BREAKING Target Stops Selling on eBay

by: geoffreymason

Just the beginning  More to come.

by: Silver Ice King

Evidently the sales are no longer worth the extra cost that Ebay brings with it.  I would not be surprised to see that Ebay tried to raise their fees under a new contract with this new branding idea.  The majority of sellers have been complaining about less and less traffic and Ebay forcing sellers to give away the farm so they could retain what few buyers they have.  I guess Target has had enough and I am sure others will be following.  So now they have lost Toys R Us and Target, who is going to be next to bail on Ebay??

WTG Devin - another Ebay success story down the drain !!!

by: Ming the Merciless

Target's explanation is likely PR fluff.

They probably got sick and tired of declining traffic, liar buyers, fraudulent returns, and other buyer malfeasance and wanted NO part in "free returns" and other obscene ebafia requirements.

Their timing couldn't be more clear.

Ebafia's "brands" initiative has historically left failure and destruction in its wake.

I hope Best Buy is next.

by: FeelingFroggy

The rats are fleeing the sinking ship.

by: Shane

Is Griff crying?

by: Grady

Griff !!!!   Now there's a real gem

by: eXtinctBay

Why would any large company use eBay when they can just have their own website? Sure, it would be tough for most small and medium sellers to do so, but Target has brand recognition already in place.

And can make their own selling policies? After all, it IS their merchandise, and does not belong to eBay.

Sure, eBay already lost Toys 'R Us and J.C. Penney- but these are one dead and one dying company. Losing the business of an enterprise which will actually be around for a while will definitely sting.......

by: FidoMaster

Nice scoop ECB!

This is a stinging rejection of $EBAY retailer omnichannel value propositions less than 2 weeks from eBay's Q1 2018 Earnings announcement.  

You can be sure other retailers will be contemplating next week if they should follow suit.

In addition to the headaches internal to $TGT Ming mentions, the experience is extremely confusing for average consumers who wonder why Target store sells on #EBAY in the first place.  

When #eBay Target store pricing is out of sync with Target's online and B&M stores it just makes matters much worse.  

This kind of confusion drives in-store and consumer support inquiries and results in unneeded internal inefficiencies and increased 'hidden' G&A expense to deal with these issues - price matches, returns, refunds, redeliveries, etc.

"Why do we want to be on eBay anyway?" was a discussion topic that has been resolved.

Good move Target.  

by: iheartjacksparrow

Agree with the prior posts. And as eXtinctBay asks, why would Target, or any other major corporation, sell on eBay when they have their own website? If I want to see what Target is selling, I don't go to eBay to check out Target's store there, I go to Target's web site. Same for every other store where I'm thinking of buying something; I go directly to their web site.

I'd like to think that Target executives came to this decision after reading this blog and other blogs and forums evidencing seller and buyer anger and frustration toward eBay. But it was most likely all the new rules eBay is implementing, or the buyers they were dealing with on a daily basis.

by: Ric

"Why would any large company use eBay when they can just have their own website?"

Small sellers who have become dissatisfied with the ever growing obstacles to success could learn from Target's process.

While paying out fees to eBay, a large company like Target may have seen an upside in the form of customer acquisition.

Target's eBay listings carried the Target logo.  I am sure that a number of eBay shoppers saw the Target logo and hopped on over to Target's website to complete their purchase.

Even in cases where buyers completed their purchase on eBay, Target obtained a known working email address which they could then direct advertising to.

I would bet that Target used eBay, reached their marketing goals and then determined eBay selling costs no longer met their needs.  Target penetrated eBay's customer base, harvested customer information and then cut their losses when the costs of selling on eBay made the marketplace expendable.

by: maxmad

Anyone can clearly see ebay has become unstable and is out of control, with high fvf pricing, and draconian policies that are one sided to benefit ebay, and it's buyers,

But I believe the underlying  problem is ebay now damages your brand, reputation, Target is making a wise move to bail out, save their good name, and distance themselves from a company that is only out for themselves and has no concern for it's real customers.

by: b86fiero

Adyen payment processing?

by: I Must be Crazy

I suspect Target is closing their store because it's just not worth it for them.

Target has a strong brand, their own website, and a marketing campaign that I think is really quite good. Certainly better than anything eBay has ever put out there.

To sell on eBay requires an infrastructure dedicated to fulfilling their requirements. Than means people and logistics management that probably doesn't fit their operation very well. The added restrictions that eBay imposes on sellers, whether or not to the same extent on these large brands, is very likely a burden. The cost isn't worth it.

Then there's the image factor; selling on eBay might very well damage their brand. Much of this was foretold when that arrogant fool Donohoe began to court large brands years ago. The brands used eBay; then dumped them.

by: RL15

the delusional ceo is now running off his big box sellers.

great job!! keep up the good work!!

by: Silver Ice King

I have been saying for years that Ebay was stupid courting all of these big companies as they have been culling Ebays buyer base all this time.  When you purchase something from them on Ebay the buyer would usually receive a discount coupon to use on their website for their next purchase.  It was an extremely cheap customer acquisition cost and Ebay has been too stupid to see it.  

Target has probably figured out that most of the really good customers have already left Ebay and now all that is left is the bottom of the barrel scammers and  those that they are already targeting to get rid of from their stores.  I know that is an overstatement but the quality of the customers they are now acquiring is not worth the cost of acquisition so they cut bait and moved on.  I would not be the least bit surprised to see Best Buy doing the same soon.  The large book companies will probably stay since their deal has to be a very sweet one since it allows them to duplicate all of their listings under different names, plus many of the used books are not something they would really want associated with their own web site anyway, let it continue to damage Ebays reputation.

by: Ming the Merciless

Historically ebafia has never -- with the exception of conceiving long term seller abuse policies -- been able to think more than one or two quarters into the future.

The courting of brands is and always has been a stop gap measure for management to preserve themselves in their overpaid, cushy jobs. Surely management could foresee customer diversion, but they did it anyway.

The bill for the Arrogance of Incompetence is coming due, and I predict Wenig won't be able to pay it.

by: iheartjacksparrow

@I Must Be Crazy - I love Target's commercials. And their Target Run and Done campaign is brilliant. It's an astute observation about eBay damaging Target's reputation. They seem to have recovered from the credit card hack, and don't need people thinking they are associated with a site full of scammers.

by: RKTOYS

The only reason an established store should use eBay is if their own site is a basket case.  That certainly fit Toys R Us and, in my opinion, Target.  Shopping for toys on either is an exercise in frustration.  But they likely do have a brand that's being pulled down by this clunky flea market.

by: angryllama

I think that TARGET may well just have LOOKED at the Bizarre Seller Requirements being FORCED on Non-Big-Box sellers and seen the handwriting on the wall that SOON if not MAY of 2018 they might start getting nibbled and banged to death like the OTHER Thousands of eBay sellers.  MAYBE EVEN MORESO as that Stupid eBay approach to trying to hammer and bang ALL listings into a "BUY BOX" situation was likely to make TARGET's own listings DISAPPEAR the same as all the rest of us.  Think that too pessimistic?  Do you seriously think that the CURRENT eBay buyers (like me) are going to SNAP to how to maneuver into and PAST this ridiculous new eBay HORROR STORY?  I see just about EVERYBODY's sales cratering if they are in the LUCKY FEW CATEGORIES eBay is rolling out this FUBAR plan into.

by: SANT1N1

Maybe they just figured they can have their cake and eat it too, buying ads that ebay will gladly show on sellers listings. Thus avoiding ebay fees and various other pitfalls of the platform. And getting the customer off ebay and onto their own website in the process. Ebay will delight in the ad fees even while their overall intake of $$$ continues to dwindle, lol. As a former employee of ebay said, their various departments do no communicate well with each other.