Ebay layoffs
Glen2022
Posts: 947 ✭✭✭✭
I heard this morning on CNBC that eBay was laying off 4% of its staff. I wonder if this going to adversely affect eBay service.
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Not at all. Why would reducing the work force have any affect on customer service? /sarcasm
https://www.the4thcoin.com
https://www.ebay.com/str/thefourthcoin
What service?
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
If they got rid of some programmers that keep 'improving' the platform, that would not be a terrible thing. They still seem to be the largest platform for coin sales, besides the mint.
Ebay has a long history of fixing things that aren't broken. We do substantially less there now than we had previously.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
Ebay (the website) basically runs itself, aside from server, network, and code maintenance.
All the transactions and things that would require manual labor are done by the sellers. At the height in 2014, Ebay had 34,600 employees and they had a MASSIVE layoff in 2015, cutting the number to 11,600. They have maintained around 12,000-14,000 since, but currently have right at 10,000 employees. Losing 5% isn't going to make much difference.
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
It's hard to break something that's already broken.
I love eBay.
It is where I purchase 90%+ of my coins.
peacockcoins
I feel badly for anyone losing their job, but I don’t feel badly with any financial decline FleaBay may be experiencing.
e bay has lost many buyers and sellers both this past year so this doesn't surprise me
connecticut said our economy is great, affordable housing tax cuts. come on over will hook you up with that and a good coin
I hate how eBay took away "wild card" searches. Back in the day you could search on something like (178?,179?) under a certain coin category. No more. I guess that's an "improvement"?
After owning several businesses and running several others, I would hate to see anyone face a total loss and go away. It is a hard business climate in the world today and longevity is short lived at times. lol While you may hate ebay for your own reasons, it opened the door to a coin market unbelieveable in scope. With the closure of many B&M's and almost all local coin shows and events in the 80's pickings were mighty slim as was dependability. Now with all it's problems it offers one of the largest coin sales and purchase platforms, if not the largest, available today. Oh yes, I have had many gripes about their changes, but probably so do we all with Walmart, Amazon, Lowes, etc. It's just not our business to run. It is still the first place I go when I sit down at the computer each day. JMO
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Reference?
Found it.
Here is what eBay’s CEO said about the layoffs:
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — San Jose-based eBay plans to slash its workforce by 4 percent, according to the company’s SEC filing.
CEO Jamie Iannone wrote a letter to employees announcing that eBay is eliminating jobs in response to the global macroeconomic environment, CNBC reported.
“As a result of these considerations and our future-forward plans, I have some hard news to share. Over the next 24 hours, we’ll be letting approximately 500 employees globally know that their jobs will be eliminated. There is no easy way to communicate this — but I do want to share with you why we are making this decision,” Iannone wrote.
“This shift gives us additional space to invest and create new roles in high-potential areas — new technologies, customer innovations and key markets — and to continue to adapt and flex with the changing macro, ecommerce and technology landscape,” Iannone wrote.
The CEO said employees will be provided with transition packages, including severance and employee incentive payments.
eBay has a issue with ongoing declining buyers and sellers. The CEO has been able to mask some of the recent declining revenue with Managed Payments, and seller’s fee increase. Below is a chart of the buyers and sellers by year. The problem appears to be a little deeper than a recent economic trends.
eBay annual users (buyers) 2010 to 2022 (mm) annual buyers decline since 2018.
Year Users (mm)
2010 92
2011 97
2012 105
2013 131
2014 149
2015 157
2016 158
2017 167
2018 175
2019 173
2020 161
2021 159
2022 138
eBay sellers:
eBay annual active sellers 2007 to 2022 (mm) annual sellers decline since 2014.
Year Sellers (mm)
2007 1.3
2008 1.8
2009 2.1
2010 3.3
2011 6.8
2012 13
2013 18.4
2014 25
2015 24.8
2016 24.1
2017 22.9
2018 22.3
2019 21.1
2020 20
2021 19
2022 18.3
Sources: Company data, eBay forums.
Can you say Bed, Bath, and Beyond? Sadly a failing buisness model. Their extortionist fees are killing sellers in terms of value to the buyers. A spiraling downward failure. And then, they don't really resolve all issues that come up and there are shills, scams, etc. What is not to like? So no surprises, my feepay buying is much reduced and every time I reconsider starting a store, I look at the fees and realize it is simply not possible to do well selling coins there given that feepay will be taking 35-50% of my profit. If they cut FV fees to say 5%, maybe.............
They are at 8.7%, including transaction processing. That is CHEAP.
Funny that everyone loved GC and they are double that.
To be fair, I believe your fee might be 8.7% but for regular sellers without a store it is 12.9% which is still a good value for the cost.
No doubt a seller has much greater success making a faster sale on Ebay than other venues in my opinion. 🤑🤑🤑
Most of them are probably dead weight anyways. Every corporation and agency has them. Skim the bottom 25% and you’ll actually become more efficient.
As Freddie mentioned, without a store eBay is 12.9%, and that’s if you don’t pay for sponsorship.
GC is 10% with an e-check, I’m not sure what you meant by “double that”. Even if the buyer uses CC and wants to pay 12.5%, the seller still nets 100% of hammer.
GC photographs and markets the coins, they absorb all liability with the transaction and the shipping, returns, and pretty much any and all possible headaches while the seller sits back and enjoys the show.
I’m sorry, but IMO eBay does not provide anywhere close to that amount of value for the fees they charge. In addition to the excessive fees, you still have to deal with all the headaches, sweat the shipping, and deal with returns. God forbid there’s any shenanigans and EBay will side with the buyer anyway. The service that EBay provides is worth about 5-7% and no more. That being said, everyone has to find what works for them and ebay might be the best option for the material that they sell. For me, and the coins that I infrequently sell, EBay is my last resort.
Founder- Peak Rarities
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slider23, not sure the chart provides the entire story... for instance, does it show a 'net' decline? Perhaps it only shows the number of specific sellers that have left, reflecting death rate, sellers for a short time only, etc.? Does it take into account new sellers signing up? United States only.... or the entire ebay global?
Not disputing the premise... only have learned through the years that statistics.... can be used to reflect just about any point a person wants to make. One must know the hidden factors used to come up with the numbers, to make a good judgement on the statistics.
The main problem I have had with ebay... are the changes that keep being made. Just when I am very comfortable with the system, then BAM! ebay makes changes for 'my convenience', 'to provide a better service', or whatever they want to call it.
It usually results in frustration for me, and everytime, I re-evaluate whether I want to continue with it. I can see why many do finally give up on it.
Another problem... why in the world cannot I provide negative feedback for a buyer????
I agree. I had a situation where the buyer claimed my collectible had a ding in the corner of the box that I know wasn't there.
The old bait and switch. Nothing I could do because you can't leave negative feedback so I just gave him a full refund and blocked him.
No doubt the changes Ebay has made over the years has put sellers at a MAJOR disadvantage but fortunately the bad customers are minimal.
There are some items I had no problem selling on Ebay that wouldn't sell at my local Flea Market and for double the price.🤑
I’ve gone from buying 10-15 coins/year on eBay to maybe one or two.
When buying, I prefer Great Collections. GC images are vastly superior to eBay images. That’s not eBays fault, it’s just the nature of the beast.
When selling, I still prefer eBay. I feel I get slightly stronger bids for the items I sell.
Dave
Just keep banging on it like they’re doing.
Yep, just hit it harder with a bigger hammer.
GC also has a seller fee (5% on items less than $1000) as well as a one-time set-up cost. For a $50 item, the total cost is close to 20%
All of those eBay problems border on urban legend. Yes, they occasionally happen, but I do 2000 to 3000 eBay transactions per year. I get 2 or 3 returns per year and 1 or 2 lost packages.
"5-7%" barely covers transaction costs. PayPal fees are 3.5%.
Anyone who doesn't think 8.7% (less than 8% with top-rated seller) to be downright cheap just hasn't done a lot of retail.
People always ignore the eBay Seller guarantees like they don't exist. They've covered me several times.
eBay lost me many years ago. As far as I'm concerned, they can lay off 100% of their people.
That is correct. But we are talking about sellers aren't we? If you have a single $100 coin to sell, where are you going to go other than eBay. Comparing auction costs become moot when you can't consign to auction. And if you have thousands of dollars to sell, you can pay the $25 to get a store for a month.
It'll be more than that if your coin is not already slabbed.
Yes. Nothing against GC. I like them. But no one EVER says they are too expensive and people are constantly saying that eBay is too expensive, even though eBay is cheaper.
You make a lot of valid points, but please make note of the second to last sentence of my previous comment you quoted. For me, eBay is a last resort. Most of the coins that I buy are sell are over $2500, thus the extra 5% on GC is not applicable in my situation and the corresponding FVF that eBay collects is not as easy to stomach for the services provided. The PayPal fees argument has some merit, but in the case of GC, you can pay by a simple e-check or wire and escape pesky merchant fees. I could also offer the coin for free on the BST, Instagram, or in a Robust Facebook Pre-33 gold group where I can accept Fee-free payment options such as Zelle, Venmo, E-check, Check, or Cashapp if I was feeling adventurous. I'm not making a blanket statement that eBay is not useful, but my opinion is that the "privilege" of listing an item on eBay is worth about half of what they charge me (12.9%). Based on your comments of the past that have noted the type of inventory you primarily deal in, Its not difficult to grasp why Ebay is your preference, and I'm not advocating that you change anything if its been working for you.
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The reason that you rarely hear anyone say that GC is "too expensive" it is because the overwhelming majority agrees that it is not. Their fees are half of some of the other prestigious auction venues, and they offer a similar product with top notch customer service. Ebays CS is far from top notch, despite the seller guarantees and other contingencies in place for the buyers. I'm not sure why we're using absolutes when stating that "eBay is cheaper". For me and the majority of other casual sellers, it is not cheaper than GC.
Founder- Peak Rarities
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You are correct about the different ways data can be used to prove a point. eBay has a declining revenue stream from declining sellers and buyers. The chart follows close to what I was seeing on the company’s stock analysis for the past few years.
I don't do eBay so can not and am not making any comment on them.
Auctions - it is difficult to make comparisons of fees since the fees are dependent upon each individuals situation or what they have to auction and negotiated rates.
One can compare standard buyers fees and fixed cost but those can vary and sometimes greatly depending upon the individual situation.
If a small and less expensive auction lots, then there can be a seller fee and also no rate or 0% of the hammer. If one has a little more to offer, then the seller fee can go away but maybe still no rate or 0% of hammer. But then if value increase there will be no seller fee and a negotiated rate or % of hammer can be contracted. This rate or % of hammer can and does vary and can and does become a double digit % (that is 10% or more of the hammer). A really big consignment with higher value lots can put the consigner somewhat in the drivers seat (they want those high profile lots).
Edit - Need to clarify that the above is for a buyers fee of 20% of hammer.
There are some who have contracted rates with one or more of the auction houses. This could be an option if you know one and consign to them to have them consign your coins to auction. Perhaps to messy for some though. Also coming into play is if you want a reserve. No reserve is best for the auction company as they will get their commission. So a reserve on all lots might mean less negotiating power. Reserve on a lot or two out of many, then not as much so. Unless most all of the value is in that lot or two.
So it really comes down to each individual situation when determining auction cost and fees.
All of this says nothing of an individuals choice or preference for each auction company and what is offered or liked.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wwmUMvhy-lY - Pink Me And Bobby McGee
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=D0FPxuQv2ns - Ruby Starr (from 'Go Jim Dandy') Maybe I'm Amazed
RLJ 1958 - 2023
But GC is more than ebay, is my point. Personally. I don't think eBay, GC, Heritage or anyone else is uniformly too expensive. I also think that ALL of them are too expensive...sometimes.
When i buy a $50 coin on GC (all-in) and sell it for $75 on eBay, GC was too expensive and eBay wasn't. The GC consignor netted about $35 (20% fees + $5 shipping) while I netted $65 on ebay (8% fees and $4 "free shipping").
There are coins, like certain medals and tokens that will sell for 2x at Stack's compared to GC or eBay. Stack's is cheap for those while GC and eBay are expensive.
The only thing that matters is $s in your pocket. Paying 10% more to net 50% more is cheap, not expensive.
It's actually much more complicated than this. You're assuming equal sale price in all venues.
So I wasn't talking about an auction house. I was talking about Ebay and I was agreeing with you EXCEPT for you constantly stating its 8.7% seller fee.
That is only true if you pay for a store. If you don't the seller fee is 12.9% for the regular folk who don't have "thousands of dollars" in coins to sell.
I agree. But i was explaining why I was quoting the store rate. If you have a couple inexpensive coins and it's not worth having a store, you also can't consign them to an auction house.
Are you positive that it works like that? eBay will let me pay to have a store for 1 month and allow me to turn it off and back on easily when it suits me? If so, I will do that the next time I must use eBay but I feel like they’d have something in place to prevent sellers from doing that.
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No, they don't. There's a thread on here about that very topic. You just have to make sure you open it on the 1st billing day of the month or you might have to pay a prorated fraction of a second month.
I'm not a frequent seller on eBay. I look at them as a Godsend when I want to sell a collectible of value. Not necessarily talking coins, and not treating this as a business. As a longtime collector of Lincolniana and other "stuff" I decided to downsize, including all my Lincoln medals, numbering about 400, along with scarce prints and other collectibles. I can't imagine how I could have sold all this stuff at anything near FMV without eBay. One shouldn't ignore the fact that they provide a convenient worldwide market for individuals as well as business, one that otherwise doesn't exist. On the buying side I collect scarce and rare European medals. It was very unusual to find anything at shows, but I did have some success in foreign auctions. However, eBay at least doubles the size of the market that is available to me. Many medals that I looked for for years without success have appeared on eBay, usually from foreign dealers.
Well that would be a factor and part of my:
"All of this says nothing of an individuals choice or preference for each auction company and what is offered or liked."
But I was only focusing on the comparison of rates between auction companies and saying that it really comes down to an individual situation.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wwmUMvhy-lY - Pink Me And Bobby McGee
.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=D0FPxuQv2ns - Ruby Starr (from 'Go Jim Dandy') Maybe I'm Amazed
RLJ 1958 - 2023
Here's how it works...
eBay Stores Subscription Terms of Service
https://pages.ebay.com/stores/subscriptionterms.html#October2020ETF
Best coin shop on planet earth. Long live the bay. RGDS!
Ebay's company motto "If it's not broken we will improve it until it is"
I don't believe it. Laying off foreigners.
Fortunately,I did most of my bullion buying on eBay prior to the run up in coin prices (or spot) and the decrease in seller and buyer traffic.
What I now see are a lot more of “buy it now” for bullion coins at full retail or higher.
In many cases, I would prefer to go straight to the dealer. And it often costs them less in fees. Given that, I would imagine many sellers use eBay as an advertising platform.
And I am not looking to devote my time to cherry picking auctions. I am not that bored, yet….
Other sales platforms like Etsy and Amazon have seen less activity lately. It's not just an Ebay thing.
Also layoffs are are seen as a stock value move, largely because many of these companies are staffed to meet a revenues metric. As revenues stall or decrease wall street expects layoffs.
8.7%, ~3% CC fees, + shipping. For a $100 item, usually $3-5. So $11.7 + $3 shipping (no insurance), is 14.7% costs. If you buy an items for resale and then boost the price 20%, feepay and fees take 70% of the profit, then you have tax on the remaining. Not worth the effort..........