Ebay shoppers and buyers survey.

[Maj.Nick Danger]

For those who mostly shop for and buy items on ebay. Is it better now with the new rules, or worse? Have you noticed a marked decrease in the quantity and quality of the bargains you find as opposed to before the most recent changes at ebay? Is it better for you as a buyer now or worse?

 

[KittyT]

Bargains are scarce and I find that a lot of sellers are jacking up their shipping prices. I recently bought a dress for which the seller was charging $9 for Parcel Post shipping. It's totally ridiculous - that dress would cost about $5 to ship Priority. Still, the dress itself cost $30 and would retail for around $100, so....

 

[DeaconKC]

Sellers have had to raise prices to cover the additional costs. The new CEO ebay has is making some very poor long-term changes that will hurt them for years to come.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I am on track now to win some items for a mere 7 or 8 dollars that only last year would have cost about 150! Seems people are not bidding like they used to bid. This is why I am using "Buy it Nows" whenever I have a good idea as to the value of an item, and I factor in my costs. I learned the hard way about starting something off at 99 cents! I think a lot of sellers will go with the Buy it Now option.

 

[Edward]

It seems to me, as an ebay buyer, in the main, that the individual sellers auctioning a few things off on eBay are fast being outnumbered by high volume sellers, some of whom have a lot of great things for sale, others of whom are looking too much for rather unremarkable stuff. Might just be the things I'm looking at, but pickings seem to be increasingly slim. On the flipside, having sold a few things on eBay, it does seem to me that increasingly buyers expect to be able to buy stuff for virtually nothing on eBay, no matter what its real world value. [huh]

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

It seems to me, as an ebay buyer, in the main, that the individual sellers auctioning a few things off on eBay are fast being outnumbered by high volume sellers, some of whom have a lot of great things for sale, others of whom are looking too much for rather unremarkable stuff. Might just be the things I'm looking at, but pickings seem to be increasingly slim. On the flipside, having sold a few things on eBay, it does seem to me that increasingly buyers expect to be able to buy stuff for virtually nothing on eBay, no matter what its real world value. [huh]

I think as more and more of the occasional sellers that are not big-time store owners are forced out due to it not being worth the effort for them anymore, we will lose a great deal of the diversity that made ebay a cool place to find obscure and collectable items. Just as bad for buyers as it is for sellers.

 

[Obob]

Not Pollworthy Yet, But...

I've only had one genuinely lousy experience on Ebay, as either a seller or buyer, and that was with one of those mega-booksellers who automatically mirrors whatever feedback you send them. You get less than positive feedback just because you gave it; the fact that they maybe actually deserved it becomes irrelevant.

My Ebay reputation is precious to me; I don't even really wanna deal with sellers who run at much below 98-99%, and I surely don't want to be one of those people, myself.

The thing that kills me is that Ebay is utterly unconcerned about such activities; that's the thing about the "new" ebay that's gonna maybe kill it, someday.

And that'll be a real shame, if it ever happens. I've done about 2/3rd of my Xmas shopping there over the last several years; you can't get a lot of the stuff I like to buy for the people in my life, at Wal-Mart. Even with the lousy shipping costs you get nowadays, the stuff is still what I want at a better price than I find in other places.

At least with individuals and small-time sellers; otherwise, forget the mega's!

Obob

Update: Apparently, Ebay is stopping sellers from this retaliatory stuff I wrote about here. Good!

 

[Solid Citizen]

Ebay 2008 UGH!!!

I WAS an active Ebayer for many years. That has ended in 2008:

1. Disguised bidder ID policy. NO THANKS!

2. Terrible non functional new search engine. NO THANKS!

The small sellers that made Ebay unique are being frozen
out

Solid Citizen :rage:

 

[Jerekson]

Can someone please explain to me the details of these new changes?

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I WAS an active Ebayer for many years. That has ended in 2008:

1. Disguised bidder ID policy. NO THANKS!

2. Terrible non functional new search engine. NO THANKS!

The small sellers that made Ebay unique are being frozen
out

Solid Citizen :rage:

Not exactly what I thought. Seems the buyers out number the sellers here at the lounge, if my polls so far are any indication. I really expected sellers would be much more disgusted with the whole ebay experience now, more so than buyers. As I truly am seeing a few steals out there in some categories. But as to vintage hats, clothing, antiques and vintage in general, I suppose it's not the case. Sellers and buyers both depend on each other, so as more sellers get thoroughly disgusted and quit, so will more buyers.
I wonder if ebay has any real grass roots types working in the organization that will try to talk some sense into the management?

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Can someone please explain to me the details of these new changes?

Smaller sellers who sell items for less than 100 dollars are charged more of a final fee now. Also sellers can not leave negative feedback to buyers for any reason, even if they do not pay for an item! Fuel costs, and thus, shipping costs have also increased at the same time. Sellers are now forced to pass these costs onto buyers in their auctions. Ebay is actually trying to force the smaller sellers off ebay in favor of the large stores and "Power Sellers",...it's all about greed. :rage:

 

[DerMann]

I've been trying to get at a few Waterman pens on the 'bay as of late. They go for either really cheap or a good price, but I always miss them :\

There are some things I can get on eBay cheaper than other online stores, but I am starting to spend a lot more of my funds via the forum classifieds and real shops.