lammergeiernet
Joined: 01 Feb 2005
Posts: 1007
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:53 am Post subject: Increased Rates of Buyers Remorse and Gripes on eBay USA |
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Hello Folks
I've been posting on PSU for a bit ,not one of oldest or most active posters but I joined during last fee hike by eBay.
Bit wordy but oh well.....here goes
We have all noticed the change on eBay , less sales ,less confidence in core auction format,sellers having to list in eBay stores and such.
Well Canadians sellers have it worse off trying to compete since our shipping is far more expensive
Canadian sellers often get the label of "overcharging" , I even got flak back in the glory days when "I" paid a double digit % of the shipping.
How much for "Book Rate" was often the question........
When eBay and Canadapost kept raising its fee's I had to start to charge S&H/P&P for single items ,sometimes the charge is couple CAD , sometimes its only a couple dimes. If an item is just right size and KG, to the right state perhaps more but that happens almost never.
This is a far cry from the 100% , 200% , 500% S&H sellers that populate eBay these days !
I still subsidies larger combined shipments alot.....but for couple items I do charge handling.
Yet despite this recently there has been a HUGE SPIKE this month in the buyers remorse , bidders not following through ,strange gripes and its all from the USA.
One bidder complained I should have it listed on eBay Canada in USD , that because I'm Canadian item should be cheaper for him to buy in the USA :?: He figured it should be half price for him...for example British pay 35 GBP , he should pay 35 USD. ....also because I'm Canadian he said to be fair he would get it even cheaper.....gobsmacked
I had another bidder purchase a lot of books and not follow auction terms right off the bat. He got all angry when he discovered one of my no reserve auctions went alot cheaper then his auction and he wanted the other auction price. When I pointed out people purchased the same type of books individually for the price of his lot , he then refused to pay !! :!:
I had a reputable buyer bomb my feedback , saying my shipping was outrageous , that books were too expensive.......but they buyer used Buy It Now and Air shipping and I got him a combined rate. Just Silly...and this was a bidder since 1999.
The list goes on , but the rate of USA buyers ,usally some of the most friendly consumers you can meet on the web are now crabby ,accusatory and angry about price of things , even if they set price themselves and most are using buy it now instead of the lower bid.
What Does This Mean in the Big Picture?
Shirty & Tetchy bidders that seem complete novices to buying beyond domestic market?
Sounds like alot of buyers are roaming out of thier comfort bubbles.....could this be because of so many sellers no longer listing on eBay?
For niche items it only takes a few dozen sellers in the USA to give up and cause people to roam international listings.
Times are tough and Buyers are stressed....additonal confusion by buying abroad , sellers raising fee's and alot less good deals for niche items buyers are getting desperate and mean!
The Future
I'm sorry to say there will be more anger
Because of the fee hike and Canadapost raising fee's, I'm going to have to raise my prices and trim my eBay listings of the low value items and deadwood in my store.
If they think my shipping is too high even when its not , well tough I'm not lowering my prices there is no volume of bidding out there to generate on Feebay !
Even listings nowwith high prices is a dangerous artform for a seller !!
CAD will likely reach parity with USD and the GBP and Euro are not going anywhere for now. International sellers will not be able to lower prices to match expectations ,its just not going to happen. eBay with its drying up of variety of niche listings is only going to make this worse by not providing enough domestic options for buyers.
eBay has made things Bad for sellers ,Bad for Buyers and its going to get worse , don't ja think? :?: |
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