Ebay Boycott

edueku

Anybody boycotting Feebay this coming week? I think I will not be selling for the week. Eventually I will probably find a different site to use for selling. Fees are getting wat too high(not to mention Paypal fees), and sellers not being able to leave - feedback for crappy buyers(the buyer can leave the seller a negative though! Sounds fair huh?)

StampAlarm

I don't use eBay much anymore. I bought one item all of last year.

edueku

Well maybe this week I can work on my rusty guitar skills or sort through my mountains of postal history covers (yikes)
By the way, the ebay "strike" runs from the 18th thru the 25th. I'll let my last few auctions finish and then be done til the 25th. It will be interesting to see if enough people do this and whether it affects ebays business(One seller I read about ended several thousand of their ebay lots). There are several unreasonable changes that have been slated to start the 20th(Already high fees will be higher,sellers will not be able to leave buyers anything but POSITIVE feedback, buyers will still be able to leave any type, negative or positive, Paypal can withhold funds from the seller up to 21 days or until buyer leaves positive feedback etc.) Well these ebay changes might really start a downward trend in users there (at least sellers) There are many buyers who use every tactic and means possible to ripoff sellers and have done very well for themselves previous to these changes, now they will have even more of an advantage! Didn't know if any of you had heard about this it has been in some of the news though.
Zac

KentuckyJ

I don't even bother looking for stamps on ebay. If I want a nice quality stamp I go to a reputable philatelic dealer or auction house. I sometimes glance at ebay coin or currency auctions but I almost never place a bid. Again, for what I collect, I think it's foolish to use ebay.

covers

I am not sure that the ebay changes are so bad actually.

coinpictures

<< <i>I am not sure that the ebay changes are so bad actually. >>



Just out of curiosity, are you primarily a buyer or seller on eBay, and if the latter, are you a PowerSeller?

PowerSellers have a modicum of protection under the new policies... small sellers are outright screwed.

From my post in the coin forum:

I think some people are missing the point. It's not "just about the feedback." If it were only a number, who cares. The problem is that at the same time that eBay has put sellers at the mercy of all buyers (remember, some people will be vicious and vindictive just because they can... they get off on it... like people who spend their time programming viruses or worms or hack computer systems and web sites... they do it for the challenge, bragging rights, and because they can), eBay has now caused seller's feedback scores and the star ratings to DIRECTLY AFFECT (1) the rate of fees you pay, (2) where your items fall in the default search algorithms, and most importantly (3) your ability to get your money out of PayPal.

For the powersellers it's not as big a deal, but for the small seller, this new system is a death knell.

Remember, your "dissatisfaction rating" is calculated based on a 30-day moving average of items sold.

Scenario: You sell 20 items this month. You get 1 neutral or neg. This amounts to a 5% dissatisfaction rating, which is enough to trigger PayPal not releasing your funds until after positive feedback is left by the buyer or 21 days pass without a chargeback. This also means that you now are forced to ship the goods without receiving the payment for the shipping charges.

If you read the boards over at eBay, the nightmare has already started. Clueless buyers who think that the no-negative-feedback policy is already in effect are already attempting to extort sellers:

"If you don't refund me 50% I'll neg you."

"I changed my mind. If you don't take it back for a 100% refund, I'll neg you."

Scamming buyers have won the lottery.

edueku

Personally I have found great deals on ebay through daily searching, also having sold items I don't specifically collect. I have purchased several EDU's for next to nothing as well as covers/postal history and even raw stamps for grading. I mainly buy from NON-dealers because dealers tend to price items above what they are really worth. There are several big dealers on ebay that do this, I find it amazing that more dealers DON'T sell more quality items, especially with the worldwide audience. As far as the new ebay changes, they aren't bad, as long as your a buyer! Personally I have lost a significant amount of money buying only once in 8 years of ebay(about $500) There are many bad buyers as well as sellers, but this gives buyers an edge over sellers. Richard, think of this situation: you sell an item, the person pays with a CC, they get the item and then they do a chargeback(this is a common scam,and is probably still possible under the new changes) Just to be a jerk(which we all know some people are) they leave you a negative. Guess what ? They still have clean feedback and you can leave no feedback unless it is positive! We who work in any sort of retail business (I work in a grocery store) all know that there are consumers who are unreasonable and unpleasable. Many get a thrill out of having the upper hand and playing the system for all it's worth. Well the boycott may not really do much, I don't know, but it would be nice to be able to influence the fees and other crap that is being changed in a positive fashion. I will probably try to sell all I have to sell(alot) and then be just a buyer. I will miss getting good deals from small sellers who may start to dissappear eventually. You can't find the same sort of stuff on the other stamp sites which is mostly dealers or small sellers with overpriced average material. Well this is just my opinion. I know blabber blabber blabber....

edueku

Coinpictures, I must have been typing my post while you were posting yours. I'm glad there is someone who agrees with me here and sees the problems that will be caused by taking away the fair feedback system(besides all the other crap)

covers

coinpictures - I am a "silver" powerseller right now although I try not to use the logo (I sold a collection for $32,000 a couple months ago and tend to sell bigger things). I don't use ebay very often, mostly to sell things I don't want to keep in inventory. I buy very little - mostly when somebody tells me there is something I should look at - or for model train items ...

The ebay feedback system has always been a sham aimed at giving buyers a "warm and fuzzy" feeling about dealing with unknown, and often unknowable, sellers. As a result, as a seller who knows what I am selling, I have to compete against crooks and idiots who sell the similar in the same field. The lack of consumer confidence usually relates to lower price realized for me unless bidders happen to do their homework. The new feedback system may provide a better reflection of the competition. However, with many of the sellers in the stamp category, it is ignorance of the subject (for example, not being able to tell if a stamp is creased) and the buyers may well not know either until he/she goes to sell.

If the pricing system weeds out the sellers of material under $20 value, I would be overjoyed - decreases the noise when searching. I use ebay more as an advertising tool rather than to make sales. I view the exposure, and associated costs, more from a marketing perspective and it is a lot cheaper, and effective, than print ads. I use "featured item" frequently, etc.

In short, I am willing to see what happens before passing judgement.

edueku

I wonder if weeding out smaller infrequent sellers(such as me) will be healthy to ebay's business in the long run. These sellers are are probably what made ebay successful in the beginning. If ebay comes to be known as a site that only caters to those wishing to spend much more than a few dollars, their business may decline. If one other significant competitor (although now there really aren't any) could get a real foothold in the online auction arena, fees would come, and there would probably be other positive changes. This may happen if enough people migrate away from ebay over all of this. At some point those big sellers have to take a close look at all the fees and the %'s. I don't know that big sellers will do better after the 20th. I haven't tried to figure out ALL the possible ways one can lose more in fees etc though. I imagine most sellers will just stay and say ," I have no real choices outside of ebay."

coinpictures

eBay does appear to want to reduce the site to a "PowerSellers-Only Club" which caters only towards mass-produced/imported consumer goods. They are seemingly wanting to drive away the small seller.

I honestly do not understand this goal, as it is antithetical to what made eBay what it is today.

I've been critical of eBay in the past and their utter lack of customer service, but for the most part their decisions at least had some mininum common sense... until this latest round. The changes really do not make sense at all.

Of the 3,500 or so transactions under my belt, about 65% have been as a buyer and 35% as a seller, so I've seen the "eBay experience" from both sides of the fence.

I had a buyer get extremely upset with me this week because I wouldn't ship to an unconfirmed PayPal address, yet PayPal recommends that this requirement be made. Buyer is upset because of PayPal's recommended policies and the seller is at fault?

dougwtx

The way I see it is that everything is going up in price. Feedback would be hard to control as there will always be someone out there to find a way to hurt honest people. It's just one person's word against another. If you are a stockholder in eBay, would you want them to cut back and lower their profits. The American way is to maximize profit and become rich. As you know, you always have to look at both sides of the coin. Tons of people hate Microsoft, but look at the benefits they have produced. Sure, they also cause tons of headaches, but I would say the benefits outweigh the negative. eBay has spawned off many online auction sites, but none offer the tools and popularity of eBay. When one does, then eBay will change. Just like PayPal.... look at Western Union, bidpay, yahoo pay, USPS online payment, etc... many are out of biz because they said they usage was not there. I hate PayPal fees, but a few thousand of us won't make a difference to their bottom line. I also realize that their service and technology does not come free to them too. It would take a global effort to make these companies listen. Many companies who sell on eBay have their own website. Is the reason they sell on eBay is to get more money, better chance of turning over inventory, or higher visibility? Probably all. Depends on what you think that visibility is worth. I agree there is always a better way of doing something, but in today's international markets, it takes a VERY large voice to make them listen. I hear GM is going to start auctioning vehicles on eBay. How much do you wanna bet that GM got great seller terms with eBay. With the American free market, when one doesn't like a company, one is free to go to another company. People are complaining about the postal rate going up to $0.42. Way I see it, if you don't like it, you can deliver your own mail across the country and see how much it would cost you. If eBay fees or their other rules become too unappealing, then they will lose biz and only then will they change, IMO. I'll get off my soap box and my intention was not to slam anyone, just offer another opinion. Flame suit on...

dougwtx

I just saw on the news about the eBay boycott. It will be interesting in seeing the outcome.

Matttodd1

What about stampwants?

covers

I expect that occasional sellers of low priced items will continue to use ebay at a reduced level. Selling material certainly keeps people engaged on the site.

Bottom line is that the revenue stream has to cater to the large dollar sellers who just don't wish to compete in a flea-market environment. Those large dollar sellers will survive even with the various problems of paypal and feedback.

covers

My understanding of many of the other commercial stamp sites is that they are primarily based on the flea to flea model rather than the reputable dealer to advanced collector model.

add-on: I guess that later model is what I am waiting for....

edueku

Seems to be having some effect on the # of listings. try powersellersunite.com interesting stuff.

edueku

Just got this email, now you can't even see who you are bidding against or warn inexperienced collectors they are bidding on fake or altered junk. This used to just be only on $200+ items but now it will be on all auction listings. Way to go Ebay another great "improvement!"

Important new buyer identity protection

premiumgems**,

Keeping eBay your trusted source for great deals and truly unique finds is important to all of us. Toward this end, we're making an important change:

Soon we will no longer display the complete user IDs of people bidding on any auction-style listing. Instead, we'll use asterisks such as x***y to protect our members' identities. Sellers will continue to see complete user IDs on their listings and the winning bidder's ID will be visible to everyone after the auction ends.

We haven't provided this information on listings of $200 or higher for some time and it's been a very effective fraud deterrent for those items. For safety reasons, we're now expanding this protection to all auction-style listings.

We know many of you like to see who you're bidding against. But displaying this information makes it too easy for scammers to send out fake offers that include convincing details of your actual bidding activity on a specific listing, such as the item number, description and exact amount you bid.

In recent weeks fraudulent email offers targeting listings under $200 has surged unacceptably. To keep eBay a top shopping destination we must choose safety over visibility and nip this in the bud. We recognize for some of you this may be an unwelcome limitation but we hope you'll support our putting more muscle into fraud prevention.

If you have any questions please call Customer Service at 1-800-717-eBay (800-717-3229) or read our executive announcement.

Sincerely,

eBay Global Trust & Safety Team

P.S. Safety tip: using an email address that is similar to your user ID also makes it easier for scammers to contact you. If your user ID makes it easy to guess your email address, it's worth changing your user ID in My eBay -> My Account -> Personal Information.



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dougwtx

I'm not too happy about that "improvement" either. There has been talk over on the currency forum. The downsides as mentioned over there are shilling will prosper and you can't tell who you are bidding against. If I saw you and I bidding on the same lot, depending on which one of us wants it more, I would probably cut my bids to give you the chance.

KentuckyJ

Yet another downside is our no longer being able to pull up a list of what active items another bidder is bidding on. I've gotten some great auction tips from watching what auctions my competition has found. This has been helpful when I've been busy for a few days and don't have time to search new auctions. I pull up the bidder list of someone who collects in my area, knowing they place their bids early when they first see something, and sometimes find an item of interest to me. The new ebay policy now makes this strategy impossible. It will inevitably cut down on the amount of my ebay bidding since there will now be several auctions I'll never see or know about.

I would much rather see ebay do away with all second chance offers, if fraudulent second chance stuff has been the cause of their trying to hide bidder identities.

KJ

edueku

Doug, I hadn't thought of that but good point.
KJ, I used to watch several other bidders to see what they were bidding on but after some time I came up with an extensive search list with phrases for finding decent lots. I guess everyone does this now when searching, I don't think I miss too much of what I'm looking for. Then there is sniping, I used to run into the same sniper on many auctions(when watching several others' bidding activity even), so I started sniping myself,much easier(sometimes the stuff doesn't run up as high this way ).