cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year to

to replace the current listings based experience - and it will become the only way to shop on eBay, according to the company's CEO Devin Wenig. From ecommercebytes.

 

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/2/1519091217.html

 

"But Wenig described the biggest change coming to the site as a move from a listings based marketplace to a product based marketplace."
 
All you small sellers that don't sell new items. You can kiss your eBay business goodbye. New item small sellers, if you can't price compete with the big boys, your stuff will never be seen, until they all run out of inventory. Best price on everything on the site will be seen exclusively, the way the site will be laid out.

 

Message 1 of 565
latest reply
564 REPLIES 564

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year

Personally, I think you’re going to be fine. The hard-to-find, unique, out of print items will be seen…because ebay will flat out plummet if they block the things that don’t fit in the catalog, these items sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars. The fee from one sale of a vase can equal the fees of a hundred sales of a $20 widgit.

 

So, putting aside that concern, I can see ebay’s logic in their 4-box strategy. Push the cheapest items at the buyers and rake in the sale fees. How will this impact me? Here’s how, using a hypothetical: let’s say some months ago I went to goodwill and bought a ‘new’ Lifeproof waterproof case for $10, figuring I can sell it for $25 and make a few bucks. Well, I’m not going to make it into the promotional box at that price, so I’ll have to list it for $20 or lower, and poof, there goes my profit, since I offer free expedited shipping. I’ll break even if I’m lucky. However, the pain of buying that Lifeproof case will be a distant memory by then, and I’ll at least get something back for it.

 

But hell will freeze over before I buy another ‘new’ Lifeproof case from goodwill.

 

So I see sellers falling into 2 big niches: the big box sellers and oem manufacturers all fighting themselves to race to the bottom, and the hard-to-find, unique, out of print sellers.

Ebay may see their revenues increase in the short term, but not in the long, because racing to the bottom is not a good selling strategy for the big boxers and oems (great for ebay, though, oh, and china lol)

 

Welp, that’s my thought on this. I figure I’ll be racing to the bottom to unload my ‘new’ stuff, and getting what I can for the out-of-print and unique items. I figure I’ve got a couple of years because I’m gone when Adyen becomes mandatory…I got a slinking feeling that ebay will be wanting my ssn, and they are not going to get it.

Message 556 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year

Sears used to have a catalog...and it was EASY to use.

And then...
Message 557 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year


@castlemagicmemories wrote:

@chipper01work wrote:

@dopurcell2012wrote:

I have never liked the flea market image.  It makes customer think you arr just cleaning out your closet so they can just offer you any amount of money because you just want to rid yourself of stuff you don't need.  I have never sold anything that I already had, I buy all of my merchandise to sell.


That image you don't like is exactly what gave birth to this site.


Exactly.  While I have no problem with a seller who wants to buy new things to sell, many buyers come to Ebay EXPRESSLY FOR the things that this poster calls the fela market image, which should not be looked down on.


Just want to add, that what Ebay has in this area is a competitive advantage; no one can compete with Ebay with the variety of old and new, unique and standard items they offer.  I know they realize this...in some way...because when you google search, they come with seriously, we have everything next to their name.  Ebay could crush A!a#$% and anyone else if they pushed this, why compete on an irrelevant basis where you have no competitive edge wit things you can get anywhere?  I understand that is an important part of market share, so by all means, go after it...just don't tout that, and only that!  JMO

Message 558 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year


@nawlinsron2 wrote:
Sears used to have a catalog...and it was EASY to use.

And then...

I remember that!

Message 559 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year

Anyone considering Shopify or Bananza?
Message 560 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year


@nawlinsron2 wrote:
Sears used to have a catalog...and it was EASY to use.

And then...

And the old Category Structure here was basically the same thing.  You could get to the right section of the catalog in a hurry, then you browsed through 10 or 15 pages of it to find the item you needed, or to see what was available.  If you needed a fabric cover for the front of your car, you didn't end up looking at women's support underwear.

 

The Sears Catalog was mail order.  This is mail order.  What cratered the Sears Catalog:  1.  The cost of producing, printing, and distributing catalogs got very high, vs. the return for doing so.  2.  Sears was not very price competitive, and with discount retail expansion into most markets but for the most rural areas, sales dried up.  In the old days, the Sears catalog had stuff you mostly could not get anywhere else.  Near the end, they'd dumped most of the specialty stuff (due to low volume) in favor or mass market retail consumer goods that could be had at any mall or dime store or Auto Zone. 

 

If they'd had any forward thinking insight, they'd have re-birthed the Sears Catalog onto the internet in the late 1990s.  Instead, some money-losing book seller site eventually took over that marketplace, and while Sears focused on being a mall anchor store another B&M discount retailer took over their in-person marketshare.  Amazon and Walmart are the kings of retail now.

 

And rather than maintain their profitable niche as a specialty and used and OOAK and Auctions site (a space they occupied without any real viable competition), eBay now decides they should challenge the two kings of retail.  If that weren't crazy enough, they decide to do it by mimicking the one thing most buyers dislike about those two sites - their search and the methods of presenting products to buyers those sites use. 

 

It's bad enough on those sites if I know exactly what I want before going there... if the site won't work right, Google can at least usually land me on thier site in the right place.  As a place to browse items in an effort to decide what I actually want, both of those sites make me want to scream.  It's the one place they are vulnerable to a site that does something better, and instead eBay is mimicking them.

 

 

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.
Message 561 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year


@timemachine777 wrote:

https://esellercafe.com/ebay-ceo-devin-wenig-talks-payments-catalog-structured-data-future/

 

Great article covering Devin Wenig "At the annual Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, eBay’s CEO Devin Wenig outlined the future for eBay to investors."

 

It's very lengthy, but the Structured Data section is a must read for both Sellers and Buyers. eBay is about to turn on it's head. When Wenig gets done, nobody will recognize eBay. 

 

 


Fortunately, eBay isn't the only game in town. The more they make it difficult for small sellers, the busier the other auction sites will become. And most of them have better fee deals than eBay. eBay may get their wish about small sellers leaving...and their customers along with them.

Message 562 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year


@grasshopperx wrote:

Not only that as a seller, but what about as a buyer on here? Would you like to be shown only shown 4 choices?  Not me. I think they are purposly trying to destroy this company, as fast as they can. Maybe they are looking for a buy out?


I used to buy a lot on eBay....10 years and longer ago. I rarely buy anything now. Mostly used records I can find anywhere else, but I'm starting to find them elsewhere too, so...........

Message 563 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year

Mirror, mirror, on the wall..."
It ain't ebay, sugah.
Stockholder meeting 5/30. Stock is where it was in December.
Not sure "trust me...everything's in place" is gonna wash much longer.
Message 564 of 565
latest reply

Re: eBay will move to a new "product based" shopping experience on a large scale this year

Maybe we should blow up his twitter account.
Message 565 of 565
latest reply