Next Weekly Chat Devoted to......Sports Cards (Mini Rant)

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I'm happy for the trading cards sellers. Really, I am. 

But, on the off chance that someone from ebay might read this:

Many of us do not sell trading cards, or luxury watchers. We aren't all sneakerheads. 

It's now Q4. 

Here are some thing ebay has mentioned as "coming"...with no definite date of course:

1. The new store features, as mentioned in the Fall Update. Still not here.

2. The reduced FVF for using Social Media to drive traffic. Still not here.

3. Video for listings and store home pages. Still not here.

4. Immediate payment on offers. Still not here.

I'm sure I'm missing a few. All of these features would benefit ALL sellers, not just those in the verticals ebay is pushing. 

ebay, your competition is growing and innovating, and they aren't taking forever to do it.

You can do better, ebay....or at least, I hope you can. 

[coffeebean832]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

2. The reduced FVF for using Social Media to drive traffic. Still not here.

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Is that different than the eBay Parter Network?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@coffeebean832 

Yes. It was mentioned in the ebay Open Online. The amount of the FVF was something like 2.54% for items sold via the seller's  Social Media traffic. No membership in EPN required. However, no details were given and none have been added since that initial announcement. 

[chapeau-noir]

They're all about 'verticals' now.  Meanwhile a lot of sales are horizontal.

[coffeebean832]

You've seen the new holiday shipping supplies, right? Icons of trading cards, handbags, sneakers  and watches all over them. It certainly reinforces where eBay's priorities are.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@chapeau-noir  That summarizes it very nicely! 🤣

[tsme35]

Not like they do anything anyway, common response "we let someone know your concerns"  Instead of making more of a mess, fix the mess you've made.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@coffeebean832   OMG, I hadn't noticed the designs on the tape. Glad I didn't order any! LOL I "get" the verticals thing. It's not a bad strategy from a business point of view. In fact, I'm all in favor of ebay recognizing that different categories have different needs. But I don't think ebay is winning hearts and minds with a tactic that inevitably feels exclusionary. By all means, put out new tools for the verticals. But don't prioritize them to the disadvantage of the rest of us. 

[chapeau-noir]

Yes - that's basically what is happening.  They did this with the fidget spinners - put everything into it and it blew up in their faces.  Well, this is a bit less faddy, but they're building a large structure on shifting sands unless they expand their efforts.

[maxine*j]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

They're all about 'verticals' now.  Meanwhile a lot of sales are horizontal.

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[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@chapeau-noir  Oh, I believe they will expand their efforts to other categories, that's certainly the plan. But , meanwhile, promised changes that would benefit everyone, not just the vertically chosen, seem to be far down on the Priority List...

I'd just like to see them come through with some of this stuff in time for us to benefit from it in whatever is left of Q4....I'm guessing we might see the stores stuff before the end of the quarter, but the rest of it....probably next year, and maybe not even then....

[chapeau-noir]

Given their track record, I'd actually rather eBay NOT institute anything else this quarter. 😖They need to be doing this stuff in the summer IMHO.