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Is eBay Worse Than Early Sears Catalogs?
prostoalex writes "The New York Times claims eBay can learn a lot from the early Sears catalogs, which promised unconditional returns (postage paid by Sears) in case there is any dissatisfaction with the product even if the product behaves exactly as described. Apparently eBay is doing something right, but with no buyer protection, no seller authentication, and no desire to participate in seller-buyer conflicts, no return policy, can the business model be sustained?"
At least not for the expensive purchases, where saving money might really matter.
I bought my wife a present of her favorite bubble bath on e-bay. When it came, it was somebody else's favorite bubble bath. I got in touch with the sender, who apologized profusely and offered to send the right stuff. It never came. And, I never got my money back.
My friend, on the other hand, purchased a guitar on e-bay only to have it be in far worse condition than advertised. He never got his money back, either.
My conclusion is to never spring big bucks for anything on e-bay.
Human being (n.): A genetically human, genetically distinct, functioning organism.
Sears makes money off of selling products in their catologs.
vs.
Ebay makes money off of people listing items to sell.
The big difference is that Ebay makes money even if the products don't sell, Ebay has both an excellant business model and a huge market share, plus their just plain usefull
Grasshopper, just take a look at this appropriately named site for the answers to your questions. Why does Paypal suck? Click and read.
ebay tries with the rating system but it's horribly broken.
Sellers refuse to leave positive feedback unless the buyer does, buyers AND selelrs leaving retalitory negative feedback against legitimate gripes and overall everyone leaving "A++++ best ebayer ever" over and over makes the feedback system almost 100% useless except as an idea as to how active the user is.
More information needs to be tracked for ebay for sellers and buyers to get a better idea.
the time it takes for a buyer to pay needs to be shown. same as time it takes for a seller to ship as well as response times of both in email.
Certian buyers take almost a fricking week to pay, some sellers will ship when they get around to it in a couple of weeks and thise stuff needs to be noted to improve EBAY service style.
if a seller has his rating plus a "slow shipper" icon I'll know to avoid the guy. same as a buyer having a "slow pay" flag can be avoided for auctions.
finally, ebay removed the ability for me to look at feedback but ONLY the negative feedback.
Yes negative feedback is at least 90,000 more important than the sea of half hearted positives. and they need to be taken in context. but I do not want to clikc for 2 hours trying to read EVERY one of your negative feedbacks just to find out that you like to screw around and ship people's things from 2-3 weeks later, or you never read or respond to customer emails. (just as an example, not saying YOU do this.)
ebay needs to collect more information automatically. and they can through their ownership of paypal... auction ended and buyer took 6 days to pay...
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
At eBay you see only some sure_I_m_honest@hotmail.com address and that's only thing you really know about other end.
Well, that, and the feedback.
Take off the tinfoil hat. If someone has great feedback, you're just as safe trusting them as you would be trusting the stranger you just met at the flea market. Moreso, in fact, because you have no idea if the flea-market guy's customers are satisfied. OK, OK, with one notable exception.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
The comment the grandparent made about you having to police all your forums if you police one is just a warning. I don't think there are any laws that say such a thing specifically, but I know I have read about cases where some sites have been found liable in civil suits because they engaged in selective enforcement. I think the guy's comment was just to alert you to the fact that you're probably better off not policing things on your site or else you open a potential can of worms. I doubt he's right, but I think the idea behind is comment is worth looking into.
The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank.
-- Scotty.
The New York Times is a publicly traded company which sells advertising and subscriptions. They actually get about twice as much revenue from advertising as they do from subscriptions.
Let's dig into the New York Times finances. I start at www.sec.gov, click on Edgar filings, search for "New York Times", and grab the 10-K, the most recent annual filing.
New York Times 10-K
For the year ended 2003-12-28, their revenus was $3.2 billion. Here's a breakdown:
100% $3.2 billion total revenue
66% $2.1 billion advertising
27% $0.9 billion circulation
07% $0.2 billion other
Advertising revenue is up about 3.5% from 2002, but advertising volume, the number of inches of ads, dropped 3.8% from 2002 to 2003. The Times has been selling fewer ads but charging more for them.
Summary: the primary business line of the New York Times company is selling ads. Internet companies such as eBay are cutting into that ad business. And that's why the New York Times has been trash-talking Google and eBay lately.
I look at the item, decide how much I am willing to pay for it, up the number by a few odd cents in case someone happens to agree with me exactly and bid first. Then I program that number into a bid sniper and let it run. I don't feel bad about it when I loose, they were willing to pay more. I don't loose often.
1 - The sniper keeps my bid from being nickled and dimed up by people who have no idea what they want to spend. You may like playing bidwars but I'm here to do buisness.
2 - I can put the snipe in well in advance, and if I find a better item or price before the auction is up I just cancel the snipe, no commitment until the last possible moment.
3 - If there are 0 bids on an item, most people just pass it by. If theres a bid on it then theres a ton of people who just have to take a shot at it. Its the sellers job to attract people, the buyers job to find good deals, and I'm not going to play spotter for lazy shoppers.
Think I'm evil yet? Well, let me add one more for you. If I see a Buy It Now auction I intend to snipe down the road, I put in the minimum bid to kill the buy now option.