Where have the good buyers gone?

[abs043]

I've been here since around 2001 and selling since 2008 and am top rated.  While I may not like or understand some of the changes over the years I have learned to work with them and still be successful.  However, the biggest change I am finding difficulty in learning to accept/work with is the attitude of many buyers now.  There have always been a few troublesome buyers and through good customer service I have always been able to find acceptable solutions which left everyone happy (a skill I learned in my first career as a social worker).

I sell plants and over the past year I have had more buyers than before contact me with questions and problems.  I take time to educate the them about the plants and the plants' care, answering all their questions and providing advice specific to their situations, all this in addition to the detailed care sheet which is sent with each plant.  At times I still end up giving a refund to compensate for any problems.  All this is fine as at least the buyer contacted me first and I would rather the buyer leave with more information and a little smarter than they were before.  And no, I do not allow buyers to harrass me into giving a refund, I am very judicious in giving them.

But my real gripe (and that's what this actually is, not so much asking for advice but rather a griping vent) is after all this those buyers who want me to be responsible for their errors and/or dead plants.  They then leave negative feedback.  In the past month I have received more negative/neutral feedback than I have in the past ten years combined.  It also is frustrating when such feedback is left and the buyer never gave me the opportunity to correct any problems.  For some buyers I truly do not know what they want or expect, and I don't think they do either.  Perhaps I should travel the country caring for their plants.

Just a small sample.  Two buyers claimed they did not recognize the plants.  When asked they sent photos of what they wanted which were very young plants; they received mature plants, just like those described and pictured in the listing.  Another refused to take my advice and then blamed me when the plants died after three weeks.  After more than 30 years growing these plants I know how to correct most problems but apparently not as much as he, who had never grown the plant he ordered and had less than a few months experience growing any plants.

It was not my intention for this to be so long and I am sorry for that.  Here's to all us buyers, may the good buyers with feedback by many and may the others blow away with the wind.

[twnpopcards]

Many of the good buyers have left to follow a seller who left for another site because of all the new policies.  What is becoming the norm on Ebay is many buyers are now looking for a perfect Ferrari for the price of a used and battered VW. Ebay stated that they are seeking the same buying population that Walmart is because they have seen how well WalMart has done.  Walmart evidently pursues the bottom 40% of the population in income which is fine when you have the inventory to sell them.  But Ebay expects the sellers to provide the low cost merchandise at below WalMart prices while also paying them 10% FVF for their efforts.  That leaves nothing for the Seller to live on, which of course is not Ebays problem.

But that seems to be the quality of buyer that Ebay now wants which would fit in perfectly with their Chinese partners, at least until the postal rates go up with the next United Nations Postal committee meeting where they should no longer get the 3rd world country status and be rated just as poor as Gabon.  If anything, their new international postage rates should be right up there with the $10 it costs a US buyer to try and return anything to China.  Lets see them compete with Walmart at that point in time.

[castlemagicmemories]

Many buyers say TRS means nothing due to bad experiences and horrible customer service; many actively avoid TRS sellers for the same reason.

Some said some of the worst transactions were at the hands of TRS sellers.  Many would fight legimate SNADs tooth and nail, with strings of abusive, hostile, accusatory, insulting, and profanity laced messages over a period of several days in hopes of intimidating the buyer into abandoning the return.  

And so they fought; the seller may have won the battle and lost the war, as good buyers left to buy elsewhere.

[harleyman49-us]

Many of the good buyers were good sellers who have left out of frustration with to many unnecessary changes, constant glitches, and lack of sales.

[abs043]

You guys are absolutely correct, for better or worse, unfortunately.

Luckily I have never encountered a difficult top rated seller, and I am definitely not one.  In fact several former colleagues told me I was too nice, one saying I was nice to a fault.  I hate confrontation and nice helps to avoid and diffuse confrontations.  I will go the extra mile for buyers if they are reasonable and understanding.  The only time I have fought a case was from another seller who was mad because the plants would not grow like she wanted them to and she refused to return them for a refund.

Let's hope and pray thing improve all the way around.

[goodluckselling]

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

Many of the good buyers were good sellers who have left out of frustration with to many unnecessary changes, constant glitches, and lack of sales.

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There must be a whole lot of them still here because eBay completes over One Billion Transactions daily.  Click here to see the article

Good Luck Selling!

[lewisburggold]

Alot of buyer recently are very rude and expect something for nothing.   They will text, like us sellers are just the scum of the earth and we should all feel very lucky that there willing to buy anything.  Well more and more these days recently they may be right most of us are seeing a large drop in sales.  The sales we are making have to make it through a 30 day try out run to see if they even want it and us sellers flip the hole bill for them to do so.  These changes only benifit ebay and the scammers / buyers.  Not one change has been made for us sellers to thrive and be great.  Which shows us how important we really are.  Best regards

[tunicaslot]

I'm going to add that many complaining about lack of sales are in oversaturated categories or sell items that just aren't popular anymore and these sellers won't accept it.

I read quite an interesting article writen by a Sports Card seller who has their own store. It says how most of the buyers of sports cars are middle aged men as kids are now into other thing. They don't buy any cards if released after 1980 and have diversified to selling gaming cards, vintage games for older systems, autographed sports memoribilia ect. They had to change with the times to keep their business operating and profitable.

[goodluckselling]

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@tunicaslot wrote:

I'm going to add that many complaining about lack of sales are in oversaturated categories or sell items that just aren't popular anymore and these sellers won't accept it.

I read quite an interesting article writen by a Sports Card seller who has their own store. It says how most of the buyers of sports cars are middle aged men as kids are now into other thing. They don't buy any cards if released after 1980 and have diversified to selling gaming cards, vintage games for older systems, autographed sports memoribilia ect. They had to change with the times to keep their business operating and profitable.

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I understand the increased complaining here on the boards.  I think there are valid reasons for it, but when you add in the points you made and the defeated attitude we see here so often it is easy to lose track of the end goal.

2nd quarter earning should be out next week and should reveal a bit about the cataloged shopping progress and also the recent changes to what seems like every area of the site.

Click Here  -  eBay 2018 2nd quarter earning forcast

Good Luck Selling!

[expertbattery]

Generally my buyers are great, however there are those who squeeze through the cracks.

Recently, I had a buyer purchase a set of new batteries from us. A few days after the item was received, the buyer messaged us stating that the item (batteries) had a missing terminal and wanted us to send replacements. We asked the buyer to provide us with photos of the items and they obliged. What the buyer didn't know was that every manufacture has a date code stamped/engraved on their batteries and the codes are unique per each company. The code on the photos indicated that the batteries were from a different manufacturer/supplier and the batteries were not ours. It also indicated that the batteries were manufactured in 2014. The item also appeared used with metal soldered onto the second battery. I also asked the buyer to provide us with a photo of the battery terminals showing our logo, to which he replied that he "got the batteries confused" and so far our batteries are working fine. What makes it worse is that this buyer is also a seller on eBay with a 490 feedback score. 

These buyers are very few, however there are a few too many. Lets hope they blow away with the wind. 

[paudoh-16]

Many buyers are sellers. I'd love to know the percentage, but regardless my sales have stopped so my buying has stopped. 

It is affecting the sellers I regularly buy from. I have a very select few that I know and completely trust. They had my play money every month. Generally two to four grand depending on how great my sales were.  

Two have already contacted me to ask what's up. They're not very happy  I don't have my play money too. 

[paudoh-16]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@harleyman49-us wrote:

Many of the good buyers were good sellers who have left out of frustration with to many unnecessary changes, constant glitches, and lack of sales.

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There must be a whole lot of them still here because eBay completes over One Billion Transactions daily.  Click here to see the article

Good Luck Selling!

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Still can't find anything more recent?

[paudoh-16]

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@paudoh-16 wrote:

Many buyers are sellers. I'd love to know the percentage, but regardless my sales have stopped so my buying has stopped. 

It is affecting the sellers I regularly buy from. I have a very select few that I know and completely trust. They had my play money every month. Generally two to four grand depending on how great my sales were.  

Two have already contacted me to ask what's up. They're not very happy  I don't have my play money too. 

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If I might always add, one of reasons we have had for our successes is that many people, when they sell items like jewelry, vintage or otherwise, don't investigate much into what they may have purchased. If they are a Cash for Gold B&M store, with online Ebay presence, they want to get their money out of the item period.  As a result, we have found Effy rings, multiple different current designer jewelry and a stunning Art Deco Erte ring at a ridiculous price.  Just that alone is enough to start a very viable business.

With my partner and I, he is much more creative at photo's and descriptions. I'm  into the research. There are thousands of pieces out there not identified. It takes a lot of time sometimes hunting down the maker's marks but after a while you become quite familiar. 

But none of that matters if the cash flow isn't there to purchase. We're still seeing those beauties out there but we can't buy them. 

[n2knowledge]

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@abs043 wrote:

I sell plants and over the past year I have had more buyers than before contact me with questions and problems.  I take time to educate the them about the plants and the plants' care, answering all their questions and providing advice specific to their situations, all this in addition to the detailed care sheet which is sent with each plant.   Perhaps I should travel the country caring for their plants.

YEp - the IQ is not at the higher levels consistently anymore.  I sell plants too - and I cringe when an older adult asks me if they require water.  Yes, I reply - ALL MY PLANTS NEED WATER to survive  - perhaps that nice plush or faux floral arrangement would be better suited to your environment!  But then I don't want to sell my plants to someone who cannot care for them :(.  And yes, I think a larger group (then in the past) want everything cheat - same ole' same ole'....well I can get this item at Walmart for XXX - then - my reply is..........great - get it at Walmart then. (Cause you are NOT getting it here for that price)

[wifetrained]

Buyers simply don't need Ebay to make a common purchase. There's way too much competition out there, far too many sellers on this platform and not enough buyers to go around. On top of that Ebay sells nothing, other than ad space, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Amazon and Wally World are successful because they are retail operations and actually sell stuff and as such they have control over their inventories, pricing, and shipping options whereas all Ebay is just an ad venue and all it can do is further manipulate it's customers, the sellers, to move in a certain direction.

Some comply and many others move on to other pastures in hope of better success.