IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF EBAY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

[castlemagicmemories]

Just wondering...there has been posts regarding the decisions, policies and path Ebay has taken.

So have at it.  If YOU were in charge of Ebay, what would YOU do?

[7606dennis]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@epowerbargains wrote:

This is fun...kinda like daydreaming about winning 1.6 mega lotto....LOL  I would admit the emperor has no clothes - and buy some for the emperor from eBay clothing sellers who post lots of pictures and measurements. Then I would eliminate the penalty for "excessive returns" for the sellers who offer "free returns".  I would knock off the requirement that returns must be free w/ 30 day return to be top dog rated.....because USPS rates are about to go up yet again and shipping ain't free. 

I would require that eBay executives walk in the shoes of your average eBay seller.......then make them buy some new shoes from .....you guessed it a eBay seller........

It all used to be fun........somehow I would mandate fun....................you know to offset the paranoia..........

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I'm glad you think this is fun.  I had hopes that this would get people thinking and that maybe some good ideas might emerge out of this.  @lewisburggold

made a thought provoking comment that sellers should be excited about selling.  Unfortunately things can discourage instead of excite.  I think good sales can generate that excitement, and a feeling that you are valued and listened to creates that positivity as well, but there are things that erode trust.  

Alas, as @7606dennis would say, fun cannot be mandated.  Or can it?

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While I don't remember ever saying that exactly, I often ask people if we are having fun yet.  Alas!  I don't always get the email so I miss the scheduled time for having fun.  Real bummer, that. 

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@epowerbargains wrote:

This is fun...kinda like daydreaming about winning 1.6 mega lotto....LOL  I would admit the emperor has no clothes - and buy some for the emperor from eBay clothing sellers who post lots of pictures and measurements. Then I would eliminate the penalty for "excessive returns" for the sellers who offer "free returns".  I would knock off the requirement that returns must be free w/ 30 day return to be top dog rated.....because USPS rates are about to go up yet again and shipping ain't free. 

I would require that eBay executives walk in the shoes of your average eBay seller.......then make them buy some new shoes from .....you guessed it a eBay seller........

It all used to be fun........somehow I would mandate fun....................you know to offset the paranoia..........

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I'm glad you think this is fun.  I had hopes that this would get people thinking and that maybe some good ideas might emerge out of this.  @lewisburggold

made a thought provoking comment that sellers should be excited about selling.  Unfortunately things can discourage instead of excite.  I think good sales can generate that excitement, and a feeling that you are valued and listened to creates that positivity as well, but there are things that erode trust.  

Alas, as @7606dennis would say, fun cannot be mandated.  Or can it?

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While I don't remember ever saying that exactly, I often ask people if we are having fun yet.  Alas!  I don't always get the email so I miss the scheduled time for having fun.  Real bummer, that. 

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@7606dennis  My apologies as my statement was somewhat misleading~which occurred to me as I typed it but alas! I neglected to correct it.  I merely meant that you often say, Alas!  So no, you never said fun cannot be mandated.  But you do say, Alas!  Sorry I neglected clarification there.

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Yes, I do use the word "Alas" quite often.  By the way, I do agree that fun cannot be mandated.

[dirk12955]

I'd surround myself with employees that have actual experience buying, bidding and selling on ebay.

I'd want employees that knew how to put together a listing, and do it correctly.

I'd assign several employees to monitor the boards like this one, and report back to me what is being said and what the mood of my customers is day to day. Both sellers and buyers.

I'd identify my brightest IT person and have them start figuring out how to separate ebay into two distinct platforms. One of those specifically for vintage and collectibles.

Then I'd log in and check the balance of my 401K

[castlemagicmemories]

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@epowerbargains wrote:

This is fun...kinda like daydreaming about winning 1.6 mega lotto....LOL  I would admit the emperor has no clothes - and buy some for the emperor from eBay clothing sellers who post lots of pictures and measurements. Then I would eliminate the penalty for "excessive returns" for the sellers who offer "free returns".  I would knock off the requirement that returns must be free w/ 30 day return to be top dog rated.....because USPS rates are about to go up yet again and shipping ain't free. 

I would require that eBay executives walk in the shoes of your average eBay seller.......then make them buy some new shoes from .....you guessed it a eBay seller........

It all used to be fun........somehow I would mandate fun....................you know to offset the paranoia..........

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I'm glad you think this is fun.  I had hopes that this would get people thinking and that maybe some good ideas might emerge out of this.  @lewisburggold

made a thought provoking comment that sellers should be excited about selling.  Unfortunately things can discourage instead of excite.  I think good sales can generate that excitement, and a feeling that you are valued and listened to creates that positivity as well, but there are things that erode trust.  

Alas, as @7606dennis would say, fun cannot be mandated.  Or can it?

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While I don't remember ever saying that exactly, I often ask people if we are having fun yet.  Alas!  I don't always get the email so I miss the scheduled time for having fun.  Real bummer, that. 

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@epowerbargains wrote:

This is fun...kinda like daydreaming about winning 1.6 mega lotto....LOL  I would admit the emperor has no clothes - and buy some for the emperor from eBay clothing sellers who post lots of pictures and measurements. Then I would eliminate the penalty for "excessive returns" for the sellers who offer "free returns".  I would knock off the requirement that returns must be free w/ 30 day return to be top dog rated.....because USPS rates are about to go up yet again and shipping ain't free. 

I would require that eBay executives walk in the shoes of your average eBay seller.......then make them buy some new shoes from .....you guessed it a eBay seller........

It all used to be fun........somehow I would mandate fun....................you know to offset the paranoia..........

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I'm glad you think this is fun.  I had hopes that this would get people thinking and that maybe some good ideas might emerge out of this.  @lewisburggold

made a thought provoking comment that sellers should be excited about selling.  Unfortunately things can discourage instead of excite.  I think good sales can generate that excitement, and a feeling that you are valued and listened to creates that positivity as well, but there are things that erode trust.  

Alas, as @7606dennis would say, fun cannot be mandated.  Or can it?

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While I don't remember ever saying that exactly, I often ask people if we are having fun yet.  Alas!  I don't always get the email so I miss the scheduled time for having fun.  Real bummer, that. 

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@7606dennis  My apologies as my statement was somewhat misleading~which occurred to me as I typed it but alas! I neglected to correct it.  I merely meant that you often say, Alas!  So no, you never said fun cannot be mandated.  But you do say, Alas!  Sorry I neglected clarification there.

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Yes, I do use the word "Alas" quite often.  By the way, I do agree that fun cannot be mandated.

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I like the Alas, please don't think I am plagiarizing but I have used it myself.  

[castlemagicmemories]

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@dirk12955 wrote:
I'd surround myself with employees that have actual experience buying, bidding and selling on ebay.

I'd want employees that knew how to put together a listing, and do it correctly.

I'd assign several employees to monitor the boards like this one, and report back to me what is being said and what the mood of my customers is day to day. Both sellers and buyers.

I'd identify my brightest IT person and have them start figuring out how to separate ebay into two distinct platforms. One of those specifically for vintage and collectibles.

Then I'd log in and check the balance of my 401K

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Experience is a good thing.  They say that past performance is the best predictor of future performance.

I think these Boards are monitored far more than we think they are.

Ebay tried that years ago; it was called Ebay Express and it was not successful.

I remember it was said on Friends, 401 kuh, as in plan, and that they didn't even have a pluh.

[7606dennis]

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@florencburn_6 wrote:
Yep, and I'm looking at a seller with fraudulent bidders right now, but I'm hesitant to retract my bids when I can't say what the actual problem is.

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I'm not quite certain what you mean by "... a seller with fraudulent bidders..." but I don't think eBay deems that to be a valid reason for a bid retraction.  Alas!  At the risk of over using what I believe to be a wonderful but underused word in today's vocabulary, by the time eBay would have time to investigate any unusual bidding activity the auction would have been long over and you would have been expected to pay or receive a strike.

One issue with bid retractions is that we cannot determine if they were valid or not.  This can be detrimental to the one retracting a bid even if it was done for a just cause.  

[ferdefer]

I would stop squeezing sellers out of their money.  Is easier to squeeze more money out of sellers than to increase the user base to obviously increase sales yet that is what they do. 

Where is the basis to do that? the site is not growing it's user base at any decent rate, Amazon is eating it for lunch and Walmart is rapidly catching up but  yet the only light they see is squeezing them more and more, free returns, 60 days returns, putting out of reach of most seller discounts. 

Is the end of either Ebay as we used to or the best alternative the end of this management team. Go manage a hot dog stand, your own, where you sell your own hot dogs and all measures you take affect your pocket.

That is what I will do.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@ferdefer wrote:

I would stop squeezing sellers out of their money.  Is easier to squeeze more money out of sellers than to increase the user base to obviously increase sales yet that is what they do. 

Where is the basis to do that? the site is not growing it's user base at any decent rate, Amazon is eating it for lunch and Walmart is rapidly catching up but  yet the only light they see is squeezing them more and more, free returns, 60 days returns, putting out of reach of most seller discounts. 

With all due respect, there have been reports of issues with zero or very low feedback buyers so it would seem that new buyers are coming here, perhaps in response to the commercials that Ebay has been running.  I understand you don't feel the growth is substanial enough, but it is occurring.  Many of these things you mention Ebay has implemented to stay competitive.

Is the end of either Ebay as we used to or the best alternative the end of this management team. Go manage a hot dog stand, your own, where you sell your own hot dogs and all measures you take affect your pocket.

That is what I will do.

Not important but I love hot dogs.

[div_style]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Just wondering...there HAVE been posts regarding the decisions, policies and path Ebay has taken.

So have at it.  If YOU were in charge of Ebay, what would YOU do?

You stride confidently into your executive office with the fabulous view, settle yourself into your ergonomic leather office chair, prop your feet up on your desk, lace your hands behind your head, and with a large mug of pumpkin spice cappucino at hand, you decide to...

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 Bullet-proof the door.

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[castlemagicmemories]

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@div_style wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Just wondering...there HAVE been posts regarding the decisions, policies and path Ebay has taken.

So have at it.  If YOU were in charge of Ebay, what would YOU do?

You stride confidently into your executive office with the fabulous view, settle yourself into your ergonomic leather office chair, prop your feet up on your desk, lace your hands behind your head, and with a large mug of pumpkin spice cappucino at hand, you decide to...

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 Bullet-proof the door.

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Fortifying the fortress, as it were.

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[div_style]

"I like the Alas, please don't think I am plagiarizing but I have used it myself."

I agree.  Alas and a bottle of wine can make for a great evening.

[castlemagicmemories]

[castlemagicmemories]

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@7606dennis wrote:

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@florencburn_6 wrote:
Yep, and I'm looking at a seller with fraudulent bidders right now, but I'm hesitant to retract my bids when I can't say what the actual problem is.

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I'm not quite certain what you mean by "... a seller with fraudulent bidders..." but I don't think eBay deems that to be a valid reason for a bid retraction.  Alas!  At the risk of over using what I believe to be a wonderful but underused word in today's vocabulary, by the time eBay would have time to investigate any unusual bidding activity the auction would have been long over and you would have been expected to pay or receive a strike.

One issue with bid retractions is that we cannot determine if they were valid or not.  This can be detrimental to the one retracting a bid even if it was done for a just cause.  

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They don't deem that a valid reason but buyers do use bid retraction in those circumstances.

[18704d]

"Due to legitimate SNADs, that occur through no fault of the buyer, a percentage would not be fair as it would penalize the buyer for the seller's listing, which was inaccurate by accident or design."

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Hi.  Yes, Thanks.

But this could be fine tuned by eBay.

Accepted Buyer "bad percentages" could be higher than seller's.

Provable Item Not Recieved (no viewable delivery tracking) wouldn't add to buyer's percentage.

A buyer who files Not Received against every seller who doesn't use tracking...

eBay can tell ... that seller wouldn't be negatively impacted.  The buyer would be.

eBay can identify Sellers who incur a lot of MBG complaints, in case a seller gets hacked.. or goes "rogue" on purpose. 

Those cases wouldn't be held against the buyer either.

anyway.. there can be a way it could be better fine tuned.

Better than the feedback system where emotions and opinions are weighed.

See?

Thanks

Lynn

[wifetrained]

I'd fire the whole managment team and hire people who are able to use their heads for something other than a hat rack!

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

You could then tour the Sydney Opera House, great design there!

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That would be in Australia, not New Zealand (but it's only a 4 hour plane ride)