eBay partners with Buy.com

MechelleOn 05.07.2008 at 3:14 am Said:

I got this from one of my customers today and I think it is a very good example of what makes trade on eBay different than everywhere else

Oh and she is from Turkey so I never would have known her- which is different than to have sold something and dropped it in the mail

Fragrances look so beautiful. Really they are very beautiful.
I really like the way you invest to your store. You always come up with a new idea and new stuff.
Looking through ECB makes my day, calms me, catches me!
You should be proud of yourself
Do not ever lose your excitement and love that you feel for what you’re doing.
I am sure of that there are a lot of people who think the same way like I do about how you see the life.
I think what is present in front of me is pretty much related to how you see life, treat life, feel life and how you care yourself and the other human beings.

She didn’t receive my package today and shoot me this email - she has been my customer since last July and is my friend- and for whatever reason she felt compelled to write me this today (well on the 6th). this doesn’t happen at large chain retailers, or other online shopping sites- this is exclusively an eBay experience- social networking- global social networking and trade. eBay is not just shopping-
there is emotional attachments on eBay and there is no other marketplace that reaches the world in both trade and most importantly allows for global socialization. Why would eBay want to exclude the social relationships that are in fact what has kept so many people here - those who only buy, and those that both buy and sell?

Patricia1On 05.07.2008 at 7:34 am Said:

@ Mechelle - I can second that. I’ve made some good friends from my customers. Some have even stopped here to visit. Others send me Christmas gifts and birthday cards. I wouldn’t have known any of them if not for ebay…the real ebay and not the plastic dollar sign ebay it is becoming. Perhaps, like your customer, I was conveying my gratitude to a seller when I finally found that corning teapot that I treasure. I sat down a week after giving her excellent feedback and wrote a note of gratitute at how she handled the sale and how she so carefully packaged my teapot. No…you don’t get that with big box stores…but then ebay doesn’t really care one whit about how we make our customers feel - they simply throw out “shape up or ship out”. Bottom line…revenue ONLY! I think we each need to face the fact that our ebay is dying and the new ebay that’s emerging sure doesn’t have a pretty face!

AmberOn 05.07.2008 at 9:07 am Said:

” Others send me Christmas gifts and birthday cards”

Ditto! My favorite was a bookmark sent to me by one of my Aussie customers. I have many ebay friendships–people I’ve sold to or purchased from with whom I chat on a frequent basis. I’ll email them personally if I get something in stock I know they’ve been looking for. It’s a far different ecommerce experience than you get anywhere else–most of us operate like tiny neighborhood brick and mortar stores. That is what made this place so special and that is what is being slowly strangled off the site. It’s the difference between the service you get from Walmart and the service you get from your neighborhood independent bookstore. In one, you’re an anonymous face with a credit card. In the other, you’re a customer, a person, and sometimes a friend.

Crunchy, I guess we do have to agree to disagree on that one. I think hobby sellers should have to make a minimal effort–they are, after all, collecting someone else’s money for the items they sell. It’s sort of a buyer-empathy thing with me. What is the minimum effort I would expect from a seller if I were a buyer? Most buyers, even allowing for the seller’s hobby status, would expect their items to ship within 3-5 days. Most buyers purchasing from professional sellers expect same day or next day shipment. Ebay’s DSRs undermine those allowances, though, I’ll grant you that

PermacrisisOn 05.07.2008 at 9:22 am Said:

@amber-

That’s what happens when you put people who do not buy or sell, in charge of the world’s largest buying and selling website. (Not the world’s largest for long, though… not the rate they’re going.)

The heads coming into ebay looked at ebay’s infrastructure and not at the activity taking place on the site. Remember, this was a place where you could put up a test auction entitled “What is this?” and sooner or later someone would tell you what you had. Ebay was a tool, a utility knife where one blade didn’t interfere with the others and you could use it for a bunch of different things. They are going to make it into a single purpose meat slicer.

Another thing they don’t realize or at the very least care about, is that ebay turned many cottage industries on their ear. A lot of brick and mortar shops turned into ghost towns because of ebay, and all that activity moved onto here. Now it is being told to leave, but the old locations are gone and cannot be returned to.

There are even whole cottage industries that were born on ebay, and subsequently killed by the recent Download Decision (which I understand, is also being silently enforced onto CD-R digital products, in an unannounced police action– Richard, check into this).

I had a HUGE new niche marketspace that was absolutely untapped, a business activity that died out in the 50’s when the cost of materials became cheaper than labor. In light of the recent U.S. price increases however, it’s now ready for a comeback. Just as I’d positioned myself to sell it on Yahoo however, ebay kicked off their backroom / antitrust-violating ad deal. Just 1 month later, Y Auctions died. We now know why.

Before I could launch the product on ebay, BLAMMO… JD cut loose with both barrels. In retrospect, I.m glad. I’m glad I waited. Now these crooks won’t share in the spoils. I will keep it under wraps until a strong venue emerges. It’s been around since the ’50’s a few more years won’t hurt. I can wait.

The question is, can ebay?

JJHOn 05.07.2008 at 10:43 am Said:

The “Buyer Experience”…

I feel I must share with you an email I received from ebay Customer “support” about an item of mine that was pulled for “Keyword Spamming”. My crime was I used the phrase “like new” in the description. When I wrote to support I strongly protested the cancellation of the listing on those grounds, and reported that 6200 other listings existed on the site containing the phrase “Like New” in the title. Here is my reply.

I should also add it too 8 days to receive a reply (the reply has been edited slightly to remove redundant info, personal information, and links. No wording has been changed):

Dear J……,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your listing for “XXXXXXXXXXXX Lens Like New Beautiful” that was recently ended for being in violation of eBay’s Keyword Spamming policy.

I understand your listing was ended for containing the text “Like New” and that you’d like some clarification on this issue.

Sellers are not permitted to use comparison terms in the titles of their listings to compare the condition of their item.

For example, stating that the item is “like new,” “not new,” or any use of the words “new” if the item is used, is a violation of this policy. If the item is a new item, it may be described as such. However, if the
item is used, regardless of how little it may have been used, it may not be described as “new” in any way.

There are other terms that you may use to state the condition of your item, such as “gently used” or “lightly used.”

Using these types of comparisons may affect members’ ability to effectively search for items, as they may be taken to a listing that offers something other than what they are searching for. This policy is designed to provide a better buying experience on eBay by reducing the number of irrelevant listings that members search results produce.

I realize it was not your intention to violate this eBay policy. Be that as it may, since we have no way of knowing a seller’s intent when they list their items in a certain manner, we must take all information in a listing at face value.

For more information about Keyword Spamming, please visit: [link removed]

We’d like to be able to communicate directly with our members before removing any listings from eBay. Unfortunately, due to the limited amount of time that listings are on the site and the varying schedules
of eBay sellers, we’re simply unable to do so.

When a listing goes against one or more eBay policies, we make every effort to reach the most appropriate decision based on the information that’s available to us at the time.

Also, we understand your concern that there are other listings that may be violating the same policy. Please report these listings to us. We rely on our members’ reports to ensure a safe and positive shopping experience on eBay. Rest assured that we will review the listings and take appropriate action.

To report a listing, please follow these steps:

[removed instructions on how I can report those 6200 other listings, and "It can take up to 72 hours for the Community Watch Team to investigate your report."]

As you’ve been given a notice regarding policy violation, please don’t take it as a personal attack on you or your credibility. Our intention is to help educate and bring into compliance as many listings as
possible.

I understand your frustration regarding this matter and apologize for the inconvenience it caused you.

Sincerely,
XXXXXXX

eBay Customer Support

–Did anyone fall of their chair laughing?

Remember, it’s ALL “to provide a better buying experience on eBay”. Wouldn’t want to have people find something they might not want. Now maybe they can’t find something the DO want.

I don’t know about you, but I like to know if something is new, used, or like new.

So be it.

CrunchyPostingGoodnessOn 05.07.2008 at 6:14 pm Said:

Amber, the specific expectations that you have outlined for hobby sellers here seem perfectly reasonable to me.

I completely agree that a hobby seller should be able to and expected to ship their items within 3 to 5 days. I just do not believe that they should be marked down if they do not ship like professional sellers (same or next day), especially if they clearly state the 3 to 5 day shipping time frame in their ad.

I would also expect a professional seller to ship the same day or next day. Plus I agree that eBay’s DSRs do not make room for those allowances between these different levels of sellers, but should.

So perhaps we really do not disagree after all…

permacrisisOn 05.07.2008 at 7:10 pm Said:

“Using these types of comparisons may affect members’ ability to effectively search for items, as they may be taken to a listing that offers something other than what they are searching for.”

Uh, hello??? Were have I seen that before… oh yeah BEST MATCH???? Great, ebay. Now go in the corner, and punish yourself.

Buncha item hiders.

Well… at least ebay is (slowly) learning that having a buyer “taken to a listing that offers something other than what they are searching for” is bad.

HeadbeaterOn 05.07.2008 at 8:02 pm Said:

Last I heard, women make up 52% of the population. That leaves 48% of us guys. Here’s a clue - MEN DO NOT look to an “experience” when we buy ANYTHING!

We want in and out be it B&M or a website and WILL shop where that happens. NO fluff.

Ebay, and I can safely speak for MILLIONS of sellers, I am profoundly dissapointed in your corporate actions.

I am also over ANYTHING to do with your entity in ANY capacity in the future.You’ve made decisions - so have I.

HeadbeaterOn 05.07.2008 at 8:17 pm Said:

Paraphrased “No corporation cares of nothing but the money”

TRUE!But that works both ways. Smart business’s also placate the VERY people that enables their wealth - frustrating as that may be at times. Remember, IT’S all about the money - Have’nt we all established that point already?

EVERYDAY I do things I don’t want to do for business to keep that business. To do otherwise…….,well.

china714On 05.08.2008 at 1:07 am Said:

Michelle,
Just wanted to say I agree with most of all you have said on all these posts you’ve hit the nail on the head, I have been harmed by these Bold’ changes, emotionally and mentally, to change the script so drastically with no good sense, People have not changed that much from 5 years ago, 10 years ago, as far as wanting a different buyer experience, even Pierre seems less relaxed then from 1995 keeping up with these changes, haste makes waste didn’t their mama ever teach them this? I want the same experience, in buying that I had 5 years ago, I want that great flea market item, that great seller.

GAILOn 05.08.2008 at 11:12 am Said:

I am both a buyer and a small seller on eBay. From a buyer’s perspective, here’s what I see as eBay’s future in light of this deal with Buy.com. EBay will simply become a portal, like Shopping, Bizrate, NexTag, and a multitude of others. Of course, this is not eBay’s intention, but it’s what will happen if eBay continues to make deals with huge sellers that already have their own sites.

If I search on eBay for a certain item, and find that Buy.com is selling it, I’ll go directly to Buy.com to purchase….and Buy.com offers Google Checkout. So, why bother with eBay when a google search will give me all the pricing comparisons I need.

If eBay’s pricing structure, best match mess, and DSR nonsense make it prohibitive for small sellers of antique, one-of-a-kind, or bygone treasures to survive on its ‘venue’, then eBay will simply become redundant.

Treasures from an estate sale or someone’s attic are what draw people to eBay. IPods and cell phones with ‘authentic’ warranties are better purchased directly from reputable sellers who don’t live in China. One transaction is all it takes for a buyer to learn this, albeit the hard way. Want a 1950s Kitchenaid electic mixer, look on eBay. Want a new one that isn’t a return or a dropped box, go to Kitchenaid.com or your local Target.

Want terrific customer service, buy from a small seller. For the most part, eBay’s ‘preferred’ top tier Powersellers are too busy to even acknowledge an email. But, they’re making lots of money for eBay, and I guess that’s all that counts.

vlpOn 05.09.2008 at 5:43 am Said:

Moderators are now pink slapping posters who talk about this partnership on the eBay boards. Be very careful and do not mention Buy.com by name nor link to it’s ebay store. This will get you pink slapped.

I suggest using ” b.c ” as an way of discussing the company without getting slapped and of linking only to the Inkblog page and telling users that it is the 7th red word in the article (as some old folks have trouble reading this typeface and color).

TheBrewsNewsOn 05.09.2008 at 1:03 pm Said:

Quote from Usher Lieberman:

“eBay is aggressively using price as a lever to improve the value and selection on eBay.com. Consistent with our goals, we have entered into a partnership with Buy.com to bring their new-in-season merchandise onto eBay.com. We expect to learn a great deal from this partnership and we will build upon the results.”

***************
Interesting. eBay is aggressively using price as a lever? Okay, let’s put that to the test. I went to the Buy eBay store and looked around. I decided to do a price comparison on some items. In looking at Buy’s feedback, I noticed that there were several items that Buy was selling but then had to refund because they didn’t actually have the item in stock. So I decided to choose 3 items from the first feedback page where positive feedback was left for Buy. That way, I could safely assume that Buy was able to deliver these items and thus I could compare three items from Buy’s inventory to other competitors who state that the item is currently in stock. Okay, enough of how I chose the items to compare. Let’s see how great of a deal Buy eBay customers received:

First item:
eBay auction number 170214529031
Description: Sharp EL219RII Calculator w/ Tax Keys
Buy’s price on eBay - $47.99 + $0 shipping = $47.99
(Competitor) Keenzo.com - $37.97 + $8.95 shipping = $46.92

Second item:
eBay auction number 170215967523
Description: Navigon GPS Protective Hard Shell Case
Buy’s price on eBay - $19.24 + $4.49 shipping = $23.73
(Competitor) Amazon’s price - $19.99 + $0 shipping = $19.99

Third item:
eBay auction number 150242840961
Buy’s price on eBay - $21.99 + $4.40 shipping = $26.39
(Competitor) TigerDirect.com price $22.99 + $3.99 shipping = $26.98

I find the information rather interesting. Now, I am sure that I could have found these items significantly cheaper from other competitors but I wanted to stick with well-known internet mail-order companies who have a good reputation.

Value and Selection. Interesting choice of words by Lieberman. When I typed those words into my search engine, do you know what came up? What came up first for me was an article about Walmart dated April 2008 titled “Two Neighborhood Markets Bring Value and Selection to the Valley”. I guess Meg Whitman was correct when she said that the customers found in the aisles of Walmart are the typical eBay buyer; eBay stockholders and eBay management are not likely to be purchasing on eBay according to Meg. I have to wonder if she was right. But, unfortunately, I can’t validate her supposition because I really don’t know much about the Walmart customer; it has been more than 8 years since I have been through the front doors of a Walmart.

KDOn 05.09.2008 at 8:42 pm Said:

Cheap, downscale, no frill selling, (that means selling yourself short, to me), will be easy to do on future eBay. This kind of selling will involve very little effort on the sellers part to create a buyer experience of any kind, because there really will be no buyer experience, other than clicking to buy, clicking to pay and receiving packages from the USPS. Nothing more, nothing less.
With this kind of simple, non-personal, automated selling, why even rate with DSR’s? Why any feedback, positive or negative? Feelings about a transaction will be meaningless, so why ask?

Where there is excellent selling, you will find the following attributes: prompt shipping, safe packaging, clear, caring and friendly communications, detailed product descriptions, extra frills (holiday cards, packaging surprises, custom wrap, theme selling, creative sales ambiance built into buyer experience, custom service and niceties, etc.), the ability and time to work problems out on a personal seller to customer basis, and selling with an overall unique business identity that the customer can relate to.

The real “suck up” shops are on Rodeo Drive…not on future eBay, not on big retailer, like a mall eBay.

How can eBay be making all “The Changes”, telling everyone eBay’s only focus is on buyer’s experience and security, to justify the drastic changes? That’s such hot air.
It’s so obvious it’s the money gained by mass selling, subscribing and advertising to masses that motivates eBay. The buyer experience and security, if anything, will be much worse on the changed eBay.

If eBay were concerned about wonderful buyer experience, selling should have been left alone and up to the individual sellers (as they were) on eBay, just the way it used to be. What can be better than near one on one customer service that can be provided by individual sellers where they handle their own business?

Giant eBay made a Giant misTake.

So I say, eBay’s “buyer focus” reason to “change”, is hypocritical and phony. The way it was, provided a unique approach that had a unique ability to successfully achieve great buyer experience and security.

People like to be paid attention to, people like to emotional shop”. They don’t like stark, emotionless, generic, automated buying.

Maybe being that Meg Whitman was a woman helped to keep eBay more fun until now. Most men generally hate shopping and can’t understand the whole concept of loving to spend money. So, maybe the new leader should have been a woman again.

eBay messed around where no man/woman should go after realizing such a successful and excellent concept to meet buyer expectations, while at the same time fulfilling their own gains and profitability extremely successfully.
eBay can’t do this now. Buy.com can’t do this ever.
Only the conglomerate of individual, small seller businesses could do this.

eBay’s is saying, “we are laser focusing on buyer experience”. That just doesn’t go along with the Kmart/Walmart mentality, which eBay says it wants to emulate as expounded in their new plans to create a mall-like “retail selling environment”.

Mr Usher needs to see reality and what a fool he is making of himself. Bigger businesses do not add up to great buyer experience, in fact buyers become more obscure in the commonality of the big retail experience. Plus fraudulent transactions will get so lost in the vast number of transactions, they’ll be written off, while the buyer loses. That is unless the buyer wants to try filling out countless online forms, provide receipts, go through investigations, file more forms and waste a lot of time.

Big numbers, big business, big satellite business, big partner business all means growing profitability. Period.
Mr Usher, please stop telling everyone that you want buyers to have a better, safer experience on eBay, when you really want to get so big, so rich and so powerful.
==================================================
I always believe that God is protecting me and for all of my life it’s been proven to me over and over again, with countless testaments, that God’s love is ever present. My faith, hope and trust in God tell me that everything is really okay, no matter what~

And God is protecting me right now and I need it. So do all the individual sellers that once made up eBay. The eBay that Donahoe, Usher Lieberman and the likes are blowing up to gain for themselves has cost many innocent people their businesses.

Mr. Donahoe tells everyone that the small sellers can go and “good luck on moving” they say, after they made sure the sellers would fail via changes in DSR’s, search, high fees, taking control of selling away, making users invisible to each other, getting sellers and buyers to turn ugly on each other, getting sellers in an uproar and destroying little businesses, hundreds and thousands of innocent little businesses that could not possibly defend themselves against eBay management and three years of their planning every move they’ve made and will continue to relentlessly make for three more years, until they are done taking the old eBay apart, despite that the old individual sellers had no way of knowing eBay was making all the moves to wreck their businesses.

It’s shocking and unbelieveable that anyone can get away with this.
==========================================================================

Usher Lieberman will acquire, “”the smug look of a toad breakfasting on fat marsh flies” (William Pearson).” smile~

Mr Usher…humble yourself. And that’s from the Holy Bible~

“Those who humble themselves will be exalted, and those who exalt themselves will be humbled”
============================================================================
Too many good people have been hurt or devastated by drastic changes, unilaterally made on eBay by new eBay management.
The changes were made to free eBay to change the way the management thought eBay should be to grow bigger.
That would be fine as long as thousands of small businesses didn’t get ruined.
Not one eBay executive, manager or employee thought the fate of thousands of small business sellers, that made eBay and make up eBay, was even worth thinking about, at all.
They all made a concerted effort to just blow sellers apart and not look back.

John over at 3rd Power OutletOn 05.10.2008 at 7:58 am Said:

Hey Usher (or Ursher in Atlanta speak ),

I met you for a sec. in New Orleans and said I was a straight shooter and would give you my unbiased opinion on “thangs”, from my unique perspective. So here it is as one powersellers thought…

My problem has been more with the supposed “secrecy” of how this was revealed more so than the deal itself. I think they (eBay execs.) are genuine in there search for a solution to what ails the site.

Having said that, Buy.com or any other large retailer has got the same issues to deal with as us small sellers when it comes to doing business on eBay. This marketplace is NOT like anything else and buyers here are extremely unique in what they require as a good “buyer experience”. We have all seen the crash and burn of many big retailers and large independent sellers on the site due to factors like, poor customer service, intense competition, low feedback ratings, etc.

If Buy.com is able to navigate the mind fields of customer satisfaction, where others (both retailer and independents) have failed, so be it. If eBay finds a good mix and then is able to pass some of the creative financing “love” for store/core listing fees downhill? Even better.

As long as Buy.com and eBay are playing by the rules when it comes to feedback and DSR’s then I do not feel that eBay has suddenly did some nefarious dealings with us, the small guys.

BUT eBay, next time when you get caught with your pants down, at least appologize for showing us your nudity You guys know that part was WRONG and it demeans the trust between us all.

john

“thats my 2 cents and it is really overpriced”