posted on December 5, 2000 11:58:32 AM new
I sell a lot of books that aren't antique or extremely old, but I don't sell Bridges of Madison County either (I see that EVERYWHERE in thrift stores! Mostly my books fall into the category of being a 3-20 years old, on interesting and specific niche subjects (specific areas of history, religion, art, etc.) They have ISBN numbers but may be out of print, etc. These are just the type of books that I predict are going to be seriously affected by Half. They don't come up every day in everyone's local bookstore but I would never call them "rare". Luckily after the ebay/half.com ads were first announced I saw it coming and I've been phasing out my book sales on ebay and listing my remaining inventory on Amazon marketplace. I think if you have truly hard to find books, Half.com won't be a serious threat. Also, I predict that the vast majority of eBayers will not take the extra step of searching Half.com. In addition, Half.com's bad user interface and crapulous habit of shielding email addresses between buyer and seller won't make them many friends among the eBay community when it comes to those who do click and compare. Nevertheless, I think the execution of this was a very stupidly-handled move on ebay's part and it's guaranteed to cause yet more dissent in the ranks of sellers....They sure aren't smoothies are they? More like bulls in a china shop.
posted on December 5, 2000 12:08:41 PM newNobody really knows for sure... we can make assumptions and predictions, but it's something that has never been done before!
So what do you want to do, Toy? Play wait and see? Stand back and observe how many book, music and video sellers fall by the wayside before you make up your mind? How many people have to be run out of business before you decide it's a bad thing? How will you even KNOW the full impact? How will you estimate it?
The fact is, you can't.
I find your refusal to take a stance on this issue very hypocritical, Toy, in light of your staunch opposition to the Ace banners. How can you not see the threat to eBay sellers posed by the half.com banner linkage? Or is that you don't want to see it? I don't recall you having this "balanced" viewpoint back when Ace was trying to get a foot in the door. It almost seems that you are now speaking as a representative or employee of eBay, trying to straddle the line between customers and corporate and not offend anyone along the way.
As for kathyg and some of you others who feel cocky enough to sit back and pass judgment on a situation that doesn't affect you directly -- yet -- I don't have time today to waste trying to change your mind. The fact is, booksellers other than myself have come to this thread and said the half.com banner linkage is a problem. We're the people it's affecting, and we know better than you do what threatens our business. With apologies to Judge Judy, eBay is pissing on our legs, yet you guys would have us believe that it's raining. Keep calling the shots from your ivory towers if you must, but know that unless the problem is stopped now, this problem is going to spread to other categories.
posted on December 5, 2000 12:50:12 PM new
Spaz, you are absolutely right. eBay should not use targeted banner advertising to draw bidders off site, no matter who owns Half.com or who sells there. eBay's customer base is thin enough without spreading it out over eBay and Half. eBay should shell out a few bucks and do some TV advertising, rather than always bleeding the customer base.
Now I'm going to tell you something you don't want to hear. The other side of the coin is that we all need to pick our battles. eBay will be looking at the best way to increase revenues. If it's a choice between (1) higher listing fees, (2) bringing in big business, or (3) siphoning some customers off to Half.com, I'd vote for the latter. In fact, I'd start selling there immediately myself were it not for the 48-hour response requirement and 24-hour shipping requirement. (Yeah, like that's going to happen!).
This may be one fight that you're not going to win. It may be better to think about adapting to Half.com. I don't think calling TR a hypocrite is fair at all. I didn't see even a single word of thanks about the banner ads, even after he mentioned it himself above. Nice work, ToyRanch.
posted on December 5, 2000 01:13:51 PM new
Amy has made so many valid points here. Why should booksellers who are hardworking enough to research their items lose sales to the lazy sellers who will list a high ticket book for pennies on the dollar at half.com? That's ridiculous.
adapt or DIE! True! I've adapted! I have 0 books listed on Ebay right now- THAT'S how I adapted.
Brighid- I'd say that the majority of my books are comparable to the ones you just posted that you sell. And BEFORE the reciprocal advertising I would never have seen half as a serious problem for all the reasons you mentioned. I certainly don't shop there myself as the search engine sux & you in most cases can't even see a pic of the book (at least not for the ones I buy) let alone a well-thought-out presentation. The problem is exactly what Spaz said it is-and I made this point already in the previously mentioned thread- that an Ebay seller will take the time to write an accurate detailed description, post multiple images, & SELL the book. Then his/her potential customer AFTER HAVING SEEN HIS LISTING will bop on over to half.com & possibly buy the book from someone who put little or no effort into the listing.
I can see this happening and I for one no longer plan to kill myself listing books on Ebay, and niether will I list on half.com because I don't think they do my books or me any favors in their presentation. I think that amazon.com is the best choice now because of their wonderful search engine, plus opportunities to review the books if you want to.
I would recommend that anyone who plans to continue selling books on Ebay thoroughly research each before listing- including checking for the same title at half.com. I have always done this before even when I didn't see half as so much of a threat, but now that research is absolutely essential!
Here's another thought Amy- if in our research we discover those underpriced books listed on half.com, we should buy them up for our own inventory!
posted on December 5, 2000 01:17:37 PM new
In eBay's view of the universe, eventually there will not be overlapping items: collectibles go to eBay, plain-Jane stuff to Half.com. Sellers will receive warnings for listing non-collectibles on eBay and trying to "cheat" the arrogant company out of 50% or so of commission monies (never mind the added volume of sales that the sellers' best sales pitches on eBay generate).
Then, if Half.com can hold the 15% level, it expands into collectibles categories, especially those that can be UPC-identified. Commissions in some areas get raised, though, because Half.com claims higher expenses to mediate cases of disputed grading.
Half also gets "too" cluttered with listings, especially for things that don't sell, like old editions of frequently updated books. They toy with the idea of a 25-cent "maintenance fee" charged automatically to credit cards if something sits on the system for six months. A few of the outraged sellers remove listings and post on eBay, generating warnings.
The media fills with stories of people getting three-month-old books nearly new for 80 percent less than list price. Harry Potter for $2. Book and music publishers lobby Congress for a royalty tax on resales, saying that the newly "efficient" market is killing retail sales of back-catalogue items and threatening their survival.
Lots of greed in all this. It's important not to let one company get too dominant. Maybe as a protest we should include links to one of the "universal search" sites in eBay listings.
posted on December 5, 2000 01:17:42 PM new
Just wanted to add one more thought/suggestion for booksellers: I have had a lot of success selling children's books on Yahoo. I often list a lot of, say, 10 paperback books from the same series together and do quite well. If you list that way at least you have the advantage of being able to offer a major savings on shipping over a venue like half.com, where it seems to me that they gouge both seller & buyer. (amazon.com is guilty of this as well). Just wanted to share!
posted on December 5, 2000 03:46:04 PM new
Please spaz:
I don't see how you came to the conclusion that the situation does not affect me directly.
True, selling books is not my livelihood, but over the summer I sold a large collection of books. They were all pre-ISBN 1st editions or early printings, highly desirable to collectors. They belonged on eBay, and this is where I put them.
I also cleaned out some of my personal junk, and listed a lot of common books and CDs on half.com. About 85% of these are now sold. Both venues worked well for me. Had these banners been in place while I was listing these items, I can't imagine it would have made any difference. It might possibly have helped.
Sorry if there is something about my tone that is offending you. Just calling it the way I see it.
posted on December 5, 2000 03:59:44 PM new
Hi all,
I have a question. When I started over two years ago I went with Ebay and then switched to Amazon auctions.
I don't understand any benefit to Half.com and when an Amazon rep asked me to participate in Marketplace I declined that too.
Both Ebay and Amazon really want to push in this direction. I don't think it's just because of the 15% and frankly I'd be happy to pay that or even 25% if results and/or support came with the higher fees.
But frankly I think Half and Marketplace are goofy and definately seller friendly?
Maybe I'm missing something? Please enlighten me if I'm wrong here?
Don't these Companies realize that if they offer a good, consistent product for a fair price they won't have any major problems? That good sellers will stay and build them the way Ebay was built??
If could take the best of the big three auction houses you'd have a hell of a platform that I'm sure would win sellers and bidders support.
posted on December 5, 2000 04:17:32 PM new
I have one small example of what it may do -
I had one book sitting on half.com priced at 1.00. It was a paperback book from the 70's on a high profile crime. I decided to list it on ebay after it had sat on half for 3 months. I started it at $3 and it sold for 10.50. If the half banner was there at that time and someone did a search for this particular book, they would have noticed it sitting on half for less than my opening and I probably wouldn't have gotten the bids that I did.
To me, half is a good site to buy mass market paperbacks - not a good place to sell anymore - I can't compete with books priced at a penny. Nor would I waste my time packaging and mailing a book for that amount - it would be donated to the local thrift stores first.
Most of my common mass-market books are on amazon - much better prices and sales right now.
I use ebay for my special interest or collectible books or sets of trilogies, etc. But of those that I can market as collectible or special interest, I would bet that 20-30% could be found on half for less. I market them different in my ads - and when half sellers profit from my slant on the book, it does bother me.
posted on December 5, 2000 05:10:32 PM new
CAgrrl, I'm with you. In the last month, I've listed on Amazon's Marketplace a lot of books I might have listed on eBay. We're talking fairly recent fiction & non-fiction, not terribly uncommon. So eBay loses here - I'm not listing them on half.com, where my books seem to sit forever, while other people sell the same book for 49 cents. I'm being "proactive" as someone suggested - I'm getting as much of my inventory off eBay as possible and onto one of their competitors' sites. Is this the result eBay was looking for?
Where I think the half.com banners can REALLY hurt me and other booksellers is in the area of non-fiction books from the 70s and 80s that are long out of print. Usually, they have a niche market and can bring decent money on eBay. (I'm talking in the 10 - 30 dollar range typically, sometimes more.) But these books have ISBNs and if someone is selling it for pennies on the dollar on half.com, what are the chances I'll be able to sell it for a decent price on eBay? The bidders can read my nice detailed description, and then go over to half and get it for next-to-nothing. I can't make a living on $4.99 books! I depend on those nice "hits" where a book does surprisingly well. Just another reason to keep after the recruiters until they find me a job, I guess.
posted on December 5, 2000 05:30:37 PM new
Okay, couple of problems.
1) Buyers read my description, then go to Half.com to buy the item.
What does this have to do with Half.com? In what way is this problem specific to Half.com? Any eBay seller could write a very short description and you'd still have the same problem. Buyer reads your description, does an eBay search, and bids on a similar item at eBay. This problem has nothing to do with Half.com per se. It is just "grasping at straws."
2) Items are cheaper at Half.com.
Cheaper is cheaper. What's the difference if a seller undercuts you at Half.com, or undercuts you at eBay? This is not a Half.com problem, it's a general sales problem. Let's try to at least keep the discussion intelligent. All books at Half.com are NOT on sale for a penny. Puh-leeze.
The topic of Half.com search links at the bottom of eBay search pages is broad enough and deserves some input. This other stuff is just poorly thought-out griping.
posted on December 5, 2000 06:48:26 PM new
1) Buyers read my description, then go to Half.com to buy the item.
It has to do with half because books can sit there for a long time. Many books I sell will have no competition in a given week on eBay but there may be 3 or 4 sitting on half. Thus my description is helping to sell their books.
2) Items are cheaper at Half.com.
Many of the items I sell list for $30-$50 on used book sites. I usually start my auctions at a reasonable price. Lets say $20 for a book that in the right market could bring $40-$50. If my buyers are directed to half they may find a copy for $4.50 half the original publishers price.
And it is not that my book is over priced, just that some one who is selling on half is way under priced.
No seller should expect eBay to advertise a separate site that sells his or her item for less on the same search page with said item!
[ edited by ondahouse on Dec 5, 2000 06:53 PM ]
posted on December 5, 2000 07:10:25 PM new
I don't sell books on ebay but can see where you people that do would be upset about this. I am ashamed to admit that ebay siphoned mee off of their site to half.com just this week. There is a set of 3 books I have been wanting for quite a while but was unwilling to pay over about $25 for the set. They usually go for more than that every time they appear on ebay. I have been doing daily searches since the buy it now feature took effect and have always found auctions that were ended by other buyers who got it for the price I wanted with buy it now from newbie sellers who didn't know what they had.
This weekend I noticed one of the links on ebay and bought all 3 off of half for $22 with shipping. I am not sure you can say I was stolen from an ebay buyer by half.com because I am patient enough to just wait it out and would have eventually gotten them at the price I wanted on ebay but this speeded things up a little.
I also noticed tonight while listing something else that there is something about selling your books and video's on half.com also. But I notice no one is upset about ebay siphoning off sellers to another site.
posted on December 5, 2000 07:10:26 PM new
Spaz --- Lighten up a bit...While I agree with 100% on the Half vs Ebay banner issue, kathyg does have a valid point about certain items not belonging in an auction format.
Try to see it from a buyers POV. Example: I regularly go through the ggg listings in the collectable photography categories. Usually about 2 pages in I start getting swamped with page after page of someone (unsuccessfully for the most part) attempting to sell 8x10 glossy repros of A-Z
movie star photos. I used to sell the same product at Star Trek conventions years ago.
This type of product belongs in a web catalog on a web site...not cluttering up Ebay where buyers are attempting to find and buy actual collectables. As a buyer if I needed an 8x10 of The Munsters I have about 12 web sites I could go to make the purchase in a quick fixed cost format. Others must feel the same way since it seems 95% of this guy's auctions end up as no bids.
If you do some random browsing across Ebay you can find dozens of examples of products that really don't belong in an auction house including some of my own seller auctions.
Books are collectable so I would'nt categorize them as 'not belonging in the auction format'
Back to the Half.com issue yes what they are doing seems to be dead wrong. But then again most of what Half.com does to their sellers is completely asinine and wrong. One-way feedback??? This one still floors me as a seller. I accidentally sold a book last week that was out of print and that I could have gotten $30 for but let go for $14.95 and the buyer had the nerve to dis me with a 4/5 'Feedback' stating that the book was 'overpriced' and not 'as new as I expected'. Yet I don't get a chance to defend myself. Hardcover textbooks and 550 page computer trade books are routinely listed in their DB as paperback and thus only get a $1.58 shipping allowance. The opposite also occasionally happens with paperbacks being listed as hardcovers. Answers about these concerns received from Half.coms support staff just plain suck...their attitude towards sellers is horrible.
posted on December 5, 2000 07:40:07 PM new
As a buyer of books,movies & music here is my method of purchase.<p>
When I search on ebay, and get the banner to half.com, I click on it. If the total price (meaning item & shipping total) is lower at half.com, I buy there. When it comes to the more pricy items, half.com's total usually is less. I know I'm not the only one doing that. And more often than not, that banner does appear. And more so here lately.<p>
And it isn't just books. It happens with movies & music also.<p>
posted on December 6, 2000 03:08:44 AM new
I sell videos on ebay and Amazon. Amazon has had the Zshop for some time which when you search for an item it shows a link to those items in Zshop as well. I have found that in most cases it had not affected my sales. Auction buyers are just that, auction buyers and most did not look further for the item unless they did not find it in the auction. I tried a test for a few months with a Star Wars Trilogy video. Had it at fixed price ($50) in Zshop and auction on Amazon. Sold 10 to 1 in auction at 30% to 50% higher bids than in Zshop fixed price even though both could be found with same search on Amazon.
posted on December 6, 2000 04:47:21 AM new
If half.com hadn't been bought by ebay, I don't know that they would have survived in the long run.
I sold on half.com for 5 months. I noticed a big increase in books sold when they put out a coupon. For example, they have a free shipping coupon out now, so I imagine those selling on half.com are selling a lot right now.
However, my point isn't that... it's agreeing that half.com customer service sucks.
They have specific guidelines for giving feedback, and yet when someone gives bad feedback for who knows what reason, half.com does not care. Example... got an order, confirmed it and sent it the next day. So, I know that it was sent on the right day, and it was packaged well (most of my half.com feedback, and all of my ebay feedback reflects this), the book was in better condition, than I listed it for... so them why did I receive a 3/5 feedback? Who knows, the buyer left no message. I contacted half.com who returned a message that said we don't care. No they did not come right out and say it, but that was the basic gist of it.
I no longer sell on half.com, because of another stunt they pulled on me. I looked into Amazon's marketplace, but find $.99 plus 15% really steep for the type of books I'd put up there.
I really don't like the fact that half.com is very paranoid about the seller and buyer having contact with each other. There were many times that it would have been helpful to be able to contact the buyer.
I think that half.com had a great idea. However, they do not seem to be concerned with the sellers at all.
Sure you need buyers, but you need sellers too. I had 950 books on half.com that I took off, when I stopped selling there. Obviously that doesn't hurt half.com much. And there will always be new people hawking their wares on half.com for pennies.
(sigh)
posted on December 6, 2000 08:15:59 AM new
I agree that the half linkage is a very poor decision. Seems a case of doing something because they could, and that it seemed clever, without appropriate thought to whether they should.
Books which bring good to substantial prices are seldom available on half.com so its mostly irrelevant there. To the extent they are - the postings already here seem to cover most bases; I think the most important is that as the ebay sellers are ebay's primary customers and they shouldn't actively undercut them.
In some respects it is likely to be counter-productive to their combined income.
For most non-current mass market books (such as last year's bestsellers) ebay has multiple listings at about $1 to $15, most of which go unsold, (which of those that do sell often seems almost arbitrary). half would typically have many copies, most sales go to the lowest price (subject to condition). In a very large number of cases this is just pennies.
ebay gets at least a quarter for each copy put to auction whether it sells or not. I don't think these listing fees for non-selling auctions are particularly profitable to ebay but suspect they probably do better than break even as the marginal cost for that data pushing is so low.
When a book sells on half for pennies - 15% of nothing is nothing and I don't believe their cut on the S&H covers the billing / paying expenses.
So to the extent that they succeed in redirecting sellers from placing these auction listings they may be reducing their bottom line.
Such books as "Not the Latest" by Grisham (or any other automatic bestseller author ... ) still move a lot of copies - at prices ranging from full retail in the local mall bookstore to pennies at half.com. I don't see any good reason for ebay to actively redirect the tiny portion of that market which would sell on their auction site to half instead.
posted on December 6, 2000 11:41:02 AM new
brighid, jmjones and birdwatcher made some really good points and provided concrete examples of some of the ways that eBay booksellers can wind up getting screwed by the half.com banner linkage. Are these the testimonials you're looking for, Toyranch? How many more sellers have to say THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM before you acknowledge it as such? They echoed the same apprehensions I have -- the same concerns that led me to open this thread.
luvmy2bears also contributed a testimonial, this time from the buyers' side:
When I search on ebay, and get the banner to half.com, I click on it. If the total price (meaning item & shipping total) is lower at half.com, I buy there. When it comes to the more pricy items, half.com's total usually is less. I know I'm not the only one doing that. And more often than not, that banner does appear. And more so here lately.
Some of you seem to be under the impression that we booksellers sell only mass market glut or extremely rare titles. The fact of the matter is, we make 90% of our sales on books that fall between these two extremes -- and more and more of these books are now being sold on half.com. What eBay is doing with these half.com banners is unethical. They are taking OUR money, letting US do the work involved with listing, and blatantly delivering OUR potential customers to half.com, whose sellers don't do a fraction of the work we do when it comes to listing items.
And you're kidding yourself if you think it's going to stop here. Not only will this spread to other categories, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Ace Hardware or similar banners start showing up again. When the suits at eBay sees that they can get away with the half.com banner linkage, it'll be just a matter of time before they step over the line a little more, and a little more after that. Who knows, they may reason that if people don't get in an uproar when eBay itself screws them over with its own linkage banners, maybe they'll sit there and take it when banners from outside companies start showing up again.
posted on December 6, 2000 06:32:55 PM new
OK Spaz~
For the sake of randomness, I chose the books sitting on the edge of my desk and looked each one up on both ebay and Half. Here's what I found:
eBoys by Randall E Stross Hardback
Half price: $12.97 ebay price: n/a
Collector's Guide to Online Auctions by Nancy L Hix
Half price: $8.00 ebay price $6.25
Collecting Foreign Made Toy Soldiers by Richard O' Brien
Half price: n/a ebay price: $10.50, $14.99
The Official ebaY Guide by Laura Kaiser Hardback
Half Price: $12.99 ebay price: $8.50, $10.50
The Cluetrain Manifesto
Half Price: $11.99 ebay price: $6.82
Now this is a completely random sample of newer books. I just picked the books on my desk. Every single one of them was cheaper on ebay than on Half. I left out no books from my random sample. Of course, this is in no way scientific. Give me some titles. I want to see this. Be fair about it though. Pick 10 titles you sold on ebay 3 months ago (so it's out of search results and you can retain your anonymity) and list them here along with the prices you sold them for. Take 10 in a row, please don't handpick them. That's what I want to see, because if I go from either my experience with the links, or the books on the corner of my desk, I see ALL the benefits of the links being for ebay sellers, and not Half sellers. Of course I realize it's not the case always at all...
posted on December 6, 2000 07:31:35 PM new
Hi Spazmodeus:
I'm starting to work on an article for AW on this very subject. Would you mind sending your e-mail address to [email protected] so that I could ask you a few other questions? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.
posted on December 6, 2000 08:16:32 PM new
I see, Toy. So it's not enough that various people have come here and reiterated my complaints. Now you want me to publicize my earnings?
I saw no such demands made of the people who complained about the Ace Banners. I saw no "put up or shut up" challenges. You took it on faith that the Ace banner linkage would hurt sellers.
I'm not going down this road. All I'll say is that your random sampling doesn't work as a comparison. I don't sell books at random. Mine are carefully selected from a variety of sources. You're just going to have to take my word for it that many of mine are selling for 3-4 times more on eBay than their half.com counterparts. Granted, not all of the titles I sell can be found on half.com. But it's my feeling that any sales lost to half.com sellers because eBay is funneling our customers there is too much.
I object to the principle of the banner linkage, and its potential to do harm to eBay booksellers -- and other sellers in the future. They should NOT be taking our money and directing customers to another venue. Heck, Toy, even if were to give you ten titles and you found that every single one had a lower eBay price, it would STILL be wrong. No matter how you look at it, the practice of directing customers away from our auctions to another venue is not right, and no amount of calculations or price-checking or whatever can make it right.
posted on December 6, 2000 09:50:47 PM new
I agree that losing sales to Half.com is bad for ebay sellers. We are in full agreement. The question is... overall, do you LOSE more or GAIN more because of the links? I see the possiblity that you sales could increase because of it. I didn't see that with ACE hardware because there were no links back and doing a search on ACE didn't pull up a search listing for "find one of these on ebay"
Here's the rub. ebay sellers pay listing fees and they don't have 'eternal listings' like Half sellers do. ebay sellers want to sell it the first time out, or they have to pay another listing fee and relist it, etc. If a bidder goes to Half from the link, the ebay seller loses not only the sale, but the listing fee as well. In theory, ebay can funnel sales to Half and get higher fees while ebay sellers keep paying listing fees and not selling at the lower ebay commission. THAT I get. IF that happens, then something needs to be done about it, because it sucks bigtime! Right?
The question is, is it happening, or is it going to happen, or is the link back to ebay from Half going to create greater benefits for ebay sellers in the long run?
Is it possible that you could benefit from them?
OK, look, I don't care about your earnings records. The discussions with ebay about the ACE banners were successful because we was able to cite examples and they were able to check those examples through their site stats to see if the scenarios we painted were actually happening. THAT'S what took those banners down. Because we were RIGHT and we SHOWED them that.
Show me and I'll pick up the phone. I have to show them!
posted on December 6, 2000 10:16:03 PM new
I honestly don't have time to do a random sample or whatever, but I'll contribute one example. This example is from a book that I personally am about to buy.
The book in question is "30 years of Mattel Fashion Dolls". I have 3 copies watchlisted on Ebay & right now priced at $8.99, $12.24, & $10.99. Right now at half.com it is available for $7.97 (good condition), $8.97 (very good condition) and $9.97 (like new condition.) Additionally, shipping actually works out to costing less on half.com.
As an aside- I would obviously buy the book on half.com had I not made the decision to check the bookstore close to me tomorrow- I just bought another bunch of dolls & I need the book YESTERDAY, I don't want to wait 2 weeks to have it shipped to me.
BTW, the half.com banner didn't show up when I was doing my searches.How are you guys seeing them?
posted on December 7, 2000 05:12:44 AM new
I'll contribute a concrete example that doesn't relate to links either way between the two sites, but does relate to something I mentioned early on.
This morning I purchased a book on Half.com for $5.00 with free shipping. It's a fairly recent hardcover, but out of print, about the founder of a computer company. This is the third time I have purchased this book on Half.com for $5 or $6. Anytime I can find this book I sell it in one of the computer sections on ebay. We have sold total 4 copies of this book over the last year, the prices realized on Ebay ranged from $22 to $33. Sorry I don't want to give more details than that because I don't want to ruin my sure thing!
I will look for some examples the other way (listed on ebay while available on Half) in my past sales. Quite frankly that will be hard to do because ever since i found half.com I've listed the item there instead of ebay if at all possible. Most books and CD's I sell don't overlap between the two sites.
Maybe both Spaz and Toy are right... it's the principle of the banner ads and the links that's wrong, but... when it comes down to actual discussions with Ebay about it, the effectiveness of the protest could really be boosted by having some concrete examples to show ebay.
posted on December 7, 2000 05:56:11 AM new
well, I found the Hix book on half.com for $4.98
I'm trying to figure out how your comparisons mean anything in terms of whether this is good or bad. Do the lower start(heaven forbid we're talking about sold prices) prices on ebay mean that sellers checked and were forced to start books lower to compete with half.com? Does N/A on half suggest it's not there because it was sold on half while the ebay listing sits there? Not expressing my opinion on the half banner here, just that your way of measuring impact doesn't mean anything to me.
posted on December 7, 2000 07:23:03 AM new
enchanted - thanks for your post about the OP computer book. It's always interesting to read about examples like that. When I've done any "ebay shopping" I've found the prices on half.com to be prohibitive, but I tend to look more often for high-quality craft books.
Your comment about the 2 weeks shipping is another thing a savvy buyer would understand: on ebay she should easily be able to arrange Priority shipping. On half.com you might be able to check off a Priority box, but NONE of my nearly-100 sales have gone Priority. I bet a lot of sellers don't list the option. I think ebay still offers buyers a lot: better descriptions, photos of interior pictures, details about condition, options for payment and shipping, and a real person to contact.
posted on December 7, 2000 09:08:47 PM new
hi gang
its the same old deal at ebay again.[sellers mean nothing] the only
way is to use some other auction sites as backup my books are selling good on yahoo. i am not giving ebay anymore extra money. decreased my listings by 25% and started using yahoo as my primary site.[ebay has become secondary]. ebay aint what it was 2 years ago
Mostly my books fall into the category of being a 3-20 years old, on interesting and specific niche subjects (specific areas of history, religion, art, etc.) They have ISBN numbers but may be out of print, etc. These are just the type of books that I predict are going to be seriously affected by Half. They don't come up every day in everyone's local bookstore but I would never call them "rare". Luckily after the ebay/half.com ads were first announced I saw it coming and I've been phasing out my book sales on ebay and listing my remaining inventory on Amazon marketplace. I think if you have truly hard to find books, Half.com won't be a serious threat. Also, I predict that the vast majority of eBayers will not take the extra step of searching Half.com. In addition, Half.com's bad user interface and crapulous habit of shielding email addresses between buyer and seller won't make them many friends among the eBay community when it comes to those who do click and compare. Nevertheless, I think the execution of this was a very stupidly-handled move on ebay's part and it's guaranteed to cause yet more dissent in the ranks of sellers....They sure aren't smoothies are they? More like bulls in a china shop. 