How Will eBay Layoffs Impact Online Sellers?

by: eBay Shill Buster

Tool, I sell a lot of industrial tools like you do, in the days before Donahoe and Wenig ruined the marketplace everything sold within a few days, now it can take years to move items, in the meantime I'm not going to be fee churned just to have inventory on eBay to support criminal White Collar Criminals and their stock option cash in gig.

by: eBay Shill Buster

Tool, eBay is not a start up company, they are downsizing, not growing or trying to build out a factory to build airplanes, so your example is not relevant, they are selling off parts of the company and cutting costs because they have negative growth.

eBay wants to work pay to play scams, they want to sell ads to sellers or force them into giving them more fees to sell, well I turned the table on them, they get no listing fees or relisting fees, they will never sell a promoted listing here, if they do not produce they will not get a dime, that is my pay to play.

We are pulling inventory from eBay and moving it to Amazon, they are not going to fee churn unsold inventory which is Temken's and Wenig's criminal dream scheme.

Now if that makes good business sense to you and eBay, great, but the way I look at it, millions of sellers ending more listings than they add to eBay due to the automated fee churning script they are running against unsold items is actually going to destroy the company.

by: toolguy

@iheartjacksparrow

My (California) buyers are required to pay a "use tax", if they pay or not is none of my business!

I don't collect taxes for anyone state or feds and will NEVER do so!

I don't believe in taxes. . . . .

by: ElectronixRecyclers

Toolguy,

I think your observation about eBay becoming a target for a take over is on point.  That may be the intent when all is said and done, try to squeeze out the last remaining value in eBay securities and then sell out and cash in.

That having been said, who are the likely candidates to purchase eBay?  Apple making a play at online marketplaces?  Amazon devouring another competitor (the eBay brand would be of value to Amazon).  Alphabet looking to take Google Shopping to the next level?  What about a payment processor looking for a vertical monopoly?

by: ebayout

I've sold on ebay for 20+ years...over $500K in sales. I can't say that I've been ripped off by ebay (I pay the fees I've agreed to), but I did once enjoy an 8% fee, which has gone back to 10%, partly because I refuse to offer free returns.
BECAUSE I am again paying full boat, I refuse to fork over anything extra.
I don't even offer BIN on an auction because of that tacky 10 cent charge.
ebay steps over dollars to pick up pennies. They'd rather be clever than smart.

by: Silver Ice King

@Toolguy

Famous Last words about not collecting taxes because you do not believe in them.  You better hurry up and hit the retirement age before the New Sales Tax agency in CA catches on to you, but there again if you only sell on Ebay they probably will never catch you now that Ebay is collecting the tax.  They are starting to look at other sites for sellers who live in CA and do not have resale licenses because they want what they are owed and laying it off on the buyer doesnt cut it as the Use Tax is for items purchased outside of CA where Sales Tax was not collected.

by: ssusannss

I am lucky that there are other venues available where I can sell my product. I have slowly started downsizing my eBay account. I used to pay up to $500 a month in eBay fees, not a huge seller, but I had a full time job and this was a nice side hustle. My fee last month was $36. I have now downgraded my store from the $25 a month, to the $4.99 special that gives me 100 listings a month. I currently have 50 items listed.

It was all because it seemed like one slap down after another, and another, and another. 30 day returns on used clothing? No way! So I got buried in search. Then, 30 sponsored listings between my title and my description. Sales tanked. I will not pay for sponsored listings. I will not give free returns. I am not going to send items out at my expense for buyers to try on and throw back in the mail.

Actually managed payments, if they are like the other venues that I use, are not so bad. But...the other venues give the buyer three days to inspect the item, and then release your funds. Not 30 days.

What they don't realize is that not all buyers are sellers, but most sellers were buyers, too. When my income from eBay started dwindling, I stopped spending those dollars on eBay. Many of my seller friends are not buying either.

I thought as a seller that I was eBay's customer. Boy was I wrong.  

by: eBay Shill Buster

ssusannss, you are right, inept eBay executives can't figure out that when they bankrupt their sellers, they are killing off their very best customers and those who do 2 way trading on eBay, once they are lost, they are gone forever.

by: DeathFromAbove

Well, 200 overdue firings of $140K-salaried silicon valley and Seattle do-nothings equals a savings of nearly 30 million dollars annually in salary alone.  Can you go ahead and make listings free now, like every other platform?  That's the next change you need.  People are hesitating to list things because it costs money, hurting ebay just as much.  I can't imagine how 30 million won't instantly offset that, and increase the amount of listings on the site, thus sale, thus revenue, thus fee income.  Try it.

by: lancecorp

The layoffs here mean nothing because they have outsourced most of the IT overseas. Sellers I know who requested copies of Jira requests shows that the team members who checked the tickets and responded to them were 100% outsourced. They also believe that these individuals are not actually Ebay employees but contractors which would explain the disconnect and why it's so hard to get these problems fixed - language barriers and not actual employees who have something to lose.

Many of the tech people have been moved from the search problems and thrown into Managed Payments - so these other IT depts. have skeleton crews.

Will these layoffs impact us - not a bit - it's still a sinking ship and people better grab the lifeboats and look elsewhere. Granted - people have predicted eBay's demise for years - but it actually has disintegrated through the years and is a worthless platform for many sellers as well as buyers who can't find what they are looking for or won't pay the higher prices due to all the fees sellers have to add in to the cost.

by: Chicago48

Repeat after me:  Go private Ebay.  Like Dell.  Clean up your house and then relaunch as a public company.

by: SellerGirl

Getting rid of the engineers is always the second sign of the apocalypse for any corporation.  

by: iheartjacksparrow

@toolguy - You'd better hurry up and hire a good tax attorney, because with your way of thinking, you're going to need one. Your California buyers only have to pay a "use" tax when they purchase something from outside of California. When they purchase from you, as a California resident and who's principal place of business is in California, you are required to collect and remit sales tax sales to California residents. Since you are constantly advertising the names of your eBay businesses on this blog, it wouldn't be hard for the state to track you down. And I've often wondered how you can file personal income tax returns without accounting for your business income which should be a red flag for the Franchise Tax Board.  

by: toolguy

@ iheartjacksparrow

I own NOTHING, I have NOTHING

You can't take what isn't there!

I'm 60 years old

It would cost them 100x what they would collect

I'm smaller then a small fish

The government should be happy I don't have my hand out for freebies I am totally entitled too. . . .

by: toolguy

@ iheartjacksparrow

I have NEVER crossed the threshold of $100,000 or 200 transactions in a year to California residents.

I have very few sales to California, California has chased almost all of the aerospace business

fast forward to today, eBay is collecting sales taxes so it's out of my hands now. . .

by: toolguy

@iheartjacksparrow

From taxjar

Do you have economic nexus in California?

Effective April 26, 2019, California considers retailers who exceed $500,000 in taxable annual sales to have economic nexus. This means the state considers these sellers now obligated to collect sales tax from buyers in that state.

April 1, 2019, was when California’s original economic nexus laws took effect, but they evolved as of April 26, 2019, from $100,000 in sales and 200 transactions annually, to $500,000 in sales and no transaction threshold.

My answer to the above question: NO

by: Shanna

LOL! at eBay claiming contract workers in Asia as employees.  

by: Taylizale

4 months and still no CEO, no new mission statement, no direction or forward thinking only more perfuming of the pig.. Same old glitch fest ''casshitty'' search engine and droves of sellers either removing listings in bulk or closing shop completely. Very soon Ebay will have very few USA sellers to throttle or listings to hide.

If Schenkel stays on as CEO more than likely Ebay will be sold. If they bring in someone new then there is a slight chance a total revamp ensues and more heads roll ( like Schenkels ). My bet however is takeover and then the revamp occurs ( hopefully :). Elliot couldn't find an easier target.......

https://www.wsj.com/articles/elliott-looks-beyond-activism-to-
full-blown-takeovers-11548870326

by: Don Wagner

Bad news. When they lay off local IT Engineers, it is so they can throw the work over the fence to offshore contractors. Who needs someone tech-savvy here in the U.S. who knows how the system is supposed to work, supervising the work product coming in from overseas? No one ever listened to those IT guys anyway, I mean, they don't even understand the cost benefits of our decisions.

by: iheartjacksparrow

@toolguy - The law is that if you are a California seller and make three, repeat, THREE or more sales to California residents you are required to collect sales tax. What you are quoting about $100,000 and 200 sales is for sales to California residents made by sellers whose principal place of business is OUTSIDE of California (i.e., if I live in Arizona and sell $200,00 worth of Beanie Babies to California residents then I have to collect that tax). And you do have a nexus in California because you live in California and sell from California. Again, the nexus rules are for sellers OUTSIDE of California.

The State doesn't care if you're 60 years old, a small fish, or have nothing. They will throw you in prison for tax evasion, and they can take all of the Social Security money you are counting on because taxes owed are not exempt from garnishment.