eBay pays some "Mentors" to post on Community boards?

[x3n0m]

I woulda kept this to myself except the constant scuttling of rodents about this place requires some kind of pest control ..

"It appears eBay is paying some people to respond to questions on its community discussion boards."

So hopefully that puts to rest the speculation about certain ebay cheerleaders about the place here .. it certainly explains why they actually live here and are so nasty to people who post about difficult topics here .. this corrupt empire is crumbling into a cesspool .. this would explain why it is so painful attempting any type of serious conversation on this seller board here ..

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2021/6/1623719450.html

[digital*ghost]

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@x3n0m wrote:

ne of my items has 95 item specifics ebay suggests/requires (an old computer book I was hoping to make $5 on after all the fees and postage etc) 

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Just so we're clear, you hate eBay, it's policies, its procedures and everything it stands for...but you "suck it up" and continue to sell here anyway? 

This is not me implying you're a hypocrite for using eBay when you seem to hate it with every fibre of your being, I'm more just curious that you appear to be following the very advice you're slinging barbs at. Or have I got it all wrong? Is there some kind of eBay seller's union that you're starting up that has some chance of advocating to eBay on seller's behalf and actually working in some policy changes that help them rather than hinder or hurt them? 

What exactly is it that you do, aside from assume everyone who criticises you on the boards is some kind of ebay shill and continually predict someone else will provide something better for sellers sooner of later? 

[x3n0m]

Just so we're clear, you hate eBay, it's policies, its procedures and everything it stands for...but you "suck it up" and continue to sell here anyway?

a paradox to be sure .. I have explained it prior .. ebay have an effective working monopoly in the Australian ecommerce market for selling my old hobby stuff online etc .. cheap and cheerful and simple is what I want .. ..and then I buy stuff here .. a delicate ecosytem really .. I love websites like ebay .. but ebay is a harsh task master ..

This is not me implying you're a hypocrite for using eBay when you seem to hate it with every fibre of your being, I'm more just curious that you appear to be following the very advice you're slinging barbs at. Or have I got it all wrong? Is there some kind of eBay seller's union that you're starting up that has some chance of advocating to eBay on seller's behalf and actually working in some policy changes that help them rather than hinder or hurt them?

I am extremely disappointed as the ebay website here is a resource but is run inefficiently and counter intuitive to stability and good customer relations .. it is a problem globally not just australia .. so .. I have to say uninspired and confused and shambles compared to what it could be  .. rapid and radical and continuous ebay policy changes (inadvertently?) damaging the very markets it hosts .. it all just seems in disrepair (and corrupt) and cassinni is just killing the mojo here for years .. multi listings .. blah!! to that too ..  and am extremely disappointed ebay have diluted it all so badly by losing so many customers/sellers ,, I often wonder if ebay "even" know the damage they did or whether they did it deliberately for a subversive reason ..

What exactly is it that you do, aside from assume everyone who criticises you on the boards is some kind of ebay shill and continually predict someone else will provide something better for sellers sooner of later?

where do you start? ..

I understand most ebay seller requirements and the problems with fraud  and misrepresentation of items in seller ads and a whole other heap of headaches and fraud ebay has to deal with and all ebay users actually expect that is done efficiently so we can get on with selling/buying our stuff ..ebay has "gone for" "ingenious"/diabolical turnkey solutions attempting to skimp on manhours for security and fraud .. this is where it goes straight off the rails .. ebay fights fraud in its "turnkey" ways .. rather than a hands on approach .. like the first customer in tears and out of pocket and I would expect the seller to be dragged over the coals .. so ebay is light handed there is my feelings .. feedback extortion etc .. I think a more hands on approach . case by case .. and visa versa with bad buyers too .. but with stiff penalties for infringements .. I am down with; the tax collection side of things, realistic fee structure etc, promoted listings .. all good .. 

but ebay has taken very impersonal approaches with fraud protection and fee structure that damage good customer relations and with cassinin its clear to me that disengages new traffic to the website .. there are multiple problems with the seller interface and the ebay search results are often just annoying even with all the years of tweaking item specifics and keyword searching? .. it seems ridiculous .. what is going on? ... so many problems .. i remember the days when listing your item on ebay you were simply forced to put your item into a simple subcategory of a subcategory and that was the end of it .. item specifics woulda been good if you needed a few more keywords .... ebay went off the rails ..

anyway no use lamenting .. am sure others have said it but it is a death by a thousand cuts .. a pond that requires a more devious approach to get the fish .. .. my lament is ebay is underperforming and not producing anywhere near as well as it "could" have .. so why? .. these poeople are smarter than me? .. why have they done this? .. cassinni .. **bleep**!! hidden listings now .. .. a damaged eco system of disenfranchised/disengaged customers? .. sad 

.. but my bad .. I expected ecommerce to be a resource for prosperity .. not sure exactly what happened but the big lament is if you ever had aspirations of cashing in on the ecommerce boom then you better be real focused .. and if you plan on selling on ebay then a long learning curve may not get you through to success there but I pity the newbie seller on ebay .. the ecosystem damaged all around .. so lets hope ebay just leave it all for the dust settle for a bit .. but they continue to roll out their cassini schemes as they do .. so .. what can you do? .. hope for the best? .. take advantage of a bad situation? .. make hay while the sun shines? .. yeah .. talk about it? ..  that is it .. 

.. so not enthusiastic .. I still list a few .. and occasionally sell a few .. not over for me here yet .. .. but am sad at what coulda been is all .. it is like capitalism ate itself .. 

[digital*ghost]

Perhaps surprisingly (to some, anyway), I don't actually disagree with too much in this particular post, eBay has disillusioned many over the years and so I put to you that quite often, that "suck it up" kind of advice you've been criticising and suggesing as coming from a paid eBay cheer squad, is often coming from a similarly disillusioned seller who has gone to bat for themselves against eBay numerous times with the same result, and in the end decides for themselves that it is more worthwhile and in alignment with their own needs to just work with what they've got, and therefore extends this kind of advice to others.

Thus I remain...let's just use the words a little confused, as to why this disillusionment with eBay has extended to the members posting here, more particularly if they do the same thing you're doing, but see it as pragmatic and a means to an end, so don't constantly rail against eBay, or others, for doing it too. 

[chameleon54]

Despite the three or four regular knockers on these forums attempting to mock and belittle you, ( its the only thing they know how to do ) I think you have made some very pertinent points.

Like you I,m at the point where I,m just about over it.  I do just enough to maintain my regular weekly quota of sales but have given up buying fresh new stock and are just slowly working my way through my stash with a view to eventually retiring from ebay.

Ebay has been very good to me in the past and I,ve made a lot of money on the site ( my last goal is to crack a million dollars in ebay sales before I retire ) but the constant changes, which never seem to improve things are just getting to be too much of a pain.

The sheep grazing business I started to diversify my income when ebay brought in commissions on postage costs is now fully developed and I'm employing some-one on a casual basis to help out, so that is where I seem to spend most of my time these days.

[x3n0m]

anyway I have lovely old belongings and stuff I want to sell .. I still sell a few and list a few on ebay here and there .. watching some increase in value and others decrease while they sit in boxes .. testing the market with teasers .. selling a few .. getting more and more dispondant as ecommerce decays over the years .. that is the wrong direction ..

the strategy now is to list as many as you can too folks .. it is actually a bonanza for many who put their nose to the grindstone .. but is it enough to get you to the next level? .. all the obstructions and navigation hazards aside .. if you're going to invest in an ecommerce business then you want to see upswing trends .. in my opinion ebay has diluted their markets and seems unfocused from the various delicate ecosystems of the core business ..

I can't believe ebay are overlooking so many aspects .. brutally achieving objectives that disrupt the very markets they host .. and the jingoism I encounter on the boards "seemingly" supporting the downfall of ecommerce just wounds me .. and not blaming the regulars .. but it ecommerce continues to get further corrupted ..and we watch and adapt to a crumbling eco system .. that is why so many are looking for "new" pastures too ..

but ebay has just reshuffled once again .. we shall see .. the change is done .. it is wait and see now .. but yeah .. I guess the strategy now is list a pile of stuff and take advantage of the free listings even though it is clear cassinni will probably/definitely rate them lower than stores and promoted etc etc .. that is the strategy .. get busy listing!, in my case it actually works to be honest  .. I think davewill actually suggested that in a post a while back ..so kudos to that one .. .. you have free listings galore with the new "release" .. not so bad .. I shouldn't complain so hard ... almost a compromise on the affronts ..

.. anyway .. it is clearly a "new" cassinni landscape we find ourselves in with managed payments and all .. definitely a lot more difficult to seen in search results .. partial keyword results now hidden from search .. severe really //.. you may want to call that conspiracy theory but that is what is happening .. but free listings has me in! .. for now .. will list a few .. make a few bucks .. thanks for that small freakin mercy ebay .. but eBay's plan is no doubt a bait and switch .. the next seasons release? reducing the 250,000 free listing down to 5? and you get stuck with 100s of unsold?

.. .. stability here not assured by far .. .. if anyone at ebay is reading this I doubt I would pay 5cent to list items here considering all the other stuff .. .. but free to list? .. okay you got me .. for now .. signed .. your faithful and devoted slave ..

[x3n0m]

"Like you I,m at the point where I,m just about over it.  I do just enough to maintain my regular weekly quota of sales but have given up buying fresh new stock and are just slowly working my way through my stash with a view to eventually retiring from ebay."

yep .. that is what I am doing too .. I used to buy/sell here pro back before 2006 .. kinda saw the writing on the wall back then (cassini plus a few other things) .. haven't been serious about building an ecommerce business on ebay since then really .. monopoly practices, glimmers of hope and carrots keep me here .. and a toe in the water .. I used to work as a web dev on a big project years ago .. interesting to keep a toe in the water too at ebay and is an indicator as to the wider ebay/ecoommerce ecosystem etc  ..

I thought the future of ecommerce was to be bright back in the early days .. 😞 .. but then saw the dark clouds come in long ago .. I feel like a visionary as thankfully stopped buying inventory for ecommerce resale a long time ago now .. luckily I am not in a rush to sell now and downsold inventory long ago as could see how disrupted markets were and how delicate the ecosystems were and unreliable the sales channels .. .. .. and one market/opportunity dies and another does appear is my observation .. so .. maybe ebay is playing a dangerous game with a lot of their regular unpopular policy changes .. anyway good luck their Chameleon .. I too have an escape plan organised .. we are lucky .. 

[davewil1964]

And this relates to your,  unsupported by any fact, conspiracy theory that badged US eBay mentors translate to unbadged eBay Australia posters, how?

You've managed to take your off-topic thread off-topic. An exemplary achievement.

[x3n0m]

And this relates to your,  unsupported by any fact, conspiracy theory that badged US eBay mentors translate to unbadged eBay Australia posters, how? You've managed to take your off-topic thread off-topic. An exemplary achievement.

I thought I covered that ,, it is corroborating fact of desire/intent .. not actual "proof" .. and considering all the other stuff? .. my goodness? .. we won't talk about that I guess ..  but the thought of a merit badge for duty to the King .. dreamy ..

but realistically I do desist with that argument somewhat now .. yes desist with that argument I do .. that explanation would be too simple and really probably doesn't adequately explain the phenomena I refer to as "the regulars" .. 

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Some of the history of sock puppetry and descriptions of different ploys used

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sock_puppet_account

It is innate in most forums. It is part and parcel of garnering information and opinion in cyberspace. To refute that ebay, the original online selling platform, does not employ the tactic subversively to manipulate those lost souls that seek "information" is the only foolish statement I see in this thread.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Astroturfing is also another great read...especially for the "grass roots' performers who really think that some of the turfers are actually "grass roots members" even down to sham selling accounts to hook real grass roots supporters.

Have a nice day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing