This is exactly the type of bad seller eBay needs to route off the site. NOT.
PowerSeller webarker has been selling jewelry and collectible pocket watches on eBay since March 31st 1999, listing both auctions and in their eBay store. With a feedback score of 34,807 and a total 46,322 transactions on eBay, this seller ranked #2882 on the top eBay sellers ranking table.
PowerSeller webarker had an Average Sale Price of $51.51, monthly statistics show that this seller listed an average of 691 items a month with an incredible sell through rate of 72.65%, Gross Sales averaged almost $26,000 a month. That translates to over $310,000 a year.
PowerSeller webarker no longer has any items for sale on eBay. Not one.
But why you ask? What happened?
PowerSeller webarker got 2 negatives from non paying bidders in June. Bidders who failed to read the Terms of Business. Bidders you might want to put on your blocked bidder list if you are still trying to make a living on eBay.
There comes a point in time when it just is not worth it any more.
UPDATE:
One of the bidders (270241901181) chose to ignore the sellers Terms of Service which stated in big red letters in the listing NO PAYPAL. In my opinion that is like walking into Macys and insisting on paying with Swiss Francs because it is a more stable currency. Macys does not take Swiss Francs in the USA and Webarker should not have to take PayPal if he states that in his listing. He accepts Credit Cards, personal checks and money orders.
Y'all come back
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
AND Another One Bites The Dust UPDATE
Pulling Levers on eBay
There is a whole lotta trading going on. eBay opened at $27.01 this morning down from $27.33 at close last night. Trading has ranged between $26.97 and $27.48 today.
Last year Ina Steiner at AuctionBytes wrote about eBay's slot machine venture. Licensing the eBay name for one-armed bandits was not out of character for former CEO Meg Whitman who was fond of pulling levers as needed to tweak eBay performance at strategic moments.
As eBay's remaining sellers, overwhelmed by the recent avalanche of changes without clear guidelines or implementation dates pull listings for revision to avoid arbitrary suspension, eBay is wildly pulling levers.
Scott Wingo blogged on eBayStrategies last month about "copious couponing" with eBay Bucks plus cash back offers from PayPal and Microsoft's Live search engine. This was followed by a double discount eBay Bucks coupon.
Today UK sellers received notification of a two week 1st July to 15th July 2008 inclusive *one penny per listing* offer from eBay.co.uk, limited to businesses listing in technology categories. Another offering for our brethren across the pond says:
Push the frontiers of your eBay business with this by-invitation-only special for selected sellers. If you’re a verified PayPal user and have never listed in the US, say howdy to the exciting eBay.com marketplace with US$0.10 insertion fees on Auction and Fixed Price listings.
BUY THIS Card!
From the article; First, she realizes she can't control eBay's community of buyers and sellers, because they don't report to her and if they're dissatisfied, they don't have to show up for "work."... Anthony Noto, at Goldman Sachs "The eBay community is a democratic state ... and from Meg "Don't assume you know more than the marketplace or community--because you don't."
As my friend Ed says "Are they feeling the squeeze of the seller exodus?" Seems to me there might be some subtle messages for John Donohoe in those quotes up above.
Y'all come back
Monday, June 30, 2008
eBay Fighting for Consumer Choice?
eBay's time honored defence, 'we are only a venue,' once again cut no ice as a French court today ordered eBay Inc to pay 38.6 million euros ($61 million) to luxury goods group LVMH for allowing the sale of fakes on the site. The verdict directly challenges eBay's argument that it is not directly responsible for what is on its Web site.
The ruling was immediately appealed by eBay. As of this writing I found approximately 2479 Louis Vuitton items listed on eBay.com the US site. Here is one for $4.25 and another 'sure to be genuine' item starting at 99c with $9.50 shipping.
On June 4, another French court ruled against eBay in a case brought against it by luxury goods retailer Hermès over the sale of three Hermès bags, including two fakes, on eBay.fr for a total of 3,000 euros. That court ordered eBay to pay Hermes 20,000 euros ($31,548) I found 2351 Hermes items listed on eBay.com this evening including a wonderful selection of men's pure silk ties starting at 1c...
Still pending in France, the Conseil des Ventes, the group that represents mainstream French auctioneers, has also sued eBay, which it accuses of trying to circumvent laws regulating the auction sector by claiming to be a broker.
French cosmetics company L’Oreal is suing eBay in 5 European countries - Belgium, France, Germany, UK and Spain - for selling counterfeit bottles of perfume. L’Oreal claims they’ve tried to reach an agreement with eBay on this matter, but in the end had no choice but to sue them.
Last year in Germany, Rolex sued eBay claiming that their trademark was infringed upon by eBay customers selling fake Rolex watches on the German Web site, resulting in unfair competition. The German Federal Supreme Court in a judgment published on 19 June 2007, found that although eBay does not aid or abet any trademark infringements of eBay sellers listing goods on its web pages, eBay qualifies as an “intermediary” & is liable as a “contributor” pursuant to German and European trademark law.
Meanwhile back in the USA in 2004, Tiffany & Co. secretly purchased about 200 items from eBay in its investigation of how the company was dealing with the thousands of pieces of counterfeit Tiffany jewelry. The jeweler found that three out of four pieces were fakes. In addition to accusing eBay of facilitating counterfeiting, Tiffany & Co. contends that eBay "charges hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees" for counterfeit sales. A ruling is expected on that lawsuit shortly.
Here is the supreme irony:
eBay spokeswoman Nichola Sharpe said. "If we don't put our foot down now and strongly fight it on behalf of consumers' choice, we'd be letting them down. It's an anticompetitive business practice that will restrict consumer choice."
If you didn't know better you might think she is speaking on behalf of Australian sellers.
Y'all come back
Sunday, June 29, 2008
eBays Abandonment Issues
eBayInkBlog had a post last week about a survey commissioned by PayPal conducted by comScore from March 25 to April 18, 2008. This survey has been previously offered (not by eBayInkBlog) as supporting VP, Seller Experience Dinesh Lathi's statement at the PeSA Summit on April 24th 2008 "The fact of the matter is that free shipping is the standard for eCommerce now. Sellers who want to meet buyer expectations need to aspire to that." 
Uh Huh. eBay have no desire to increase Final Value Fee revenue from shipping and handling costs factored into pricing on 'FREE' shipping. Nope. We sellers all believe in Santa Claus too. Click the image to buy this unusual free standing Christmas card.
Reading the press release it quickly becomes apparent that the survey has nothing to do with eBay, per se. eBay sellers do not have shopping carts on the site. It surveyed online shoppers in the U.S. who recently abandoned the checkout flow on either a large or small merchant Web site.
The survey should be of interest to all eBay sellers who have moved inventory from eBay to stand alone websites as part of their exit strategy. We all know that buyers often have unrealistic expectations of shipping costs. On our own websites the burden of educating buyers falls squarely upon us. I chose to add shipping weight information to each item description together with a separate shipping and return information page.
If all else fails you could try this solution. (Thanks colderICE)
Y'all come back
