(ebay)... said it would try to rejuvenate its core auction business by making it less attractive for merchants to sell through storefronts on its site.
Well they've succeeded. It IS less attractive for me to sell through the storefronts on their site. BUT, if they think that means I'm going to list more on their auctions... they're crazy!!! I'm pulling up my roots and moving on. I might run a few clearance lots here and there... but the 1000+ auctions/fixed price listings I run a month, plus my eBay store with over 4000 items, are history!! This can't be a good business move for eBay.
This site seems like the best I've seen so far (and I've actually been looking the past few months anyhow). I'd really like to hear from the rest of you that already have sites hosted somewhere to see how this compares.
posted on July 20, 2006 06:56:50 AM new
Thanks eauction - I am going to explore options and appreciate your sharing your research!
Just to add fuel to the fire, here is another excerpt from the NY Times yesterday (read i carefully, ESPECIALLY the stock options part:
"Net income at eBay for the three months ended June 30 fell to $250 million, or 17 cents a share, from $291.6 million, or 21 cents a share, in the period a year earlier. Those results, which met analysts’ expectations, included the effect of expensing stock options, which lowered profit by $60 million, or 4 cents a share. Without that expense, profit would have risen 6 percent."
In other words, profit per share was LOWERED 4 cents a share so top execs could have stock options! Not only are we subsidizing lame brain ideas like Express and SKYPE, we are also providing Meg and Bill a shiny gold parachute to use when the walls come tumblin' down!
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posted on July 20, 2006 07:14:50 AM newNo listing fees, No final value fees, No "accepted payment" policies, no shipping policies, no report this item button, no feedback to worry about..
No traffic, no eyeballs and no clicks.
Gad, I never thought I'd turn into one of the pink pom-pom brigade.
But why is it that small sellers assume they can duplicate eBay's economy-of-scale marketing?
Economy of scale is this: eBay spends more than $100 million per month marketing eBay, and by extension, your auctions/items.
But don't take my word for it. Set up your web site, then run the numbers.
If you get the same number of eyeballs on your web site that you get on eBay, and are able to convert eyeballs to buyers,
by all means, full speed ahead.
fLufF
--
[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Jul 20, 2006 07:21 AM ]
Honestly, I'm not trying to get the same number of traffic or even the same number of bidders on my own site. I've run the numbers. I can do TEN times LESS sales, and still make MORE profit (with less work) because the costs are lower. I also watch my traffic hits on eBay. They've been steadily decreasing, even though my number of items have been increasing. I don't know who's benefiting from their advertisments, but it's not me!
posted on July 20, 2006 07:54:51 AM new
I'm closing my store as soon as I have all my items moved to a St. Elsewhere. ecrater.com has a free store. Not only does it look a heck of a lot more professional than ebay's stores, they submit to all the major search engines. And, did I mention - it's FREE? I'll still do some auctions on eBay, but I will direct my store customers elsewhere.
posted on July 20, 2006 07:59:03 AM new
Here's the way I see this as playing out. Everyone is screaming and yelling, with the usual malcontents calling for a useless boycott, etc. People are over-reazting by closing their stores today, rather than waiting for their time to expire.
People are fuming. 150%-500% increases will do that, especially with broken store searches.
But WAIT!
in about a week, Bill Corncobb will ride in on his big white horse to the rescue and exclaim that he feels our pain too, and that effective August 22nd, the same day as the fee increase, eBay Stores will now be included in the main search.
What a gift! Bill Cobb is a HERO!
Now people start to think they are getting something for that fee increase, and think "hmmm. maybe things aren't all that bad". Jump forward two months, and everything is calm again, except that our fees have increased 150-500%.
You read it here first. Think about it, you KNOW it's true.
Dr. Arcane, revelator of mystical secrets http://www.drarcane.com
Got questions about the secrets of the universe?
posted on July 20, 2006 08:50:24 AM new
Sadly, I see this move as a SHORT-TERM BANDAID on feeBay's part to try and shore up their stock performance. In the LONG-TERM, I'm convinced that in 18-24mos, we will look back FONDLY on this week as "the good ole days" when we were all eBay sellers...and are no longer because the site IMPLODED, or the JUSTICE DEPT finally stepped in and danced a "MA BELL" on Meg's head!
We aren't closing our STORE, BUT, we will be doing away with ALL frills soon. I had been converting most of my listings to FREE SHIPPING, but that will end!
In the long run, prices will rise to the point where smart shoppers will AVOID feeBay with a passion. I already never BUY ANYTHING on feeBay but always find BETTER & CHEAPER at AMAZON...
posted on July 20, 2006 09:29:19 AM new
Store Inventory listings now comprise about 83% of active eBay.com listings on average
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had no ideal that only 17% of listings were regular core listings.
I only had success in the eBay stores listings during that "15 minutes of fame", when people actually saw store listings.
It was several months back, my sales were very good in the stores then they dried like dew in the morning sun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mystery writer Mickey Spillane died - Jul 17, 2006
www.interlog.com/~roco/hammer.html
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ edited by deur1 on Jul 20, 2006 10:20 AM ]
posted on July 20, 2006 09:32:13 AM new
It's getting clearer on the solutions to this problem thanks to all you smart people out there! I too am a low average price, semi-high volume seller and will try more BIN and fixed price. Get rid of the store (which used to garner me at least 5-10 sales per week) then start marketing my own web site. Has anyone ever tried www.highfivedomains.com for web hosting? It looks good, cheap, and stupidly easy.
[ edited by lorenlovgren on Jul 20, 2006 09:34 AM ]
posted on July 20, 2006 10:45:24 AM new
Ssssh, Stop. Don't ask that. It's the one question they can't answer and don't want to hear.
A day later, reading Bill Cobb's message again, I'm struck with the idea that what eBay really wants to do is get rid of the flotsam and jetsam...the empty margarine tubs and stacks of old National Geographics, the junk jewelry with missing stones. The Chia Pets and used (!) Ant Farms. You know, the kind of crap you see all over America at garage sales.
A seller who posts to this very forum (or used to) thought she was going to make her eBay fortune selling used $1 coffee mugs. Yeah, the mugs you can get in any dime store, supermarket or garage sale.
I think that pretty much exemplifies the kind of seller that eBay has decided it doesn't want or need.
posted on July 20, 2006 11:57:26 AM new
Meg was on CNBC this morning,she called it 'BRING BACK THE MAGIC OF AUCTION'!
Well,Meg has done her homework,85% of the listing come from stores!!
What is the incremental cost of listing another item,then another item after paying the fixed store fee of 14.95 per month?
2 cents .
with gallery picture,3 cents.
posted on July 20, 2006 12:12:20 PM new
I see it as ebay wanting to get rid of the stores period!
We can adapt, raise prices and stay in business. I will do that for now. But, if Ebay really wants the store listings to dwindle they will just do something else to make that happen.
That is why i'm moving my inventory elsewhere. I'll keep my Ebay store and when i sell something I will direct my buyers elsewhere.
And, yes they will go there. I rarely get a buyer who doesn't ask if I have other postcards from the same city, state, etc and I dutifully find it, list it on Ebay, pay them their hare and make a sale.
All too often, I have to say I don't know because my postcards aren't all listed. I can't afford to list them all on Ebay at any given time.
But, I can list them on my other site! And, when they ask that question I can send them there...and I can sell them cheaper there.
At any rate, I don't see Ebay stores as an option for the long term. Ebay has spoken and I have listened. It's not about fees or increases, it's about the magic and the balance. So, we have no choice. Those that don't make other plans now may find themselves up a tree without a ladder one day soon.
posted on July 20, 2006 01:04:39 PM new
fluff is correct. Once again she is on the money. Look at this as a correction in ebay's course. Many of the new store owners should not even be operating a retail endeavor. It was just too easy to open an online store. Hopefully, when this purge is completed, there will be less stores to clutter the searches.
Have you been over to the ebay store discussion board? Why they are cursing, hootin and cryin over the price increases. Today's Town Hall should be an extra special event.
There is "no where, no place, no site," on the net where you can have a store, with the traffic of ebay. ebay has done the advertising and created the image. Right or wrong, the shoppers by the millions go there to look and buy. Granted, there are many of us who prefer auctions, and ebay is attempting to preserve the marketplace.
As to my situation - I am staying and will continue with my plans to list more items. I am just going to have to learn how to advertise my product more effectively. If I were to open a B&M, the rent would be much more than the ebay fees, and I would be dependent on my local customer base.
posted on July 20, 2006 02:44:50 PM new
KOZ.
it is not that Ebay does not like stores,it is that THE STORE ITEMS ARE NOT MOVING!
How would you like to walk into a mall where 85% of the items do not sell??
Cannot you see that that is a very DIS-INGENIOUS argument on feeBay's part???
Store item don't sell??
OF COURSE THEY DON'T SELL -- BECAUSE FEEBAY GIVES THEN NO EXPOSURE!
duh!
When STORE items were in SEARCH, Ralphie & I were selling 5-10 items PER DAY! Now, that's a weeks worth, although I did sell FIVE items TODAY (can't figure out WHY today?)
WHAT A TOTAL BUNCH OF BS!
If feeBay wanted the STORES to WORK, the solution is really simple -- and it tain't raising the freakin fees!
posted on July 20, 2006 03:34:54 PM new
Tom.
just because your store items are selling does not mean other stores are.
Many sellers just leave their items in the store and hope they will sell themselves,for example -
a pair of jade earrings made in the 1980s worth 100 dollars (ebay price)described as 19th century antique earrings priced 2300 dollars.
It shows up in the search,but would it sell??
Please learn to be more objective,Ebay has done its homework,it has compiled enough statistics to conclude 83 % of the active listings are store listings and it takes 14 to 40 times longer to sell the store items.
I am not making these figures up ,read Bill Cobb's letter and the interview this morning of Meg on CNBC.
posted on July 20, 2006 04:09:31 PM new
Tom correctly points out the circular logic. To bemoan the lack of ebay store sales while failing to provide exposure for those sales is fallacious.
While there is some junk on eBay (tons of it perhaps), those of us who have developed our business, have alternative web sites, etc. saw MARKED increase in sales when store items were included in Search.
I would like to encourage folks to consider your Vendio store as an avenue. It has done very well for me for a number of years. You can drive your ebay traffic to it, while stahing within the rules of eBay.
It is funny how Bill and Meg created this monster and now are having all kinds of heck trying to make it profitable.
Do you think a consultant came in and lead them through a retreat, urged them to return to their core values and forget synergy?
Beth
www.vintageads4u.com
posted on July 20, 2006 04:17:52 PM new
well,then Bill and Meg will have a business problem on their hand-if one seller pays 35 cents for listing an item for 7 days and another seller pays 2 cents for 30 days,which seller should get more exposure??
(Take into consideration the 2 cent seller pays a fixed fee of 14.95 for the store every month)
The bottom line is whoever pays most gets the most attention-AMZN marketplace versus AMZN Zshop,Yahoo shop which participates in pay per click versus Yahoo shop which pays no click.
(I think Tom just proves his point,stores which have good items sell and stores which haev junks or overpriced items do not.
Every time I search for antique jade,this pair of earrings always show up)
posted on July 20, 2006 04:28:57 PM new
It doesn't matter if you don't get the "millions of eyeballs" on your own website that eBay gets. Your eBay listings also aren't getting all those eyeballs - just the small percentage that are looking for what you are selling.
The keys to doing well with your own website are niche products, search engine optimization, good design, email marketing, and if warranted, pay-per-click niche product advertising.
My website does very, very well and gets better every year. I don't have to worry about eBay policies changing every time the wind blows, or feedback, or paying all those eBay fees. I can also charge (and get) higher prices. I only get rid of my returns on eBay. I've tried to fit eBay into my business plan in other ways, but the truth is that I have never had the time to invest in really making it work, and can't see how paying more in fees for a lower gross sales price per product really would work for me.
The caveat is, of course, that it will take time to build search engine ranking and website traffic and some people may not have that time to invest. So if you are switching over, my suggestion would be to do it slowly.
posted on July 20, 2006 05:02:11 PM new
Fleecies,
May I ask what you sell on your website?
you said-
The keys to doing well with your own website are niche products, search engine optimization, good design, email marketing, and if warranted, pay-per-click niche product advertising.
/////////////////////////////////////////
I agree 100 % what you said,but many Ebay stores would not do well using your suggestions,they sell a bit of everything from clothes to handbag to ashtray to prints to figurines,depending on what they find at estate auction and garage sales.
Most of these items they just have quantity of one,so to drive all that traffic using seach engine and advertising is a waste of money,what if the item has just been sold??
Same with email marketing ,what if 2 customers want the same item?
posted on July 20, 2006 06:20:27 PM new
Dear feeBay Sellers,
Instead of following our instructions on how we want you to run your business, you ignored us and continued to increase your store listings at a much faster rate than your auction listings.
While most businesses would be delighted to have this growth in revenue and profitability, the large fund managers and analysts that we answer to do not like this trend, and this has caused the value of our stock to decline. A lower stock price not only negatively impacts the bonus component of our compensation, but also dramatic decreased the value of our executive stock options.
We realize that you may be driven by your self-centered desire to increase your profits, but your first responsibility is to keep our business profitable with quarterly results that impress our large investors. Bear in mind that without us, you would not have an auction or store business.
Unfortunately, your behavior has made it necessary for us to repurchase millions of eBay shares to temporarily inflate the value of our stock and restore some of our lost executive compensation. Since you created this problem, we have decided to let you fund the repurchase of these shares by henceforth increasing your store fees. We also hope that the fee increases will help you to understand that we want you to have more auction listings while continuing to pay your store fees.
Please help put this issue behind us so we can focus our creative energies on more productive endeavors. Your cooperation in this matter will help us to focus on new and innovative ways to micro manage you, and charge you more while delivering less. We plan to reward you for your continued cooperation by investing billions in unrelated businesses and establishing new marketplaces in fraud ridden, third-world countries.
Regards,
Meg Whitman et al,
eBay Management Team
cc: major investors, anti-Google Checkout dept, S&H gouging dept, all eBay serfs
posted on July 20, 2006 08:47:22 PM newOther than burying a link in the "ME" page, how does one legally do this?
Tom, When you send your winning bidder the WBN, you include a link to your off ebay sales. Plus, when you send the item, you also let them know about your off ebay sales. Then, I keep every e-mail address and periodically send a friendly e-mail inviting them to my off ebay sales. I think you get the point.
Stopwhining hwahwa,
You really haven't quite gotten the points.
Tom. just because your store items are selling does not mean other stores are.
Tom just stated that his stores aren't selling since they came off of search. He just had a mistake bidder today.
It is not 'NO EXPOSURE',it is 'LESS EXPOSURE'.
Stop, you simply have this wrong and Tom has it right. It really is no exposure. The only way Tom's bidder found those items is totally by chance or by someone else letting them know. It was not through the ebay channels.
[ edited by stonecold613 on Jul 21, 2006 12:22 PM ]
