Part time/small sellers

[mg152]

We had a very pleasant chat yesterday with eBay executive Sarah Brubacher. Very nice person BTW. She has assured us that ebay values & wants to keep small/part time sellers around. I’ve always believed that long time sellers of any volume are the backbone of eBay & according to what Sarah said EBay recognizes that.

This post is for informational purposes. Some will believe it & some won’t.

Have a great day my friends! 😀

[tomuchstuff5]

lol , I used to buy complete estates and had a themed shop with vintage and antique jewelry, silver, art pottery and art glass.  I would donate clothes, household and such but the vintage items that came with just kept getting packed and placed in the back of the building. Decided to free up space by selling those items on Ebay. Thus the user name tomuchstuff . The building was sold and I choose to close the shop rather than relocate as I was in the middle of a large contract in my career which was not selling antiques.  I became a mother late in life and  morphed my career to Ebay in addition to stay at home Mom. Now single Mom.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@bonnie-lass wrote:

This past summer I saw ebay commercials on television that appealed to me. They basically said why buy from those boring black and white places when ebay has color. 

I got it. As a consummer I don't like going thru google or amazon looking for stuff. It's blah.

Ebay is fun. It can be any way.

Why oh why do they want to be the same old same old every other place is?

Ebay needs to remember that it is different, or was. They should market themselves that way.

Those summer commercials were great.

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While I didn't like those summer commmercials, I totally agree with Ebay needs to rememberthat it is different.  I don't like the Amazon format.  If I search for something there, I can usually find it here for a better price.

The commercials didn't deal with the diversity and variety here.  They emphasized the cart, which is very problematic.  They showed scrolling through pictures and buying from a picture alone.  It was all on fashion.

They should capitalize on that diversity and variety.  An updated ad campaign that targets multi aspects of what you can find here, a variation, if you will, on the old You can find IT here slogan.  

You're not Amazon, why try to be?  There is a reason to stay aware of what your competitor's are doing, that is just good business sense, but to try to BE them is giving up your identity.  

There is a poster on here whose siggie is Never try to be a second rate version of someone else, be a first rate version of yourself, or something like that.

I don't know what their intentions were in choosing that, but that is good advice for Ebay.  They should market the excitement, auctions, BINS, everything under the sun.  

Getting off the soapbox now!

[tomuchstuff5]

I would offer a return policy if you could enforce it. I did have a return policy some time ago, Unfortunately you could never enforce the terms which were very simple. I think I changed it when managed returns came out. I am seriously big on customer service and will address any question or issue almost immediately.  (except some of the insane requests like could you sell that 25.00 item for 10.00 and give me free shipping). 

In reality I have not had that many return requests overall. Most have been in the last year and most have been more of the extortion nature. A good majority of the items I sell are heavy or hard to pack. I may consider offering returns on some things that are less shipping cost prohibitive. 

What I find overall is that no matter what the cause of return or my stated policy, I have to absorb shipping to and from which is not feasible for my financial situation. 

[castlemagicmemories]

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@tomuchstuff5 wrote:

The problem as I see it is they are trying put a square peg in a round hole with Antiques, Vintage , Collectibles and some used. You cannot big box this stuff. It is a horse of totally different color. This is what Ebay was built on. Not buying shampoo online. I can understand the convenience features of GD , returns, 1 day handling and the impersonal purchase on New Items that they are in direct competition with everyone on. You don't interact with anyone when picking this stuff up at the store. Go to an Antique shop , Show or flea market and its all about the history and personal interaction. 

The stuff Ebay was built on is not something you get at Target, Walmart, Amazon, Dollar Tree and so on. I know these markets are down , but not dead. They would do better to let sellers converse with customers. This is where history is shared and a collector or admirer of an item grows the desire to own it. True you can find just about anything on Ebay. And you CAN'T find some items elsewhere. So to apply rules that do not apply to product is ??. 

Ask any collector if they would rather have their purchase rushed out in 1 day with hasty packaging or carefully packed for safe delivery within a few days. 

In my opinion Ebay should have visit Ebay Original tab on the home page. Let sellers sell their stuff with the benefit of conversing about history or collections. Provide the venue, advertising on the unique items that can be found here, safe payment processing and the technology to make it all work for the fees. Let sellers manage their own customer service and implement policy that is appropriate to the merchandise. I think they would be surprised at the long term results of not trying to big box this stuff. Might even bring the market back up. 

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You read my mind.  I am a collector and I have said that for years, after bad experiences with broken items from sellers who are so proud they got it out in a couple of hrs.  I would actually get very apprehensive due to this haste, and sometimes my worst fears were realized.  I don't care how fast you shipped; I would rather you take the time you need to pack it thoroughly and well.  It's not something I am going to expire waiting for.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@trustedbasset wrote:

I had a buyer ask me about the Best Offer on auctions, I told them it's either a bug or a new thing. The buyer said Ugh another new thing. So even the buyers are aware of all the new "Improvements" to the site and the response was UGH!

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Great point.  Buyers want functionality, a glitch free experience.

Most don't want constant changes, or re-design that doesn't accomplish anything.  

[tomuchstuff5]

It could be a link on the watchers end. This item has a seller ending last offer. Something of that nature. Like those annoying little things that come up on your bell when you think you message or sale. Watcher would only need to view offer if interested. 

[castlemagicmemories]

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@themagicmountain wrote:

I wish that were so, but as a buyer I find items from sketchy or poor sellers put at the top of best match all the time

Top Rated Sellers need to really get a boost in best match

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I understand but some buyers have come to feel that Top Rated doesn't really mean anything as it may not mean a better experience than from any other seller.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@tomuchstuff5 wrote:

I have more to say. Always . Ebay could accomplish Ebay original bringing back the feel of the more personal experience on these items that built Ebay without compromising their grip of control to a certain degree by doing a 90 day commitment on any item by the seller that this will be the only venue it is available on and by at the near end of 90 days to be able to send a Make it Yours offer (price determined by the seller) to those watchers that we don't even know who they are. It should take a click to send out that offer, first to buy-it-now is the new owner. we would never know who the watchers are, so no taking it off site.

This would keep it fresh with new offerings. You have to sell to be able to buy and add new listings. I know I love to look for new items to offer.

On returns: I have a no returns policy. This is to discourage those who are not sure that they want to own it. Why? I as a small seller cannot afford to take what would have been a $12.00 profit and turn it into a 30.00 loss. ( to and from shipping) Shipping is an expense. shipping it properly requires proper materials (more expense) and time to pack it. Time is money. Not to mention the fact that proper packing is not always something that a buyer has experience with even if they have the proper material you provided in shipment. It takes another 2.5 sales to cover the loss and another 10 to at  least minimize this loss to a reasonable percentage.

I don' t have a problem offering great customer service on any issue (except those who think once  they have your item they can get a price adjustment based on nothing more than they know they have your feet over the fire) . This a constant problem because it is CONDONED.

I have met many wonderful buyers and collectors on my years here. I do believe 99 percent of buyers are honest people. Even some of those that are doing snad to get free return shipping. They think they are abusing the system a little when in reality they are causing financial hardship on individuals. They do this because again it has become the norm, allowed, condoned. 

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Great idea!

[tomuchstuff5]

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@themagicmountain wrote:

Until something is done about the Chinese sellers, then business for US sellers, especially smaller ones, is doomed. And buyers get frustrated and give up

It is frustrating as even a buyer to see what the Chinese have done. Things like clog up categories with many multiples of identical listings, junking up antique and collectible categories with new junk that is miscategorized, all kinds of issues. AND THEY NEVER GET TAKEN DOWN when reported nor do they get thrown off Ebay while US sellers get punished for small things.

It is bad enough thaty the Chinese have their postage subsidized by US citizens

But they blatantly break Ebay rules and get away with it, and hurt US sellers.

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A bad buyer experience is a bad buyer experience. Not being able to find anything without relentless sorting of trinkets and fake sterling, great pictures of what look like great items, items described as geniune antiques based  has **** mark ( but post 1940) . You have to some extent wonder how gullible people are. 

 I really believe buyers, sellers and Ebay alike would would be better served and business would increase if there were different doors to enter when desiring to make a purchase. 

Antiques , Vintage, Collectibles

Fashion

Electronics

Global Offerings (imports)

 and so on. 

Returns, policies et should be appropriate to the category.

Does not mean sellers cannot sell multiple category items, just that buyers can at least get into the right ballpark to find what they are looking for. 

[tomuchstuff5]

If a seller is happy and is able to sell with relatively few hassels, they will have no desire to take it off site. If you can build a business here, then there is no reason to go anywhere else. The fees (except for those on shipping) don't bother me as long as my product gets exposure and the OPPORTUNITY TO SELL. 

[tomuchstuff5]

@castlemagicmemories

Shipping supplies is one of my bigger expenses. The time associated with proper packing is also one of my biggest time eaters. I find it so disrespectful to the buyer to not properly package the item. They sorted thru all the stuff to find that one special item they are willing to lay their money out on. I know many sellers live in fear of the late shipment defect. It is just not possible always get things out properly packed in the time frame. I am not saying wait for the next ice age to ship, just don't throw it in a box for sake of hitting the mark. I personally think safe packing should be a DSR. 

[honestabe411]

You think she would say that eBay doesn't value its sellers? Lol

[katfreikh_0]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

OK, I have to ask. Doesn't the grammar in  your user name make you uncomfortable? It made me shudder.

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Hahaha!

You’re hilarious! (Not your/ur! )

Waist/ waste

compliment/complement

which/witch

stationary/ stationery

or the inexplicable buyer/seller truly makes me shudder. 

That user name? Just makes me slightly itchy.

[retrose1]

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@lookng2015 wrote:
Put me in the "yeah, whatever" group (actions speak louder than words)

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Same here. 

ebay values the small seller's wallets - which are paying huge fees to be abused.  And ebay values the small sellers because in the grand scheme of things, they are more easily suckered by ebay into falling for programs that deliver nothing except more money in ebay's coffers.

[tomuchstuff5]

I always try to resolve the problem before throwing in the towel. Change is a fact of life. It doesn't mean that we cannot make change work to the positive by collectively brain storming. It takes 2 to Tango though. You have to get everyone to engage.