eBay Pushes Sellers into Managed Payments Despite Pandemic

by: FeelingFroggy

Well you guys just keep on arguing about what ebay will or won't do come July. We know what they will do as we have been there and done that. Now we are off to the golf course for 18.

by: Marie

@canbrit

"It isn't that I don't think they'll shut me down, it's that I don't care if they do." That isn't what you said earlier in the blog.  You called me a "fear monger" for saying Ebay will do exactly that.

As a refresher you stated "Marie, you are fear mongering in your statement "To get that taken care of BEFORE the date you are due to be put into the program is PROACTIVE and will prevent any delays in your selling on Ebay."
There is nothing in that email that even mentions restrictions of any kind."

by: Shanna

Marie,

So when they say ALL sellers, that doesn't include the Chinese, got it. That must be why they are immune from all the other rules for ALL sellers, like no duplicates and no counterfeits.

by: CanBrit

@FeelingFroggy

Me and my mine will be fishing come July. For the good stuff. Mmmmmmm

by: RKTOYS

eBay is exasperating.  Back when Mangled Payments was announced, I need to make a few thousand dollars to balance my accounts before bailing out.  Six or seven years ago, that would've been no problem.  The last two, though?  Well, let's just say last year's _gross_ revenue on eBay was barely $700.
It's like one of those nightmares where you're running in slow motion underwater with a monster closing in.  No matter what I do, I cannot get over one sale per month.  I don't think even FREE would sell at this point.

by: Marie

@Shanna

If they bring it to the seller's country.  MP is not worldwide.  I don't know what Ebay's plans for doing that is.  I haven't read anything on it.

by: Geetar

The only reason ebay will be letting you use your funds to purchase label's is because they figure you will either do one of 2 things if they dont:

1- use a credit or debit card to buy labels and they will get hit with a transaction fee. I would do this anyway go get reward points...it's a dirty world, ebay is not clean, so you have to take whatever you can.

2- you will go elsewhere to buy labels and they will loose their vig from the discount they get, that they dont give you.

This is the only reason why. Otherwise they would rather keep as much as they could for as long as they could to have a larger amount of $$ to collect interest on.
Bottom line!

by: Marie

@geetar

1.  If that were a concern, then they would just raise fees.

2.  Many sellers currently do labels through Ebay and pay with PP.  Ebay still gets credit for the postage purchased.  Certainly some will always buy their postage elsewhere.

IMHO Ebay is adding the ability to do labels in MP because it was a major complaint by many sellers that they could not pull the postage fee from the money received from the buyer.  They would have to keep funds in PP to cover postage or buy it elsewhere in which they would still have to self fund.

by: Shanna

Marie,

So the rules about following rules on the platform you list on has ended? If I list on eBay.UK I have to follow UK rules, so why do the Chinese not have to follow US .com rules?

by: Marie

@shanna

There are various requirement, regulations and laws in every country as I'm confident you are aware of.  In those countries that Ebay has a site for, they must comply with that countries laws.  They all differ a bit.  The rules for Australia, UK, etc. vary a bit from the USA site because of this.

Sellers that have their accounts set up in those countries and list on other sites like the US site have to comply with the listing rules but that doesn't mean Ebay can put them into MP.  Same with US sellers that list on the UK site or some other of Ebay's sites.  It is all driven by where your account is set up in.

I may not have explained that very well, so if you still have questions, please ask and I'll try to do better.

by: Whatever

I've decided to permanently close my store - I will only list the 50 free per month and eBay is going to have to earn their money the old fashion way. Thru sales. It's happening on other sites why is eBay so special? My 2 besties are also closing their stores.  We are all long term 20 year vets on eBay if there is such a thing. No more forking over money to line their pockets. Thank goodness we can all afford to wait it out.  Obviously we are not the only ones from the comments gathered here.

by: pace306

@Shanna :)

My dear - you still think eBay is about ecommerce ... its NOT.

eBay is a %101 pay for play mafia money making scheme.

I say scheme, because if it was TRULY about ecommerce, they wouldnt do the things they do, wouldnt make the rules as they are, and would go out of their way to actually help the people who pay their bills aka their sellers.

But they do non of these things - in fact - they are "King Midas in reverse" - what ever they touch turns to cr@p. (this is where a certain "farmer" interjects and either tells us about BD p/e ratios or how Paypal became great "because of eBay")(both are incorrect ways of looking at things).

Coke, when it changed formulas and realized they were wrong, went back to the old formula. 'Cause if your customers say NO, you realize you will be loosing money. Not eBay. eBay comes out with some OBVIOUS money grabs and despite sellers saying "thank you NO", eBay doubles down.

They do so not only because they know that no one will sue them, they do so not because they know no regulators will come looking, they also do so because there are enough eBay cheerleaders - who despite the out cries - still say that despite it being an obvious money grab and that it hurts fellow sellers - "so what".

As for the Chinese (and other large sellers/groups) ... THEY dont have to play the same game as we do with the same rules. eBay being a pay for play racket, just tells you a price and you (if you want to do things your way) say YES or NO.

eBay themselves said that "China is our future" and they didnt lie. Id love to know exactly how many of eBays listings are "Chinese Alibaba type junk". (oh and ignore that same farmer - he will tell you that selling Sony TVs or Nikon cameras is selling Chinese junk and that his oddball cr@p is better - just ignore him).

How do I know that eBay is pay for play? I experienced it first hand when an ex employer over sold 1000 tablets. Forced with crushing negatives, forced with 900+ cancellations - they got together with eBay - and promised a XXXXX to happen make up for it .... 100k listings via a feed @ .20 a listing, a $10 coupon for all effected buyers, and a penalty fee applied 1x to sooth "the savage beasts".

Well wouldnt you know it - magically (as we have seen here in other cases) all the negatives, cancellations etc dissipated and like that .... it was gone and done for.

eBays rules are like a game of poker in the basement of some dirty grubby poorly lit Chinese Triad. Anything goes, the rules are what THEY say they are when ever they say they are, and even if you win - you get mugged on the way out (eBay fvf on shipping as an example) .... its a no win situation.

by: ebayout

@whatever
Whenever someone mentions their longevity on ebay, 9/10 it's a 20-year seller.
Moi included.
Which makes me wonder...why does ebay NOT reward longtime loyalty?
The obvious answer is that we're not customers...just entries on their journal.
If someone from ebay with executive status sees this and can dispel my notion, please chime in. Otherwise, man up and confirm.

by: toolguy

"eBays rules are like a game of poker in the basement of some dirty grubby poorly lit Chinese Triad. Anything goes, the rules are what THEY say they are when ever they say they are, and even if you win - you get mugged on the way out (eBay fvf on shipping as an example) .... its a no win situation."

And yet you sit at the table willing to PLAY. . . .No one is forcing you to PLAY the game!

You know the rules, you know the reward and the risks.

Now, how many cards do you want?????

by: iheartjacksparrow

@toolguy - Have you ever had a boss that you loathed? I have. But I stayed working for the company because I got a paycheck every other week, I enjoyed the work I was doing, and I didn't have to learn a new procedures and policies which I would have had to do had I got a job with another company. So even though I wanted to punch my boss in the face (or worse), I didn't have to encounter the unknown.

I assume that is why many sellers who detest eBay stay selling there. They get some sales, so they hang in and hope things get better so they don't have to start up on a new web site with new procedures to learn and new listings to make. And, Tool, you complain a lot, too, mostly about not having enough money (all the while you're bragging about the gun parts you just bought), but also about not being able to pay for postage with Mangled Payments. Yet you won't even try to sell your tools on another site (where you could accept PayPal), or even get your web site going (I remember a while back you wanted someone to buy your domain name). So it's extremely disingenuous to criticize Pace for calling out eBay for what they are.