Has Ebay Finally Shot Itself In the Foot?

[DanTheMan3]

Hi Rosie.
Welcome to a fellow Macunian.
Yes Greedbay are taking all the small / middle sellers for a ride and they want to go that way and get shut of us.

So let them do it.

I am not in defence of ebay here but can I point out that the Distance Selling Laws of the UK allow a 7 day cooling off period, so your buyers could still purchase your items, read them and then send them back (at your expense).

Nice isnt it.

I sometimes find myself in the same situation and know exactly how you feel.

Regards.

Dan

http://uk.ebid.net/stores/DISCOUNT-FASHIONS

[rosiemac]

Thanks for the welcome. I was never going to make a fortune on feebay, but at least it was a bit of spending money on top of my main income. I am disappointed at how arrogant they have become. I had built up a good reputation, and although my feedback wasn't perfect (2 negs out of 3000+) and my rating was 99.9% it wasn't too bad either.

I first noticed about 18 months ago a drop in sales by at least two thirds of what I used to sell, , also items that used to sell well were not getting the high prices they used to get, sniper bids were also a problem.

However I was addicted by this time (buying & selling) and instead of cutting down on my spending by not buying anymore books, I kept buying. I got some good deals that were too good to miss (from various shops around Manchester). And I foolishly thought feebay would even out, sales would pickup and we would live happily everafter.

However that was not to be, now between feebay's changes, (me) still buying more stock, I dug a deep, deep hole for myself. The addiction to buy is still there, it's hard to stop when you see a book that may make a bit, it's a sort of gambling addiction. It's pure madness, as feebay is no longer an option. people aren't buying, visibility has been wiped out on the .com site and if I don't stop buying and concentrate on trying to sell some of the stuff I have I will end up bankrupt...I feel a sense of hopelessness..sad or what... lol? I need to get my life back as feebay hijacked it (with my permission) some years ago, it's time to get out of the rut.

[astro941]

Hi Rosie, Empathy from me, but don't despair, when one door closes another one opens. You are not on your own and don't blame yourself, like me you trusted the people who ran the community that you joined and invested in that community. Firstly, now we have both learnt the lesson of putting our eggs in one basket you may wish to look else where. Have a look at a site called Selling beyond Ebay http://sellingbeyondebay.ning.com the site is run by an American woman called Gail, her story makes mine pale into insignificance. The site although small offers plenty of practical help, advise and encouragement, shortly she is launching some kind of linking site and has asked me to send my logo and photographs of my best selling items, other people are doing similar elsewhere. There is also a fantastic, real and caring Community here who will offer help over and above. I'm in the same boat as you, rich in stock but with a cashflow that has been blown out of the water, it's a bit like a tap being switched off, so get a plumber and switch it on again. I think out of internet you may wish to consider other ways of trading until you get on your feet again, perhaps book fairs are an area to look at and also real time auctions to cull out some excess stock to give you cash. Then direct your inventory at sites such as Ebid where you can find a niche, I have decided on 2 sites at this time and most of my energy will be focused here at Ebid. For your satisfaction over the last 2 weeks conbay's listings have dropped by 3,000,000, they have had a slight recovery but have dropped again, their shares on the stock market have also dropped and have not rallied. I have no illusions it will take time I have had 2 sales and now have 1 bid at the reserve price since rejoining here so I figure that there are people viewing who are prepared to buy. Its interesting that you noticed your sales dropping, I didn't but what I was doing was moving upwards from 100 recurring listing items to 200 ending with 220 I sold on a 10 day cycle so the drop would not have been noticable to me but can you imagine the stock I hold to maintain that type of listing. I left on principal over the address thing, my view is that it is not up to a service provider to police the DSRs it is up to legislative bodies. It's interesting but today I went onto one persons ME page and found her address and telephone No. It's not on in my view. Regarding the Returns Policy, I offer 30 days, you might say this is crazy but I would rather have this than an unhappy customer, there are a lot of good people out there and if I do get a 'wrong un' I will simply blackball them and give a warning to other seller through feedback I will have the goods and they will have paid the return postage (See my returns policy). I now visit the conbay forums regularly to stick it to them, particularly the sycophants and the worse ones, those without IDs who instantly browbeat and bully any one with an objection to conbay, it's good sport and I wish more would take it up, this does help aleviate the feeling of immense wrong that I feel and also gets rid of the 'running around like a headless chicken syndrome'. Enough of me and back to your predicament, look at it this way Rosie, if you were just starting on the internet how much stock would you have and how much experience? If you look at it that way you have riches indeed. Your fees will now be much lower, your income tax will reflect a quiet period and your expenditure on stock will be naturally controlled (Stock Control). You havn't failed Rosie you have been reborn, up and at 'em, get listing and linking and think yourself lucky that you are no longer part of the pretend Amazon which will eventually make a pretty boring site indeed.

Welcome to Ebid, good luck and fortune to you

Les Smith

[astro941]

Rosie, I forgot, I really like your comparison with Ratner you are spot one, he also was disparaging and arrogant to his customers. I don't think that the 9ct gold jewellery market has yet recovered fully.

[JanetB]

Hi Rosie, Empathy from me, but don't despair, when one door closes another one opens. You are not on your own and don't blame yourself, like me you trusted the people who ran the community that you joined and invested in that community. Firstly, now we have both learnt the lesson of putting our eggs in one basket you may wish to look else where. Have a look at a site called Selling beyond Ebay http://sellingbeyondebay.ning.com the site is run by an American woman called Gail, her story makes mine pale into insignificance. The site although small offers plenty of practical help, advise and encouragement, shortly she is launching some kind of linking site and has asked me to send my logo and photographs of my best selling items, other people are doing similar elsewhere. There is also a fantastic, real and caring Community here who will offer help over and above. I'm in the same boat as you, rich in stock but with a cashflow that has been blown out of the water, it's a bit like a tap being switched off, so get a plumber and switch it on again. I think out of internet you may wish to consider other ways of trading until you get on your feet again, perhaps book fairs are an area to look at and also real time auctions to cull out some excess stock to give you cash. Then direct your inventory at sites such as Ebid where you can find a niche, I have decided on 2 sites at this time and most of my energy will be focused here at Ebid. For your satisfaction over the last 2 weeks conbay's listings have dropped by 3,000,000, they have had a slight recovery but have dropped again, their shares on the stock market have also dropped and have not rallied. I have no illusions it will take time I have had 2 sales and now have 1 bid at the reserve price since rejoining here so I figure that there are people viewing who are prepared to buy. Its interesting that you noticed your sales dropping, I didn't but what I was doing was moving upwards from 100 recurring listing items to 200 ending with 220 I sold on a 10 day cycle so the drop would not have been noticable to me but can you imagine the stock I hold to maintain that type of listing. I left on principal over the address thing, my view is that it is not up to a service provider to police the DSRs it is up to legislative bodies. It's interesting but today I went onto one persons ME page and found her address and telephone No. It's not on in my view. Regarding the Returns Policy, I offer 30 days, you might say this is crazy but I would rather have this than an unhappy customer, there are a lot of good people out there and if I do get a 'wrong un' I will simply blackball them and give a warning to other seller through feedback I will have the goods and they will have paid the return postage (See my returns policy). I now visit the conbay forums regularly to stick it to them, particularly the sycophants and the worse ones, those without IDs who instantly browbeat and bully any one with an objection to conbay, it's good sport and I wish more would take it up, this does help aleviate the feeling of immense wrong that I feel and also gets rid of the 'running around like a headless chicken syndrome'. Enough of me and back to your predicament, look at it this way Rosie, if you were just starting on the internet how much stock would you have and how much experience? If you look at it that way you have riches indeed. Your fees will now be much lower, your income tax will reflect a quiet period and your expenditure on stock will be naturally controlled (Stock Control). You havn't failed Rosie you have been reborn, up and at 'em, get listing and linking and think yourself lucky that you are no longer part of the pretend Amazon which will eventually make a pretty boring site indeed.

Welcome to Ebid, good luck and fortune to you

Les Smith

Well said! *clap* *clap* !!

And welcome Rosie, just remember, what is meant to be is meant to be, and your meant to be here and make a huge success. You have too much stock?? Create listings of multiple books to sell - email all your previous customers and let them know where you are now and that your having a special opening sale (just an idea). Also, on your about me page 'OVER THERE' put up a 'sign' to tell anyone who happens to read it, that you are now over here (give a link) if possible.

[ToyCrazyUK]

Thanks for the welcome. I was never going to make a fortune on feebay, but at least it was a bit of spending money on top of my main income. I am disappointed at how arrogant they have become. I had built up a good reputation, and although my feedback wasn't perfect (2 negs out of 3000+) and my rating was 99.9% it wasn't too bad either.

I first noticed about 18 months ago a drop in sales by at least two thirds of what I used to sell, , also items that used to sell well were not getting the high prices they used to get, sniper bids were also a problem.

However I was addicted by this time (buying & selling) and instead of cutting down on my spending by not buying anymore books, I kept buying. I got some good deals that were too good to miss (from various shops around Manchester). And I foolishly thought feebay would even out, sales would pickup and we would live happily everafter.

However that was not to be, now between feebay's changes, (me) still buying more stock, I dug a deep, deep hole for myself. The addiction to buy is still there, it's hard to stop when you see a book that may make a bit, it's a sort of gambling addiction. It's pure madness, as feebay is no longer an option. people aren't buying, visibility has been wiped out on the .com site and if I don't stop buying and concentrate on trying to sell some of the stuff I have I will end up bankrupt...I feel a sense of hopelessness..sad or what... lol? I need to get my life back as feebay hijacked it (with my permission) some years ago, it's time to get out of the rut.

I know what you mean about the addiction to buy. I went through a stage of trying to guess what would be the hot Christmas sellers which would go out of stock everywhere and kept buying and buying until I finally realised that I needed to get the debt under control. I'm keekping it under control now, just buying stuff from my main suppliers rather than trying to branch out everywhere.

There is a good book selling community on here and they often find stuff selling better than the other side.

Welcome to eBid!

[ChameleonSystems]

Hello Rosie. Another feebay victim here. I think you will find the forums friendlier here, there are no trolls/pinks here to censor every post.

The staff here are human beings and support is very good.

Just as an aside point: I noticed that the trolls seem to appear whenever the pinks do, over there. Lately its been quiet and both seem to be low key or missing. A bit of a coincidence? I would not be surprised if the trolls are orchestrated by people with more than a vested interest in censoring the site.

Enough of the Dungeon Dimensions... Welcome to ebid! I hope you thrive here! There is lots of advice on these forums to help you get started and promote your stores.

A good site to join is: http://www.pheebay.com/ to help promote your ebid stores. They have me and a few others on http://www.ebidsellers.info/

[kengillam]

Hi Rosiemac welcome to eBid OK to help you get started add a signature link to your posts read this thread http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showthread.php?t=100959 then fill in some info on Your About Me Page. Perhaps buy a few things to kickstart your feedback over here ( I have some nice cheap prints ) have a look at my listings to see how I dealt with the lack of feedback problem when I started. Then email all YOUR (not Greedbay's they are a venue, they keep telling us) customers, and tell them where you are, give them a link to your listings. Grab the records while you can and from paypal records as well. That should keep you out of the pub for a bit, and shout if you need a hand. Additional body parts incur a small fee

[Heruur]

Just went ahead and listed 20 items today starting at 9.95 and free shipping on everything in the usa with free ship abroad on many items too. Fee bay can put that in their pipe and smoke it!

[rosiemac]

To everyone <ebid oldtimers> for all your advice and welcome messages. I appreciate it very much and have taken note of all your advice.

I am still in contact with feebay/conbay etc; i.e. still registered but have stopped listing and all previous listings have ended. I listed my first book on here a few minutes ago, (testing the water).

I posted a message on feebay communities earlier tonight, but it was quickly removed, perhaps I need to be more subtle when mentioning ebid. I will bury it in the middle of a paragraph next time instead of putting it at the end of the post. Thanks again for you help and warm welcome. Best wishes, rosiemac