Posted on 02/07/2006 11:10:37 AM PST by Lokibob
eBay sellers began buzzing when they noticed on Friday that Glacier Bay DVD was NARU (Not a Registered User). Glacier Bay DVD had become eBay's number one feedback seller in June 2005 selling movie DVDs and soundtrack CDs.
According to a profile on the ChannelAdvisor website, Glacier Bay Entertainment Inc. was founded in May 2002 by Randy Smythe. Selling under the name glacierbaydvd, the company was listing 10,000 - 20,000 auctions a week and was a Titanium PowerSeller with an average selling price of $20/unit. "Looking forward to the end of 2004," the case study states, "Smythe expects Glacier Bay to be selling at a rate of $10 million a year." It planned to do that by listing more DVDs and expanding into entertainment-related products.
An exhaustive search to contact Smythe was unsuccessful. Phone numbers were disconnected, and the main page of the Glacier Bay DVD website was unavailable, though back pages of the site were still accessible (http://www.glacierbaydvd.com).
AuctionBytes was able to reach Michael Lehman, who had been referenced as a partner in the business in a 2004 Entrepreneur magazine article. Lehman said he operates a separate company that did software development and operations for Glacier Bay DVD, but was never an employee or owner of the company.
He said he has been friends with Smythe for many years, and said he let Smythe know AuctionBytes wanted to speak to him for this article. Lehman said Smythe did not want to comment at this time. When initially contacted by AuctionBytes, Lehman had said of Glacier Bay DVD, "They're still a client but they're kind of done at this point."
Scot Wingo, president and CEO of ChannelAdvisor, whose service helped power Glacier Bay DVD's ecommerce sales, said in an email, "Unfortunately, I can not talk about specific customer situations as you can imagine. Randy and Mike have been great customers of ChannelAdvisor for a long time and we've always had a very professional relationship with them."
Wingo went on to say, "The media categories on eBay are extremely competitive, as is the rest of eBay. The competition in combination with all of the changes going on at eBay over the last couple of years (fee changes, stores, etc.) have caused some seller's models to accelerate and other businesses to look at other opportunities."
An article in the June 22, 2005, issue of the Wall Street Journal outlined some of the challenges eBay sellers were facing, and stated that one seller in the CD and DVD category believed eBay shoppers were "looking for unreasonable bargains" (http://digbig.com/4gegx).
An eBay seller wrote to AuctionBytes about Glacier Bay DVD and said, "This is huge tragedy in our eBay Community, when one of the biggest eBayers with their stature, disappears and leaves a trail of Negs and crying victims."
Glacier Bay has also quit selling on Overstock.com. My take, the ebay raise in prices finally got to them, but it could be other factors.
For those who don't know, there are quaite a number of companies on ebay that do millions of $$$ in sales.
I enjoy eBaying...have bought and sold on there numerous times.
I did business with this company no less than 4 times about a year ago. They were kind of slow when it came to delivering product, like 3-4 weeks, instead of 3-4 days, but the price was right.
Why was this moved to chat? A multi-million dollar company going bankrupt is news.
My guess is that the business was delinquent in taxes, or that Hollywood came down hard on him over copyright concerns.
Who is John Galt?
There are some bargains, but eBay is generally a waste of money/time for *new* merchandise. Usually, the "bargain" sale price is offset by outrageous shipping fees.
You do have to watch shipping fees, but, a comparison shopper can make some great deals.
A couple of weeks ago, I bought 2 cell phone batteries for a friend. At the mall shop, the batteries were $60+ tax. On Ebay, $4.95 each plus total shipping of $13.00. sure the shipping was outragious when you consider that they were sent first class mail (about $1.00 total), but still the total was $23.00 vs. $60.
Sellers charge a lot for shipping because:
a- Shipping is expensive
b- The handling charge is the only way to make up for the large ebay fees.
c- If you charge a higher shipping fee, Ebay doesn't tap that as part of their fees. However, paypal does.
I hope some of this helps explain the costs on ebay. You still have to be alert on ebay.
And I'll answer your "Monday from Hell" message soon.
It's late, I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Zzzzzzzzzz.......
'Night!
I'm still knee deep in getting eBay orders ready to mail. This was a good weekend, many sales!
BTW that was not me who disappeared, but when I get some of those occasional idiot e-mails from a few of my eBay customers, I feel like it!
I think #2 is still ticked over yesterday...
In this case, I'm guessing either something catastrophic happened to the seller, or he simply decided it's time to take the money and run.
Either way, I don't see it doing any lasting or significant damage to eBay.
People don't stop to consider 1) the time it takes to get an item ready for mailing and 2) the cost of postage, envelopes, scotch tape, bubble wrap, etc...
I sell under tsgtexasscreen on eBay and charge $2.50 for the 1st item to be mailed 1st Class mail with Delivery Confirmation and self-insure to replace any order lost or damaged... And that is cheap!
I've always said you were cheap!
Depends on what you're shipping. At any rate, many eBay sellers routinely charge WAY over the actual cost of shipping and handling. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
b- The handling charge is the only way to make up for the large ebay fees.
"Handling" is fine; I don't expect anyone to work for free, nor do I expect them to eat the actual costs associated with packaging, transportation, etc.
But, what about those eBay fees do you consider "large" such that one needs to "make up for" them? I'm a buyer and a seller. I don't charge anything for handling or packing materials, simply because it's not my primary income and it costs me nothing but a little time. Still, eBay fees are miniscule compared to the overhead associated with a well-located, brick-and-mortar storefront; I consider them the price of putting my goods in front of millions of potential buyers.
c- If you charge a higher shipping fee, Ebay doesn't tap that as part of their fees. However, paypal does.
In fact, excessive (or whatever they term it) shipping fees are explicitly forbidden by eBay policies for sellers, for just that reason. eBay would cease to exist if everyone could sell plasma TVs for 1¢ and charge $4299 for shipping. Paypal is another matter. There again, it's a cost of doing business. As a buyer, I'm inclined to pay more for the item if I can pay with PayPal.
All that said, know that I'm 100% for sellers charging whatever they want for shipping and handling. And, I support eBay's right to set whatever policies it wants. In either case, the market will react accordingly. I'm a firm believer in free enterprise and caveat emptor. See, when someone's going to charge me $9.95 for shipping a CD, I need only factor that cost into my maximum bid. I never bid without either knowing the shipping charge or having adequate confidence in the seller. Those who do and get stung have no one to blame but themselves.
But, such buyers will often leave a negative feedback even when the terms were clearly stated in the item description. I guess they're used to someone else looking out for their well-being. Given what even the "conservatives" in politics are doing for us, it's hard to blame them. At any rate, negative feedback is a risk borne by sellers who charge a lot for shipping and handling.
[/soapbox] :-)
For me, the buyer, it really doesn't matter how much you charge for shipping, as long as I can find out ahead of time. And frankly, I couldn't care less what your costs are, whether it be for the item or the packing materials or the postage or your gas or your time or keeping your mistress happy.
Because, after I decide I want what you're selling and I'm satisfied with your feedback profile, the rest is simple. First, I determine the maximum (in total) I'm willing to pay for the item. Second, I find out what you're going to add for shipping, handling, whatever. The difference between those two amounts is my maximum bid (which is the bid I will place about 10 seconds before the auction ends).
For me, the seller, I realize not every buyer out there cares what my costs might be. So, when I find myself in a situation where I'm going to have to spend a lot on shipping -- over and above the cost of postage -- in order to minimize the risk of getting a negative feedback from a newbie/knowitall/whatever, I spell it out in the auction. But, for me, shipping and handling is just that. I've not yet ever tried to recover fees or make money on shipping. Some sellers do, and that's fine. It's just not the way I do it.
At any rate, my feedback rating is still 100% after 8 years and hundreds of transactions.
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