Power Sellers Unite

psunite · Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 6213 Location: Columbus OH

Never mind ebay's business model or stock price. This is a company whose brand is in trouble.

Just a year or so ago, people I know who buy and sell on ebay would talk about the ebay "community" and the fact that it's "the only place to be," for online selling. Since the company raised its prices to sellers earlier this year, though, there are defections to overstock.com and even amazon.com, and others. This is anecdotal, but out of ten of the people I know who regularly sell on e-bay, four say they have gone elsewhere and two say they are cutting back on using ebay.link to article

PattyPooh · Joined: 21 Feb 2005 Posts: 682

A very interesting article...hope everyone reads it!

May God bless your day!:)

Pooh
http://poohssheepskin.bravehost.com/

kw101966 · Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 495 Location: North Carolina

Great article,,Wonder if Ebay would ever even think of taking that advice though...

puddin26 · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 122

Not to be overdramatic,but...

What you're seeing is history in the making. How so?

eBay is not the only wall street whizbanger who's courting market share disaster. Too many multinational conglomerates have become drunk on the wine of success, and not bothered to bolster the fundamentals that brought them where they are. You no doubt are, are online through the hardwire of a multinational. Are you happy with your service? Can you have your phone service through another carrier? Although you pull into a service station that features various logos in various color schemes...all of the refined petro comes from one or two refiners. The image of choice is there...the reality reveals itself by the lock-step nature in which gasoline prices are leveraged up simaltaneously. Do you have market options there?

Friends, the pitiful state that eBay has become, serves as a lesson to the world of commerce. "BY THERE FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM". Upstart internet auction sites, and other platforms know too well, what eBay has failed to acknowledge: Caring for the needs of PEOPLE, is the beginning and the end of future business.

You see this fact has been repeatedly pointed out to the folks in San Jose...so it's not like it's a huge epipheny. As Meg and the crew are planning their future, (with little regard to other's tomorrows), this obvious, clear, distinct counsel has no meaning to the selfish. Unfortunate, how so many have tied their welfare to such a corrupt system of "honor among thieves."

The future of this industry will depend on these fledgling sites that we're discussing here. As common a word as eBay has become, she won't even be recognized in a few more years. The passing of the mantle is taking place today. It's displayed in care, concern, a willingness to respond, and old fashioned free enterprise. Fact is, industry at large needs to rethink it's position on where people fit into the corporate reports! Take a snapshot of today...tomorrow it'll look much different! Goodbye Greedbay...twas fun...whatta ride!

kw101966 · Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 495 Location: North Carolina

This is slightly of subject, but the fact that gas prices were brought up,and you discussing the refinery, I actually haul gas for my 9 to 5 (Wooohooo) lol...Ia am from North Carolina and the fact is there are like 8 locations we load trucks for various stores ranging from citgo to exxon,all the gas comes from the exact same pipeline split off after reaching our city and going to various loading racks, The only true diff in the gas you are paying sky rocketing prices for is the additives the various venders place in the gas to trace branded stores to make sure they are not selling another brand of gas because it might be $ .02 diff in price, it is all a big rip off...hm I did get way off but i just see the prices everyday and know what people are having to pay and it makes no sense at all...sorry for the rambling....LOL Ill hush now

KatyJoan · Joined: 11 Feb 2005 Posts: 167 Location: Illinois

While this article pointed out that eBay was a "brand in trouble". The bigger picture here is that eBay, on its way down, also took the good name of the "online community" in the marketplace as a whole.

And what caused the demise of the eBay image? The inability to offer customer service to the worlds largest customer base that now stands at 147 million users. And the premise that that offering customer service on this large scale was flawed by inbuilt arrogance, on the part of eBay, that this overwhelming grand scale customer service could be offered with a staff of about 5,000 staggered on a 24 hour around the clock work schedule. These customer service personnel were given very limited latitude to resolve the issues and the hope was that the frustrated public would give up getting matters resolved and just leave. What did a few customers "leaving" matter? After all there was an inexhaustable pool of customers out there. AOL also tried to operate on this business premise and also ran into the same issues with brand image.

The escalating difference of opinion with the adoring eBay customer base was further compounded with the image that the entire industry is rife with fraud along with the constant reported bickering, boycotts and picketing enabled by a media constantly on the prowl for a story (good or bad).

And a lot of it was bad. Very very bad in fact. I am 100's of email into a personal issue with eBay and no closer to resolving it than I was in October of 2004. I am but one in 147 million who will all report, to some degree or other, the inability to get assistance from eBay when it comes to accounting discrepancies.

Yes eBay will help you get up the auction, they will answer emails on where to find this link or that, they will even call you to discuss, in person, new marketing campaigns. But when it comes to the Billing - there is absolutely no way to talk to a "live" person at eBay and they are deliberately obtuse about resolving it in an email campaign that can last for months, or years, until the customer gives up in disgust.

The fallout on the entire online industry is the real problem here. The brand identification for the public is that eBay is the "auction platform". The public recognizes there are upstarts out there trying to compete - but the head start eBay has in "numbers" leaves little belief that anyone else can compete. And eBay is quick to dispell any belief that that will occur with their Press releases constantly harping on the "numbers".

And its the "numbers" that are going to come back to haunt them. Those 147 million users want customer service. A huge percentage of them want answers from Billing - and those are not forth coming at all. Until the legal system recognizes this pattern as a conspiracy that benefits only eBay - it will be business as usual. Or will it? The numbers are dwindling - both Sellers and Buyers. And eBay is out there with a new Marketing firm trying to bolster up not just "eBay" but the image of the concept - a community working as a team.

Customer service is akin to the harness that connect the cart and the horse that makes this a team effort. Where is the harness here?

Kathleen Johnson
http://www.icell.biz

xppman · Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 1145

kw101966 speaks the truth. I know it all too well.
Hey kw101966 I'm in western NC.

On a different note. Ever wonder why Yahoo US has not pursued this market ebay is losing?

Go look up Pierre Omidyar, the founder of Ebay
David Filo and Jerry Yang founders of Yahoo. Do a little research.
You'll be surprised what you find.

puddin26 · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 122

So, while eBay has taken the glory for this venue, and ignored the responsibility owed to the public, it has drug the whole system into the despair that we see today. Across the spectrum of online selling sites....traffic is not just down...it's way down! Despite the numbers that eBay cooks up, sell-through is depressed, and prices are drastically diminished. The site has the appearance of Yahoo in '97-99. It's becoming a desert, and the buzzards are circlin'.

In the beginning years of eBay, it scratched an itch that doesn't exist anymore. it satisified the needs of a demanding population for the hard-to-find, the obscure, etc. etc. Now that we've experienced a decade of endless auctions of "obscure, hard-to-find"...it turns out that supply passed demand. The result, of course was of an overall price adjustment downward, that affects the likes of you and I. Because we've attached our wagon to this "star", we're destined to experience the same descending fate.

Of course, anything done to improve things in the here and now, and into the future will depend on other sites...they'll have to rewrite the book. eBay isn't about to change much...they've already garnered millions, and pissed in the sand box on the way out the door! You ask,"where are the buyers?" Well, the few that are left still cling to the old. The upstarts not only have to overcome the ususal obstacles inherent to a young company...they must also overcome all of the garbage eBay has left behind, for someone else to pick up. This is the unlevel playing field that we're playing on. I think it's true, the eBay "BRAND" is in trouble. Everytime I have to list on that site, I do a slow-to glowing red burn...just buying my time, when I can finally cut the embilical cord.

xppman · Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 1145

puddin26
I've really enjoyed your reads tonight. Truly.
Sad and at the same time exciting to me as I know the online biz is just beginning and this is just a growing pain.

Good stuff will come out of all this as more people realize that they are actually SAFER dealing with an individual, a real person or small company with real names and real service and accountability, not an overpriced over saturated search engine like ebay has become with people hiding to sell their wares behind fictitious IDs.

puddin26 · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 122

Agreed, and the thought provoking comments that comes from this site, will insure future accountability, and success.

kw101966 · Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 495 Location: North Carolina

Well I guess my opinion is along the same lines, The online businesses that give first rate customer service and is dedicated to the customers total satisfaction will be the ones that flourish in the future and will leave the companies such as Ebay that are non-responsive to the needs of customers and sellers alike behind and move on to the next step in e-commerce, Its just a shame that the big companies like ebay have given a bad taste to some therefore its almost like starting over in many aspects of online sales.