topic Re: Is ebay getting worse?? in Buying

Is ebay getting worse??

c_mount — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 02:58:55 GMT

Range of things not what it used to be, especially used items, and it appears a LOT more asian/chinese sellers and their junk, not just o/s but within Australia!

Quality and standards have dropped. Ebay is dying a slow commercial death.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

k1ooo-slr-sales — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 04:27:00 GMT

for many, eBay is nothing like it was when they started out.

For me, eBay fees have changed significantly since I joined in 2009. I used to have to pay listing fees even if an item didn't sell and the higher the start price the higher the fee. I got one photo free and had to pay 25 cents for every photo after that. There were 'stepped' percentage final-value-fees with a cap at about $49 mark. Now there are 40 free listings per month for casual sellers, 12 photos free with each listing,fvf is fixed at 9.9% and includes postage amount, 3 free relists that do not count towards the 40-free listings

I my opinion, the biggest change for sellers in my time on eBay has been this stupid defects system where sellers get dinged for things that they have no control over. Even if a seller gets a positive feedback they can get a defect if they get a 1 or 2 on one of their DSRs. At least this will be changing in Feb of next year.

For buyers, there are many that think that eBay used to be the place to get a bargain, sort of like "one man's trash is another man's treasure" with sellers happy to get anything for what they were seller as they no longer needed the items. Over time, the number of serious sellers has grown compared to casual sellers which has seen sellers starting items with higher start bids, which many buyers complain about to this day.

eBay has sought to attract big chain stores and has promoted the Buy-It-Now format which is not conducive to buyers getting bargains, hence the complaints that there are no bargains any more.

The growth of the Chinese sector of eBay is just a matter of numbers. The number of manufacturers, the number of wholesalers, the number of Chinese citizens wanting to make a better life for themselves is beyond the comprehension of many of us here in Australia. Can't blame people for wanting a better life, and for some Chinese this means scamming 'affluent' westerners. I use the word 'affluent' as most Aussies would be affluent compared to regular Chinese citizens struggling to get by. There are also many home-grown scammers, especially for tech items such as mobile phones.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

cmcoins2000 — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 04:29:47 GMT

Yes.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

k1ooo-slr-sales — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 04:37:57 GMT

the other thing I meant to mention was "Best Match", which I find a misnomer because if I ever search using Best Match the results are nothing like the best match for me. My default search preference is "ending soonest".

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

phorum_junkie* — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 07:35:16 GMT

I too find it is much cheaper to sell now than in the so called "good old days". My sales have gone down slightly in number this session but I have kept about the same level as profit as for the same month last year when I actually started sellng again earlier in April.

The 3 free relists, and I even got them on my store id when they were giving out free auction listings, make a huge difference as do the number of free extras we have had lately. In past years I had to eke out the 40 free listings over a month and use another id if I wanted more than that. At the moment I have over 60 items on offer and they are just getting relisted every week so a fraction of the work I did for less exposure last year.

I don't have any problems with the Chinese sellers other than the fact that they may put newbies off buying on ebay if they use them early on for expensive carp. I buy a fair few things for myself on aliexpress, not for resale I might add. I am not competing in the same categories for the most part and would not ever consider trying to beat them at their own game with the cheapo items that they mostly sell.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

bimberiretrosystems — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 21:47:39 GMT

I just can't believe how dismal ebay is this year-it seems as though many many sellers have just left-trust has been eroded with the MoneyBackGuarantee rubbish and these people will never return. For this time of year there is NOTHING worth buying-it reminds me of the poverty you find on quicksales.

Seems as though back to local markets is the best bet to get anything good.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

jbmbkb — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 08:55:50 GMT

ive been a seller of used items for alot of years and stopped about 2 months ago due to ebays ridiculous money back guarrantee and scammers and i for one will never return as a seller ..im sure im not the only one, as theres no where near the amount of used items that interest me that there used to be on ebay.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

ytwo000 — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 18:30:21 GMT

@c_mount wrote:
Range of things not what it used to be, especially used items, and it appears a LOT more asian/chinese sellers and their junk, not just o/s but within Australia!

Quality and standards have dropped. Ebay is dying a slow commercial death.

Is ebay getting worse??...No....Its already got there.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

tastiger1 — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 09:19:29 GMT

Agree. The time is ripe for something better to appear, but what it will be we wll not know until it happens. Even bricks/mortar auction houses are doing it tough - if you put something in their auctions it will almost certainly get butchered. If you can take $100 a day at markets consider yourself lucky - time to think outside the square. Perhaps you are in the wrong business.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

springyzone — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 10:07:15 GMT

A decade ago it seemed to have more mum & dad sellers and 99% of listing were from Australia, unless you looked through the separate list of' From international sellers', but now it is chock a block full of Asian businesses and a lot of what I would call cheap junky stuff. All new.

There are still a few private, small time sellers around but it's a changing world.

My sister & I sold a couple of thousand items back in about 2003-2005 but I wouldn't like to try it now. Back then, buyers had to put a lot of trust in sellers as they paid into bank accounts and relied on sellers to do the right thing and describe things accurately & post. Buyers could get scammed.

Now it has gone a bit the other way & it is sellers who can be scammed.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

davewil1964 — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 11:27:40 GMT

There are alternatives but you lot, buyers, won't buy from them.

I have a lot of items listed on alternative sites, at less than here, but I still make almost all my sales here.

So maybe all you whingers who don't want to buy from eBay, even though eBay have loaded the dice in your favour, might TRY to look elsewhere, rather than whinging about eBay.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

ytwo000 — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 17:44:43 GMT

@davewil1964 wrote:
There are alternatives but you lot, buyers, won't buy from them.

I have a lot of items listed on alternative sites, at less than here, but I still make almost all my sales here.

So maybe all you whingers who don't want to buy from eBay, even though eBay have loaded the dice in your favour, might TRY to look elsewhere, rather than whinging about eBay.

yep. i sold many 1,000's of items on ebay (gave up last year) and also had the same items listed on QS but....

for every 100 sales here i was lucky to sell one on QS (same products for less $ cause of no fees there)..seems buyers dont go there for some reason.

for the last 12 months i sold "0" at that site.great prices great products. i have said this before, more buyers need to find QS.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

lyndal1838 — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 17:53:52 GMT

I have bought from other sites but on the whole it is a lot more difficult to find things and what I was buying at the time was either the same as here or marginally more expensive.

They definitely don't have the range of items that are available here....I buy a lot of collectibles from overseas. Even DVDs are cheaper from overseas than on that site, if you can get them.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

ytwo000 — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 18:01:23 GMT

theres 1.65m items listed there atm. i remember a few years ago there would be 10 times that. (thats on QS)

seems sellers are getting less and less there due to poor sales. includes me as i have pulled all my items down from there.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

lyndal1838 — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 20:06:52 GMT

Every there was an exodus of sellers from here I was prepared to follow then and give other sites a go but really it was not as good as here.

It is a shame really as there are a lot of disincentives to buy here now....the way sellers are treated is pretty awful. I would be more than happy to go elsewhere but I still have to think of where I can get the best buys.

Re: Is ebay getting worse??

springyzone — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 23:46:52 GMT

Dave, you say there are alternatives but buyers won;t use them.

I think buyers will buy from any site that seems reliable, is easy to use & gives them a good choice.

Let's do an experiment

I am after a second hand high chair, pick up item, to use for the grandkids.

Quick Sales- 16 listed Australia wide.

Only one is located near me. Seems to have no cover or seat belts, yet is $20.

Another from the other side of town is listed $176, new, seems to be a company selling it, but no photo.

------------------------------

Gumtree-138 ads for high chairs within 20km of my home

Several that look very good, in the price range I was after ($20-$40) and within a 5km radius.

There's an auto button on every ad now that says make an offer, so obviously it is possible the prices may even be slightly negotiable on some of them.

----------------------------

Ebay- 168 listings within 25 km of here.

Several of them only have a few hours to go and still have not attracted a bid, or in some cases one bid, even though the starting point is 99c.

Most are dearer than that of course, but there are a few that look okay and not too far away.

----------------

Conclusions as a buyer.

For this sort of item, ebay and gumtree are much of a muchness, though it is attractive to go through gumtree, no bidding, just go and look and either buy/not buy.

Quick sales. Not enough stuff there. This is consistently the case. I have looked up other assorted and small items eg children's shoes, nothing there.

I probably won't visit it much. I don't think it will take off unless it had a massive publicity campaign & lots more sellers.

Ebay has a bigger range but for some things, gumtree isn't far behind. probably what ebay wants anyway-for small sellers to switch.