Thursday, May 26, 2011

EBAY GETS WORSE

Budge. So the powers that be have passed a new decree on how they calculate ebay seller status. Status sets how your stuff ranks in the search. Higher the status, the better chance you have to get plucked into the search results. Besides the search hierarchy being budge in the first place, now the requirements penalize low volume sellers. I have a rather sterling record as a seller, but I didn't sell enough in a yearly period. So my super cool dude status got bumped down a peg. Lame.

Ebay has been on the decline for about 5 years now, especially on the small seller end of things. Sellers have almost no power in disputes, take it in ass if a buyer doesn't want to pay the "unreasonable" (read: actual) shipping costs, and have to prove 6 ways to Sunday that someone might be (read: is) threatening negative feedback to extort cash back. Mega Sellers could give a shit. The volume of stuff covers they churn out buries any blemishes in days.

Don't get me started on the "Buy It Now" fest that the place has become. Auctions? Ha. Double dipping with Paypal? Ha. Final value fee increases? Ha. Some auctions incur more fees than others based on category? Ha. Does it matter that you've been a constant user with an excellent track record for a decade now? Ha. If you don't make us enough money, you can eat it.

2 comments:

Chris Horse said...

Yea, Ebay sucks. Back in the early 2000s it was a primo joint for finding awesome deals.

Now it's fucking lame ass webstore.

I can find the same shit, brand new, with warranty and faster shipping on NewEgg or Amazon.

Bargain land is now Cragislist.

Anonymous said...

I am working on my webstore now finally, http://store.wargamerhub.com/. I plan to sell my stuff through there. I'll probably use google adwords to help bump up the search results for a while, but gonna detach myself from ebay as much as I can.

I agree, on the steady decline for a long time now, and unless you get an outrageous deal on something the ebay fees negate much profit you can make.