What would you do if you were the ceo of ebay

[casbit33]

If I were the Ceo of Ebay I would make all items free to list and relist.

Storeholders would have a lower FV fee.

Money back guarantee would be scrapped.

Negative feedback button returned for sellers.

Bad buyers and sellers would have their accounts shut down.

And the whole place would get back to being a fair and equal place for all.

What does everyone else think? any ideas?

[5kazam]

Apologies Lyndal, I think I may have meant Cats - often jumps in with 'eBay and commonsense shouldn't be used in the same sentence' (or words to that effect).  And I guess 'generosity" and 'eBay' come under the same category.

[lyndal1838]

  I must admit I have used the phrase in the past, but not in this thread.

[heihachi_73]

"Why should they give extra freebies to people who only pay them $20 fees in three months instead of to those who pay $200 in 3 months?"

To give small sellers an incentive to actually list something. It's a waste of time trying to sell anything on eBay unless it costs upwards of $10 each. The $100-$1000 range seems to be the sweet spot for sales on here. Unfortunately, most non-store accounts don't have hundreds of items worth $100+ each, they're simply trying to shift second hand clothing, electronics, media, car parts and anything else they can get rid of. Despite the number of games I am listing, I am not a game store - I collected PlayStation 1 and 2 games from the late 90s until a few years ago and now it's time to get rid of them (to me, the PS2 was the last true game console, although technically the Nintendo Wii should have that title).

[digital*ghost]

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@heihachi_73 wrote:
"Why should they give extra freebies to people who only pay them $20 fees in three months instead of to those who pay $200 in 3 months?"

To give small sellers an incentive to actually list something. It's a waste of time trying to sell anything on eBay unless it costs upwards of $10 each. The $100-$1000 range seems to be the sweet spot for sales on here. 

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Wouldn't that mean eBay would be less inclined to encourage scores of fruitless listings, though? I mean, if it's a waste of time for the seller, it stands to reason there's not much in it for eBay, either....unless you pay an insertion fee, anyway. 

I started out that way - listing personal items I no longer wanted or needed, but back then freebies were a rarity (and generally only for 99c auctions), so I pretty much paid 50c for every item I listed because I learned quickly I wasn't going to risk selling for 99c. This is where a lot of my opinion about free listings comes from, for sure, as that resulted in me making more discerning decisions about what and how I chose to list - by which I mean 50c was worth trying once, maybe twice tops, but after that it became clear an item wasn't going to be worth further investment of time and money to try and sell - many other sellers approached it the same way and as a consequence you didn't see the same things perennially listed. 

When the promos did run, most people dreaded them (buyers and sellers alike), as the site would get an influx of listings that - to put it one way - made it more difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff. 

Maybe I'm just too old-school, weird and/or miserly to get the yen for free listings - I would be more inclined to have a system that encourages people to be selective / discerning and strategic, hence my previous suggestion of going back to lower priced insertion fees (after the standard freebies), half-price promos, and volume discounts. 

[chameleon54]

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@heihachi_73 wrote:
"Why should they give extra freebies to people who only pay them $20 fees in three months instead of to those who pay $200 in 3 months?"

To give small sellers an incentive to actually list something. It's a waste of time trying to sell anything on eBay unless it costs upwards of $10 each. The $100-$1000 range seems to be the sweet spot for sales on here. Unfortunately, most non-store accounts don't have hundreds of items worth $100+ each, they're simply trying to shift second hand clothing, electronics, media, car parts and anything else they can get rid of. Despite the number of games I am listing, I am not a game store - I collected PlayStation 1 and 2 games from the late 90s until a few years ago and now it's time to get rid of them (to me, the PS2 was the last true game console, although technically the Nintendo Wii should have that title).

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Isnt this exactly what ebay is doing already with the 40 free listings per month and 3 free relists. A non store holder can list items for 30 day BIN and recieve 3 free relists, effectivly giving them access to 160 free listings ( minus sales ) every month. That doesnt seem like too bad a deal to me.

  If sellers already effectivly get 160 free listings per month how many more freebies do they expect ???? .... 160 listings also takes a little bit of time to manage. Just a nice amount to keep track of in your spare time. I would suggest most people who want more than 160 listings per month are not just selling a bit of stuff from round the house, but are looking to run a micro business. If so, they should open a store.

I must be missing something, cos 160 freebies per month ( minus sales )  sounds generous enough to me.

[casbit33]

Yes 160 freebies sounds great when you say it like that, but that's ONLY if the 3 auto relists actually work.

We all know they come and go whenever they like.

When I list an item, I AlWAYS tick that button, but I recently had hundreds of items finish across all acounts after just 10 days. The free auto relist had disappeared on every one. So that would mean the 160 is now back at 40 unless ebay can fix the problem.

[transport-posters]

My recent auto-relist experience is interesting.

Because of all the problems I've seen in this forum relating to it and free listing promotions over the past year or so, I've never actually used it.

But when using another account which has a new style of editor on it, it auto-ticked it and I didn't realise.  My item (a bulk lot of old magazines) was listed first time and got almost no interest (a few hits and no watchers) over 30 days.  Then it auto-relisted and I got messages from four people within a few days who wanted to organise to get it!

It was bizarre.

[jensmanchester-australia]

If I was the CEO of Ebay I would continue to move in the direction they have taken in recent times as IMO it has greatly improved from when I first started many moons ago.

When I first started there was no such thing as free listings. You paid for everything - listing fee, extra fee if you used gallery, another fee if you added a second picture etc. There was no such thing as multi variation listings etc. Personally I consider 40 free listings a month more than sufficient for casual sellers. If a seller is constantly having more listings than that then I would not consider them a casual seller who is trying to clear a few bits and pieces from around the house - they are running a mini business. As it is sellers just open up multiple accounts and use the free listings over a number of ID's to avoid paying listing fees so they are not necessarily restricted to just 40 free listings.

The returns console is a great idea as it allows buyers and sellers to communicate easily in the one place which makes it easy for ebay to see any communication between the two parties. Although exchanges can be currently done through the returns console by using the send message function it would be handy if ebay were to add an exchange button as inexperienced sellers are not always sure how to use the returns console. Many sellers are reluctant to accept returns for change of mind purchases although I am sure virtually every seller out there has come home from the shops with something and returned it for whatever reason as they no longer wanted it.

With online shopping it is not always easy to know exactly what you are getting as despite photos and descriptions the customer has not physically seen the item and it may be different to what they thought. An easy change of mind returns process simplifies it for everyone and also helps avoid buyers claiming INAD just because they have changed their mind.

With the MBG I  think it is an excellent concept and needs to stay as buyers need to feel safe and secure when shopping online.  Ebay does have systems in place to protect sellers from misuse of the MBG but they will never tell you exactly what the criteria are so we don't really know if buyers are being penalised in some way for misuse of the MBG. Whether the criteria need to be tightened up I really don't know.

I would like to see Aussie sellers being given priority in searches but as we all know overseas sellers have worked out ways to get round this - this is probably the area I think needs most improvement in.

With the fairly prominent link now coming up at the top of the page to search from an item from Aussie Sellers that is helping but I still think there is a lot of improvement to be done with the ebay search engine.

[mjm7774]

1/ Yes listing fees are just a lose lose situation - I don't list so ebay gets nothing. It is actually to ebay's disadvantage because it prompts me, when I have no free listings, to look for other avenues of selling for free and has helped me greatly but at ebays loss. I would support a tiny rise in FV's if I got unlimited free listings...sad but true.

2/ Storeholders should gain an even lower storeholders FV fee as incentive and also more flexibility to not pay there fee for some periods of the year eg for me I would open a stall but have a daughter with a disabilty so there would be some months, after operations for example, that I would pay but not be able to operate a store. So if I knew that I could chose two periods of 'holidays' in a year with no fees, it would work for me and probably others too.

3/ I can see why they scrapped negative feedback for sellers but it is soooo frustrating as an honest seller when I am getting more and more people that just don't bother paying, don't collect their items and they return to sender, return items saying the listing was wrong but when I get it back they were all true and correct (clever way to get around my 'no returns unless I have made an error' terms). Some form of feedback for at least non payments should show on their record and we as sellers should be able to block buyers with a certain percentage of non payments, like we could for new ebay accounts.

4/ Yep ebay needs a clean up, seems to be operating on the dregs at the moment with so many buyers burnt too many times and visa versa - all headed to facebook where they can buy instantly still, have a look / try it on etc in their own area or join groups listing exactly the brand they are looking for.

and I would add....5/ Step up and FIGHT for your company and compete with Facebook and the other free avenues of selling that are cropping up all over the place. Don't watch eBay and the hard work of all go into death throws. Be loyal and support the little people that supported you to get off the ground years ago, rather than just the big companies you have on board now like Good Guys, City Chic, Lorna Jane etc etc

Oh and I might also add Merry Xmas xx

[*tippy*toes*]

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@mjm7774 wrote:

1/ Yes listing fees are just a lose lose situation - I don't list so ebay gets nothing. It is actually to ebay's disadvantage because it prompts me, when I have no free listings, to look for other avenues of selling for free and has helped me greatly but at ebays loss. I would support a tiny rise in FV's if I got unlimited free listings...sad but true.

2/ Storeholders should gain an even lower storeholders FV fee as incentive and also more flexibility to not pay there fee for some periods of the year eg for me I would open a stall but have a daughter with a disabilty so there would be some months, after operations for example, that I would pay but not be able to operate a store. So if I knew that I could chose two periods of 'holidays' in a year with no fees, it would work for me and probably others too.

3/ I can see why they scrapped negative feedback for sellers but it is soooo frustrating as an honest seller when I am getting more and more people that just don't bother paying, don't collect their items and they return to sender, return items saying the listing was wrong but when I get it back they were all true and correct (clever way to get around my 'no returns unless I have made an error' terms). Some form of feedback for at least non payments should show on their record and we as sellers should be able to block buyers with a certain percentage of non payments, like we could for new ebay accounts.

4/ Yep ebay needs a clean up, seems to be operating on the dregs at the moment with so many buyers burnt too many times and visa versa - all headed to facebook where they can buy instantly still, have a look / try it on etc in their own area or join groups listing exactly the brand they are looking for.

and I would add....5/ Step up and FIGHT for your company and compete with Facebook and the other free avenues of selling that are cropping up all over the place. Don't watch eBay and the hard work of all go into death throws. Be loyal and support the little people that supported you to get off the ground years ago, rather than just the big companies you have on board now like Good Guys, City Chic, Lorna Jane etc etc

Oh and I might also add Merry Xmas xx

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You can block buyers with 2 or more unpaid strikes in 3, 6, or 12 months (mine is set for 12 months) in your buyer requirements. It doesn't eliminate the pests, but it certainly stops a lot in their tracks. http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BuyerBlockPreferences

You can also check how many buyers you've blocked due to your settings. They don't reveal the ID's of buyers with strikes, but if you have blocks set to block buyers who haven't been phone verified, it will show their ID. http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BuyerRequirementsActivityLog

Don't forget when setting up your blocks to tick the box at the bottom to apply to active and future listings.