Why do sellers fight eBay tooth and nail?

[jason_incognito]

It is what it is. eBay gets to set rules.

If they want you to list with best offer, figure out a way to make it work to your advantage.

If eBay wants to to take take returns, figure out a way to make it work....

Why is it that so many want to try and fight eBay to keep doing things the way they used to, and eBay is moving on from? 

Why are there 491 people that have an auction for Harry potter dvds? There are over 8,000 fixed price listings. I'm pretty sure that by now we all know what a Harry Potter dvd should sell for, no matter what the edition. It is a comodity. If you have a signed copy of the very first edition we can talk about an auction being a great way to sell it, but why?

I get that people don't like offers, but they exist and eBay hawks them. Why not figure out a way to make that work for you?

The number of people that just flat out refuse the item specifics part of a listing boggles me.

eBay is eBay, and fighting that.... expecting eBay to do things your way just seems so ridiculous. Why?

[readabouthorses]

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

Ran out of edit time 🙂

I am willing to bet that the older seller referenced above does NOT even know that there us such a thing as "Seller Standards" or that they have a Dashboard 😞

They have been using whatever 3rd party listing software (it ain't Blackthorne, for sure) for a very long time and probably haven't even looked at their listings or Seller Hub (or even my eBay) in years. They have not read any announcements, they have not noticed any Updates 😞

That (type of) seller will be the one posting "I have Perfect feedback, why am I suspended after 20 years?!?!?"

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And when you look at your Dashboard you find this ...

A technical issue is causing monthly evaluation metrics to display incorrectly for some sellers. We’re aware of this issue and are working to fix it as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.

[penguins_dont_fly]

Re: DSL, etc.

This is a large seller in my cat. I think they are only second to the big "R".

They have a B&M (that I have actually visited) in a downtown area of the city. They used to have 2 locations (one North and one South), but I think they retired and condensed it to just the one down here.

They used to have a website, but it's gone now. It looked like something from the 80's, never stylistically updated. There is an empty Shopify storefront "coming soon".

I just think that technology updates are "not their thing" ... I think somebody set it up for them a long time ago and then left ... and it's kind of sad, actually 😞

[elitefashions12-0]

Bottom line is if i pay for a service i expect to receive it and for it to work, there are so many glitches in the last 3 months which have plummeted sales for many sellers, multi variation listing ( Not Working ) GTC Listings losing the additional photos ( Again ) View Counter ( Shambles ) the list goes on, E bay continue to collect the fees for the listings and the store subscription yet the service has not been provided, how about a refund of these fees then ? I am tired of being told lower the price, something i am doing is wrong, Rubbish, it is your software or the people programming it at fault, I have never known so many faults in such a short space of time, nothing to do with adapting to new rules, the system is not working period.

[sidemouse]

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@hioctane62 wrote:

Nobody wants to fight ebay. We shouldn't have to fight ebay. Ebay is throwing punches at sellers, and what do you expect them to do? Hiding listings from interested buyers who are looking for the very items they can't see, that's just wrong and I have no idea what they are thinking. I mean, someone please explain to me what the benefit is of hiding choices from buyers. 

Ebay will stay their course, as they always do, and sellers are changing course. They are taking bread out of sellers' mouths, and they have to change course to survive. Ebay can stay their course, but they'll end up with a mostly empty ship by the time it sinks.

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Actually they're not hiding the listings, it is in fact sellers making custom listings makes it where it doesn't show up in search.  For example, this simple difference in the title: ('56k' vs '56 kbps') will make it to where if you search for 56k the 56 kbps listing will NOT show up in search but it's not "ebay hiding it."

Ebay does not hide listings, they never have and never will, there are some things (actually quite a few) sellers do to themselves and then since they can't find the problem they blame it on ebay because it's always easier to point the finger.

That much is true.

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@penguins_dont_fly wrote:

They have been using whatever 3rd party listing software (it ain't Blackthorne, for sure) for a very long time and probably haven't even looked at their listings or Seller Hub (or even my eBay) in years. They have not read any announcements, they have not noticed any Updates 😞

That (type of) seller will be the one posting "I have Perfect feedback, why am I suspended after 20 years?!?!?"

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 Yup, or they think ebay is "hiding their listings."

There are some things here that reek of finger pointing because it's easier than problem solving.

Now I'm off to stick my head back in the sand as this also makes the problem go away.

[tellmemama]

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@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:
I just got an ebay message that I had an offer & that I should not keep the buyer waiting and respond.

Okay, except it was an auto accept and it's already paid for.

Doesn't give me a lot of faith in their system.

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I'm a big fan of making an offer, someone else buying it at full price, getting the declined email, followed several hours later by the "how badly do you want item x?"  I guess I didn't want it as badly as the actual buyer but there's nothing I can do about it now anyway.  Even though the message suggests I make another offer.

Another shining example of one hand having no idea what the other is doing.

[tellmemama]

My stores have become under $10 widget type stores on eBay. Sad. I have a lot of lovely things to sell, high dollar items, another site is getting them.

And this, gentle readers, is one of the biggest reasons why I believe there is a lack of buyers.  Possibly even more so than the lousy search.  All those gorgeous expensive items that are too risky to sell here are  selling somewhere else and taking those sorely missed FVFs with them.  Every day we tell sellers not to list something they can't afford to lose, which is very sound advice considering the dangers of selling here.  But we are also helping contribute to the eBay we have now...a giant dollar store/cell phone case emporium.

I don't want to fill my cart with color.  I want to fill it with the stuff that isn't here.

[sidemouse]

Some of it is just how it works out too thou...

For example a brand new seller wants to sell their lovely $100 widget but realizes in some kind of order... 15% fees (well roughly) and $20 in shipping they will see $100 - (20+15) = $65!!! Oh nooo the new seller thinks WOW that's a lot of money gone for the so-called 'privilege' the seller sees their money disappear just like that.

So the new seller has a brilliant idea and selects "No Returns" as the return policy...

So then most likely for that sale and for some time things work out so nice...

But it doesn't take long before a buyer (or a scammer) decides meh, the item's not quite what I thought, and long story short SNAD + MBG and buyer keeps item and the seller is forced to refund.

So, whose fault is that?

You will see NOWHERE ebay encourages or even suggests that seller opt into No Returns.

It is a choice the seller made, in fact ebay encourages free 30-day returns!

But all the seller sees is a buyer "renting" their item and them paying never-ending fees in shipping and their $100 completely vanishing, so No Returns it is (or so they think).

[rt_21_trading_co]

"LOL! How do you know they aren't big Trump supporters wearing maga hats sitting in their trailer in podunk Kansas fly-over eating walmart apple pie? Come on...puleeze. "

Because 99% of all frivolous returns are made from young people who have no sense of responsibility, none of their own money, and most likely have never earned a single dime of their own money.

They want the entire country to pay them to sit somewhere and do nothing. They want free everything, dress in masks and hoodies and beat people on streets, play knock games on old people, care more about what the rest of the country is doing than they care about their own life and families, etc.

Their all over the tv. No matter what station you are on their is some mentally challenged group of individuals making total fools of themselves in public. Hillary supporters, Trump supporters, Bernie supporters - all of them.

[tellmemama]

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@rt_21_trading_co wrote:
"LOL! How do you know they aren't big Trump supporters wearing maga hats sitting in their trailer in podunk Kansas fly-over eating walmart apple pie? Come on...puleeze. "

Because 99% of all frivolous returns are made from young people who have no sense of responsibility, none of their own money, and most likely have never earned a single dime of their own money.

They want the entire country to pay them to sit somewhere and do nothing. They want free everything, dress in masks and hoodies and beat people on streets, play knock games on old people, care more about what the rest of the country is doing than they care about their own life and families, etc.

Their all over the tv. No matter what station you are on their is some mentally challenged group of individuals making total fools of themselves in public. Hillary supporters, Trump supporters, Bernie supporters - all of them.

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Paint with a broad brush much?  Now I don't see the need to inject political leanings into this thread but I can assure you frivolous returns, dressing in masks and hoodies to beat people on the street, and playing knock games on old people are not restricted to party affiliations.

Oh and as far as who wants the country to pay them to to sit and do nothing?  The highest are GOP populated and controlled red states.

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700/

[rt_21_trading_co]

"Paint with a broad brush much? Now I don't see the need to inject political leanings into this thread but I can assure you frivolous returns, dressing in masks and hoodies to beat people on the street, and playing knock games on old people are not restricted to party affiliations."

Miss this did you?

Their all over the tv. No matter what station you are on their is some mentally challenged group of individuals making total fools of themselves in public. Hillary supporters, Trump supporters, Bernie supporters - all of them.

Try reading all of it. It's not older people playing knock out, its not older people who return everything they buy. I have nearly 40 years in running this business. The younger individuals are the ones who do it the most

[emerald40]

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@rt_21_trading_co wrote:
Not everyone who sells on ebay can accept returns, and accept piddly offers on products that they sell, With your post you are once again assuming that every seller can work or minor percentages on items and a lot of sellers can't, including me.

Not every seller seller can work on a .50 cent profit margin after ebay fees, shipping fees, paypal fees. Some people working out of their basement/garage/spare bedroom may be able to to, but sellers that have physical business locations CAN NOT. We pay commercial utility rates (electricity, phone, internet, water, sewer, etc), commercial school taxes, commercial land taxes, commercial corporate taxes if in municipality, building upkeep, building repairs, fire insurance, comp insurance, personal injury insurance, and a thousand other things. Plus another huge amount for employees.

Best offers is a joke. Put a $ 200.00 item on ebay for $ 100.00 with best offer and you will get offers as low as .50 cents. Waste of time and effort, especially if a paid employee has to run the ebay. I have ran best offer listing multiple times and not one has ever come close to a reasonable or realistic offer. Finally listed at set price with no offers and sold the items for what they were worth in monetary value, not for the equivalent of beads and trinkets.

The offers seem to be made by some 25 year old pot smoking mooch of a wanna be hippie living in their parents basement, living on their parents money sucking up their parents medical insurance as obama suggested they do.

It has been said many thousands of times on these boards by alot of people including me - if you sell stuffed wallaby's you get by the truckload from china for $ 1.00 each you can accept offers, accept foolish returns and jump through ebay's hoops backwards without consequences for a fairly long period of time. But sooner or later you are going to have to stop selling stuffed wallaby's or stop selling on ebay.

If you have stuff like antiques, collectible advertising, rare coins or paper money, true Vintage parts for cars, motorcycles, etc, and a host of other highly valuable items then YOU CAN NOT.

And it IS ebay hiding sellers listings, only making listing visible that are "promoted", or from ebay pets that they choose to give traffic to. Because sellers like me that sold $ 80K one year and then drop off a cliff at the beginning of the ebay changes know that our products or our way of doing business is not the problem. The problem is ebay and their selective exposure. because those of us that have other venues that have not slowed down but ebay has can put 2 and 2 together and get 4 all on our own.

I constantly have buyers emailing me wanting to know why they find my items on Bonanza, Etsy, Blue Jay and my company website but no longer can find a lot of them on ebay. But yet they are still listed. That says they are not visible to the buyers.

My pet peeve is other sellers coming on the boards saying that we all need to adapt to ebay and sell for less and find ways to make it work. I just went somewhere else and still sell more and pay ebay less. I sell more on other venues than I do on ebay for less fees and I have been on them for only a few months. Been on ebay for nearly 20 years. Evay is broken, not the ebay sellers.

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I can answer one question why they can find you on Bananza.  Because in the categories I search there are maybe 100 items in it as opposed to 10,000 on ebay.  So of course they can find you easier over there.

And I tried etsy.  Worst search engine ever.  No ability to screen out words.  And after every search it goes back to the defult, so you have to put back all your search criteria each and every time.

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[emerald40]

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@ed8108 wrote:

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@rt_21_trading_co wrote:

 Been on ebay for nearly 20 years. Evay is broken, not the ebay sellers.

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EBay refuses to accept:

Time has come to call in a professional repairman.

_________________________________

Just curious but would sellers be opposed to ebay shutting down for a few days and actually fixing the system rather than just putting temporary band aids on it.

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[emerald40]

a

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@tellmemama wrote:

My stores have become under $10 widget type stores on eBay. Sad. I have a lot of lovely things to sell, high dollar items, another site is getting them.

And this, gentle readers, is one of the biggest reasons why I believe there is a lack of buyers.  Possibly even more so than the lousy search.  All those gorgeous expensive items that are too risky to sell here are  selling somewhere else and taking those sorely missed FVFs with them.  Every day we tell sellers not to list something they can't afford to lose, which is very sound advice considering the dangers of selling here.  But we are also helping contribute to the eBay we have now...a giant dollar store/cell phone case emporium.

I don't want to fill my cart with color.  I want to fill it with the stuff that isn't here.

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I hear you.  Almost all of my true auction, really nice fine jewelry sellers are either gone or have significantly downsized what they sell here.

I aksed one I had become friends with over the years, and he admitted that because of scammers he just could not do it anymore.

[emerald40]

a

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@tellmemama wrote:

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@rt_21_trading_co wrote:
"LOL! How do you know they aren't big Trump supporters wearing maga hats sitting in their trailer in podunk Kansas fly-over eating walmart apple pie? Come on...puleeze. "

Because 99% of all frivolous returns are made from young people who have no sense of responsibility, none of their own money, and most likely have never earned a single dime of their own money.

They want the entire country to pay them to sit somewhere and do nothing. They want free everything, dress in masks and hoodies and beat people on streets, play knock games on old people, care more about what the rest of the country is doing than they care about their own life and families, etc.

Their all over the tv. No matter what station you are on their is some mentally challenged group of individuals making total fools of themselves in public. Hillary supporters, Trump supporters, Bernie supporters - all of them.

---

Paint with a broad brush much?  Now I don't see the need to inject political leanings into this thread but I can assure you frivolous returns, dressing in masks and hoodies to beat people on the street, and playing knock games on old people are not restricted to party affiliations.

Oh and as far as who wants the country to pay them to to sit and do nothing?  The highest are GOP populated and controlled red states.

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700/

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Have you seen what was happening at the colleges when conservatives tried to speak on campus.

Did you see the nut job Maxine Waters followers burning the American flag and screaming America is not great.

All this marching at a moments notice for every little slight, real or imagined, is not by Republicans.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@emerald40 wrote:

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@ed8108 wrote:

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@rt_21_trading_co wrote:

 Been on ebay for nearly 20 years. Evay is broken, not the ebay sellers.

---

EBay refuses to accept:

Time has come to call in a professional repairman.

_________________________________

Just curious but would sellers be opposed to ebay shutting down for a few days and actually fixing the system rather than just putting temporary band aids on it.

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I wouldn't.

But I think it would take more than a few days. The whole house needs to be rebuilt. Fresh paint and new curtains won't help any when the roof is leaking and the walls are crumbling.