or I fear I will fall further behind. This has turned into a real grind, and for all our sakes I am just hoping things turn around sooner rather than later.

As a buyer here, as many have stated depending on when you use the search it can function somewhat well to hardly at all. I was trying to do a search 2 nights ago for "Los angeles angels starter jacket" I kept getting over 100 results, and I tried like 4 times. It showed me any listing with Los Angeles and starter in it despite me adding the keyword angels. If you don't think these kind of search issues cause buyers headaches I would not understand your logic. Also new of note is when searching from price low to high they have added promoted listings. So a buyer searches down a list, 10.99, 11.25, 11.99, 39.99, 27.99, 12.5. Honestly that makes no sense and is confusing and frustrating to shop through.

What is also further frustrating is I have spent over 30 hours talking to support the last 12 months, and have asked hard questions like "Is there a click to pay promoted in talks" "Do they plan to add promoted to price low to high" both of these questions XS agents were adamant that to their knowledge nothing like that would happen. This and the fact that despite getting tons of feedback (so they told me) that sellers were concerned about the increasing rates of sponsorship trending percents they have done nothing but push higher. As stated on this board by many, lots of this sponsorship money comes right out of buyers and sellers pockets. This goes into me a basic business point I learned in college. Does a decision help sellers? Does a decision help buyers? Promoted listings fails terribly at those 2 questions. It only helps investors, which is not what I want to see decisions be made from.

Maybe I am naive to think that ebay could of pushed its uniqueness and thrift/garage image to the next level and created an environment that buyers flocked to because it was inherently different than anything else, and sellers would come here because it was the best place to sell. I just never thought the business model had a problem. Like I said maybe naive, and my perspective because me and multiple friends earned our livings selling stuff we found on ebay. Most of which have had to quit in the last 2 years and get jobs.

My whole thing I have discussed with management is I don't think catered items or sponsorship's necessarily have to be a bad thing to a buyer. The way they do it, it is. My suggestion was to have the buyer ask for suggests. Add a button that is "Go shopping with ebay" This says ok algorithm show me what you know about me. Cater to what you have collected and show me items I may want or may need. This to me is a huge difference. If a buyer selects to be shown advertisements they will be very open to buying said advertisements. As of now a lot of buyers probably get turned away because of all the unsolicited items they don't want. Promoted and sponsorship should have a place, an elected place. At the very least there should be an item in the drop down while doing a search that says "true results" Meaning you don't want any of that. I think an option like that would keep savvy buyers around that want the old search back, or almost anyone may want that option. It can be very overwhelming if the results come back and arent what you wanted because it chose not to listen to your search.

An example of how this would work in theory. Say you bought a lawnmower on ebay in 2017, when you click the go shopping with ebay it may show you multiple accessories for that lawnmower some of which you may think yeah I do need that. Expand that out to include the other stuff you bought, and you can see where buyers might actually enjoy the shopping experience since the items would pertain to things they already bought and thus should be interested in. It could be FUN to shop!

I just think most of us can agree that something is off at ebay and the policies need reworking.