Buyers - You want buyer choice and diversity on eBay? Then read this..

[yeoldecoinco]

People need to get this through their heads about what is happening to sellers AND buyers and eBay right now..

eBay has huge retail sellers ready to take over the entire eBay market.

Merchants who have an inventory of ONE MILLION PLUS ITEMS each!!

Those few at the top will be well compensated for their betrayal of all the small and medium sellers who made eBay what it was.

ALL the small and even medium sellers are utterly finished if this seller defect system continues AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT those at the top of eBAY WANT TO HAPPEN, the quicker, the better!

We have all been sold out by corporate greed.

A bit like when a CEO of a company takes over, fires a whole lot of workers and gets a big bonus for doing it.

We, the workers, the sellers, are getting the sack, so that a few people can line their pockets with many millions of dollars from their "diamond" clients.

The defect system is a cold-hearted fraud. They put defects against sellers for a customer simply asking a question or requesting to cancel a transaction! They put defects against sellers for postage delays that are no fault of the seller!

This, like their charging fees on postage, is absolutely and coldly deliberate, if you are not a huge seller, you are no longer required.

So they will make life as hard as possible until you leave, or get the boot..

What a ruthless, shameful sell out of ordinary people trying to make a living, most of whom have worked many long hours at their eBay business. Why am I not surprised. What do you expect from Americans? Michael Moore, time to do a documentary on eBay.

Sellers, better make other selling plans for when your INEVITABLE Dear John letter arrives, I am..

Take my feedback for example over the past 12 months. No negs, 2 confused neutrals from people who were happy with what they got, yet I already have 12 so called "defects" on my account.

If people such as myself cannot mantain the ridiculous required defect rate, what chance have any smaller sellers got long term?

Absolutely none.

And buyers? Protest this defect system and stick up for sellers getting a fair deal.

Otherwise eBay will be nothing but cheap foreign junk and knock offs with little choice or diversity.

Small and medium sellers make eBay the diverse experience it is.

Take them away and it is just one huge inferior junk shopping mall.

[zanadoo_56]

eBay can plug their big businesses as much as they like but these mega sellers are irrelevant to why I signed on to eBay.

Most of the stuff I buy is stuff I like to collect or a fun impulse buy....and the very best source of it all would be other collectors selling off the bits and pieces they no longer want, sellers who trawl through garage sales and op shops then clean up their finds and offer tham for sale, and collectors with an eye for profit who buy more than one of a collectable item not available in Oz.

No eBay shop in Oz (or China for that matter) is likely to be selling genuine 1960s Captain Scarlet pottery mugs or a rare Fireball XL5 colouring book from the UK, Barbie silkstone deboxed outfits (ie just the clothes, not the doll)....when Mattel only sold it as a complete set - doll and outfit - in limited quantities through their collector club (which doesn't post to Oz), and from Oz sellers kitchen pieces and gadgets in better designs and nicer colours and more reasonable prices than what you find in the shops here.

So go ahead eBay....I've already signed on to another auction mob, I've already bought stuff from sellers through their own websites.  If there are no small sellers, then what's the point?  Mega eBay stores cannot cater for a niche market.

[the_pooze]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

While I have no faith in the defect system I must take issue with the statement: "We have all been sold out by corporate greed".

Ebay exists for one reason and for one reason only and that is to make money for the shareholders. If the new defect system means they make more money then it will stay, end of. That is not greed, it is just normal business practice and the sooner members realise that what they think is of no concern to ebay the better.

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Absolutely agree with you Phorum but, I really hope, for the sake of Shareholders if nobody else, the eBay Execs aren't as short sighted as those in some multi-nationals who have left their shareholders wallowing in a vat of excrement as they pursued the "big boys" to the detriment of their long term small clients and when the market fell flat, so did those in hot pursuit of only the "big boys".

I speak from the experience of an employee who's been through it and watched a $8M p.a. turn over in a regional branch turn into only $900K p.a. within 12 months.  2.5 years later we're only just getting our ex-long term, small clients back on board. and getting the branch back into the black.   

[lousbloomingarden]

So they suck us in and make their squillions and throw us away like a dirty rag after we commit ourselves to the hilt with stock. Why do we have to cop it the hard way. It doesn't have to be this way. Ethics is the key word here.

[lousbloomingarden]

Hmmmm I guess I might just hang in there then to see who's excrement hits the fan.....interesting

[i-love-my-sheep]

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@zanadoo_56 wrote:

eBay can plug their big businesses as much as they like but these mega sellers are irrelevant to why I signed on to eBay.

Most of the stuff I buy is stuff I like to collect or a fun impulse buy....and the very best source of it all would be other collectors selling off the bits and pieces they no longer want, sellers who trawl through garage sales and op shops then clean up their finds and offer tham for sale, and collectors with an eye for profit who buy more than one of a collectable item not available in Oz.

No eBay shop in Oz (or China for that matter) is likely to be selling genuine 1960s Captain Scarlet pottery mugs or a rare Fireball XL5 colouring book from the UK, Barbie silkstone deboxed outfits (ie just the clothes, not the doll)....when Mattel only sold it as a complete set - doll and outfit - in limited quantities through their collector club (which doesn't post to Oz), and from Oz sellers kitchen pieces and gadgets in better designs and nicer colours and more reasonable prices than what you find in the shops here.

So go ahead eBay....I've already signed on to another auction mob, I've already bought stuff from sellers through their own websites.  If there are no small sellers, then what's the point?  Mega eBay stores cannot cater for a niche market.

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I'm like you, some things are just not available in mainstream, whereas occasionally it pops up on eBay. I'd hte to see those sellers of hard to get collectables booted out.

[4monicak]

I love eBay for all the small and medium sellers. Especially lou*sbloomin*garden* one of eBays nicest sellers. She has a passion for her plants, provides detailed information on care etc. Let's take care and show our appreciation for all the small and medium sellers. I have only ever bought stuff on eBay and have been reluctant to sell because it seems more challenging.

[craig23040]

Isn't it the unprecedented ease and convenience of paypal that has made ebay what it is today, something, by and large, bitterly resisted at every step by small and medium sellers?

[egglesdtp]

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@craig23040 wrote:

Isn't it the unprecedented ease and convenience of paypal that has made ebay what it is today, something, by and large, bitterly resisted at every step by small and medium sellers?

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I don't agree at all. When I first joined ebay as a buyer in 2006, PP wasn't mandatory and I certainly didn't have a PP account. But ebay was a fun place to buy and it became bigger and bigger. After the kerfuffle the introduction of PP-only payments was attempted in 2008, but then later overturned, I became a seller in 2009, and eventually opened a PP account. I sold successfully on a very small scale, and was happy to receive and make payments by direct deposit. I still don't mind receiving payments by direct deposit, but probably 99% of my payments are made by PP (both buying and selling).

To say that small and medium sellers bitterly resist PP is hogwash. And it certainly has not been responsible for the success to date of ebay.

[egglesdtp]

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@mbselections00 wrote:

HI,

I posted on the Buying, Selling and Powersellers boards on Saturday hoping to get the word out, particularly to Buyers, if you want to have a look, the postings were headed Sellers need your help please (on the Buying Boards) and Support Required for Fellow Seller/s (on the Selling Boards)

Problem is, it would appear only 41 people support change

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I've read your posts mb, and commend them, but the problem is I am sure the vast majority of buyers never go near the discussion boards (unfortunately no hard evidence for this, but it's fairly obvious when the same group of names appear over and over in the posts).

So how do they get to find out about the defect system?

[egglesdtp]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

While I have no faith in the defect system I must take issue with the statement: "We have all been sold out by corporate greed".

Ebay exists for one reason and for one reason only and that is to make money for the shareholders. If the new defect system means they make more money then it will stay, end of. That is not greed, it is just normal business practice and the sooner members realise that what they think is of no concern to ebay the better.

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It might be normal business practice, but there are ethical and moral ways to go about it, and the defect system isn't it.