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HOW would YOU improve Ebay?


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#1 plasticfiend

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Posted 10 October 2016 - 04:52 PM

I was thinking about this the other day - and I know that we all like to fuss about Ebay on occasion.  So I thought it might be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on what you would like to see EBay do to improve it's marketplace.  

 

I'll go first:

 

Over the last couple of years, they have continued tinkering with their rewards system (Ebay Bucks), and I feel that it is becoming less and less significant.  There are things that I buy on Ebay that I do so specifically because of what was once a nice kickback and rewards system.  Further more, the fact that those "rewards" become Ebay Bucks - keeps me coming back as I don't want my rewards to go to waste!!  So when push comes to shove - I will find something to buy if for no other reason than to not waste my Ebay bucks lol...

 

What about you guys?  What would you like to see them improve?

 

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#2 OneTallPonderosa

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Posted 10 October 2016 - 06:38 PM

I have been on eBay over a decade and I use it ALOT.  Probably 1500-2000 transactions in the past two years alone. I have hung on through all the good and bad changes. Here are a very few of my eBay desires:

 

As a seller:

 

1) Ebay now charges the final value fee on the complete price including shipping.  This is because people were dodging fees selling an expensive item for 0.99 with $75 shipping charge to avoid the fee.  Still, its a ridiculous way to implement the fee. I have to collect MORE than the actual shipping cost just to break even on shipping, and then customers complain I overcharge on shipping.

 

2) More tightly regulate the leaving of negative feedback to sellers.  If the item has numerous high quality close up photos, the item is clearly and 100% accurately described, and the buyer is angry because they did not read a single word or look over the pictures and wants a refund WITHOUT returning the item................and gives the seller a negative feedback? Seriously messed up.  Negative feedback should be reserved for deserving situations and not to hold sellers hostage with no repercussions on buyers.

 

As a buyer:

 

1) SHUTDOWN the fake Chinese Lego market. Try looking for any new Lego stuff on eBay and you will have to wade through pages and pages of ripoff, knockoff, forgery Chinese crap. Very little of which is listed honestly or worded clearly. Always listed in the Lego brand category even though they are not.  And in complete violation of American copyright laws.  But eBay has never made any sort of effort to do anything about it.  And I know there are many many vocal members of the AFOL community who have complained.

 

I have more, but this is all my tired brain can handle tonight!


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#3 plasticfiend

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Posted 10 October 2016 - 07:56 PM

I have been on eBay over a decade and I use it ALOT.  Probably 1500-2000 transactions in the past two years alone. I have hung on through all the good and bad changes. Here are a very few of my eBay desires:

 

As a seller:

 

1) Ebay now charges the final value fee on the complete price including shipping.  This is because people were dodging fees selling an expensive item for 0.99 with $75 shipping charge to avoid the fee.  Still, its a ridiculous way to implement the fee. I have to collect MORE than the actual shipping cost just to break even on shipping, and then customers complain I overcharge on shipping.

 

2) More tightly regulate the leaving of negative feedback to sellers.  If the item has numerous high quality close up photos, the item is clearly and 100% accurately described, and the buyer is angry because they did not read a single word or look over the pictures and wants a refund WITHOUT returning the item................and gives the seller a negative feedback? Seriously messed up.  Negative feedback should be reserved for deserving situations and not to hold sellers hostage with no repercussions on buyers.

 

 

 

1) This is annoying.  I can only hypothesize that they think they can justify it by the offering of a shipping "discount" if you use their in house postage system (assuming you have a good rating).  Personally I don't feel the discount is enough, and I feel your pain.  Something similarly along these lines that I don't care for is the 30 cent transaction fee that paypal charges when you do a transaction, and that's in addition to the percentage fee too.  If you deal in smaller transactions on Ebay, this extra 30 cents can add up.

 

2) Yeah - they have moved so far to the right of trying to protect buyers that the sellers have little rights anymore.  

 

PF


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#4 OneTallPonderosa

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Posted 10 October 2016 - 08:53 PM

100% agreed.  The 30 cents on Paypal kills any idea of selling cheap items. And eBay has definitely swung FAR in the direction of protecting buyers.  I both buy and sell extensively, so I am not just a seller complaining.  The protections are certainly not equally weighted anymore.


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#5 Draznar

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 02:43 AM

I hate the global shipping program. I don't know how good it is for you folks in the states, but for pretty much every other person in the world it is straight up awful.

I'm not at all a fan of the import charges they've incorporated into their system. A couple of years ago I found an awesome lot of stuff I wanted, but the import charges, (Which the value of seems to be totally arbitrary), nearly doubled the overall cost.

 

I agree that the bootLEGO market is absolutely wild, but bricklink is a significantly better website to find what you're looking for. (Unless you're looking for big lots.)


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#6 mikefromottawa

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 05:00 AM

I hate the global shipping program. I don't know how good it is for you folks in the states, but for pretty much every other person in the world it is straight up awful.

I'm not at all a fan of the import charges they've incorporated into their system. A couple of years ago I found an awesome lot of stuff I wanted, but the import charges, (Which the value of seems to be totally arbitrary), nearly doubled the overall cost.

 

I agree that the bootLEGO market is absolutely wild, but bricklink is a significantly better website to find what you're looking for. (Unless you're looking for big lots.)

 

 

Couldn't agree more for international shipping and import charges. I have bought and sold thousands of dollars worth of stuff over the past two years from Facebook Groups and LRG and have had ZERO problems.

 

We are doing a Lego Show next month and I have had a tonne of fake Lego sellers ask to participate. I can't believe how freely that stuff is sold everywhere.


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#7 Screamer

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 05:39 AM

You guys nailed a lot of them for me. I both buy and sell on eBay as well, to the point that it is self sustaining. All of my PayPal money comes from eBay sales and it remains there for my purchasing. I certainly do more transactions as a seller but it is 50/50 on sheer dollar value. I do a lot of $10-20 sales and then mostly $20-50 purchases.

Sadly the rewards program is 100% irrelevant to me these days. Ever since they changed it, what a year or two ago, I have received zero kickback. I have come close to that $5 a few times but haven't got there. That kind of irks me considering how much money they make off me. Seriously, every dollar I make in sales gets put right back into ebay. So they tax the crap out of me for selling and then tax the next person who I'm buying from. It is eerily similar to taxes.

First my paycheck gets taxed. Second, what remains, I use to purchase something which is then taxed. That item may eventually get donated to a thrift store and the person that buys it is then taxed (which they purchase with their previously taxed income). If they then later decide to donate said item, that next person buying it is then taxed. One specific item and the money used to purchase it may get taxed 4, 5, 6 times or more. I realize these are different forms of taxation but I just find it crazy how many times one item may get taxed. It's similar to a PayPal dollar. How many times does it get taxed? Damn, now I'm complaining about taxes.

I honestly think the absolute worst thing about eBay is how little sellers are protected from people and their lackadaisical purchasing habits which turns into fallacious claims and unjust feedback. People just don't read anymore. It doesn't matter what you do or how much you stress the importance of reading the description. I have put "PLEASE READ" in the title, in the first sentence, bold and/or italicized, it just isn't enough.

The shipping bugs the heck out of me now too. You use to be able to "save" 50-70 cents on 3-5 ounce packages but now you "save" 2-15 cents. Between eBay and PayPal they take roughly 12-15% so that means every 3 ounce package that costs $2.60 I'm losing/paying $0.40. Considering 95% of my sales are first class (13 ounces or less) and 60-70% are 3 ounces that $0.40 adds up quick. And that doesn't include the hit I take on the smaller ziplok bags I put the little items in, the extra bubble wrap, the bubble mailer, paper, tape, ink. Before the 50-70 cents "saved" at least helped pay for the ebay and PayPal fees and slightly offset the other expenditures, albeit certainly not cover them. So as was mentioned the only other alternative is to declare the package weighs 8 ounces in the listing.

Doing this has two potentially negative outcomes though. Either it turns a customer off altogether or they receive a clearly marked 3 ounce package they were charged 8 ounces for. The customer then wonders and complains why they were overcharged on shipping, and honestly, rightly so. I don't want to be overcharged on shipping so why should I overcharge my customers? At the end of the day I choose to take the hit a majority of the time.

What eBay needs to do is what they were doing before. THEY should be overcharging and setting the price of shipping higher on first class packages so they can give the seller a better "savings". These "savings" are really just a small portion of the ebay and Paypals fees they take from you anyway.

Edited by Screamer, 11 October 2016 - 05:47 AM.

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#8 BadLarry

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 06:30 AM

As a seller, I think the inability to leave anything other than positive feedback for buyers is absurd.

As a buyer who has had to open cases under the alleged "Buyer Protection" heading, I find that system to be sorely lacking. Once I bought a classic space Lego set that was supposed to be complete but was missing the most valuable pieces. I could only return the whole set and since I still wanted the rest of the parts I had to just swallow the deliberate shortage. And since I had opened a case, I was disallowed from leaving negative feedback.

Another time I bought a lot of MUSCLE that had a couple figures I wanted. It showed up and only had half the figures that were pictured. The seller claimed it was a "random selection" of what was pictured - something that wasn't clearly disclosed in the auction. I got one of the figures I wanted and it was still kind of a good deal so I kept the lot, but the seller got away with not sending me what was pictured.

Another thing that drives me bonkers as a buyer is when a seller marks an item as shipped because they printed a label, but the item then sits in their living room for three days before it actually gets to the post office. I may be too OCD for my own good, but I don't think you should be able to claim something is "shipped" until it is legitimately on the road.

Thank you
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#9 plasticfiend

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 07:43 AM

Another thing that drives me bonkers as a buyer is when a seller marks an item as shipped because they printed a label, but the item then sits in their living room for three days before it actually gets to the post office. I may be too OCD for my own good, but I don't think you should be able to claim something is "shipped" until it is legitimately on the road.

Thank you

 

 

 

All good points!! Ebay's treatment of sellers seems like a common complaint.

 

One thing to note on the "marked as shipped" thing.  Ebay automatically marks it as shipped once the label is printed out.  Which is on them in my opinion.  You are absolutely correct that a seller could manually mark something shipped before it has been, but it's always annoyed me that it gets marked shipped just as soon as I print out the label.  Sometimes I might be printing everything up and getting the package ready to go, but I don't get to the post office for another day or so... and I can totally see how my buyer might feel mislead if the item says shipped when it's not!

 

PF


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#10 Strontium Dog

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 08:35 AM

I would make it so you could see bidder names again.


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#11 plasticfiend

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 08:58 AM

I would make it so you could see bidder names again.

 

I totally forgot about that! 

 

PF


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#12 Flashbax

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 02:00 PM

After 16ish years of selling on eBay I'd say I would want to see equality brought back for both sellers and buyers. Right now, at least one time a month I have someone try to scam me and at least 1/3 of those works. eBay just side with the seller most of the time and it's maddening.


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#13 OneTallPonderosa

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Posted 11 October 2016 - 06:19 PM

After 16ish years of selling on eBay I'd say I would want to see equality brought back for both sellers and buyers. Right now, at least one time a month I have someone try to scam me and at least 1/3 of those works. eBay just side with the seller most of the time and it's maddening.

 

Do you mean side with the buyer? 

 

Nowadays eBay is heavily biased towards the buyer IMO.  I actually have had two people claim non-delivery of an item even though the USPS tracking number showed delivery, and eBay let them go through.I had a hassle of a time on the phone with customer service to get them to reverse these cases, even though the packages were clearly delivered.

 

And fraudulent negative feedbacks in an attempt to get full refunds and keep the item.  And eBay refuses to do anything. I am not sure I can think of a single way the current rules are in favor of a seller.

 

 

I would make it so you could see bidder names again.

 

Ha, yes.  I remember those good old days. 


Edited by OneTallPonderosa, 11 October 2016 - 06:20 PM.

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I am always looking for more Robin Mask #214, Sunshine, Announcer, Claw, and Parthenon - MUSCLE or KESHI of any type!

 

 

LETS MAKE A DEAL! :ph34r:


#14 WendyW

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Posted 22 October 2016 - 04:23 PM

1) Stop automatically picking a category when I search for things. If I wanted to search just one category I'd pick one. All the best bargains are usually listed in the wrong place anyway. If I'm searching for multiple things and it keeps doing that it just makes me want to take my laptop, find the person resonsible for that at Ebay and throw it at their head.

 

2) Find a way to deal with sellers who habitually end auctions during the last few hours because the item suddenly isn't available or was listed wrong or they dropped it and it on the floor and it broke (seriously) and honestly not that they listed it at a low price in the hope it would go high and have decided to pull it before it finishes for less than they're actually willing to accept. Honest.


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#15 plasticfiend

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Posted 23 October 2016 - 12:50 PM

Haha - I started this thread and forgot all about it...


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