posted on December 15, 2005 09:58:23 AM new
I read this sometime back on the Store Sellers ebay Board, but whenever I am feeling frustrated with our beloved just-a-venue ebay' I go back and read it again - this was written in response to an ebay employee, "Shane", trying to put the spin on the new "transit time" shown in our listings:
mercymaude (4686 ) View Listings | Report Dec-01-05 17:04 PST 105 of 1117
Shane. Dude. Don't you feel even just a quiver of embarrassment having to mouth patronizing crap like that to hundreds of actual adult business people? Does Ebay, speaking through you, think that we're morons and don't already KNOW the very instant that we read this enhancement to OUR listing pages, that ebay would talk down to us as if we were a roomful of first-quarter Jaycee trainees looking up with big, sparkly eyes and saying, "Ohhhhh....I see.....Ebay isn't using wording to imply brief, impossible shipping delivery times to bidders; they're just HELPING show the shipper's stated transit times! Ohhhhhh....THANK YOU for clearing that up for us! We're so STUPID; we thought you were implying to bidders that they will win something and get it two to three days later! Sorry! You've never enhanced us before, you see, and we were confused!"
I know, you know, every last seller knows, that this was done with the express intent to lure buyers to make purchases on Ebay when on-line sales have been flat-lined with NO growth for the second year running despite ad blitzes and every other enticement. It costs NOTHING except paying the code-writers to create this tasty lure which functions as free, seller-paid-and-hosted advertising to entice a buyer into buying it on Ebay. Not only that, BUT the true beauty of it is, other than the near zero price tag to Ebay, that all anger on the buyer's part will be directed at the naughty, naughty seller who didn't do what Ebay said they would. They've already been told that the seller is a naughty, naughty entity who will, without the fierce protection of the buyer through ebay, Paypal, Square trade, etc., etc., cheat their pants off and never deliver unless forced to by these noble agencies. (Who are paid by us the sellers, by the way, to imply this. The buyer does not pay ONE DIME to ebay or Paypal, yet they are "protected" left, right, and center from the evil, drooling, scurrillious seller, who - by the way - pays every last dime that ebay and Paypal make, NOT the buyer.)
Now, Shane-channeling-ebay; of COURSE we all know that Ebay doesn't actually promise the 2-3 day Priority delivery! Nor does the seller! Why, if we all just read the words together, we can see that. BUT the buyer, as we all know, reads what they want to, especially when cleverly worded in the exact way that Ebay spent time coming up with and that now appears on our listings, unwanted, unasked for, unwelcome, and unremovable. Ebay FORCED it there on the listings we paid for, but gets to say, "Now, now, silly sellers; it's just a guideline!"
No, it's not. Not really, not at all. I'LL tell you what it is - it's hours of time that sellers who are already busy will now be spending having to politely word e-mail after e-mail after e-mail from rude, peremptory buyers who paid for an item Saturday afternoon and want to know WHERE THE HELL their item is after the mail comes on Tuesday morning. And they will say, "It says in your listing two to three days!"
Why, yes. Yes, it does. It DOES say that in my listing, doesn't it? Right there in MY listing that I PAID for, that I authorized, that I reviewed, and that I clicked "Submit Listing" for. I can't argue that point! And ebay doesn't have to! I alone am responsible for the content of the page. If I add something to that page that Ebay shall find Naughty In Their Eyes, my listing is ended - BAM! If I happen to find something that EBAY added that is Naughty In My Eyes, that's just too freaking bad for me, eh? Even though I PAID the just-a-venue to carry MY listing.
Now, not only will we be dealing with an avalanche of irritated, aggravated, misled, threatening buyers who are to a person laden with the entitlement issues that Ebay enabled them into (oh, I know - they were nasty whiners to begin with, but Ebay's where they REALLY raised it to an art level) but the negative, helpless, uspet feelings that the seller will be forced to surround themselves with in dealing with this inevitable fall-out, negates the whole reason we work for ourselves - for a better, happier, saner work life. We work hard so that WE can call the shots and control our income, destiny, and quality of life. This un-asked for nastiness is going to spill over onto our families, our decent customers, and eat up time and energy.
Looking at this crap got me so aggravated that I couldn't effectively list today. 60 listings should be going on; 17 will. BUT, in order to empower myself and get a little of my own back, I checked out godaddy, and GUESS WHAT, kids - for the price of a couple of weeks of my ebay fees, I got me a whole YEAR of website support services like a shopping cart, merchant account, and secure site participation, and auto submitting to search engines. Woo-hoo! And I can say anything I want to MY customers (and that's who they are; my customers - not ebay's customers - customers are people who pay you )- they buy from ME, buy MY goods, comply with MY selling terms. Woo-hoo-hoo!
So once again, I've been enhanced by Ebay! Thank you for your wonderful enhancement! It has enhanced my life, but NOT like you intended it to; it has enhanced my non-ebay income yet further, and soon, I can move Ebay from my "income" category" allllllllllllll the way over to my "advertising" category. Woo-hoo!
Now I'll know just where to spend that money that might SOMEDAY be released from the SNAD complaint that an Ebay spree spender who sobered up after three weeks and then panicked and filed every last thing she could to dig out of it (with ebay and paypal's handy HELPFUL buyer tutorials on SNAD, INR, etc, don't you know) irregardles of the facts of the transactions. Assuming that I GET the money, it'll be spent on another venue, for sure.
Thanking you for YET ANOTHER enhancement that I, the stupid seller, am just too silly to understand.
posted on December 15, 2005 10:27:02 AM new
Neglus, I think that the only solution for us sellers to do would be to put something in our listings depending on what service you use to explain that Ebay is TOTALLY clueless about realistic expectations when it comes to delivery times.
mama
posted on December 15, 2005 10:54:49 AM new
Does anyone remember the big furor back when eBay implemented the Checkout? The same kind of yelling went on then, and now no one utters a peep. eBay knows we'll eventually get used to it and shut up. They count on that.
I don't have a solution, I'm just pointing out the fact.
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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
posted on December 15, 2005 01:27:16 PM new
replaymedia - True, but the checkout feature is actually usefull, works, and does not give a timeframe for shipping. Where the unrealistic times they give for shipping times are well, just unrealistic. The day ebay/PayPal buys the United States Postal Service and can guarentee shipping times is the day I wouldn't mind them puting estimated shipping times in my listing's. Until then, they should keep their nose out of what they have no control over.
posted on December 15, 2005 01:49:50 PM new
Also sellers can elect to OPT OUT of ebay checkout but not so with displaying transit times.
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posted on December 15, 2005 02:15:12 PM new
neglus Thanks for listing this note from Mercymaude.... for those of you who may never have run across her auctions.... she is one of my favorites. I found her years ago and after reading the first listing,cracking up laughing as I bid I have watched and bid numerous times.(nice linens) She calls things straight from the hip,no jokes or banter just the facts Mam! I happen to agree with everything she so eloquently said...ebay sales are flat and I am also trying to find just the right spot on the WWW for me. Gosh it was only 9 short years ago that ebay was a baby and had a sell alot policy.Other than adding pictures it was easy! Now its megga MEG and a minefield. Give me Mercy!!!
