eBay

somanypostcards · ‎02-25-2021

eBay needs to provide some quality control for sellers. Here is an example of what I mean:

Search for Postcards - Collectible Postcards and you will get over 8 million results. Sort the results by:

Price and Shipping: highest first

Of the first 10 listings, most are not for postcards. Some examples:

1) 1799 U. S. Black Freedom papers... $350,000.00

2) Bronze statue... $135,000.00

5) Mormon Historical Documents... $69,000.00

6) Airstream Ambassador Trailer/Camper... $58,500.00

7) 40 Ft. ... Ferry Tour Boat... $48,000.00

😎 1749 Original Geo Washington...Survey... $32,500

One of the postcard listings in the top 10 listings is an obvious example of price gouging:

3) Postcards 1907-1911 Excellent value ... (Total 180 cards) $99,900.00

Note: this is an excellent value only to the seller as the price per postcard is $555.00. Outrageous!

luckythewinner · ‎02-25-2021

Quality control is the seller's job.

At 5 seconds per listing, doing "quality control" on 1.3 billion listings per month would require 2,050 employees.

I'm not sure eBay is ready to spend $100 million a year just so you don't have to scroll past a few stray listings.

slippinjimmy · ‎02-25-2021

There are millions of sellers, many don't have a clue what they are doing, it's not eBay's job to confirm that each and every listing is in the right Category.

If you want to be the Category police you can report the the listing from the link provided.

There is no such thing as price gouging when it comes to completely discretionary collectible items. If sellers price too high they will never sell. If it does sell then the buyer and seller are a match made in heaven.

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep

stephenmorgan · ‎02-25-2021

I do not think many companies really care about price gouging unless they are publicly shamed for allow it on their site or it is against the law, such as price gouging basic necessities.

As with most all things, the buyer needs to determine if it is a fair price. Not all sellers keep up with market value of their products, especially old collectable items.

collectfest · ‎02-25-2021

@somanypostcards wrote:
eBay needs to provide some quality control for sellers. Here is an example of what I mean:

Search for Postcards - Collectible Postcards and you will get over 8 million results. Sort the results by:
Price and Shipping: highest first

Of the first 10 listings, most are not for postcards. Some examples:
1) 1799 U. S. Black Freedom papers... $350,000.00
2) Bronze statue... $135,000.00
5) Mormon Historical Documents... $69,000.00
6) Airstream Ambassador Trailer/Camper... $58,500.00
7) 40 Ft. ... Ferry Tour Boat... $48,000.00
😎 1749 Original Geo Washington...Survey... $32,500

One of the postcard listings in the top 10 listings is an obvious example of price gouging:
3) Postcards 1907-1911 Excellent value ... (Total 180 cards) $99,900.00
Note: this is an excellent value only to the seller as the price per postcard is $555.00. Outrageous!

You are correct! I agree some sellers are at fault but what you describe can be frustrating. I did a similar search and the key words I used are cluttered with an abundance of non related options.

somanypostcards · ‎02-25-2021

@luckythewinner wrote:
Quality control is the seller's job.

At 5 seconds per listing, doing "quality control" on 1.3 billion listings per month would require 2,050 employees.

I'm not sure eBay is ready to spend $100 million a year just so you don't have to scroll past a few stray listings.

I don't think eBay needs to evaluate every listing. However on the other extreme I don't think eBay should not evaluate any listings. Both buyers and sellers lose confidence in a company that totally ignores its own rules and quality concerns. A small department could accomplish a lot in spotting and rectifying some of the most obvious errors and mistakes. I also know there are some sellers who intentionally list their items in the wrong category because that category has a lower FVF % so the seller saves on eBay fees.

fashunu4eeuh · ‎02-25-2021

Ebay sellers are free to set any price they want on their items-- that is not against the rules. The exception to this is eBay's price gouging policy, but that only relates to certain necessities during a time of emergency.

somanypostcards · ‎02-25-2021

@slippinjimmy wrote:
There are millions of sellers, many don't have a clue what they are doing, it's not eBay's job to confirm that each and every listing is in the right Category.

If you want to be the Category police you can report the the listing from the link provided.

There is no such thing as price gouging when it comes to completely discretionary collectible items. If sellers price too high they will never sell. If it does sell then the buyer and seller are a match made in heaven.

The link on a listing does not allow you to report a listing like a trailer/camper or a boat being listed in the wrong category, such as the category Collectibles -> Postcard. If you click on Report Item you are asked to select 1 of 4 choices: Copyright or trademarks, listing practices, price gouging, or prohibited or restricted items. If you click on listing practices, you are asked to select a Reason for the report, and there are a number of choices, only 2 of which I assumed might be correct:

1) Listing practices. This in turn asked you to select 1 of 3 choices: not hosted on eBay, profanity, or published contact information. None of these applied.

2) Other listing practices. This in turn asked you to select 1 of 7 options, none of which applied to an item such as a boat being listed in the postcard category.

So I do not see a way eBay buyers or sellers can report items to eBay that are listed in the wrong category by using the Report Item link

somanypostcards · ‎02-25-2021

@luckythewinner wrote:
Quality control is the seller's job.

At 5 seconds per listing, doing "quality control" on 1.3 billion listings per month would require 2,050 employees.

I'm not sure eBay is ready to spend $100 million a year just so you don't have to scroll past a few stray listings.

I don't think most categories have as many errors as I see in postcards. When I sort by Price + Shipping, highest first I see 101 listings in the wrong category out of the top 200 listings, ranging from trucks, trailers, tires, coins, to even burial crypts. So it doesn't feel like "just a few stray listings." I guess that's why I posted.