The "wtf are eBay doing to themselves" thread

[Tirian]

OK, so this is just a bit of rant. But is every single change that eBay have instituted over the last year or two specifically designed to make it harder to use as a place to conduct inter-personal sales?

The latest wheeze: making it actually completely impossible to obtain any contact details for the person you are buying from. It used to be that when you won an item, you would get the seller's email address in the "You've won .." email. Not any more. Even if for some reason you couldn't find that email, you used to be able to enter their ebay ID and the item number that you had won on a form on the site, and you could get contact details sent to you. Not any more, it seems.

I just won a game from a guy on eBay Germany. I use Auctionchex to send payments to European sellers, because it cuts a big chunk of the typical SWIFT transfer fee - but I need the seller's email address to set it up - and now, for GOD KNOWS WHAT reason, eBay have taken it upon themselves to make it completely impossible for me to do that.

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

Yeah what they're actually doing is forcing u to use Paypal.


I've got so many issues with ebay at the mo that I dont think I've got the time to list them all.

All I'll say is this: 1 day another auction site will come along offering fair trading rules & better prices, & when that day comes ebay will suffer due to their idiotic & almost smug way of conducting business

[importaku]

Err cant you use the "ask the seller a question" on the auction you won & just ask for his email that way?

[Gruce]

Put my first few items on Amazon Marketplace today. Would have used ebay but sick of the fees, and all the hassle with paypal, feedback, late paying buyers etc. I just want someone to buy it, pay and I send it them. I know Amazon still charge a fee, hopefully I make a sale with this system.

[Ginger Tosser]

1 day another auction site will come along offering fair trading rules & better prices, & when that day comes ebay will suffer due to their idiotic & almost smug way of conducting business

GoogleAuctions?

Hope so

[Oldgamingfart]

GoogleAuctions?

Hope so

I hope so too. I think they're the only ones out there who've got the balls to take on eBay.

[Cauterize]

GoogleAuctions?

Hope so

Give it six months

[Tirian]

Yeah what they're actually doing is forcing u to use Paypal.

Would happily use Paypal mate, but most German sellers don't accept it.

[Tirian]

GoogleAuctions?

Hope so

Doubt it. I would love it to happen, but I really doubt it will. Google already make a ton of money from online auctions, without actually having to run any - i.e. from eBay's advertising. eBay are one of Google's biggest advertising clients - and it would make no financial sense for Google to relinquish that guaranteed income stream in order to plough loads of money into trying to chip into a market that's already pretty much sewn up.

Ebay already flexed their muscles on this, when Google introduced Checkout - they pulled all their ads from Google for a week or so. Just as a kind of 'shot across the bows'. You'll notice that Google Checkout is not (and never will be) an eBay approved payment method.

It sucks, but it's true. My biggest hope at the moment is that eBay bust themselves and the whole online auction space opens up again, and they get replaced by something entirely different. Also unlikely - but I am so p***** off with eBay now that it's honestly my preferred outcome.

Oh, and I believe eBay bots attempt to remove email addresses if you try putting them in messages that go through their system. So yes, they're truly screwing me over on this one. Most irritating of all, the "Request contact details" link is still there on the site (albeit buried in the back of beyond in the deepest darkest depths of the site map) - but it just doesn't do anything now. You fill in all the details, click the button and .... nothing.

Arseholes.

[Ouenben]

Was the final sale value fee always 10% for games? bloody ridiculous

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Nope.

I remember when I started it was 5p to list a £5 game, plus pittance as a final value fee.

These days you list something for £5 it's 20p to list, 10% final value fee, paypal fees and then you're not allowed to charge for postage so after everything you come out with between £2.50-£3 depending on whether you send the item first or second class.

[EvilBoris]

and if you are sending something that isn't just a DVD in a case then you have to get absolutely screwed for postage because you aren't able to specify a higher amount

[Kron]

All I'll say is this: 1 day another auction site will come along offering fair trading rules & better prices

This has already happened numerous times but people don't bother using them. If people desperately need a name to associate with and are relying on a company like Google then nothing is going to change.

[Mayhem]

And given eBay are one of Google's biggest ad sponsors, I don't think that's going to happen soon. Especially when Google Checkout was started and eBay threw a hissy fit, banned it as a payment method and pulled ads for a week...

[Darwock]

In Japan it's Yahoo Auctions that rule the roost and eBay has never been heard of. They are far fairer too, as you'd expect without the paypal double-dip method that eBay use to get our money.

Not sure why Yahoo don't have the same oomph overseas but I suppose the fact is that everybody thinks of eBay first.. and people want to auction their stuff where everybody will think to look. That makes it damn hard for any other auction site to get a foothold.