Comments on: eBay Sellers to Strike. Give Us a Break!

By: Lizard Wisdom

Lizard Wisdom — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:42:29 +0000

Hi Stevie,

Thanks for your comment!

The changes that eBay is in the process of making sure has struck a nerve with a lot of sellers. Time will only tell if they were the right move.

The point of this post is to say that while you have a right to get as pissed off at eBay as you want, it is still eBay’s website, eBay’s business and eBay has every right to make whatever changes they want.

If sellers don’t like what is happening, then they have every right to leave. However, if they want to continue to do business with eBay, then they need to expend their energy on improving their business and adapting to the changes, rather than complaining and going on strike.

That is just how we feel about this whole situation. Obviously there are a lot of people who feel differently, and that is fine.

By: Stevie

Stevie — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:17:17 +0000

This sounds like sour grapes. I’m a buyer with hundreds of transactions and tens of thousands of dollars of parts bought under my belt. Three words: checks and balances. Remove recourse on either buyer or seller side and you tip the balance. Increased fees AND what appears to be a dramatic shift in buyer/seller politic appears to be a move that will affect more than the niche seller. Sure, a volume seller has more resources to deal with deadbeat and dishonest buyers yet the specter of public bad feedback seems to be the best tool for controlling the less positive urges of buyer and seller alike.

By: Gerorge

Gerorge — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:52:44 +0000

I think you misunderstand the e-bay place in the online community. It used to bring unique items from sellers, because of low fees and friendly atmosphere. Now they want to squeeze more in fees, which is fine, but then they should not be lying about the fee increase. And about the friendliness I have one word to say: Paypal. That and a feedback system will drive the rest of small sellers out, and make it another Walmart online. I am sure Google will be out showing greedy ebay CEO what Internet marketplace is all about.

By: Why It’s Probably Not A Good Idea To Abandon eBay For Greener Pastures | The Auction Rebel

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:01:42 +0000

[...] rather than moving, you take the advice recently given by Marshall & Joli when they in a recent post: “…….concentrate on learning how to sell on eBay so that you will be a [...]

By: Lizard Wisdom

Lizard Wisdom — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:35:46 +0000

Thanks for stopping by Lizard Wisdom and commenting!

Selling on eBay is a lot of work and you have to have the right products to be successful. We make no bones about this.

It is amazing how many people think that selling on eBay is a walk in the park. This may be the case if you are the occasional, hobby seller. But if you want to run a serious online business, it takes time, time, time.

By: Working at Home Mom

Working at Home Mom — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:33:52 +0000

I stopped selling on ebay a long time ago because I could not make enough money at it. I love how you put this, though, they are only hurting themselves and they need to take the time to find out how to sell on ebay and they will make money with it.

By: Lizard Wisdom

Lizard Wisdom — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:49:13 +0000

Congrats on the new house!

We know what you mean about shipping boxes. We have boxes upon boxes of boxes! Our garage and shipping room is a highly flammable area.

By: Frank C

Frank C — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:42:58 +0000

I’ve been busy lately too. I’m in the middle of moving to a new house we just closed on. Moving is harder than buying the thing! My wife is annoyed that I still have about 100 5×5x5 shipping boxes and 100 eBay labeled priority mail boxes that I’m dragging along. My remaining merchandise only filled one small box though.

By: Lizard Wisdom

Lizard Wisdom — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:32:14 +0000

Hi Frank,

Nice to see you back here commenting. Always good to see a familiar face, so to speak!

We are still digesting the changes from last week. Haven’t had a great deal of time since we are incredibly busy working on new projects.

It is going to be interesting how the eBay changes play out in the coming months. Hard to believe that eBay’s intention is to drive away the little guy, since that is the majority of the sellers. But who really know what is going on in that “great” eBay mind…

By: Frank C

Frank C — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:20:55 +0000

Well, I picked up my marbles and went home last year. I knew more changes that would be negative to small volume hobby/craft sellers like me were on their way so it was time to cash in my chips. I eventually left the online sales marketplace entirely last year, opting for Internet Marketing and niche blogging instead.

I do think that the no negatives/neutrals for buyers effectively guts the feedback system that has been the basis for commerce on eBay for 10 years. They’re going more toward an Amazon.com model that favors large volume sellers of mass produced consumer goods rather than the person selling a few personal items from time to time or someone selling to a small volume of hard to find hobby goods.

As I mentioned on a post on my blog, I think these changes will run many of these small timers off of eBay and this could have a negative impact on certain niches. I also thinks it opens up some opportunities for eBay competitors, provided they can attract buyers as well as sellers.

You’re right, bitching and moaning about it or ’striking’ won’t do any good. If you want to sell small volume, sell on places like BluJay or Etsy or setup your own ecommerce site. Bring/buy your own traffic though.