Capitalization consequences of Ebay Kicking off 15,000 sellers....

[Calamerica]

Who is to say the 15k members won't just return under a new account? It's not that hard to grab a PO box, new checking account, and open a brand new eBay account. That's probably giving eBay way too much credit for id'ing these sellers that got kicked. I'm betting they could just open a brand new account with a new email and eBay wouldn't say word one to them.

 

Seemed to be more of a marketing tool to pull in more buyers. eBay is probably banking on the fact that the removed sellers will just return under a new id.

 

Not that easy. eBay has a ton of underpaid/underemployed geeks that can't get their dream job after graduating with that B.S. in the now-saturated Computer Science Degree. Those geeks can trace nothing short of zip code areas then use their sophisticated trackers and may even paya service to track log-ins. The CyberSecurity thingy is something I don't fully understand but have enough of an understanding to know that eBay CAN and WILL catch people if they so desire.

 

eBay puts up with pinhead Buyers because those insufficiently_thoughtful_persons jack up the Final Value Fees.

 

eBay puts up with NPB because they believe that they have a past history of bidding, they will do so again once they get more money to spend.

 

eBay's better days are behind her. If Yahoo!Auctions should ever trek back in the arena and get that man from Silicon Valley that was passed over for that broad they put in charge in 2000, it would be very interesting.

 

CAL

 

[Dr. Balls]

CAL! CAL! CAL! CAL! CAL! CAL!

[Junkdrawer]

I have to sell 33 items by nov20 or I lose my status and 20% discount. I think I will have to geterdone.

[VintageComics]

Anybody ever use http://ca.ebid.net/ ?

 

I posted this a few weeks ago.

 

I've been trying to figure out the 'endgame' for a long time now and it just doesn't make sense.

 

Can eBay really make more money pouring everything into the Global Shipping Program than it can with all of those exiled sellers?

 

I heard a few years ago (from word of mouth) a theory that said eBay was going to self sabotage in order to divert resources towards new ventures such as "Kijiji". If you haven't heard of Kijiji, it's an online classified similar in practice to craigslist, but much more high end and organized.

 

So far, I haven't seen that happen.

 

Anyone else have any ideas on what eBay's motivation might be for their self sabotage?

 

It's certainly an interesting puzzle.

 

Anybody?

[Junkdrawer]

Taking into consideration the weekly horror stories of eBay deals gone bad then multiply it across the globe. I'd say they are coloring up. Quality over quantity. They may ultimately be under government persuasion to keep only the 1099k sellers.

[comicwiz]

Anybody ever use http://ca.ebid.net/ ?

 

I posted this a few weeks ago.

 

I've been trying to figure out the 'endgame' for a long time now and it just doesn't make sense.

 

Can eBay really make more money pouring everything into the Global Shipping Program than it can with all of those exiled sellers?

 

I heard a few years ago (from word of mouth) a theory that said eBay was going to self sabotage in order to divert resources towards new ventures such as "Kijiji". If you haven't heard of Kijiji, it's an online classified similar in practice to craigslist, but much more high end and organized.

 

So far, I haven't seen that happen.

 

Anyone else have any ideas on what eBay's motivation might be for their self sabotage?

 

It's certainly an interesting puzzle.

 

Anybody?

 

I don't buy into the self-sabotage theory. I've had more than a passing interest in the online classified area of the Web. eBay owns a part of Craigslist and of course they own Kijiji, which in the US is similar to eBay classifieds. The other big player is Oodle, who is partnered with Walmart. Interest has always existed in this space, and large players have demonstrated a willingness to get in on the action, but it's a tough nut to crack in terms of generating revenue. It's strengths have more to do with eliminating the shipping/logistical aspects of person-to-person trading by keeping transactions local.

 

The one aspect which I believe has room for growth is to develop a local "flea market" atmosphere, where lightly used, or unsellable/discontinued/damaged/recalled "as is" goods can move from an organizations warehouse, into the hands of consumers. Similar to the flow of "non-perishable" foods with an expired "good before" date stamp hitting the food banks to alleviate the waste management costs, or risking a customer dispute. I'm certain this is why Walmart got involved with Oodle - think about the removal and recycling costs of a multi-national who needs to do away with a line of discontinued/recalled products. To say nothing of the fact that deep discounted "as is" goods from big box stores who maintain some level of checks and balances with their supply chain means goods that are still going to be safer than the Asian import goods flooding our markets.

 

Following closely behind is the "trade-in" gimmick. Recently, IKEA launched a major ad campaign where it allowed customers to resell their used furniture by way of an online flea market. Participating customers could post their wares on Facebook, and their goods would appear on IKEA's website.

[VintageComics]

 

I don't buy into the self-sabotage theory. I've had more than a passing interest in the online classified area of the Web. eBay owns a part of Craigslist and of course they own Kijiji, which in the US is similar to eBay classifieds. The other big player is Oodle, who is partnered with Walmart. Interest has always existed in this space, and large players have demonstrated a willingness to get in on the action, but it's a tough nut to crack in terms of generating revenue. It's strengths have more to do with eliminating the shipping/logistical aspects of person-to-person trading by keeping transactions local.

 

 

I still don't understand how they generate any revenue with Kijiji or craigslist and how cutting millions of dollars in revenue from good sellers is a smart business move.

 

Can somebody write it out in crayon for me?

[VintageComics]

Taking into consideration the weekly horror stories of eBay deals gone bad then multiply it across the globe. I'd say they are coloring up. Quality over quantity. They may ultimately be under government persuasion to keep only the 1099k sellers.

 

That's the conclusion I've come. There has to be huge government pressure to force companies to in turn force sellers to comply with local tax laws.

[etanick]

yes, i read the link, which is what made me ponder my hypothesis, which is a separate issue...

 

also wanted to see if the finance types here think my reasoning is totally flawed

 

i am trying to transition back into securities/financial litigation again after 9 years of doing civil right/employment/medical, so I'm trying to get my brain into that mindset

 

should have taken the job offer with Boston Cinsulting in college rather than going to law school, would probably be retired by now

 

i have been in the securities/financial litigation business since 1994 and I can tell you this past 2 years have been the slowest 2 years since then so I wouldn't advise anyone to get into that field.

[comicwiz]

 

I don't buy into the self-sabotage theory. I've had more than a passing interest in the online classified area of the Web. eBay owns a part of Craigslist and of course they own Kijiji, which in the US is similar to eBay classifieds. The other big player is Oodle, who is partnered with Walmart. Interest has always existed in this space, and large players have demonstrated a willingness to get in on the action, but it's a tough nut to crack in terms of generating revenue. It's strengths have more to do with eliminating the shipping/logistical aspects of person-to-person trading by keeping transactions local.

 

 

I still don't understand how they generate any revenue with Kijiji or craigslist and how cutting millions of dollars in revenue from good sellers is a smart business move.

 

Can somebody write it out in crayon for me?

 

I don't see how the two are even connected, except that the company owns interests in each area. They might be making lousy decisions with their auction property, but we don't know what their shareholders are being told to justify their actions. At the end of the day, their interests in classifieds are probably deemed a nest egg. Whether it produces a golden egg is yet to be seen. All said, it isn't difficult to see they are using a captive approach to manage defectors from their auction site, who think they are giving eBay the big "screw you", not realizing they are probably still dealing with them by moving to local classifieds.

[mintcollector]

Unless you use speciality sites for certain higher end or mass appeal collectibles, eBay has no direct competition. eBay no longer caters to smaller sellers, but it isn't just because their business model has changed. Few people here know this, but I have studied to be an auctioneer. Due to my career, business, and health reasons I have not been able to complete the process as of yet. It never was a priority anyway, but more of a fun side project tat i challenged myself to do. That being said, eBay started to pull sellers away from auction listing formats due to regulation from states that require auctioneers to be licensed. Pennsylvania is one such state and if you sell items on eBay for other people and take a percentage of the profits (or a fee) in a state like Pennsylvania, you are breaking the law if you are not a licensed auctioneer. Regulation helped cause eBay to make drastic changes and turn the site into an 'Amazon.com business model' where any buyer can return any item or any reason. Normally I would have no problem with this, but my issues with eBay are they want to be both an auction site and an Amazon.com wannabe, but fail at both.

 

In conclusion, I will always be thankful to eBay for helping me get where I am today. Back in the early days you could make a ton of money if you knew what you were doing. Heck, they once had well over 30,000 collecting categories noted on their site. Now they are a site that caters to high volume sellers (very few outside of mainstream collectibles like coins), while still trying to pretend to care about the little guy. In the end their own policies have crippled their core base of sellers that stuck by them through thick and thin. E bay's policies are the main reason I sold off my stake in my video game business and solely focus on higher end antiques and collectibles. Now if I could stop buying so many vintage video game collections, close outs, and the like...

[VintageComics]

Does anyone use any comparable sites and have any experiences to share about those sites?

 

I don't think it would take much for a decent sized group of sellers to move product en masse and build a critical mass on a competitor's site. Buyers will always follow product, and word would get around pretty quick between the eBay forums, the CGC forum and just word of mouth.

 

I'd be game in getting something going if anyone else is.

 

 

 

 

 

[comicwiz]

eBay is a marketer whose primary purpose is to keep Wall Street analysts engaged and driving up stock prices in order that it's top executives can supplement their income by selling gifted shares.

 

The rest is smoke and mirrors. The sooner people realize this, the less of a blow it is on their expectations about what eBay ought to be. No one is gong to dispute they have a global audience, and it's the go-to place for buyers. The only questionable thing is whether buyers have divided their interests in recent years, and started looking at other venues. I definitely see this happening in niche collecting categories - in fact it's been going on for quite some time. Yet, they still manage to make money from both buyers and sellers because they control the payment gateway that keeps the eBay machine humming along. Little tweaks in the way of rising fees, and you might be see how that is really meant as a way to appease the growing list of executives and upper management who have become dependent on their multi-million dollar compensation packages.

 

One area where I think eBay should have explored is hosting template-style online stores. With a few clicks of a button, you develop your own branded shop using your own domain name (not the same as co-branding through an eBay store) and eBay takes a cut of monthly rent (hosting), a percentage of your sales, and a fee for handling the transaction through PayPal. As an emerging revenue channel that ran separate from eBay, but may have borrowed some of the listing features from eBay's site to help transition people over to the idea of managing their own stores, this could have well been worth the headache, and a wiser way to redirect low volume, long-standing/loyal sellers rather than giving them the boot.

[Toz]

Anybody ever use http://ca.ebid.net/ ?

 

I posted this a few weeks ago.

 

Anybody?

 

 

Had about 400 comics up at one time and sold a few.If you do it right you can move some stuff.Just don't expect to move anything high dollar.Right now I'm experimenting on a few things,one being not taking paypal.4 sales so far..

 

I'll probably add that option back after the first of the year.

 

Total items offered has dropped over 4 million the past year.Can't figure out why unless more people are opening stores for specific categories and they are not showing on the main page.They've also cut a deal with Google and partnered with them for shopping.Check some of mine & they came up second in search so that helps.

 

I've been a member there for about 5 years and I can list & sell for zero fees.If I choose to use the gallery my fee is only 2%.I signed up on the seller+ plan that cost me $49 bucks.That allows me to list & sell for free.But you can still register for free and buy & sell cheaper than ebay.The Bunky brothers used to have a huge presence there.Don't know if they still do or not.

 

Overall I like the place but there are a lot of things that are klunky & hard to find/use.The people on the forum are super friendly and really essential if you need help.Plus you can talk directly to the Big Dog himself,Gaza,he's very accessible.

 

Here's a link to register that will earn me a few points & I may be able to spend them on a shirt or coffee cup of something http://us.ebid.net/buddy/425790

 

Maybe if enough people from here started using the site it would pick up.You could invade ebid.

 

Oh yeah,I've bought several things too and for the most part have been please.Not excited but pleased.I also made my first international purchase there too.Seller came through with flying colors.

 

Check it out.All it can cost you is a little time.

[Jackhartmann]

Who is to say the 15k members won't just return under a new account? It's not that hard to grab a PO box, new checking account, and open a brand new eBay account. That's probably giving eBay way too much credit for id'ing these sellers that got kicked. I'm betting they could just open a brand new account with a new email and eBay wouldn't say word one to them.

 

Seemed to be more of a marketing tool to pull in more buyers. eBay is probably banking on the fact that the removed sellers will just return under a new id.

 

I am seeing higher prices now that there are less sellers. I am more worried about the push to give free shipping.

 

 

[conditionfreak]

Let me get this straight.

 

Ebay got rid of 15,000 sub par sellers, and that is a bad thing?

 

If you can't deliver what you promised, in a timely manner, without shipping damage.

 

Well..., don't let the door hit you in the behind, on your way out.

 

Now, if only they would do something about the sub par buyers.

 

[Pete Marino]

Let me get this straight.

 

Ebay got rid of 15,000 sub par sellers, and that is a bad thing?

 

If you can't deliver what you promised, in a timely manner, without shipping damage.

 

Well..., don't let the door hit you in the behind, on your way out.

 

Now, if only they would do something about the sub par buyers.

 

The problem is, they also got rid of a lot of people that thought they were doing a good job. And they will not give reasons why they dumped those sellers. Or let the sellers even know who gave the "bad" feedback / DSR ranks.

 

Everyone's in the dark....

[VintageComics]

Let me get this straight.

 

Ebay got rid of 15,000 sub par sellers, and that is a bad thing?

 

That's not entirely accurate. You can actually perform as promised and still get cut as a 'poor' seller.

 

eBay makes these cuts on using a variety of criteria but a majority of the criteria can be and is the Seller's ratings that sellers receive from buyers. Those buyers rate a seller on a rating of 0 - 5 on how they feel the seller performed.

 

What is unfair, is that those rates are made anonymously by buyers and even if a seller has delivered as promised, the buyer can at a whim affect the seller's income, their standing in eBay's eyes etc by leaving a low rating.

 

You don't know who left the low rating.

You don't know why they left the low rating.

The rating can be entirely unaccurate.

Your standing as a seller is affected negatively regardless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[conditionfreak]

So, it is a "he said, she said" kind of thing?

[VintageComics]

So, it is a "he said, she said" kind of thing?

 

 

Well, it's sort of like this - an anonymous buyer gives their opinion to eBay about what type of seller you are, and you can't say or do anything to defend yourself.

 

 

More like a 'they said, period.' kind of thing.