anyone tried ebid?

mrsk

When selling on eBay you don't adapt to the market place, you adapt to your landlord!

eBid have changed constantly but it has been steady rather than dramatic. It is not a place to make a living but I think it is foolish to use eBay as your only outlet, because of the dramatic changes they make when the mood takes their management.

I do not believe that eBay got that way by being the best but by being the first.

terra_ferma

mrsk wrote: »

When selling on eBay you don't adapt to the market place, you adapt to your landlord!

eBid have changed constantly but it has been steady rather than dramatic. It is not a place to make a living but I think it is foolish to use eBay as your only outlet, because of the dramatic changes they make when the mood takes their management.

I do not believe that eBay got that way by being the best but by being the first.

I'm glad to see a sensible discussion (instead of the attacks getting more and more personal in some cases)

I agree with what you say about the risks involved with having ebay as your only platform, which is the position I'm in at the moment, but only temporarely.
Until not very long ago I would have agreed with people who like CQ believe that if you follow the rules you will stay out of trouble, I applied that to the letter, ticked all the boxes and gone the extra mile, but I recently found myself in hot waters. You can never feel safe on ebay.

I would be the first to jump on any opportunity that met my business needs, my main commodity is time, as a sole trader how I prioritise my time makes the difference between making a profit or not, and sometimes time is a priority over money, including fees paid in order to sell my items.
Right now the time spent on selling on ebid would not give me the return I need, and I believe that when the time comes that they attract more buyers they'll probably have to put up fees as well.
But even just peace of mind would be worth paying for, as ebay is so unpredictable, changes happen very quickly, and retrospectively (like recently introducing global DSR), so really you can never be safe on ebay..
There are a couple of changes that could happen very quickly and kill my business.
So I'll keep an eye on ebid and if things change I may join the many people posting here.

Crowqueen

Good points, TF. I think I ought to say I've never tried to do this for a living, I think that's where my answer falls short. As a private seller I don't sell enough to have an awful lot of ratings and I think I would end up as paranoid as some people here if I had to focus on that.

I think the problem is eBid has been going so long yet never taken off - that is the thing that keeps me away.

If it did take off I'd be one to go there. But I think I've identified why it is problematic, and if it were to succeed, I think it would have to introduce more to help the buyers along, which would mean to some extent copying what goalposts eBay has moved. Amazon and Play both have succeeded through fairly rigid buyer protection and feedback systems, including e.g. Amazon not showing buyers' feedback at all, which eBid would probably start to look at in the same way that eBay did three years ago. Legal compliance is another issue - beginning to enforce the DSRs and business legislation properly. I don't think in its current format it can attract enough people in.

Diversity helps the market, but I do think eBid could do more to help themselves. I don't think in its current situation merely hoping for jam tomorrow will pay off.

stanleymog

One thing I have noticed about a good majority of sellers who sell on eBay and eBid, they list the item on eBid for a higher price than they do on eBay!

Please can someone explain the logic as costs are lower on eBid?

Then the same sellers moan they are getting no sales on eBid!

lovinituk

redmerlin777 wrote: »

eBid is DIFFERENT ! It is not eBay. It IS like how eBay was way back, when auction sites were fun and full of "Moms and Pops" type sellers.

Well said - that is the impression I get from ebid by reading some of the forum.

Although if ebid wants to grow and attract a lot of serious sellers, it will need to change in a way that the mom and pop types will probably not be comfortable with.

The buyers won't flock to ebid in great numbers unless the big sellers go there first. And the big sellers won't go there unless there are more buyers which will need ebid to change if it ultimately wants huge numbers of buyers!

Thankfully most ebid sellers recognise that ebid runs at a slower pace to ebay and for some people that is just fine and will in fact attract some over ebay.

lovinituk

terra_ferma wrote: »

I would be the first to jump on any opportunity that met my business needs, my main commodity is time, as a sole trader how I prioritise my time makes the difference between making a profit or not, and sometimes time is a priority over money, including fees paid in order to sell my items.
Right now the time spent on selling on ebid would not give me the return I need, and I believe that when the time comes that they attract more buyers they'll probably have to put up fees as well.

Spot-on and exactly how I see it too.

littleme1969

lovinituk wrote: »

I had a look and think you have some great stuff. I used to make latex moulds for a specific reason so I found your items really interesting. You seem to have found a successful niche and its great you are making regular sales.

I appreciate ebids fees are lower but I would rather pay 10% of lets say £2000 than 2% of £50 - I get more in the end for less work. As you say, with ebid you have to be prepared to work for it. I am happy to pay ebay more in fees so I don't have to work as hard for it - I put up the listing and then sit back and watch the sales come in.

I don't believe ebid is right for me personally just now as it would be more work for less return. As a professional seller I need less work and more return! I'm definitely keeping my eye on it though and if more buyers flock there (which is what it desperately needs to attract professional sellers) I might give it a shot in the future.

Thanks for your balanced input, I appreciate it and good luck with your continued sales.

I understand your point totally just because its a good platform for me does not mean at this present time it will suit everyone. As long as people keep Ebid in mind and are prepared to give it a shot then it has a chance.
Like alot of people I would like to see both sites successful. I know that probably sounds odd but the way I look at it is if there is stiff competition then all sites will have to be more mindful of their attitude to customers and fees they charge, this way its a win for both buyers and sellers alike. I feel that has what has been the real problem with Feepay in the past, people had no where else to go so felt trapped and swallowed the fee rises just to keep trading. A monopoly as feepay have is never going to be good for their users and the only way to improve things is to have alternatives, and the only way to do that is if enough people are prepared to take that risk on the smaller guy and put in the effort.

littleme1969

stanleymog wrote: »

One thing I have noticed about a good majority of sellers who sell on eBay and eBid, they list the item on eBid for a higher price than they do on eBay!

Please can someone explain the logic as costs are lower on eBid?

Then the same sellers moan they are getting no sales on eBid!

I totally agree, it baffles me why they would do this. The reason for my success there is I passed all my listings savings onto customers and also offered them loyalty incentives off either free postage or a free set of moulds for every 3 sets purchased etc. I moved my business over slowly sending flyers with all offers for Ebid with every Feepay sale. Buyers are not stupid, for the sake of 5 mins and opening a new account they where more than happy to follow me and save in the process. You have to work at it to get the customers to follow you, yes its hard work to start off with but you wind in the end with only 2% FVF I cant begin to tell you how much I have saved in 5 years on Ebid in FVF. I could now as the shop is successful swap my listings so I dont pay any fees as all my photos are in my HTML, but I wont do that as I am great full for Ebid and am more than happy to continue paying my fees as an investment for the future.
As said above Ebid is not Feepay and when joining you have to keep that in mind and alter your strategy if you want to succeed.

mrsk

stanleymog wrote: »

One thing I have noticed about a good majority of sellers who sell on eBay and eBid, they list the item on eBid for a higher price than they do on eBay!

Please can someone explain the logic as costs are lower on eBid?

Then the same sellers moan they are getting no sales on eBid!

While I agree that some sellers make this mistake, I think your statement about "A good majority of sellers" is speculative at best. How did you establish this notion? Sorry to sound critical, but you can't expect to say things like that without being able to back it up with statistics (which you don't have?).

lovinituk

littleme1969 wrote: »

Like alot of people I would like to see both sites successful. I know that probably sounds odd but the way I look at it is if there is stiff competition then all sites will have to be more mindful of their attitude to customers and fees they charge, this way its a win for both buyers and sellers alike.

Thats not odd at all, I completely agree - competition is a healthy thing and usually leads to more balanced fees.

littleme1969 wrote: »

A monopoly as feepay have is never going to be good for their users and the only way to improve things is to have alternatives, and the only way to do that is if enough people are prepared to take that risk on the smaller guy and put in the effort.

At the moment though none of the changes that ebay are implementing are making it any worse for what essentially are the most important users - the buyers. Its still a prime shopping venue. The increased fees for sellers are unlikely to be passed on to the buyers through increased prices. eBay is rife with competition amongst sellers and price wars will generally keep prices low - sellers will just take less profit.

Nothing, at the moment, is making ebay buyers shop around as they don't need to - they can find virtually anything they want on eBay and know they will be protected by some of the best buyer protection out there.