[Boatanchors] Ebay problems

[Joe B]

As a seller I hate the new policy not being able to leave negative feedback. 
That will no doubt help the scammers. A lot of us little sellers complained 
to eBay but lost out. Like someone here said, they want to became another 
Amazon. Ebay is catering to big dealers selling masses of Chinese glittery 
crap to air heads. (Note to self: Buy some stock and make out big when 
Amazon and eBay merge.)

Likewise I would like to see a fresh new online venue to replace eBay or 
give it some serious competition. Trouble is eBay is so massive a startup 
auction site couldn't compete. It's been tried.

Joe, KF9EU

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Todd, KA1KAQ" <ka1kaq at gmail.com>
To: "Carl" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>
Cc: "Boatanchors" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Ebay problems


> On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 9:26 AM, Carl <km1h at jeremy.mv.com> wrote:
>
>> I had a good friend on the Power Sellers direct hotline in Salt Lake City
>> for many years who gave me a lot of inside info. He finally couldnt take 
>> the
>> outright dishonesty and lies that he was told to tell sellers and being a
>> good Mormon finally quit last month in disgust.
>
> To me, this was one ebay's biggest screw ups: being inaccessible to
> the users unless they met a specific level of finance that benefitted
> ebay so much as to make it worth their while to bother. I can
> understand ebay's position with respect to the workers needed, tedious
> calls/meritless calls, and whatever else. Unfortunately in business,
> you have to deal with the good and the bad, and they chose to cherry
> pick in that sense. Telling your little sellers and buyers that they
> somehow aren't worthy, don't do enough to matter, etc, turned a lot of
> folks off.
>
> I remember having to fax in a copy of my license or some other
> documentation years back to verify who I was because ebay's computers
> had been hacked and there was a remote possibility (their words) that
> my information was at risk, so they locked my account until i
> complied. Couldn't reach a human being to confirm or otherwise get
> info, and it interfered with several auctions I was watching. As a
> result, those sellers never knew I was willing to pay more than what
> they got.
>
>> My Ebay experiences since 1998 have been all downhill since around 
>> 2002-3.
>
> That seems to be the case for many, Carl. No coincidence that the
> 'feeding frenzy' seemed to follow the same downward turn. As the ABC
> article points out, ebay cleaned out a lot of attics and garages, but
> even that has slowed considerably. I believe in no small part due to
> the never-ending changes and so-called "improvements" ebay kept
> stirring into the mix. There comes a point where the hassle is just
> not worth it anymore. I haven't sold anything on there in years as a
> result. But then again, I was never so focused on the 'top dollar at
> any expense' approach to using ebay as some are. Spend hours of your
> time to possibly make a few more dollars, I guess these folks really
> figured their time wasn't that valuable.
>
> Add to that having to deal with some incredibly stupid people who
> either can't or refuse to read your listing entirely, the hassles and
> expenses of shipping (time and transportation along with paying the
> difference if your estimate is off), and it became a thought that
> seldom crossed my mind anymore. I still use ebay as a tool for finding
> things like yard sales, hamfests, and so on, but was never one to live
> for it. As a business, it gets harder and harder to justify some
> aspects when you've driven many of your sellers off while traffic is
> slowing down naturally.
>
> ~ Todd,  KA1KAQ
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