posted on January 23, 2005 06:38:34 PM
More news about fee hikes, here is the article of the New York Post withj a picture of aunt Meg http://www.nypost.com/business/39048.htm
posted on January 23, 2005 06:51:25 PM
>>"We make changes to pricing to benefit the marketplace as a whole; we do not make changes for revenue purposes," said eBay company spokesperson Hani Durzy.<<
Can anyone explain to me in layman's terms what good ole Hani is trying to say? Seems like I just suffered a setback in reading comprehension. Or could he be feeding us a line of BS and I didn't recognize it?
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on January 23, 2005 07:04:59 PM
Wonder if ebay will sit up and take notice on the powersellers? I'm just a measley little seller, but I wonder if they will respond somehow to the Big sellers.
posted on January 23, 2005 07:13:31 PM
I’ve been a “Power Seller” since there was such a program, and personally, I wasn’t aware of the fee increase, but eBay is only a tinny tiny portion of our e-commerce business now, so, as far as I am concerned, if I want to post something on eBay, the fee increase will be added in the item price. If that doesn’t fly - eBay can easily fly without me and we do 95% of our e-commerce business via our web sites, so eBay can "stuff" it.
As far as a real revolt – forget it – I’ve heard talk about a revolt for years, and it is impossible with so many independent sellers to get enough to agree on anything to really impact eBay.
I think it will impact the small seller more, since I would imagine that many of the “power sellers” like myself have established web sites, and don’t necessarily need to rely on eBay.
TILL, enough people can get together in a true boycott, which I can’t see happening, then, eBay will continue to s---w their customers – how far eBay is allowed to go is up to you!
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
[ edited by jwpc on Jan 23, 2005 07:17 PM ]
posted on January 23, 2005 07:15:08 PM
if the big sellers are as the article stated-the high volume electronic sellers and the high ticket item car sellers,then the answer is NO.
These sellers if they have found a better place,would have left long time ago.
If you are trying to find a reason for ebay justifying fee increase so to improve the marketplace,try this-
squeezing out the marginal sellers will allow the good sellers get more bids and higher final bids which is good for both ebay and the seller.
The strong sellers who take better pictures,have good stock and provide better customer service will benefit when the weaker and marginal players leave the field.
does it make sense?/
thats what happens in the brick and mortar world.
-sig file -------Life is one big happy 'All You Can Eat' buffet .
posted on January 23, 2005 07:26:30 PMstopwhinning
I tend to agree with you. I think the rise in fees will impact the smaller seller, not necessarily the power seller.
But, there are so many small sellers; one could never get them organized in a boycott.
I'm just glad we started in the mid 90's, used eBay to establish our site, since one could link one's site to eBay at that time, and now we don't really need eBay any more.
I do think though, eBay will find they aren't the only game in town - but it is much easier to deal with buyer via a web site (if you have an established site); than to work with eBay buyers.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
posted on January 23, 2005 07:50:34 PM
one word QUALITY.
Ebay wants quality listing,not quantity listings.
It is good for ebay-it takes less resources to host less listings,it earns higher final value fee and it puts a stop to ebay sliding into a dark hole or a giant dumpster for anything everything we dont want in our home
-sig file -------Life is one big happy 'All You Can Eat' buffet .
What exactly do you mean by “hints about hosting your own web site?”
You have to have a place to put a web site – then if you aren’t capable of creating and keeping it updated, then basically it is a waste of time and money – if you have to hire someone else to do it for you. We have been in e-commerce for almost 10 years now.
Web sites aren’t like baseball fields “build it and they will come!” Such is not true with Web sites. There are two major programs for creating web sites – the complete FRONTPAGE edition, and Macromedia. For beginners, I’d suggest the 1998 FRONTPAGE web creator. There is a newer version, FrontPage 2000, we have both, but we both prefer the 1998 edition – it is much larger, takes more hard drive space, but most computers today come with endless hard drive space. If you know someone who is experienced (really experienced) with Either FrontPage or Macromedia, as for their help, it will speed up your learning greatly.
You can always start with the “fill in” type site, but you need to immediately become familiar with meta tags, site promotion, key words, etc. Don’t get rooked into one of those sites where you pay someone to promote your site to a zillion search engines. Without the proper meta tags, key words, etc., you can promote till the cows come home and never get anywhere – and a one time promotion to a zillion engines is a waste of time and money.
A properly constructed web site will soon be picked up by the major search engines when they send their spiders out to check the internet. Plus, you can use such programs as Submit Wolf, which you own (purchase), and can promote yourself, and it works well, but there again without proper meta tags, and good page construction you can still be out in no where land.
Some of these programs are not cheap BUT, a couple of good buys easily pays for them, plus they are tax deductible.
Once you get a site up, you need to keep up with the ever changing wants, needs, and requirements of the major search engines – Yahoo, Google, Alta Vista, etc.
http://www.bruceclay.com/web_ia.htm
http://www.northernwebs.com/set/
http://www.wordtracker.com/
(I’ve use the free portion of this program for over a year)
Just put in Search Engine Promotion Information on Google, and endless sites with search engine promotion, optimization will come up – such really needs to be understood to get a web site going.
My husband, only because of his endless & continual study and experience, put up a new site a year or so ago, and it was listed 1st on Google within 4 months – but that only comes with experience, time and study.
But, even a “newbie” who is really willing to work and study can get a web site up, running and in a decent position on the search engines, if you will just take the time to study, and understand it isn’t an overnight project.
A couple of years ago, the company my assistance’s husband work for, for 10 years moved out of state, and it was 2 years before he could find another job (we live in a very rural area), and their family was able to live on just her income for that 2 years! We now have 3 families dependent on what our web sites produce, so web sites can be profitable, but it is a lot of work, and constant updating and study.
It REALLY helps if you or your husband, or perhaps an older child, I mean one in their late teens, early 20’s know or learn all the physical workings of your computer/computers. Fortunately, my husband took the time to learn to build a computer from the ground up – because at this very moment he is working on my computer which (for no reason) crashed this morning. If we had to call in a “repair tech” every time something goes wrong with our computers (we have 5) it would be unbelievable costly. You need your own “in house” tech. We all use the same brand of computers, so parts can be interchanged, and you only need to technically know the workings of one brand.
Having more than one computer means, even though mine is down at the moment, I can keep up with orders, and buyers, at least in a basic way by using my husband’s computer – while he fixes mine.
I hope some of this helps you with your question.
Naturally, product is important – new product, in my opinion is the best, as you don’t forever have to re-photograph items, and re-write ads. Naturally, you need a GOOD photography program, not the junk that comes with your digital camera – but a sophisticated program, such as Paintshop Pro 8. We also use a separate optimization program, so that a standard photo which might take 12 seconds to load can be optimized to load in 5 to 6 seconds. As far as cameras go, we personally use a 5 meg. Sony. We have a couple of less expensive cameras, but the Sony has been fantastic and well worth the investment.
A profitable web site is certainly a possibility, if you are willing to take the time to study and work.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
