Could This Be The Death of Ebay?

Posted on June 13, 2008
Filed Under Advertising & Marketing, Ebooks, Software, Third Party Merchant Accounts

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Oh boy has the rules changed on eBay over the past few months or so we have seen change in management and many unfavorable changes in fee structure and payments policies.

Digital Products on eBay

For instance no more digital products can be sold on auction listing. You can get around this by offering your products on CD as long as you can burn them onto CD and ship them to your customer. This has some advantages because you are less likely to receive refund requests that was a known problems with the sale of downloadable goods. People would order then request a refund once they downloaded your ebooks and software.

The downside is you need to add several products to give value to the CD product and have to charge for shipping costs and spend some time packing the goods for posting.

Before selling digital goods was a simple process. Just set up the auction and send the download link via email after receving confirmation of payment.

Now the only place you can sell digital products is via eBay Classifieds. It costs just under $10 for a month so it is inexpensive to use.

Another change I recently saw is that ‘Buyer’ can no longer receive negative feedback from Sellers!

As quoted when I logged into my eBay account I read the pop up notice:

“Important changes to Feedback

Buyers, you can no longer receive negative or neutral Feedback from sellers.

You should leave honest and accurate Feedback without the fear of negative or neutral ratings.”

Sellers must be fuming. The logic behind this new policy change is to allow the Buyer to express their experience with eBay Sellers without the fear of bad feedback from the Seller. The question is will this new move work in favor of the Buyer or create tension?

Credit Card Payments

There is also discussion that eBay want to make everyone use just PayPal as the only payment processor. Other payment processors like Google Checkout are not permitted to be used for payment choices.

Considering some people do not have a PayPal account either because they have no intention of signing up or have to bear several issues preventing them from withdrawing money from their account depending on their country of residence.

This would definitely alienate a large sector of people. The only options available to them would be mailed checks or bank wires which incur extra bank charges to process.

What is the point of all of these radical proposals?

I’m glad I’m just a buyer and not a seller because this would give me major headaches even though I can readily accept and use PayPal.

A better way to attract more people to using PayPal is to allow for special promotions like discount vouches for shoppers paying via PayPal. Everyone loves to snap up a bargain when available and what better way to encourage regular spending sprees knowing that you’ll get a reduction at the checkout and save even more money!

The fee structure has gone up too much in my opinion. There was no prior concern for losing revenue publicly so why they decided to raise the fee schedule is beyond me.

eBay have been on occassion waived the “insertion fees” or “free gallery picture” on selected days . However you are only given a few days notice to take advantage of these offers so you have to be a regular seller or set up an auction swiftly to take advantage of the offer.

Shipping Charges

I have noticed the steady rise in Sellers jacking up the shipping costs mainly because postal rate are going up ridiculous levels and of course Sellers do not pay fees on shipping.

For instance an item I was interested in was priced at £1.99 Buy It Now but the shipping was £10.99.

How crazy can you get?

It’s bad enough that shipping costs in the UK are rising so much that I just wouldn’t bother to purchase items if the postage cost are unreasonably high. I’d rather take a trip to the high street to get the item myself.

Lots of loopholes to the advantage of the seller. Consider this if there was a problem with your order would you be satisfied with a £1.99 refund when you’ve paid five times as much in shipping costs?

Seller Tips

eBay is looking less attractive than in earlier years. I would definitely look to other online auction sites and most importantly of all get your eBay customers to shop direct from your own website where you can save on fees and have more control over how you conduct your business and follow up with customers.

Don’t get me wrong I love shopping on eBay as it has saved me a personal fortune on the latest game consoles and accessories for my two growing boys.

I must admit I have a recent sway towards Power Sellers because they give me a sense that they have done business for a substantial time and I should have a hassle free shopping experience and the best customer care. Especially if I’m going to purchase more expensive items. Many high street retailers have eBay shops so they can reach the online shopper too and often provide better deals than they could in their brick and mortar business.

With all that said eBay is the most well known of all online auction sites so naturally people go there to find a bargain or popular items that are out of stock in the local high street. So I’m not suggesting that sales will plummet in fact business appears to be booming according to Alexa traffic stats show a slight fluctuation in traffic but it is still very highly visited sites on the Internet. I still shop at eBay but I do get put off when I come across inflated shipping charges and tend to stay away from sellers who don’t have a near perfect feedback rating. The closer to 100% rating the more likely I am to buy from them.

If you’re a seller how do you feel about the changes?

Recommended Reading:

eBay To Migrate Away From Commission Junction

Are You Using Ebay’s Classified Ads Site?

How To Make A Living From Online Auctions and Ebay From The Experts