Small Sellers: Our Competitive Advantage

JJHOn 05.09.2008 at 5:00 pm Said:

Ms Norrington, you said:

“Let me be clear: eBay has always believed that small and casual sellers — “the little guys” — are eBay’s most important competitive advantage … These sellers created our community, bring a human touch to the marketplace, and continue to make eBay a truly one-of-a-kind shopping experience.”

What I want to know is why you have created this “class” society (or should I say “class community”) where PowerSellers are now elitists, and everyone else is disadvantaged garbage?

I have been here for 10 years. I was a powerseller about 4 years ago, for about 4 or 5 years. Back then, it really meant nothing to be a PS, you basically just got a “badge” you could put in your listing. OK, that’s then, this is now.

I am a small seller now. I can’t keep up the load I used to, but I still use my small sales to supplement my income AND YOURS. I have 100% “lily white” positive feedback. I have DSRs of 4.8,4.8,4.9,4.8. And for what?

My RECORD shows I am a good seller with excellent customer service.

Why don’t I get any benefits from this? I’m the type of seller you want here on eBay. I MAKE the “Better Buyer Experience” as proved by my marks. I *AM* your “Better Buying Experience”, I spend time on every customer. I have the time too do that when I only have to manage a few buyers a week instead of 300 a day.

Why am I told “sorry, you get nothing for that”?

My take is “sorry, you don’t make us enough money. Go away.”

Every week it’s some new PS benefit that does nothing but PISS OFF all the good non-Psellers.

I *URGE YOU* in the strongest of terms, no I challenge you, give us SMALL SELLERS who qualify with the same standards the powersellers have to achieve the SAME respect and privilege they get. I honestly feel you OWE it to me out of loyalty. I’ve stuck around here and helped build you this past decade, and make you what you are. I deserve some sort of “thank you”. Lip service I don’t need. Lip service doesn’t pay my bills.

HenriettaOn 05.09.2008 at 5:28 pm Said:

Patricia with all due respect Ms Norrington is not saying that she understands, or that she cares. She is using a well known nanny technique, think Mary Poppins. A spoonful of sugar (or three.)

When listening to or reading comments from top executives it is important to analyze, not simply read, because just reading will lead you to make assumptions which may be the norm in the civilized world but absolutely do not reflect what that person is truly saying. They do not lie overtly. They are very sincere. They are also highly skilled in saying nothing using a lot of words.

For example:
eBay has always believed . .
Note past tense. My five year old believed in the tooth fairy. Does she believe now she is 30?

. . these sellers created our community
Absolutely, no harm in acknowledging that sugar.

. . bring a human touch to the marketplace
Absolutely, no harm in acknowledging that, sugar.

and continue to make eBay a truly one-of-a-kind shopping experience . . .
But? and she goes on to say that is not the direction of the future.

You picked up on the fallacies of buy.com product which is so far nothing not offered by other sellers on eBay, or in other venues including their own website for less, but there IS a lot more of it and buyers may choose it in hopes of building feedback.

What else does she say, well, actually, not much, in fact, nothing. The kicker is in the ultimate sentence
” . . . we are determined to create opportunities to succeed on eBay for all sellers who consistently deliver great customer experiences– no matter your size.”

THIS I find completely confusing. I don’t need Ms Norrington and her colleagues to create anything, I created that myself when she was busy doing something else at Intuit Inc., before Bill Cobb broke it. What I need is for them to quit fixing something that ain’t broke with a sledgehammer, but that would require stepping back and saying whoopsie. Not going to happen. Not in this life.

LAGOn 05.09.2008 at 5:34 pm Said:

Ms Norrington,
Please remember that actions speak louder than words. No matter how you try to spin it, every action that ebay has taken in the last year shows that the small sellers are not appreciated.

I am a current small seller, not as long as most of the posters here, 4 years, over 1500 - 100% positive feedback.

Like many others, I am getting increasingly disillusioned with eBay and I am currently researching alternative venues. I am disgusted with the feedback changes, best match, the unfair playing field and the DSR double standard - telling buyers that 4 is good but penalizing sellers if they have less than 4.8.

I have already had sales on one speciality site where listing is free, stores are free and final value fees are 5%. I can charge less and make more.

The site owner listens to suggestions and responds to queries within 4-6 hours with answers that actually apply to the question - how strange is that. Even small sellers are made to feel wanted and valuable.

I would much rather deal with him than a bot that sends me a canned response that has absolutely nothing to do with my problem 24-48 hours or more after the fact. Or management that consistantly ignores the valid questions being asked and suggestions offered in the comments in this blog.

There may only be a few posters here but they are doing a fine job of expressing the thoughts of the silent majority of small sellers.

Ebay management would be wise to take note.

AmberOn 05.09.2008 at 6:11 pm Said:

LOL Henrietta,

The “value” aspect is missing, isn’t it? I’d rather pay full retail price (another .75 or so) and have it shipped for FREE from my local Borders store.

Or I can order it at full retail price from the River, add another 2 books or so, and have free shipping–from a DC close enough that I’ll have it the next day.

I don’t see how there is any benefit to the buyer OR eBay in having overpriced inventory on the site. All that does is encourage the buyer to seek out cheaper websites. And once they’ve determined eBay is too expensive, they won’t come back.

Patricia1On 05.09.2008 at 7:43 pm Said:

“I don’t see how there is any benefit to the buyer OR eBay in having overpriced inventory on the site.”

Maybe to puff up the listings? That’s the big benefit I see. Without them…listings are on a downward trend.

BernieOn 05.09.2008 at 10:30 pm Said:

Dear Lorrie Norrington,

Boy there is so much I could tell you about what it is like to be one of us. I will focus though.

Before I do I would like to float the question that if ebay corporate management had feedback and stars, what do you suppose they would look like and why? Maybe not perfect.

I sell old stuff I am a “traditional” ebay seller. Often very fragile items requiring great care to pack. One cubic foot of packing peanuts costs about 4 dollars. Unless one buys in a gigantic bag in which case it is three. A typical box costs about one dollar.

So I can’t use those things or I would have to add 4 or 5 dollars and up to my shipping fee. I have to find recyclable stuff. I hunt for it for nothing.

I charge what it costs me to ship in terms of outlaid dollars nothing for “handling” or packing, etc.

And I watch my shipping charge stars go down , and down, and down. And I do not meet the 4.6 minimum standard.

People don’t know how much it costs to send things. The rates are going to go up again soon and what will happen is I will take more hits as people give me other than a 5, not knowing from the key that other than 5 is bad.

So what is it like for me to see the ebay corporate solution to rising shipping costs be “Make Shipping Free!”

What I am I supposed to think?

It seems like either there is a lack of thought about this, or that ebay in a disingenuous way wants me to run incorporate my shipping fee into the item price so that ebay can then gain a FVF percentage on it.

But ebay and I are in it together. Ebay as an entity is dependent on shipping.

But the message from ebay seems to be shipping costs are the fault of bad sellers who need to make it free.

Where is the help for us? We are told to educate our customers. Each of us on our own.

But I ask why does not ebay see the critical need to point out to people the value added when something is shipped to them? The convenience of having items delivered to their door? The cost per mile of driving to the mall, or shopping around is often as great or greater than a shipping fee? The savings in time?

I can find something on ebay in minutes or seconds that would take me hours, or in the case of some vintage and antique items, years, to find locally?

There is nothing like that to help us and yourselves. We get “Make Shipping free customers like free shipping”

I ship worldwide. A man just paid me 90 dollars to send him his radio in Italy. Can we expect he will check that his shipping fee was “very reasonable”?

It actually cost me 93.

Help us with that issue please. A shipping charge is not a negative it is a service for value and in most cases well worth paying. Help us communicate that.

I know ebay wants to grow, and transform, but all the ideas are seemingly about the “new” direction while the goose that laid the golden egg goes neglected. Basic issues go untended.

Knowing something about this I can tell you what will happen as a result of the shipping stars is that shipping fees will actually rise. The standard is impossibly high for most so sellers will stop trying to hit it. It will lose it’s motivating value.

Briefly I will add that ebay is in essence a search engine geared to bring buyers and sellers together. I think you would agree that without the search engine, ebay would cease to be.

But it is tinkered with experimentally based on the latest new idea quite recklessly. While at it’s core, it’s basic functionality, has gone unimproved for years.

So I would like to say grow and expand and evolve, but also do what got ebay here better and better.

Thanks

Bernie

SandiOn 05.10.2008 at 2:24 am Said:

3 pages of comments on the initial blog post regarding buy.com - Ms Norrington states she has read them - so why did she fail to answer any of the questions posed by readers?

This blog is looking more and more like nothing but something direct from ebay’s PR department.

MJOn 05.10.2008 at 8:02 am Said:

A lot of the recent changes now make sense with the Buy.com and how it all shakes out, I guess we all will see.

The new feedback system (Neutrals counting against your feedback score) truly will level the playing field - virtually all 100% Positive scores will be removed overnight, making it easier for places like Buy to get away with their projected 98.9 (currently 99.5 and dropping) Score.

I have to say that I am somewhat relieved in that the days are over of us issuing immediate refunds, losing money to crazy buyers, UPS call tags, etc. — all just to maintain our 99.9+ that will soon be a 99.1

I guess I would be upset more if I was selling directly against them, but for now only a few items crossover against us. Maybe more will soon? Either way it has kicked up our new efforts to advance sales in new channels even faster.

One thing I think will be interesting is to see how many people buy once from Buy on eBay and then simply move on to buy.com , bypassing eBay all together the next time.

If eBay wants to be the Mall (aka a brick and mortar) it might just find itself in the boat many malls are in today — customers bypassing the mall and shopping directly form the stores online.

I love eBay, it has changed my life and I have made a ton of money hear. For those of you directly affected by this deal, I truly wish you well and hope you can stick it out and find new and creative ways to make you business work here and elsewhere.

MJ

Kathy_the_green_fishOn 05.10.2008 at 11:55 am Said:

There is an in between group
Those who are not powersellers
Those who are no using eBay as an online garage sale.
I’ve been on eBay since 2000.
I did not need any assistance from eBay to grow my business, quality goods, great customer service, and being able to screen my customers grew my business.

Though my average sales barely scraped $10, over the years I was able to earn $200 to $300 a month.
Pretty darn good.
However, you have taken away my ability to screen bidders. You will not remove fraudulent listings. You will not verify buyers or sellers to make it an open honest marketplace. The fees increased to a point that it is mathematically impossible to make money on eBay. When I emailed Trust and Safety about feedback extortion, I received a form letter on downloading the eBay toolbar. If this is how you plan on protecting me while increasing my fees almost 57%, you are wrong. Sellers are eBay customers. We pay a fee and expect a level of servioce. We pay more and we expect a greater level of service, the bare minimum you expect us sellers to give our paying customers. You should share what the future plans of paying for placement on the default search. A new scary thought.
You have turned eBay into page after page of similar crap where honest sellers cannot compete against the high amount of stolen, gray market, and non-existent goods that Trust and Safety refuse to remove.

I will be keeping my ID active, as despite the monstrosity you have changed eBay into, I still love it. I love the people I met and the great people I have yet to meet. I am still hoping someone comes to their senses and creates real meaningful change instead of short term fixes that destroyed the value of my eBay stock.
Yes, that is my seller ID up top.

LisaOn 05.10.2008 at 12:56 pm Said:

May I quote you Lorrie?

“We have chosen to partner with Buy.com because we believe their new-in-season inventory, 4.8 DSRs, liberal return policy, and low shipping costs meet unfulfilled demand on eBay.com”.

Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. But I respectfully disagree. I decided to see just how Buy.com planned to utilize it’s new alliance with eBay by purchasing a book. Buy.com charged me $4.85 through eBay to ship this book. That doesn’t seem like a “low shipping cost”. What’s even more bothersome, is the cost for shipping this same book, had I purchased it directly from Buy.com, would have only been $3.60. That’s $1.25 more on eBay. Now why would I buy from Buy.com through eBay when the same item on their site is less? This seems like tunnel-vision. Did Buy.com tell eBay their shipping rates were low or did eBay just assume it was low? In fact, had I bought the book on Amazon, that seller would have been locked into $2.50 for the book (via media mail of course). So I gambled and lost - no biggie, come May 19, I’ll leave appropriate feedback with no fear of retaliation.

This alliance only means that more eBay Power Sellers will have to undercut Buy.com and some will. Certainly they can do better on shipping costs. The small seller of unique items has nothing to fear. It’s not like there’s a “Collectible Warehouse” out there with a huge online presence that we dealers need to fear. No collectible jewelry, glassware, hummels, etc., will be suddenly available in mass quantities at below wholesale prices to scare us. We have little to fear from the new partnership. We have much to fear from the lack of ability to leave feedback. We can only hope that using the buyer requirement to block bidders that others had problems with will help.

Overall, eBay won’t benefit from the Buy.com alliance once people realize the same item from Buy.com’s own site will cost them less than buying through eBay.

The ColonelOn 05.10.2008 at 1:54 pm Said:

The new eBay policies taken as a whole present significant barriers to entry for new sellers.

The “Powersellers” of tomorrow often start as the casual or small seller of today.

To deny the new seller an equal opportunity and a chance to participate on a level playing field will undermine the diversity of items listed that eBay has built it’s reputation and market share on.

eBay will simply cease to be the dynamic venue it has always been, a place where you could pick up stamps for your collection, a rare piece of porcelain for your breakfront, an item or two for your business such as a printer or computer, that ideal gift for your loved one, and a CD or DVD to enjoy at home.

Compare eBay to Major League Baseball Teams. How many of those teams would disband their AAA farms? None.

Because again, the power slugger of today was the minor league player of yesterday.

Patricia1On 05.10.2008 at 2:13 pm Said:

@ Sandi - “3 pages of comments on the initial blog post regarding buy.com - Ms Norrington states she has read them - so why did she fail to answer any of the questions posed by readers?”

Maybe she didn’t get her “talking points” yet

The ColonelOn 05.10.2008 at 2:26 pm Said:

The “Powerseller” program, IMHO, has become meaningless and flying the PS masthead may actually be detrimental to the lower tier participant’s reputation.

But then again, that is assuming there will be lower tier Powersellers left after July 1st.

In the old days, a small seller felt proud to be invited into the program. That person was doing good volume, keeping the buyers happy, and doing good for his consignors. It was neat to fly the PS Logo next to your UserID.

But what did the program really give to the lower tier sellers? (By lower tier, I mean the Bronze, Silver, and Gold sellers) Nothing really. Nothing besides a special phone number to call for customer service. And that only applied if you were Silver or Gold or above. Futhermore, if you were a drop shop or auctioneer, you had to be Platinum or Better to be called a “Trading Post”.

So aside from the phone number, access to the Powerseller Discussion Boards, and a nifty logo, there was really no advantage. We still paid the same fees and we still got what we paid for (the same listing placement consideration as anyone else). But this was before “Best Match”.

I guess back then the program meant something. You played by the same rules as everyone else but you did it better and were recognized. You got what amounted to no more than a Boy Scout Badge or a Good Conduct Ribbon.

When all was said and done, you were still just like anyone else on eBay, subject to the same rules, subject to the same protections. You were just another soldier who earned a medal, nothing more.

Now it is a completely different program. As a Powerseller myself I am glad that I will no longer qualify after July 1st.

Now Powersellers get shipment protections that our brother sellers do not get. That is unfair. Everyone should get it or no one should get it. (I am referring to PayPal)

Now Powersellers get discounts based on DSR’s. Yet our selling brothers, the part timers, many who have ratings better than us do not qualify. That is unfair.

Powersellers will soon get negative feedback protections that other fine sellers will not be afforded. That is unfair.

And to make matters worse, to be a Powerseller, if you are an auctioneer or a drop shop, means you have to subsidize shipping costs. Well, subsidizing shipping costs for a paltry 5% discount simply is not worth it.

Furthermore, there seems to be some sort of animosity now being indiscriminately levelled at Powersellers of any level, even us small low volume high ticket price sellers.

But worst of all, smaller sellers pay the same insertion fee as anyone else but are discriminated against in Best Match. That is completely unfair. These people pay the same price as anyone else, yet they are receiving inferior service, and by design. That is totally wrong.

One last thing…You might ask why a Powerseller is sticking up for non-powersellers. The answer is real simple…if I do not stick up for my brother when he is being unfairly persecuted, who is going to be there when they come for me.

eBay is supposed to be a community, a transparent community, an equal opportunity community. Not some dark, smoke filled room in which secret deals are cut.

NancyOn 05.10.2008 at 3:24 pm Said:

I finally decided to get my butt in gear. Since I have a gazillion punches and dies for scrapbooking and spent over $300.00 stocking up on paper I was going to make my die cuts and my punchies and really try hard to make a successful go of it. So I sat down and was getting ready to list more stuff (wishing there was a shopping cart for my customers who purchased 300 of my items) to find out that nothing under a dollar was going to be supported. I sell things for as low as a penny because I sell lots of things in one order. So here I sit, store closed, feedback of a perfect 100% wondering what the hell just happened….

JJHOn 05.10.2008 at 3:46 pm Said:

“But what did the program really give to the lower tier sellers? (By lower tier, I mean the Bronze, Silver, and Gold sellers) Nothing really.”

Back when I was a Bronze Powerseller, I guess it was from 2000 to 2005, you got nothing really, just as you said. You got the privilege to display a badge in your listings. Also, back then, sales volume for Bronze was $2000 a month, not the $1000 a month required now. It took work even to become a bronze seller. They just lowered the standards.

As a Bronze PS, all I got was a special email address for help (”customer service”) that got me a reply within 4-8 hours. Many of the replies were actual replies from a human, but had mixed canned paragraphs scattered in too.

Over time, I began to become aware that in some buyer sectors, Powersellers were considered something to avoid. Word was starting to get around that they had lousy service, high shipping prices, long time to ship, bad communication, etc. You know, perhaps EVERYTHING ebay is “attempting” to conquer with their DSR system and other “better buyer” changes. So, if there was/is a problem, I say it was ebay that created it.

For my last two years as a PS, I actually took my listing badge down, and turned off the little icon that displayed next to my name. If there was a negative feeling against Powersellers, real or perceived, I didn’t want any backlash affecting my sales.

“When all was said and done, you were still just like anyone else on eBay, subject to the same rules, subject to the same protections. You were just another soldier who earned a medal, nothing more.”

In other words, a LEVEL PLAYING FIELD.

“Now Powersellers get shipment protections that our brother sellers do not get. That is unfair. Everyone should get it or no one should get it. (I am referring to PayPal)

Now Powersellers get discounts based on DSR’s. Yet our selling brothers, the part timers, many who have ratings better than us do not qualify. That is unfair.”

Thank you, thank you, and thank you again!

“One last thing…You might ask why a Powerseller is sticking up for non-powersellers. The answer is real simple…if I do not stick up for my brother when he is being unfairly persecuted, who is going to be there when they come for me.”

Thumbs up, Colonel. Thanks for the kind words of inspiration.