posted on July 2, 2007 02:44:55 PM new
Very interesting; I urge everyone here to read that article. The blog comments following are somewhat what we've all been saying for quite a while.
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There is more to life than increasing its speed. --Mahatma Gandhi
posted on July 2, 2007 02:48:14 PM new
I love Ina and David. They always just hit the nail on the head. I wonder if Meg subscribes to this - I'll bet she does.
posted on July 2, 2007 03:45:57 PM new
For the first time in 4 years,Meg has sold some of her Ebay stock.
I dont think what Ebay did to Ebay store is a big issue,there are more fundamental isues here-
Ebay has built a complex system based on individual sellers,sellers who arent exactly Walmart or Neiman Marcus or Target or even your local retail store.
We sell a little of this and a little of that,thats not a store,if you like what you get this time and go back to the Ebay store looking for more of the same,you are not going to find it.Ditto with individual auction seller.
The Ebay experience is a hit and miss thing,I have enough merchandise I bought on Ebay and a few are great,some are okay and the rest I should really throw them away,if you add up how much you spend (good,bad and ugly) plus shipping,the good ones are no bargains.
I may as well go to a store and examine the merchandise first hand and pay the listed price!
As for collectibles,like a gal who collects Czech perfume bottles once told me,what it used to take her a year to find ,now she can accomplish it in a few months on Ebay.
What does it tell you ?Collectors are up to their gazoo with their collectibles,be it rhino,hippo,rabbit,postcards,cameras etc.
Worse,on Ebay,anyone who has a camera and a credit card can sell,your buyers have become your competitor,the entrance barrier to be a seller is SO LOW,no wonder the price collapsed.
Sellers who exit are mostly the ones who go busted ,maxing out on their credit cards but they are still sitting on merchandise with no place to sell,BIdsville,Epier and Amzn and Ioffer are just parking lots for your unwanted Ebay goods.
It has been a good 10 years,each year it gets worse as us seller see our bids getting lower and lower and Ebay and Paypal fees getting higher and higher.It makes no sense to spend 80 cents on listing any item under 5 dollars (or even 10 dollars) for 7 days,you need a high sell thru rate to justify paying 80 cents or 70 cents,what sells have to pay for the listing fees of what does not sell.
Then comes buyer complaint-they want to return the goods,they want to neg you,they wont pay or slow in paying.
There is something depressing going on here in this Ebay world,it reflects something bigger,it tells you what is going on in the global economy,we are finding it harder to maintain our lifestyle ,many need Ebay income to subsidise their style of living,I have more overseas buyers now than before and they seem to have no problem paying more to win the items and pay for higher shipping.
We have no business playing retailers,we are no retailers,one by one we are finding this out,may be some of you do not agree,well do the math,how much are you paying yourself for all the efforts you put into selling,be honest and take out a sheet of paper and add up all the numbers,you are making 25 cents an hour or may be you make nothing.
I would be the first to admit my business model is flawed,I went to different trade shows looking for interesting items to sell,paid high shipping fee and wiretransfer fee to bring them in and find out I have to display them side by side with someone who find her merchandise in a garage or attic or remainders or returns or refurbished depts.
When the bidder receive my items in mint condition,I doubt if it ever dawn on her how much it cost me to bring these items in,she probably pat herself on the shoulder how smart she is that she spotted a garage sale item at such good condition.
I am in the process of liquidating my store inventory,by the time I am done,my store would be different.I will continue to sell on Ebay part time ,if I can find something which would sell on Ebay,which would be something cheap or slighly flawed so I can start at a low price and still make a slim profit.
I tracked some sellers who started their Ebay career same time I did and they fare worse than me,I dont think they can last much longer,going from a 95% sell thru rate to a 5% sell thru rate,how long can they last?
If my observation with sellers is correct,what does it tell you about Ebay the venue provider which is heavily geared to a person to person buy/sell experience?
What is going to happen to all the software and hardware they have invested?What if you build a Taj Mahal for the mass and less and less people show up?
Thank you for letting me vent,please do not hesitate to tell me if you think I am wrong,we could all use some good news!
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Lets all stop whining !
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[ edited by hwahwa on Jul 2, 2007 03:47 PM ]
posted on July 2, 2007 03:49:07 PM newEveryone will find this latest Auctionbytes Article quite interesting.
'Fraid I'm going to have to disagree with you there, Bill. I didn't find it intriguing at all.
Obviously a lot of work went into fomenting that much thinly-based speculation, but near the end I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd tried to correlate eBay listings with sunspot cycles and Lindsay Lohan's blood alcohol levels.
In my view, the site does indeed need more fun, but since bidders are spending most of their time (we hope) looking at auction listings, it is up to the sellers to provide the gaiety. Which is why it truly amazes me that eBay has never made any attempt to encourage seller creativity and boost marketing skills. It could only help.
posted on July 2, 2007 04:00:21 PM new
seller creativity and boost marketing skills.
Fluffy,you make me laugh,this is like Marie Anthoinette asking why cant the French people eat cake if there is no bread?
posted on July 2, 2007 04:18:40 PM new
I found the postings after the article much more interesting than the graphs, charts, and speculation. I agree with many of the posters that Ebay has changed much of the way business used to be done on Ebay. No more of the direct contact with the buyer or seller (they might conspire to defraud Ebay out of a few pennies, gasp!@). They complain about "Stores", well stores weren't our idea, it was Ebay's idea. If they are messing up the grand scheme of things, get rid of them!! Make up your mind Ebay, you made these changes. I don't have all of the answers, but for Pete's sake your "Venue" is worth enough to hire brilliant business people that should know what to do to make things work. You, Ebay, are the market leader in this field, so make it happen.
posted on July 2, 2007 05:30:21 PM new
I found the article to be interesting. Not sure that there's necessarily any true turning point of when eBay went sour... but the general time period of the stores-in-search fiasco seems to be about right. Combine that with the increased store fees, and it definitely showed me that eBay did not care a bit about their sellers. It was also the trigger that pushed me to open up my own website.
hwahwa... I found your post to be equally interesting, and a fair summation of how I've been feeling lately. I want you to know that you're not alone! I sell two main product lines; low-priced Photography Accessories and Vintage Advertising. The Photography accessories have always been my main source of sales. However... my profit margin gets thinner and thinner every year. Up to now, I've been able to keep my profits moderately stable by listing more and doing more volume. I figure that I'm literally doing about 3-4 times as much work for the same amount of money. And... I'm noticing that it keeps getting harder to sell these items with the increased Chinese and Indian competition.
On the other hand... are my vintage ads. When the store fee hike took place, I took all my inventory off eBay and started up my own website. My monthly sales have reached a point where I make almost as much profit there as I do with my photography accessories. The two big differences is in the amount of work, and the overhead. It takes me a minute fraction of the amount of work to sell on my own website.... plus my overhead is about 5 times less than what it would be on eBay. If my growth continues, it won't take long before the ads begin generating more profit than my photography accessories ever have.
Stimulated by a life-changing event (my wife and I will be having our first child!), I've come to a business decision that I think makes sense for my situation. I do not want to be so busy attempting to please demanding eBay customers that I can't spend time with my family. Hence, I am liquidating my photography accessory business. I'm selling off what I've got, and won't be ordering more. However... I will keep my website up and running. True... I might not be able to find the time to add as many new listings... but I think that my site will continue to bring in enough income (with a very small amount of effort) that I'll be able to continue to have a nice comfortable extra income to help with baby expenses.
It's a big change... but I can't tell you how happy I've been since making it. There's something very satisfying about realizing that soon I won't have to worry about so many of the headaches that come with being an eBay seller. So.. chalk me up as another eBay seller that, after a tough 10 years, has bit the dust. I'm off to bigger and better things.
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posted on July 2, 2007 05:35:27 PM new
congrats eauctionmgnt. (hmmmm - couldn't find a first name anywhere!) get lots of sleep now and bite your fingernails for the next 18 years
I think sales changed on eBay after 9/11. That's when I noticed a big change IMHO.
posted on July 2, 2007 06:18:16 PM new
ebay was great from 1999 to 2002 or so.
In my opinion, there has far way many diversions from the core auction site. (half.com, ebay express, reviews, ebay wiki, match-ups, groups, blogs, flippy cards)
Not to mention the fact that ebay is pretty much partitioned by main countries, rather than language, as most bidders problably don't search globally. (US, Canada, UK, Austrailia, New Zealand, Ireland, for the English sites)
posted on July 2, 2007 07:52:22 PM new
Some one said Ebay ads are back on Google.
Well,it is getting harder and harder to list on Ebay,remembering all the rules and regulations and limits-
I tried to list on Ebay Canada and I have to ask for permision,it is called Global limits?
And now they have another barrier -you cant sell ivory to non USA bidder!and I am just trying to list a faux ivory item .
It seems that Ebay is running a kindergarden and we are all naughty kids who just wont behave and need to be monitored .
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Lets all stop whining !
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posted on July 2, 2007 08:54:50 PM new
I more or less quit ebay for a while now sold about 3 things last month just for grins. I sold my entire stock to another ebay seller in my area and have had far more time for important things with my family and wife.
My sell thru rate was almost 100% for about 5 years then it started going down until around last fall it literally smacked of zilch. I had this gut feeling that things were just not the same and telling me to get out before I worked myself to death on doing more for less.
So I sold my entire stock and feel such a weight lifted from me poor shoulders that it is grand to just sit back and not worry about getting something shipped that cost more to ship than I made on it.
I do have a few items I plan to put on but am waiting for the mood to strike. I do have to admit that I miss part of the excitement of selling things on ebay but much more I do NOT miss.
hwahwa nailed it and so did eauctionmgnt. Things are not the same and I believe it is only going to get worse before and if it ever gets better for sellers. Worst thing ebay ever did was to let all that cheap foreign goods flood the market, and mess with a good platform for selling.. Maybe even opening up ebay to world wide different markets but not sure of that one as I have not explored it out in the different countries. I have a hard enough time getting out of bed much less understanding all the different rules they have passed and different markets. I am just an old dog no new tricks please.
************** I married my wife for her looks, but Not the one she gives me lately!
posted on July 3, 2007 06:18:13 AM new
Things change. I, too miss the good (Have been selling on Ebay since 1998) old days when Ebay used to crash for hours, sometimes days.When it took a week to get a payment and 10 days for checks to clear. Ahh, those were the days.
Other things have changed also that are not as nostalgic. I sold unique items from my mother's varied collections. They sold for high amounts because they were considered RARE at the time, now everyone has dug into the back of their closets and discovered hidden treasures they are willing to part with. I also blame Antiques Roadshow for these housecleaning adventures. What cha goina do??
My least favorite new development is competition from new sellers!! How dare they come into my territory and destroy the marketplace? Seriously, some of these guys cannot be making any money. I used to sell items I bought that were discontinued or overstocked items at a fraction of the MSRP. Quality items that sell in dept. stores or speciality shops for $150, I could get for $5-10. Other people discovered this, also, so instead of these items selling for $75-80 per item (still a great savings to buyers) these new sellers were listing them for just a dollar or two over what they paid for these items.Need I say more about profit margins?? Many of these sellers have come and gone, but a lot of the "old magic" went with them.
I still love the thrill of new sales, new customers,sitting in my PJs and listing new discoveries, harder to find, but still out there.
posted on July 5, 2007 02:00:22 PM newbut since bidders are spending most of their time (we hope) looking at auction listings, it is up to the sellers to provide the gaiety.
There is one piece of info you seemed to have missed. The fact that site traffic is down. If they aren't going to eBay, then it won't matter what you list there.
posted on July 5, 2007 03:21:43 PM newThe fact that site traffic is down.
Ah yes, the whiner's excuse for doing poorly.
Site traffic is down? So what? Gee, that sounds like an even better reason to suck bidders in with your auctions, put 'em on your virtual Tilt-A-Whirl, give 'em thrills, chills and excitement, then collect the change that falls out of their pockets.
I'm sorry, I really am asking too much of you, aren't I?
posted on July 5, 2007 03:59:33 PM new
For those homeowners who bought their house in recent years with adjustable rate mortgage,the last notice of rate adjustment was mailed in April.
The new monthly mortgage payment has gone up anywhere from 200 to 1200 dollars since then.
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Lets all stop whining !
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posted on July 5, 2007 06:20:10 PM new
Does Ebay really need Google?
Almost every one knows Ebay and many make Ebay part of the daily routine.
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Lets all stop whining !
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I married my wife for her looks, but Not the one she gives me lately!