Comments on: eBay surfers get an Amazon splash

Makeover for auctioneer eBay bears more than a passing resemblance to features of the Internet's biggest retailer.
Images: eBay tries out new features

[westrajc]

eBay's Touchy Feely Recipe For Failure

eBay got it's start catering to the online fleamarket refugees who dialed in from their trailers for profit and a new social experience. The "touchy feely" Politically Correct mentality, coupled with their arrogance is what's responsible for their archaic UI and ongoing slike into irrelevance.

Want to sell gun parts on eBay? Sorry, momma Left Coast won't let you. Have a negative experience with fraud and can't get anything but a canned form letter answer from eBay's "support" group? Sorry, you can't talk about that in the discussion forums without being sanctioned/suspended.

eBay was a great idea. Many of us pray to god every night that someone like Best Buy, Sears, Google or even Amway comes up with a PC Free and cost-effective alternative that we can switch to.

Although we have bought and sold on eBay since 1998, I would love to see eBay completely self destruct and Meg Whitman wind up in a bread line! I sincerely hope Amazon continues to kick eBay's ASS!

[kieranmullen]

Amazon and Yahoo

Both really have failed at the attempts at online payments and auctions.

[kieranmullen]

Ebay: Why not raise fees... again!

Ebay customers have seen little value added for the constant increase in fees. Customers are looking elsewhere to sell. Many items on ebay are new items. These can usually be found elsewhere on the internet cheaper than ebay.

KieranMullen
http://360oregon.com

[gmasters]

wonder why? eBay prices are no longer best

I used to use eBay a lot- in the early days it was largley a P2P buy/sell and someone whom needed to get rid of something would give it up for less than what a google search or shop-bot would uncover- for that you had to risk the occassional fruad or 14 year old trying for easy money, but was usually worth it.

Then, the surplus discounters moved in and there were lost of new/wholesale deals, some where good deals, some just wanted outrageous shipping charges or sent 'badly used refurb' with bad return policies. Still found worthwhile stuff.

Now, while you can still find above deals, it seems many or most items are (after shipping) ABOVE Amazon, google search or shop bot pricing, and it is mostly not worth the eBay risk of fraud, bad return policy and other unknowns to buy off eBay. In the past, sometimes a 'real godd deal' was a bit to good to believe but actually worked out or was mildly dissapointing (but still a decent deal), now any 'great deal' seems be too be a cons where they want you to pay by western union and john smith seller is someone in translvania, or the click reveals it is selling "info" on how to get something cheap- right...

Oh, and don't you love the eMail push from eBay- while others can say- come buy this special widget for x dollars and get free shipping, theres are a waste of time basically leading you to browse for one of the above auctions or -buy-it-now that has double/triple the shipping charges of an eTailer.

Bottom Line is that while I occassionally still do some eBay buying, it usually seems better and safer to go to an established 'eTailer' or CraigsList (only sometimes is that Amazon, there are plenty of other ones). (sorry eBay- thanks for starting something but bye, bye unless some of these changes can snag me back for good reason and not just to browse for more of above)

[lingsun]

I sell more stuff on Amazon now.

eBay's fees are too high. I get more money after fees selling my stuff on Amazon. I buy a lot of stuff on eBay but I don't sell there like I used to.

[lingsun]

This is a classic case of a company without serious competition.

eBay has no serious competition. They've been abe to maximize their income based on charging as much as the market will bear, instead of having to compete with anybody.

[cpushrink1]

eBay's real problem

eBay believes that it understands the real problem behind its decline in market shares, listings, and sales. However, this may not be the case in truth. eBay is addressing many problems that they feel lend support to scams. Unfortunately, they may be addressing symptoms and not actually addressing the problem. Today there are more scammers then ever on eBay. Why is this? eBay, states that they have taken steps to address these problems.

eBay feels by watching the sellers and blocking specific users that are selling items of suspicious origin that they are blocking scam artists. The reality, the way eBay is going about this is wrong. They have managed to block a large portion of legitimate sellers. In doing this eBay has only managed to block a small number or scammers for a little while.

The real issue here is that the scammers always find a new way on to the eBay site. Meanwhile, the legitimate sellers are left in the cold. Legitimate sellers try to follow the letters of eBay law. Sometimes, inadvertently, the seller violate encumber some bindings that eBay has set in place. Without notice, these sellers are blocked; they are not informed of what the specific violation was. In addition, they are not warned about the issue and given a chance to correct it. All said the legitimate sellers are lost, many of them power sellers. The scammers remain on eBay. A larger problem has now replaced the original problem.

Remedy - A good remedy for the problem would be to have suspicious listings removed. The seller would then be notified and given the opportunity to fix it or delete the listing. Next, increase the registration and verification process and tighten the security measures in which people gain access to the accounts. eBay should screen their employees and leaks have been rumored to be initiated from in house on passwords for unused old accounts.

Of course addressing sellers fee on eBay seems to be a trite point. This is the second largest contributor of sellers moving to other sites. eBay continues to push sellers fees, and extra options to a point that margins are slim to none. This would deter any smart business person from selling on a site were there is no realized profit.

Analysis - eBay, needs to find the real issues and address the problem, not the symptoms. eBay, needs to lower fees back to a manageable level; where sellers will sell twice as much and eBay will make much larger profits from gross volume sales and not net income sales. This is a business and eBay should treat it like one. The golden rule applies; do not alienate your customers. eBay seems to be biting the hands that feeds, while allowing the scammers to run free.