Seeking an exit strategy

[bmp_auto_salvage]

Really eBay, I have no control over my return rates and now you are going to GOUGE me because these people have no idea what it is they are buying and open return requests?

Some months I sell over 20K and now you will be taking an additional 4% of my FVF!?!?! So if I do 20K you pocket another $800!?!?! 

I am disgusted, I cannot prevent these return happy buyers and I understand exactly what it is I am selling but they do not know what they are buying. This system is trash. I am literally at a loss of words.

Oh and if an item gets damaged in transit its my fault as well!?!?!? How do I have any control over that!!!!!

eBay has become a heaping pile of trash, if I didn't have 5 years invested into this business I would have closed the doors a long time ago. I am going to actively start seeking an exit strategy because this is nonsense. 

[18704d]

" Didn't all these sites start off as someones dream? Are we saying that we're not dreamers and can only chase after and support what other people have built? Sounds like we're lazy and/or have a problem dreaming."

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Those sites started off with tens of millions of dollars of investments.

Lynn

[arun7500]

11 years invested, sounds scary at first, but there are other avenues out there. Ebay is (was) great, powerful name recognition, easy inventory and listing options, integrated payment and shipping solutions. Then there is the absolutely pathetic customer service, representatives who are neither familiar with or seem to care about the company they represent, constant rule (published and unpublished) changes, no recourse on ebay (Bot) decisions, and many many more, but who has time for all that stuff. 

[castlemagicmemories]

What you sell is a category prone to high returns; sorry, but it's true as you have found out.

I understand you have no control over what happens in transit, but you can use the carrier insurance to mitigate your losses.

Exit strategy is simple.  Just stop listing and let your current listings end.  

Sorry you feel this is necessary and wishing you good luck in the future.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@futuretomorrow wrote:

3. We get too comfortable with easy and that's how the trap works. Nobody ever hid anything, we just failed to realize that no company on Wall Street is ever going to have our best interests in mind because greed knows no bounds. 

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^^^THIS +100

This needs to be on a tshirt...or a plaque...or a tatoo...or something.

NONE of these selling venues have YOUR best interest in mind...they have THEIRS in mind.

[futuretomorrow]

@sandytexas1961

While I agree with most of your comment I'm curious whether you've considered the trade off for all those eyeballs on our products? Maybe you have and decided this is just one of the downsides of smart business or maybe you haven't or don't see any downsides at all. Ultimately, we may have a difference in opinion on what would be the originating factor or point of an ecosystem and we definitely would disagree on how we define smart business. 

I know quite a few businesses personally that were started as their own B&M,  with their own website and eBay is not their epicenter. It was and remains a channel to move surplus inventory so they can avoid having to expand to a larger space due to growing deadstock items. eBay is not a large part of their revenue stream and the beauty of that? They call the shots, on their own terms once they abide by the rules of their rental agreement and conditions of their vendors/partners in the cases these factors apply. This is much different than realizing every other month a platform is shifting position without your best interests in mind.

The other amazing part of this? How many posts have we seen here where sellers have stated eBay is their sole source of revenue? You're going to enjoy my suggestion at the end but those that depend solely on eBay for a source of income may enjoy it more.

When I ran my own website, which is being relaunched shortly, I handled returns and customer questions or concerns on my own accord and hardly had any problems. There was no third party deciding the outcome of an issue for me. It was me and the customer working things out. Never had a problem and customers have plenty of public places to rate me if I gave them poor customer service or sold bad products. Instead, I'm contacted through social media channels with customers showing me how great some of their lace swaps look. Happened again just last night. 

I've worked professionally in the advertising industry in many capacities, before shifting into UX and learn very very quickly. I know what it takes to grow a network of customers or what resources to use and individuals to contact to help with it. You know why most people here haven't done it and I didn't keep up with it? It's hard work. Like really hard work. If most people understand what eBay does or did to bring those eyeballs and that they themselves don't have it in them in even the smallest doses they would never come here and start a post out of absolute respect. 

It takes repeated investments. It takes a winning mindset. It takes discipline and working for yourself you will work the hardest you have ever worked in your entire life. You're clearly not fooled by what eBay does for you but I think many others are when they don't want to put in the hard work. To do that one has to have a dream that they can be bigger than where they're at. One has to also decide whether they're happy with the conditions they're placed under and the OP of this thread and 100's of eBay comments suggest people are not but most won't do anything about it.

If you haven't yet read "The Business of the 21st Century" please do and if you have tell me what quadrant you're in. Are you happy there? You don't have to answer me because whatever you do isn't for me, it's for you and your future. I'm going to do me and win or fail on my own terms and efforts.

[futuretomorrow]

@18704d

That's factually inaccurate. Not sure where you're getting your information from or what companies you may have in mind but some were started in basements and apartments. Some included waffle irons, others included simply selling books at first. Society likes to look at the top of the iceberg and forget the massive efforts that is the underbelly of said iceberg.

Most people prefer eBay because they don't have to speak to investors face to face and deal with situations like Colonel Sanders almost 100 rejections before getting investment money. 

Here's what most people can't do today and have eagerly forgotten about some companies origins.

"Honda hit yet another obstacle when the cost of creating his motorized bikes was too much to do himself and he couldn’t find any investors. At this point, you probably know what I’m about to tell you, Honda refused to accept the obstacle as permanent and soon figured out a way to overcome it. He wrote letters to 18,000 bike shops (no, that’s not a typo, he sent hand written letters to 18,000 stores) explaining his motorized bike invention and how it would increase their bike sales."

Did you know Home Depots CEO wrote 52,000? 

I could go on and on with bodies of evidence but people will most likely find some excuse to move away from the accuracy of my comments. At the end of the day each person should be happy and live by whatever rules or excuses works best for them.

[castlemagicmemories]

Two outstanding posts.

[baantiques]

Your terms about returns are pretty off-putting, and really don't have any bearing on whether or not you accept the return.  If I buy a transmission from you and it has a shredded 5th gear, it doesn't matter who installed it or if I opened the case (I would open the case.  I do all my own work and no f'ing way am I spending many hours installing a used transmission without first opening it up and making sure everything is as it should be), if a customer files an INR return, which they should do ifthe item doesn't fucntion as it should, you're going to have to take the return.

As for reducing returns, test the part, list the specific applications of the part, and ditch the adversarial return terms in your listings.

But it's tough with newer auto parts.  My solution to problem buyers (the kind who don't know what they need and order anyway) was to stop selling newer parts.  They went into the trash or on CL for free.

[18704d]

"That's factually inaccurate. Not sure where you're getting your information from or what companies you may have in mind but some were started in basements and apartments."

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@futuretomorrow

I wasn't refering to Jobs and Wozniak while they were still in their home garage,

I'm talking the millions it takes to take this to the next level.

To the nationwide lever.

Thanks,

Lynn