@nuclearomen wrote:
@mobley120 wrote:
"For all we know there maybe already some such group that works with ebay etc.,"
I agree with your post, like in, get the policies sound before implementing them and furthermore, eBay could take-in consideration "all" sellers, not just the top tiers.
...and so we have arrived at the real issue at the heart of it all. 💥🌟✨🎉
Ebay has been trying to make a "one-size-fits-all" platform and it has exploded to many failures. A lot of people say "Ebay just wants to be Amazon"... and while I do not believe that, even Ebay is aware of universe of differences between the two platforms, but i do feel that they believe they can mirror Amazon's policies and practices to a point and have been trying to implement that strategy. But it doesn't and will never work for the kind of platform and company Ebay is. Mainly because as you well know, and others have stated above, Ebay sells nothing except spot on their platform while Amazon actually distributes merchandise, both of their own and for 3rd party sellers and allows 3rd party sellers to sell on their own without FBA assistance... HUGE differences here and reasons why Amazon has such policies, but Ebay doesn't need all those like-minded policies as again, they sell nothing, handle no merchandise and to them the "free returns" means nothing but perhaps ebay try to sell some merch for once and undergo all the stresses, confusions, one-sides to buyer favored policies. : i.e. item returned from buy damaged / item not returned from buyer but ebay issued them refund out my account anyways / item returned from but it's not the item they were sent but a used broken item of the same make and successfully got away with it / item returned but return postage was charged at USPS Priority Mail instead of for example Media Mail how it was sent to buyer, now I'm out cost they paid, cost for me to ship item to them, and the cost to pay postage of return that cost 3-4x the amount it does to send the original method.... you get the point
Ebay is a platform that can exceed itself with improvements over the years, but instead they are hung up with tailoring their business to mirror other platforms and it's never going to work... you can't have a one size for all policy with a platform that has many different types of sellers from really large corps, to drop shippers, to mom and pop, to part time sellers, to full time sellers but not huge like corp size sellers.... policies have to be made to meet all these different kinds of sellers... it's not easy, I understand, I even sometimes feel bad for complaining, but it just seems like they can't understand all this.
Amazon retail BU basically operates like a grocery store. Vendors rent shelf space in the store and Amazon takes a portion of those profits. This is why you will walk into as grocery store and see vendors like Pepsi, Coke, Miller, Wonder Bread, etc inside the store stocking shelves, themselves, with their own people. In all cases, Amazon treats the people who sell there as suppliers and has similar standards to a retail store in terms of controlling the supply chain. Additionally, Amazon may compete with the vendors with its own brands (generic store brands) and also purchase and stock other brands that it is reselling, itself. Amazon also takes on all other aspects of the transaction including customer service, management, checkouts, card processing, etc.
eBay is more like a shopping mall. Vendors rent space in the venue (eBay stores, ad space) but does not control the supply chain. eBay provides the hosting space and mechanisms to transact, and effectively charges the vendors a percentage rent for doing so. Vendors use an outside company to process credit transactions, manage all items themselves, process all transactions themselves, etc.
eBay seems to be attempting to transition into the "grocery store" model. Mom & pop don't sell in the "grocery store" without the backing of a larger corp.
All of us "small sellers" (anyone less than $1M/yr) are being externalized.
