eBay will announce changes later today in its third roll-out of seller updates for 2010, calling it "Seller Release 3." Most changes will launch between September 7 and September 13, and eBay said it was the final seller update of the year. eBay will make certain media and electronics categories free for sellers to list in during the holiday selling season, but is requiring that they use its product catalog to list. The three categories are iPod & MP3 Players, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and DVDs, HD DVDs & Blu-ray.

eBay is making changes to its Unpaid Item process and will allow sellers to create lists of preferred customers who will be excluded from Unpaid Item Assistant. Sellers will be able to exclude specific transactions from Unpaid Item Assistant.

eBay is running a test in which it has moved the "Ask a question" link further down the item page for about one quarter of buyers, and expects to launch it to all buyers by the end of the year. eBay will also allow sellers to prevent blocked buyers from contacting them.

more.. link to news article

Time to discuss the fall changes. Most of it seems reasonable enough.

I am interested in the eBay shipping Labels and the ShipCover option that will be implemented. I do not print my label from eBay and the new system they put in place about a month ago. Has anyone used it and is it a better path than just using Paypal shipping labels? I have always used Paypal for the shipping labels and printing invoices. When eBay said they would be hiding the e-mail addresses from the buyers and sellers alike, I never really had a desire to use the new shipping label format at eBay. I am pretty sure by staying with Paypal for printing invoices, and label you will still have the e-mail addresses available, as this is valuable info for redirecting customers to my own web-site.

With ShipCover the insurance rates are very good $1.23 per hundred dollars of coverage. The only problem is you can only get this through eBay shipping labels.

Any Thoughts?

portocall wrote (View Post): › I used to list about 100 books a week on ebay and sell around 60% (sell through rate) in first week with no relist. I know some of my regular customers no longer bother with ebay cause they can't find my stuff and similar items there any more. This must be the case in many categories, like your vinyl records.

I would love to list at ebay all items at 9.99 and watch them, or most of them raise to their level or value, some way beyond, and some a little below. But I know my $30 and up items might stall out at 10.02, and my $20 items fetch 9.99, and I'd be broke and out of business in no time.

Thank god for ecrater free stores, and amazon which promises to at least let me sell my items for what they are worth, or not charge me to find out.

I have some French, German, and Japanese pressed LPs from the 60s and 70s, they are beautiful works on major labels by semi-obscure artists. They will take 3 to 6 months to find a buyer, but they will sell in the $20 to $50 range an item. Ebay would be like throwing them away for peanuts on the dollar.

Plus my CDs in their genre are doing really well. The 5 items sold per day is holding up, average price of item is getting higher, and feedback is 100% so far.

In other words, amazon worked out for me just in time, just as ebay's ship began sinking. I'll still use ebay, but only under certain circumstances.

The problem is eBay allows listing of too many things that can't be shipped via normal means, and I don't know about you but I have no confidence in eBay to take care of me when say I sell a car and the buyer decides he doesn't like it. Technically eBay already does collect the payments through their forcing use of Paypal.

Ebay needs to take the responsibility in one area that counts the most. Ebay buyers pay directly to Ebay. Just like Amazon.

Stop all these nonsense changes to Sellers.

They want to beat Amazon. then they need to step up to the plate.

All this nonsense Seller Changes is to avoid the big picture.

That is to collect the monies by EBAY directly.

I'm just glad I can finally block these turkeys from emailing me, I've had people in the past send message after message sometimes literally off and on for years. Now, one whacky message, BBL, and I have plenty of room to add 'em.

eBay's problem is they're the flea market vendor that thinks they're really Sachs of London or something, they don't even understand what they are or why they're popular, and they're also a victim of the modern business management philosophies that seem to think you can always keep growing profit, even though usually there is a saturation level where profits just will not grow any further, and the other philosophy that if things stagnate, you need to make changes for the sake of change, even though more often than not the change has the opposite of the desired effect.

I've had a similar experience with Amazon, quicksrt.

The fees are higher, but I sell the items for much more there. The difference between what I could get on ebay and Amazon makes the higher fees worth it for me too. ebay's constant changes just muddy the water for them (imho)

I sell mostly books, some rare and hard to find. ebay used to be the place for those because the auction format would get some high bids and bidding wars. But lately when I've ventured to list them on ebay, they just sit there with no bids and hardly any viewers and I still had to pay listing fees. I'm starting to sell more of these rare things on Amazon now and have over a thousand items listed (no fees at Amazon) And, my stuff sells at Amazon.

I used to list about 100 books a week on ebay and sell around 60% (sell through rate) in first week with no relist. I know some of my regular customers no longer bother with ebay cause they can't find my stuff and similar items there any more. This must be the case in many categories, like your vinyl records.

Does ebay management know what they've done to their market? You ask.

I sure can't figure them or many of the recent changes out.

I have ecrater as a store, it's beautiful and stocked with some very nice stuff. But I have to drive every buyer over there myself. It's really really slow so far.

Amazon is doing very well for me in place of ebay. I am amazed. I just had 28 items close on ebay, only 7 sold, and bids were not really that strong, might be due to summer, but I think decline has set in there.

I really don't mind the higher fees at amazon, not when they treat me fairly nice, no fees to list (except the $39.99 a month), and sales are consistant. I do 5 sales a day average, 7 days a week. $8.99 an item average. Far less work than ebay.

Now, I can only afford to sell on ebay only on sale days, or when I have that certain special item that needs auction type exposure.

I'm getting ready to do vinyl LPs on amazon. Ebay was always the place for vinyl. But things change. Changes that will impact ebay's bottom line I'd like to tell them.

quicksrt wrote (View Post): › TotalGarbage wrote (View Post): › Has there been any positive news toward sellers in the last 2 years? If so, name them. Or am I just crazy that Evil-Bay wants just a very select seller? They are convinced that, or they were convinced that very good sellers are a dine for two dozen. I am sure that they read those forums about how to get back on ebay after suspension, and they are convinced that if that many people want to get back on after being kicked off, then they have an upper hand over sellers - not seen since slavery was legal in USA. They really believed that they are the Golden Goose granted to those chosen few who are worthy. And they are the ones that choose who gets to ride that Golden Goose.

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with what you are saying.
I cannot understand why ebay sellers with a gripe put up with it, all they seem able to do is go along with ebay like a bunch of sheep, whining and twining.

I had had enough with their idiotic destructive policy changes and constant stabbings in the back by ebay, Paypal are not a lot better, I stopped selling on Ebay some time ago and have moved to the more civilised sites where you do not get all the cr*ap that ebay are constantly throwing at sellers whether they are good or bad.
Alright the sales are down but to be honest I am happier.
If those unhappy with ebay had the guts they should move their business or at least some of it then the alternative sites would become more viable.

Sites such as EBID - DELCAMPE - bonanzle and ECRATER not forgetting AMAZON.
The listings are FREE and with a bit more support they would throw much needed competition in the face of Ebay and the so called Golden Goose would be STUFFED good and proper.

TotalGarbage wrote (View Post): › Has there been any positive news toward sellers in the last 2 years? If so, name them. Or am I just crazy that Evil-Bay wants just a very select seller?

They are convinced that, or they were convinced that very good sellers are a dine for two dozen. I am sure that they read those forums about how to get back on ebay after suspension, and they are convinced that if that many people want to get back on after being kicked off, then they have an upper hand over sellers - not seen since slavery was legal in USA.

They really believed that they are the Golden Goose granted to those chosen few who are worthy. And they are the ones that choose who gets to ride that Golden Goose.

Has there been any positive news toward sellers in the last 2 years? If so, name them.

Or am I just crazy that Evil-Bay wants just a very select seller?