More seller changes on the way?

TurkishDelight

I can't believe people on that site are getting their knickers in a twist about not being able to offer a insurance surcharge. Scam buyers will see such surcharges as a go ahead for INR claims, so why bother?

cyril82

Premier wrote: »

The last time they hit $40 was in Q3 2007 (and prior to that they fell below $40 in Q1 2006)

exactly, the 3rd quarter of 2007 was the last before they started messing with the site format.

Premier wrote: »

Where have you been? Have you not heard about the global recession?

Heard about it? i've lost one business and over £20,000 that i had invested into it as a direct result of the recession, however, thankfully my online business has kept me afloat with steady income streams and profits, most other online businesses are thriving too, not least Amazon if ebay's low share price is due to the recession why are Amazon shares so strong?

Back when ebay were hitting $40 a share in Q3 2007 as you state Amazon Were hitting around $93 a share, today ebay is at $20 a share while Amazon shares sit at $94 each.

So is the recession picking and choosing it's victims now or shall we assume it's a management problem at ebay?

It’s ironic really that while Amazon shares stay strong it is eBay’s attempt to emulate them that has resulted in their shares halving in value, I think the moral of the story is if it aint broke don’t fix it.

cyril82

TurkishDelight wrote: »

I can't believe people on that site are getting their knickers in a twist about not being able to offer a insurance surcharge. Scam buyers will see such surcharges as a go ahead for INR claims, so why bother?

I don't think anyone really is that bothered about the changes, as has already been said they are pretty insignificant, but it's for that reason alone some sellers will find them annoying, those affected will now have to alter all their listing templates again.

i don't give two hoots about them myself, i never have offered postage options and i only sell occasionally these days, i'm just stating my wider criticism of ebay and wondering why they seem to want to do battle with the very people that pay to use their site (sellers) and dictate every little detail to them.

I think donohoe seems himself as a modern day William Wallace fighting for the buyers against the oppressive sellers who want to "bamboozle" them "choice" :rolleyes:

What he doesn't realise is that when he wins his battle and there are so few sellers that the site becomes limited in choice, his troops one day won't follow him into battle, they'll have all !!!!!!ed of over to Amazon where there is more choice and an easier site to navigate.

Buyers have no loyalty to the site if they cant find the choice or range of items they want they will go elsewhere at the drop of a hat, sellers do have loyalty because they need the site to earn a living in most cases, the trouble is ebay currently treat that loyalty with contempt.

Just my opinion.

StaffsSW

Smart_But_Casual wrote: »

There doesn't seem anything too radical in there so nowt to worry about IMHO.

Adapt and survive and all that.

If anyone has the time or inclination, the investor call is available online - http://investor.ebay.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=69273

There are a number of strong references to changes being announced next week, and from reading between the lines, I expect "free" P&P to be rolled out to more categories, but also the use of catalogued search results for commoditised products and Stock Keeping Units - or anything with a barcode.
Given that 3rd party advertising revenue has shown an increase once again, it would be fairly obvious that this will be pushed further, although its not a direct change to sellers.

What I would like to see is more control/restriction on the abuse of the 99p auction/private listing abuse from international sellers. Some categories are almost impossible to search these days because of thousands of guff-listings coming in from HK and China.

StaffsSW

Here is the strongest clue as to what is likely to be rolled out over coming months - http://shop.ebay.com/products/ipod - show one item in search results, with the quantity available - just like Amazon.

So thinking about this, it means you could list an item, and if it does not fit the Best match criteria, then it's unlikely that it is ever seen.

But from Ebay's view, why bother showing items that are unlikely to make them any revenue? Surely it is better for them to promote the items that earn them money, than clutter the site with things that never sell?

cyberbob

There is a link to seem them Individually (normal list). and you are still seeing multiple items. So I do not see it as much of a problem

mrcol1000

stevew8975 wrote: »

What I would like to see is more control/restriction on the abuse of the 99p auction/private listing abuse from international sellers. Some categories are almost impossible to search these days because of thousands of guff-listings coming in from HK and China.

I don't see the problem. Certain items like mobile phone accessories are all from the same supplier wether you buy them in this country or from Hong Kong. They don't take much longer to arrive from Hong Kong and they tend to be cheaper. Also if it bothers you that much search for items less than 500miles away. It will cut out the Far East one.

cyril82

stevew8975 wrote: »

Here is the strongest clue as to what is likely to be rolled out over coming months - http://shop.ebay.com/products/ipod - show one item in search results, with the quantity available - just like Amazon.

So thinking about this, it means you could list an item, and if it does not fit the Best match criteria, then it's unlikely that it is ever seen.

But from Ebay's view, why bother showing items that are unlikely to make them any revenue? Surely it is better for them to promote the items that earn them money, than clutter the site with things that never sell?

I have noticed the "new from", "used from" format appearing at the top of search results recently, no doubt ebay are planning to roll this out soon.

it's such a blatant copy of amazons format though, surely they should be trying to do something new?

Ebay are just aiming, it would appear, to morph themselves into a carbon copy of Amazon but surely they are missing one very important fact here, the internet doesn't need another Amazon because we've got.....well....Amazon.

Anyone remember when Amazon decided to dabble in online auctions? they quickly realised that people who wanted to auction online already had somewhere to do that and didn't want or need an alternative and dropped the idea.....smart move.....remember google toying around with a couple of pilot projects to test the water a few years ago? it seemed they were set to go head to head with ebay but then they realised that with ebay in it's prime even a giant like them couldn't compete with ebay in the auction world....smart move...ebay have yet to realise that (A) no-one wants an alternative to Amazon, there is nothing wrong with the real thing and (B) no one no matter how much money and online presence they have can seriously rival Amazon at what they do just like no could rival Ebay in the online auction game and so they persist in creating this cheap imitation of Amazon.....Dumb move.