Has Ebay Finally Shot Itself In the Foot?

[kengillam]

MarkMcGrath all the time people keep supporting eBay it will trundle along, yes there may be a bit of short term pain, but unless people make the step the status quo will never change.

[RockyWolf]

I must say I still enjoy doing the car boots on a Sunday and handing out my cards with each sale pointing them to my new eBid store networking has never been so much fun If they don't find what they are looking for in my store(hardly likely unless they are into scooters at the moment) at least they will look around and find something they might find of interest from an other ebidder seller. take up the challenge try to make sells on eBid open your mind, I havent done it yet myself but have only just started.. working on this.

[JanetB]

Hi Mark, Thanks for you reply and I think I understand your position as for cash flow I understand it only to well, my dirtybay fees for April were just under £600, OK I was touching £3000 per month turn over at the end of the first year not bad for a new business, dirty bay didn't do that, it was me, my effort and hard work. It may not be cashflow that is the real problem it could be the amount of money you require to live and pay your bills. Have you considered how much profit you actually make after paying dirty and paypal fees added to your buying cost and other costs? It may be worthwhile reassessing what is worth what. I now do not have my eggs in one basket, I am my own master again and incidentaly my house is on sale through an online, one time registration fee, selling agent, when it does sell it will have cost very little to market the expensive item. Sod giving high fees to people riding around in mercs and similar who do very little for you. One other point I have to make about cash flow is that you can easily remove some of the figures that may be causing you grief, like stop buying, raise your profit margin slightly, spread you profile without cost, use ebay to drive customers to your less costly listings, look to the future and I am sure that you have considered the effect that Buyit.com will have on the electronical lines on ebay, wait till the next big boy is invited into the 'community'! If I was going to stay on dirty bay I would look at some power sellers feedback, identify their best selling lines then check their listings, source the suppliers and undercut them mercilessly using their listing design to do it but only stock the items that sell well and regularly. Tonight I had a look at a power seller who is selling similar items to what I sold on there he has 10 separate items identical to what I have listed here on a 30 day listing, according to his feedback he has not sold any, on Ebid I have sold 5 in that period, my listing price is cheaper that his/hers and my postage is cheaper than his/hers, my cash flow is ok and my profit margin is very good, and my stock is turning over, my costs are low and I don't eat beans. Where does this leave ebays worth To move some damaged stock I stood a carboot last Sunday, the first for some 15 years and my expenses where under £10 including fuel, the items I sold where damaged stock and some none damaged, the boot grossed £110, the 2 none damaged items fetched more than they ever did on ebay so £100 into the cash flow but the items are already set against tax as damaged write offs,. I thoroughly enjoyed the different morning and got away from the puter and I am pleased that none of those monies went into dirty bay and paypals pocket, there will be no negative feedback or reversals on payment. I think we all must be versatile these days and I am sure you can be but watch those fees because they are, in my opinion attached to an unfair contract which makes many people very vulnerable indeed. If I'm teaching you to suck eggs Mark I apologise but I feel very passionate about the ebay machine wooing people into the 'business' set up. I take a different stance, I have created a job, I earn enough to live on and sometime more than most but I don't want to be ICI or similar and finally I did win a prize once for boring for England and I am thinking of going International shortly.

Regards

Les Smith

Excellent composition Les! Well done I fully understand the profit margins and expenses when dealing with poobay, that's why I took the plunge and closed my store in January, I just couldn't justify my prices any more to my buyers because of the fee hikes etc.

[JanetB]

Jan you rock thank you for you have brightened my day and toycrazy has something good going on there well done !! just shows you what can be done with eBid but to have one finger in one pie in eBay get out and advertise any where you can better if its free i'd say
Dave

Happy to put a smile on your face Dave

[ArtisanUK]

Sorry but I'm a bit confused - it doesn't take much.

Somebody comes on the boards and says he can sell stuff at a better profit on e..y than on eBid.
Then he says stuff is more expensive on here which, a, cancels out the first comment, and b, would give him an open market opportunity.

Then he says because of 2 negs he is probably going to get barred from selling for a while ...???

Then he says he is going back to site A and going to bed.

Wouldn't he be better listing stuff on here because he's not going to be able to sell anything on there.

How odd ...

[JanetB]

Sorry but I'm a bit confused - it doesn't take much.

Somebody comes on the boards and says he can sell stuff at a better profit on e..y than on eBid.
Then he says stuff is more expensive on here which, a, cancels out the first comment, and b, would give him an open market opportunity.

Then he says because of 2 negs he is probably going to get barred from selling for a while ...???

Then he says he is going back to site A and going to bed.

Wouldn't he be better listing stuff on here because he's not going to be able to sell anything on there.

How odd ...

You noticed that too huh?

[madelaine]

eBid isn't the place to sell fast depreciating goods like phones. It is the place to sell replacement china, vintage sheet music and a whole load of other items that are seeking the very unusual buyer who wants just THAT one.

It is also fast becoming a good place to sell new goods.

[merlin]

if you see auctions that are over priced do something about it and complain to the seller , show them a realistic price comparison

btw
i do ok on here but i don`t need fast sales and with the amount of sales on ebay in a fast decline just not worth paying fees for not selling

[kengillam]

I agree that if we spot something that is hopelessly overpriced, a quick word with the seller may get things sorted, if we can get the listings here priced realistically then the site as a whole looks far more attractive and encouraging to buyers.

[johnwash1]

I agree that if we spot something that is hopelessly overpriced, a quick word with the seller may get things sorted, if we can get the listings here priced realistically then the site as a whole looks far more attractive and encouraging to buyers.

Good theory, but how do you contact the seller?