Are EBay and Store Sellers Headed for Divorce?
Rocky Road Ahead. I Think Its Time to Call the Marriage Counselor
Sellers are basically on a month-to-month lease with eBay and as long as they can still make money, most will continue to sell even though they are unhappy. But for a great many of them there is certainly no long-term plan for staying on eBay. (This should be troubling to eBay and their investors) Most are in the wait and see mode waiting for the other shoe to drop. (I have a ton more clichés where those came from). And a great many have made their first store reductions on the hope that sales will improve rather than decline. So from a business standpoint eBay sellers are preparing to make the hard choices, and eBay, in my view, has very little time to keep them. Most will stick it out through the holidays, but all bets are off for the 1st Quarter of 07.
Because Store Sellers do not have a long-term lease they are busy looking at other options. Amazon just announced WebStores, which might be an option. Yahoo has Stores and there are numerous other options presenting themselves. Anyone who would allow eBay Store Sellers to upload their inventory in a similar fashion could take the lead. (ProStores is less of an option for emotional reasons). Sellers are just flirting with these other services right now, but how long will it be before they have an affair or leave eBay all together.
So, now you see where I got the title regarding divorce. Unlike most businesses there is an emotional element that is unique to eBay. For so many years eBay was considered a community. Sure it was still a business, but both buyers and sellers alike enjoyed the experience. We had buyers searching for hard to find treasures and sellers working hard to meet their needs. Meg Whitman recently said: "The marketplace has been overwhelmed with identical, poorly-priced items that have diluted the magic of the eBay experience." I contend that eBay management is more to blame than those store items.
I've been spending a great deal of time lurking on the message boards, and it appears to me that the issues have moved from business to personal. Many sellers have just moved on, but my guess is if you surveyed those sellers about their faith in eBay as a venue, it would be somewhere south of President Bush's approval rating.
What I've noticed recently is that the problems are mounting, and I'm speaking mostly for Store Sellers, for eBay has raised their fees, reduced visibility of their listings, fumbled through the excessive shipping problems, launched "feel good" community apps like Guides, Blogs, Wiki's, and their latest diversions, MyWorld and eBay MatchUps. They have tested sponsored links in search results (a subject for my next post), and I could go on and on, but then I wouldn't have anything to write tomorrow. They have made all of these changes and apparently mishandled all of these problems with barely a peep from Management on what their plans are.
The Stores Message Board BBL (Brown Bag Lunch) for September was sparsely attended because the sellers don't believe they will get real answers. Spin rules the day! The communication between eBay and Store Sellers is virtually non-existent, and this portends (you like that word, don't you?) big problems for the future. The Store Owner is the neglected spouse, and eBay is the uncaring, insensitive spouse. Just as a spouse who feels neglected or feels un-loved-sounds kind of sappy but bear with me-might start looking to someone else to fill those needs, eBay Sellers feel the same way. It is getting to the point that Sellers don't even care what eBay has to say. They have already written the company off. It appears some counseling is needed. All right, I'll stop the marriage analogy.
The bottom line, in my view, is that eBay needs to communicate their vision for the future to their Sellers to give them the knowledge to make the appropriate decisions. And they need to actually listen to their concerns. If they can find a way to bridge this divide, eBay will be a better place for buyers, sellers, employees and investors. Otherwise, sellers will continue to speculate and question eBay's plans and motives.
In a perfect world there could be an old eBay feel to the new improved eBay experience, but I don't honestly believe it will happen. Though I am hopeful I am also realistic, and my next two posts will deal with why sellers can't wait until eBay has figured this out.
Cheers!
Published by Randy Smythe
I write about ecommerce, ideas, Single Parenthood, and Squidoo View profile
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16 Comments
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Beth - I agree with you completely. Not much more I can add but I'm sure I will think of something.
this is not even amusing. eBay continually says "we are only a venue". Well then, how about just simply providing the service we pay you for? A place to list our widgets, and you provide the exposure for them? That's all we've asked. eBay offered no incentives to me to work hard on my store, find reliable suppliers, write descriptions, invest in digital photography equipment and editing software. I did that to grow my own business. Their only job was providing a place where potential buyers could opt to buy from me. Imbalance?? Hogwash! If I can offer a better deal than the next guy, it is called COMPETITION. I can't compete with the Chinese import prices or the scammers who have been cheating eBay for years with fee avoidance. But, I can provide an honest and reliable buying experience for my customers! Now, since eBay made money off me (not as much as YOU Randy! Ha!), I fail to see where their beef lies. So, stores turned out differently than they expected. Well, just like the
Continued - Anyway, their current actions do nothing to even attempt to salvage the store owners' interests or confidence. They don't explain anything, don't tell us when we are being guinea pigs for programs (like the store searches), and pull the rug right before the busiest time of the YEAR for most of us. Sort of like a florist shop being told that flowers will increase in price 500% the week before Valentine's Day! While there are plenty of hobby sellers on eBay, there are also plenty of small businesses who actually have a plan in place. We've adjusted, bent, changed, erased, charted and adapted out the wazoo already this year. I know I was one who invested more than I had scheduled in inventory, because things were selling as fast as I listed them. I thought we'd finally been "found". Who knew it was an eBay experiment that they'd roll BACK less than 30 days later, only to leave many sellers with alot of inventory that could no longer be found by the buyers... this is
Hi Randy - well, I don't know how your company took that big of a hit. I worry about my little bitty one! Perhaps some day you'll share some of the ditches to avoid. As a member of the Tiny Mob, I've tried to post alternatives and ideas. I don't believe in complaining without some other ideas to replace it. The thing is - eBay isn't listening AT ALL. They are lurking, booting people off the boards who dare to speak out against their current actions, and are generally ignoring us worse than the ugly cousin at a reunion. Not sure how long these paragraphs are, so contin next post...
Paid to Have an Opinion - Thanks! I am beginning to believe in Karma as well.
I was a happy Ebay buyer/seller for a couple of years and then there was a mixup with a purchase. I bought an $8.00 toy, while on vacation up north, and requested that it be shipped to where I was. Because the address that I was asking the seller to send to was different, she would not accept my credit card payment. Fair enough... I offered to pay by money order but when I offered, she refused this. I explained that, if I could not pay via credit card and she would not accept a money order for the amount due, that I was very sorry, but she would have to cancel the sale and offer it to the next highest bidder.
I had assumed that was done when I didn't hear another word from her but then I receive a request for payment. I responded politely to this individual but no answer. Next thing I knew, I got a warning from Ebay. I contacted Ebay to explain the situation and received no response. A second warning came in, from the same person, and I wrote to Ebay again, attempting to expl
I thought this article was right on the money (and well written by the way) about ebay and their problems. I left ebay in July after the raise in fees and multiple problems with "customer service". My problems and concerns were never addressed, they simply copied and pasted some inane answer from their faq sections that had little if anything to do with my emails. All I know is ebay screwed up big time. They had an empire of happy sellers and even happier buyers going for a while and then they opened the flood gates and let anyone with a name open a account (some have several even). I could say that hopefully they will figure it out and get their heads out of their your know whats before its too late but I would be fibbing. I think they will get what they deserve for holding money above their consumers and I've always been a fan of Karma.
Communication really does seem to be eBay's biggest weakness. They don't have a clear idea of who their customer is. They have never been responsive to the seller's concerns. You talk about someone with no business model, and that's eBay. The only thing that has saved them thus far is that no serious competitor has come along and launched a site that has the ability to draw buyers.
Lala - I know they can do what you are asking but we will see if they are willing to. They have never been good at communication with sellers so I don't hold out much hope.