I just got done reading the eBay release about their proposed payment intermediation and once again, they are imposing nonsense on sellers. Not only that, but this is all extremely vague and invokes skepticism about what eBay is really trying to accomplish. If they are trying to be more like Amazon, they need to reverse course immediately. I've been buying and selling on eBay for a decade because it is different from Amazon in many noticable ways. Mimicing Amazon is not the same as competing with Amazon and I will not continue to have an eBay store if this is the case.
From the article:
Specific Customer Benefits
For sellers:
- Lower Costs and More Control of Their Economics. Most sellers can expect their costs of payments processing to be reduced after they transition to eBay’s intermediated payments model, and benefit from a simplified pricing structure and more predictable access to their funds.
- A Central Place to Manage Their Business. eBay is working on solutions to provide sellers with information about their eBay business, inclusive of payments information, in one place so that sellers can easily track and manage all of their transactions and customer interactions on eBay.
- Greater Buyer Reach and Improved Conversion. By offering buyers more choice in how they pay and expanding payment options into more geographies, eBay believes sellers will be able to reach more buyers and improve conversion.
For buyers:
- More Payment Options at Checkout. eBay is focused on providing consumers greater choice in payment options at checkout.
- An Integrated Checkout Experience. eBay will manage the entire checkout experience, delivering a more streamlined experience for consumers.
If eBay were wanting to lower costs for sellers, they would restructure their Final Value Fee system, reduce the fee from 10% to 6%, but then increase store subscription costs by 2%. Or, increase the Top Rated Seller discount from 10% to 15%. My eBay fees are always higher that shipping costs and PayPal fees by at least 2% and on some items, eBay makes more than I do.
Sellers don't need another central place to manage anything. The Seller Hub is the only worthwhile thing eBay has done in the last 10 years and unless they create a system that works exactly like Intuit Quickbooks, I don't see any reason for a central place to manage my business.
I agree that there should be a lot of focus on attracting buyers from other parts of the world but "greater buyer reach" is meaningless unless there are adjustments to import/export regulations and laws. Who cares if someone can pay for an item if their government doesn't allow me to ship it to their country?
How many more payment options do buyers need? The current checkout system works fine and is fast. Everyone who shops online has a PayPal account and if they don't, they still have a credit card from a major issuer and can pay using that. Here's an idea, start allowing Cryptocurrency payments.
Isn't the checkout already "integrated?" You don't have to leave eBay to complete the checkout and if you set your account up properly, it takes just seconds for you to buy an item and then complete the checkout. I know this because I get notifications when customers buy something and then when they pay for it; and the notifications occur within seconds of each other.
What I see, as someone who has been in the retail economy for 14 years, is eBay trying to fix problems that don't exist and innovating without a realistic long-term plan. If eBay truly did care about making the seller's experience better, if eBay has any intentions on retaining sellers, they need to do the following:
-Reduce the Final Value Fees. If eBay remains too expensive to sell products through, sellers will go elsewhere.
-Implement manditory feedback requirements. There are too many buyers who refuse and "forget" to leave feedback for the sellers, this need to end. If a buyer does not leave feedback for a transaction after 15 days, eBay should automatically give the seller 5 star feedback for that transaction.
-Give sellers more control over their interactions and transactions with buyer. Eliminate provisions in eBay Buyer Protection that permit eBay to override a sellers terms and conditions. The buyer is responsible for knowing what they are purchasing, understanding the sellers return and shipping policies as well as reading what the sellers put in the description. eBay should never involve themselves in a transaction unless there is fraud, illegal activity or unless the buyer or seller ask eBay to interveine. Also, the buyer is not purchasing a product from eBay, they are purchasing a product ON eBay from a third party seller who is using eBay as a marketplace.
Bottom line, treat sellers better and make eBay less expensive or we are out.
