Ebay pretended (or Lied) that Suzy Q could come to ebay and make money with 99 cent auctions. As Jeff S has stated you make 27 cents.

That is not what a 99 cent auction is for. I have an auction up right now that will finalize tonight. I listed a valuable item for .99 and it has gotten 8 bids and is currently at 64.20. It has 19 watchers and 3 hours to go. The idea is to get the bidding going and to generate interest in the item.

I cannot imagine the work it takes to sell items for .99 all day long. I wonder if one could have made just as much money selling the same items for 3.99, or 4.99.

I sell items under another user name and all my items start at 4.99, 7.99, 9.99, 14.99, 19.99. 24.99, 29.99, jump to 49.99 and then jump again to 99.99 and up. Some of these items do not sell, but on 3to4 rotations, most of them eventually sell through for a profit way more than 27 cents. Example: I've sold big mens Hawaiian shirts for 7.99 used and are easily obtained at any thrift store. How easy is that!

I just find it amazing that a situation even exists where the "service" takes 90% of the sale! I feel like I'm a movie theater running a summer blockbuster, but I don't have a concession stand to make up the excess.

I'll never get caught in that situation again.

The problem is, I've also had negative net profits. List something a few times, and have it sell poorly, and you'll end up loosing money.

I heard a story of a guy putting an expensive sports car at about 2 year old on ebay with a starting bid of 99c

apparently he got well over $40,000 when the auction was over

In fact he claims he got more than the car was worth.

More guts than me though...

Another example of a good .99 auction. I have been watching ivory statues. Generally a real elephant ivory statue say 6 inches tall goes for on average $100 to $120. They can go higher if the subject is say a Japanese Geisha as opposed to a Chinese fisherman. Lowest I have seen a 6 inch and under ivory go for is around $80. So the idea is if you have a so, so statue, you would have 2 options. 1.Set the price at say $99 and run it and get no sale, or 2.set the price at .99 cents and get say 87.00 for it with low listing fees and a sale the first time around. Most people do not do what I call comparisons or Comps. to see what the buying market is willing to pay. If I can find something for a lower than the market price, I'm going to make money.

I have had 100% feedback for years now. Had one neutral a month ago and it counts as a negative. Plus you can't do a mutual withdraw anymore. Plus a seller can only leave a buyer postive feedback. Even when you get those buyers who are a pain and do everything they can to cause you a headache.. Delay in paying, no asking you questions, etc etc.... You can only leave positive... ugh !!

quote:

Originally posted by britnla:
I have had 100% feedback for years now. Had one neutral a month ago and it counts as a negative. Plus you can't do a mutual withdraw anymore. Plus a seller can only leave a buyer postive feedback. Even when you get those buyers who are a pain and do everything they can to cause you a headache.. Delay in paying, no asking you questions, etc etc.... You can only leave positive... ugh !!

Had the same thing happen to me about 2 weeks ago. 100% Feedback for years and then this jerk gives me a neutral without contacting me about any dissatisfaction. It is so unfair that sellers have no recourse now to reply to feedback so it shows up in your feedback section. All my templates heading stated "100% Feedback - Bid with Confidence". I had to completely revise all my detail profiles and master profiles and in one stroke of the keyboard this jerk has ruined my perfect rating I have been so proud of for years. EBAY, YOU ARE SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF THE SELLERS WITH YOUR STUPID NEW POLICIES! I hope this new CEO chokes on his next steak!

Sympathise . . . but nevermind eventually buyers will have to have that 100% confidence factor in sellers who only have 95 to 98% because the number of 100% sellers will become rare as time moves on.

I wonder if that will really make potential new buyers want to shop online with eBay as it is overrun with apparently poor sellers. They will not realise the damage has been done by mis-educated (by eBay) and downright awkward and difficult previous buyers ?

However, like the true dodgey sellers we can all see those poor feedbacks evaporate a year later . . .

Unless you know different, e.g. a change of policy occurs once again . . .

EBAY= Conformity and Control through a thoughtful educational process for vendors.

Sounds more like anger management on ebays part because sellers always migrate to a forum and learn from others how to overcome this kind of dispensed nonsense.

I think its stupid, the sellers will drop in feedback %, while buyers will all have 100%

whats the point of having it?

I have a guy who bought off me 10 days ago, still hasn't paid (he's new so i'm trying to help him out and give him a bit extra time before I file unpaid dispute)

But as far as the next guy he buys off is concerned he'll be new and there'll be no problems with him (because I probably won't leave him feedback after this, its paypal after all, how long can a payment take).


Or I can leave positive feedback, and say something like "new guy but we got there in the end" but that gives him 100% feedback

its stupid, how are we to warn other people that payment may take a while, or the guys sending rubber cheques or something completely relevant.

Another thing that is making me insane.....I have opened 5 non payment disputes since June 12. I talked to Ebay live help and they told me to add the pay immediately option to my listings. Makes sense, but will probably lose a lot of sales. Also, that is 5 bad buyers that I can not warn anyone else about. How scary is an unpaid item strike? Sellers do not see them and they get wiped clean from the buyer after a few months if they do not repeatedly offend. Plus it does not affect their feedback score. Does anything drop the score of a buyer? Why should sellers even leave buyers feedback???? I am very frustrated

quote:

Originally posted by lostpearlvintage:
Sellers do not see them and they get wiped clean from the buyer after a few months if they do not repeatedly offend. Plus it does not affect their feedback score. Does anything drop the score of a buyer?

Not true, a UPI against a buyer DOES drop their INTERNAL score. You may not see it, but they get suspended after so many offenses. Plus, using the seller control tools, you can select to exclude bidders with I think a minimum of 2 UPI strikes.

If the buyer leaves you neg/neu and you win the UPI process, that feedback is supposed to be removed from your record.

So file those UPI complaints. They are no more scary then they were in the past.

Use the tools we've been given.

Hi JeffS,I believe that is the rate of accumulating unpaid strikes, that gets a buyer thrown off for a while not the cummulative total.

Otherwise once thrown off greedbay they would be off for good, now there's a positive thought for you

I have a pair of jeans that are in a dispute right now for the second time since May 12. I believe that a buyers unpaid strikes get knocked off after they show good behavior. It does not follow them around and muck up their buying reputation like a sellers percentage score. Another thing, you can prove that someone did not pay for an item. A lot of people are getting neutrals and negs for insane reasons, some flat out lies. How about this one, a neutral read "nothing special about this transaction" or "I do not have enough information to render an opinion" Pretty soon feedback will not mean a thing because most sellers will not have 100%.

The way I've understood it, it's always been "3 strikes and you're out". In other words, the strikes were permanent strikes. Now, why the seller tool does not allow me to exclude a bidder with only ONE strike is beyond me. Why a minimum of two? Why did this bidder have to screw two other people before me? It should be I have control over a bidder if he's not paid someone else - PERIOD.

If you haven't paid someone, for whatever reason, I don't want to deal with you. But, it's not like that.

Here's the actual text from the "Buyer Requirements" page:

Buyers with Unpaid Item strikes
Block bidders and buyers who have received [2,3,4,5] Unpaid Item strike(s) within [1,6,12] month(s).

This requirement can help you avoid bidders and buyers with a history of not paying for the items they have agreed to purchase.
----------
Needless to say, I have my settings set to "2 strikes within 12 months". Now, I see you can accumulate 5 strikes! What does it take now to be thrown off?

There's also this one:

Buyers with policy violation reports
Block buyers who have [4,5,6,7] Policy violation report(s) within [1,6] month(s)

This requirement can help you block buyers who have been reported to have violated eBay policies.
-------------
I have this one set to 4 and 6.

And then there's this one, which they leave up just to make you angry:

Buyers with a negative feedback score
Block buyers who have a feedback score of -1 or lower.

The last one is a riot, what a kick in the face. I can't believe they still have that one up. New buyers will never know what a neg is. I just do not get it. I have never really made much money in the 2 years I have been selling on Ebay, but at least it use to be fun. I liked when something started out at $10 and got bid up to $35 or more. I love shipping all over the world and chatting with new people. Hey, I am a stay at home mom trying to bring in a couple extra bucks because my husband works hard so I can be here for our girls. Now it is just frustrating. I could and should quit being that I don't make much more than my fees, but I will hang on a while longer, maybe someone will see the error of their ways and things will change again. I sometimes feel bad complaining because I have the choice to quit, but many of the rules are just plain unfair and ridiculous. Trust me when I have an issue I dial up Ebay live help and let them know about it. Numerous times I have gotten this response "I hear this from a lot of other sellers" Many others are letting their voices be heard, something is sure to change. Hang in there.

quote:

"nothing special about this transaction" or "I do not have enough information to render an opinion"

Good grief, they must be the lamest reasons for getting a now damaging neutral I have had the misfortune to see

Can anyone better those

quote:

"I hear this from a lot of other sellers"

Unfortunately there are none so deaf as those who do not want to hear !

I seriously doubt that anyone manning a Live Help desk has the authority to make any changes to the rules at ebay.

In fact, from my dealings with Live Help, I seriously doubt that English is even their first language. I think they have a knowledgebase that they copy and paste their responses from, and it often has little or nothing to do with the questions asked.

quote:

Originally posted by rubberduckproductions:
I seriously doubt that anyone manning a Live Help desk has the authority to make any changes to the rules at ebay.

In fact, from my dealings with Live Help... I think they have a knowledgebase that they copy and paste their responses from, and it often has little or nothing to do with the questions asked.

Those are bots that are answering Live/Dead Help Questions.

I ALWAYS preface any contact with Live/Dead Help with: Let me have your supervisor.

And if it sounds like canned/copied pasted responses from the supervisor, I state let me have your supervisor.

Or if you have a store, you can call your store rep and hear a human voice.