It's not just eBay...

[smileytown18]

So last night I was doing a little googling because I got 2 emails from Synchrony Bank that got me nervous that my account was hacked or it was phishing. It mentioned Amazon Credit Builder. Turns out it was a widespread internal issue from Bank and accounts were not compromised.

However I landed on an Amazn Seller Board where they were discussing it. I looked around a bit there and what I found was that it sounds exactly like this board!

Same complaints of low sales. Same complaints of Company Greed. Same complaints of them constantly siding with buyers. Same shipping issues and metrics that show late when it wasn't. Lots of complaints about site security issues...

So the grass is not always greener on the other side...

I happen not to enjoy those conversations on this board and usually don't join them, as I don't find them comforting, I find them depressing (My own personal opinion, I understand many feel differently). My friend sells on PoshM and says the complaints come in there too.

It was just interesting to see that as long as your selling on a different host company platform, these issues will exist. So let's stay strong and stay positive and keep selling...

Have a great day!

[dhbookds]

Yep, as has been said many times, discussion boards are mainly populated with those that aren't happy for whatever reason.......that doesn't mean their complaints are unfounded, just that the boards aren't "balanced" with those that are happy so they present a skewed view......

[fuzzface50]

The talk in my area about amazon is pretty 50/50 on the buying side. seems pretty split. You hear about the ones that gave them up but then you hear the stories about others falling in love with them. 

But as a seller that is a different story.  I never hear anyone enjoy selling there anymore but hear all the time about how they left. didn't know I knew so many people that used to sell over there until afterwards. 

[fuzzface50]

Yes, I agree the boards can be one sided on many sites. 

[luckythewinner]

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@smileytown18 wrote:

However I landed on an Amazn Seller Board where they were discussing it. I looked around a bit there and what I found was that it sounds exactly like this board!

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IMHO discussion boards for sellers on any e-commerce site are going to be heavily used by sellers who have unhappy, and rarely used by sellers who are not having an issue.

Most of the sellers who are satisfied have no reason to visit.

[mr_lincoln]

@smileytown18   I agree with @dhbookds that most discussion boards fall whoa-fully short of representing the entire Selling and Buying community on any venue.  On any given day those signed on here total less then 15,000 yet eBay has published numbers like over 25 million Selling IDs and over 160 million Buying IDs ... granted a % of those numbers are outside the US but even if just 1/2 are stateside the % heard from here is extremely small ...

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Those that come and vent perhaps are the "unhappy" sellers as you put it.

All of the sellers here that post regularly are hanging out here sometimes so to speak... Less and less of that of the very fun people these days though, I used to come here daily and the drama and sparring resulted in daily laughter for sure...many are on "vacation" permanently though. 

[darkeyedman]

All the happy sellers are way to busy packing and shipping orders, no time to waste on discussion boards.

[smileytown18]

I actually remember the board years ago being quite humorous...

[smileytown18]

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@fuzzface50 wrote:

But as a seller that is a different story.  I never hear anyone enjoy selling there anymore but hear all the time about how they left. didn't know I knew so many people that used to sell over there until afterwards. 

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Just met up with a relative that was telling me how amazon booted him off completely from one minute to the next because a client got angry. I never even knew that was what he did for a living!

He says there are many such cases. On eBay sellers don't get knocked off so quickly

[stanleysoverstock]

I come here to learn so I can circumvent possible problems, shipping tips or whatever. We wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday. Andrew

[zamo-zuan]

I don't know. It seems even if we look in the last year or year and a half, the boards are certainly more negative now. Or seem to have more people facing issues than before.

Outside of the boards, when discussing with other eBay sellers, I don't really run in to anyone who is "happy" with the direction of things nowadays either. Work load has certainly increased for declining sales. And because of eBay's policy changes, margins are lower for those sales.

It is nice when you occasionally run in to a nice, positive post on here. But those seem more rare these days. 

I personally feel this is the lowest point I've ever seen eBay in the last 10+ (maybe even 15+)  years, and I am extremely worried if this direction continues for another year. It's been downhill since the beginning of 2018, and this part can't really be argued, as it's even showing in the stock reports.

I truly wish that they would recognize the changes from Jan 2018 onward as a failed experiment, as the change of policies/direction exactly coincide with when the stock reports took a turn for the worse. It seems now they're blaming external factors such as Google, which is pretty frightening for those of us who can monitor the changes eBay did to see they have only hurt and not helped. 

[mvls1]

I agree. Personally, i have always felt if I am prepared for the worst it will make taking care of the rest much easier. Knowledge is power. So far that has been working for us.

[smileytown18]

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@stanleysoverstock wrote:

I come here to learn so I can circumvent possible problems, shipping tips or whatever. We wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday. Andrew

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Agree!

I meant the posts that just bemoan the state of sales etc... I understand people want to vent or feel better when they hear they are not alone. I personally don't care for those conversations, so I usually skip them

[chapeau-noir]

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@darkeyedman wrote:

All the happy sellers are way to busy packing and shipping orders, no time to waste on discussion boards.

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I'm happy with my sales and certainly have a bit of time to 'waste' on these discussion boards - if I can pass a long a bit of the help people have given me down through the years, I will.  Also, where else to talk shop?