Thoughts on eBay changes...

We're getting lots of calls, emails, forum posts, etc. around all of the changes (fee, functionality, policies) that eBay announced over the last weeks culminating with eBay Live.  We're putting together our thoughts and the roadmap for everyone and also working on strategies you can start developing today for your business.

Max Leisten, ChannelAdvisor's MarketplaceAdvisor PM and I will be providing an overview of the changes, our thoughts on how they impact your business and then also any changes to our software that will be coming via a Wednesday webinar.  You can read more and register here.

Even if you aren't a customer, I think you'll find this useful as we'll be covering the details of the changes and how they impact any eBay business.  I hope you're able to attend.

Comments

[Roy]

Where's the webinar sign-up? All I saw was something for pay per click strategies?

[POWERSELLER]

I am a double platinum power seller, which means that I have two platinum (power seller accounts) in ebay. Each selling more than $30k /month. I have enjoyed ebay's freedom and reasonably safe enviroment for the last 5 years. I feel so sorry for ebay now. They are digging their own grave!

One of the most important principels in commerce is freedom (any country, community). eBay changes are making the community into a dictatorship or a communist country. I supposed is because they selected an ex-paypal director as their president. The changes I see are exactly what I would expect in a financial institution to promote safety (BTE paypal obligated me to raise shipping prices due to anti-seller security measurements).

Ebay has forgotten of their partners (power-sellers), and is trying to attract more buyers by becoming a "safer" community, tackling the bad reputation on shiping costs, and other problems -- They are doing it the wrong way! If I were an investor I would do a put on their stock because it will sink very soon. Although the changes were very positive for me (because of my feedback and best match), they do not allow me to grow my business and therefore, I am looking into other channels like amazon or eBid. The biggest problem is lack of equality between sellers and buyers under the new ebay. Long gone are the times, when ebay was the only selling channel in the internet. Now it is easier than ever to have your own webstore, and compared to 12% average sales fees on ebay PLUS listing fees, which along with the other transaction fees become around 35% on the cost of the product making my ROI very bad compare to amazon who only charge 8% that would be close to 15% on the cost of product (because there is no listing fees). This makes ebay a less attractive place for bargain shoppers, that is what ebay has. They are smart and will soon realize that ebay is more expensive than other players. On ebay I can only make as much as they do, if I make 20% they make 30%, it I make 32% they make 35%, only if I make 40%, they make less than I make (36%). But as you can imagine, I am more interested in passing those savings to my buyers because we compete also agaist the non-internet retailers and all the other internet channels.

Ebay made another huge mistake, they are trying to push Buy It Now items to make the purchase flow faster through their new best match. First this takes all the fun out of ebay, making the ebay experience disappear on the buyer's mind, they are not getting the best deal because it is not starting price. On the sellers mind (who will start posting more and more BIN), the customer could be paying a lot more for it. This is a lose lose situation, since buyers will now see ebay as an awkward platform, with losts of rip-offs instead of the fun hunt for low and win experience. I say awkward because the platform was never designed for a shopping cart type site. eBay express was an attempt but still falls short and carries ebay's name (a branding desaste). Allow me to explain: Under best match the flexibility and equality of the site are gone. No single seller has the answer for every question (no matter how good the algorithm is made). Which means that they will keep doing things their way )(the old way soon), and there is nothing ebay can do but observe their product portafolio become obsolete. There is no way a new player can come and take advantage of the same visibility than their huge competitors in a plain level field. It is back to the old route of over the hill before you can even enter the market (sharper image should have stayed in business a little longer lol).

I am runing out of time, but I definetely see ebay going down down down...

Get your own conclusions!