Leave eBay? Any suggestions WHERE you get the same publicity, same sell-through rate, less fees, more support???
I tried Sell.com. Even though I'm a PowerSeller on eBay, I'm a newbie on Sell.com. It's been 2 months and the 3 items I listed (under $150 each) haven't so much as had a question!
I don't know if you guys know about Craigslist.com. It's a selling platform that has absolutely no fees. Local buyers.
I've had limited success selling on Craigslist. Either the buyer is a scammer. Or the buyer asks a bunch of questions and doesn't want to see the item. Or the buyer wants to see the item then doesn't show up. Or the buyer wants to see the item but doesn't want to pay for the item. Every once in a while, they surprise me and just BUY IT - no hassles, cash up front, all smiles.
Any suggestions where everyone's getting better results than eBay?
www.superspecialsparkles.com
REPEAT OF MY RECENT POSTING ON THE POWER SELLER FORUM:
I do hear what you say - and yes, I too felt that "perhaps" this would be good for sellers overall--- afterall, I have seen at least one self important seller blog that anyone that did not instantly give a buyer positive feedback just as soon as they paid for the item was somehow dishonest--- that those sellers were actually holding buyers feed back for ransom and that the high feedback ratings across eBay were bogus--- and apparently there was a lot of concern over this.... I do not mind not being able to neg a customer - I can still withold feedback and I can still make comments.
What bujo66 said above is incorrect also... buyers can NOT get away with not paying - we STILL have the NPB tool and buyers do get restricted when they don't pay...... they still must complete the contract. Ebay must be sure that buyers that do not pay and have an NPB on an item CAN NOT leave feedback - that would be essential for the system to work.
What irks me about the new system is not the above--- it is the ridiculous numbers you have to have to get 5% or 15% discount on the way out of line selling fees... with NEUTRALS being counted as NEGS...(could be hard to maintain PS status) and needing 4.8 out 0f 5 across the board to get your discount - eBay is effectively throwing the screws at us sellers --- I thought that having 4.9, 4.8, 4.7, 4.8 was a great accomplishment - in ANY other mdia or venue, such a score would be considered GOLD - but not with eBAY --- I have ONE score under 4.8 and I am SCREWED... did you get the feeling that eBAY wants to get sellers to stop charging shipping fees because THEY cant get FV fees on shipping..... The whole thing need to be re structered so as to be a lot more fair to sellers - specifically on the issue of fees and discounts... by the way, I do appreciate not haveing to pay for gallery and the lower listing fees... just dont like being raped on the back end!
If you think you can justify the new fee/discount structure - go ahead and try... we are all listening.
I do hear what you say - and yes, I too felt that "perhaps" this would be good for sellers overall--- afterall, I have seen at least one self important seller blog that anyone that did not instantly give a buyer positive feedback just as soon as they paid for the item was somehow dishonest--- that those sellers were actually holding buyers feed back for ransom and that the high feedback ratings across eBay were bogus--- and apparently there was a lot of concern over this.... I do not mind not being able to neg a customer - I can still withold feedback and I can still make comments.
What bujo66 said above is incorrect also... buyers can NOT get away with not paying - we STILL have the NPB tool and buyers do get restricted when they don't pay...... they still must complete the contract. Ebay must be sure that buyers that do not pay and have an NPB on an item CAN NOT leave feedback - that would be essential for the system to work.
What irks me about the new system is not the above--- it is the ridiculous numbers you have to have to get 5% or 15% discount on the way out of line selling fees... with NEUTRALS being counted as NEGS...(could be hard to maintain PS status) and needing 4.8 out 0f 5 across the board to get your discount - eBay is effectively throwing the screws at us sellers --- I thought that having 4.9, 4.8, 4.7, 4.8 was a great accomplishment - in ANY other mdia or venue, such a score would be considered GOLD - but not with eBAY --- I have ONE score under 4.8 and I am SCREWED... did you get the feeling that eBAY wants to get sellers to stop charging shipping fees because THEY cant get FV fees on shipping..... The whole thing need to be re structered so as to be a lot more fair to sellers - specifically on the issue of fees and discounts... by the way, I do appreciate not haveing to pay for gallery and the lower listing fees... just dont like being raped on the back end!
If you think you can justify the new fee/discount structure - go ahead and try... we are all listening.
If eBay had their own feedback rating you would think it would be at about 1% based on all the unhappy sellers and bad experiences. So what perplexes me is why so many people (especially PowerSellers) continue to sell on eBay if their experience is so bad. The other thing that really is hard to understand is how anyone can actually make a decent hourly wage selling on eBay. I am talking about all the sellers selling one of a kind type merchandise. There is no way to prove this but as hard as full-time eBay seller's work, I would think with that kind of outstanding work ethic, they could make a lot more money working fewer hours by doing something else (almost anything else). 
quote:buyers can NOT get away with not paying - we STILL have the NPB tool and buyers do get restricted when they don't pay...... they still must complete the contract.
Of course they can (get away with not paying) what's a little restriction for a while, assuming they even care, you could only force someone to pay by personally taking them to court and suing them.
There is no stringent enforcement by eBay or PayPal beyond petty wrist slapping !!
Greedbay is now heavily loaded in favour of the buyer and your feedback rating will probably depend as much on the products you sell and the age group of your customers than anything else.
I have generally sold to older collecters and had few problems, with younger buyers highly variable from the polite to the obnoxious the latter, are those who think they have a right to play with auctions without any intent to pay and are stroppy to requests for payment.
Now we have no defence against them.
I guess you are right - it must depend on what you sell and who your customers are -- My NPB is less than 1% -- I might get a NPB once everyt two or three months... And when thay don't pay, I just relist the item---- TRY that kind of ratio in a bricks and mortar store---
That all depends on how 'automated' the seller is and how "one of a kind" all of their items are --- I have quite a few items that are not one of a kind and those are easy to list through an automated inventory control program... it is the one of a kind that I need to list that is very time consuming. If all I had was one of a kind, I would rathr wokr as a buss boy or something. --- as to why we are all STILL here. global exposure and reasonably good sell through rate is great - best there is. I sell stuff to Australia, France Singapore.... WHILE I sleep - 24/7 can't do that in bricks and mortar - and my margin, while eBay does indeed seem to take more and more of it, is FAR FAR FAR BETTER than if I had a bricks and mortar. Retail margen is around 5%.... what do they call it, "Black Friday"... the day after Thanksgiving, when the average retail store gets in the black.... I am in the "black" all year.
My gripe with eBAy and what I hope they will adjust is to balance this fee/discount thing out and be a little more realistic with this "nuetral counts as a NEG" stuff, and the 5 star rating system.... they need to refine it so that when BOZO's hit you wiht wrongful feedback or nasty ratings, it does not put your profits in a tail spin for the month - or longer. - As I said, I do like the aspect of not paying gallery fees and lower listing fees - that was an improvement, the counter balnace was way to high FV fees... and this messed up discount structure which appear to be designed to no let sellers have a discount. (an now they are talking about 20% if your ratings are 4.9.
Ebay... my sugestion is to provide a sliding scale not 5% 15% and now 20%, but a 55 through 25% --- perhaps start the discount at a much more realist "GOOD" number --- if you have color in any part of 5 stars it means that some buyers are giving 5 stars and think your service is top - 5 stars SHOULD mmean something, IE: 4.1 or better you should get a discount.... How about 4.1 = 5%; 4.3 = 7%; 4.5 = 10%; 4.7 = 15%; 4.9 = 20% --- and perfect 5.0 = 25%
I know eBay is not listening and will never do this, but it is what I think they should do if they don't want to destroy their seller base all together.
My gripe with eBAy and what I hope they will adjust is to balance this fee/discount thing out and be a little more realistic with this "nuetral counts as a NEG" stuff, and the 5 star rating system.... they need to refine it so that when BOZO's hit you wiht wrongful feedback or nasty ratings, it does not put your profits in a tail spin for the month - or longer. - As I said, I do like the aspect of not paying gallery fees and lower listing fees - that was an improvement, the counter balnace was way to high FV fees... and this messed up discount structure which appear to be designed to no let sellers have a discount. (an now they are talking about 20% if your ratings are 4.9.
Ebay... my sugestion is to provide a sliding scale not 5% 15% and now 20%, but a 55 through 25% --- perhaps start the discount at a much more realist "GOOD" number --- if you have color in any part of 5 stars it means that some buyers are giving 5 stars and think your service is top - 5 stars SHOULD mmean something, IE: 4.1 or better you should get a discount.... How about 4.1 = 5%; 4.3 = 7%; 4.5 = 10%; 4.7 = 15%; 4.9 = 20% --- and perfect 5.0 = 25%
I know eBay is not listening and will never do this, but it is what I think they should do if they don't want to destroy their seller base all together.
There is a forum I found on the internet that is free, and helps with Ebay, PayPal, business and the law. Just post any question, the experts will answer it if it has not already been answered!
The forum has a lot of expert advice on it. http://www.modeeworld.com/forums I found advice there about how to avoid EBAY suspensions, get past PayPal limitations, also lots of detailed help on creating your own business, getting past trademark violations, VERO and lots more. Plus general advice on how best to sell on EBAY, what sells the best, how to get the best price for your product, really everything related to EBAY and internet business.
Also advice about how EBAY really works and how PayPal really works. The inside scoop.
Beautiful forum. I was made a moderator of the forum and I love it!
The forum has a lot of expert advice on it. http://www.modeeworld.com/forums I found advice there about how to avoid EBAY suspensions, get past PayPal limitations, also lots of detailed help on creating your own business, getting past trademark violations, VERO and lots more. Plus general advice on how best to sell on EBAY, what sells the best, how to get the best price for your product, really everything related to EBAY and internet business.
Also advice about how EBAY really works and how PayPal really works. The inside scoop.
Beautiful forum. I was made a moderator of the forum and I love it!