ebay changes & boycott Feb 18-25

[unicornwoman]

I don't know if many of you sell on ebay or not. I have used it as a supplement over the years. The last few times I've listed, however, results were pretty disappointing.

When they changed the shipping fee policies, I really cut back with them as they were no longer willing to let me charge costs and I'm not in this as a charity. (Mind you at the "wages" I earn, you'd think that I was, but I do draw the line at paying for the privilege of giving my stuff away.)

Now, they've changed the feedback system entirely plus lied about raising fees. There's seems to be a lot of different ways to read the new changes, but it sure looks like they're trying to put the small seller like me out-of-business with the feedback system change.

A lot of sellers are upset about it and have established Feb. 18-25 as a week to boycott all buying & selling on ebay. There is also a lot of interest in alternate venues for selling.

I've been pleased at discovering that there are quite a few out there. This site will give you links to a bunch of alternatives if anyone is interested.

ebaying alternatives

CNNMONEY has a good article on the exodus:

Ebay Rivals ....

[bcurrier]

I stopped using Ebay a few years ago after uncovering one bidding scam after another - plus, the initial attraction for me was the true auction format. Most of that has given way to a pseudo-auction mechanism that's really a front for retail selling, and the prices generally can be found - or beaten - anywhere. I also routinely screen Ebay OUT of search results.

Bill

[CitizenKate]

I have done some selling on ebay in the past, but I've found better online venues for my business. I don't care for their particular auction format, as I have long felt that it encourages too much sniping. I've read all the debates pro and con, but I still feel it is a form of cheating and avoiding having to make a fair bid.

It's a good idea for anyone who sells their work online to pursue multiple venues. Avoid making your business excessively dependent on any one particular venue, because any of them can decide (as ebay seems to be doing) that they don't want or need the particular kind of business you are offering. They do have the right to make those kinds of choices. Fortunately, as you have pointed out, for any that decide they don't want your business, there are others who do.

That being said, I just took a look at their shipping policy, and don't see anything that prohibits sellers from charging a fair shipping fee that covers all the real costs, so I'm not sure what you're referring to.

Kate

[Duke]

what I find ironic is that that link for alternative sites lists craigslist.org as an alternative. the ironic thing about it is that ebay bought up craigslist and soon will be imposing fees.they are in the process of it right know. I have heard from a few businesses that when you go to post an ad for labor, you are charged a listing fee. as with all things, it starts small and spreads.soon everyone will go back to listing in the newspaper agian, since there is a small section in it(usually) that you can list an item for 2-3 bucks.

[Art]

Hi Kate,

What is sniping? Bidding at the last minute? I just can't see how that is cheating. That is like casinos considering card counting cheating. If God gives you the brains or drive to do something legal, why not? I think the eBay format where the auction is open for 5 or more days causes the sniping. In a real auction, decisions are made and it is all over in a minute at most. In an eBay auction, it is also over in about a minute too, the last minute of a seven day auction. The fact that all the action takes place in the last minute makes it like a real auction, that is how a real auction works. Now if you don't want to play in the auction format, there are the eBay stores or any of a multitude of other Internet and non-Internet channels to move the goods. eBay puts a lot of eyes on the merchandise which makes it a sandbox a lot of folks want to play in; it's eBay's sandbox and we all should play by their rules. There are a lot of things Baaaad about eBay, but playing by the rules ain't one of them.

There are however a lot of folks that really cheat the eBay system, and eBay itself does a terrible job of policing them, probably because eBay is not the one being cheated or hurt.

Art

I have done some selling on ebay in the past, but I've found better online venues for my business. I don't care for their particular auction format, as I have long felt that it encourages too much sniping. I've read all the debates pro and con, but I still feel it is a form of cheating and avoiding having to make a fair bid.

It's a good idea for anyone who sells their work online to pursue multiple venues. Avoid making your business excessively dependent on any one particular venue, because any of them can decide (as ebay seems to be doing) that they don't want or need the particular kind of business you are offering. They do have the right to make those kinds of choices. Fortunately, as you have pointed out, for any that decide they don't want your business, there are others who do.

That being said, I just took a look at their shipping policy, and don't see anything that prohibits sellers from charging a fair shipping fee that covers all the real costs, so I'm not sure what you're referring to.

Kate

[bcurrier]

What is sniping? Bidding at the last minute? I just can't see how that is cheating.

I don't think it's cheating either. What I do think is that the fixed end date & time format that creates sniping introduces a bidding aspect that winds up wasting bidders' time and encourages over-bidding through uncertainty.

It's EASILY fixed by automatically extending the auction's end by, say a couple of minutes every time a bid is made in the last 5 minutes of the auction.

Bill

[tazzmann]

I don't think bidding at the last minute is cheating either, with one caveat: It should be done by a human and not a computer. Many of the last minute bids are done via a computer program at the last few seconds of the auction while the bidder is out playing golf or some such, making it hard for those who don't have the sniping software to make a fair bid. That is why I don't do a whole lot on e-bay any more.

[Art]

Hi Bill,

I think a couple of minutes is excessive, but one minute or even 30 seconds would be fair. If two bidders start going at it at the end two minutes might be boring. But your idea sure makes it like a real auction, open till someone wins. Then the only thing you have to address is the folks who put auction closes in the middle of the night. I don't know if closing after the last bid would change much though, I do everything on auto, I put in what I will pay max and let the eBay computers bid for me; you gotta trust eBay on that one, but I've never been screwed.

Art

I don't think it's cheating either. What I do think is that the fixed end date & time format that creates sniping introduces a bidding aspect that winds up wasting bidders' time and encourages over-bidding through uncertainty.

It's EASILY fixed by automatically extending the auction's end by, say a couple of minutes every time a bid is made in the last 5 minutes of the auction.

Bill

[bcurrier]

Boy do I hear you concerning late and off-hours auctions! When I go to a live auction these days, I'm pretty worn out by the time it gets to 10:00 or 11:00 PM. I've gotten in the habit of asking to have items brought up early if I'm only interested in one or two. That's usually not a problem, as long as the auction isn't being conducted simultaneously on-line where people are relying on the lot order and any time estimates.

Bill

[unicornwoman]

That being said, I just took a look at their shipping policy, and don't see anything that prohibits sellers from charging a fair shipping fee that covers all the real costs, so I'm not sure what you're referring to.Kate

When they changed their shipping policy last year, they had a tutorial that took you through acceptable and unacceptable. Those examples showed strict rules on what they thought a reasonable handling fee was (pretty much nothing) AND they disallowed the cost of taking a package to the PO. With gas around $3.00/gal, I'm not supposed to charge a penny for the cost of going to the PO, even if it is the easiest and most secure method of shipping for my circumstances. It doesn't matter that my local PO obviously didn't want me calling them for pick-ups for 1 package. It doesn't matter that the mail on my street has been vandalized. I'm supposed to cover those costs myself.

what I find ironic is that that link for alternative sites lists craigslist.org as an alternative. the ironic thing about it is that ebay bought up craigslist and soon will be imposing fees.they are in the process of it right know. I have heard from a few businesses that when you go to post an ad for labor, you are charged a listing fee. as with all things, it starts small and spreads.soon everyone will go back to listing in the newspaper agian, since there is a small section in it(usually) that you can list an item for 2-3 bucks.

The ebay alternatives site has only been up a week or two, so is a work in process. I've emailed the owner to LMK about that. Thanks pointing it out.