posted on October 4, 2000 07:18:17 AM
EbaY has just made an agreement with a new image listing company.First two pics are free any more there is an additional fee.
What with Credit card co fees which I know are normal and cannot complain on that one.
What with ebaY fees going up in featureed auctions and all the other people that want a cut of the profits.
I am wondering how much money they think we make on the items we sell.I begin to wonder if they think we get them for free so what ever they sell at is all profit.
It would not be so bad if ebaY was more a retail market but it's not.It's more a wholesale market and below which means to have to work very hard to find items you can sell to make a profit.
Also if these companies fail to deliver the goods do they refund us NO.We just get stuck with it the way it is.
For example I list my items through AW's bulk lister.I like it a lot its really godd and its free so I cannot complain.
But if this was a paid service then what happened to me in the last week would make me mad.
I listed about 10 items all books all listed as Category featured than ran me 200.00 or there abouts to list.
They where supposed to get listed a week ago Sunday at 10 p.m. Central Time.Well due to a glitch in their system they did not get listed till 1 a.m. Monday morning.
So what normally gets good bids did not due to the finish time.Thank goodness I had reserves on them.
I sold 3 out of the 10 but the other 7 people emailed me saying they could not stay up that long to bid on that late at night.
So there went 140.00 approx in listing fees.
Rather than continually looking for ways to get more money of the sellers.Why does not ebaY look at ways to bring new blood to the site.
If sales prices continue to decline as they have done I may have to quit this full time and go back into the sales field again.
But when will these companies realise that we are not turning lead into gold on ebaY and other sites.
posted on October 4, 2000 07:27:53 AM
But Adrian, aren't your listings lasting for three, five, seven, or ten days? Your bidders have that much time in which to bid, don't they?
It was maybe a glitch that delayed the ending time, but bidding can be done at any time during the auction.
posted on October 4, 2000 07:43:06 AM
Oh, I agree entirely with you, imabrit. These companies think that we're making a killing over here. Everybody wants a tastey slice of your pie.
Banks are the worst and are so offensive with their fees on things that should never have fees. For instance, my regular merchant account I have, I have to pay $30 a month to the bank to [i]rent[/] a stupid card reader! Then, there's the Minimum Fee from the CC prosessing company, then when I use it to process a customer order, I get charge nearly 4% + $0.35/transaction. I wish I could use PayPal at the trade shows that we go to, but that isn't quite possible at the moment (laptop + cellphone would work, but that's more $$ everytime its used).
If Buyers knew just how much we Sellers pay for those goods to be listed, they'd stop complaining about "High Prices" that are a mere 20% of true retail prices.
posted on October 4, 2000 07:53:50 AM
I just bid on an early book I went too a 1000 on it.Then passed,in time past that would have gone for 2000 on ebaY.I know dealers who sell this book ofr 2 to 3 thousand dollars.
Different is they have a store and can afford to hang onto the item till it sells for what they want.
That book gets me 1200 on a good day.200 profit sounds good,but I have to get imported,deal with foregin currencies,arrange shipping,take pics and list etc.All this takes too much time to make 200.00 on it.
I have no problem paying Paypal and Billpoint fees or ebaY fees.But there is a limit.
posted on October 4, 2000 08:41:43 AM
How much of that $250,000 does Adrian get to keep, I wonder? I'm not asking for a real figure: my point is that it may have cost Adrian $225,000 in costs.
posted on October 4, 2000 08:53:43 AM
Actually I have not made any reff to how much I have sold this year at all.As it seems people assume thats how much you make.
I only wish that where true believe me if I could keep a third of that I would not complain.
Anyway I will not do that much this year as the better items that did generate a good profit no longer sell on ebaY.
So I go for less expensive items that do not generate as much cash but similar profit.Just have to work harder for it.
It does seem that people fail to understand that there costs involved in running a business.
I could have sales of a million dollars but if my costs where 990,000 thousand dollars then I only made 10 thousand.
The million sounds good but its really not,better the guy that deoes 25,000 in sales on 5,000 a lot more impressive.
posted on October 4, 2000 09:01:57 AM
I would point out that the people with shops incur a fairly high overhead that eats into the profit margin daily of any item that they hold on to.
posted on October 4, 2000 09:39:34 AM
Every business has costs and overhead, and most small businesses fail. Why should businesses on the Internet be any different?
When I first got on the Internet, I realized that a lot of the things we get for free now will come with a price tag eventually. Companies cannot continue to provide things for free or they will go out of business...
And forget all those advertising revenues from the banners. If the banners fail to generate sales, fewer and fewer companies will want to pay for banners on different sites. I find banner advertising the easiest thing in the world to ignore. How many of you click on all the banners you see? I rarely click on any of them.
I see this "free period" as a time to build your brand. Establish yourself as a particular type of business and start building a reputation. This doesn't mean you have to give things away or sell cheaper than the next guy. It simply means you have to be smart about how you sell. If your prices are higher, provide better customer service, faster shipping, hassle-free transactions, something special. Instead of going for being the cheapest on eBay, go for being the best on eBay.
In the real world, all types of businesses survive -- high end, low end, middle of the road -- but all these businesses share something in common, and that's the ability to make a profit despite the overhead. Companies that can't figure out how to make a profit will inevitably fail.
posted on October 4, 2000 11:32:53 AM
Well imabrit, a lot of people on this board complain about fewer bids, but when a seller like you starts in, maybe eBay will take notice.
I agree, between eBay and the other services supporting online auctions, they are trying to nickel and dime us to death. A quarter here and 35 cents there adds up very quickly.
My gripe with eBay is that they have put so much effort into looking for ways to extract more money from sellers, versus concentrating on improving the experience for bidders. Now that thier growth has started to slow, they make decisions that sacrifice long term viability for short term revenues - I guess to appease the stockholders.
So the sellers, who are making less than they used to, now have the priveledge of paying 5 bucks for a yellow highlight. Too bad all the bidders got burned and left.
posted on October 4, 2000 11:50:13 AM
Ebay's obligation, since it went public, is not to its buyers or sellers but to its stockholders. It must increase revenues each quarter to satisfy them. If its buyer ans seller base does not increase to increase sales (and its cut thereof), then it will increase fees on its sellers.
And so it goes.
Vinnie
posted on October 4, 2000 12:34:51 PM
I agree that ebaY has to answer to the shareholders and produce revenue.As these days stcoks get hammered when revenue does not meet or go out way beyond expectations.
But rather than get it all from the seller,they need to realise that we need people to sell too.There are lots of people out there who have never ever heard of ebaY.
I know at the beginning of next year they will start advertising on TV in certain parts of the Country.They should have done that years ago,what major corporation does not use the media to tout their business in advertising.
I used to like hearing adds for ebaY on the radio and bidding was a lot better than it is know.But I have not heard of such an add in probably at least a year.
The adds I have seen from the Credit Card companies that highlight auctions deal with Fraud.Or show it in a bad light this scares off bidders.
I have found that the big spenders I used to get are no longer here I do still every know and then sell to them.But mostly not through ebaY as they rarely go there anymore.
EbaY had noted that there average sale price per item has dropped for the last 12 months which affects their revenues.
They need to figure out why and see what they can do to get these bidders back and acvertising is a good place to start.
EbaY would never listen to me as I am only small fry though I do pay them about 15,000 a year in fees.
posted on October 4, 2000 08:45:08 PM
There is also a glut of products now. It is not as much fun to search for what I want. Nothing is rare, nothing is hard to find.
Too much stuff out there, too many sellers.
Stuff is just spread too thin and is too easy to get.
posted on October 4, 2000 09:28:00 PM
My examination of the problem is this: there are not enough Sellers and there are even less Buyers.
eBay is indeed thinking short-term only. There are many, inexpensive, tiny changes to the Listing process that wouod help eliminate huge chunks of misunderstandings between Seller and Buyer and the unhappiness for both parties thereof that could be implemented. Unfortunately, none of these suggested power problem-solvers would directly generate a single penny for eBay. eBay just does not see that by improving the situation they could make a whole lot more money.
The problem is not that there are too many Sellers on eBay - that's a ridiculous notion in my opinion. It doesn't matter how many Sellers that you have if there are enough Buyers to make everyone profitable. The problem is that there aren't enough Buyers.
Where are the Buyers? Why do Sellers grow faster than Buyers do? Do you think that the constant media bashing eBay and Internet selling has anything to do with it? Do you think that the untrustworthiness and unethical tactics played out by so-called trusted names brands in the past who ignore our right to privacy has anything to do with chasing people away? You bet it does!
You know, there used to be a thing in business called Ethics. There are many laws not created for transacting business simply because it's just not done. But these days, corporations are so bold that they say,"If there isn't a law against it, then we'll do it - for a profit!" Then the corporations cry about having laws being passed against them!
No. The answer is to fix eBay and to fix corporations in general by voting out their whole-hearted supporters in our governement - namely the two mainsteam political parties.
If eBay could think without its gonads for a moment and see that sensible policies and procedures being put in place would give them a lot more long-term income than jacking up prices for Sellers, then we would ALL benefit because the media would have less negatives to push on everybody.
If somehow the politicians in governement would come onto our side for a change and give us our privacy back and fix the e-mail harrassment problem (spam), then many people would try out buying on eBay and finding out how much they can like it.
Of course, the Sun may not rise tomorrow and that is just as likely that eBay or the Governement is going to give a damn about us little people. >>SIGH<<
