Knowing Where You Stand

SandiOn 06.13.2008 at 9:45 pm Said:

Now…I suggest that if anyone has a list of the questions asked that they might post them all in one post to make it a bit easier for Richard?

The question regarding featured items remains unanswered, why? If it worked like it was suppose to ebay would be quick to tell us that.

The other alternative is ebay is cheating sellers out of 20 bucks a pop and remains silent.

Sorry, but I don’t get how anyone would let that question go unanswered.

MechelleOn 06.14.2008 at 12:18 pm Said:

I am curious how ebay can do the things they are doing knowing the significance of eBay’s role in the lives of so many people

“An ACNielsen survey found that 1.3 million people earn part or all of their income by selling on eBay.”
Source: http://tinyurl.com/5byag9

In light of the survey results I am stunned over eBay’s clear lack of appreciation for the circumstances of those of us who sell on eBay.

This quote I find amusing considering how many posts I have read stating “eBay isn’t fun anymore”. They are bragging about the joy people feel about the eBay marketplace, but they don’t seem to want to acknowledge this quality has been stripped from the people who have said so in the past.

“They don’t refer to themselves as businesses,” Lutwak said. “If I ask ‘How long have you been in business?’ they’ll say, ‘Oh, no, this is not a business. This is fun.” Source: http://tinyurl.com/5byag9

SandiOn 06.14.2008 at 12:31 pm Said:

@patricia & vera:

I asked an expert on ebay about the featured listings (reporter) and they said the following:

Featured listing
gets you to the top of the page on which you
would fall under best match, so if you would show
up on p. 3 under Best Match, the listing would
show up at the TOP of page 3 - but not on page 1,
except when sorted by non-Best Match criteria.

which explains why we haven’t gotten an answer and would suggest it’s not worth the money.

Patricia1On 06.14.2008 at 12:38 pm Said:

Thand Sandi - tells me feature plus is worthless now LOL No wonder they were keeping the answer under their hats.

SandiOn 06.14.2008 at 1:23 pm Said:

@ Permcrisis

Maybe Richard can follow the light of the burning bridges to find the way to the answers to our questions.

TheBrewsNewsOn 06.15.2008 at 9:38 am Said:

Since the new feedback policy went into effect we have had more than our share of nonpaying bidders and we have eventually reported all of them through the UPI process. We have not yet received any negative feedbacks since May 19th from a nonpaying bidder.

What would be interesting is if we could get some data about the buyers who are leaving negatives even though they are not paying.

1. Did they buy the item on auction or with Buy Now?

2. Specifically what did their negative feedback say? (so that we could get some insight)

3. Did they give any “real” reasons why they didn’t pay? (for example, the buyer wanted to pay by check even though the seller clearly indicated they do not accept checks)

4. How long has the buyer been an eBay user and how many feedbacks do they currently have? (this would help to determine if they are a new uninformed user and/or possibly a competitor out to ruin someone’s feedback).

Without any hard facts about how the buyers are “abusing” the UPI / feedback system, there is nothing that eBay will consider doing to create a more balanced system. If there really is a system-wide problem with buyers “purchasing” an eBay item, not paying, and then leaving negative feedback, one would hope that the pressure of making the “facts” known publicly would cause eBay to consider changing the system.

My suggestion would be that sellers who are seeing this particular problem should begin gathering specific “evidence” which can then be used to show patterns of system-wide abuse.

Patricia1On 06.15.2008 at 12:52 pm Said:

“Without any hard facts about how the buyers are “abusing” the UPI / feedback system, there is nothing that eBay will consider doing to create a more balanced system.”

LOL when I realized they just took a buyer’s word as gospel there was no need to go any further - they simply don’t care!

MechelleOn 06.15.2008 at 3:21 pm Said:

I have had an increase in UPI also, seems to be an epidemic - though I’m not sure this is a result of the feedback changes or the economy. The gas prices are insane- 13 gallons over 60 dollars that will cut into the available funds for shopping.

I have always had higher non-payments from store purchases, and it has always been with low feedback members. I think it is a misunderstanding of the way eBay works. Most online shopping is done with a shopping cart, which doesn’t lock you into a purchase. From my own behavior with using carts I constantly put stuff in the cart, take stuff out, leave and come back a week later (sometimes what I was interested in is no longer available), or not go back for months at which time I start over. I do of course purchase also, but I always want to make sure I’m getting the best price or I’m still not sure if I want the product.

I think eBay should have a cart for store inventory purchases- it really causes a problem for me- 90% of the time what was committed to, but not paid for is an item that is in more demand. Of course now I am stuck waiting 15 days to be able to list it again at which time it may not be as in demand, so I lost the opportunity to maximize my profit. Also, when I am having a sale people may not have the money but don’t want to miss out on the sale price so they committed but 50% of the time don’t pay again I could have sold it to someone who would actually pay. Of course the fees I am out because of this behavior.

The immediate payment required option is counterproductive, because it discourages multiple purchases. So it really is a worthless feature for store owners. If there was a shopping cart feature it would provide the opportunity for multiple purchases, prevent the loss of fees relative to non-payment, and not cause me to a sale because my product is in the 15 days lock down. I’m not sure why eBay hasn’t yet added this tool, but it would work so much better. The only guess I have is they want to charge the sellers fees that did nothing but cause a burden.

TheBrewsNewsOn 06.15.2008 at 3:51 pm Said:

@Mechelle

The “shopping cart” feature is available on eBay Express but that has failed because most sellers do not use the combined shipping (shipping profiles) correctly. And sellers don’t use the profiles correctly because (1) they simply are uninformed / uneducated which is clearly eBay’s fault for creating technology that they don’t correctly inform anyone about and (2) most volume sellers don’t have the time to go back and revise thousands of auctions to correctly use the shipping profiles when such few sales actually occur on eBay Express (sellers’ time is unfortunately spent instead navigating through the eBay problems of nonpaying bidders and feedback extortion, etc). Without sellers’ cooperation to use the shipping profiles correctly, eBay Express cannot function properly and thus buyers will not use the system (eBay should really take a lesson here!).

One of my blog articles made reference to the fact that many eBay shoppers make an eBay purchase which they simply view as a “reservation”. If that is how they view their eBay purchse then it is no wonder that buyers are insulted when we press them to pay and why they might leave negative feedback when they are given an unpaid item strike.

MechelleOn 06.15.2008 at 6:01 pm Said:

I don’t think I understand what your referring to as shipping profiles?? I have shipping rules set and I can use the bulk edit to apply the rule, BUT eBay’s screwy system doesn’t always work. Also, when you set the rules as the listings expire and re-list the new rule is applied to the listings. I am referring to eBay not express- my products are on express but I have never done anything in eBay express to adjust my listing- I didn’t realize I could- can I?

Really doesn’t matter I get 2 to 3 transactions through express a month- though they do pay LOL. For this reason anything available on eBay express is worthless I need it available on eBay. I can learn the system - of course if eBay has a properly functioning system, which is not always the situation, but if it was I can learn how to do it- other people don’t want to take the time that is their issue, but I would like to have it as a tool- I think it would be the most valuable tool they could provide- they certainly charge enough that they should be providing the basics that are available through every other significant online market.

I see the point of educating the buying members on the expectation of conduct on the site and on feedback works. When it comes to sellers- though I feel there should be descent instructions on how the tool works and someone available for extra help if needed, but sellers need to take some initiative too. There are to many sellers who don’t know how to use the tools already available for store owners. I have on numerous occasions instructed much more experienced sellers on the various tools, because they didn’t even know it was available.

There is simply no excuse for a seller to not know what is available to them in their store tools- if they need help setting it up fine, but not to know it existed at all says more about the seller than eBay. Now I know i have often stumbled on to these tools rather than being informed of their availability, but I wouldn’t have if I didn’t even bother to explore what was available.

Seriously I have helped more experienced sellers:
learn that Markdown even existed and how to use it
Promotion boxes
store colors
where traffic reports is located (or that it was even available)
custom keywords
how to set sub categories

Really it is absurd