posted on May 26, 2001 01:02:32 AM
I hate to even ask this, but is there any reason to believe that Ebay will mandate the use of their terribly inferior picture hosting system??
God I hope not. I could not be happier with my current host---I'll say it again: I could not be happier, and the thought of Ebay hijacking the pics is unsettling, to say the least.
I would even rather pay for what I am using (and I do) than use Ebay's--even if it was going to be free.
[ edited by stingray777 on May 26, 2001 01:06 AM ]
posted on May 26, 2001 04:28:34 AM
I'm a newbee to auctions--[still working on my 1st] What image hosting do you use and why do you like them?
Are they free? Thanks
posted on May 26, 2001 05:29:48 AM
I think as eBay "buttons down" the site, picture hosting through eBay will be mandatory. They have already modified the hosting service on the listing page.
eBay can not control what the images are, they can be changed even when there are bids, and they can be changed to nearly anything, including links to other sites, pop-ups etc..
eBay will claim it is to stem fraud.
I think before it is over eBay will also mandate payment through eBay, whether by credit card, check or MO. Before it is over, secondary providers such as Paypal and AW will be put out of business, at least any business from eBay users. Again, eBay will claim they are doing this to stem "fraud".
eBay will reduce contact between buyer and seller through these means.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I buy supplies from 2 vendors I found through eBay, but now deal directly with them. I get the material cheaper by dealing direct. This type of revenue "leakage" is what eBay wants stopped.
The more Ebay gets involved in the transactions, the more liablility and litigation they will face
Not to mention...
the more involved they get in transactions, the more cumbersome and slow the transactions will become.
I, for one, would be less inclined to participate in Ebay activity, whether it be buying or selling, if they adopt this Soviet style control of this arena. Ebay is a disposable luxury that, buyers especially, could drop like a hot potato.
I hope they have people reading these message boards and I hope they take comments like mine seriously.
I suspect they do not.
[ edited by stingray777 on May 26, 2001 09:43 AM ]
posted on May 26, 2001 11:21:43 AM
I think that eBay will, at some point, require new sellers to use their crappy IPIX. I think eBay would like to require all sellers to use IPIX but hasn't figured out a way, (yet), to do it without a horrific uproar from established sellers.
I have noticed that almost all of the auctions I look at that are listed by new sellers, (low feedback), have IPIX images. For the life of me I can't understand why they use IPIX. I can't understand how they can't see how awful the images are after eBay compresses and them to unrecognizable globs.
I often just click off a page rather than try to figure out what I am supposed to be seeing. Maybe the new sellers don't realize that they are probably losing bids because of the crappy images.
Seems to me that the only way they could enforce all sellers using IPIX it is to disable HTML on auction pages, and they could be moving in that direction with the new JAVA rules.
As for payments through eBay.....
It would be not in eBay's best interest to make all payment go through eBay if they still want to call themselves a "venue". Accepting payments on behalf of sellers would remove any question that eBay is not a "venue" and a direct party to any sale. But you never know what eBay will do down the road. I would love to read eBay's 5 year strategic plan.
posted on May 26, 2001 12:03:17 PM
I think a lot of newbie sellers use IPIX for a couple of reasons -
1) Convenient and free for only 1 picture
2) Don't know they can get better pictures elsewhere for free or a nominal fee
Re: payment through Ebay - it currently takes Ebay a month or more sometimes to apply payments made via Snail Mail for Seller's accounts.. I don't want to think of the payment nightmare if payments have to go through Ebay exclusively. My cash flows won't take waiting 2-3 months for my money to be here...
posted on May 26, 2001 05:47:18 PMI would imagine that even Ebay cannot be so unrealistic as to believe that they'll be able to handle being the middleman for so many payments. It can be very confusing for just one seller to manage their payments, so how in the world would Ebay expect to be able to manage literally millions of payments?????
Perhaps this one is just rumor. Hopefully and thankfully.
P.S. Ebay should take a hint from many other successful businesses: If you diversify too far, you will downgrade the level of quality that your customers are getting (Priceline comes to mind), so stick to what you do best and allow some things to be farmed out---like pics in this case.
[ edited by stingray777 on May 26, 2001 05:49 PM ]
posted on May 26, 2001 06:36:30 PM
I guess it is beyond rumor- eBay announced Half.com will be fully incorporated into the eBay site.
At Half.com, buyer pays through Half.com, you have no contact with the buyer other than shipping the item, and you are not allowed to include any advertising in the shipment. You also have to ship within 48 hours of payment being made. Sellers only get paid at certain intervals also.
I would also add that eBay handling payments will be no problem. They handle billing of fees already for sellers. Amazon does it also.
posted on May 26, 2001 07:54:47 PM
I certainly don't see Ebay trying to handle all payments that would be ludacris. 10% of the time I can't figure out where, who or what the payment is for let alone Ebay dealing with it.
I see tons of paranoid people making all types of claims about the Future of Ebay just because they are integrating half.com into Ebay.
Relax people Ebay is not going to take control of payments, image hosting or make everyone follow fixed price format.
There are certain items that will always need auction format. Not to mention do you think Ebay really want the headaches and liability for every item it sells.
Half.com refunds if item is not as advertise can you imagine iif they had to refund money for every lost damaged or misrepresented item
Relax people let the dust settle it's not that bad.
posted on May 27, 2001 05:27:08 AM
If you read Pursglove's statemenst carefully, it does not state that Half.com is disapearing- BUT THAT HALF.COM'S TECHNOLOGY WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE EBAY PLATFORM.
I think Pursglove makes it clear that eBay is buttoning up their "venue" to include the following-
1. NO DIRECT CONTACT BETWEEN BUYER AND SELLER
2. NO OUTSIDE PICTURE HOSTING
3. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE THROUGH EBAY
posted on May 27, 2001 06:00:10 AM
>1. NO DIRECT CONTACT BETWEEN BUYER AND SELLER
2. NO OUTSIDE PICTURE HOSTING
3. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE THROUGH EBAY
If number 2 happens they will lose a % of their sellers, If number 1 happens, it will kill the site, and if number 3 happens, eBay becomes the seller, and then they are not a venue.
>Half.com refunds if item is not as advertise
Do they take the buyers word for it with out evidence? Do they wait for the seller to get the merchandise back? Does the seller have any say in the matter? (I've never sold on half.com, so excuse the silly questions.)If ebay starts giving refunds for buyers remorse, that would also be a big can of worms.
posted on May 27, 2001 06:12:35 AM
Well... Half.com has seen a huge amount of growth according to eBay. So it may not be impossible for eBay to do business in the Half.com way.
eBay collecting the money will not make them the seller anymore than it makes Paypal the "seller" by collecting the procedes.
eBay wants a piece of EVERYTHING that is derived from their site. That includes picture hosting and fees for credit card payment services. eBay seethes as secondary providers like Paypal and AW make even a nickel through eBay's market, while eBay struggles to reach $3 billion in revenues.
eBay has the motive and the ability to wrap their site up tighter than a drum, and allow no revenue to slip through.
If ebay is able to cripple secondary providers like AW and Paypal, it will strenghten their position as an online turnkey selling platform. Everything a seller needs done will be done exclusivly by eBay for a fee.
posted on May 27, 2001 06:56:31 AM
I would not like to be forced to use ebay's crappy Ipix, and I wouldn't like to have no contact with my bidders, but I would LOVE it if they automated the payment process. That was the ONLY good thing about Half.com's system---that everything was paid for immediately after the sale or else you aren't even notified of the sale.
On Half you HAVE to pay with a credit card. I would dearly love to see Ebay go the same way and get the payment via credit card and beam it to my account as with Billpoint (I do hate waiting for a check, I HATE snail mail anything). I have zero problem with the 2 business days for mailing rule. I know others do but hundreds of thousands of Half.com sellers seem to cope with it just fine.
Some people will leave if it goes to credit card only. On the other hand, some people like my relatives, who will not send money orders or checks or credit card payments to strangers (individuals) over the net, will definitely send their credit info to a large company like Ebay (I DON'T think this makes sense, but I know many who feel this way.) Some buyers will leave, some will be gained as the change will reassure them (needlessly, but that's another issue).
Yes, sellers will scream, but sellers always complain when things change. Including me! I think most will stay.
Lots of us came aboard long after the 'community' train left the station and we don't mind thinking of it as a business.
As much as I like dealing with my bidders, and I do, I'd be just as happy if they paid through Ebay and just left me to package and send out the item. I don't need customer contact to be happy.
However, refunds are another thing entirely. I would need to see the refunding policies and the policies for leaving/giving feedback be different from Half.com to support the change 100%.
posted on May 27, 2001 09:04:45 AM
Refunding for returned products is no problem with credit card transactions.
If you few who want to bury your heads in the sand and not believe that eBay is incorporating Half.com TECHNOLOGY into the eBay platform as they palinly stated in their shareholders meeting, just what do you think eBay meant by their statement ? Exactly what "technology" that Half.com has that is coming to eBay ?
No contact, payment through eBay, no outside picture hosting can all be done at an auction venue as well as a fixed price venue. eBay will probably have both types under the new platform.
By the way, Half.coms way of doing business must suit eBay pretty well or eBay wouldn't be expanding the categories on Half.com.
posted on May 27, 2001 10:01:25 AM
I'm almost certain that eBay is going to incorporate some or all of Half.com's technology to their main site but I hope it's only going to be applied to the Storefront venue.
I can see them requiring payment by credit card as the only payment method in the Storefronts AND limited any personal contact between the buyer and seller by not allowing the seller to display his email address which means all correspondence will have to go through eBay's messaging service.
I believe the rules will be similar to these that I copied from half.com's member agreement:
QUOTE
"9.4 Promotional or extraneous material. The Buyer name and address information is provided for the sole purpose of shipping the specific purchased product(s) and may not be used for any other purpose, either in connection with such shipment(s) or separately from such shipment(s). You agree not to include in your shipment to Buyers any promotional or other material that is not provided or approved by Half.com. This includes, without limitation, material that announces a website or invites the Buyer to visit a website other than Half.com, catalogs, business cards, business reply cards, bookmarks, coupons, flyers, solicitations or other marketing or advertising material. The inclusion of extraneous materials in a shipment may offend or annoy Buyers and may negatively affect your Seller rating. If Half.com receives a complaint relating to your shipments regarding extraneous materials we may take any action that we deem appropriate in our sole discretion, including without limitation issuing a warning, immediately terminating any pending sales, or immediately terminating your access to our marketplace. You agree not to separately contact any member beyond the shipment of purchases through the Half.com marketplace, unless the Buyer initiates such communication pursuant to the Buyer Protection Policy."
END QUOTE
http://www.half.com/help/index.cfm?helpsection=memberagree
None of this concerns me because I won't be using the storefront platform as a seller and I certainly won't be using it as a buyer if they only allow CC payments and if they force us to use their messaging service. I simply prefer person to person transactions and I wish to preserve what little privacy I have left on eBay. But I realize my preferences may not be the norm and I doubt there are enough folks out there that feel the same as I do to make the slightest bit of difference in the way eBay decides to run it's site. EBay will do what it wants to do and I'm afraid there's no way to alter that fact.
posted on May 27, 2001 12:29:44 PM
I have read & read to figure out where I can have my PICS hosted for free [so that they are not hosted on eBay] and still be able to put an auction on eBay. After reading last night on eBay's site and here on AW about [Java Scripting], I am more confused about where I can have my images hosted other than eBay. Will someone please tell me where I can do this? [[email protected]]
Also, is there any other choice for bulk listers [preferably free] than eBay's Mr Lister or SA that eBay will allow? Does anyone have any suggestions? I really need some help! Thanks for ANY SUGGESTIONS!! [[email protected]]
posted on May 27, 2001 02:44:07 PM
toke
Thanks for the suggestion of AOL, but I am hoping to find a new ISP as AOL is increasing their costs and I don't use any of the AOL features. I just go directly to the net via my dialup AOL connection. So I am looking for free image hosting that us not connected to AOL or to eBay...got any other suggestions?..I sure could use the [email protected]
posted on May 29, 2001 12:36:21 PM
Someone asked why we sellers use ebay pics?.............. because I don't know hoe to use another one......... any lessons? In terms I can UNDERSTAND?
