eBay Addresses Mandate, Tells Sellers Not to Be Discouraged

by: toolguy

Don't worry eBay, no ones leaving.

Most sellers are held in place with golden handcuffs.

There's no where else to go for most sellers and you know it.

I should have my 1st SS payment in a few weeks and it'll feel good not to be so dependent on eBay.

by: aris 2

Sure, I suppose it's easy to sit in a plush office behind a big desk scrolling thru FB and then tell sellers to 'not to get discouraged' or 'please don't leave our site'.

Sure, they don't have to spend the next week (hour after hour after hour) sifting through 4,000+ listings (in Music->Records/CD's) typing in the artist and title of each item with the EXACT SAME INFORMATION that is ALREADY in the listing ''Title''!
An absolute WASTE of time that will improve absolutely NOTHING with search.

They are clueless and selfish and have never sold a single item on their site...ever.

by: AddyUp

"Chicago48 The only way to "fix" eBay and these item specific goofs is to have the executives get on eBay as sellers and sell"

Way back when over here a few "pinks" (at that time eBay forum employees) announced they were going to sell items. I genuinely think they thought they were going to set an example of how selling should be done.

They made so many mistakes. They were worse than amateur beginners, As a result they got some deservedly bad feedback and a lot of criticism on the boards. It was never spoken of by them again.

Nothing was learned by it. Not by them anyway. Except that eBay employees are clueless and can't sell for toffee. If those were an example.

by: Geetar

Hmmm. So, if they add the pay for external advertising along with the current fee's in place, then it is just like working for the man. What is the benefit to working for yourself if they are taking all the profit, and you end up with pennies?

It seems like if they do this, Amazon will be cheaper to sell on. Then it's "why even sell on ebay?"  Depending on how much they will rake out of our pockets it might be Amazon with FBA may be cheaper.  Then ebay is definitely a dead deal, for me anyway.

And if all else fails, and it becomes "just like working for the man", then I might as well do that. At least when I'm off from work I'm off, unlike ebay...with messages, questions...I refuse to be a slave for ebay where they get all the $$, and I work my butt off. Seems like they want their cake and eat it. Dont want to run a retail establishment, and pay employee's, stock inventory....but want the money that comes from it.

I bungled....I was hesitant, and when the sales tax stuff came along I decided not to finish my website. I should have. Now it seems like if advertising on search engines thru ebay is going to cost a lot, then I could be advertising on search engines for my own website.

It really is disgusting. they are never happy with the money they make. They always have to come up with ways to get more money with what they have via us. Not caring about us. Not caring that in the end we make less and less.

Its good to know that I have a lot of loyal customers that would follow me where I go.

by: zeek6228

The problem here is simple and obvious. The people who are designing these "improvements" never actually bought or sold anything online before. Either they are fresh out of college that mom and dad paid for. Or they are in India.

I have never taken a college level biology class in my life. So it would be akin to someone like me in charge of logistics in a hospital. I can design a system to sort the surgery tools very well because I did go to college.  

by: zeek6228

I can design an inventory system for a hospital in 3 days but I don't know the difference between a catheter and an emesis pan. My algorithms will work great and will be fast and efficient but nobody in the hospital will be able to use my system.  

by: toolguy

Is it legal for eBay to charge a FVF on taxes?

I can see them charging a fee for collection of the taxes but not a 10% fee on the taxes themselves!

The more I see the more I hate. . . . . .

by: JohnGermaine

So FUBAR! Sales have slumped as the massive changes screwed up searches. Enough already.  Go BACK to your roots, stop being GREEDY and create a place for US to have a store, we all used to make money then.

by: ShortSeller

If you haven't figured it out by now they are planning on introducing the amazon buy box and compressing as many listings as possible into singular listings. Ebay thinks searching is too difficult for buyers and wants to remove as many listings as possible. Item specifics are there to generate fake search engine anchor pages for SEO since their organic google traffic is always curbed. The other main objective with item specifics was to unify as many listings as possible to make it easier for buyers. They do not have your interests at heart, period.

by: Covid-20

@ShortSeller

Finally . . . . . . Someone who GETS it.  I knew people DIRECT down at Ebay (Higher Ups) back when.  This was decided back in 2008 intentionally with out looking back.

I don't know why it took so long or created the roadblocks (Ever Changing CEO's?) - But it was ALWAYS the plan.

When people also say "Ebay hates their sellers" . . . .   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . ., ., . . . . . . . . . If you guys ONLY knew the talk behind closed doors!

by: The End

" eBay Addresses Mandate ".
All of these "mandates" over the years, are collectively working against American sellers.
When Pierre Omidyar was in charge, Everybody was happy.
I'll never forget the look on his face when the stiff shirts showed up to take over Ebay.
I know what happened.
A squad of greedy worms overwhelmed him. They fed him a line he was too innocent to understand.
They promised to make him rich beyond his wildest dreams.
It began when he was talked in to forming a "Board".
That's how the worms infect a winning business.
I've seen it over and over. In all kinds of formerly winning businesses.
eCrater isn't falling for it. They've refused to let the greedy worms in.
That they don't show up in Google Search, is a "soft penalty" by the corporate head of the worm.
eCrater knows what it's doing.
The grapevine is the best way to approach eCrater and the TONS of people on it.
eCrater represents the LAST Bastion of American selling venues Unaffected, immune to, the corporate poison.
eCrater is to be held up as the clean, uncontaminated venue it remains.

by: Geetar

@Covid-20

When people also say "Ebay hates their sellers"

This is too funny. The reason why they hate sellers is:

They know they cant control us.

They really believe "in their sick minds" we (sellers) should get nothing and they should get all the $$. (of course because, we went to ivy leauge..we know all..).

They know over the years they have lost market to other venues, and they really cant go far, and take more and more$$ without a further exodus of sellers.

THIS IS THE BIGGEST. They know that if they actually had to sell themselves. Purchase, inventory, market items. They WILL NEVER EVER HAVE THE profit margins THEY HAVE NOW! So they know they need the sellers. This really boils their blood.

I know the way these types of people think. I have worked with them. They think because they went to xx ivy league school, and know xx person that they are the greatest and smartest in the world. Conceptually they may be good, smart, and have good ideas. But when that hits reality, and all the other dynamics in operations (that they know nothing about) (because they are too good for that) come into to play those ideas dont work, and sometimes make things worse. Conceptually smart yes, common sense, and actual operations management, dumb as a box of rocks.

by: Geetar

@toolguy

Yes, as of right now I think it is legal. Credit card companies do it. But this is a transaction fee commission, not a FVF. I am not sure but I believe ebay may have consolidated the FVF, and transaction fee because of this. So they can get away with it. But if they are still separate there will most likely be a lawsuit sometime in the future over this. You know damn well, if there is a venue with some kind of a scam where they pocket more bucks,....monkey see monkey do, and all of them (venues) will be doing it. And that when there will be a lawsuit.

by: ShortSeller

Ebay hates the experienced seller base as we do a fine job of pointing out what incompetent imbeciles they are and how piss poor their execution is. That results in some pointed questions at board meetings and effects executive compensation. That they wanted to dox everyone on here and felt justified in a coordinated harassment campaign against the site owners says everything you need to know about those morons.

by: BubbaLou

Why can't the developers at eBay design a program that gets the item specifics from the listing titles and descriptions and give us the option to override them and/or add custom specifics, and do away with the whole blue dot thing? It would be SO much easier for all of us!

by: Snapped

“ If you guys ONLY knew the talk behind closed doors!”

Right.  ‘I’ve got a secret’.  The rotten root of the rotten fruits feeding eBay’s greedy maw.  Well, anybody’s really, who’s disclosure would help neutralize a poison so the harvest could nourish all. Information isn’t power, it’s wealth, useless if not spent.

So what’s the cloaked motive behind eBay’s astonishing genuflection to sellers here?  A plea for faith and perseverance - from what basis though?  They’ve never admitted or apologized (beyond inconsequential form) for any of the uncountable gauntlet gloves endured by sellers for longer than a 7th grader has breathed.  As if none ever happened, isn’t still.  

Besides, discouraged isn’t the right word to even use in this extraordinary ‘acknowledgement’ of their leaching caretaking.  

It should be - Please don’t get disgusted.  Presumably to include with this latest ploy wrapped in a plea as well?  Because it has the stink of impending death to it - a critical massing behind those closed doors.

by: DogPatch

The initial concept and structure of eBay was ingenious.  It has evolved and seems to have lost its way with a critical ingredient: sellers.  I'm thinking eBay's attitude toward sellers can be traced to accountants and lawyers.  I've been to this movie.  The "suits" have no practical experience with selling anything and have little regard for those that do.  Sellers are just another line item under "expenses".  What they fail to understand/appreciate is: "nothing happens until something is sold."  

by: SenseiSez

Chicago48 : eCrater is excellent! Try it out. You're better actually going on the eCrater website and searching there for items to buy. It's also a great selling venue: much less fees than eBay, no shenanigans and just-made-up rules and policies enabling eBay to take more of your money. Now, with eBay and more of their changes that "you'll love", as they say on one of their pop-ups (I always laugh, a lot, when I encounter that!) ... anyhow, more buyers and sellers will be scooting over to other sites ... anything other than eBay. You can 'use' them to get the exposure and then bring your buyers over to these other sites that you join.  

by: SenseiSez

A QUESTION --- over the years, I've purchased quite a few items from overseas, especially Southeast Asia as well as China. Each and every time, every time, I have been charged a SALES TAX on my purchase.  Why is that??!!! Each one of those overseas buyers had no address here in the States. The money went overseas and the packages all came direct from Asia, no connection, whatsoever, to the good ol' USA. Who got that sales tax that eBay took from me?!!! If you also buy from overseas, Asia in my experience, notice to see if eBay also took a sales tax charge from you.  Wouldn't that be a case, multipled by the tens of thousands, of TAX FRAUD committed by eBay. Maybe the US authorities should look into it!

by: Bill

eBay should be investigated by the government but they pay off all of the politicians so it will never be done.