Ebay plus a joke

[lizd160904]

I know it's early days, but based on what I see, there is no way in hell I'll be paying for Ebay Plus. I buy a lot and have a large watch list and have noticed that the only sellers offering it.... are those that had free shipping already! lol and of course we know there is no such thing, it's factored in to the price.

So it's all a farce to get people to pay $29, $49 after the first year to get free shipping off sellers who offered it prior to Ebay PLus anyway. Not only single seller I use who charges postage now has the Plus. And here was the Ebay chief saying they were doing it to increase online shopping. Yeah whatever dude....

[countessalmirena]

[digital*ghost]

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@swapwaregames wrote:

 But unfortunately there are sellers that are starting to abuse the system,

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Indeed. I have seen some shocking examples, and I would not be surprised in the least if some very dramatic changes to the system are imminent.

Personally, I hope that it becomes opt-in, perhaps by approval to prevent the issues I'm starting to see - I also wonder if the fulfilment centre program they're implementing will play a much bigger part in the Plus program in the near future. (But really, I just want eBay to leave my darn listings alone, and despite my personal feelings about eBay themselves, it makes me a little ill to see what some sellers have been up to. And no, I'm not elaborating publicly - apologies to the curious cats  ). 

[collect247]

I'm glad I haven't opted in yet because I'm starting to get bribes from ebay lol,ebay are now offering me free gifts if I join haha.

I feel sorry for those whom have already joined and have missed out on these wonderful gifts being offered to me.

Just between us it ain't gona work ebay as I don't take bribes in the form of free gifts 

[padi*0409]

Ah, but maybe if you hang in there they'll offer you a new selling account....................

Spoiler

Yea I know, pigs might fly as well............................

[springyzone]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@kaibacorp*

As a seller, I actively want to reduce instances of impulse purchases - many ecommerce sites / sellers want to do the opposite, and I guess that's their choice, but I really don't want people purchasing on a whim purely because it doesn't matter to them if they don't want to keep it afterall. Yes, I accept change of mind returns, I think that's an important option to provide if it's needed, but I don't want it being used as a crutch for impulse buying, or otherwise bad purchase decisions. Encouraging people with this kind of "don't think, don't worry, just buy! Spend money now!" approach is a recipe for disaster. 

If you ask Amazon sellers who have opted into Prime, most  (in not all) of them will have many stories about buyers who do things like use it for free hire of products (thus the seller doesn't get back a saleable item), or they buy several of the one product (maybe in different colours and / or sizes) try them on at home and pick out the ones they like best, then send all but one back at the seller's expense. Both you and I are already paying for buyers to have that privilege when we purchase from a seller who chooses to offer such things. 

Me, I'd like to keep my prices low, and my buyers making carefully considered decisions. Not being able to see or touch an item is a concession of online purchasing - if people want all of the convenience but none of the concessions, they will need to be preapred to pay a lot more for the products they purchase online, moving forward. 

*eBay are apparently setting up distribution centres, so a few things might change on that front in the coming months, depending on how many sellers find this option appealing or workable.

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Just a comment about a buyer who orders several of the same items, picks the best, returns the rest.

That's how it works in a shop, isn't it. You might take 2 sizes into a fitting room to see which is right. You may take a couple of different colours to see which you prefer.

Naturally, if there is a system in place where you can do that with clothes bought on the internet and just return the unsuitable choices totally free of charge-well, why wouldn't you? 

The benefit is a lot of shoppers will be far more inclined to buy shoes & clothes if they have the option to send the unsuitable choices back free of charge.

On the downside yes, the postage charges would have to be built into the total price so buyers who bought more carefully are subsidising those who order 4, return 3 etc

I suppose the bottom line is if something is offered to buyers, they will take it, so you have to be very careful exactly what you offer.

[digital*ghost]

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@springyzone wrote:

Just a comment about a buyer who orders several of the same items, picks the best, returns the rest.

That's how it works in a shop, isn't it. You might take 2 sizes into a fitting room to see which is right. You may take a couple of different colours to see which you prefer.

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Kind of, except people don't take clothes off the shelf and into the changerooms for 1-5 weeks (minimum timeframe for COM returns is now 30 days). They don't have them in their house, exposed to goodness knows what for X amount of time -  (if anyone thinks their house doesn't have a unique smell that permeates everything, especially fabrics, I've got some news for you.... Homes may be smoke and pet free, but they are never scent-free - cook a lot of curry? Stuff in your house smells like curry. Spray air freshener? People living there may not be able to smell it, but it's there). 

Being careful about what services a seller offers was exactly my point - I am not offering anything, eBay is, but it has the potential to cost me regardless of the initial expenses eBay cover. And the bottom line is, I do not want to attract or encourage that behaviour to my shop. 

[countessalmirena]

Some of the "benefits" will look good to some sellers who will later on realise what it's cost them in broader terms.

[justcruising49]

I am getting tempted with my bribe/free gift -a google mini. But can I opt in and keep my listings as normal with postage charged, or will they get changed to ebay plus?  or is it taking too big a chance?

[jeremyholton]

Ebay has to do something to stop the Amazon juggernaut taking over the world

[manickmechanic]

eBay Plus? free postage can actually be a deterrent to buyers, with free postage if you buy multiple items from a seller there is NO option to combine/reduce the postage costs, this DEFINITELY changes how much I will buy from any particular seller who only offers free postage, downside of that is that more time is spent 'surfing' for better deals.

ebay plus has no appeal to me, I have 3500+ items in my watch lists and currently purchase between 50 - 100 items per month.

The best thing eBay could do at the moment is to include the GST in our search results, because now when we select to organise our searches with regard to price, the result is now inaccurate . .