neglus
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posted on January 24, 2015 09:49:38 AM new
http://qz.com/331734/the-ebay-you-grew-up-with-is-dead-cause-of-death-carl-icahn/
I hope something for collectible sellers will rise out of the ashes...
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http://www.moodymommy.com
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otteropp
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posted on January 24, 2015 10:50:34 AM new
So sad.....if only they had listened to just a tiny bit of what the Sellers have suggested over the past few years the end of this story may have turned out differently.
A Vintage/Original eBay & a 'New stuff' eBay is what was needed as well as remaining 'just a venue'.
I know the marketplace has changed but there are still a lot of collectors out there who have given up buying on eBay because the items they want are either hidden from view or just not there.
We are heading out to a local Shopping Mall today that has an 'Antiques' show 3 times a year that lasts for 10 days. The number of Vendors has been decreasing each year becuase the Sales just are not there anymore in Antique china & silver & the Vendor fee for 10 days is expensive.
We know all of the Vendors very well as we used to do Shows too but 'saw the light' in 2004 as we watched the Antique Market heading down so we switched gears.
I feel badly for them as they are mostly all in their late 70's & 80's but are still trying to get rid of inventory.
So many Companies are making mistakes these days that boggles my mind. I don't have an MBA just a lot of life experience and I can see the major mistakes they make.
A very good example that will be used in Business Schools for years to come has been the entry & demise of Target into Canada! They opened 133 Stores across Canada within a year! Total insanity.
They did not have the distribution system to handle it with the consequence being lovely bright stores that had miles of empty shelves. That was only ONE mistake!
Now they are under Creditor protection in Canada and are closing up shop! The story is worth reading in the Business newspapers if you Google Target Canada.
I didn't mean to ramble so long but I just don't get why eBay & Target don't get it if I and many friends can understand it.
I started selling some hankies & scarves & linens on Etsy in July and am thrilled with how easy (and cheap) it is. I have had sales and haven't even worked at it from the Social media aspect yet.
Maybe I should let eBay take care of itself & work more on Etsy!
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mpcomp
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posted on January 25, 2015 01:35:03 PM new
Ebay is not dead yet,there are just too many buyers on Ebay to give up on Ebay.
Etsy some days will have the same problem as Ebay as it lets more and more ex Ebay and ex AMZN sellers come to its site to sell.
Ebay should never allow junk sellers,sellers who right click listings to sell on Ebay,they take up too much space and give Ebay a bad name.
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jtomp
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posted on January 25, 2015 02:33:24 PM new
What do you mean by junk sellers who right click on eBay?
Jane
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otteropp
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posted on January 25, 2015 11:18:56 PM new
Here is some proof that auctions are pretty much a thing of the past. Hard facts to swallow!
In the last Auction only special we listed 264 Auctions. Some for 5 days, some 7 days and some 10 days. Some had a BIN and some didn't. We really wanted to guage the part that eBay will take in our lives this year.
The final 10 day auctions ended this evening and here are the results:-
We sold ONE on a BIN
We had ONE bid on ONE item.
That was it out of 264 auctions.
Using the latest special I have been re-listing those failed auctions as Fixed price and just today have sold FIVE.
I think auctions are history for us.
In the 'olden days' we used to list 75 auctions per week...no fixed price and we had 100% sell-through each week with multiple bids on each item.
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mpcomp
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posted on January 26, 2015 10:15:44 AM new
what do you mean by junk sellers who right click on eBay?
Jane
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sellers who go to walmart and Target and right click their mouse,copy the picture and the description and list the item on Ebay with a markup.
When some one buys,he/she will just ask Walmart or Target to ship the item.
Return?no problem,return to Walmart/
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mpcomp
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posted on January 26, 2015 10:17:43 AM new
auction sellers are now reneging,the bid amount is not high enough and they are too cheap to place a reserve,so buyers complain and neg the seller.
I seldom get competitive biddings on my auctions,what is the purpose of auction,why not just do a buy it now at fixed price
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merrie
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posted on January 26, 2015 10:59:31 AM new
Hmmm,interesting discussion and research here.
Here are a few odd things that happened to me buying online this Christmas.
Did a BIN for toys on Ebay, it was shipped and packed from Amazon with an Amazon invoice!!
Did a BIN on a kitchen gadget on Ebay, it was shipped & packaged from Chef's Kitchen, with a Chef's Kitchen invoice!!
The toys from Amazon came faster than other items I had ordered directly from Amazon. All items were Free Shipping.
????
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ebabestreasures
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posted on January 26, 2015 12:03:50 PM new
2 sold items out of 264 is just sad.
The whole thing is just sad and as otteropp said - ebay could have avoided it.
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mpcomp
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posted on January 26, 2015 01:08:39 PM new
AMZN and some of its AMZN marketplace sellers can stock their items in AMZN warehouses all over the country ,this is how they can charge low or free shipping and Fed Exp or UPS can deliver same day,as the warehouse is either in your town or nearby.
Some sellers sell on multiple venues and AMZN manned their inventory but if the invoice said it is AMZN,then your seller could be a right click reseller.
I was reading about AMZN marketplace sellers ,they said the rules on AMZN is worse than Ebay.
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mpcomp
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posted on January 26, 2015 01:11:52 PM new
we sellers have more venues to sell now,esp if you see items with a UPC number,Sears and AMZN and Bestbuy ,you can all list there.
If your items dont have a UPC number,you cant piggy back unless you have the exact item as one already listed ,but if you open a store on AMZN or open a merchant account,they will give you the UPC number to use to list items which have no UPC number.
I managed to sell a few figurines which have no serial number on AMZN by piggbacking those who have a store.
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merrie
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posted on January 27, 2015 09:48:23 AM new
It really matters what you sell. I did a search for doll clothes that fit American Girl Dolls & those auctions are doing quite well both on Ebay & Etsy.
Other people sell books for 99 cents & free shipping, really!! Just throw them away or donate.
Used to go to the PO almost every day with 7-10 packages. Now lucky if go once or twice a week with 2 or 3 packages.
Oh well, nothing stays the same!!
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mpcomp
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posted on January 27, 2015 12:33:37 PM new
too many people selling,and the layoffs are coming -IBM,EBAY,SLB and more are coming.
Consumers are no longer so confident about their financial future,gone are the days where they whipped out one of their many credit cards to pay for frivolous purchase.
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merrie
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posted on January 30, 2015 07:16:41 AM new
The cost of selling is getting higher, also.
If you sell moderately priced items, Ebay takes 9-10% FVF depending on you plan on both the items price & your shipping. If you offer free shipping you have to factor in how much that will lower your profit even though it makes it more attractive to buyers, it makes it easier for them to return since they have not paid shipping even if you require they pay return shipping which they can get around by filing INAD.
Most listings any more are free due to promos, etc, but beware of upgrades.
The there are the PayPal fees on the entire transaction.
Whew!! How or why people would sell such inexpensive items is beyond me. Is it really worth it??
The old joke is you make it up on quantity, but if you lose $$ on each sale or barely break even...
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mpcomp
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posted on January 31, 2015 07:01:07 PM new
This is the first kneejerk reaction,sell more and make up with quantity.
This is how small sellers lost control,packing shipping and disorganized,get defects and thrown out of Ebay,get $$ withheld and cant pay suppliers.
Some sellers who sell over one million sales a year,I doubt if they are widely profitable,they sell hair products,vitamins,cream etc etc
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glassgrl
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posted on April 8, 2015 07:23:22 PM new
The fear of chargebacks caused me to quit selling. And postage increase - oh my - has it gone up since I started way back.
As for buying - see above. A lot of things I used to search for - people quit selling.
I guess they went to Amazon and raised their prices or opened store fronts or something. I used to be able to furnish my home and rental properties cheaply but sigh - no more. No more wallpaper, no more doorknobs, no more lamps or bedspreads. Thankfully I bought what I did when I did.
I miss those days.
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drjackk
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posted on April 18, 2015 11:29:40 PM new
I think the people who left ebay, more than 50% have created their own websites. Why pay ebay for something that they no longer need to pay the fees for. Ebay hurt themselves when they tried to RUN the market, rather than just be a Venue.
These people with MBAs are not any smarter than you and I. The whole education thing is a scam. If you have the smarts to run a successful business, you have the smarts by the time you graduate high school. If you need some training, like running Excel, that is reasonably easy.
I would rather hire a smart honest person with a high school education than any MBA.
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mpcomp
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posted on April 19, 2015 08:19:39 AM new
Few Ebay execs have retail experience,they were never on the front line face to face with customers,but they know HTML.
Ebay is a retail venue,the original success of auction style selling faded,no need to ask us to start at 99 cents ,it will end 99 cents.
Running TV ads to tout how easy to sell on Ebay with your cellphone of something you find in the dumpster gives Ebay a bad name.
now the search engines rated Ebay as a site of inferior quality,thats why traffic dries up .
Do a search with Google and you will find out what it means to be a site of inferior quality.
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merrie
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posted on April 20, 2015 08:03:15 AM new
And, with the new rules coming May 1, you better check the #s to see if it is worth having a store since your auction #s are cut and only in certain categories. Here we go again with new rules.
It seems it is sometimes better to wait for promos. IMHO
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mpcomp
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posted on April 20, 2015 10:26:20 AM new
Most of my sales come from my store,not my auctions.
I think Ebay gives higher priority and visiibility to those who pay,and store owners pay them month after month.
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mpcomp
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posted on April 21, 2015 08:24:10 PM new
It makes sense to cut back giving free listings,sellers just keep relisting the same old same old items which do not sell,free listings is like all you can eat buffet,waste a lot of space on the plate.
Dont assume paid listing is just like free listing,I bet Ebay gives you more visibility as a fee paying customer,you may be pleasantly surprised you sell well .
What is a 30 cents listing fee when you can sell profitably?
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wgonzales
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posted on April 22, 2015 04:07:56 PM new
Most of my sales also come from Store items, not auctions. BUT I have noticed that I sell more Store items when I have Auctions running.
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mpcomp
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posted on April 22, 2015 05:50:30 PM new
did the auction listings under the same ID as the store?
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wgonzales
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posted on April 23, 2015 08:08:27 AM new
Yes, all one account.
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