eBay

fonzibean · ‎04-17-2019

Is anyone else frustrated by the new format on ebay? I have always listed my items as BIN's for 7 days. Now they MUST be "Good Until Cancelled" if I want them to be BIN. I HATE the fact that when I relist, the settings change and automatically include the option to make an offer. Ebay has ruined their site. It has become nothing more than an online bargain basement. Even the auction listings now have the "make an offer" setting. Yes, this can be turned off, and yes you can turn off the OBO on BIN's as well but it's become a hassle and has now created an environment where people are constantly sending offers for items that have both of these options turned off. I currently have a listing for an item that was over $50 new. It was worn once, and in LNC. I have a starting bid for $35. I have received offers TWICE from someone despite the offer settings being turned off. The first for $20 and the second for $25. I have now blocked her from bidding because I don't like this kind of thing, but feel this is now commonplace on ebay due to the offers being pushed at every turn.

I'm really annoyed by this and wish ebay would reconsider their format.

vanman1029 · ‎04-17-2019

You think GTC is bad? Wait until you sell something and try to print a label!

vinylrecon · ‎04-17-2019

I'm not happy at all with it at all,i've been rather vocal about it,but to no avail....

kensgiftshop · ‎04-17-2019

I've used GTC for years, so that hasn't affected me any and it's the only way I list.

As far as best offers being added to listings, I don't list using their app and I use the advanced listing tool and I don't have any problems with best offer being added to my listings.

I'll do best offers once in awhile and when I do, I always set it to automatically decline any low offers so I don't have to mess with them.

Have A Great Day.

blingrescue · ‎04-17-2019

I agree ebay is driving prices down to the point it is no longer worth the time to list. And then have to count days to avoid double charges with GTC. I quit

mabearsattic · ‎04-17-2019

Oh, I so agree. I am so frustrated that I am seriously considering quitting! I am not a store but I work hard at this. I do their extra free listings, which I guess are not really free anymore. It is just a sneaky way to get you to list more that they can roll over without your permission and charge. And if a customer questions anything, they are considered to be right. They don't ask for my input or answer my question. I don't matter. I first became unhappy when we could not give a customer anything but a positive rating but they can give us bad ratings if they don't like the color. One woman said she really wanted yellow and this wasn't yellow. Nowhere did it say it was yellow, it was cream. I had to refund her money AND shipping both ways. I have just finished canceling a lot of listings and checked the reason as "mistake in listing." There is a BIG mistake. They are NOT GTC!!! I think it is underhanded.

trustedbasset · ‎04-17-2019

I don’t understand sellers blocking buyers because of offers. Why get defensive, just decline. I have found good repeat buyers from low offers. This is the game field and to win the game be open.

Dear God, please help me to be
the person my dog thinks I am.

slippinjimmy · ‎04-17-2019

@blingrescue wrote:
I agree ebay is driving prices down to the point it is no longer worth the time to list. And then have to count days to avoid double charges with GTC. I quit

eBay doesn't sell anything and they don't buy anything so how are they "driving prices down"?

Maybe you mean the very fact they exist has driven prices down but even that is strictly as a result of buyers deciding they want to pay less and sellers willing to accommodate.

No need to "count days" just have a look at your active listings periodically and sort by ending date.

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep

kateinthe26th · ‎04-17-2019

The new listing rules maybe here to force sellers that only use the free 50 listings (or however many free you get) month after month after month, year after year....... into taking on a store !

Who knows .....but i guess GTC is better than no free listings

i just want a '"request total from seller" button on the ebay app so mobile users can check out the same way as lap top/desk top users do on the classic ebay site.

Now that would really save me and my buyers $$ and time as I refuse to go the 'free shipping' route and have to make a bunch of shipping refunds most days as mobile users can't request an invoice.

if the app had that BASIC function it would be so completely awesome ;0)

fashunu4eeuh · ‎04-17-2019

Hi, just wanted to point out that eBay encourages offers be made, whether or not Best Offer is set. It used to be against policy for a buyer to make an unsolicited offer, but those days are long gone.

So blocking members for making offers when eBay encourages it could punish the bottom line. One could use that interest to make the sale, by counter-offer, or pointing out the widget’s value if prices are firm. (In my case, the block list is reserved for those who engage in truly egregious behavior, and non-payers, so i rarely need to add a name.)

Like you, i don’t want offers, my prices are what they are. But i try to remain open to some negotiation because it can clinch a sale. Haggling is an accepted, even expected, practice in some cultures. In a global market like eBay, sellers aware of such dealing may have an advantage over those less adaptable.

One thing is certain, blocking a buyer for making an inquiry on price won’t create a strong buying opportunity.

Just my two cents. Good luck to you on whatever you choose.

sweetpieces4you · ‎04-18-2019

Anyone at anytime can make you an offer on any listed item regardless if you have offers listed or not. That is done everyday. I get them all the time. There's nothing wrong with a person making you an offer for one of your listings. And I have made many sales that way as well. By blocking a potential buyer is certainly not going to help you sell your items. I have many people blocked but not for making me an offer on my items. So you have something listed at a starting bid of $35 and someone offered you $25 . It was USED and they thought that is all its worth. If the item wasn't bid on you can always make a counter offer to a offer !!! And as far as GTC . It's here to stay so just deal with it the best way you can.

carbonart0 · ‎09-20-2019

Low ball offers from Ebay vultures are a waste of my time.

If I receive an offer that is less than half of my buy it now price, I automatically block the buyer. If I receive an offer that is just over half of my asking price, I send a counter offer for a reasonable discount from my asking price (and the asking price is already low). If the buyer does not respond to my counter offer, then they go straight into my block bidder list.

Ebay has trained buyers to expect free shipping, free 30 to 90 day returns, free return shipping, and to expect to purchase items for a mere fraction of their listed price(s). That might work well for paperback books or plastic spatulas from Hong Kong, but it's not working at all for niche market items.

And when most sellers do manage to sell an item on Ebay these days? The price for the sale is often a fraction of the actual value of the item - The sellers gets cheated, and then is expected to hand a pay pal fee to pay pal and a final value fee to Ebay after getting cheated on the price of the item.

The only way for Ebay to succeed long term here is for the management (and their largest shareholders) to wake up and begin reversing their many disastrous policies. Mandating the use of pay pal for all transactions was mistake number 1... But we all know the same people who own Ebay, also own pay pal...

carbonart0 · ‎09-20-2019

I should add here that the above is just the tip of the ice burg. Ebay has created a long list of bad policy decisions over the last few years...and it is the accumulative effect of all of these policies that have combined to create declining sales and traffic on Ebay.

All of it, I believe, stems from a misguided idea that buyers are Ebay's customers. Buyers are the Sellers' customers...it's the sellers who are Ebay's customers... Seller feedback ratings have taken a back seat where Ebay's policy decisions are concerned. Naturally, this isn't working well at all.

I could write volumes (and have) about the many bad policies Ebay has imposed on Ebay users, but it suffices to say here that their new seller format is a nuisance and try as I might, Ebay keeps trying to ram it down my throat. Every time I go to view my seller pages, Ebay forces me to "Switch Back" over to the classic seller pages...I never switched away from the classic seller pages...Nevertheless, every time (just about) I view my seller pages, Ebay makes me switch back to the classic view. Sometimes, I have to switch back a half dozen times before it will stay in the classic view. I've complained to Ebay about it before, and they did "fix it" for a little while, but then it went back to doing it again, and it hasn't stopped since - several months now.

I don't want the new format as the new format tries to manipulate me into looking at and/or buy items that I did not even choose to look at. And doing something normally straightforward in the classic format, requires multiple mouse clicks in the new format - again, because Ebay is trying to manipulate users into making purchases. And what happened to the classic view for all the other pages? I don't recall choosing to switch away from the classic view for these pages either. But now, there's not even a choice for these pages.