I've finally worked it all out!!!

wubbles

I didn't bother getting my few defects removed, I just stopped selling on eBay. They lose money, I can't see how they've benefitted, considering I was a good seller. Items were sent promptly, on time, in good condition, and all customer service issues were sorted without delay.

If eBay continue to treat their sellers in this way then they'll eventually have no business left.

vesper

It's getting utterly ridiculous over the last couple of weeks, thinking of cutting back in putting stuff on until after xmas.
I am in a highly specialised area which tends to only get customers that know exactly what they are talking about, even I have been hit very badly over the last couple of weeks. 10 times been on the phone/ live chat this week alone, baring in mind before a couple of weeks ago I had only ever contacted them twice.
Its getting harder and harder, and ebay seem quite happy to sit back while their customers that pay their bills walk away. Now I am not a huge business, but the amount of defects I have received in the last two weeks have put my account in serious jeopardy.
I would go across to Amazon, but my items are so low in value, it's just not worth it.

ballisticbrian

I am also putting the stuff back on my website (which gets no traffic because of Google Ads now being required).

Is this true? Are you saying Google will only cache sites that do advertising for them?

If this is true, the almighty Google has lost it, and other search engine's results will gradually start to become far more interesting and representative than Google's.

ballisticbrian

Now I am not a huge business, but the amount of defects I have received in the last two weeks have put my account in serious jeopardy.
I would go across to Amazon, but my items are so low in value, it's just not worth it.

But from my position as a seller who has benefited from the recent changes, my perspective is that The eBay that they wish to become in the future is not the eBay of today. They don't want to be the race to the bottom on price and quality. For eBay to reach their goal, there will be loads of collateral damage and sellers will leave, to be replaced by other sellers with a different take on customer service and willingness to charge a decent profit in order to provide it.

RFW

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Is this true? Are you saying Google will only cache sites that do advertising for them?

If this is true, the almighty Google has lost it, and other search engine's results will gradually start to become far more interesting and representative than Google's.

Google changed their requirements for search earlier this year. It works better for organic searches (ie sites that update and post a lot) rather than ones that engineer links, one of the areas Ebay fall down on.

Brooker_Dave

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Is this true? Are you saying Google will only cache sites that do advertising for them?

You can still be found, but way down the results.

The solution is making daily changes.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

ballisticbrian wrote: »

But from my position as a seller who has benefited from the recent changes, my perspective is that The eBay that they wish to become in the future is not the eBay of today. They don't want to be the race to the bottom on price and quality. For eBay to reach their goal, there will be loads of collateral damage and sellers will leave, to be replaced by other sellers with a different take on customer service and willingness to charge a decent profit in order to provide it.

eBay's only vision appears to be make as much money as possible right now, I agree defects do have a good side and yes it helps those offering excellent service (although those rated over 12 months get a pretty bad deal) but eBay constantly spend as little money as possible on improving their actual site and are slow at adopting new ideas and when they do they do a half bottomed job of it.

When you compare what Amazon does to eBay, one is a quality company investing seriously with a long term plan to dominate the market and the other is a scrap yard held together with sticky tape.

RFW

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

When you compare what Amazon does to eBay, one is a quality company investing seriously with a long term plan to dominate the market and the other is a scrap yard held together with sticky tape.

Not a bad observation that. The money people will be chipping away to find the best bits before the Ebay/Paypal split next year. What will happen before and after that split will be crucial to survival, especially with Alibaba and Rakuten pushing new sites.

It needs someone smart and forward thinking to bring Ebay forward as a company with a long term future. Someone with retail experience in a global market, for now we're stuck with a bit of a mess that breaks down every ten days.

giantmutantbroccoli

Is this true? Are you saying Google will only cache sites that do advertising for them?

No, that's not at all true. Google is still free.
Google is constantly updating their search engine. Recent updates over the past 12 months have led to sites which make extensive use of spammy backlinks being pushed down search results and sites which are popular on social media such as Twitter & Facebook being pushed up results. They've always placed a high priority on recently updated content. They've also just changed things to try and make searches more locally and personally relevant, which means you no longer necessarily show in the same position in the same search if that search is done in different locations.
You do not get a higher priority in organic search results by paying for Google Adwords or merchant services. You can advertise with adwords, and appear at the top of the search page where the ads appear, but you can't pay to appear higher in the organic search.

I think what Mrs_sparrow is talking about is the removal of Google's free product advertising under the "shoppping" search page. Now, most merchants shown there have to pay Google a fee for advertising their products. But it's entirely possible to get good amounts of relevant traffic from Google without using either adwords or shopping ads.

Adwords aren't that expensive to run however, especially given that you can pre-pay and set your daily budget and your maximum cost you'll pay per click. You're already paying eBay, if you're going to give up eBay why not pay adwords instead?

mrs_sparrow

densol wrote: »

What's that ? I'm thinking of my own website shortly ?
Thanks

Google Ads. Without it you will not appear on Google Shopping. Google now expect you to pay for ads to get traffic and it is cost per click. The 'suggested daily budget' is between £30 and £40. That is £900 to £1200 a month on ads. When the 'credit' has run out for the day your site will no longer be shown.

I used to do really well with a good number of sales each week, then with the introduction of paid ads I was turned off overnight.

I would have to sell 120 full time items to justify this cost. if each item takes 5 minutes to process and pack, that is 600 minutes, or 10 hours I have to work before I make any money. Of course, they could buy lower value items which would be double this. And if I only sell 120 - I am working and not earning.

All of this needs taking into consideration.