topic Re: Where does the root cause lie?? in Selling

Where does the root cause lie??

bettyboopsadaisy — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 13:04:52 GMT

I know many people will think on reading this post, "Not that old acorn", but I don't think we are finished talking about this issue central to our selling or . . . non-selling !!!

What is the root cause/s of what a large number of sellers are now experiencing as a significant downturn in their volume of sales ?

Certainly there are many economic factors that are beyond the control or ebay or sellers, that contribute to this happening.

But I also honestly believe that the general trend in the policies that ebay has adopted in the last couple of years (and before !) have contributed to a downturn in potential buyer interest.

Although ebay purport to have put in place policies that are great for buyers, there has been such a resulting outcry, not just in the ebay community but also to some extent the wider community about ebay's and PayPal's policies and practices that it may well have scared a proportion of buyers off.

Ebay and PayPal are increasingly being labelled 'dodgy' in some quarters and that can't be good for them . . .or US!

What do others think?

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

davewil1964 — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 13:38:04 GMT

I think I will continue to sell here while I make money, then I will try to sell using other venues.

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

i-love-my-sheep — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 13:38:57 GMT

Maybe it depends on what buyers are wanting at any time? Maybe it depends on whether a seller is selling something a buyer wants as opposed to needs. People are happy to part with money for things they want, but not so happy to spend money on things.

I can't say I'm having the same issues as others, my sales are increasing every month.

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

x3n0m — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 13:56:39 GMT

What do others think?

A slow motion train wreck .. some will survive, some will walk away and some will get buried (ie their business and aspirations finished) .. the underlying root cause being rampant greed by the already filthy rich and the corporate lust for more and more and more at any cost with no remorse for any who get burned, eventually the shareholders will get ripped by the corporate inner circle as that would be the only way forward ie damm the little guy, this is about fast clean fly by night MOOOLAAAHHHH.. what we have here is a disruptive innovation .. and if ebay gets destroyed in the rush for more money so be it, they really won't care as the insiders just want fast and dirty bucks for their Swiss bank account and sugar babies and will never be satisfied just sitting still and building a constructive business when it is so lucrative rattling cages and kicking people in the teeth ..

I personally only have a few more 1000 bucks worth to offload and am finished with internet auctions for good, have luckily found a tender centre about 150 clicks from here where I can offload in bulk too .. the sellthrough online is now excruciatingly slow and week by week my competitors mark down their stock to the point it is valueless to actually list (I won't go into the full dynamics of the problem but suffice to say I understand where it all went wrong and why ebay is loosing its mojo).. will still buy online and if I see a little value here and there may sell something about the house but will use ebay and big corporate like amazon as a last resort as it is now personal .. will also find a few vendors who supply the products I am interested in and deal direct with no middle man .. it's the only way to be sure .. it is a real shame as this place actually helped many put food on the table but the corporate ones feel no responsibility to actually helping anyone except themselves ..

Have resolved that the final step will be to give the op shops at least a grand worth of stock which they will offload for about $200 but hey its about clearing out them cupboards now .. no longer about making a dollar that thing has been and gone for many of us ..

But the final analysis is that sellers are/were buyers too so ebay has busied itself bumping off the small timers so that their high street back room stock market listed mates can float to the surface (and in all honesty I already have a flatscreen and if I want another one will go to a B&M store so ebay has backed the wrong horse there) .. what is now missing since the rise of the corporate insider with ebay account manager pushing all the right buttons for them is now the churn of buy/sell/buy is gone and that dynamic will crush more oxygen from the remaining sellers and thus the same dynamic will creep through the categories and finish many more .. auspost hasn't helped at all and many aussies don't even bother with international sales now etc etc ,, the 10% fee grab on postage is just evil and punished good sellers while ebay let the scammers who caused the problem to remain .. and best match default a la cassinni is looking for more victims as we speak .. I could go on but nobody is really listening so is a useless exercise .. good luck with it ..

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

indigorosey — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 02:22:10 GMT

Maybe not applicable to most sellers but I can pinpoint exactly when my sales ground to a screeching halt on this selling ID. When a buyer launched an unfair NAD on this account my sales stopped immediately and views dwindled to single digits. The only sales I have made were repeat customers and items that had watchers on it.

Because of my low feedback count I firmly believe that this is the cause and eBay do throttle accounts, and this is backed up by media statements from eBay officials. Ebay promised to remove defects last week but have not followed through yet, so I am forced to recoup through other means (Facebook, markets, etc).

From a buyer's point of view, I think that as eBay continue to cultivate Chinese commerce which swamp many categories, it's appeal to niche buyers will dwindle as they migrate to Etsy, Amazon and other online marketplaces.

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

clarry100 — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 04:36:40 GMT

Our sales are steadily declining on here as well. It may just be the time of year tho.

So we are soon to give ETSY a try.

We will keep ebay going as well, but if it gets just too hard to deal with we will pull the plug on it.

And having done so would be lilkely to not buy on here any more either.

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

thecatspjs — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 04:53:16 GMT

I think if you want to offload a few dozen rocks every month or cheap chinese junk then this is the place to be

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

x3n0m — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 05:37:45 GMT

I think if you want to offload a few dozen rocks every month or cheap chinese junk then this is the place to be

.. but surely to make a profit on ebay those rocks and chinese junk would need to be procured and/or manicured via child/slave labour and then would need to be imported from a 3rd world country who forces Australia to adhere to the draconian UN postage agreement thus punishing all Aussies into paying more to post a parcel ..

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

bsal6160 — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:03:02 GMT

Or just maybe its the high prices some sellers are asking for their items?

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

thecatspjs — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:06:27 GMT

Equally it could be that buyers are not prepared to pay asking prices and want goods for next to nothing which is a need met by cheap chinese junk that seems to do quite well on here.

Edit to add ~ with FREE POST of course

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

digital*ghost — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:17:40 GMT

@x3n0m wrote:
I think if you want to offload a few dozen rocks every month or cheap chinese junk then this is the place to be

.. but surely to make a profit on ebay those rocks and chinese junk would need to be procured and/or manicured via child/slave labour and then would need to be imported from a 3rd world country who forces Australia to adhere to the draconian UN postage agreement thus punishing all Aussies into paying more to post a parcel ..

Since when does China "force" Australia Post to adhere to the UPU agreement?

Near as I can tell, if they are truly suffering from the cost of imports from China, then AP have taken on something of a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude, either that or they're not as open and honest about the true cost of things, but my local PO has posters on the wall advertising their partnership with Taobao, Tmall etc, and offering the Alipay card, which encourages purchase from China. Not saying there isn't an issue with the high volumes of mail coming from OS and it causing inflated prices for their service, but AP have never substantiated any of their claims about how much it costs etc with actual facts and figures, and I personally would rather look at the entire situation with a critical eye than believe their public statements as gospel and start blaming everyone else 'cos AP say so.

Here's a shocking fact - some people on eBay are experiencing success, in whatever form that should take, with a variety of items from a variety of places, and IMO they don't deserve derision if they happen to mention it.

Yes, eBay has problems, a lot of them, and I know they affect sellers in many different - negative - ways, but I can't see this line of discussion as constructive in context of the thread.

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

x3n0m — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:26:30 GMT

Equally it could be that buyers are not prepared to pay asking prices and want goods for next to nothing which is a need met by cheap chinese junk that seems to do quite well on here.

Edit to add ~ with FREE POST of course

Hence it is barely worth the time and effort to actually list items unless they are actually valuable and with the risks and expenses involved selling expensive stuff it doesn't leave much room for enthusiasm thus often many are back to selling bric and brac and counting pennys .. so when the rewards are no longer there it is prudent to move on .. and on the other sites you could list your stuff for free and no one would actually buy .. lol .. ebay has it all stitched up every which way .. but things are pretty rough really eg I had a day old $300 pair of Work Boots listed for $75 with free post for months and the best I got was bookmarked a few times, it took me an hour just photograph describe and list the damn things!!! .. I am afraid it really is just a waste of time unless you are selling genuine antiques or chinese junk/ slave made goods .. and when you do finally manage to sell the fees and costs are extraordinarily off putting (unless you are based in China) ..and then off course there are the chargebacks, buyer remorse, breakage, shrinkage/scammers etc etc etc ..

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

x3n0m — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:35:12 GMT

Everyone seems to assume that he Auspost CEO is trying to make auspost a success .. perhaps that is not the case and what we are witnissing is Industrial Espionage (a deliberate self-inflicted wound) so that the multi-nationals can dance in and rip us a new one .. I wouldn't be suprised to find out that the Auspost CEO has lobbied the government to sell Auspost .. as I mentioned before; for the rich fat cats it is all about that fast fly by night MOOOLAAHH ..

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

x3n0m — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:42:03 GMT

Since when does China "force" Australia Post to adhere to the UPU agreement?

Quite right the psychopathic United Nations and inaction by our politicians has foisted that injustice upon us .. I believe the original agreement was stuck by the League of Nations .. it is an old cherry that serves no purpose in this modern day aside to rip us a new one ..

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

digital*ghost — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:45:34 GMT

@x3n0m wrote:

Everyone seems to assume that he Auspost CEO is trying to make auspost a success .. perhaps that is not the case and what we are witnissing is Industrial Espionage (a deliberate self-inflicted wound) so that the multi-nationals can dance in and rip us a new one .. I wouldn't be suprised to find out that the Auspost CEO has lobbied the government to sell Auspost .. as I mentioned before; for the rich fat cats it is all about that fast fly by night MOOOLAAHH ..

Well, if so he's certainly taking the slow way about it - could've just left stamps at 70c (or 60c, even), kept the 250gm parcel bracket, or just not increased service prices so much while decreasing service standards at the same time.

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

thecatspjs — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:48:17 GMT

Gosh I don't think that those who are successful Oz sellers that have decent volume of sales or growth should be as you put it "derided"

To the contrary any advice that "successful" sellers seek to provide to others in a non-patronising manner with good will is certainly always given consideration by myself, and from time to time I have integrated those tips into my own practices.

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

x3n0m — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 06:53:51 GMT

but back then Auspost was making $200 Million a year and now after all the diluting and cost increases auspost is only making $100 million and the aupost CEOs wages are now at 5% of the profit of the entire operation .. his wages go up as the profits go down .. what planet does these type of things happen on?? .. he gets paid 5 times more than the Prime Minister for driving a Public Utility into the ground and making many Australian businesses globally and locally uncompetitive!!

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

x3n0m — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 07:24:21 GMT

.. and to add insult to injury the consensus on the street by the average Joe/Jone CItizen (yes I have spoken with some of them face to face about this yesterday and today) is that they don't mind paying a little bit extra if it helps auspost to make a profit .. just so frustrating that people believe the official party line that gets regurgitated in the media .. PEOPLE OF PLANET EARTH Auspost are currently making $100 MILLION DOLLARS PROFIT and have never ever run at a loss even before they were corporatised .. they are a public utility and if this insanity continues much longer will damage our economy and lead to more unemployment .. eg If the Auspost CEO gets his way stamps go up and the postie will get their hours of employment reduced, so Auspost save money in wages (I can smell another auspost CEO pay-raise for that!!) .. thus the postie will then be looking for work to supplement their wages, our mail slows to a crawl and businesses are forced to use express postage to keep customers happy etc etc .. and so it goes an endless cycle of decreasing productivity and higher costs that will be felt at every level of Australian society .. this incrementalism will eventually leave us desperate/on the government teat and beholding to the multi-national rorters who I am sure are behind the scenes cheering all this on ..

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

dazzledayz — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 08:13:43 GMT

@digital*ghost wrote:
@x3n0m wrote:
I think if you want to offload a few dozen rocks every month or cheap chinese junk then this is the place to be

.. but surely to make a profit on ebay those rocks and chinese junk would need to be procured and/or manicured via child/slave labour and then would need to be imported from a 3rd world country who forces Australia to adhere to the draconian UN postage agreement thus punishing all Aussies into paying more to post a parcel ..

Since when does China "force" Australia Post to adhere to the UPU agreement?

I hear pretty much everyone complain about the UPU agreement and yes, it's getting pretty outmoded and badly skewed.

And yes, high volume imports do damage AP's bottom line and do force parcel prices up.

But (and it's a big BUT) if pollies had the will they DO have the tools to do something about it.

Here's the appropriate section from the UPU parcel post agreement:

Prot Article II

Charges

1 Notwithstanding article 6, Australia, Canada and New Zealand shall be authorized to collect postal charges other than those provided for in the Regulations, when such charges are consistent with the legislation of their countries.

The above appears on page 52 (D.2) of the agreement below:

UPU Parcel Agreement

The full acts (in 4 parts) are here:

UPU Acts in four parts

So you will see that in fact it is only a matter of local (Australian) legislation (or lack of political will).

Australia NZ and Canada all saw the freight train coming quite a few years ago and reserved the right to balance the ledger.

The fact that they have not done so is a matter for your federal MP.

Scitch'em.

You are the ones paying for this hedging every time you post something.

Anyone concerned with the UPU should take the opprtunity to read the agreements above.

All the information is freely available and, although it's not exactly easy reading, it's in plain English with no heretofores or very many whereases lol.

The cost calculation spreadsheets are a bit hard to follow but once you work out how to convert the currency variable you can see exactly what Aus Post claim for delivering an imported parcel or any other item of mail.

You'll find these calculators when you have a look around the UPU website.

Re: Where does the root cause lie??

cherry*135 — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 08:16:08 GMT

What is the root cause/s of what a large number of sellers are now experiencing as a significant downturn in their volume of sales ?

Competition from many other online sellers/retailers in Australia and overseas (with better prices, postage & return costs).. not many of those around when eBay first started up.