Is Ebay slowly falling

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O.G.
Jan 16, 2011
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#1
I don't know if anyone noticed Ebay's Q4 and year end results announced recently, but they did worse in 2015 than they did in 2014, just as predicted by many analysts.

I feel like this is largely in part due to the fact that 1) people who are selling things en masse (both used and new) prefer selling on Amazon, where they can rent space in their warehouses and not bother with shipping and where customers prefer to buy those things sold en masse, and 2) people who are selling things individually are being hit with business level fee hikes while getting supremely sub-par customer service and seller support. P2P sellers with unique products (meaning not en masse) are finding apps like OfferUp to be much easier and hassle-free, while B2C sellers selling unique products aren't getting good seller support.

I'm sure it doesn't make it any better that sites like Tradesy are popping up providing more benefits for sellers.

BB: Fascinating point you made earlier about how you've never seen a Japanese seller get NARU'ed and it's hard to get their listings removed. No wonder they are being nice to Japanese sellers! I think for Chanel bags alone out of like 24k total, like 19k are from Japan. Insane.

Where is the U.S. pre-owned market headed? What does everyone think? Is Ebay falling?
 
#3
Love a preowned bargain and willing to research to avoid fakes but I've been driven away from eBay by the awful mobile app. Last two bags were bought on a Facebook group and I was very happy with the transaction.
 
#7
acrowcounted said:
I hope so but eBay is so big and rich that I'm scared they will create their own replacement, like they tried to do with Close5.
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BeenBurned said:
I didn't know that was an Ebay spinoff.
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acrowcounted said:
I looked it up because they were advertising so often that I figured someone in their ownership had to have very deep pockets. Turns out, it was ebays attempt to mimic craigslist.
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That's interesting because ebay used to have a part ownership in Craigslist.
EBay buys 25% stake in Craigslist / Ex-employee sells equity
 
#8
I have only bought a handful of items on EBay and after reading about countless awful situations here, I will never sell anything on this site. EBay and PP are charging way too much in fees and the transaction is not safe for the seller. How much longer can Ebay go on with so many unhappy sellers? All these other sites with third party middlemen at least prevent scammers from not sending items etc.
 
#9
gail13 said:
I have only bought a handful of items on EBay and after reading about countless awful situations here, I will never sell anything on this site. EBay and PP are charging way too much in fees and the transaction is not safe for the seller. How much longer can Ebay go on with so many unhappy sellers? All these other sites with third party middlemen at least prevent scammers from not sending items etc.
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To be fair, we need to keep in mind that massives numbers of people have wonderful transactions day after day, week after week.

We don't post about the smooth transactions; it's the problems that we hear about.
 
#10
BeenBurned said:
To be fair, we need to keep in mind that massives numbers of people have wonderful transactions day after day, week after week.

We don't post about the smooth transactions; it's the problems that we hear about.
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At the risk of jinxing myself, I agree with BeenBurned. Most of my eBay transactions go very smoothly and almost all of my sales are high $ items. The cases I had where I had a "bad buyer" were dealt with sucessfully because I handled them using the advice found outlined here.
 
#11
BeenBurned said:
To be fair, we need to keep in mind that massives numbers of people have wonderful transactions day after day, week after week.

We don't post about the smooth transactions; it's the problems that we hear about.
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That may be true, but as a new seller, I feel there is an overwhelming amount of do's and don't to safe selling and buying on this site. I read these threads to educate myself, and even so, feel it's easy to make a mis-step, making a transaction ineligible for a refund etc. The many comments about Paypal etc not giving correct advice is disheartening at least.

Thankfully a handful of posters like you are very well informed to help. I feel the amount of fakes being listed on this site is of huge concern and a big liability for them.
 
#12
gail13 said:
That may be true, but as a new seller, I feel there is an overwhelming amount of do's and don't to safe selling and buying on this site. I read these threads to educate myself, and even so, feel it's easy to make a mis-step, making a transaction ineligible for a refund etc. The many comments about Paypal etc not giving correct advice is disheartening at least.

Thankfully a handful of posters like you are very well informed to help. I feel the amount of fakes being listed on this site is of huge concern and a big liability for them.
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Again, most of the do's and don'ts are logical common sense caveats.

For example, as a buyer, you should never make payments to a seller that offer no protection such as wiring the funds or sending checks or money orders. That's because this is the equivalent of giving a stranger cash.

Or as a seller, you should never accept paypal for an in-person pickup since there's no tracking to prove receipt by the buyer.

These are just 2 examples. Most of what you read here is outlined and reasons explained in ebay's TOS. But since most people (me included) don't read through pages and pages of rules, they're posted here in an easier to read format.
 
#13
maybe attributable to other options/outlets for sales/purchasing? sites like tradesy/portero and etc. for luxury goods and etsy for crafts, and even so many people successfully selling through social media/twitter/fb. if i was looking for handmade/unique/vintage, for instance, i go to etsy and not ebay first. for chanel, i look at consignment/tradesy first and rarely ebay. ebay losses are bound to happen as more sites continue to expand their awareness and draw people in. websites offering assurances of authenticity and helping out sellers (sending shipping kits, for example)... those make sellers and buyers feel safe and people are more willing to try alternatives. and when a company (like tradesy or fashionphile/yoogis) will handle any returns? blissful. i'd rather sell through those avenues. even though ebay has been around seemingly forever i still encounter people who express they are 'scared to buy from ebay' and don't have accounts.
 
#14
I agree with ccbaggirl89. The biggest reason not to buy from Ebay is not being able to return an item in most cases. I'd rather buy and sell with a reputable consignment site that offers returns and guarantees authenticity. Pretty sure I'm not alone.
 
#15
gail13 said:
I have only bought a handful of items on EBay and after reading about countless awful situations here, I will never sell anything on this site. EBay and PP are charging way too much in fees and the transaction is not safe for the seller. How much longer can Ebay go on with so many unhappy sellers? All these other sites with third party middlemen at least prevent scammers from not sending items etc.
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The fees are higher than I'd like but cheaper than many other sites, some that charge 20%. Consignment is going to charge you much more. Etsy is cheaper but they charge an upfront listing fee and get a lot fewer eyes, plus most items don't meet their listing restrictions.

I'm happier when I sell something on another site other than ebay, but my items on ebay get much more traffic than anywhere else, and I make more sales there.

As others have said, the negative situations are a very small percentage of transactions. I hold my breath with every sale but I've never had a horrible outcome.
 
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