Top 10 Frustrations for eBay Sellers
An Extensive Look at the Peeves
At the beginning of the year, eBay announced some changes
it was bringing in with its new CEO John Donahoe. The changes spoke of things
like "Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR)" and "discounts for sellers." To some, the
changes didn't sound like anything to be concerned about, but some
saw through the plan and noticed other phrases in there, like "removal
of bad feedback for buyers" and saw the potential for smaller businesses to be
shut out. This is a notion we are seeing proven accurate months
later.
BusinessWeek took
a look at some real-world examples
of businesses being affected by eBay's policy changes and the frustrations that have
plagued sellers. We have covered such frustrations
in the past as well (that also includes payment policy changesand a boycott of the site
by sellers). After scouring the Internet, reading various articles and
comments, and even contacting some sellers first-hand, I have put together the
following list of the top ten things that sellers are frustrated with about
eBay:
1. Management
2. Feedback Policy
3. Small Businesses Get
Shut Out
4. Lack of Communication
5. Payment Policies
6. Fees/Lack of
Profitability
7. Unwarranted Account Suspensions
8. The Buyers
Themselves
9. Glitches
10. Lack of Innovation
It's hard to truly
give an accurate ranking of these problems in terms of significance, and
technically there is a fair amount of overlap with issues under each category.
It suffices o say that they are each significant. Sellers have spoken, and these
are the issues they have with eBay.
1.
Management
I'm going to place management above all because,
ultimately, it is where the rest of the frustrations stem from. Many of the
negative comments I have read (and about 98% of those have been negative) have
pointed the finger squarely at eBay CEO John Donahoe who took office shortly
before these changes came about. Some noted a significant decrease in stock
since he stepped in as well. In fact, a BusinessWeek reader even pointed to a petition that has
been created, calling for Donahoe's termination.
2. Feedback
Policy
This is really the one that is getting most eBay sellers fired
up. Buyers can leave feedback on sellers, but sellers can't leave feedback on
buyers. Out of the sellers that I personally contacted (that got back to me),
all but one of them agreed that eBay's feedback policy, which changed in May, is their biggest frustration.
One seller responded,
"Allowing buyers to give neg feedback w/o recourse. Without leverage i.e. return
Negative feedback. This keeps ignorant buyers from learning how [to] work out
differences - 'expressing how they feel'. Mistakes are made. Some 'new' buyers
just give Neg FB w/o contacting [the] seller about exchange[s], returns or
refunds." I have also seen people cite buyers' lack of understanding about
shipping costs leading to negative feedback.
Another respondent said:
"The most frustrating thing about selling on ebay is the complete disregard of
SELLER's RIGHTS." He then directed me to this site, which is dedicated to
creating awareness about eBay's policy changes, and illustrates the DSR system
(pictured below). "The FEEDBACK SYSTEM Penalizes Sellers who do not have at
least a 4.6 Rating in ALL 4 areas," that seller noted. "I have been selling on
ebay since 2002 and have NEVER had so much trouble with them!!!" I have an
excellent record & I still get LOWERED SEARCH STANDING & HIGHER FEES!!
THE SYSTEM IS NOT FAIR FOR SELLERS AT ALL ANYMORE!!!"
3. Small Businesses Get Shut Out
BusinessWeek's article was
about this very topic. It looked at a few small businesses that lost their
ability to sell on eBay, in large part due to the feedback issue, but that is
not the only thing affecting the little guys.
Another part of this is
eBay's deal with Buy.com, which some people indicate is prioritizing merchandise from
that site over their own. Combine that with the charges that small businesses
must incur for selling through eBay, and profitability slides. There seems to be
a common theme resonating among sellers, saying that eBay has basically sold
out. They've gone too corporate and are no longer appealing to the little guys.
4. Lack of Communication
Another common gripe is that the
company will not communicate with sellers to their liking. If sellers have
problems, they get the runaround. They get impersonal automated responses via
email, or low-level employees if they make a phone call. They can't get through
to management. They can't appeal their suspensions (which are often considered
unjustified).
Another communication flaw some have cited is that once
their account is suspended, they can't even communicate with customers who may
have already placed orders. This is not good for the buyer or the seller.
5. Payment
Policy
Last month, eBay announced that they would
no longer allow sellers to accept checks or money orders as payment. Well,
sellers were not happy about this either. Most felt like that decision should be
up to each individual seller. Many have chalked this up to the company simply
wanting people to use eBay-owned PayPal.
Taking away options for payment
can alienate some customers, and sellers know that and found the new policy
unfair. eBay said they would accept PayPal, credit or debit card payments to the
seller, ProPay, or "payment upon pickup" as possible payment methods. They
claimed to update this policy to provide users with a more "secure checkout
experience."
6. Fees/Lack of Profitability
As I said, there
is a lot of overlap in these and this ties into the small businesses getting
shut out problem. But many users are having a hard time justifying paying the
fees they must pay to use eBay as their selling platform. Fees cut into the
profits they could otherwise be making by selling directly from their own store,
or from another platform that doesn't charge as much.
7. Unwarranted
Account Suspensions
Apart from those who are seeing their accounts
suspended based on their DSR, I have seen many claims that their accounts are
deemed "security concerns" and suspended as a result, without any justification
for this assessment. One person claimed their account was suspended for this
reason when they had not even bought or sold anything through the site yet. They
went to try to sell something, but their account was already suspended.
8. The Buyers Themselves
There seems to have been an
increase in tension between buyers and sellers on eBay since their policy
changes took effect. Buyers have been accused of lying to get away with cheating
sellers by not paying for items while eBay does little to combat the problem.
Others just don't think they can reach the right audience with eBay. They
consider eBay buyers to be the type that are looking for bargains, and for those
looking to sell quality products at prices that aren't necessarily discounted,
will have a harder time selling those products.
9.
Glitches
Some complain about technical glitches at eBay. A
BusinessWeek reader mentioned
a variety of them including store glitches, PayPal glitches, search glitches,
DSR glitches, etc. Any company is bound to experience some hiccups from time to
time, but those hiccups are going to be frustrating to users, and there's not
much that can be done about that other than trying to catch such glitches before
customers do.
10. Lack of Innovation
Finally, some just
don't feel like eBay is doing much innovation anymore. There seems to be a
general consensus that in eBay's earlier years, the company was somewhat
revolutionary and appealing to anybody who wanted to get rid of some "old junk."
As time has progressed, many sellers have become less impressed. eBay has made
some acquisitions over the years like Skype and StumbleUpon, but these have had
little if any impact on eBay the site.
In
the End...
Not all eBay sellers are sitting idly by while they vent
their frustrations. There have been a number of sites started dedicated to
catering to those who feel cheated by eBay. Sites like Shopify, Wigix, SeeAuctions, EveryPlaceISell, and I'm sure many
more. Sellers know that they have other options. Many have turned to Amazon for
example, or have opened up their own eCommerce sites to sell directly.
But not everybody is anti-eBay, so let's make that clear. The one
person I contacted who didn't cite feedback as their top frustration, actually
said, "You know honestly there really isn't that much frustration that goes on
with selling on my end. About the only part is mailing out items and them
getting 'lost' in the mail. That is about it." eBay could hardly be to
blame for that. This person's business didn't even appear to be particularly
large.
I'm fairly certain that this person isn't alone in her opinion of
eBay either. Even though many people are upset with eBay's practices, some still
find it a useful place to do business and will likely carry that mentality with
them into the holiday season as consumers look for good deals on gifts for their
loved ones.
However, it is quite clear that the company has alienated a
broad range of users. I can't imagine that all of eBay's management finds this
acceptable. Will there be changes made? What will eBay do to win back customers?
Or will they just continue to target new ones? What does the future hold for
eBay?
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Comments
Another frustration: ebay makes changes all the time
I've been an ebay seller since 1998, but have pretty much stopped. I was a low-level Powerseller recently until they raised fees so high it became unprofitable to sell there.
I agree with all 10 things mentioned. Another is the mere fact that ebay introduces changes ALL THE TIME. Just when we get something figured out, and our auctions set right, they change something.
Years ago, these changes would generally be introduced in Nov. or early Dec., just as we were gearing up for Christmas sales. The whole site was then buggy. Drove us nuts.
The problem, I think is that programmers want to program. They like novelty. They are mostly young, and have never taken to heart the aphorism, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Ebay a few years ago wasn't "broke." It worked great and shareholders made a ton of money.
I recently reread Sam Walton's autobiography. He woke up every morning and went to sleep every night asking himself, "How can I cut costs at Wal-Mart and save my customers money?" I don't think the current goofballs running ebay have ever ONCE asked that question.
And so I have left.
Ebay should have lowered listing fees and FVFs several years ago, and they'd be utterly unchallenged in internet commerce. No one could have touched them. Buncha idiots.
ebay frustrations
I stopped selling on ebay a few months ago, for a time I was a power seller. My frustrations are the never ending fees, unfair feedback policy, "best match" . The fees , I sold some items at .99 the fees on those sales were .68 each, which leaves .31 . That is a bit excessive. The "best match" that isn't exactly what happens, I could put the exact title of my item that i had listed with it ending in 2 hrs and find the item back 40+ pages in the listings. Now logic tells you people are not going to search back 40+ pages when looking for something. The feedback changes, which I was able to keep my dsr's up , so I didn't worry about being suspended, but what I ran into was buyers who would wait weeks to pay if they paid at all. With no fear of negative feedback they just didnt worry about when or if they paid. I know some sellers who told me about having buyers trying to renegociate the deal by threating negative feedback. Stories about buyers saying if you dont ship it free I will leave negative feedback, or telling the sellers if they dont drop the price of the item they will leave negative feedback. Another problem came with paypal only, even with tracking numbers , buyers would claim they never recieved the item, sellers would provide the tracking information and paypal would refund the money to the buyers leaving the sellers out the money, out the product and holding a useless delivery confirmation.
My solution to all these was to just leave ebay and move my items to http://www.onlineauction.com/ . The site is growing everyday, the sellers on it are extremely helpful. We pay just 8.00 a month for unlimited listings and no final value fees. Sales are ok, not as many as on ebay but because of all the fees ebay charges the end result for me is I have more money in my pocket at the end of the transaction. I do still accept paypal , along with google checkout , cash , checks and money orders . I also have listings on http://www.etsy.com/, http://www.bonanzle.com/ , http://www.atomicmall.com/ but so far no sales . I have sold 80 + items in 3 months of being on http://www.onlineauction.com/
Unfortunately ebay decided to get get rid of the "fleamarket sellers" with their unique items. The sellers have all scattered to several sites, I wish there was a way to get them all to join forces on one site. Onlineauction is the only real auction site , and the only one I think can topple the giant ebay and take over the top spot.
yeah ebay is really frustrating
Hi,
I have been an ebay small seller for many yrs and am really getting frustrated with certain things like the feedback policy and the charges they levy on just about eveything.
As a result of this i have started trading on other sites such as www.ushops.com which is an upcoming a slowly becoming popular site which is absolutely free and a actually better than eBay!!!!!
Fees
The fees are way too high. And worst of all they get you on both ends of the transaction. First you pay a listing fee. Then after you sell your item, they get a cut of that also. Oh, and then if you use Paypal they get ANOTHER percentage by charging you a transaction fee.
I am almost done with FEEbay altogether. Only in some rare occasions I think I might make a profit will I use them, and that's mainly because of the exposure that the site itself offers.
http://www.hackswholesale.com/
Time For A New Venue To Rise And Become The New Market Leader!
A few weeks ago, I was layed off...and thought I would focus my efforts on growing my online pursuits.Ebay is my main program I promote, but with all that's going on...I can see that buyers are just not interested anymore.What was once a good deal at Ebay, is no different from any other place.
I have also experienced so many glitches with in their tracking of stats and commissions....seems like there is always a malfunction in their system everyday or so.And getting a response fron their officials is a joke!
Many affiliates have already started turning their traffic to other more advantageous programs, that actually are better run and offer something to an affiliate.I feel that most affiliates also don't trust Ebay at all...I mean cmon...their in charge of making sure you get your commission......funnily most affiliates have noticed a steep decline in their commissions...since Ebay left CJ.
It want be long before a big player jumps in and knocks Ebay to the ground!If you really think a giant can't fall and die a slow death...don't kid yourself!As we all seat back and watch...Ebay is dieing a slow death....and sadly at it's own hands.The final chapters of this story will be when a big player enters the arena, and delivers the final blow to Ebay...and it shall happen.Ebay was an exceptional idea....with exceptional bargains...with exceptional opportunities to make a living........but it's no longer the exceptional site it used to be!
Last few words-It's like a relationship....if your not treating your partner(sellers-affiliates-buyers) correctly, then eventually you will drive them away...they will cheat on you...or just simply divorce you!Ebay....if you read any of this.....your driving us away...it takes 2 to tango in the business world!You can turn it around....but if you let it continue....it will go past the point of no return....and you crash and burn.
EBay Selling Fees
I think the fees are ridiculously too high. Firstly, you have to make sure to sell your products at a price where you get interest (which is usually low in the first place). Then on top of that eBay charges you all these fees. By the time you finish and you think you're going to end up with a profit, you end up paying more in fees, which cuts down on you what you get back. They really need to exam that and add incentives for the sellers.
Ebay gets the bad back
Yepper almost a 10 year verteran too- 2 accounts perfect scores hands down- including international sales.I'm also seeing more problem with sellers- being they are suc*ing up to ebay by "power Selling" in the new rules (That has never immpreesed me c'mon)They are out to lunch with customer service-
Maybe I should commit Ebay suicide and get thrown off so I have to find somewhere else to sell, the addiction is rather bad :Negative feedback should read: Ebay's the problem ... they now protect & harbor poor sellers.
I have found problems with new sellers can usually be worked our for they don't know the Ebay ropes. But soon I'm sure ebay will give new sellers full license to commit rotten customer service.
Thanks ebay
For giving me the motivation to get my own site up and running.
It comes down to one thing - the best way to make $
Australians have become totally peeved at eBay.
They don't even hide the fact that they worship the dollar. Every move they make, every change they try, and every dollar they make comes at the expense of the Seller or the Buyer or both.
In Australia we have already given them a shove they didn't expect and now our Reserve bank and other Australian watchdogs are about to bite them where it hurts.
I used to sell with them but not any more. I'm with an Aussie crew called BidMate now.
Indefinite Suspension Appeal Recommednations
Hello...
I was an eBay Power Seller with over 2,200 sales and one negative feedback, and my account has been suspended indefinitely due to listing errors - honest errors, but errors nonetheless. In any event, I have been trying to appeal, but have received only form letter type responses... I have forwarded appeals to the eBay recommended email address, through the mail to the Trust and Safety Department, to the rswebhelp email addresss, and most recently, to the 'suggest' eBay email address...
I would greatly appreciate it if anyone might be able to refer me to a contact at eBay who might be willing to review my account with an open mind. With never an attempt at fraud or deceit in any manner, I feel as if I have fallen through the cracks so to speak.
With much appreciation
Susi
there is something always to
there is something always to complain about with ebay but all you have to do is be cost efficient and market your products that what I learn at newhouseinfoproducts.com
IMPORTANT!
FIRE JOHN DONAHOE PETITION:
http://www.petitiononline.com/jdonohoe/petition.html
Share your ebay horror story with ebay Board of Directors:
http://www.myblogutopia.com/2008/11/looking-for-more-dolphin-stories.html
Read what ebay employees are saying about ebay's EXTREMELY poor management:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/eBay-Reviews-E7853.htm
Please remember that Meg Whitman was a co-conspirator WITH Donahoe in this "Disruptive Innovation" scheme against ebay, it's users and it's shareholders. Here is a site that is full of information for thoseb seeking more (search the left-hand column:
http://www.firemeg.com/
Ebay Isn't Special Anymore
I invented Special Mica Lamp Shades for Antique Lamp Bases 5 years ago. I sold an average of $300 a week (Ebay). I would get over 120 viewers A DAY ! Tons of Bids. So Many people would be talking to me about making a shade for the Base they Wanted to buy on Ebay. If I didn't deliver on an Idea...they wouldn't buy the Base. So, you see, it's a Symbiotic Relationship between : Sellers, Buyers, and Sellers. I helped sell ALOT of Bases.
My Last sale was October 15th 2008. I am no longer "Allowed" to accept Money Orders & Checks. That was 100% of my Business. I have 100% Feedback.
Now I'm 100% out of Business. Spouse isn't too happy....
I created : nymarts.com
I hope Donahoe's out soon, this is no good. Other places are.....well.....just not the same. I can't STAND doing nothing. Waiting for the return of Our Sacred Ebay. Everything's All Stalled Out. This is EXACTLY the Economic Evironment the Old Ebay would be FLOURISHING UNbelievably in right now. Donahoe's timing is 180 degrees out.
Please sign the Petition to REMOVE JOHN DONAHOE completely from Ebay : http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?jdonohoe&1 . It's up to 483 ALREADY ! ! ! ! He Must Be Removed SOON ! ! ! !
I agree
Those are very frustrating. It might be why they are loosing share in the market place.
A Decent Alternative
What most sellers want is fair treatment, eBay no longer treats sellers fairly, anyone paying the same listing fee deserves the same exposure. Search is now so skewed as to be useless to buyers as well. Buyers are quite capable of looking for themselves without ebay poking its nose in and telling them what they should look at.
Thankfully there is a decent alternative http://www.ebid.net/ who have been picking up sellers at a rate of around 500 a day for months now.
Donahoe is a fool
John Donahoe and Ebay have become a joke. A Donahoism:
if the buyers are there the sellers will come. Really?
So how many people stand around in a field waiting for a mall to be built?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKSDUZj8woY
Selling on other sites...
After years of fustration, I have taken up selling on other sites ....
Re: e-book sales on eBay
I was happily selling quality e-books on eBay until an arbitrary rule was brought in banning the sale of e-books on eBay. Reason? Some e-book sellers were selling 99 cent books in order to get feedback. I'd have happily given up my high rating in order to be able to keep on selling. As it is, our business was brought to a grinding halt.
Can't Find What I'm Looking For
I've given up buying on ebay. Now everything just seems to be mixed up. No more discovering gems that I didn't know I wanted or needed.
I just did a search under one of my standard search terms and it was just a jumbled mess. It's just not worth the time to try to sort out the good deals from the the bad. I don't understand how things are being sorted, but it's certainly a pain in the @$$ to try to find something.
$200k in his first year with EBAY
social media
I am favor in social media cause its help the traffic of website
What discusts me is the
What discusts me is the stupid ranking system. I have higher than "eBay" average in every single DSR catagory and where is my search standing? You guessed it. Standard. By eBay's standards, I should be raised in search. So much for another broken system on eBay.
That said, I have always advocated in diversity. I used to use Yahoo and was very succesfull there. I have tried Overstock, Ioffer, Bidville, and a handful of other small sites and all have failed.
I do use epier.com with decent success and also have my own webstore through ecrater.com with very good success. I personally recommend that everyone open an ecrater store. It's free, traffic is good and you can use Google Checkout there. You can receive checks, money orders and do I dare say it, yes CASH as well. Loading items to ecrater is fast and easy and it's a great way to keep all of your items on the web.
Stonecold613
ranking system
...I did not realize there was a ranking system! ...I started selling on ebay in August and I am going nuts...I cant figure out whats going on ...I have had 100% positive feedback on all my sales...no other problems...( I take only paypal and purchase delivery confimation or signature confirmation and insurance on everything I sell to protect myself from bad buyers....) I sell collectible items ( this actually costs me money because if I try to include it in the shipping cost I get flagged for excessive postage)...I started out great and now I am so limited on exposure that no one is seeing my items ...and I'm limited in catagories and brand names ..But it costs me the same in fees ...foolishly I have purchased seller tools and upgrades to my listings and my items are still not being seen...Shouldn't it be against the law to provide the same service... and charge the same amount....and give smaller sellers less exposure? Between ebay and paypal selling and shipping has cost me close to 30 % ... I have tried 10 times in three months to get answers from ebay as to why this is happening to me? I have gotten the run around from live help and gotten electronic responses from ebay that don't even address my questions....I thought I was listing things incorrectly at first because no matter what I did I could not find my items in the searches... When I contacted live help they gave me a link to my item but they still don't show up in searches ...I was told my items were catagorized by... Best Match...But ...when I put in the exact title I can't find the items... I have watched items sold by power sellers that are the same as mine for more money ...easily.... I have no DSR's showing yet so I don't know if they match up to my 100% positive feedback? Can anyone tell me how I can find out why I have these limitations...or what they are...??? and how to find out what my ranking is...? This seems like insane business practices to me... and I have been successful in the same business for 30 years...I feel so ripped off...but ...after seeing this article at least I know I'm not nuts....!!! DJSO
You are on track.
As a seller on E-Bay I have been constantly frustrated by the ad-ons being forced upon us. You have it pegged .
Feedback & ebay fee frustrations!
I too am very frustrated with feedback AND Fees! I don't really have many NPB's but I have had a few & naturally was unable to leave negative feedback so no one knows these buyers sometimes don't pay! The feedback system needs to automatically allow negative feedback when a NPB report is filed due to non payment. Yeah, I guess NPB's will get booted off of ebay after a few incidences of not paying. Yipee!! But ebay gives too many "get out of jail free" cards. Heck, it's no skin off ebay's nose if buyers don't pay, Just the sellers who make soooo much money for ebay!!!
The DSR's are a joke too!! I offer FREE SHIPPING on more than half of the items that I sell and some buyers STILL mark me down on shipping charges!! What the heck??!! It doesn't get any cheaper than free!! The DSR system should automatically assign 5 stars on listings with free shipping.
I was a power seller and was greatful for the discounts & such but all the "deals" are only offered to power sellers!! That sucks!
In the catagory that I list in I am paying 12% FVF's!! OMG!! 12% is just rediculious! I would LOVE to offer my products at a much better price if I didn't have to pay so much in fees!!! HELLO BUYERS!!!! do you hear that??!! You could get much better deals on ebay if ebay wasn't raping sellers with fees!!!
Look, I know there used to be lots of low life sellers on ebay that were scamming buyers. And ebay has probably done a good job of "cleaning house". Buyers need to be protected too! A few people poop their pants and we all have to wear diapers! LOL!! But it has really gone too far!! And that certainly doesn't explain the huge increases in fees!!! They are killing us!!!
ebay
So relieved to find there are others out there, who, like me are fed up with ebay. I worked hard to be a good honest seller, and for what? a company who ONLY supports the buyers [ who they make no money from] and the sellers [ who they make their money from], are left to the unscrupulous buyers mercies.
The feedback system is a joke, and some buyers threaten you with neg feedback, just to try to get the items for free.
While the majority of buyers are great, the lack of support from ebay for their sellers is non existant. I've had enough. It's to uneven a playing field for me, Will be trying some of the other options listed in this report.
Expansion
Hi,
It has been observed that e-Bay is not interested in expension of
its business & has advertantly ignored countries like Pakistan
where it is not available. On the other hands its available for India
who is part of the same continent.
Secondly they have restricted themselves to only one payment option
perhaps they are afraid of competition with other payment options.
Please look in to these problems to resolve enabling other countries to
participate in this business activities.
Warm Regards.
Sgina
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