Posts Tagged ‘eBay as income’

Dear eBay Queen;

I’ve been selling on eBay since 1997.  I sell mostly high-end antiques, and keep around 200 items a month on the platform.  I’ve enjoyed reading your article for years now, but feel like there is something missing when you’ve written about eBay.

eBay was a community.  It had its own personality and a unique collection of items available in one place.  It also had NO competition. The eBay changes that are being put in place are killing that community.  This community was a virtual setting, where a member paid for exposure in a global market. How a member conducted business was their own dealing. Some sellers were bad, but not to the degree reported.  It certainly did not justify how they are treating sellers now.
eBay is my ONLY source of income.  I keep myself up at night thinking about these changes.   Sometimes I wonder, who does eBay think they are to dictate a set of performance standards that are unsustainable, very poorly implemented, and not even applicable to their Diamond PowerSellers? Most importantly their policy is completely out of kilter with the community that made it a success!

Have you ever thought that eBay has no inventory, yet they dictate terms of service? They lack customer service, yet order customer service quality standards.  They do not have any claim to the payment for goods sold, yet put limits on the method we use to accept payments.

Those of us, who have made a living on eBay, find themselves passionately arguing the wisdom of these eBay changes.  Do you remember “New” Coke?  They just had to do something to compete with Pepsi!  Fortunately for them, it only took 72 days to see the error of their ways.

It seems to me that eBay is ignoring everything the community is saying.  They even got rid of the community boards (as we know them).  I have heard eBay executives say “all this will hurt for awhile, but that pain will go away.”  Isn’t this the same thing doctors tell their dying patients?  At least that patient knows that after the worst has passed and the funeral well attended, the community will be OK.

I’m not sure why I am complaining to you.  What can you do to help me? You are in the same boat I’m in.  I read in your February 4^th article, that you are not a Top Rated Seller.  What are your plans to improve enough to become a Top Rated Seller?

Matthew; Lawrence, KS

Dear Matthew;

I am sorry to say, I agree with your comments about eBay.  eBay was founded on the belief that “people are basically good”.  They aren’t treating us that way, are they?

My plans are to ride this out.  I don’t believe the current staff is making the right decisions for eBay, (let alone me) but, I still am successful on eBay, and that’s where I receive most of my sales.   How about you?

I don’t believe the Top Rated Seller program is a reasonable way to grade a seller. What happened to 99% positive feedback? What happened to the Detailed Seller Rating Program where 4.7 out of 5 stars were good?  Now they are saying you can only receive a 1’s or 2’s  on .5% of your sales.  If you have 100 sales a month, that’s less than one a month.  This to me translates to perfection.  I try to make every sale a good one for the buyer, but can I make it perfect for someone I’ve never met, that just had a bad day? Probably not.

My current goal is to keep moving product and selling on eBay.  Believe me; these policies have kept me up at night too.  It’s been a struggle, but I’ve been focusing more on my business and less on eBay’s policies.  Ultimately, this is my business and I need to do what is best for it.  Keep trying, and moving forward.  The ridiculousness of their ways is going to come back on them eventually.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 140384015380 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): I love the Olympics! It looks like other people do too! 2010 Olympic Torch, and Torchbearer Uniform SOLD $4,050.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140384015380

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com.