eBay Tries to Be One of the Cool Kids

by: bitbybit

These bozos have no idea on how to market. The emails I have received from eBay over the last couple years have become more desperate, dumb and a turn-off. I have deleted all of them but recall several thanking me, awarding me and because I am so special...here are several things you can spend your money on. Thanking me by having me buy something? DUMB,DUMB,DUMB No thank YOU eBay for reminding me why I no longer want to make any purchases on eBay.

Most Cool Kids don't like ''old'' people trying to be cool and trying to get them to do something by using this tactic. Kids consider eBay OLD and will see right through this lame approach, that is, if they even give a split second at the email.  Most kids do not even look at email so eBay has already lost the race before even getting out of the gate.

I don't know who does eBay's marketing, but they should be fired. It really is an uphill battle for eBay in attracting any demographic. They pretty much decimated that all on their own over the years.    

by: Rexford

It is a well known fact that when you try too hard to be cool you are anything but.

by: Marie

I think it is worth a try.  I do agree that ebay should not be taking credit for the zero shipping unless Ebay is actually going to pay for it.  But if the campaign works, I'm all for it.  

We need more traffic.  We all know that.  So would you prefer they did nothing?  Social media can be a great way to advertise.  Maybe their approach isn't the best, but it isn't that bad either.  

by: Bloggo

Young people think eBay is about as cool as MySpace or K Mart.

by: bitbybit

Sure anything is worth it to attract more traffic but emails to the younger crowd is like selling ice to Eskimos or a worm farm in the desert. Instagram, snapchat, texts are pretty much their focus and then followed by twitter and facebook. Facebook is primarily used by adults 30+.

Basing this on my marketing background, family and current work experience with the younger crowd age 6-25 and their parents.

by: pace306

Blogo is %100 correct. They believe that eBay is for grandma's and just not cool.

Of course none of this would be needed if they didnt anger their sellers 24/7 ... but why take the EASY way to profit if you can go the hard road?

by: Bill

All of the millennials that I know including my own kids think that eBay is for old people and that is all they are going to sell to or buy from on eBay. They all use Amazon, Craigslist or Facebook to buy or sell. A few will look at eBay but they say it is all messed up in search, way overpriced and too hard to find anything that they are looking for. If they are looking for something old they will drudge through the muck to find it. eBay is for old and used items not new stuff. Everything that eBay lists in the promo emails I can find at a better price on Amazon or at Walmart. Trying to be cool is not going to cut it at all.

by: imbloated

The $0 shipping claim is a lie. Many items do not have free shipping! The short ad misleads one to thinking that all items ship free. Plus, no item really ships free because eBay fees mean we have to raise our total prices. It's a lie in several ways. The whole concept of free shipping is misleading because it costs more to ship to some places than others, so if one offers free shipping one is forced to charge more than necessary if the buyer lives close. So free shipping costs some buyers MORE.

by: Volvo351

This is just going to strike that audience as Totally Lame, and I say that while being fully aware that the term 'lame' is probably, well, lame at this point, too.

Pete Townsend said it, half a century ago: "Don't try to dig what we all say!"

by: ignatz

Donahoe tried to be "cook kid." Look at the mess he made.

by: ignatz

That's "cool kid."

(Who knows, maybe Donahoe tried to be a "cook kid" too.)

by: iheartjacksparrow

That ship has sailed on eBay being cool. Ten years ago, everyone's conversation included selling or buying on eBay. Today, I never hear anyone talking about eBay.

by: bitbybit

''....you'll want to put a ring on it''

How many women want a cheap as@ ring from eBay?

Is everyone in their marketing department completely removed from reality?

Is the gimmick to show stupid off the wall remarks the only idea you can come up with since nothing else has worked to draw traffic to eBay?

By the way, millennials never shop, sell or even visit eBay. My millennial goes to Amazon.  

by: mcposty

To broke for a real television and radio campaign. You may see obe commercial every few weeks.

Didnt they axe their affiliates? Or made it less money to do so? A gazillion sales on anazon are generated from afilliates

by: toolguy

This is off topic but I have to post this.

I got this from eBay today:



Hi Lisa L. Osborne,

Good news--your order was canceled.

The seller refunded $24.70 back to your original payment method, and you don't need to do anything else.

How can a cancellation be good news?

by: Ric

Millennials do not want to waste time looking for what they want, and the results generated by eBay's search engine lack clarity, accuracy and relevancy.

Until eBay's search engine produces accurate - relevant results based solely on the keywords entered, eBay does not stand a chance with millennials or anyone else for that matter.

eBay needs to eliminate virtually every algorithm they have burdened their search engine with, and leave only those algorithms necessary to return results based solely on the terms entered in search.

If eBay can't or won't clean up their search results to make them more accurate to the specific terms entered in search, eBay is going to continue it run toward extinction.

Sellers would cope with eBay's anti seller policies if eBay was generating sales.  Between irrelevant search results alienating buyers, and ever increasing beatings bestowed upon their sellers, eBay is playing a zero sum game.

by: toolguy

@ Ric

Most of the sellers I follow have 90-100% sell thru week after week after week. Here's a short list of successful eBay sellers.

bidadoo_business
hgrauctions
primarysurplus
packrats2014
besttestus
scituateauctionsR>
Look at the past completed sales of these sellers.

It's not all doom & gloom on ebay as you think or say it is.

by: toolguy

My son is a millennial he would never buy on eBay but he has bought on Amazon. I scold him every time an Amazon box lands on the porch explaining we make our living on eBay not Amazon!

He shrugs me off as being and old man stuck in the past. . .

by: quirkyantiques

Interestingly enough-I closed my store there about 3 months ago as I no longer sell much of anything on there. Last week I got an email begging me to come back to "see what I was missing!" and offering me a store at $5 a month for the next 3 months.....

by: BargainzBabylon

Sorry, but I have a fair number of millennials shopping with me. It all depends on what they're looking for, what they're interested in. They're not going to find the stuff I carry on Amazon, but they'll find it in one of my stores/shops.

They're not a separate species, they're not as alike to each other as lemmings, they're just yet another generation with the usual variety of desires and interest like any other generation, and they'll use whatever media is most appropriate and fun for them, just like we did.

The social media campaign is smart, even if the content is abysmal. OMG, I remember marketing people trying to be 'hip' when I was a kid. JUST DON'T was usually our reaction. Most hipsters just look like Tryhards to me, anyway.