Other online auction or marketplace sites?

[sunflwrgrl7]

Seeing as how Ebay is changing their pricing structure and some other things as well that is making some people dissatisfied with it, and since Ebay isn't exactly a money maker for certain types of products to begin with, I'm trying to look into other selling venues.

I know of and have heard good things about Etsy and will probably try them out.

Anybody have another other suggestions for venues to look into? For both handcrafted and non-handcrafted stuff?

 

[Guest]

This doesn't have to do with your post much but it's very interesting

http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php

you can see the listings on ebay and other sites go up and down through this.


Are you boycotting with the others?

I closed my store about two weeks ago, and I currently don't have any listings listed because of the boycott.

 

[sunflwrgrl7]

Hey, thanks for the link, I'm going to keep an eye on it! I haven't listed anything on Ebay for the last month because of buying a house and moving (and I just needed to keep things simple, so no ebay), but now that there's a boycott, I'm sure as heck not going to list anything now! So, I guess my participation in the boycott will not really matter that much, but I'm still gonna participate.

I just can't believe the policy changes. I'm tired of what ebay has become anyways, time to move on to something else, at least for a little while!

 

[Guest]

It's affected me a lot. I use to have an ebay store and did quite well with it. But I closed my store about 2 weeks ago or so because of the new feedback rules.

I disagree with them 100%. I do feel that there are buyers who do deserve a negative mark and sometimes even a neutral. I think the rate that people join for the fun of it and buy items and decide they won't pay is going to escalate. And even leave the seller negative feedback as a good joke is going to go up. Because currently a member can get NARU'd but that doesn't mean they can't and won't open a new account. They don't have ISP blocks. (I learned this from the ebay blogs with problem bloggers being mean rude and crude. Ebay would eventually NARU them but they would only be back the next day with a new account. So that's proof enough.)

Not to mention the buyers that already do this, but the number that start doing this is going to increase. But the ones that receive the item, say they weren't happy with it, it was broken, or it wasn't as described but they say they threw out the item and demand a refund or they will leave the seller a negative mark. If the emails are sent through ebay yes ebay can look into them and do something because that is against ebay policy to use feedback the threaten buyers or sellers. But these buyers are smart and do it outside ebay through private email and ebay won't even consider these.

It's a sad day for sellers knowing that the buyers can rate them on the entire transaction, but the seller can't do the same for the buyer. I don't give out many neutral or negative marks very few infact. But there are time when they are needed and necessary. Even when used as a warning for other sellers. And ebay has taken that away from sellers.

I don't know what I will do in regards to ebay. If i will wait for the dust to settle, and reopen my store or not. Or just continue to list a few casual listings. But I specialize in my items so that makes a difference as well. I like to have many choices for my buyers.


But about the new fee change. I'm rather happy with it. I'd rather pay less for items not sold and have a free gallery pict. As a buyer those gallery images are very important so I use them as a seller.

And even with the new FVF they are still lower than selling a handmade craft item at a consignment shop. So people need to remember those things.

I wonder if ebay is trying to get more quality items and less garage sale junk........

 

[sunflwrgrl7]

Well, that's the thing, they are trying to get away from "the world's flea market" and become more of an "online marketplace". It seems what they are trying to do is become more like Amazon.

Yeah, I agree, less cost upfront for listing is a good thing. But, the fee thing actually I have mixed feelings about, cuz I see where this can go in a few years. I think they are eventually going to charge up the wazoo in FVF. And they'll do it slowly, too, so we won't even realize it's happening until it's happened. Right now they are doing the "good news, bad news" routine with us to soften the raise in prices. Maybe that's a little of my conspiracy theorist coming out, but that's what I think.

Now, the things that are bugging me the most are of course the feedback system changes, which are totally unfair to sellers. Not being able to leave neg fb for bad buyers is just unacceptable. I'm like you, I rarely leave a neg, but when I gotta, I gotta. I don't like that an NPB can still give a neg as long as they respond to the unpaid item negotiation, for example. Yeah, like that won't backfire. And that Paypal is going to hold funds for 21 days on some auctions, if they feel they should. And that Ebay is moving toward requiring paypal (I use paypal, but I think sellers should have a choice). Just a bunch of stuff that really makes me feel uneasy. We'll see how it goes, if it weeds out the bad sellers, great, but if it makes it unbearable for the good sellers, not good.

I hope they can do something about bad buyers just signing up under a new name, cuz I know, they've been doing it for years. Had someone bid on my items twice, but under two different usernames (yeah, I KNOW it was the same idiot) - just to ask me to retract their bid, cuz they don't do Paypal (I do Paypal exclusively), cuz Paypal is evil, and I should stop using Paypal too. REALLY? sheesh. Okay, I just realized I was venting a bit, I'll stop now, LOL!