eBay=feeBay

[Go2Tex]

In light of my recent and shocking experience with listing a saddle on Ebay, I thought I'd use this thread to do a little ranting, since it's all about marketing.

Ebay has changed over the years and has gotten rather greedy of late and might I say, draconian. Maybe they just woke up and realized they were selling themselves short, not charging enough in fees. Then they must have had a corporate meeting and came up with the brilliant strategy of making Paypal mandatory and all but exclusively the only method of payment allowed. I'm sure that idea got somebody a very nice bonus down there at Ebay World. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his, or her BVDs.

That's right folks. For those of you who haven't sold anything on Ebay recently, it will come as quite a shock when you try to list your item and discover that you MUST accept Paypal as a payment method and ONLY Paypal, unless you happen to have some other type of Internet merchant account they approve of, all of which I suspect charge rather high fees like Paypal.

To make matters worse, now it takes much longer to get something listed because they have to send it through some kind of program that sniffs out any mention of anything they don't like, like the mention of checks or money orders, or "just call me and we'll work it out", kinda stuff. Really threatening too. If you try to get around their "policies" your butt will be banned for life. Can you imagine? Banned from Ebay..... for mentioning that you might be willing to accept a form of payment as "risky" as a friggin MONEY ORDER!

Now, the fees charged by Paypal maybe don't sound like much at first blush, a mere 1 or 2 or 4 percent of the value of the item sold and if you are selling small, inexpensive items, it's more a nuisance than a problem. But when you start adding it all up, the listing fee, the final value fee and then add on the Paypal fee, it begins to look more like what it is, a big price to pay to sell your stuff, especially if you sell high value items like, eh... custom saddles.

I checked out the alternative to Ebay, that Etsy.com and maybe it wouldn't hurt to open up an account there but I doubt it get's much attention yet. Nothing like Ebay. Surely there must be other auctions out there. That's what Ebay needs to get their minds right again.... a little old fashioned competition, the American way.

How about it, computer geeks?

[gtwister09]

Brent,

Ironic that I just read an article that came through TechRepublic about eBay complaints. I know it is a small consolation but you are not alone in your rant. Funny that I read Draconian a couple of times in the article as well.

You and other readers may be interested in a UK site called TameBay that was created by a couple of eBay power sellers to help tame or curb the eBay animal. They have some interesting insights and thoughts on the future of eBay. Remember that each country has different implementaions of eBay so their accounts may not align exactly with the US side of eBay.

Another interesting site for online merchants is AuctionBytes. Here is a great site that covers the online auction industry usually in depth PheeBay Online Auction News and Forums. I imagine that this site will give you lots of alternatives to eBay.

I thought of places like ebid (not sure of it's success rate), Tazbar (another eBay wannabe), Tweebay (ebay wannabe on Twitter) or craigslist (free but more like classifieds). For that matter you could use google (old froogle) with adwords to drive them to your site. I would suggest doing a search on eBay alternatives through google, dogpile or such for an alternative if you don't find enough alternatives in PheeBay.

Regards,

Ben

[Go2Tex]

Thanks for the suggestions, Ben. I use Ebay, or did, mostly for driving business to my website. I'm sure they'll close that loophole as well.

The thing that really gripes me about Ebay is that dealing with them is like dealing with the government. They are just so full of B.S, (bovine scat), about resolving problems, etc, but when you email their customer support with a genuine issue, they reply with a form answer that just repeats their policy! It's a slap in the face with a wet towel. They don't even read the email you send to them. They obviously look at the subject line and send you back a form standard kiss-off answer.

Anyway, all I can do at this point is just rant rant rant on every venue I can find to warn folks off Ebay. I hope I get some flames on here about it too from the loyal few who still think Ebay is worth it. Come on, gimme your best shot.

Explain to me why it's OK for Paypal to be crammed down my throat and for them to put a hold on my funds because I'm not a high volume seller! Yeah, defend that one, loyal Ebayers! Are there any left?

[TomBanwell]

Personally I'm thankful we live in a free market economy. Ebay is a private company and can run their business however they like. They can't "cram PayPal down your throat" unless you choose to do business with them. If you don't like it, don't do business with them. If enough people don't like it, they will lose business and change.

[Ian]

Paypal works like traveller's checks. Banks don't make their money from the fee they charge for the checks - they make their money by holding your money until the checks are redeemed. Can you imagine the net worth of Paypal holding and collecting interest on your money until it's retreived?

On a different issue, but regarding Ebay. They need to have a seperate area for commercial dealers vs. private sellers. I get tired of scrolling through hundreds of listings by Tandy dealers listing their entire catalog. I never sell my work on Ebay, but I do use it to sell other stuff, just because of the huge exposure you can't get through other avenues like Craigslist, which is very local.

[Go2Tex]

Personally I'm thankful we live in a free market economy. Ebay is a private company and can run their business however they like. They can't "cram PayPal down your throat" unless you choose to do business with them. If you don't like it, don't do business with them. If enough people don't like it, they will lose business and change.

Yeah, tell the corporate lawyers that. They tell you how to run your company, who to hire and fire, what products to sell or not, what you can say to your employees and it's all backed up by federal legislation and lots of government agencies with lots of regulations enforced by political appointees through their millions of bureaucrat minions.

So, no, we don't live in a free market anything, my friend. We live, believe it or not, in a socialist republic. But, inspite of that little minor misunderstanding, you are correct. Ebay can treat it's members any way it wants to. They can jack up the fees at will, cram the high priced Paypal down their throats and all the members can do is just walk away. And, I suspect many have. Ebay is free to be replaced by something else.

Where are all the anti-trust lawyers when you need them? I think Ebay has an unfair monopoly on the internet auction racket and needs to be brought down to size by the anti big business crowd. Split them up like Uncle Samski did to Ma Bell.

[Ian]

Split them up like Uncle Samski did to Ma Bell.

Sorry to tell you Tex, that was in the day when the U.S. government was still interested in defending and promoting personal freedom. That day has come and gone. The people who are supposed to be keeping an eye out for monopolies are now invested in those molopolies and they aren't going to do anything to rock THAT boat. They are all bought.

Personally, I blame all the "there ought to be a law", mommy-government people. They have begged the government to control our lives, and the government has been happy to oblige.

[Go2Tex]

Sorry to tell you Tex, that was in the day when the U.S. government was still interested in defending and promoting personal freedom. That day has come and gone. The people who are supposed to be keeping an eye out for monopolies are now invested in those molopolies and they aren't going to do anything to rock THAT boat. They are all bought.

Personally, I blame all the "there ought to be a law", mommy-government people. They have begged the government to control our lives, and the government has been happy to oblige.

Can't argue with that logic. Not one bit.

[TomBanwell]

I think Ebay has an unfair monopoly on the internet auction racket and needs to be brought down to size by the anti big business crowd. Split them up like Uncle Samski did to Ma Bell.

So you're advocating that the Feds break up a company because it's successful? MySpace had the same kind of "monopoly" until Facebook took away much of their business. Ebay's business is nothing like Ma Bell's, and they are already losing revenue.

[TrooperChuck]

At one time I wanted to sell some of my leatherwork on Ebay, but I've changed my mind.

For me, the disillusionment came when I sent a complaint to Ebay about what I thought was some unfair bidding. All I got back was a form-letter which didn't address the point I had raised. So, I sent another complaint, and I got a form-letter apology, which STILL didn't answer my original complaint.

That incident told me exactly what the good folks at Ebay thought of their customers.

So, now I only use Ebay as a form of entertainment. When someone is trying to sell a Model 1904 McClellan saddle as an "Original Civil War Cavalry Saddle!" I send them a note. Most of the people respond back with a thank you, but ocassionally some of them get really defensive! LOL