That is so totally innaccurate it is shocking! Free shipping is the norm from LARGE retailers and ALWAYS have a minimum order amount.
Amazon only offers free shipping on items stored in its warehouses–Marketplace sellers are allowed to charge shipping for their items. Most do. Where are they getting this carp?

And that last sentence is very troublesome. The second ebay tells me what I can charge for shipping or demands free shipping I’m outta here. 5 years of solid customer service gone. I’ll get more exposure on Amazon and still get the shipping fees.

Clicking your link, I get the following:

xxxxxxxx, you are signed in. (Sign out)

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Error: you do not have permission to view the requested forum or category.

“No longer is it the place to realize the best possible price for almost any time, from collectibles to clothing to cars. It’s now the place people look for bargains almost exclusively”

I want to get the communities, especially Richard’s input on the issues brought up in the blog.

The lack of viable customer service is THE deciding factor for me not being willing to sell on Ebay. The nuts and bolts of me doing what is needed to maintain high standards is my responsibility.

Unfortunately, bottom line, I refuse to be thrown to the wolves to figure out all the nuances of Ebay and if I survive to become a Power Seller I can earn a representitive at this point.

If I were willing to follow what I percieve as flawed logic, it seems to me that IF I DID SURVIVE to Power Seller status with high ratings and DSRs that I would have fogured out the system and not be in need of the phone rep.

I fail to understand this logic. Wouldn’t it be a better investment for the long term to have real corporate help for the newer sellers as a preventitve measure?

Can anyone explain to me the benifits of this ( it’s rough because a few choice profanities could succintly
explain my points ) in monetary terms? How does the new seller and their guinea pig customers gain from transactions being carried out without full understaning of the system? All a person need do is do a quick scan audit of the AC to substantiate my theory of new people having the greater need for help.

Years ago I worked for a very well known corporate restaurant chain that has a global presense. At the time the unit I worked in was producing the highest sales with 70% in food vs the norm of alcohal generating the money. The company’s CEO visited my unit and during hid talk stated that we had an employee turnover rate of 110%. There was formalised training for I think the waitresses and bartenders. The rest of us were gophers for a week and then turned loose to handle a menu with approximately 300 items. Being a vocal sort I told this to the CEO. He must have seen the wisdom of what I said because low and behold I was designated as a trainer the next day.

I still believe that it is critical to have support for new people and that allowing learning time is an investment that companies should willing embrace for the long term stability of the business.

Are the employees of Ebay just turned loose to do a job on the first day of hire?

I doubt it. Sellers need better assistance than what is currently being offered. IT IS POSSIBLE that some of the “NOISE” is the fear of knowing that they are in it alone speaking.( Unless of course, they are power sellers)

However the sellers want to classify themselves or however Ebay wants to classify the sellers, THEY ARE STILL REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMPANY and worthy of the same considerations that I believe are given to paid staff.

It is my oppinion that if Ebay would see the wisdom of real customer service alot of the noise would disappear in a manner that would bebefit the buyer, the seller and Ebay. You carry no inventory. It seems to me that a little liability could be absorbed in customer service money spent.

It is futile for Ebay to offer me an almost free listing opportunity if I feel I might need to navigate a potential mind field in order to close a sale. Show me sound business practices if you want my money. I am not a fish and will not grab at a worm with a bright shiny hook attached at the other end.

I receive quite a few emails from potential bidders regarding the items I am selling on that ID and my auction terms for that particular ID. I copied just a FEW of the emails I awoke to this morning
(and with eBay on a mission to bring more new buyers, I just cannot wait for more emails like the ones below):

>>POTENTIAL BUYER No 1:

* I asked the question about buying this a week or so ago and your response was PAY-PAL only. I still want to buy and I still do not have PAY-PAL, I live in the local area, can I come by?

(Note: I politely informed this eBayer for the THIRD time that I take paypal only and that I do not offer local pickups).

You must be a wealthy Ebayer. Have you seen my feedback? I pay for everything I have ever bought. I can bring cash to your location and pick up at the same time. You must not want to move the merchandise.

>>POTENTIAL BUYER No 2:

* can i have it cheper plz

>>POTENTIAL BUYER No 3:

* Why don’t you ship to Canada ?????????????????????

***********************************************************

After answering some rather “fun” emails (see above) and trying my hardest to work through a paypal glitch which has been going on for 3+ days (where paypal payments are going to the wrong email address and 50% of the email notifications — sent to the wrong email address – don’t have the buyer’s shipping address so I have to log in to paypal and search for the information manually),
I decided to check out some of the message boards to find out what major unannounced event is going on.

I could not help myself when I read the following Post “The REAL Reason Buyers are :Leaving Ebay…..”

The REAL Reason Buyers are Leaving eBay:
it’s not feedback. it’s the accidents, deaths, and other tragedies. So many buyers bid, and then, mysteriously, coincidentally, surprisingly, meet with terrible fates–rare diseases, horrible accidents. if it doesn’t happen to the bidders, it invariably happens to their mothers, aunts, uncles, birds, dogs, cats, or other members of their loving families.

it’s been statistically proven that if you bid on ebay, you are more likely to get into a freak accident.

sometimes, even though these buyers are in freak accidents, they still have the presence of mind to bid on items. it’s a rare and mysterious, and often blessed, occurence.

just had to rant. got an email from a buyer saying that her mother, who of course won an item of mine, had been in a terrible accident. obviously, to retain my stellar DSR’s, i could not risk sending back a snarky email, so i came here to rant.

so, what other dieseases are out there?

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000559652&tstart=0&mod=1209471363165

You REALLY have to be an eBay seller to appreciate the thread. Someone like Griff could never appreciate the humor in the thread. I literally laughed so hard I cried when I read all the responses. It was the one bright spot in my otherwise dull morning.

‘Buyers are leaving eBay because of unjustified retaliatory negative seller feedback’.