posted on June 6, 2001 02:00:06 PM newTell me Twin how id verification is going to stop a seller from misrepresenting his merchandise?
It may not stop an incident from occurring. However, more rigid ID requirements can keep unscrupulous sellers from coming back. eBay's open door policy makes it as easy as changing an email address, and the crook is back in business.
One of the reasons for lower prices realized on eBay is that buyers know they are running a risk of being defrauded by buying online. The problem is getting worse, and eBay has a bad rep. eBay makes no secret that they ignore buyer complaints unless faced with legal action (in the form of VeRO). By lowering the risk to buyers, prices will increase accordingly.
As far as a "glut," specialty sites may not be the answer for all types of items. But for high-end items, a site that builds on a reputation as being a safe environment, with a stricter no-fraud policy, can be successful and even realize higher prices. This includes redefining the feedback forum, stricter rules for sellers, ID verify, credit checks, required escrow ... all the things eBay happily ignores because they love the low-end crap that never sells.
If we're talking strictly in terms of sales, a specialty site could make one simple move to increase profits for sellers: Allow links to home pages and/or mailing lists. Then, raise the listing fee to compensate for some lost commission. Higher listing fees would discourage junk dealers, clean up the listings and appeal to more serious sellers.
Just because a site is bigger doesn't mean it is better. Again, I am emphasizing reputation, which eBay lacks. If a site, even though it is small, maintains quality listings, it has a big advantage over eBay. Because at eBay, buyers must search through pages of junk offered by disreputable sellers.
Now that's not saying I'm against an online mall or junky retail e-products. Heck, I sell them myself. I'm talking only about how some sellers could realize higher profits.
Okay, I may be dreaming, but please don't wake me!
posted on June 6, 2001 02:06:56 PM new
'Just want to add one more thing. Did you read the thread about Kate Spade purses, and the buyer who received a fake item? She paid $100 bucks for some cheap knock-off sold as a brand name. (That's one buyer who won't be back.)
The thing that surprised me about the posts in that thread (I don't go in much for ladies' apparel) was the generally supported statement that unless an item is labeled as "authentic" then it is probably a fake. In other words, it's common practice at eBay to sell knock-off counterfeit goods as brand-name merchandise. An item can be listed as Kate Spade (not "looks like" Kate Spade, or faux Kate Spade) and unless it's explicitly labeled as the real thing, it's generally accepted that the item is fake. That is the kind of trading environment eBay has become.
How bout those gas prices, and all my California bidders who have the money but don't have any electricity to run their puters...! (and soon the utility will have the money). Or how about a friends family where half of them have been laid off. Shucks it seems like most everyone is cutting back in staff and hours around here.
I'm just glad I'm in the Junk* (slightly used goods*) business and can weather financial downturns.
JunkThis
"Every economic expansion has had it's own quirky downside" -Michael Mandel
posted on June 7, 2001 08:14:28 AM new
AntiqueWeek newspaper is doing a somewhat similar story on how the Internet in general has affected the prices of items overall, especially collectible items.
If you are a regular eBay seller and can give specific examples of an item that has dropped in price or one that has remained the same, please send me an e-mail at [email protected]. In order to use your information in our article I will need your full name and state where you live and the information will have to be e-mailed rather than pulled from here.
I would just like a few examples in which you can state that an item has gone down in value compared to last year or 3 years ago or if your sales are the same as last year or 2 or 3 years ago, let me know that and why your business is unchanged.
posted on June 7, 2001 12:59:08 PM new
First Wall St. Journal, now CNET. I imagine eBay is stewing about this media attention as we speak. These numbers certainly don't look good for sellers.
posted on June 7, 2001 01:56:01 PM new
Good for TIAS...it usually takes a study or something like that to be enough of a news-peg to bring in the media. I liked the WSJ's effort especially because they went to extra effort to try to sell stuff; I think the story came down much more on the sellers' side as a result of that.
The corporate sellers are trying to benefit from traffic that was built up largely because of peoples' experiences finding unique items, which are almost always sold by the small sellers. Ebay likes it because it can make the corporate users pay the same as individuals and offer no breaks. If the site gets cluttered up and turns into a surplus marketplace, though, it'll have morphed into another Onsale.com or Egghead.com.
Maybe the business model for competing with eBay would be a fee-free, ad supported site (maybe a bit like Bidville), but with limits to how much you could list at any one time (50 items or less?) and some mechanism to prevent multiple accounts.
posted on June 7, 2001 02:09:17 PM new
it is not fair to compare amzn with half.com.
amzn has been around for years and is almost a household word,but not half.com.
On amzn market place ,if a book is out of print,the seller can name his price.
not so on half.com,it expects seller to list his book at half the list price.
i know of a big discount bookseller which has its own websites,it is also selling on both amzn marketplace and half.com.
the books it sells on marketplace can be found on its own websites and mail order catalog,however many are not found on half.com.
What is abundant from this seller on half.com is books which it cannot sell and exist in such miniscule quantity it does not even bother to list anywhere.
so you figure which site will customer go looking for a book-half.com or amzn??
dont forget not every book can be sold at half the listed price at a profit,frieght cost is usually UPS and books are heavy,how does one make a profit selling books at 1/2 the listed price after incoming frieght cost and paying half.com.
posted on June 7, 2001 05:22:01 PM new
Okay - so I read most of the posts (I did get bored...) but I think there are a lot of factors to consider...
1) There is a glut of sellers on ebay right now, many of whom are late comers and think that ebay is great, but they aren't seasoned junk/antique dealers by trade and don't have the right eye, so they list lots of crap.
2) LOTS OF CRAP means weary buyers who tire of looking through pages of crap trying to find a gem. I myself am tired of searching the pages for a mis-identified deal and only do word searches now for specific items I want. Others are doing the same which means the authentic good stuff is still getting high prices (often higher than I am willing to go) and lots of good deals that are poorly described or mis-described and are missed...
3) Burned one too many times!.... I know I have and I am really careful about throwing down $10.00 or $20.00 on a chance... SUre I got some good stuff that way in the past, but I have been burned one to many times too, so I won't bid on a chance anymore...
4) Bidding practices - Sniping seems to be the only way to go now. So sellers get edgy... they don't get any joy watching their items sit for 6 days, 11 hours and 55 minutes, only to finally get some bids in the last few minutes... so they put opening bids that are really the selling price. Ebay isn't an auction site anymore, its a buy it at the asking price site, with the option to pay more than its worth if you are desperate for the item...
5) Its a soft market. It started with the election dispute past November, and it rallied and fell and rallied and fell (just like the stock market) and has finally settled into a soft bed, where people aren't willing to jump in with both feet like they were a year ago. You can't blame everything on Bush, or tax time, or gas prices, or heating bills, or lay-offs, or the stock market, but you can put them all together and come with one BIG EXCUSE!
6) Sources all know about ebay and other sites now, and there are few deals out there. Sellers have are hard time finding goods with any room for mark-up. There is another thread up right now about prices at the local Sally-Ann and Goodwill shops - and its the same everywhere - these places are charging more than dollar stores! SOme dealers are buying at these outrageous prices with the hopes of some profit margin, but that drives up the opening asking price. Does anybody remember the days on ebay when sellers would put up an item with a dollar opening bid and no reserve?
7)And finally - the bloom is off the rose... A lot of us have been on ebay a long time and have had our eyes opened to a wider market place. I bought things 3 years ago I had never seen for sale locally. I now have 3 just like them and am trying to dump the least sexy example from my collection, but its too late. Everyone else who wanted one, has one now too - so I am stuck with the lesser examples and can't sell them for what I paid for them! This is true of a LOT of collectibles!
8) FEAR!!!! Will ebay get me if I list something that is not allowed? Nazi stuff, leopard hats and coats, crocodile purses and shoes, Corning coffee pots, a fake Chanel or Louis Vuitton bag (not that I was trying to hoodwink the buyer, but I sold all designer items with gurantees for full refunds if they were fake. Now I have to trudge an hour and a half to the big city to go to the stores to have all these items checked first, which is more trouble than seling the items with a guarantee - so I don't bother trying to even find these items anymore). Then there is the big pain - will I ever be paid by the deadbeat -- there are too many ifs now and its just not as much fun anymore....
I think I caught all the trends that I think are affecting sales - got any more?
posted on June 7, 2001 10:20:46 PM new
hwahwahwahwa,
The Half.com name is misleading. You are easily able to list items at Half that are well over 1/2 price. People do it all the time. You can even go over retail for out-of-print items, or for that matter anything. Half recommends you list items at 1/2 price or below to entice buyers, but who wants to give things away just to make eBay a profit? Not me!
A neat trick if you have the time is crosslisting items on both venues. Then theoretically you have twice the number of eyeballs viewing your wares. Simply delete the item from the other venue when your item sells on the competing site. Rarely, if ever, will they sell the same day on both. The competition on Half is STIFF (research your favorite items and look at the lowest price for a condition on each site) as you'll see if you test out products on both venues. Since crosslisting I've found my similarly priced items sell far more frequently on Amazon Marketplace for the simple facts there is less competition and luckily Marketplace buyers aren't checking Half for analogous deals. And I refuse to list items at give-away prices on Half just to get a sale. I let items sit until all higher priced Half items sellout or Marketplace makes the sale. This is anecdotal evidence I'm experiencing 1st hand. Try it out and come up with your own conclusions and don't trust massaged/manipulated statistics. Heck, if Yahoo, AOL and MSN created fixed price marketplaces with free listings, I'd crosslist the same items on all 5 venues! 5 TIMES THE eyeballs looking at my wares! Who cares which venue it sells on as long as it puts money in your pocket?
Does AuctionWatch have a fixed price marketplace with free listings, or are they simply offering a storefront for auction items? If so, do they have respectable sell-through?
Who cares which venue it sells on as long as it puts money in your pocket? 