It's just a matter of chance as to whether there's a cop around to see you screw up, and whether or not he wants to write tickets.
Just a note...the name for this principle is panopticism...and the man who came up with it was Michel Foucault. It was originally an aspect of jail construction, having one guard see many prisoners, but the prisoners not able to see the guard. They would then feel compelled to behave because they would never truly know when they were being watched.
Honestly, this is a pretty interesting point brought up about supply and demand. We just don't have all of the information necessary to judge if this seller is bitter because he isn't lining his pockets by selling video games at more than the market will sustain, or if ebay has in fact been delinquent in their duties.
I personally do think that the fraud system needs to be re-examined. I just sold a laptop and had to list it three times before it sold to a legitimate buyer in the United States. The first time I sold it, I noticed the buyer had zero feedback. I did an advanced search and low and behold this guy had created an account and bought four laptops in the span of 24 hours. I contacted each seller and sure enough, each was given the same story about wanting to buy it through paypal and ship it to Nigeria. The process to get an item relisted is frustrating because of the fact that you even have to relist an item. In the end you also are not refunded the initial listing fee, just the other fees. Absolutely frustrating to have to sell items more than once especially items that are time sensitive such as a laptop that becomes more obsolete by the hour.
As far as selling strategies, there was a Northwestern Professor that just wrote an article about sucessful strategies for selling. Some of the points included:
- Selling items at near nothing ($.01 or $1.00) to generate interest in your item over others to sell them at higher prices. Buyers will invest time and eventually be willing to spend more on your item because they have invested time into tracking the item. This is different than normal face to face sales as if you wanted $100 for an item you would ask $180 instead of $140 and more likely get the $100 you wished.
- If your item is a rare item, you should actually start it at a high price to confirm its rarity and keep the most interested bidders interested.
I can't agree more that the feedback system needs to be re-evaluated. I cannot count the number of times I have been stuck in stalemate with either a seller or a buyer where neither of us will leave feedback for each other just in case something could have been even minorly misunderstood and lead a non-rational person to leave negative feedback. Requiring sellers to give feedback really would cause them to be at the mercy of an irrational Buyer. Believe me there are just as many irrational buyers as there are sellers; this usually comes from not reading the entire description, which I tend to make verbose so there are no misunderstandings...and yet they still occur. I think some suggestions to Ebay are a great idea because it is very true that the current system needs to be revamped.
Ebay is nonetheless very much a Sellers market. Just think about the cost of starting and maintaining a business on Ebay versus a brick and mortar store. Brick and mortar stores require hundereds of thousands for locations and marketing. Ebay requires a computer and a good vocabulary of your item to ensure anyone looking for it can find it. Brick and mortar require continued advertising costs to confirm to customers "yes I am still here, here are my deals", Ebay merely requires constantly having items for sale to keep people coming back for more. Brick and mortar requires utilities of a facility, which are continuing to rise considering; Ebay requires the utilities of a home, or perhaps a storage facility if you get big enough. There are obvious setbacks for Ebayers, they lack the buying power of larger stores, and they have to charge for shipping, but honestly, the number of times I have bought an item brand new for half of what it is in the store is staggering.
In the end, Ebay needs to change some of its administration, but most of these things do not lead to lower revenue for sellers. Just like business in the real world there are great stores and there are crap stores. The great stores offer great service and great prices, the crap stores offer crap service with crap prices. I charge that it is the sellers fault for not making money and not ebay.
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It's just a matter of chance as to whether there's a cop around to see you screw up, and whether or not he wants to write tickets. Just a note...the name for this principle is panopticism...and the man who came up with it was Michel Foucault. It was originally an aspect of jail construction, having one guard see many prisoners, but the prisoners not able to see the guard. They would then feel compelled to behave because they would never truly know when they were being watched.
I have nothing to hide...that is actually a close second in my book to...the government never makes mistakes.
Honestly, this is a pretty interesting point brought up about supply and demand. We just don't have all of the information necessary to judge if this seller is bitter because he isn't lining his pockets by selling video games at more than the market will sustain, or if ebay has in fact been delinquent in their duties. I personally do think that the fraud system needs to be re-examined. I just sold a laptop and had to list it three times before it sold to a legitimate buyer in the United States. The first time I sold it, I noticed the buyer had zero feedback. I did an advanced search and low and behold this guy had created an account and bought four laptops in the span of 24 hours. I contacted each seller and sure enough, each was given the same story about wanting to buy it through paypal and ship it to Nigeria. The process to get an item relisted is frustrating because of the fact that you even have to relist an item. In the end you also are not refunded the initial listing fee, just the other fees. Absolutely frustrating to have to sell items more than once especially items that are time sensitive such as a laptop that becomes more obsolete by the hour. As far as selling strategies, there was a Northwestern Professor that just wrote an article about sucessful strategies for selling. Some of the points included: - Selling items at near nothing ($.01 or $1.00) to generate interest in your item over others to sell them at higher prices. Buyers will invest time and eventually be willing to spend more on your item because they have invested time into tracking the item. This is different than normal face to face sales as if you wanted $100 for an item you would ask $180 instead of $140 and more likely get the $100 you wished. - If your item is a rare item, you should actually start it at a high price to confirm its rarity and keep the most interested bidders interested. I can't agree more that the feedback system needs to be re-evaluated. I cannot count the number of times I have been stuck in stalemate with either a seller or a buyer where neither of us will leave feedback for each other just in case something could have been even minorly misunderstood and lead a non-rational person to leave negative feedback. Requiring sellers to give feedback really would cause them to be at the mercy of an irrational Buyer. Believe me there are just as many irrational buyers as there are sellers; this usually comes from not reading the entire description, which I tend to make verbose so there are no misunderstandings...and yet they still occur. I think some suggestions to Ebay are a great idea because it is very true that the current system needs to be revamped. Ebay is nonetheless very much a Sellers market. Just think about the cost of starting and maintaining a business on Ebay versus a brick and mortar store. Brick and mortar stores require hundereds of thousands for locations and marketing. Ebay requires a computer and a good vocabulary of your item to ensure anyone looking for it can find it. Brick and mortar require continued advertising costs to confirm to customers "yes I am still here, here are my deals", Ebay merely requires constantly having items for sale to keep people coming back for more. Brick and mortar requires utilities of a facility, which are continuing to rise considering; Ebay requires the utilities of a home, or perhaps a storage facility if you get big enough. There are obvious setbacks for Ebayers, they lack the buying power of larger stores, and they have to charge for shipping, but honestly, the number of times I have bought an item brand new for half of what it is in the store is staggering. In the end, Ebay needs to change some of its administration, but most of these things do not lead to lower revenue for sellers. Just like business in the real world there are great stores and there are crap stores. The great stores offer great service and great prices, the crap stores offer crap service with crap prices. I charge that it is the sellers fault for not making money and not ebay.