(This month's) ebay rant

**starrlara** · 24-Apr-2009, 01:02

Hello,
Yes, I've noticed Ebay has changed. I've been selling on Ebay nearly since the beginning, since 1999. Just a year ago, anything I put on sold, no matter the price, no matter the item. Now, no matter what I try, 99 cent auctions, no reserve auctions, low buy now auctions, or free shipping, the fish just aren't biting. I do
believe it's got to be the economy. I could even give it away, and it wouldn't sell. LOL.

Of course, I do sell vintage things that aren't truly a necessity.

I sold a 1963 cookbook at Christmas time for $210.00. Was it worth it, no. Now,
the same book is going for $10.00. Ebay is fluid and always changing as to what sells when and for how much. It's a daily research game. I've also noticed that some buyers seem to believe if it's a low bid of .99 cents, then it's not worth as much as some other seller's same item in which the seller has a beginning bid of $100.00. It's the psychology of it, and that too is constantly changing.

It's not just me. I'm watching other sellers items, and they aren't selling either.

The new feedback system is horrible too. I say it's time for some competition with another on line auction house as big as Ebay, because Ebay's fees are way too high, and the feedback system allows buyers to take 7 days to pay, and not respond to emails, and then refuse to leave any feedback. I always leave positive feedback for my buyers as soon as I receive payment. It's not right what Ebay has done to us sellers anymore.

Anyone want to start a new on line auction house?
Comments greatly appreciated.

**starrlara** · 24-Apr-2009, 01:12

I totally agree. As a buyer and seller, I have 100% positive feedback of over 730.
I do not like Ebay's new system that favors only the buyer. Granted, the old system held the buyer hostage until they left good feedback, but I never did that to my buyers. If they pay right away, I leave feedback the day they pay, and I hope they return the favor for me as a seller. I also didn't leave negative feedback to sellers easily, and only did so 3 times in 10 years. I always try to work things out whether I'm a buyer or seller.

Someone here mentioned that Walmart doesn't know anything about a buyer, so why should Ebay. Walmart is a pay up front place. It's not an auction house. We sellers suffer fees anyway when buyers don't pay or are slow to pay, and our time is worth something. Why can buyers take 7 days to pay, but sellers who ship right away risk negative feedback at the whim of a buyer. Buyers no longer have much of an incentive to leave positive feedback, except just for pure kindness, and not too many are into that like I am. LOL.

**Patrick Dixon** · 24-Apr-2009, 02:18

Fixing the feedback system was a simple matter of eBay escrowing the feedback until either both parties had left it or after a cutoff period.

Much better then either the previous or present system.

**Aahx** · 24-Apr-2009, 13:16

As a pure ebay buyer myself I only leave feedback after I recieve the item and inspect it. And only on two occasions did I not leave feedback, and that was when the items I recieved were questionable on the quality vs described. On the other hand.. as a buyer... that usualy pays within the hour of bidding, I have only recieved feedback from sellers about 1/5th of the time in the last year. Where before that on the previous system I recieved it more frequently (about 2/3).

**walter23** · 24-Apr-2009, 15:59

I had an annoying experience buying from a seller named "cupog" (lots of you have probably run across his store). Guy originally sent to a three years outdated address because his in-house database pulled it up and associated it with my ebay account automatically. I paid for the thing on around Feb 8th and it's still not here (had to sit in a post office in my old city for a month, then get returned to him, etc). Now I've lost the ability to leave feedback or enjoy paypal buyer protection, grr. It'll probably be in crummy shape too with my luck.

Anyway I'll consider this my negative feedback for him since I can no longer leave it on ebay.

**Brian Ellis** · 24-Apr-2009, 16:57

Originally Posted by Wallace_Billingham

The 2nd chance thing is bogus also. Case in point last week I was bidding on an older camera. The bidding was for $25 I placed a bid to go higher with a max bid of $40. I was then the lead bidder at $28 where I stayed until about 2 minutes before the aution ended when I was out bid. No problem not a big deal. The winning bid was $41. Then a week later I get a 2nd Chance notice that I could buy the item for $40. Why should it be $40 and not my bid of $28 which was the last legit bid on the item? This system just makes it easier to have schills, and get buyers to pay the max.

If they would cancel out the bad buyers bids and revert the price back down to the last legit bid that would get rid of the schills entirely

I'm assuming you used a proxy bid. If so, the last "legit" bid wasn't your $28, it was your $40. The seller could see how the bidding went and so offered to sell it to you for $40, your highest bid. Why would you expect him or her to sell it to you for $28 when you had bid $40?

I'm sure that like everything else on ebay there are fraudulent schemes involving the 2nd chance system but I wouldn't call it bogus. I've used it a couple times both as a buyer and a seller and it's worked fine each time.

**BarryS** · 24-Apr-2009, 17:47

The flaw in the second chance system is sham or invalid bidding because the bid flushes out the maximum bid of the real high bidder. If the high bid is a sham or later invalidated, it should not have raised the bid of the eventual winning bidder. Only a legitimate bid should raise the bid of a competing bidder. Of course, the buyer can just say no to the second chance offer.

**eddie** · 25-Apr-2009, 03:47

what barry said. the 2nd place winner ( i say winner as he won cause he did not have to pay anything) should get a 2nd chance for what his bit was before the 1st bider pushed him up.

sounds like a shill for sure

**walter23** · 28-Apr-2009, 20:42

Originally Posted by walter23

I had an annoying experience buying from a seller named "cupog" (lots of you have probably run across his store). Guy originally sent to a three years outdated address because his in-house database pulled it up and associated it with my ebay account automatically. I paid for the thing on around Feb 8th and it's still not here (had to sit in a post office in my old city for a month, then get returned to him, etc). Now I've lost the ability to leave feedback or enjoy paypal buyer protection, grr. It'll probably be in crummy shape too with my luck.

Anyway I'll consider this my negative feedback for him since I can no longer leave it on ebay.

Just to clear this guy's name a bit, while I was really annoyed that he sent it to an outdated address, I got the package (finally) today and it was in great shape. So I'm going to rescind my scathing comment and just chalk it up to an honest mistake.