Will another site come along and replace ebay?

[BassBomb]

too big to fall ?

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: bananapeel42
Honestly if you're in a major metropolitan area you can buy ANYTHING on craigslist. Granted not everyone is, but for those regions craigslist is better than ebay hands down with the only downside of getting shot in a local meeting

1. I don't want to drive and meet anyone off of craigslist
2. I don't want anyone off of craigslist coming to my place
3. I trust shipping/receiving anything from craigslist even less then ebay

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: Perry404

Originally posted by: JLee
I have hopes for Google..

:heart:
Google always saves the day.

Not when Google makes a fortune off Ebay links.

 

[God Mode]

Perhaps one of the chinese auction sites can break into the US market. American companies are milking their US customers way too much. I can easily imagine foreign companies salivating over the potential.

 

[Fritzo]

I doubt it. People go to Ebay to make money. Why would they sell an item on a lesser known auction site with less of a chance of selling for the target price?

Specialty auction sites may be better suited for certain items (collectables, insturments, etc), but replacing eBay is not likely.

 

[God Mode]

You start slow and spend on advertising (many chinese sector companies have more liquidity than american companies). I would bypass ebay if another company had 2 of my criterias. Decent userbase and cheaper fees. Its not as if ebay/paypal offers any special protection to sellers and buyers. In fact, I can recount seeing more instances of hatred and anger than praise.

 

[thomprecision]

I haven't sold a book on eBay in months...why is 4 stars not helpful?

I have noticed the fees raising slightly over time, which is a huge discouragement for me. I don't sell regularly, only to get rid of old books. Maybe that's why I haven't posted an item in a while. Now having read this thread, I'm thinking of exploring craigslist as an option too.

 

[Ramma2]

Originally posted by: thomprecision
I haven't sold a book on eBay in months...why is 4 stars not helpful?

"Changes to the DSR, dubbed "DSR 4.3" will require sellers to maintain a minimum 4.3 DSR rating across all four DSR categories, over the prior 30-day or 12-month period ? depending on volume ? to list on the site."

Basically eBay says to buyers "4 stars is good!"

From the DSR rating page, 4 stars equals:

Accurate Description
Satisfied with Communication
Item was shipped quickly
Shipping charges were reasonable

Those are all perfectly reasonable, good ratings for an Ebay transaction. But then eBay turns around and punishes sellers that have a less than 4.3 average. WTF mate?!

 

[HeXploiT]

Originally posted by: Ramma2

Originally posted by: thomprecision
I haven't sold a book on eBay in months...why is 4 stars not helpful?

"Changes to the DSR, dubbed "DSR 4.3" will require sellers to maintain a minimum 4.3 DSR rating across all four DSR categories, over the prior 30-day or 12-month period ? depending on volume ? to list on the site."

Basically eBay says to buyers "4 stars is good!"

From the DSR rating page, 4 stars equals:

Accurate Description
Satisfied with Communication
Item was shipped quickly
Shipping charges were reasonable

Those are all perfectly reasonable, good ratings for an Ebay transaction. But then eBay turns around and punishes sellers that have a less than 4.3 average. WTF mate?!

Yes there are four categories and you can leave five stars per category.
I think people naturally assume the following;
* Terrible
** Bad
*** Ok
**** Good
***** Great

So if someone leaves you four stars on all counts guess what?
Your DSR is 4.0 and can't sell!

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: bananapeel42
Honestly if you're in a major metropolitan area you can buy ANYTHING on craigslist. Granted not everyone is, but for those regions craigslist is better than ebay hands down with the only downside of getting shot in a local meeting

1. I don't want to drive and meet anyone off of craigslist
2. I don't want anyone off of craigslist coming to my place
3. I trust shipping/receiving anything from craigslist even less then ebay

I sold one item on craigslist. The buyer offered me less than my offered price (21" CRT), by a substantial amount but said he'd pick it up that day and having no other responses I agreed and it transpired according to plan. Never bought anything on craigslist, but have looked at a number of things. It never occurred to me that it was dangerous, but this has me thinking. I guess you have to have a good intuition or it's not for you. My intuition has served me well on ebay, I always seem to be right. I use ebay far less than I used to. So many times I can find what I want somewhere else where the uncertainty of ebay isn't a factor and the price is comparable or even better. Still there are times when ebay is the best source. I haven't done any ebay selling for a while. And I didn't even know about the change to n stars for feedback. Can anybody get into selling on Amazon? I have some DVDs to sell.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Perry404

Originally posted by: robphelan
ack. the posts above keep mentioning screwing over sellers.. but what about buyers? I don't even go there anymore b/c it seems anything I try to buy has exhorbitant shipping, or is near the retail cost of the item.

I still find computer hardware & software cheaper on ebay than anywhere.

Originally posted by: Slew Foot
If you have less then a 4.3 I think, ebay block your seller account.

Yup.

Originally posted by: Chryso
How does 4 stars prevent you from selling?

I have 53 feedbacks and one guy burned me and left me zero stars on all four counts. That one bogus feedback plus the consistent four stars I get because of my generally longer shipping times(I live in Alaska) is enough to knock my seller rating below what is needed to sell.
As a matter of fact I had just got it high enough to sell again and I sold a complete computer to a guy who was very happy with it and who left me positive feedback but he left me four stars instead of five(thinking that was good) and now I can't sell again.

WTF?

That's fucking stupid.

 

[Old Hippie]

Will another site come along and replace ebay

Probably not.

Ebay is just another place to shop before you buy and the more choices I have equals a better chance of buying exactly what I want at the best price.

I have over 200 Ebay purchases, have had problems three times, and they were quickly resolved by the sellers.

 

[Gulzakar]

I haven't used Ebay in a while.

When a product came to me that wasn't exactly the same quality as quoted (I bought a copied print of an old poster)...pixelated and poorly copied, I left negative feedback stating the item wasn't as described, and gave my reasoning (above). The seller then gave me negative feedback because I'm "an arrogant buyer, do let let him buy from you, does not know how ebay works".

I tried to contest it...I lost. Still confusing. Don't even get me started on the obscene shipping charges of a lot of these people.

Ebay can suck it.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

It's technology and EBay has destroyed a very simple business model which they built a moat around. The moat is gone and it is simple a matter of when, not if, EBay will be number 2 in the market.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Gulzakar
I haven't used Ebay in a while.

When a product came to me that wasn't exactly the same quality as quoted (I bought a copied print of an old poster)...pixelated and poorly copied, I left negative feedback stating the item wasn't as described, and gave my reasoning (above). The seller then gave me negative feedback because I'm "an arrogant buyer, do let let him buy from you, does not know how ebay works".

I tried to contest it...I lost. Still confusing. Don't even get me started on the obscene shipping charges of a lot of these people.

Ebay can suck it.

Yeah, sucks how a seller could dump on you when you leave them negative feedback. That happened to me. I bought some DVDs from a volume seller that were supposed to be mint or "New" and were neither. Some "new" were very used and a couple wouldn't play they were so scratched up. The seller hadn't answered my emails or calls. He gave me negative feedback on every transaction, even ones that I didn't leave negative for him. Then he negotiated with me to do a mutual cancellation of negative feedback. That left my score at 100% but didn't erase his very very nasty comments, things like SELLERS BEWARE!!! etc. I tried to get ebay to fix it but they couldn't care less. At that point I decided that "feedback" on ebay was a joke at best. I will sometimes look at a seller's feedback, in particular for the item I'm buying but base my assessment of the situation on my intuition, my gut reaction to the posting. I wouldn't buy DVDs from a volume seller again. They are apt to be from rental stores.

 

[Gulzakar]

I wish there was an ebay where we didn't have "buy it now", mass sellers (Azurik types), and the insane shipping charges.

 

[Zolty]

Originally posted by: Perry404

Originally posted by: Baked
Highly unlikely. Unless they come up w/ something that is better than PayPal in terms of ease of use.

Any site can use paypal. I could start an auction site today and let everyone use paypal.

The problem is ebay owns paypal so if you did this you would be funding your competition

 

[HeXploiT]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Gulzakar
I haven't used Ebay in a while.

When a product came to me that wasn't exactly the same quality as quoted (I bought a copied print of an old poster)...pixelated and poorly copied, I left negative feedback stating the item wasn't as described, and gave my reasoning (above). The seller then gave me negative feedback because I'm "an arrogant buyer, do let let him buy from you, does not know how ebay works".

I tried to contest it...I lost. Still confusing. Don't even get me started on the obscene shipping charges of a lot of these people.

Ebay can suck it.

Yeah, sucks how a seller could dump on you when you leave them negative feedback. That happened to me. I bought some DVDs from a volume seller that were supposed to be mint or "New" and were neither. Some "new" were very used and a couple wouldn't play they were so scratched up. The seller hadn't answered my emails or calls. He gave me negative feedback on every transaction, even ones that I didn't leave negative for him. Then he negotiated with me to do a mutual cancellation of negative feedback. That left my score at 100% but didn't erase his very very nasty comments, things like SELLERS BEWARE!!! etc. I tried to get ebay to fix it but they couldn't care less. At that point I decided that "feedback" on ebay was a joke at best. I will sometimes look at a seller's feedback, in particular for the item I'm buying but base my assessment of the situation on my intuition, my gut reaction to the posting. I wouldn't buy DVDs from a volume seller again. They are apt to be from rental stores.

Sellers can no longer leave negative feedback.

Originally posted by: Zolty

Originally posted by: Perry404

Originally posted by: Baked
Highly unlikely. Unless they come up w/ something that is better than PayPal in terms of ease of use.

Any site can use paypal. I could start an auction site today and let everyone use paypal.

The problem is ebay owns paypal so if you did this you would be funding your competition

First off it doesn't hurt the person who's paying at all.
Secondly...it doesn't matter...we're funding the competition already.

 

[Cattlegod]

a clone - not a chance. it is the chicken and egg problem. why would anyone sell on another site that has few buyers? additionally, why would anyone buy from a site that has few sellers and products?

value is created in the amount of people that use ebay, the more people that use ebay, the more valuable and harder to replicate it becomes.

now, the thing that would dethrone ebay would be a new innovative technology that makes internet auctions obsolete. for obvious reasons, no one knows what that is yet.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Originally posted by: Perry404
You know ebay still seems like a great place for buying but it's getting more and more difficult for sellers. I get people leaving me four stars all the time(thinking four stars is good) unaware that four stars will actually prevent me from selling.
If this is affecting me in such a way I can't imagine how it must be affecting the millions of "middle of the road" sellers who need a place to sell their product.
I know many have tried to compete with ebay in the past and have failed but it's looking to me now more and more like ebay has shot itself in the foot with this seller policy.

Anyone think ebay will pay for their mistakes and other auction sites will finally come forth?

I can't wait to see ebays next quarterly. No way it's going to resemble Amazons.

Hell perry, that is Ebay's fault, three stars should be the passing grade for sellers. I think it is just a scam to justify their over priced service charges by offering five star discount rates that no one ever earns.

 

[HeXploiT]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
a clone - not a chance. it is the chicken and egg problem. why would anyone sell on another site that has few buyers? additionally, why would anyone buy from a site that has few sellers and products?

value is created in the amount of people that use ebay, the more people that use ebay, the more valuable and harder to replicate it becomes.

now, the thing that would dethrone ebay would be a new innovative technology that makes internet auctions obsolete. for obvious reasons, no one knows what that is yet.

Well that's rather the point isn't it? Ebay is forcing off tens of thousands of sellers. You believe they're simply going to quit selling? No. They'll find a new place to sell. But where?