Tonight I had the displeasure of receiving yet another notice from eBay regarding pricing and policy changes. These changes include:
Limits on shipping and handling charges
Big seller rewards for free shipping
PowerSeller fee discounts
No more checks and money orders
New seller standards
With sellers still reeling from their last policy and fee changes, I doubt that I will be the only one more than a little disgruntled over these new policies. Are they deliberately trying to run their company into the ground? Do they want their good sellers to continue to go elsewhere? The bottom line is that their policies will have a significant impact on buyers as well as sellers.
When they decided in their infinite wisdom earlier this year, that sellers could no longer leave negative feedback for buyers, my rate of non-paying bidders went up significantly! There are good buyers as well as bad and sellers should have the opportunity to let other sellers know who they are through feedback. It works both ways folks. Now in their infinite wisdom, they have decided that THEY are going to decide how much you can charge for shipping, and how buyers can pay for their wins. Gone are the days when a buyer can send me a check or money order, which I prefer because it saves me paypal fees. God forbid that eBay doesn't take a chunk there too!
I know some of you are cheering over the shipping policy change and I don't condone sellers who inflate their shipping prices to cover an auction that they listed with a starting price of 99 cents. But read on. There are two sides to every story.
I believe the starting price of an auction should include the cost of the item plus expenses to list, so at the very least you break even. However eBay encourages it's sellers to start at 99 cents so some sellers tack on their costs in shipping amounts, others end up in the hole and of course eBay makes it's profits no matter what! They don't seem to care if a seller profits or not, and disgruntled sellers result in poor customer care. I charge below industry standards to ship my packages, which are properly packed to prevent damage. Books are shipped in boxes with protection or bubble mailers with a cardboard backer, and all shipments include delivery confirmation for tracking. I cannot tell you how many letters I have received thanking me for the care I took in packing. Like many of you I have received books and other items that were just tossed carelessly into a box or unprotected mailer, only to arrive in less than optimum condition. You get what you pay for folks, and sellers have to cut costs wherever they can to accommodate eBay’s policies. Now that I will have to conform to what eBay thinks is a fair shipping price, I will no longer be able to pack my items the way I think is best, because I will lose money under eBay’s new policy changes. That doesn't sit well with me because I take great pride in delivering a quality product to my customers. In response to their email I fired off the following letter to eBay and I hope you will express your opinions to them as well. These new changes will hurt good sellers and ultimately result in dissatisfied buyers as well.
Dear eBay:
I find it very interesting how you constantly want to make changes that will drive your buyers and sellers away. Your new policies will only drive more sellers including myself to sell our books on Amazon, Alibris, Google or many of the other sources on the web, or our own websites where we not only have a higher profit margin, but we don’t have to contend with your constant changes that drive down our bottom line! In most cases its low enough already! While Amazon and others charge flat rate shipping, the books sell at a much higher price than on eBay so a seller can still make a good profit. Since you don’t seem to understand the concept of shipping and handling let me explain it to you:
- Bubble Mailers cost MONEY!
- Boxes cost MONEY!
- Cardboard backers cost MONEY!
- Tape costs MONEY!
- Gas to get to the post office costs MONEY!
- Labels cost MONEY!
- Ink costs MONEY!
- Plastic protective covers cost MONEY!
- Bubble Wrap costs MONEY!
- It takes TIME to package a product and if you have to pay help it costs MONEY!
- Delivery confirmation costs MONEY!
So while you are sitting up in your executive offices thinking of more ways to screw your sellers try putting yourself in our place for a change. I spend at least two hours on every auction, only to make a very small profit if anything at all after listing fees. I treat my customers how I would like to be treated and they appreciate the fact that they receive an item that has been properly packed and not carelessly thrown into an unprotected envelope. THEY understand that it COSTS MORE THAN THE ACTUAL COST OF POSTAGE TO MAIL AN ITEM!!! And now you have the audacity to offer INCENTIVES to those that offer FREE SHIPPING!! All this is going to do is take more money out of the sellers pocket and of course not yours! Well let’s see…
Sold on ebay: $9.95
My item cost: $6.45
Ebay fees: $1.19
Paypal fees: .75
Profit: $1.56
Free Shipping: 2.58 (actual shipping cost, excluding packing materials and expenses)
Profit: -$1.02 (excluding packing materials and expenses)
Oh yeah that’s the ticket! I’m going to jump right on that bandwagon!! It seems that the only one that you are interested in making money is eBay! You charge sellers paypal fees on the total cost of a transaction including shipping costs. If I sell a book for $9.95 and it costs me $35.00 to ship it overseas, I have to pay you fees on that shipping amount. It’s fine for you to make a profit on shipping but I’m not allowed to roll in my expenses to ship an item??? Sellers are not stupid. Your last reduction in fees was no reduction at all. You just increased your profits on the back end and drove sellers away. You need to realize that your little sellers are the backbone of your company and if you continue to drive them away your stock prices will continue to crumble and you will not only lose sellers but investors as well. That will affect YOUR bottom line not to mention your reputation as a company. You seem to forget one of the first rules of business…the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid). You don’t try to fix things that aren’t broken. What is broken is a good working relationship with your sellers and if that isn’t fixed very soon, your company will be irretrievably broken. Work on that! I have already begun to sell elsewhere and I will continue to move my items off of eBay to sites where I make a much better profit with a lot less grief. I strived to bring a touch of class to your site, by offering quality products that I sent gift-wrapped at my own expense to make my buyers feel special. I will no longer sell my best merchandise on your site and as so many sellers before me, will eventually completely move on to better pastures.
Sincerely,
Suzy
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9 comments:
Hi Susan, I agree with you on Ebay's fees - They are totally out of touch with sellers. I quit selling on Ebay before all these recent changes because I could not make enough to make it worth my while. Not being able to leave negative feedback on buyers is ridiculous as well. However, I have had experiences where a seller would not leave me positive feedback even though I paid immediately, until they saw I left them a positive feedback first. I was afraid to leave a negative in fear of what they would say about me, so there are two ways to look at it. Unfortunately, this new policy is not the answer - I think Ebay should ban these "sellers" who do that & not punish the rest of the reputable sellers. If they knew they would be banned they would quit behaving in an unprofessional manner. As for me I am building my own website - civilwarsite4families.com - with a great hosting company. There is a link on my website if anyone is interested in taking a look at building your own site & leaving Ebay. Thanks, Kim
Hi Kim,
I will be opening my own website as well. Feedback is a tricky area, because it completely relies on the honesty of the buyer and seller and one or the other can too easily manipulate it. I believe that their current system borders on ridicules however, because it is completely one sided.
If there ever is a problem with a buyer, eBay will not defend you, and they do little for the buyer as well. Constantly fooling around with the search feature makes it difficult for buyers to find what they are looking for, which results in fewer sales and more listing fees. That’s all fine and well for eBay, but not for the seller. Disreputable sellers should be banned, but that’s not likely to happen as long as they are bringing revenue to eBay. Thanks for taking the time to add your comment and best of luck to you on your website.
Kind Regards,
Suzy
Hi Susan, I clicked over to your blog to tell you that your comments on eBay was one of the better essays that I read. Of course, many of the sellers, including myself, are venting right now. Don't know how many are really aggravated enough to leave.
I am an old guy who has seen these cycles come and go. If anyone in eBay took Economics 101, they should remember that price controls DO NOT WORK, and have never worked. They have not worked (over the long run) in capitalist, socialist, or communist forms of government. They always lead to shortages; in this case maybe eBay sellers. If enough sellers drop out, products drop out, and eventually buyers go elsewhere. No matter how big they have become, eBay is not GUARANTEED a market.
I am taking the liberty to add one of the comments that I posted today for a retired police officer who is discouraged by all the changes:
For Jakester1955
Well said, Jakester. Don't know why the new changes, but they are probably just trying to get rid of small volume dealers like you and me. I will miss those dealers and the helpful service they provided. Many buyers I have dwelt with have been very helpful in answering questions about their product or even related products which they did not have.
I was in the retail appliance business from 1976 to 2003. I saw these "greed cycles" come and go. The manufacturers and distributors would try to pass more and more of their costs down to us, the retailers. In each case, when it got to the point where they showed no loyalty or consideration to me; and more importantly when I could no longer make a decent profit I had to make the decision to cast off. I lost their "brand name" and the time I had spent in the community building up that name, but I still had to switch to more profitable items.
I encourage you to not be too discouraged. America is still the land of opportunity. You mentioned that you have a disability. If you are able to travel, get out on a bright day and look at the world again. Go through a different part of your community; read different magazines. Something new is coming down the road every day. You just have to be looking for it.
Finally, to all the little nippy "posters" that seem to frequent these blogs. I can't find where they have ever sold anything, so I don't know how the h*** they know what they are talking about. j.byram
Hello John,
Thank you. I couldn’t agree with you more. Shareholders are already concerned because of the reduction in the number of listing on eBay as well as a paltry increase in subscriber ships. If eBay is trying to drive their little sellers away, they will lose the backbone of their company and will soon find that they have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. I will be closing my eBay store this week, and should have my own website open very soon. I have already started contacting my customers and will be listing my high priced items on Amazon until my site is finished. My heart goes out to all of the little sellers who these changes will affect the most.
Like Jakester, I too am disabled, so I can understand his frustration. While eBay continues to make record-breaking profits at our expense, we are getting squeezed to the limit. When we acquired Noodle almost two years ago, I never dreamed that his recovery would go on this long. His medical expenses have been astronomical, with no end in sight, and it will be some time before they are paid off. I had been able to meet them as well as some of my own medical needs through my sells from eBay. These new changes will no doubt stretch me to the limit. I don’t ever want to have to end Noodle’s life because I cannot afford his care. He has been through quite enough in his short little life, and through it all has remained the sweetest cat you could ever chance to meet. Unfortunately, I will have to continue to list on eBay for a while yet, but I will no longer be able to offer my customers, the high quality new books that I did previously.
I know what a hardship this will be to so many sellers that depend on their sells to make ends meet, and eBay should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. In this tough economy, no one needs any more problems on their plate! SHAME, SHAME, SHAME on you eBay!
Thank you so much for your posting John, I really enjoyed reading your views on the matter. Best of luck to you and all my fellow sellers in your endevours.
Kind Regards,
Suzy
Hi, suzy..Its me websavvu, supposed to be websavvy. As I previously stated b 4, ebay is throwing us under the bus. They have outgrown us. However, as I have heard from corp America, since going into business in 1997, they need the small companies. This means large companies depend on smaller companies for business. I guess the ebay corp doesn't realize this or they just don't care.
The big companies can stay big, I just want to be an independent business, not making millions (did you see how much they pay in taxes?) I just want to be comfortable and take a nice vacation once a year. Not going to happen with all the changes.
If they would only pay more attention to the sellers...the key element "sellers" sellers are what drives the business. k, gotta run!
Well said! I'm yet another of those tiny sellers on eBay who will be leaving for other auction pastures less costly.
Steve
Well Said! And this is exactly the same problems we have. We have had an Ebay store now for just over a year. And we continue to see more & more problems, less customer service, and increased fees to the point where it is almost impossible to make any money. (As you well describe). With this last release of changes that are coming on we have no choice but to look for other services beyond E-bay.
Hi Susan, I have moved to ioffer.com to try to sell items with no listing fees. I have not sold on ebay for months and no longer buy with this paypal payment only policy. I have my items sent to another address so I can pick them up at work from a freind. Have you heard about the paypal class action suit for buyers? http://www.hbsslaw.com/frontend?command=JoinClassAction&iLawsuitId=1433. Good luck to all of us, Dwight.
Hi Dwight,
I no longer sell or buy on eBay either. I’m far too disgusted with their policies to do any business with them at all. I sell mainly on Bonanzle, and was about to open my own website when I landed in bed with a back injury for a few months. Now that I’m on the mend I hope to have it open by the beginning of the New Year. Thanks for the heads up on the lawsuit and best of luck to you and all of the other eBay refugee’s out there. Have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
Happy Holidays,
Suzy
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