Posted on 06/25/2005 8:55:42 AM PDT by Mike Bates
eBay sellers sounded off about rising fees and Chinese counterfeits at the auction site's annual user conference on Friday while rival Overstock.com sent an ad-slathered car to the event to lure disgruntled eBay sellers.
eBay, the site that pioneered the online auction revolution 10 years ago, is facing increasing competition from auction and other stores at Overstock, Yahoo and Amazon.com. Also putting pressure on eBay is Google, which is working on an online payment service and whose paid search listing and advertising services are a big draw for Web merchants.
Amid the flag-waving and boosterism by eBay fans were grumblings from so-called power sellers, high-volume and high-sales merchants who are particularly feeling the pinch from what they say are fewer buyers and higher prices.
"What are you going to do to bring more buyers to the site so we can succeed?" asked a demonstrably riled eBay seller attending an executive panel session for power sellers. "You have a total monopoly. I would not be in this business without eBay, (but) you are just taking more and more out of my pocket."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...
I've spent several thousand dollars on ebay in the past 3 weeks, mostly on lower-priced stuff (under $100). A lot of activity there. I've seen sellers turn "unregistered" in the interval between mailing payment and receiving goods. I've had sellers swear they didn't receive payment which bank or post office insists was properly delivered and cashed---they relent after I've spent time and money proving my case. Won't even go into the sellers who never ship, who just vanish completely in spite of decent feedback history; or who ship the wrong item, or claim their account was "hijacked" and they aren't responsible. So far I've got 100% positive feedback, sellers love me, but of course, I never complain via feedback. And they'll never miss me---but, I have decided there are better things to do in the wee hours, than shop for aggravation on ebay.
Overstock.com, eh? Hmmmm...
Several years ago there was a "rebellion" at ebay over high listing fees, etc. It fizzled because we (the sellers) could just not get a competitive alternative going - people just weren't ready to bail on ebay.
This is welcome news. Everytime they hiked fees, their stock went up. They got rid of price reserves, raised listing fees, etc - all measures designed to drive out the small seller. They created a lot of ill will.
Their attitude was if we didn't like the rules, we could go someplace else. Nice to finally have someplace else to go.
Beware of Overstock.com. They repeatedly extend any auction that isn't yielding the price they want. Also, you must give a credit card number to even register. When I got to that part in their registration process, I bailed out. Ever since they spam me frequently. I've emailed them and asked to be deleted and they reply that they cannot do so.
I love Overstock. I don't use the auctions part of it though. They got great deals, much better than Amazon.com and even ebay.
Been a seller/buyer on ebay for a long time with feedback 1000+. Watched it go from a fun garage sale where deals abound to nothing more than a dull clearing house of wannabe e-tailers. When they bought out Paypal is when I said so long.
I love Overstock also. I buy from there lots. So far I've gotten everything I've ordered extremely fast unlike Amazon where it takes over a frikkin month to get one lousy video or CD.
They did lose an order of mine within 12 hours of my placing the order and gave me a 20 dollar credit for a 6 dollar video for my trouble.
Are there any other auction sites comparable to ebay? I like to look for outdoor items like mowers, etc.
Lots of flakey sellers, though.
Unfortunately, EBay recently purchased a share of Craigslist.
Sorry, other Freepers would be more knowledgeable about that.
I'm a lot more hesitant to buy on e-bay. If a seller doesn't perform there's no effective recourse.
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