eBay Wants to Be Seen as the Merchant

by: Cargo11

OMG - YOU'RE RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by: toolguy
Can it get any worse? YOU BETCHA
Mark my words, our seller ID's will be hidden in the future, sellers will be nothing more then fulfillment shippers! I see that coming as clear as eBay fee's are a risen. . .

by: leathermermaid8

In order to me a Merchant, they must also plan to source, pack and ship their own merchandise and police their own returns.   Actually, it would be a good lesson for them to learn how dishonest buyers directly affect the bottom line.  Their return policy would soon take a complete turn.

It has been pointed out time and time again that as a "venue" they DO NOT own anything they sell.  
So after everybody helps them build this catalog,  they get to test the new payment system.

Where are eBay's streaming series?  Dedicated tablets?  Branded fashions?  I could go on.

I  see them wanting to create a new marketplace but why screw up what they already have?  They can't have both?

I do very little shopping on Amazon, it's not my favorite place to shop.  However,  Amazon's reputation, variety of services, media  and merchandise is something eBay can't touch.   Amazon does Amazon very well.  They're NOT having an identity crisis

Ebay can't seem to make up its mind and it shows.

by: comments

Everything ebay has ever done to to connect buyers and sellers as a community has been a total success.

Everything ebay has done to be like amazon has been an epic failure.

Can't understand why they persist. Just hoping the shareholders throw out current management before he can totally ruin ebay (if it isn't already too far gone).

by: ebayout

With Wenig at the helm, ebay 2021 will be Craig's List Lite
More than likely all these dreams and Wenig will be toast after the 3rd quarter anyway.
Speaking of the Devil...ebay apparently did a quiet, 3M share buyback AFTER HOURS today.
That's triple their normal. H-M-M-M-M....

by: thievesBay

Yep they own nothing, ship nothing, have no "brand" as they keep saying. But they wanna take credit for all the seller's work and hoops they've jumped through over the years. You know the first thing that happens if there's a problem with any transaction, THAT'S when they'll throw it all on the seller and take no responsiblilty. Their only solution for revenue is to keep stealing more money from sellers and take away any and all control you have over your own items! Wenig and his criminal organization needs to be thrown to the street or better yet behind bars. They are out of control in the wrong direction on everything they do!  

by: thievesBay

@ebayout

It's almost as if they do buybacks trying to keep the stock afloat. So it doesn't "look so bad". Hope all these POS continue to lose their shirts.

by: ebayout

ebay is not an e-commerce stock...they own nothing
ebay is not a technology stock...obvious

ebay is a pixel rental service.
When the fog lifts, and it's true self emerges, it'll be a $16 stock...maybe.
Now Wenig, go sell your dream.

by: I Must be Crazy

''The goal is to let the buyer trust the platform rather than the seller.''

This is already a problem for eBay right now. Most people do not trust eBay. I realize they would have everyone think that it's the SELLERS who are the problems with eBay. However it is simply not the case. If
it weren't for the individual sellers, eBay would be nothing. Put simply, if sellers operated in the same fashion as eBay, they are eliminated from search and forced off the site.

Ebay can be anything they want if they are willing to provide the service and or compensate me for storing THEIR merchandise and fulfilling THEIR orders. Anything less and they are full of it. I will build my own site and pay Google to bring it up in search. That will cut eBay right out of the mix.

Wenig and his minions should think very carefully about what they are considering. The strategies that eBay has embarked over the last 10 years have failed. They have been under poor management for that entire period. Continuing on the current path, with the current management team, will break the company.

by: OnlyPollyPocket

In my teeny-tiny mind to be a merchant you need something to sell.  Granted, they are selling space (and doing a REALLY poor job of that on so many levels).  

But when I think "merchant", I think a physical product that you, as others have said, source, list, sell, pack and ship.  Ebay does none of that...nothing but ride on our hard work and make it really difficult for us to do, at that!

by: Silver Ice King

Ebay allocated almost triple the money for buybacks this year rather than spending it on making the company profitable, which Wenig already knows would be a waste of money.  This is just another try to boost the stock price anyway possible so that he does not lose his job before he has a chance to destroy ebay completely.

As for trying to being seen as the Merchant, I have been saying this for over a year now, but the problem will always be the same for Ebay, they do not have any merchandise so they will always need the sellers.  Plus as soon as there is a problem Ebay instantly throws the seller under the bus so that the buyer doesn't blame Ebay and their reputation.  Wenig has not learned you can't have it both ways.  This is why Ebay started getting rid of the Design Lister, so that all Listings would look the same and that is why they have destroyed the individuality of the stores.  Ebay wants the stores to all be vanilla so that the buyer hopefully only remembers Ebay.  The problem is that Ebay doesn't think about the fact they have no inventory so they cannot be the merchant and most buyers are also sellers and they do not trust Ebay at all, where they have developed trust in the Individual Sellers.  

Wenigs ego is even larger than Donohoes was and he just cannot stand being the CEO of the worlds largest flea market or garage sale.  That is just to embarrassing to him as he thinks he is Gods gift to the world and should be the CEO of a company like Amazon - but he has no brains to run a company as he has already demonstrated and he has made Ebay such a disaster I am truly wondering if the marketplace will last as a part of the Ebay company until 2021.  Ebay continues to lose marketshare to Etsy and other sites every quarter due to Wenigs Follies and he can only overstate the numbers for so long before the auditors catch up with him and he has to face the music with the Shareholders.

I just hope that he has violated Sarbanes Oxley or the RICO laws bad enough that he has to sit in a 6 x 8 foot cell for 20 years or so.  I would actually prefer that it is in a Federal prison even if they are more like Club Med and not a prison, because they also don't let the prisoners out early due to overcrowding.  So if he gets 20 years he will serve around 88% of his sentence time so about 17 years having to be careful about accidentally dropping the soap bar, plus he is still in a 6 x 8 ft cell every night for 17 years and he won't be needing any conjugal visits from his wife.  Plus she will be having to work extra to live since all they own will go back to the shareholders and maybe even the sellers when the class action suit follows his incarceration.  

A Seller can dream still right??  He deserves to have nothing after the way he has destroyed that company and continues to try and ruin all the individual sellers as he feels that Ebay is to good for anybody other than his Chinese PArtners.

by: Saintsteven

OK, they can be the seller.  Now, after they build some infrastructure and all that, what will they pay me to front them some merchandise and fulfill their orders?

by: munson68

Sorry Ebay I'm out....If I want to "Amazon" then I will use Amazon.

by: Snapped

This Cat5 eCom hurricane was visible years ago, and it's path of destruction predicted by many, ever since the purge of 'Me' pages.  

Any entreprenurial seller seeking to maintain any independence and identity who still thinks that remotely possible is simply in denial at this point.  eBay has only confirmed what was obvious to the most casual observer.

They have said it themselves - without sellers, there would be no eBay.

It's time to prove it.  Escape, or be assimilated.  

by: Taylty

They fail to realize tjat Amazon offers both fulfilment and merchant services.  If ebay wants to be like Amazon then they should store our merch and ship it for us.  You can buy from various merchants on Amazon or directly from Amazon.  Until eBay is willing to accept the risk of returns then they will never be able to convince the community of sellers that they care about that partbership.  I would like Amazon to launch an auction type service to slap ebay into reality again.

by: bitbybit

Sellers are not going to be eBay's silent partner.

So eBay wants sellers to do all the work, hide in the basement away from the buyers view and take the blame for everything and anything that goes wrong. All on the sellers dime. Sound like a new form of slave labor.

by: pace306

The issue isnt what the Devil wants or doesnt want - its how the lawyers that comprise eBay "do their job" and craft the TOS/UA to force you to do "it" or else.

Thats ALL it boils down to.

Each and every day, eBay comes up with new and sumber ideas (all of course that take money from sellers) and that wont ever change.

eBay believes that buyers are PERFECT. As demonstrated with the new tracking dictates - eBay openly tells you that they will LIE to protect a buyer - regardless of the information a seller presents.

If eBay admits to lieing (usually they lie but dont admit it) HERE, what wont they do?

eBay will craft a TOS that says "30 day returns OR else you are off eBay". Thats great if you can be off eBay - but what if you CANT? What if Amazon doesnt work for you and now eBay doesnt?

As for payments - I said it 10x in my last posting to a certain young lady, who didnt want to believe. eBay is going to use payments to FORCE you to do as they want. Its their way or no way - and (based on current events) there is NO one who will come to a sellers rescue.

Its more gambling then selling - for the seller at least, not for eBay since they will NEVER loose. eBay will take money right out of your account - and they you will have to BEG eBays crappy Filipino CS to let you have it back.

If you complain ... "you agreed to it IN THE TOS, so whats your problem?????"

Personally - I dont care if eBay becomes "merchant of record" as long as they take responsibility for "the REST of it aka things like TAXES etc".

If eBay becomes MOR - are we sellers or are we just paid a commission?  and how does THAT impact not only sales tax but state taxes on "sales" if WE arent making them ...

eBay has no brand - its just a place to buy "stuff cheap". eBay went down the road of screwing sellers instead of upholding them - and no seller whos gotten screwed will push eBay, help create a positive image for it, or even help it.

Product listings wont work, just like eBay NOW didnt. eBay doesnt understand that its sellers are the best asset it has .... and they never will.

33.86 USD −0.54 (1.57%)

THAT was eBays stock today - and with enough pressure - from all of us - emailing newspapers, emailing stock places (seeking alpha, cnbc etc) - sellers CAN put enough pressure on eBay to make changes. But it take a concerted effort that most arent willing to make.

Meanwhile

1,882.62 USD −37.03 (1.93%)

THATS Amazons ... just wait till black Friday/cyber Monday - Amazon will clean eBay's clock!

by: pace306

The statements by Ina (quoting Mo-god-dam's statement) dont say anywhere that eBay wants to be MOR. They infer it but dont state it.

That inference however flies in the face of eBays statements in their suit with Tiffany.

Is eBay becoming the merchant with its behaviors? It looks like it is - but then that would open them up to being sued again bu other makers (who make the same assertions that Tiffany did) because then eBays behavior makes them subject to Inwood.

The Inwood decision (used by eBay to claim they are innocent in contributory infringement) states that they were not guilty because it (eBay) supplies a service while Inwood  governs only manufacturers  and  distributors  of  products.

So - either you just provide services (website) and are NOT guilty, OR you do more then that and ARE guilty.

by: thriftyattireandstuff

A merchant that takes my used product photos for their catalog. It'd be nice to know when they do that kinda stuff, like inform you that your hard work is able to be copied by other buyers to sell their products. Complete BS.. But again...they want returns.. that seems to be one of their great mission.. Not sales but hassle free returns..  Continuing to dumb down the customer one day at a time.

by: ebayout

So...Wenig expects 325M new buyers.

He's proven he's no whiz with numbers.
He probably still believes what he muttered back in January...that the average ebay delivery is TWO DAYS in the U.S.

by: mcfiver

And that's 100% proof that Wenig and company are out of their minds: "...trust the platform rather than the seller." OK, cool. I'll make room in my 20th century car for the Platform gang to ride along on my weekly vintage treasure hunts. They can pay for gas, do the digging, find the items, research the items, clean and test them, photograph and edit the photos, resize and accurately list, interact with bidders, then carefully pack and ship them.