EBAY CHANGES and LOOKING FOR ALTERNATIVES

It seems to us eBay has become an online auction site geared to big volume department store type sellers – what are your thoughts on this?

We’d like share with our customers some of eBay’s policy changes and fee increases having such a dramatic impact on us, and in turn affect the Buyer. Our small store is now in a “move on” position, as we do not feel it’s fair to pass these excessive costs on to our customers. The result of these changes has forced us to test the waters via eBid.net, another auction site that has been online since 1999. Links to our store & listings can be found at the bottom of our blog or at our website (packratz.ca).

There seem to be few advantages left for the small seller on eBay. Customer traffic is the biggest advantage as eBay is the largest on-line auction site – no other site can compare YET. We have been members of eBay since 2004 and have built a 100% feedback reputation and we will keep our eBay store open with a smaller inventory.

Here are just a few of the factors that are pushing us to move away from eBay.

1) Fee changes, which are for the most part invisible to the Buyer, and results in the small seller having to ask a higher price, putting more money in eBay’s pockets. Yet they offer discounts to large volume sellers, putting money in eBay’s pocket much quicker.

2) The new feedback detailed seller rating system (DSR) allows a Buyer to anonymously answer 4 questions and rate the seller on a scale from 1 to 5 stars. You would think 4 stars would be good, and it does have little to no impact on volume sellers, but to a small seller it is devastating.

3) Overall feedback ratings now dictate where a seller is placed in search results. Large volume sellers can have neutral/negative feedback but it won’t affect their search rating, but small sellers are penalized in search results and in some cases 30 day selling restrictions. Search results no longer default to ‘ending soonest’, but rather ‘best match’.

With all of these changes going on in the background, eBay is not what it once was for the average seller, it has become big business! Returns for shareholders seem to be the key factors for their changes. What makes it more apparent is the fact eBay is gearing up to remove payment by cheque/money order, basically it’s PayPal ONLY (on the .com – so far). eBay owns PayPal which guarantees more money to them by removing other payment options to Buyers. Perhaps this is a story for another day?

It would be great to hear back from eBay sellers & store operators, and see what else may be available to enthusiasts such as ourselves who are searching for new pastures.
Thanks for listening – Gig