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EBay Lets Buy.com List Millions of Items Without Full Fees

nytimes.com — The golden era of the small seller on eBay, hawking gewgaws and knickknacks from the basement or garage, is coming to a noisy and ignominious end.

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  • Reclinatron, on 07/14/2008, -0/+96People aren't getting tired of online auctions, eBay is just trying to run itself into the ground.
    • Vertabreaker, on 07/15/2008, -1/+21I agree, and when it does happen, I'm sure another site will just pop up and take it's place anyway.
    • elister, on 07/15/2008, -3/+19I beg to differ. ebay is old, annoying and generally not worth my time.

      When it comes to actually bidding on an item that costs over 100$, I always seem to lose to the person who bids at the last possible second. I'm not going to be sucked into over bidding (paying more for a used item online than I would buying it new locally at a retail store) so I'll say goodbye to ebay and their sniper auctions and just shop locally on craigslist.
      • BoonTobias, on 07/15/2008, -0/+7craig > ebay

        most of the times even if i do find a good deal on ebay i can never win it so it's useless, i end up doing a search for buy it now
      • DulcetTone, on 07/15/2008, -2/+1Serious bidders use a proxy service such as powersnipe.com. The reason is that handing your top price to ebay is tantamount to publishing it. People poll it by bidding higher and higher, and they succumb to the realization that someone thinks it is worth more than they do. And since the highest bidder establishes its value, of COURSE their previous bid was too low for such a valuable item, so they increase their bid. If you can't understand how this raises prices and benefits the seller more than the buyer, you should keep paying too much.
      • HMMcKamikaze, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2I've been relatively successful winning bids on eBay, and I've never been suckered into paying more than I'm willing. The availability of the item in question is a factor, as is the amount of patience. I just find the cheapest auctions that end when I'm available to be on the computer. Then I just sit down, wait till the last minute of the auction rolls around, and bid. It works well enough because if something I want goes out of my price range then I take it off of my watch list and search again. This may require more time than many people want it to, but I've save around 60% more than if I had bought all of these items at MSRP.
    • flink405, on 07/15/2008, -4/+14Online auctions for the general public can not work anymore. There are too many cheats and scammers out there abusing the auction system.
    • denizen42, on 07/15/2008, -1/+10The tragic loss is those small precious rare or unique items one could find nowhere else. There is a niche for all kinds of goods, ebay was a great flea-market, I feel they don't have to lose this in order to properly sell other kinds of goods.
    • Lou3000, on 07/15/2008, -0/+11eBay isn't trying to run itself into the ground, that has long since been accomplished.

      I used to use eBay a lot for buying one off items and hard to find things, but at some point the scammers and the mass sellers took over. Search for anything these days, you either get a million items that are the exact same listing a million times or you don't get any results.

      eBay was a gem when small sellers needed an easy way to put their wares online. Now it is too easy for people to just set up an online store, and when the scammers took over it made the person who wanted to sell just one item impossible to find.
    • HigherLogic, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1I feel like eBay is just full of too much spam now, and it's really failed to evolve. Everyone's selling the same thing, too many stores are in there selling "discounted" products, etc. When eBay first came out it was great, because it really was like browsing around a bunch of garage sales and flea markets. I prefer Craigslist.
  • Ryan0617, on 07/15/2008, -10/+5I just wished this was also available in the UK.
  • pe5t1lence, on 07/15/2008, -5/+74The "golden era" has been dead ever since people realized they could charge $10 shipping on anything!
    • Ryan0617, on 07/15/2008, -4/+30Well just dont buy from them. People always complain they are getting ripped out on postage charges, yet you pay it then complain about it. Stop being such an idiot, if you dont like it dont pay it, go somewhere better instead.
      • cawpin, on 07/15/2008, -1/+14Well, there is that and the fact that it costs about $10 to ship anything. The last thing I sold on Ebay, an old laptop, almost took any profit from the sale for shipping. I charged $30 and it cost ~$40 to actually ship it.
      • crossmr, on 07/15/2008, -1/+12Doesn't much help when ever seller is insisting on it. It's not usually the ship charge though, it is the "handling" fee which is expressly forbidden in Ebay's TOS but they don't enforce it. Case in point I found someone starting an auction at $1 for a USB drive, but he was charging $60 shipping and "handling" to be shipped via the most economical slow-assed method possible which involved hiring some homeless kid for $1 to walk it across the country. You could get insurance for another $1.

        Ebay's response was "We trust our sellers to set appropriate handling charges"

        ***** *****.
        Yeah I moved on, but the problem has always been powersellers abusing regular buyers by ***** with their feedback and likely looking at other powersellers auctions for similar items to judge how to price the "handling". Unfortunately it hasn't started any kind of "handling" war. Excessive handling fees are ebay's problem. Since they wrote a terms of service which mentions that you shouldn't have to worry about that.

        Sellers who insist on shipping overnight via fedex for dishrags on the other hand are morons.
      • akula89, on 07/15/2008, -7/+2$10? come on, that is a very low fee for shipping regardless of the item. Postage is expensive these days with gas prices being so high. A lot of eBay sellers need to charge high shipping rates to recover from the insane fees eBay charges these days.
      • andymadigan, on 07/15/2008, -0/+7Or, they could set the starting bid high enough to cover their costs. Oh, right, then they couldn't try to mislead people.

        I think that's why eBay added the column that shows the shipping price.
      • pe5t1lence, on 07/15/2008, -2/+5I know that on many items it is warranted, my point was they charge about $10 minimum, I should have clarified.
        In example video games books and movies cost about $1.50-2 to ship media mail, insurance is maybe .50 up to $50. A package and handling cost about $2 together (~1.50 + .50 to put the item in the package and drive it to the post office).

        So total they make about $5 bonus from shipping these items.

        Subtract the .50-1.00 (oh lordy its insane) for your ebay overhead and you are still up $4!
    • thatspsychotic, on 07/15/2008, -2/+31That, and ever since the market for most goods became so saturated that there's no advantage over buying retail. Things on ebay used to be cheap, now it's just an awkward place to shop online.
      • drlha, on 07/15/2008, -0/+10Absolutely true. The proliferation of cheap web sites has all but destroyed eBay's use for buyers. For example: I used to buy things like toslink cables on eBay because they were always cheaper than the local stores, but now there's monoprice, I just go there and pay even less.
      • pe5t1lence, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4Hey cool site (monoprice) but I usually use newegg. I'll keep it in mind for my nest cable order.
  • qwertycopter, on 07/15/2008, -3/+51Craigslist!
    • loneraven, on 07/15/2008, -3/+11Craigslist sucks. at least in my area. I swear people on craigslist are borderline retarded with some of the questions they ask.
    • hoodmonkey, on 07/15/2008, -0/+11Craigslist, without spam.
    • LeRenard, on 07/15/2008, -1/+10Too regional.
      • fowleryo, on 07/15/2008, -2/+1search query site:craigslist.org

        not terribly efficient since you have to wait for google to crawl the page, but works for a lot of stuff..
    • Daniel591992, on 07/15/2008, -1/+8Amazon!
    • crossmr, on 07/15/2008, -0/+14I'd like to purchase my USB cable without the implied consent for anal rape..
    • BigPapi, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1I listed my car on Craiglist and even though I provided everything like mileage, features, etc on the listing, sure enough some dumbass called me up asking for all the same information. God forbid they have to use that ***** brain in their head to read.

      And it probably doesn't help that my listing is in there with a bunch of scammers pricing 2005 Infiniti G35's for $3,000.
  • wassim2k, on 07/15/2008, -1/+32While everyone else gets charged more. And now sellers can't leave buyers negative or neutral feedback.
    • Elranzer, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3The buyer pays first or the seller won't ship. If the buyer doesn't pay, big deal, the seller still has the item.

      If they buyer pays and the seller doesn't ship, then the buyer is screwed. Often, buyers would do their part perfectly, but the seller turns out to be a scammer. The buyer couldn't risk leaving legitimate negative feedback or else the seller would do so to the buyer for "revenge."

      Honestly, the feedback system is better this way.
  • ExSlashdotter, on 07/15/2008, -5/+32I've got >350 feedback on eBay, and I've vowed never to use the site again.

    If you forget about the constant fee creep and paypal bullying for a minute, it came down to taking away the seller's right to leave feedback. I'm not gonna go into the reasons why that was a terrible idea, but that was the breaking point for me.

    I've had great luck with craigslist though. Meet somebody in a neutral public place, let them see the item they're buying, and be done with it.
    • CapitalPro, on 07/15/2008, -3/+22eh.......why is that a bad thing?

      the feedback system is broke b/c if a buyer leaves bad feedback on a seller, all of a sudden the seller does the same, it doesn't work.
      • johnmearns, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2I'm not sure it was the best solution but as someone that has negative retaliation feedback left by a crappy seller I left negative feedback for, I welcome the feedback change for the most part. The old system was very much in favor of bad sellers not getting the feedback they deserve
      • JGent, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2This happened to my brother, he bought a mobile phone charger for the car, and when he put it in the cigarette lighter, it worked fine, tried to remove it and it was taking the cigarette lighter with it, he had to disassemble part of his dash to get the cigarette lighter out, so he could remove the charger. He left negative saying his purchase was very poor and not suitable for for the purpose sold etc, long delivery etc, so the guy said "waste of space never paid" eBay agreed to withdraw the feedback but only for both people...... so the seller bullied his way out of a negative score.
    • Azerael, on 07/15/2008, -4/+17If the buyer pays you, what exactly is there to complain about?
      • byronm, on 07/15/2008, -1/+23You have buyers that buy something, only to do a chargeback and keep the item. You have buyers that buy something to say it was used/broken damaged and won't return the item until you refund them and when you refund them they post a fake or non funded return. "Customers" can be just as evil, if not more evil than sellers. If you can't label these assholes for what thy are, then the community is just like the credit card industry itself - supporting the credit card companies while screwing everyone in between. eBay used to challenge the status quo by allowing people like you and me to sell things to the world, now its just become the armpit of status quo out to profit as much as it can. *****'em
      • crossmr, on 07/15/2008, -3/+1You have a system to handle those kind of system. If you're a power seller, ebay will fix that system for you. Some buyer with 20 feedback won't get the 1 negative feedback removed from his profile.
        Powersellers abused the system and they got bit for it.
        Ebay didn't make the right choice, they should have gone with a double blind feedback system, but powersellers had it coming for a long time.
        If you issue a refund and they won't return the item, call the police. It is called theft. It is not ebay's problem to deal with that issue.
      • akula89, on 07/15/2008, -0/+5"If you issue a refund and they won't return the item, call the police. It is called theft. It is not ebay's problem to deal with that issue."

        If I was a seller, it would be nice to know the guy bidding on my item might be a scammer for trying to pull something like this off.
      • byronm, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1big corporations have team of lawyers and tax accountants to write off losses or file suits or sell off bad debts, ebay sellers used to have feedback to try and gauge the risk. Now were just in a cease pool of bottom feeders and it shows... no one buys bad debt off an ebay seller. Not even ebay!
    • JQP123, on 07/15/2008, -0/+15"Meet somebody in a neutral public place, let them see the item they're buying, and be done with it."

      The obvious problem with this is that it doesn't scale beyond your local area ... which was one of the objectives of eBay.
      • j0ew00ds, on 07/15/2008, -0/+7The obvious benefit to this is that it doesn't scale beyond your local area. It's a pro, too, right? I don't have to pay shipping, i can usually see the item beforehand, use is free, i can use cash, etc.
      • JQP123, on 07/15/2008, -0/+5"It's a pro, too, right? "I don't have to pay shipping..."

        Maybe ... if you're lucky enough to find what you want locally. It still costs both time and money to go pick up an item.

        One of the basic ideas of eBay was to expand opportunties for both buyers and sellers. Most of this expansion is lost if you restrict yourself to just the local area.

    • Jareth86, on 07/15/2008, -4/+1"Meet somebody in a neutral public place, let them see the item they're buying, and be done with it."
      So what if they guy lives in hong kong?
      • Slackdragon, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3Since he's talking about using a local Craig's List, then odds are, they both would live in Hong Kong.
  • MrTsLoveChild, on 07/15/2008, -15/+8show of hands - who else had to look up "ignominious"?
    • CountBrass, on 07/15/2008, -2/+2Not me because I is educashuned!
    • thailand1972, on 07/15/2008, -1/+2Nah, not me - I already know it means "very big"
    • ConceptualTrap, on 07/15/2008, -2/+3Not I. Guess that means you're an ignoramous.
  • LordKaT, on 07/15/2008, -3/+10Oddly enough, I'm seeing more and more small sellers move to places like Craigslist and Google Base.
  • TheTaoOfBill, on 07/15/2008, -2/+25Ebay has definitely been pissing me off lately.

    It upsets me because I list on ebay for a living and in all likelyhood I'm probably going to lose my job over this because our sales have dropped significantly and It's all thanks to ebay's changes.

    Though I want to keep my job at the same time I hope ebay crashes and burns for this.
    • thailand1972, on 07/15/2008, -4/+10This is what happens when you put all of your eggs in one basket.
      • TheTaoOfBill, on 07/15/2008, -5/+6What are you talking about? This is my job. I don't sell ***** I post listings on ebay. I don't make money off revenue I make money from a company who pays me to list on ebay for them.

        This has nothing to do with "putting my eggs in one basket" The company will be fine. They have their eggs else where.
      • denizen42, on 07/15/2008, -0/+7Ebay was very well designed at first, they only change because they think expansion, growth and big size is always the very best option. They have the typical crushing short-sightedness of greed. They could have stayed forever as a priceless american icon if they stuck to what they do best.
      • NJank, on 07/15/2008, -1/+7Hence "I post listings on ebay" is putting all your eggs in one basket. Just because there was little wrong with that choice doesn't mean mr. thailand1972 was wrong. That's just the risk you willingly take when your business relies partially on another business over which you have no control. Their business decisions change your market, and it very well may become unprofitable. At that point you get to decide on whether there's a good way to modify your business or fold up shop and count your profits from the ride, which might have been good while it lasted. So it goes.
      • OMGIAMTHEMAN, on 07/15/2008, -3/+2you mean like people that work full-time jobs?
      • TheTaoOfBill, on 07/15/2008, -1/+3NJ and I already told you the company I work for has their eggs in multiple baskets. I work on the ebay portion of the company though. I do not make money off the sales.

        You're acting like it's my fault because I took a job.

        It's no different from any other job that goes through slow times.

        Do you blame other people for "putting all their eggs in one basket" because they don't have 2 jobs or something?

        Not to mention you are going to be hard pressed to find a company that does not rely heavily on the actions of another company/industry. So what you are saying makes no sense.
      • thailand1972, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1You chose your job, one which can be lost at the whim of another company making a relatively small decision on their part. You said you're probably going to lose it now eBay made this new decision. Fair enough. I'm not judging you; just making a matter-of-fact comment stating that's what happens when you put your eggs in one basket.
      • TheTaoOfBill, on 07/16/2008, -0/+2And I'm saying by your logic anyone with a single job is putting all their eggs in one basket.

        There is 0 difference in business models between the company I work for and most other companies. Most companies rely on the services of many other companies.
      • napk, on 07/16/2008, -0/+1I gotta go with Bill here... looks like thailand made a pretty stupid comment and then tried to defend it.

        Perhaps thailand would like to share where he/she is employed? I'd love to see if they "put all their eggs in one basket."
  • RealmDown, on 07/15/2008, -10/+11So far, I have been able to resist eBay completely.

    I'm proud of myself for that.
  • o0joshua0o, on 07/15/2008, -0/+41eBay jumped the shark long ago. Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything fill in the gap yet. For those of you who say Craigslist does, I would argue that Craigslist is nice, but doesn't cater to the exact same market.
    • cawpin, on 07/15/2008, -9/+1Do you even know what "jumped the shark" refers to? Don't look it up.
      • o0joshua0o, on 07/15/2008, -0/+5From UrbanDictionary.com:

        "A term to describe a moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality and popularity. "
    • s2ao, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2Ebid is great, also you pay once to become a Seller+ and never pay listing fees again (ever). The only problem is that it has much fewer users and therefore its a bit more tricky to sell things on it.

      I used Ebay for 4 years, but can't stand their fee creep and their annoying procedures.
    • cottonThePirat, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Craiglist is great for big things that have low (relative) value. a $50 microwave that would really cost $50 to ship for example. My $15 old piece of RAM, too much hassle to go meet someone. Ebay makes this easy, or used to.
  • TheVirus, on 07/15/2008, -0/+10Why hasn't there been a successful alternative. Yahoo tried and failed miserably. Someone needs to take control of eBay and make it a proper auction site.
    • flink405, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1It is not possible to have a "proper auction site" with so many cheats (buyers and sellers) able to abuse any auction system.
      • TheVirus, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2With current systems, this is true. There's always a way to beat the cheaters. Amazon has a nice idea with their book sales, a solid fee for shipping. Obviously, that won't work on all products on eBay, but they should stop people from charging outrageous shipping, even if the item is only $0.99.

        As with everything out there, there's always a war between the good guys and the bad guys. It seems eBay bowed down and let the bad guys win instead of trying to do anything about it.
  • FullMetalNIN, on 07/15/2008, -1/+42There's no way I can compete with buy.com prices. They have the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich at a $9.99, I'd have to sell mine at a loss at those prices :(
  • Mudcrutch, on 07/15/2008, -3/+11Maybe if people stop gouging for shipping they can compete a bit better with these larger companies.
    • Jrr6415sun, on 07/15/2008, -2/+7Why do people keep complaining about sellers gouging for shipping? If you have a problem with high shipping prices don't bid on the item.

      What is the difference between bidding $5 on an item with $50 shipping
      or bidding $55 on an item with free shipping?
      There is a reason why you can sort by "price + shipping"

      you're paying the same price either way ebay just doesn't take a percentage out of the shipping.
      • bmdt2000, on 07/15/2008, -1/+7Exactly. There are definitely those that will rape you on shipping charges, but most of them are just trying to avoid the huge ebay fees. You have to go off of what the total price is to decide if you're getting a good deal. Who cares if your new whatever has $50 shipping if you get it at $55 total and the MSRP is $100?
    • akula89, on 07/15/2008, -0/+7it's gouge or die; ebay fees are so high, some must be recovered via high shipping prices.
  • arjung, on 07/15/2008, -0/+13i don't think eBay was ever strong for selling new items -- these were always better at a place like buy.com (esp. with that $10 back from google checkout). instead, eBay is great for buying used goods (like electronics) or stuff from small shops in taiwan (laptop cases and other cheaply made stuff), and none of that is going to end with this deal.
    • CountBrass, on 07/15/2008, -1/+7You're wrong for the simple reason that eBay has become cluttered with mis-described cheap Chinese imports. So your search for used electronics is lightly to throw up 1000s of auctions for cheap knock-offs and perhaps 1 for the item you want.

      On top of that the place is full of thieves to the point I really don't trust anyone enough to buy or sell there anymore, especially as eBay/PayPal gives me absolutely no protection from the thieves.
      • crossmr, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3I got ripped off once. I sent the money order registered(couple years ago before I got signed up for paypal), guy claims never to have received it, called the post office they delivered it. Suddenly he stops answering his phone, I notice several negative feedbacks on his profile, I contact them, same story. Called the cops, gave them his home address info and contact info for the other guys who got ripped off. Sent a claim to ebay, I got a refund. Don't know about the other guys.
  • scabbers, on 07/15/2008, -6/+29People who depend on ebay selling for their livelihood? Those guys who marched around telling people "I quit my day job and now do ebay full time"? Those douchebags are reaping their own failed business plan. Maybe if they're lucky, they might be able to get a job in Starbucks... oh, wait.


    • SacraBos, on 07/15/2008, -3/+6Actually, the plan did not fail the business, as there were successful people out there doing it. It's EBay that failing the very people that made them popular.
      • sloppychris, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2Doesn't the business plan depend on eBay?
    • ViperCTW, on 07/15/2008, -2/+6Hey, some of us douchebags actually make more money selling on ebay than we did in our day jobs.

      Then again, I went in with a gameplan and niche products. The only reason I stay on the site is because the customer base they bring outweighs their fees, but that is starting to no longer be true.
  • xsecretfiles, on 07/15/2008, -13/+1Craigslist FTMFW!!!!!!!!!!!
    • Kyan, on 07/15/2008, -2/+1Craigslist - SMTWTFS.

      There, fixed that for ya.
  • waydee, on 07/15/2008, -2/+8Ebay is still a great source for some things, it depends what you're looking for I suppose.

    There's very few real bargains on it any more though like there was in years gone by, often there's only a small saving when you factor in all the shipping costs etc. Not to mention paypal who seem to take forever to get your money to you and leave you at the mercy of a lying customer who can get your account frozen, leaving you with the nightmare of dealing with their 'customer service' people.

    It's a victim of its own success to a point but the way it's run these days isn't great either - i'd rather sell an item using local forums, gumtree, craigslist or even the local newspaper now.
  • lonseidman, on 07/15/2008, -1/+13I'm done with Ebay.. For years they've treated sellers like second class citizens and this is the final straw. Lately I've been selling my stuff on Amazon and have been pleased with the results. Their fees are lower and they even give you a full shipping credit to help pay for freight. The money from the sale shows up in your checking account after a week or so.

    It's a no non-sense and no BS way to get your stuff sold. Highly recommended.
    • crossmr, on 07/15/2008, -6/+4Are you ***** kidding me? It was only extremely recently when they finally removed sellers ability to hold feedback hostage. Before that they bent over backwards and let buyers take it in the ass since powersellers arrived on the scene.
      I have absolutely no sympathy for sellers charging $30 "handling" fees and then holding feedback hostage.
      • crossmr, on 07/15/2008, -2/+4you'll bury it but you won't respond? It is quite simple. eBay let powersellers hold feedback hostage for years. They let them violate the TOS whenever they wanted and when reported with respond with form letters stating "We trust our (power)sellers to do the right thing"
        Yeah they really treated them like second class citizens all right..
    • kingp, on 07/15/2008, -1/+7A++?
    • swizzley, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3The only problem with selling on Amazon is they take a portion of the shipping fee they charge the customer, they don't even come close to giving a level playing field (showing featured merchants first - charging different fees to different customers), very very few customers leave feedback so a few negatives can really hurt.

      Amazon is a great place to sell due to the volume, but the most of that volume is going to a few big companies.
  • tekkitan, on 07/15/2008, -0/+16I go to eBay for auctions, not to buy things at full price. eBay is going to lose a LOT of customers (such as myself) with a move like this. They built their business model as an auction web site, doing this just kills the original business model that made them such a popular place for online auctions.

    It's fine though. There are many other online auction sites on the internet (though not as big), but if they don't pull crap like this I am sure they will become more popular and hopefully not be a sellout.
  • flink405, on 07/15/2008, -0/+3I got off the eBay buying and selling thing a few of years ago and so glad I did.
    What a time waster.
  • Yond, on 07/15/2008, -0/+5Demand now exists for a cheap, fair way for sellers and buyers to sell items on the internet in an even playing field. We want something with a fair arbitration and conflict resolution system, that is not biased toward sellers or buyers. Whoever comes up with the new system will be very very rich as the opportunity now exists.
  • LeRenard, on 07/15/2008, -0/+9So now that eBay has decided to kill itself off, can we all use some other auction site for actual auctions? I'm tired of 500 listings of brand new items when I'm looking for a deal on an old used frob. If I want new there are plenty of better places to go where I don't have to deal with eBay's sketchy policies or PayPal hassles and fees. Craigslist is mediocre as a substitute for eBay. Excellent in it's own right with its own uses, but too focused on local transactions to be a proper replacement for eBay.
  • nibbers, on 07/15/2008, -1/+11More importantly, if a sentence begins with 'eBay', should the e be capitalized?
  • marx2k, on 07/15/2008, -0/+15“Frankly, we are challenging some of the core assumptions that we have made about our business,” said Stephanie Tilenius, general manager of eBay North America. “Instead of focusing on being an auction business, we are looking at what it takes to create the best marketplace out there.”

    Idiot. E-Bay is an auction site. If you don't want to be an auction site, sell it off to a company that will run it as such. E-bay is now irrelevant.
    • sloppychris, on 07/15/2008, -2/+2Um, the owners are allowed to go whatever they think will do best. If that happens to not be an auction site, they still get to do it. There are no requirements for ownership that say an owner has to always keep the same business model.
  • gimmedaloot, on 07/15/2008, -1/+10Hell, even Amazon is better for selling than eBay.
  • Scanner, on 07/15/2008, -0/+6They lost my business years ago when my account got "hacked" and I couldn't get it restored. At that point I just figured I didn't need the hastle of a system that can't support its users in a timely manner. It started before that though because nothing on ebay was really a deal. Anything "new" was selling for near retail down the street and after you tacked on shipping and the wait it was just silly to even bother. Nevermind that you never REALLY knew if you were going to get what you paid for.

    Now I use craigslist and a local auction house in MN called auctionmasters.com to browse for neat stuff.
  • stealthc, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1I was at eBay Live in Chicago a few weeks ago and the people trying to make it as sellers on eBay considered those days over a long time ago. The irony is that *they* are the garage retailers that ruined eBay and turned it into another big-box in the first place!
  • stealthc, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2uBid.com?
    • timusca, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4Hardly anything there... eBay is where you go when you need a proprietary cable that connects the foot pedal of my Yamaha piano to the keyboard.
      • havocjaw, on 07/15/2008, -0/+0Dugg because;
        it makes sense.

        Roland GK-3 cable?
      • stealthc, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1I hear that, but it looks like there are some real steals on select gold coins at uBid, just because there's next to zero traffic over there.
  • JQP123, on 07/15/2008, -0/+6eBay is starting to look like a broken business model to me.
  • digitallysick, on 07/15/2008, -0/+10*waits on google to create an auction site to run with google check out* I don't know what the hold up is on it
    • Wrathernaut, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Because eBay is one of google's biggest customers. Search about it. eBay boycotted google over something earlier, google caved.
    • rhettmcnulty, on 07/15/2008, -0/+0There is Google Base which helps syndicate your products for free. Its more of an aggregated feed model based on RSS like how Friendfeed or Plaxo aggregate friend info. Base aggregates and distributes products people are selling and looking for. http://www.google.com/base
      or you can use shopit's 1-click import from eBay to Shopit and start selling your products within your Facebook and MySpace profiles for free http://www.shopit.com
  • timusca, on 07/15/2008, -1/+8I haven't actually BID on anything on eBay in a really long time... I use it all the time, but I always narrow the search to Buy It Now only. There are some great deals on there, but bidding is just a pain in the ass that takes days and only saves you a couple bucks. I'd prefer to just buy it straight out and get it shipped faster.
    • UnstableMind, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Most people use ebay for auctions, not to buy retail.
      • timusca, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2Well I guess I'm not most people then.
  • dannylewis, on 07/15/2008, -0/+5Well at least Buy.com's shipping fees coincide with that of an average Ebay seller! LOL
  • bioprez, on 07/15/2008, -1/+1yea, after reading this, i'd say eBay is going down the chutes. They are effectively shutting out the a good portion of their business from loyal sellers, and losing money by charging huge companies lesser fees (think about it, they'd make more money in fees they charge if other people sold the same stuff). I guess a one time big account looked attractive in their eyes, which they will regret later on. I'll put my short on eBay's stock, i don't see it going anywhere but down.
  • karel747, on 07/15/2008, -1/+2As someone who buys and sells regularly/semi-professionally on eBay, this is awful. With Buy.com on the boat, lots of professional sellers are going to get run out of business because of that mega-seller. It's a damn shame. Are there even any secure, well-trusted alternatives to eBay/PayPal? (Don't get me started on PayPal)
  • aaroh, on 07/15/2008, -1/+2if you have your own ecommerce site, ebay's still a good avenue to channel some of that traffic to your own website but you have to be subtle about it. There are several ways you can do this: you can list your email address on the auction description e.g contact jim@example.com , list your website on your about me page, paste your logo on the auction listing, mention your web url in your alias e.g example-dot-com , sell cheap valued items then drop your business card in the order, put down your website url in your email signatures when replying to ebay customers. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways that I have yet to examine.
    That's one way to piss ebay off. Don't get pissed off, piss back.
  • mrzack, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4***** Epay. I stopped selling on that ***** site years ago. local craigslist all the way!!!
  • Wujian01, on 07/15/2008, -2/+1Is it possible that Google will create online auction?
    If yes, it will be a big competitor for Ebay!
  • snoopy456, on 07/15/2008, -3/+4I have only been selling on eBay for about 6 months and typically turnover about $12,000 per month in high value electronics. I was not exactly thrilled with the cut they were taking in fees but that's a cost to be factored into the business. Since the rules changed on the feedback system it's effectively put me out of business. I have found that buyers are more willing to arbitrarily give less than perfect feedback. In other words you give anyone the option to rate you on a scale of 1-10 most will not give you a 10 regardless of whether you shipped that day etc.. This chips away at your feedback which chips away at your reputation and profit margins. I only takes one or two assholes to ruin your reputation completely.

    The new rules also gives bad buyers more power to try threats and cut deals for free shipping etc. in exchange for positive feedback.

    So I have three choices;
    1. Not deal with eBay
    2. Create multiple identities and when one goes in the crapper use another one
    3. Fight with eBay to remove the negative remarks.

    Choice #1 is the easiest option for me and Craigslist right now provides a fee free outlet although unreliable.

    I hope you jackasses running and ruining eBay are reading these comments.
    • dlinkwit27, on 07/15/2008, -1/+2I like the new feedback policy. I like the fact that if a power seller treats my 57 blue star like crap, I can call him on it and not have to worry.
    • TsuruchiBrian, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Yeah I like this new feedback system also.

      I have 100% perfect feedback (It's only 100 feedbacks) but I am still proud of it.

      I have been screwed as a buyer a couple of times but worried that if I gave negative feedback to the seller, I would ruin my perfect feedback record. I still give good feedback to good sellers, but I don't feel pressure to avoid giving bad feedback to crooks.

      I am also more tolerant of sellers with a bit more bad feedback, because I know some people are just jerks and will give bad feedback for no reason. That's to be expected.

      I suspect there are some ebay crooks out there that used to have like 90% feedback that would now be at like 30% feedback with this new system.
  • AlanFang, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4Not a shock to me, for sellers ebay has sucked for awhile. Ebay realizes that if they charged buyers as many fees as the sellers their would be an uproar and people would switch to another service. The sellers are just to scared to get themselves organized and take a stand against ebay on the issue.
  • yiapanis, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1For me eBay has come to an almighty screeching halt. I refuse to sell or buy on the site for the simple fact that they wouldn't know customer focus or customer orientation if it hit them in the face. The Australian Paypal debacle and buy.com agreement just a couple of examples. Whoever is running the joint is completely clueless on the concept of retaining customers.
  • bylarke, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1I like how they say it is a level playing field because everyone can earn a diamond status. But they never say in there if Buy.com had to earn that status or they just got it because of the partnership. I assume the latter. Which makes it all a crock of S***
  • computershack, on 07/15/2008, -0/+0Its about time eBay was reminded who put them where they are. I know it'll never happen but it needs people not to list anything at all for a whole fortnight. Then they'll be left with a ream of empty categories with nothing but their "best buddies" fixed price stuff and hardly any bidders.

    A fortnights worth of lost revenue not only to eBay but Paypal and the resulting drop in share price should be enough.
  • Barbarino, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Use to love ebay, now I can't stand the experience, that is their problem, not prices etc, but the awful experience.
  • WiretapStudios, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1At my job, between 3 people, we sell 30-40 grand a month in industrial parts. Between Ebay and Paypal they take 10% of our sales, or 3 grand a month in fees. That is harsh, but doable. Now as a personal seller, the last few times I have listed, I (and others I work with) have been raped with fees. We generally sell stuff on Craigslist now, sometimes people ask dumb questions, but as long as they meet me in public and bring cash, then it's all good. Ebay basically said '***** you' to everyone so they could start stroking other big companies to get the easy dollars. As if 10% commission for letting me list something on your site isn't easy enough...
  • WiretapStudios, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4P.S. Ever since Ebay changed the feedback policies to focus on the buyers and not the sellers, customers have been a constant pain in the ass. They will email any number of demands after purchasing the product and threaten negative feedback knowing we have no recourse. Thanks Ebay, way to take a ***** all over the people making you ungodly amounts of money a year. We will pay them 36 grand in fees alone for this year.
  • anubis2night, on 07/15/2008, -0/+4Look I like Ebay as a buyer but it's changed over time and I think everyone knows that, my question is why the hell would I want to buy something from Buy.com on Ebay in the first place, why not just go to Buy.com? It's like going to Circuit City to get a Bestbuy gift card. If this is Ebay's next big innovation then they are f**ked plain and simple. If you want to pay one set fee just go thru Amazon or Buy.com screw Ebay why would they have a discount? If anything they should be more than just going directly to the other companies as Buy.com would have to ark up their cost to include Ebay's fees. I suggest in support of the little guys either only buying goods from the smaller vendors and stores on Ebay or simply just going to Amazon and Buy.com and ignoring Ebay for anything more than smaller hard to find items. That's what I've usually do anyways but it would be good to remind Ebay just who they are...
  • DulcetTone, on 07/15/2008, -0/+0eBay is priceless for allowing one to find unusual items in a global marketplace. Buying USB cables? Get bent! I bought over 170 original dockyard drawings of historic naval vessels on eBay. You can't find that on newegg.com


  • gubatron2, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1eBay died for me the minute they charged me to list, I went to amazon and have sold all my books, dvds and video games from there. It's not fair charging for regular listings, charge me when I make a sale.
  • h0ser, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1i got my speakers from buy.com. They were 30 cheaper then the next cheapest place and shipping was free. There are still goood deal out there to be had.
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