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]

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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[tomuchstuff5]

And I forgot to add. This is the only way I see ypu will ever be able to grow a business on these type items on Ebay. To develop a customer base you really have to be able to converse about the interests of the collector.

[coolections]

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@mg152 wrote:

She has assured us that ebay values & wants to keep small/part time sellers around.

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She would be correct. The small sellers have always thought for some strange reason Ebay doesn't want them. The problem is many are trying to compete with the big sellers who offer the same items at a lower cost. Buyers choose item by price so the small seller gets less sales and think it is Ebay's fault.

[mr_lincoln]

@llllady

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@llllady wrote:

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@mg152 wrote:

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! 😀

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No, really?  Did you expect an eBay employee to tell you otherwise?  I just got a look at that chat.  I read through 3 pages of pretty much nothing.  Looked like a bunch of "friends" talking to each other. 

Sorry I wasted even 5 minutes there, let alone 15.

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Sorry you did not get to the page my post was on, it was late in the hour due to schedule ... anyway, it was business as usual I guess, just what I thought was a good suggestion to improve US sales to foreign countries, primarily Europe ...

[trustedbasset]

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!

[z50com]

I love your positive attitude.

Your husband is a lucky guy. . .

[z50com]

I never miss your words of wisdom!

God, I wish I was your neighbor. . .

[llllady]

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@coolections wrote:

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@mg152 wrote:

She has assured us that ebay values & wants to keep small/part time sellers around.

---

She would be correct. The small sellers have always thought for some strange reason Ebay doesn't want them. The problem is many are trying to compete with the big sellers who offer the same items at a lower cost. Buyers choose item by price so the small seller gets less sales and think it is Ebay's fault.

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Well, if buyers are choosing their items by price only, then we don't need Best Match, Free Shipping, Free Returns, etc., etc. - or any of the other things that mess up search!  What a novel idea.  Let's get back to basics.   Why complicate when they can simplify and make buyers AND sellers happy? 

[hawkwind5454]

Take it, with a grain of salt! The one thing I have learned in my eBay tenure, is there  can be a wide gap between eBay reality, and what an eBay "autobot" has been programmed to parrot.....ESPECIALLY  if it is something intended to help sellers. From the ebay hierarchy, to the customer service reps, there would seem to be a lot of *tell them (the sellers) what they want to hear* going on-   😕

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

It would be really really cool if the customer service reps could transform into cars. 

[u_cant_take_it_with_u]

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

It would be really really cool if the customer service reps could transform into cars. 

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That would certainly make [most of] them more useful.

[themagicmountain]

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.

[themagicmountain]

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

[tomuchstuff5]

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. 

[tomuchstuff5]

I read thru it. It did say some things would be answered later? If I understood that correctly. I will pull it up again and check later to see if issues were addressed. It seemed like a standard PR event.