eBay boycotters damaging online sellers, PSU & others

[The Bar Keep]

The true issue is that everybody is looking for the 'next ebaY'

Everybody except buyers which is something that many OAI sellers haven't been able to grasp (and their inability to understand this simple fact of life goes back to Gold's in 1999 and every 'next eBay' that followed it).

The passion needs to be for a sellers' own success/sales; not for a sites' success

 

I kind of 'got ahead' of myself yesterday on pricing.

So did I.  If I sold on auction sites I would look at eBay pricing. Auction/venue buyers and website buyers are two different animals.

I just want Alison to give an accounting of her less than $75 a day off of WP or shut the heck up. Hey BBHC do you think when she accounts for product costs, packaging costs and labor time (listing time) that she is making anything more than a .0001% net?

If their experience can be supported with facts, I am very interested in the data, information and sharing.  But, when it can't be supported with facts, it's meaningless and just clutters up boards and starts arguments.

Exactly and as of yet there has never been an accounting as per sales out of WP. Even the sales report that was ditched several months ago to a year was a number pulled outta thin air.

Ok one last thing and I may disagree with many on this in regards to marketing channels.

Quote from BBH at PSU:

If your goal is brand building then you've made a very poor choice by using Wagglepoop as your main place to do it (unless your aim is to build the Wagglepoop brand). You should be building your own website and using venues like WP/eBay to drive traffic to your own site.

Bolding mine:

EBay yes, WP no and here is why. #1 the amount of buyer traffic is greatly different as we know. #2 you can chose to upload to Google base at eBay while you can't at WP it is done by Ray when ever he feels like hitting the button to feed. The alternatives at this time are not worth the time to brand with. Think about the time you have to put in just to market yourself for a few sales. Having your products uploaded from an alternative site and your website is competing with yourself. Amazon would be a good marketing channel while eCRATER would not be as there base feed is going to be too competitive for branding. JMHO and that holds true for all the alternatives at this time but doesn't say it can't be done, I just don't see it as cost effective or as a time saver.

[2boysandtoys]

So....off topic for a minute....

bbhc - if I send you a nice, smiling teddie bear, would you chain him/her up too?   

I agree with you on the 'buyer' mentality.  I can tell you that I spend a he!! of a ton more online than I sell.  I am the most obsessive buyer a soul could meet.  I never impulse buy - with exception to one item ... a biggie ... a 2000 Montana Van with a VCR player on 7/3/00.  We were going on a road-trip on 7/4, and I just couldn't bring myself to put 2 wild boys 7 and 5 into the back seat of a 2 door Acura Integra...

BUT - even at that, I qualified for GM employee pricing, got on the net and searched around.  Wrote a check on the spot after my mini-one-day-search.  Still have the darn thing - it has 55k miles on it (don't like to drive it unless I need to).

Beyond that, when I'm looking to shop, I tend to start with the shopping search engines.  I use several but tend to start with google's products and yahoo shopping.  Just depends on what it is on if I go beyond.  I am extremely hyper, so I also do a ton of street shopping.  As a buyer, I tend to first and foremost focus on price, quality and Customer Service - and not necessarily in that order.  Depends on the item.

I'm less concerned if it's on a merchant site, an e-Commerce site or an auction site.  BUT --- if it's on an auction site that I'm not a member of, I will usually NOT join just to purchase.  I suppose if that was my only option, perhaps, but in most cases, no.

I have to say - I absolutely love Amazon.com as a shopper.  I enjoy shopping, searching, etc. there.  It's a very well designed site and I've had very 'good' experience there.  I own their CC, which I use here for everything - so end up with $25-$50 per month of $$ to shop with. 

Last year, I had to put a new driveway, garage floor, sidewalk and have some foundation work done for my rental home.  I put it all on my amazon card - still got money to spend...

So - back to the topic again - if the sellers that are 'reacting' choose not to listen to experience, facts, etc. - they will either find another income source or return to ebaY.  In the case of the latter, they will still not be happy unless they've developed a plan.

There is one person at PSU that shares she/he has asked for help with a business plan.  I actually applaud this seller, not only for asking for the help but in being willing to state they needed it.  I am still firmly convinced a majority of these 'aggressively emotional' persons have no clue how to succeed in lieu of ebaY. 

I will say that if ebaY truly intends to switch to a model like Amazon - they've got a huge system conversion required.  I would NOT want to be a system person there right now, except for the fact that a job would probably be very secure.

[The Bar Keep]

Merlin_man resurfaces to speak of Customer service issues about plunderhere at PSU. See link below:


http://www.powersellersun.../about16986-0-asc-60.html


I have no comment on the topic in that thread at this time other than to say if I was shopping to sell at an alternative site and Yahoo mail wasn't an option, I would hit the back button faster than Erin can post.


 

[The Tavern Wench]

I have to agree with you on that one.  If I have an established email address and a site doesn't allow it, that would most definitely influence my decision whether or not to join there.

Glad to see PSUnite banned that idiot again.  Wonder why he wasn't automatically IP Banned like DeeCan was (and still is) though?

[2boysandtoys]

Hey now.....I can't post that fast Joe - even on a good day!  What's funny - I do have a Yahoo email account that is 'there' for a store I never opened, and was getting every message sent 'globally'....So - I don't know who, what, when, where, why or how it all came to be.

I do know that when I was supporting Hibidder, we would get constant complaints from members that they weren't getting mail.  If I remember correctly, Hibidder had been marked as 'spam' on the Yahoo mail servers; thus - no messages were getting thru to folks.  I don't know how that stuff happens or if it is / was even truth, but that's what I remember.

I do not know what the deal is - but am glad it doesn't affect me.

Yes...merlin_man resurfaced.  I'm not certain what his intent was, but he went after Carol - not me  !!  Anybody wonder what his point was to return?   

[The Bar Keep]

Not sure what his reason was to return nor did I see where he went after Carol (I must have missed that) however when it comes to the way the OP was treated I can't agree with it. Customer service should never be a beat down on the customer. With that being said I do know Mo and understand her personality. Her personality is what makes her who she is and that is a good thing but treating customers like that no matter what the intentions were is not tolerable in my book.

I also saw the thread in PH about Yahoo mail. Now I understand why PH could be tagged as Spam, the referral program would be the cause of that. The problem is Mo needs to get Yahoo satisfied so they will allow mail to be delivered. A statement that there were problems with Yahoo at this time would have been a much better tactic while Mo worked on getting the situiation corrected. In terms of email providers Yahoo is #1. In terms of search Google is #1. In terms of what site is visited the most on the worldwide web that would be Yahoo because of them being the 800 pound mailman.

Whatever the case in both instances, the customer service at PH needs to be improved 10 fold and the issue with Yahoo needs to be worked out. Being a bitch is something you save for the board meetings, it's not what the people who pay the bills need to be hit with.


 

P.S. Here are the facts about Yahoo:

http://www.alexa.com/data...traffic_details/yahoo.com


http://www.quantcast.com/search/yahoo.com

[2boysandtoys]

Joe - merlin_man was reasonably 'calm' but pointed to a Carol response vs. an Erin response.  I can agree on all points - and can say also that I learned a long time ago to be very cautious what you put into email/messages.  It can be misused and misrepresented.  I would not have handled it the same way it was handled (on either point) - .... and am grateful I'm not a site owner!! 
 

Woohoo - some new smilies!! My point in that thread - I'm not defending what was typed/stated, but am suggesting the entire back/forth was not posted - so...am keeping an open mind. 

I have learned the hard way that my opinion and what I would have done are not important to a few different site owners.  Having said that, I really don't agree with folks taking this to a huge public forum when there are other avenues to resolve things.  It just tends to bring out the worst in most! 

[The Tavern Wench]

Deja Vu....

Looks like that PheeBay 'Unity' idea (which was a dismal failure) is rearing it's ugly head again...this time on the long skinny neck of a Purple Giraffe:

http://www.powersellersun...om/viewtopic.php?p=153524 

Will they ever learn to look back into the OAI past and do a little research? 

[Dixie_Collections]

What are you saying? That they should learn from others experience? It isn't gonna happen, it is all about them. Apparently they are going to have to duke it out themselves.

[The Tavern Wench]

On the one hand it's frustrating as hell.  On the other it's amusing. 

It's just like trying to talk or reason with teenagers. 

They are firmly convinced we don't know anything and they alone can change/save the world. 

[The Bar Keep]

Deja Vu....

Looks like that PheeBay 'Unity' idea (which was a dismal failure) is rearing it's ugly head again...this time on the long skinny neck of a Purple Giraffe:

http://www.powersellersun...om/viewtopic.php?p=153524 

Will they ever learn to look back into the OAI past and do a little research? 

Now that idea has to be about the most idiotic one I have ever heard. Haven't they ever heard of Google, Yahoo or MSN let alone Google products/shopping? Don't look to hard at PRG because I have a sneaking suspicion we all have seen her before (PVH).

[bbhc]

I loved the idea of an eBay alternative search portal! In fact, I loved it so much that I decided to go ahead and build it for them!

Here it is! (and hey, look at that, WP is #1!)


===========
On a more serious note, would someone please clue the Giraffe into the fact that an eBay alternative search portal has existed for almost as long as eBay has been around and BUYERS have shown little interest in it during its 12 year history...the alternative portal is of course www.bidfind.com (of course the first time I pointed this out was in early 2005 when PSU was wasting time building their MOASS search engine and they didn't listen either)

[The Tavern Wench]

Well one of "Those Sellers" (the type this thread was started about) just lost a multi item sale today.
She had exactly  what I was looking for at a very good price, BUT the first thing in her auctions was this:

Due to a 67% increase on eBay’s Final Value Fee, we were forced to increase the pricing on all our [widgets] by approximately 50¢. This increase has gone into effect for all listings with an effective date of February 20 or later. Without these price changes, the 67% increase in eBay’s Final Value Fee would cost our Homeless Shelter a loss of $200 to $250 per month in net income which we cannot afford.

This was before the description of the item.

Needless to say, I hit the back button.  As a buyer I could care less about eBay's FVF increases.  She would have been much better off to simply raise the price by .50 and not said a word.  No one would have noticed.  Instead she felt the need to vent to potential customers.  BAD BUSINESS and VERY UNPROFESSIONAL.   

 

[The Bar Keep]

Well one of "Those Sellers" (the type this thread was started about) just lost a multi item sale today.
She had exactly  what I was looking for at a very good price, BUT the first thing in her auctions was this:

Due to a 67% increase on eBay’s Final Value Fee, we were forced to increase the pricing on all our [widgets] by approximately 50¢. This increase has gone into effect for all listings with an effective date of February 20 or later. Without these price changes, the 67% increase in eBay’s Final Value Fee would cost our Homeless Shelter a loss of $200 to $250 per month in net income which we cannot afford.

This was before the description of the item.

Needless to say, I hit the back button.  As a buyer I could care less about eBay's FVF increases.  She would have been much better off to simply raise the price by .50 and not said a word.  No one would have noticed.  Instead she felt the need to vent to potential customers.  BAD BUSINESS and VERY UNPROFESSIONAL.   

 

Well they can take that so called 67% increase and recalculate because breaking one of the 3 P's of selling will kill your STR.

3 P's of selling = Product, Price & Presentation

When you present your product in that way people will laugh at your price and look elsewhere for a better deal. All three need to be balanced in order to be a successful seller. The only adaptation this seller needed to do was a small price increase but instead they let their stupidity get the best of them and disturbed the balance of their business. On the upside this seller would be a perfect fit at any of the alternatives as long as they are willing to lose the rest of their income for a solid year or more. An independent website would not fit because their is an obvious lack of business sense to begin with.


 

[The Tavern Wench]

From what I've determined, her STR was only 41% to begin with.  The FVF increase should not have been an increase for her if she had done the math and allowed for the decreased price on listing fees.

Right now she's sitting with 194 listings (no store) and 12 bids/1 FP sold.

Either way, I personally think ranting to buyers about your overhead is the wrong thing to do and projects the wrong image to potential customers.