e-bay happenings

[need4art]

Hi All,
What the heck is going on with E-Bay-am I doing something wrong or is it much harder to get around on their new websight? What happened to "Others" and the parts section. I keep coming up with new headings but it just does not seem to have the same content or am I missing something
Abe

[Shane]

Yeah, its ebay's "new and improved" site. I find it much more awkward to use.

[larryh]

It seems someone at ebay isn't happy unless they are foisting some new techie idea on us constantly. It might be ok for computer savvy people, but its heck on those of us who are lucky to learn our way though current pages. I sent them a note the other day about a new page that had a "comments" link above it. They had now set the item descriptions so that you have to scroll though that besides opening the actual page, a real hassle for wanting to glance though lots of items quickly. The last time they made a major advance in search it seemed you were lucky to get anything even closely related to what you wanted to see and tons of unrelated things you didn't want. That seems to still be the way its set unfortunately.
In the record category at least on my computer finding the speed, and format you want to see has become a real hassle. You used to be easily able to choose any of those things and they just came up. Now they have these pop up links that half the time don't work or take a long time to work which is very discouraging to me to look though a lot of type of music.

[brianu]

I just used ebay recently as a seller and have completely reached the point where THERE MUST BE SOME ALTERNATIVE...

the requirement to offer paypal is bad enough, but when that basically doubles the final value fees??? at the end of each of the auctions, ebay sent out on its own an invoice that requested paypal payment (even though I noted the desire in the auction for checks, cashier's checks, etc.)... a few buyers immediately paid by paypal and even though they used direct bank account transfers rather than credit cards, it still cost me more than $20 in fees... on top of the additional ebay fees, which came to another $35 or $40 (essentially final value fees which, despite ebay's touting its reduced listing fees to make their service more economical and friendly in these trying economic times, have only been getting higher and higher).

and I don't care what one might say about the cost of doing business, about how much consignors at stores or auctions houses take... this is not a store or auction house, it's a web site. ebay simply hosts your information - you take the photos, talk up the item, deal with packing and sending or provding that item to the buyer, as well what can become the fussy matter of collecting payment (an issue that ebay readily goes out of its way to dodge). moreover, ebay now dictates how you do business, most notably by proscribing the form of payment you MUST accept and through whom, being them.

really, the only thing that ebay has going for it is that it's literally the only show in town, and that's only because it's been around so long and increased its market share so broadly that virtually everyone automatically turns to it.

bla bla bla... this is a broken record for sure.

but those format changes as well are a joke... the site used to let you opt out of its "test" of that "new search experience." you clicked an icon and bam, it was old ebay. now whether you click it or not, nothing happens and you deal with that awkward new layout.

[phonophan79]

I posted this a while back, but it seems this would be perfect for selling phonographs... or at least someone who isn't a "dealer" but may have a unit or part to sell every now and then, so this would be a positive eBay change?

Subject: Coming in June--List 5 FREE every 30 days
Received: May-12-09
From: eBay

Starting June 16:

Every 30 days, your first 5 Auction-style listings will have NO Insertion Fees when you list with eBay's Sell Your Item form or Simple listing form--regardless of your start price.

The first 5 listings with no Insertion Fees will have a Final Value Fee of 8.75% of the sales price or $20, whichever is lower. Additional items sold during the same 30-day period will have the same Insertion Fees and Final Value Fees as they do today.

If you are currently using an eBay tool or third-party listing solution, you can either list your first 5 Auction-style listings with the new pricing structure through eBay's Sell Your Item form or Simple listing form or continue with your current practices at the current pricing-whichever option works best for you.

This change is part of our continued effort to lower the upfront costs of selling on eBay. The 5 listings with no Insertion Fees are especially helpful for sellers who may not sell in high volume, but offer unique and hard-to-find inventory buyers expect to find on eBay.

Learn more.
http://pages.ebay.com/sell/June2009/List5Free/

[tomwil]

The first 5 listings with no Insertion Fees will have a Final Value Fee of 8.75% of the sales price or $20, whichever is lower. Additional items sold during the same 30-day period will have the same Insertion Fees and Final Value Fees as they do today.

That is a terrible value regarding the final value fees, if I am reading it right.

Lets say I auctioned a phonograph that ended at $225.

Under this "new" promotion, my Final Value Fee would be $19.69 ($225 x 8.75%).

The normal Final Value Fee would be $9.19 ($25 x 8.75%) + ($200 x 3.5%).

Therefore, although I would save $3 in the Insertion Fee, I will pay $10.50 additional on the Final Value Fee.

Not much of a promotion, in my book!

[brianu]

The first 5 listings with no Insertion Fees will have a Final Value Fee of 8.75% of the sales price or $20, whichever is lower. Additional items sold during the same 30-day period will have the same Insertion Fees and Final Value Fees as they do today.

That is a terrible value regarding the final value fees, if I am reading it right.

Lets say I auctioned a phonograph that ended at $225.

Under this "new" promotion, my Final Value Fee would be $19.69 ($225 x 8.75%).

The normal Final Value Fee would be $9.19 ($25 x 8.75%) + ($200 x 3.5%).

Therefore, although I would save $3 in the Insertion Fee, I will pay $10.50 additional on the Final Value Fee.

Not much of a promotion, in my book!

that's the point I was trying to make... ebay really disingenuously markets all these user-friendly changes and deductions in fees and charges as if they somehow benefit you, let alone exist in reality... ebay, like, shows you one hand that's extending you a dollar because you're such a special person and ebay loves you, while behind its back hides the other hand holding the $10 it just lifted from your pocket.

[need4art]

Hi All,
well all of this comes down to how you view what e-bay is. As an art restorer I really do not have to have a retail store front -but as a picture framer-and we do that as well-we do. Costs of having a retail business today is a back breaker and it is a real challange to stay in business with all of our overhead. If I was able to operate my business soley on e-bay costs it would still make a lot of sense to me after 32 years in traditional retail. For those of you that work at e-bay selling parts and phonographs your overhead -to reach an audience as large as you do very reasonable. But I find that much of the fun and the ability to find the "deals" is gone. You dealers are paying more for phonographs and parts as well as higher e-bay costs so you have to plan your costs to fit that pattern.
As a hobbist I find that the constant fooling around with the sight has not seemed to make it any user friendly-so what is the point. Making me pay with PayPal-not going to do it-so I just pass up those sellers. And is it just me but has the fun of an ebay auction just gone away...
Abe