eBay Glitch Blocks Buyers from Bidding

by: iheartjacksparrow

@MartinFrank - I got a message that your url was "not found on this server."

I never had a problem with zero feedback buyers when I was selling on eBay. The ones that stick in my memory are the buyers that had over 1,000 positive feedback and wouldn't pay for $3 items.

by: laurengrace

I don't think Buyers should'nt get honest negative feedback either but that falls on deaf ears. If they are going to have a feedback system, it needs to be the same for both buyers and sellers. Talk about the buyers walking around with their big stick...At least the way it was in the early days, it was a 2 sided system instead of this one sided unfair system they now have.  

by: laurengrace

It's like going to a gunfight but only one  is allowed to carry a gun.

by: Mattmelle

It will be interesting what the scope or size of this "glitch" was and if it affected certain categories more than others. eBay doesn't seem to fully understand what it is at all theses days!

by: Mattmelle

I do think that having your own branded site is good with eBay being so uncertain But sellers never actually share what the true costs of building and marketing their website, they always "brag" about not having to pay fees to eBay. I'm not disagreeing with this but include what your website costs are per sale:) Your own online store website is not free especially at the beginning.  

by: Xander

Just stopped by to catch up on ebay news and wow... this one is quit a blunder. Everyone is losing money with this problem.

It's sad how difficult the ebay platform has become. Many ebay sellers are crying out in pain as their business's have been financially hurt by ebay's many changes and dis-functionality.

The way I feel at this moment, I could care less if ebay continues or fails. I do feel sad for the many who suffer on the platform though.

There will always be those who hate on ebay and those of support them. Nothing more than ebay yin/yang.

Lucky for us and many other sellers who have broken off from ebay, we no longer have to concern ourselves with their rules, so called ''glitches'' or system malfunctions.

I believe after using ebay for so long, there is a sort of ''separation'' process one goes through. For me, the process takes some time and is still ongoing to a small degree.

I still do my part to encourage friends and family to close their ebay accounts and shop elsewhere.

Reason being, I see no purpose to support ebay as I do not agree with the way they treat their users. Just like a bad relationship, one should know when it's time to leave an abusive partner. I do my part to shine light on the way ebay has abused it's users. They can then decide if they want to continue to use ebay further or not.

Speaking of bullies, ebay is the biggest and most damaging I've ever seen.

At lease ebay cannot hurt me or my family any further. Our business is strong, customers are pleasant and we run our business using our own policies but the best part is no more fee's to ebay!

by: Marie

@laurengrace

It is a mixed bag out there in regards to FB.  Some sites don't allow sellers to leave FB at all for a customer.  

I think the only reason Ebay doesn't move to that format is that buyers will strongly object.  Otherwise they too would have joined the other sites that don't allow customer FB.

I think it is way too late to bring back negative FB for buyers.  Sellers are so angry now that it would backfire big time.  You would not be able to insure that sellers wouldn't over react.  We have been bruised up for too long by the current lop sided policies.  But that is just my opinion.

by: Island_Sam

It's bad enough that our sales is down 60% this year.

We have very little bids on 30 items with .01 cent auctions listed in the last 3 days. Ebay just keeps adding nails to the proverbial coffin...

by: WOODJUNGLE! ON EBAY

Marie.

I am looking under the buyer requirements. Only one type of buyer is being blocked.  I honestly can't believe how  many I had.  I figured I'm actually losing a few sales so I unticked it. I'd rather deal with a couple of flakes than lose those sales.

No, Ebay will never allow us to block 0 feedback buyers but those are the ones that are 90% of the non paying bidders.  

by: Xander

@Mattmelle

Our website costs 79.99/ month. We are currently making around $10,000.00 worth of sales per month and this is our slow period. This year, we have had months as low as $8,000.00 and some as high as $14,500.00. Sales continue to climb every year.

We don't pay for any google services, all our customers come from word of mouth or from organic search.

I can't offer you a ''cost per sale'' but for 79.99/mo, the reduction in fee's is substantial.

$10,000.00 X 12% = $1,200.00 fees less $79.99 = $1,120.01 in fees we no longer have to pay.

A business can survive with lower sales volume because they are no longer paying ebay 10% plus 10% fee on shipping for every item. No store fees or software subscriptions either. In our case, $79.99 a month is what we've been paying this past year and a half and $29.99/mo before that.

Hopefully that answers your question.

by: Marie

It isn't a sale unless you get paid for it.  If they are being blocked due to too many unpaid strikes, then they have stung a few sellers.  

Just out of curiosity, looking at your list of blocked buyers, what are their FB numbers.  Are they mostly newer buyers?  On my report, the ones blocked for non paying averaged over 750 FB.

I firmly disagree about the new buyers being 90% of the problems with non payers.  Where did you get that figure.  I know for me and many others I've spoken with they are a fraction of our problems.  Possibly in the category you sell it, it presents a larger problem.  I know for electronics new buyers are a real issue, much more so than any other category.

by: laurengrace

Xander, Who is doing the hosting?

by: Xander

I'd rather not be specific as to which one we use but it is one of the following.

Volusion
Bigcommerce

by: Marie

You can find hosting that is reasonable, but everyone is not going to be as lucky as Xander and have no need to pay to drive traffic to your site.  Certainly some can but there are others that need to drive traffic.  Once your not paying Ebay anymore you can use the money you use to pay Ebay to drive traffic.

But as you are building your site that could be difficult since you will probably still need to be on Ebay to make money.  It is all a process.  I'm not trying to discourage anyone.  But you need to know it isn't free.  

I too am working towards my independence.  Doing it by steps will help to ensure you don't hurt yourself during the process.

by: Island_Sam

We are currently using Network Solutions to host our site. Also have a third party contractor doing our SEO (Search Engine Optimization) It definitely is not for everyone. If your business has the scale to support the costs, go for it. If you are just a "hobbyist" seller, it may not be the right fit. Then you may have to look at other platforms, Etsy, Bonanza, Ebid, etc, etc.

by: Xander

Yes, having your own site is a process and you will need time to build your site and develop a following.

With that said, having your own site is not for everyone. You really have to want it.

We started four years ago when we concluded the future of ebay did not align with our business needs and yes, it was slow at first so one must allow time to get it working for you. It's never too late to get started though.

When you look at the costs to get started, compared to what ebay takes each month, it's a very small monthly investment. The average starting cost is around $29.99/mo. A small price to pay to regain your freedom from venue fees and control.

The sooner one starts, the earlier they'll get there.

by: WOODJUNGLE! ON EBAY

I always get people asking me to buy items with two strikes because of some misfortune they had.  I usually do the sale directly via paypal.  I figured I would just take my chances. And yes, for ME, 90% of my non paying bidders are new to ebay, just signed up and have no feedback.  I would think it would be similar across the board.  People with established feedback typically pay, so I would think naturally the new accounts are most likely not to.    

by: WOODJUNGLE! ON EBAY

Incidentally, most of the buyer that go on my bbl are because they are idiots and cause problems, are insatiable etc.  Not because they don't pay.

by: laurengrace

I have looked at shopify,volusion and big commerce. I liked the look of big commerce templates, but the import wasn't as easy as shopify and the pics on shopify look really good, However getting items organized on shopify is more work, With Volusion, i cant tell how the import will work until i commit to them although there may be a workaround for that. Years ago i used Shoppal, but they havent kept up with all the new stuff such as mobile comerce. They do have a bulk uploader though, where you can load six items at a time rather than the tedious one at a time. I also used highwire but looks like they sold out to Volusion. I actually did real well with Highwire. Anybody else want to share?

by: Rexford

"Some people's hatred of Ebay certainly seems to cloud their judgement."

And you are surprised?  The financial downfall has happened.  A dog who is continually beaten with a stick will hate and it will cloud his judgement and he will bite.