Sellers Choice 2020 Pulls Back the Curtain on Marketplaces

by: Chicago48

@thievesbay.  Ebay is still the best EC site because it's so versatile.  For example, auctions, buy it now, best offer options.  It has its problems, but so do the others.  Once I changed to auctions ONLY (w/ buy it now) I'm much happier, make more sales and pay less fees than when I was a store.

by: toolguy

@oldcoins

but but but, you must sell in a "niche" category!

Your post gets a big 👍 from me!

by: wellspring

The comments about ebay were so “perfectly worded” that I immediately suspected that Ina’s blog and questionnaire was infiltrated by ebay personnel! Ebay might bring in the most sales (which isn’t saying a lot these days) but it is most certainly not the easiest venue to use. Anyone who’s ever tried another venue would know that.
I agree with posters above that there is no way to monitor true venue users versus “plants” by the venue themselves. I did not believe the majority of the comments this year that put ebay first and glowingly praised the venue. Only a newbie or a plant that hasn’t experienced all aspects  (slow sales, high fees, defunct search) of ebay would speak so highly.  

by: Flying Childers

old coins- I LOVE your post and also many of TG's and the other posts on Ebay as well.  I am a small, niche seller (and buyer) who's glad to be able to sell my stuff online.  
Ebay has always been my go to place for buying as it's often the only place I can find the unusual vintage pieces I'm looking for.

 I use Etsy to sell both vintage and handmade, but over the years their tech geniuses have made it nearly impossible to find anything because of the way they manipulate search and hide everything.  Etsy's fees have also gone up quite a bit and are now about 17% which is still MUCH cheaper than what galleries or dealers charge.

I too could not believe that Bonanza get any kind of ratings!  Does anyone actually sell anything over there??  I didn't think that any site could be worse than Etsy when it comes to search, but Bonanza takes the cake.  You literally cannot find things even if you type in the exact name of the shop or product.

I still give Ebay the top rating, despite all their problems.  And I agree with many of the others who post here that these awards seem really screwed up and nonsensical.  To be taken with a large grain of salt.

by: kate & kozy

A lot of negativity. I want to learn how to grow my business. I am a hamster on a wheel off buy and sell.

by: Aaaah

The Amazon sellers were complaining recently because the company increased the Return time from 1 month to longer. A while ago, we had the customers who were claiming that they did not receive the items 1 years later, after the item was delivered according the delivery confirmation we stored. They were hopping that we did not store the delivery information and would credit them money back (the USPS does not keep the tracking information for more than a few months).

However, eBay has another problem related to Returns. Some customers are faking the products' defects that do not exist if they do not want to keep the item and do not want to pay return shipping (they want seller paid) or if the seller does not accept returns. We experienced such situation on eBay recently. We accepted Return request of the brand new designer's suede pants, which a customer Marilyn Fletcher called "defective". She emailed pictures with those "defects". And those pictures looked very convincing, there were two yellow spots on the dark green suede. She wrote in her email that she was a journalist and that she has access to any type of photo equipment. We we really curious about those yellow (she called them "discoloration") spots, because I personally checked these absolutely brand new pants before shipping, and there were no spots or discoloration there. We checked name "Marilyn Fletcher" on the web and found out that she is executive producer at LMN in New York. This is amazing how the people, who have access to the high end photo equipment, quick using it to scam the sellers on $20 or so making them pay for the back and forth shipping faking not existing defects without thinking that lying does not make them look better. Especially it is laughable when they are the NYC's Executive Producers, like Marilyn Fletcher. We are not the Chinese sellers who ship the fake or broken items. The items checked individually and described correctly, most of the time we sell the single items. I examined those suede pants after receiving them from Fletcher. There were no yellow discoloration that appeared at her pictures. She was faking those ugly yellow spots using flashlight photography picturing the suede's areas that were previously folded. And as we all know, the suede hair automatically changes its color if moved left-right-up or down. To fix this effect, one needs just brush the suede hair one direction. It is the natural quality of the suede.

And there are a bunch of customers who buy staff they do not need or want and then they want to return those items free of charge faking "defects" that do not exists. Seller in this situation has to waste money on shipping back and forth, not mentioning the time. So who is better Amazon or eBay?  

by: lancecorp

Ina - could you perhaps give us the Methodology of this survey. How many sellers took the survey? Did they have to be logged in to take the survey? Was this survey placed anywhere else out on the internet for people to take?

Methodology speaks volumes for those of us that questions surveys in general. With the promotion of sites like Poshmark and Mercari on media and the amt of sellers in groups and on youtube promoting these other two venues - I can't believe that Bonanza would even be a consideration for sellers anymore.

by: Silver Ice King

@Tool

Just be aware that SS always pays a month behind.  So when you turn 66 and qualify for it, you will not get your first check or direct deposit until the 4th week of the month following your qualification.  I only mention this because of how you are waiting for that time to come so eagerly plus you state that you live day to day on your sales.  You can still earn some money while on SS but it is limited and i truthfully do not know the amount anymore.

by: Happy Cat

Agree that it would be illuminating and helpful to know the total number of survey participants, and how many voted for each as their number 1 selection.

Still very interesting and thank you for sharing.

by: BoloRama

I am never doing another one of these again. How bonanza could move to the number 2 spot is frankly beyond me, and how ecrater even has a placement on this list is somewhat shocking. I expected alot more after the 2 month wait to see this list. What about all the comments people left regarding improvements? Any aggregation of that data?

by: Sharkin

I started a website with bigcommerce 4 months ago.  Set it up in 2 hours.  Pay $30 a month.  This cost is covered by eliminating 300 listings on ebay which comes out to $30.00.  The website sales are double my Ebay sales.  It is nice to feel like you own and operate a business.  Sure beats working for EBAY.  

by: donald

I never thought I say this but eBay is starting to make more sense to me now.  Let's hope the new management doesn't make things worse. At Amazon, I sell more but is become a pain in the bott. A lot more hoops to jump than eBay.

by: toolguy

@Silver Ice King

66?

I'm going to start collecting at 62

by: Jeeper

FYI, I have a little booth on Bonanza that collects dust.  I got an email from Bonanza when the Sellers Choice 2020 was announced.  Bonanza offer prize(s) for sellers who participated in the survey.  Don't remember whether it was something for each seller, or entry into a raffle thing.  I didn't plan to review Bonanza, so deleted email.

by: Ebay Little Shop of Horrors

When I first saw the results, I laughed. I thought, "Toolguy, you rascal, was it you? How many times did you vote?

How many times could one ISP vote?

Well, if it wasn't Toolguy, maybe it was the South Korea branch of ebay.  Since eBay's trying to sell it.

by: Whatever

Ina - my darling - I see you have gone over to the dark side.  I get - we all need a job - me too - but it sure isn't on ebay anymore and I'm quite sure alot of other sellers think that as well.  Bonanza? Are you sure that's not a misprint? You have now truly confirmed for me that eBay does indeed own Bonanza. then let's take Ruby Lane - omg they have some of the highest outright fees anywhere.  So anyway - I think most of us don't really put any stock in the "survey" anymore but I gotta give you credit where credit is due. You are persistent.