Is E-bay Diminishing Rapidly?

[Ian Dewhirst]

I had a look @ E-Bay tonight for the first time in a few months and was surprised at the relatively small amount of records that are on there now as opposed to, say, 12 months ago.

Also I didn't see much action on there in terms of bids - I presume this is because everyone snipes at the last minute.

I checked a few genres, did a few different searches and noticed the same throughout - it looks like a ghost town compared to a few years ago.

So is E-Bay diminisihing at a massive rate or is just my imagination? Looks like it's dropped off a cliff to me........

Ian D

[boba]

I had a look @ E-Bay tonight for the first time in a few months and was surprised at the relatively small amount of records that are on there now as opposed to, say, 12 months ago.

Also I didn't see much action on there in terms of bids - I presume this is because everyone snipes at the last minute.

I checked a few genres, did a few different searches and noticed the same throughout - it looks like a ghost town compared to a few years ago.

So is E-Bay diminisihing at a massive rate or is just my imagination? Looks like it's dropped off a cliff to me........

Ian D

it's always slow in january / feburary

[Sean Hampsey]

25,000+ on there.... using 'Soul' as a search term in 'Records'.

How many do you want to look through on a Wednesday evening?

Reckon you got spoiled by all those US warehouses, Ian.

Sean

[Jim Elliott]

God, I never seem to have any trouble finding records on there.

Paying for the little ba4%rds is another matter however.

Jim

[Stuart Bower]

And also the economic situation around the world could be a factor. But the internet is a law unto itself anyway but you`d expect people who have fallen on hard times because of the recession to be selling items and bargains would be there to be had. But I think Mr Dewhirst is correct-this doesn`t seem to be happening. What`s everyone else`s take on this?

[Dave Fleming]

No,too many records on there but not enough money to buy them

Dave f...........

[Guest john s]

The search settings have changed in the last few months as well, so you may not be seeing everything...

[Sean Hampsey]

The search settings have changed in the last few months as well, so you may not be seeing everything...

Don't tell him.

[Ian Dewhirst]

25,000+ on there.... using 'Soul' as a search term in 'Records'.

How many do you want to look through on a Wednesday evening?

Reckon you got spoiled by all those US warehouses, Ian.

Sean

Wednesday evening's EXACTLY the time to look through 'em! Bugger all else happening this end......

I've never done an analysis but I reckon there's 75% less items than there was this time last year. Maybe not so much on the Northern front but in most other areas.

Also I get the impression that most dance people and loads of buyers and sellers have now moved to Discogs. It could be the fact that on E-Bay you have to pay the fees whether you sell or not whereas it's easier to list on Discogs (circa 30 seconds as opposed to 6 minutes on E-Bay) and you only pay when you actually sell an item on Discogs. Anybody agree?

And yep. It's difficult to get excited about the O'Jay's "I'll Never Forget You" for £125.00 when I used to swim in 'em LOL......

Ian D

[Ian Dewhirst]

The search settings have changed in the last few months as well, so you may not be seeing everything...

Nah, I know all the ramps but I sometimes lack the patience to go through 'em all........

Ian D

[Girthdevon]

Wednesday evening's EXACTLY the time to look through 'em! Bugger all else happening this end......

I've never done an analysis but I reckon there's 75% less items than there was this time last year. Maybe not so much on the Northern front but in most other areas.

Also I get the impression that most dance people and loads of buyers and sellers have now moved to Discogs. It could be the fact that on E-Bay you have to pay the fees whether you sell or not whereas it's easier to list on Discogs (circa 30 seconds as opposed to 6 minutes on E-Bay) and you only pay when you actually sell an item on Discogs. Anybody agree?

And yep. It's difficult to get excited about the O'Jay's "I'll Never Forget You" for £125.00 when I used to swim in 'em LOL......

Ian D

I'd say that was spot on Ian. Up until the middle of last year my average Ebay fees were between £150-£250 a month - occasionally topping £300 when I had nearly all my listed stock up on BIN.........

Even before the Ebay shop fee structure changed I was already listing more & more on Discogs and now I have nothing on Ebay and approx 4000 items listed on Discogs.....my takings are around the same but my Discogs fees have been around half what I was used to with Ebay. Its a no brainer really !!!! I sell dance, house, disco, rap, hi-nrg through discogs, and my Gemm sales have increased in the last couple of months too. Good soul stuff is currently not so easy to sell on discogs, so I'm going to start doing monthly soul lists again - starting this week with a bunch of LPs - they'll be up in sales on here later this afternoon.......

I know a few who have gone the same way as me - Ebay IMO got very greedy in a financial climate that wasn't going to stand for it......i'll only use them now for selling anything but records and CDs.......

Girf

[paultp]

I'd say that was spot on Ian. Up until the middle of last year my average Ebay fees were between £150-£250 a month - occasionally topping £300 when I had nearly all my listed stock up on BIN.........

Even before the Ebay shop fee structure changed I was already listing more & more on Discogs and now I have nothing on Ebay and approx 4000 items listed on Discogs.....my takings are around the same but my Discogs fees have been around half what I was used to with Ebay. Its a no brainer really !!!! I sell dance, house, disco, rap, hi-nrg through discogs, and my Gemm sales have increased in the last couple of months too. Good soul stuff is currently not so easy to sell on discogs, so I'm going to start doing monthly soul lists again - starting this week with a bunch of LPs - they'll be up in sales on here later this afternoon.......

I know a few who have gone the same way as me - Ebay IMO got very greedy in a financial climate that wasn't going to stand for it......i'll only use them now for selling anything but records and CDs.......

Girf

I only sell small-time to fund my record buying but stopped selling on ebay due to the hike in fees for occasional sellers (I did the math on another thread).

These high fees have also caused the disappearance from ebay US of what use to be a regular thing - people listing a few records they found in their attic for a few dollars. The fees (including paypal) are just prohibitive so these end up being sold locally to US dealers (see 2. below).

A few other things have affected ebay IMHO:

1. The cheaper end of the NS record market has pretty much died - £10, £20 & £30 classics do not sell any more (well not for more than a fiver anyway). I used to be able to buy stuff at this level off ebay US and sell on ebay UK at a profit, not anymore due to the fees and low selling prices.

2. US sellers are not generally listing records at low start prices anymore, common stuff starts at $29.99 or $49.99 and anything that has been remotely in-demand over the last 5 years is commonly listed at twice book price (thus attracting no bids).

3. On the subject of book price - price guides have seen US dealers with ebay shops listing things at price guide prices cos they don't know any better. A falling dollar now makes these records far too expensive for the UK market.

4. Ebay UK is awash with bootlegs - some recently made, some from the 70's, some listed "honestly" as re-issues, others not (either through ignorance or dishonesty). Wading through this rubbish trying to find a decent record and/or a bargain is just not worth it anymore.

I don't want to moan too much cos I've had a lot of good records (bargains and otherwise) off ebay but they have changed their own market from a place where individuals could sell relatively cheaply to a market place biased towards dealers who will use the ebay shop facility. I think that this has taken the online car boot sale element out of it, which was actually the key to its success.

... or maybe they are running out of records in the US?

[Ian Dewhirst]

I'd say that was spot on Ian. Up until the middle of last year my average Ebay fees were between £150-£250 a month - occasionally topping £300 when I had nearly all my listed stock up on BIN.........

Even before the Ebay shop fee structure changed I was already listing more & more on Discogs and now I have nothing on Ebay and approx 4000 items listed on Discogs.....my takings are around the same but my Discogs fees have been around half what I was used to with Ebay. Its a no brainer really !!!! I sell dance, house, disco, rap, hi-nrg through discogs, and my Gemm sales have increased in the last couple of months too. Good soul stuff is currently not so easy to sell on discogs, so I'm going to start doing monthly soul lists again - starting this week with a bunch of LPs - they'll be up in sales on here later this afternoon.......

I know a few who have gone the same way as me - Ebay IMO got very greedy in a financial climate that wasn't going to stand for it......i'll only use them now for selling anything but records and CDs.......

Girf

Hi Girth,

Yep, I've noticed that a lot of the Soul stuff doesn't move so fast on Discogs but the Disco/Jazz-Funk/Dance/House gear moves at a fair old clip. E-Bay seems horribly clunky compared to Discogs and I just get the feeling that now that there's some serious competition people are less-inclined to put up with E-Bay's practises.

I just put up a few hundred albums on Discogs and predictably it's the more recent stuff which seems to sell. However, when you can list several hundred items in a day without fees it makes it worthwhile having 'em up there as there's always a good drip-feed of sales. I reckon E-Bay obviously has the edge on the higher-ticket items but Discogs is just so easy to use. Hopefully the Soul stuff will increase over time as more people load discover Discogs and more people load earlier items into the database.......

And as we speak I just sold a Carl Cox album and an early Grace Jones LOL.......

Ian D

Edited February 5, 2009 by Ian Dewhirst

[Premium Stuff]

I only sell small-time to fund my record buying but stopped selling on ebay due to the hike in fees for occasional sellers (I did the math on another thread).

These high fees have also caused the disappearance from ebay US of what use to be a regular thing - people listing a few records they found in their attic for a few dollars. The fees (including paypal) are just prohibitive so these end up being sold locally to US dealers (see 2. below).

A few other things have affected ebay IMHO:

1. The cheaper end of the NS record market has pretty much died - £10, £20 & £30 classics do not sell any more (well not for more than a fiver anyway). I used to be able to buy stuff at this level off ebay US and sell on ebay UK at a profit, not anymore due to the fees and low selling prices.

2. US sellers are not generally listing records at low start prices anymore, common stuff starts at $29.99 or $49.99 and anything that has been remotely in-demand over the last 5 years is commonly listed at twice book price (thus attracting no bids).

3. On the subject of book price - price guides have seen US dealers with ebay shops listing things at price guide prices cos they don't know any better. A falling dollar now makes these records far too expensive for the UK market.

4. Ebay UK is awash with bootlegs - some recently made, some from the 70's, some listed "honestly" as re-issues, others not (either through ignorance or dishonesty). Wading through this rubbish trying to find a decent record and/or a bargain is just not worth it anymore.

I don't want to moan too much cos I've had a lot of good records (bargains and otherwise) off ebay but they have changed their own market from a place where individuals could sell relatively cheaply to a market place biased towards dealers who will use the ebay shop facility. I think that this has taken the online car boot sale element out of it, which was actually the key to its success.

... or maybe they are running out of records in the US?

Great analysis - spot on!

Richard

[Pete S]

I only sell small-time to fund my record buying but stopped selling on ebay due to the hike in fees for occasional sellers (I did the math on another thread).

These high fees have also caused the disappearance from ebay US of what use to be a regular thing - people listing a few records they found in their attic for a few dollars. The fees (including paypal) are just prohibitive so these end up being sold locally to US dealers (see 2. below).

A few other things have affected ebay IMHO:

1. The cheaper end of the NS record market has pretty much died - £10, £20 & £30 classics do not sell any more (well not for more than a fiver anyway). I used to be able to buy stuff at this level off ebay US and sell on ebay UK at a profit, not anymore due to the fees and low selling prices.

2. US sellers are not generally listing records at low start prices anymore, common stuff starts at $29.99 or $49.99 and anything that has been remotely in-demand over the last 5 years is commonly listed at twice book price (thus attracting no bids).

3. On the subject of book price - price guides have seen US dealers with ebay shops listing things at price guide prices cos they don't know any better. A falling dollar now makes these records far too expensive for the UK market.

4. Ebay UK is awash with bootlegs - some recently made, some from the 70's, some listed "honestly" as re-issues, others not (either through ignorance or dishonesty). Wading through this rubbish trying to find a decent record and/or a bargain is just not worth it anymore.

I don't want to moan too much cos I've had a lot of good records (bargains and otherwise) off ebay but they have changed their own market from a place where individuals could sell relatively cheaply to a market place biased towards dealers who will use the ebay shop facility. I think that this has taken the online car boot sale element out of it, which was actually the key to its success.

... or maybe they are running out of records in the US?

Paul is 100% right, especially about the move to shop...Ebay wants to become more like Amazon and push out the small time sellers. The new management keep shooting themselves in the foot and shareholders are unhappy at the loss of profit.

[Ian Dewhirst]

I only sell small-time to fund my record buying but stopped selling on ebay due to the hike in fees for occasional sellers (I did the math on another thread).

These high fees have also caused the disappearance from ebay US of what use to be a regular thing - people listing a few records they found in their attic for a few dollars. The fees (including paypal) are just prohibitive so these end up being sold locally to US dealers (see 2. below).

A few other things have affected ebay IMHO:

1. The cheaper end of the NS record market has pretty much died - £10, £20 & £30 classics do not sell any more (well not for more than a fiver anyway). I used to be able to buy stuff at this level off ebay US and sell on ebay UK at a profit, not anymore due to the fees and low selling prices.

2. US sellers are not generally listing records at low start prices anymore, common stuff starts at $29.99 or $49.99 and anything that has been remotely in-demand over the last 5 years is commonly listed at twice book price (thus attracting no bids).

3. On the subject of book price - price guides have seen US dealers with ebay shops listing things at price guide prices cos they don't know any better. A falling dollar now makes these records far too expensive for the UK market.

4. Ebay UK is awash with bootlegs - some recently made, some from the 70's, some listed "honestly" as re-issues, others not (either through ignorance or dishonesty). Wading through this rubbish trying to find a decent record and/or a bargain is just not worth it anymore.

I don't want to moan too much cos I've had a lot of good records (bargains and otherwise) off ebay but they have changed their own market from a place where individuals could sell relatively cheaply to a market place biased towards dealers who will use the ebay shop facility. I think that this has taken the online car boot sale element out of it, which was actually the key to its success.

... or maybe they are running out of records in the US?

Bang on Paul. A perfect analysis!

I've heard so many complaints about their change in policy putting sellers off that I've lost count. And you're dead right about 'em losing the 'incidental listers' - that was what made E-Bay fun in the old days but now it seems full of a lot of mediocre records from power-sellers that are too pricy!

Ian D

[Girthdevon]

Getting away from Ebay has also highlighted just how automated their system is - removing virtually any personal touch that you can have with a customer. Discogs is still not perfect but I enjoy the swapping of messages about orders and the chance to converse, recommend & the feedback you get. I've had a few customers visit me and i've gained access to a couple of lots of records - things like this disappeared when Ebay were my primary sales........

What have I sold this week...S'Express, Bronski Beat, Keith Sweat, Jazzmatazz, Andrea - Macho Man , a Chapter 8 45, C&C Music Factory, Lama 12" (rare europop), Prince, Slave LP, Norman Connors LP.......the list goes on !!!!!

Girf

Hi Girth,

Yep, I've noticed that a lot of the Soul stuff doesn't move so fast on Discogs but the Disco/Jazz-Funk/Dance/House gear moves at a fair old clip. E-Bay seems horribly clunky compared to Discogs and I just get the feeling that now that there's some serious competition people are less-inclined to put up with E-Bay's practises.

I just put up a few hundred albums on Discogs and predictably it's the more recent stuff which seems to sell. However, when you can list several hundred items in a day without fees it makes it worthwhile having 'em up there as there's always a good drip-feed of sales. I reckon E-Bay obviously has the edge on the higher-ticket items but Discogs is just so easy to use. Hopefully the Soul stuff will increase over time as more people load discover Discogs and more people load earlier items into the database.......

And as we speak I just sold a Carl Cox album and an early Grace Jones LOL.......

Ian D

[Guest john s]

I've never listed anything on Discogs, but it's been really useful for picking stuff up cheap to sell on ebay.

[Roger Williams]

What have I sold this week...S'Express, Bronski Beat,Andrea - Macho Man, Prince

Times must be hard if you're selling your playbox stuff.

[Girthdevon]

Times must be hard if you're selling your playbox stuff.

Thats just the good stuff........wait til I get to the dregs

[Mikevague]

And also the economic situation around the world could be a factor. But the internet is a law unto itself anyway but you`d expect people who have fallen on hard times because of the recession to be selling items and bargains would be there to be had. But I think Mr Dewhirst is correct-this doesn`t seem to be happening. What`s everyone else`s take on this?

Here comes ENRON, part 2.

This is an email I received recently. If you know how stocks and shares work, this will all make sense. Plain EVIL.

Here goes...

I found this on another site posted by Anonymous. It was posted on the seller central discussion board 5/4/08 by someone who claims to be inside eBay management... this post was pulled by eBay moments later. Note: When you see them saying "I" that's not the admin of this site, it's the author of the post.

I posted this at the feedback forum at eBay but it was killed by staff less than a minute later. I should have known. My ID will be toast soon anyway. This was the only other place I thought where my statement might have an impact. Do with it what you will. After Chicago, my only desire is to be heard.

There will be those who will not believe me and I sympathize. I wish the facts were fiction but to deny what I know would be to live in a fairyland of make-believe. I understand that the bulk of this "manifesto" reveals a plot so against the spirit of eBay that it will be dismissed as lie. So be it. I cannot force the world to accept it. All I can do is state the truth as I know it and leave it to you and to your common sense and experience to judge.

The deck is stacked against me. Aside from the natural resistance to believe I know that the boards are stocked with eBay's tools. Their goal will be to discredit me. I will be accused of being a "disgruntled", "paranoid", and "emotional" seller. Their words will be specially chosen for effect. That is part of the function of the tools and I am not fazed by it. However, to protect my own identity within the corporation, I cannot be too specific lest the details single me out to the powers that be.

What I intend to reveal is common knowledge to many in the management division behind the scenes.

By the way, the tools are not only the mouthpieces that promote the policies. The psychological tactics employed by the powers that be are far deeper and grander than that. The subtlety of the method is remarkable. The tools come in a wide range of flavors with their own, individual "characteristic" rhetoric. From those who are "for" the policy - and spread various degrees of hostility toward the sellers - to those who are "against" the change - and spread panic and further the divide with the buyers. Both serve the same exact purpose: a manipulation designed to remove the more involved and savvy small to large sellers who will not fit into eBay's future business plan.

First, let me correct the record regarding the concept of sellers extorting positive feedback. While the violation was known to happen, the activity amounted to less than a tenth of a percent of the yearly transactions. Further, it involved sellers whose feedback percentages were below 80%. The absolute majority of sellers did not engage in such practices. Nevertheless, the powers that be could not resist the fact that promoting this notion of feedback extortion as a wide-spread phenomenon would be the perfect cover with which to hide the true intentions of the policy.

The powers that be want to transform eBay into an overstock warehouse venue. A kind of outlet store for the internet much like a cheaper and streamlined version of Amazon. From a strictly business point of view, given the size of eBay and the growing costs of doing business, it makes a certain kind of sense to shift gears. Think about it: when eBay started, sellers were about rare and unique items but here and now the majority of items are common, used counterparts of what can be found new online at retail sites. Truly rare and unique items are sold at real auctions; the "stuff in your attic" isn't glamorous enough and won't keep eBay afloat any longer.

The trend away from the rare and unique to the big box retailer is not new. Several years ago the powers that be noticed that the big "powersellers" were simply listing items that existed in their retail stores or inventories. Thus the concept of "buy it now", "best offer", and "eBay stores" were created. It was the nascent stage of the plan yet to be. Little by little, without the population noticing, the mechanisms required to replicate the average retail storefront were already in place - and with its rise came the slow, steady downfall of the auction format.

Yet outright pursuit of a retail venue would have led to a major problem that at the time could not have been surmounted. The vast majority of people, on and off line, know eBay as precisely the place for auctions of rare and unique items. The sellers and buyers held onto that perception too but in truth their opinion even involvement in new and improved version of eBay is irrelevant by a certain Machiavellian calculation made by the powers that be. As part of the plan, eBay calculated thus: even if they lost the sellers as part of the change, the buyers will be coming back to buy regardless of who or what operated within the retail-outlet venue.

No, it was the stock holders who the powers that be feared.

Only the stockholders had the power to change the direction set forth by the CEO and the board. So it became imperative to change the equation. Part of the plan is to devalue the stock gradually so that investors merely dumped the stock as opposed to wanting managerial change ala Yahoo. Then to buy back the stock at lower cost and to such a volume that no rebellion against the powers that be were possible.

By the end of July that phase of the plan will be successful and there est of the plan will be revealed without fear of backlash from those who otherwise would have had the power to pull eBay back from the brink. Indeed, if you believe the current changes are obvious signals that small sellers are not wanted - be prepared - you have seen nothing yet.

So far what have they done? All they have managed to do is silence a seller's ability to warn others about buyers (half of the purpose behind the original idea of feedback), burden you with higher and higher fees, dangle "treats" like discounts while setting the bar of eligibility so high that the rewards cannot be reached. and, by the way PayPal deals with "complaints" leave you vulnerable to fraud. What if worse was yet to come?

They know if you do not feel safe that you will not use eBay. The changes that have been enacted only eliminates the small sellers. Meanwhile they want to eradicate the mid-sized seller too. And they want to ensure that both do not return.

For the mid-sized seller the DSR became the tool of choice. The powers that be raised the level of what is a good seller artificially high. No manipulation is required; they know exactly the effect of the policy. This is why buyers are told that 4 is a good score and sellers are told that 4.9 yields discounts and higher listing placements. As long as that fractured point of view exists, eBay does not need to interfere with the DSR as has been suggested, the buyers will be killing the sellers naturally.

By August there will be no pretense and the intentions of the new and improved eBay will be clear. The following is only a partial list of the rules that will be imposed. It comes from a memo that circulated within my corner of the managerial department the week before Chicago. I cannot be too specific about certain items and I cannot reveal details of the latest additions without endangering my anonymity.

1. Neutrals will be converted to negatives complete with red icons and reduced feedback scores. Afterward neutrals will not be offered as a choice of feedback.

2. The entire process of feedback will be automated. Buyers and sellers will chose standard feedback from a list. For sellers this operation will be performed automatically upon the buyer winning. For buyers there will be an extra free line with which to add a few comments about the seller without restriction to content. Replies will not be allowed.

3. The implementation of a stricter rules regarding shipping. From the boxes, packing, labels and tapes to where you can buy postage. Orders have been placed for prototypes of "eBay" boxes. UPS and FedEx will be instructed not to accept "eBay" merchandise if it's not inside "eBay" boxing. They will know, of course, because when sellers buy the "eBay" postage from the "eBay" source, a detailed list of contents with item numbers will be available to the shippers upon scanning a bar code. As for those who continue to use USPS, another level of quality control will be implemented - buyers will be asked, upon confirmation of delivery, if the seller used "eBay" standard shipping items. Naturally, no verification of the buyer's truthfulness will be attempted, and continued 'infractions' will result in suspension. eBay will have other ways to check if a seller is not using the "eBay" equipment - as they will be required to buy at cost the supplies immediately after items are listed. (This is such a large scale operation behind the scenes that I feel comfortable sharing as much of it as I know.)

4. Sales taxes will be included automatically; shipping cost and sales taxes will be used to determined FVF.

5. Item descriptions will be "standardized" with templates which include the posting of a new, universal return policy. Only yearly subscribers to the retail-outlet venue can opt out of these universal return policies but even they cannot alter the template structures being devised.

6. Strikes against buyers will be eliminated as the whole concept of a buyer and bidding will be altered. FVF will be calculated when payment is submitted.

7. Time to Close will be eliminated entirely. Best Match will be the non-alterable default. Best Match is a system that caters to the needs of shoppers not bidders.

8. Placement within Best Match will be determined by several factors, the most important of which will be the extra display features added onto the listing.

9. DSRs can be removed by retailers and powersellers who pay a certain yearly fee.

10. The end play itself which consists of four phases:

a) the main focus shifts to retail sellers whose fees are on a per listing basis

stores will be replaced by a classified section, fees will be based on yearly subscriptions and FVFs

c) occasional auctions will be conducted for unique items (celebrity auctions, items that have been featured on the news, etc.)

d) total elimination of auctions for regular sellers.

From the point of view of eBay's agenda to change gears these alteration make sense. The powers that be want to turn eBay into a retail venue format. Therefore the "buyer" must be changed - bidding and commitments to buy are part of the past. In a retail venue, the item is either in your cart or not and you only commit to buy when you pay at checkout. The seller is also redefined in the way they will be required to do business. They will be forced to copy the methods of retail stores.

The goal is to become Amazon Lite. Unlike Amazon the merchandise will be stocked by the retailers in their warehouses, eBay will be just an electronic centralized venue for outlet sale - a "trusted" name with a wide customer base and popular name recognition.

That is the future and as I write this I know that it cannot be stopped. There are no investors with enough clout and will to challenge the CEO. Stock holders will simply walk away. eBay will not sink, however, it will be exactly in the position its rulers intend it to be at.

Sellers, my advice is simple. You are not wanted. Leave. If you stay, you will be crushed. Leave. Go away. You cannot win.

I am sorry because for too long I have been a complicit tool behind the scenes. I was part of those teams and think tanks that spearheaded many of the "innovations" you know very well and which will be used to destroy you. I know I will not be believed. I will be mocked and ridiculed by the tools and even those who are real, actual people will be hesitant to accept what I have to say. What has been done to this community, the plots and schemes hatched in meetings and across memos, is far, far worse to endure within my soul than any treatment I will receive at the hands of the tools by posting this. You do not know how much they hate you. It is my conscience that I want to clear going forward. Again I apologize. There should have been a better way for the powers that be to effect the change they wanted for eBay - instead they succumbed to cloak and dagger deception.

RIP eBay

WOW! I think he/she hit the nail right on the head

Someone bombed ebay! Found this here. Is ebay losing? One business writer says yes. Ebay gets hit with another suit over billing. Ebay's SquareDeal Scam! Deceives ebay users into thinking they are protected, but in fact, it's deceptive on purpose! They only pay up to $1000 per seller, not buyer or item!

&ltSCRIPT> //<!-- num=Math.round(Math.random() * (10000000 - 1)); document.write("&ltA HREF='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_url.cgi?num="+num+"' TARGET='_top'>\n"); document.write("&ltIMG BORDER=0 SRC='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_img.cgi?size=468x60&ampnum="+num+"' ALT='BannerWeb'>"); //--> &ltNOSCRIPT> &ltA HREF='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_url.cgi?num=777' TARGET='_top'> &ltIMG BORDER=0 SRC='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_img.cgi?size=468x60&ampnum=777' ALT='BannerWeb'>

73% of Tiffany items sold on ebay are fakes! So Tiffany is suing ebay.

BigBrother is spelled "e-B-a-y"

"We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told his listeners. "When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site," he adds. He says he receives about 200 such requests a month, most of them unofficial requests in the form of an email or fax.

The meaning is clear. One fax to eBay from a lawman - police investigator, NSA, FBI or CIA employee, National Park ranger, or anyone claiming to be, and eBay sends back the user's full name, email address, home address, mailing address, home telephone number, name of company where seller is employed and user nickname. What's more, eBay will send the history of items he has browsed, feedbacks received, bids he has made, prices he has paid, and even messages sent in the site's various discussion groups. Read the full article here Another: eBay is not only "The World's Online Marketplace" but the world's online snitch!

More information you should know about ebay's auction site.

Now make up your mind.....

[Mikevague]

Here comes ENRON, part 2.

This is an email I received recently. If you know how stocks and shares work, this will all make sense. Plain EVIL.

Here goes...

I found this on another site posted by Anonymous. It was posted on the seller central discussion board 5/4/08 by someone who claims to be inside eBay management... this post was pulled by eBay moments later. Note: When you see them saying "I" that's not the admin of this site, it's the author of the post.

I posted this at the feedback forum at eBay but it was killed by staff less than a minute later. I should have known. My ID will be toast soon anyway. This was the only other place I thought where my statement might have an impact. Do with it what you will. After Chicago, my only desire is to be heard.

There will be those who will not believe me and I sympathize. I wish the facts were fiction but to deny what I know would be to live in a fairyland of make-believe. I understand that the bulk of this "manifesto" reveals a plot so against the spirit of eBay that it will be dismissed as lie. So be it. I cannot force the world to accept it. All I can do is state the truth as I know it and leave it to you and to your common sense and experience to judge.

The deck is stacked against me. Aside from the natural resistance to believe I know that the boards are stocked with eBay's tools. Their goal will be to discredit me. I will be accused of being a "disgruntled", "paranoid", and "emotional" seller. Their words will be specially chosen for effect. That is part of the function of the tools and I am not fazed by it. However, to protect my own identity within the corporation, I cannot be too specific lest the details single me out to the powers that be.

What I intend to reveal is common knowledge to many in the management division behind the scenes.

By the way, the tools are not only the mouthpieces that promote the policies. The psychological tactics employed by the powers that be are far deeper and grander than that. The subtlety of the method is remarkable. The tools come in a wide range of flavors with their own, individual "characteristic" rhetoric. From those who are "for" the policy - and spread various degrees of hostility toward the sellers - to those who are "against" the change - and spread panic and further the divide with the buyers. Both serve the same exact purpose: a manipulation designed to remove the more involved and savvy small to large sellers who will not fit into eBay's future business plan.

First, let me correct the record regarding the concept of sellers extorting positive feedback. While the violation was known to happen, the activity amounted to less than a tenth of a percent of the yearly transactions. Further, it involved sellers whose feedback percentages were below 80%. The absolute majority of sellers did not engage in such practices. Nevertheless, the powers that be could not resist the fact that promoting this notion of feedback extortion as a wide-spread phenomenon would be the perfect cover with which to hide the true intentions of the policy.

The powers that be want to transform eBay into an overstock warehouse venue. A kind of outlet store for the internet much like a cheaper and streamlined version of Amazon. From a strictly business point of view, given the size of eBay and the growing costs of doing business, it makes a certain kind of sense to shift gears. Think about it: when eBay started, sellers were about rare and unique items but here and now the majority of items are common, used counterparts of what can be found new online at retail sites. Truly rare and unique items are sold at real auctions; the "stuff in your attic" isn't glamorous enough and won't keep eBay afloat any longer.

The trend away from the rare and unique to the big box retailer is not new. Several years ago the powers that be noticed that the big "powersellers" were simply listing items that existed in their retail stores or inventories. Thus the concept of "buy it now", "best offer", and "eBay stores" were created. It was the nascent stage of the plan yet to be. Little by little, without the population noticing, the mechanisms required to replicate the average retail storefront were already in place - and with its rise came the slow, steady downfall of the auction format.

Yet outright pursuit of a retail venue would have led to a major problem that at the time could not have been surmounted. The vast majority of people, on and off line, know eBay as precisely the place for auctions of rare and unique items. The sellers and buyers held onto that perception too but in truth their opinion even involvement in new and improved version of eBay is irrelevant by a certain Machiavellian calculation made by the powers that be. As part of the plan, eBay calculated thus: even if they lost the sellers as part of the change, the buyers will be coming back to buy regardless of who or what operated within the retail-outlet venue.

No, it was the stock holders who the powers that be feared.

Only the stockholders had the power to change the direction set forth by the CEO and the board. So it became imperative to change the equation. Part of the plan is to devalue the stock gradually so that investors merely dumped the stock as opposed to wanting managerial change ala Yahoo. Then to buy back the stock at lower cost and to such a volume that no rebellion against the powers that be were possible.

By the end of July that phase of the plan will be successful and there est of the plan will be revealed without fear of backlash from those who otherwise would have had the power to pull eBay back from the brink. Indeed, if you believe the current changes are obvious signals that small sellers are not wanted - be prepared - you have seen nothing yet.

So far what have they done? All they have managed to do is silence a seller's ability to warn others about buyers (half of the purpose behind the original idea of feedback), burden you with higher and higher fees, dangle "treats" like discounts while setting the bar of eligibility so high that the rewards cannot be reached. and, by the way PayPal deals with "complaints" leave you vulnerable to fraud. What if worse was yet to come?

They know if you do not feel safe that you will not use eBay. The changes that have been enacted only eliminates the small sellers. Meanwhile they want to eradicate the mid-sized seller too. And they want to ensure that both do not return.

For the mid-sized seller the DSR became the tool of choice. The powers that be raised the level of what is a good seller artificially high. No manipulation is required; they know exactly the effect of the policy. This is why buyers are told that 4 is a good score and sellers are told that 4.9 yields discounts and higher listing placements. As long as that fractured point of view exists, eBay does not need to interfere with the DSR as has been suggested, the buyers will be killing the sellers naturally.

By August there will be no pretense and the intentions of the new and improved eBay will be clear. The following is only a partial list of the rules that will be imposed. It comes from a memo that circulated within my corner of the managerial department the week before Chicago. I cannot be too specific about certain items and I cannot reveal details of the latest additions without endangering my anonymity.

1. Neutrals will be converted to negatives complete with red icons and reduced feedback scores. Afterward neutrals will not be offered as a choice of feedback.

2. The entire process of feedback will be automated. Buyers and sellers will chose standard feedback from a list. For sellers this operation will be performed automatically upon the buyer winning. For buyers there will be an extra free line with which to add a few comments about the seller without restriction to content. Replies will not be allowed.

3. The implementation of a stricter rules regarding shipping. From the boxes, packing, labels and tapes to where you can buy postage. Orders have been placed for prototypes of "eBay" boxes. UPS and FedEx will be instructed not to accept "eBay" merchandise if it's not inside "eBay" boxing. They will know, of course, because when sellers buy the "eBay" postage from the "eBay" source, a detailed list of contents with item numbers will be available to the shippers upon scanning a bar code. As for those who continue to use USPS, another level of quality control will be implemented - buyers will be asked, upon confirmation of delivery, if the seller used "eBay" standard shipping items. Naturally, no verification of the buyer's truthfulness will be attempted, and continued 'infractions' will result in suspension. eBay will have other ways to check if a seller is not using the "eBay" equipment - as they will be required to buy at cost the supplies immediately after items are listed. (This is such a large scale operation behind the scenes that I feel comfortable sharing as much of it as I know.)

4. Sales taxes will be included automatically; shipping cost and sales taxes will be used to determined FVF.

5. Item descriptions will be "standardized" with templates which include the posting of a new, universal return policy. Only yearly subscribers to the retail-outlet venue can opt out of these universal return policies but even they cannot alter the template structures being devised.

6. Strikes against buyers will be eliminated as the whole concept of a buyer and bidding will be altered. FVF will be calculated when payment is submitted.

7. Time to Close will be eliminated entirely. Best Match will be the non-alterable default. Best Match is a system that caters to the needs of shoppers not bidders.

8. Placement within Best Match will be determined by several factors, the most important of which will be the extra display features added onto the listing.

9. DSRs can be removed by retailers and powersellers who pay a certain yearly fee.

10. The end play itself which consists of four phases:

a) the main focus shifts to retail sellers whose fees are on a per listing basis

stores will be replaced by a classified section, fees will be based on yearly subscriptions and FVFs

c) occasional auctions will be conducted for unique items (celebrity auctions, items that have been featured on the news, etc.)

d) total elimination of auctions for regular sellers.

From the point of view of eBay's agenda to change gears these alteration make sense. The powers that be want to turn eBay into a retail venue format. Therefore the "buyer" must be changed - bidding and commitments to buy are part of the past. In a retail venue, the item is either in your cart or not and you only commit to buy when you pay at checkout. The seller is also redefined in the way they will be required to do business. They will be forced to copy the methods of retail stores.

The goal is to become Amazon Lite. Unlike Amazon the merchandise will be stocked by the retailers in their warehouses, eBay will be just an electronic centralized venue for outlet sale - a "trusted" name with a wide customer base and popular name recognition.

That is the future and as I write this I know that it cannot be stopped. There are no investors with enough clout and will to challenge the CEO. Stock holders will simply walk away. eBay will not sink, however, it will be exactly in the position its rulers intend it to be at.

Sellers, my advice is simple. You are not wanted. Leave. If you stay, you will be crushed. Leave. Go away. You cannot win.

I am sorry because for too long I have been a complicit tool behind the scenes. I was part of those teams and think tanks that spearheaded many of the "innovations" you know very well and which will be used to destroy you. I know I will not be believed. I will be mocked and ridiculed by the tools and even those who are real, actual people will be hesitant to accept what I have to say. What has been done to this community, the plots and schemes hatched in meetings and across memos, is far, far worse to endure within my soul than any treatment I will receive at the hands of the tools by posting this. You do not know how much they hate you. It is my conscience that I want to clear going forward. Again I apologize. There should have been a better way for the powers that be to effect the change they wanted for eBay - instead they succumbed to cloak and dagger deception.

RIP eBay

WOW! I think he/she hit the nail right on the head

Someone bombed ebay! Found this here. Is ebay losing? One business writer says yes. Ebay gets hit with another suit over billing. Ebay's SquareDeal Scam! Deceives ebay users into thinking they are protected, but in fact, it's deceptive on purpose! They only pay up to $1000 per seller, not buyer or item!

&ltSCRIPT> //<!-- num=Math.round(Math.random() * (10000000 - 1)); document.write("&ltA HREF='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_url.cgi?num="+num+"' TARGET='_top'>\n"); document.write("&ltIMG BORDER=0 SRC='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_img.cgi?size=468x60&ampnum="+num+"' ALT='BannerWeb'>"); //--> &ltNOSCRIPT> &ltA HREF='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_url.cgi?num=777' TARGET='_top'> &ltIMG BORDER=0 SRC='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_img.cgi?size=468x60&ampnum=777' ALT='BannerWeb'>

73% of Tiffany items sold on ebay are fakes! So Tiffany is suing ebay.

BigBrother is spelled "e-B-a-y"

"We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told his listeners. "When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site," he adds. He says he receives about 200 such requests a month, most of them unofficial requests in the form of an email or fax.

The meaning is clear. One fax to eBay from a lawman - police investigator, NSA, FBI or CIA employee, National Park ranger, or anyone claiming to be, and eBay sends back the user's full name, email address, home address, mailing address, home telephone number, name of company where seller is employed and user nickname. What's more, eBay will send the history of items he has browsed, feedbacks received, bids he has made, prices he has paid, and even messages sent in the site's various discussion groups. Read the full article here Another: eBay is not only "The World's Online Marketplace" but the world's online snitch!

More information you should know about ebay's auction site.

Now make up your mind.....

[Agent45]

I guess this is as reasonable a time to ask as any. I've brought this up before here but never really gotten any straight reply. Why did Soulbid (I think that's what the site is/was called) never really catch on? The site didn't seem to be 100% fluid and as easy to use as eBay, but clearly, an alternative is wanted by the masses. If I was either skilled enough to do it myself or had the money to invest in somebody else to build it, I certainly would. But there has been an alternative available that never really got used.

[Pete S]

I guess this is as reasonable a time to ask as any. I've brought this up before here but never really gotten any straight reply. Why did Soulbid (I think that's what the site is/was called) never really catch on? The site didn't seem to be 100% fluid and as easy to use as eBay, but clearly, an alternative is wanted by the masses. If I was either skilled enough to do it myself or had the money to invest in somebody else to build it, I certainly would. But there has been an alternative available that never really got used.

Just the typical lack of interest from people really - a great idea but not supported by the masses, and I know I'm as guilty as anyone for that

[Ian Dewhirst]

Phew!

I just thought they were selling a lot less rekids!

They're probably watching me through my computer as I type th...............

[boba]

Here comes ENRON, part 2.

This is an email I received recently. If you know how stocks and shares work, this will all make sense. Plain EVIL.

Here goes...

I found this on another site posted by Anonymous. It was posted on the seller central discussion board 5/4/08 by someone who claims to be inside eBay management... this post was pulled by eBay moments later. Note: When you see them saying "I" that's not the admin of this site, it's the author of the post.

I posted this at the feedback forum at eBay but it was killed by staff less than a minute later. I should have known. My ID will be toast soon anyway. This was the only other place I thought where my statement might have an impact. Do with it what you will. After Chicago, my only desire is to be heard.

There will be those who will not believe me and I sympathize. I wish the facts were fiction but to deny what I know would be to live in a fairyland of make-believe. I understand that the bulk of this "manifesto" reveals a plot so against the spirit of eBay that it will be dismissed as lie. So be it. I cannot force the world to accept it. All I can do is state the truth as I know it and leave it to you and to your common sense and experience to judge.

The deck is stacked against me. Aside from the natural resistance to believe I know that the boards are stocked with eBay's tools. Their goal will be to discredit me. I will be accused of being a "disgruntled", "paranoid", and "emotional" seller. Their words will be specially chosen for effect. That is part of the function of the tools and I am not fazed by it. However, to protect my own identity within the corporation, I cannot be too specific lest the details single me out to the powers that be.

What I intend to reveal is common knowledge to many in the management division behind the scenes.

By the way, the tools are not only the mouthpieces that promote the policies. The psychological tactics employed by the powers that be are far deeper and grander than that. The subtlety of the method is remarkable. The tools come in a wide range of flavors with their own, individual "characteristic" rhetoric. From those who are "for" the policy - and spread various degrees of hostility toward the sellers - to those who are "against" the change - and spread panic and further the divide with the buyers. Both serve the same exact purpose: a manipulation designed to remove the more involved and savvy small to large sellers who will not fit into eBay's future business plan.

First, let me correct the record regarding the concept of sellers extorting positive feedback. While the violation was known to happen, the activity amounted to less than a tenth of a percent of the yearly transactions. Further, it involved sellers whose feedback percentages were below 80%. The absolute majority of sellers did not engage in such practices. Nevertheless, the powers that be could not resist the fact that promoting this notion of feedback extortion as a wide-spread phenomenon would be the perfect cover with which to hide the true intentions of the policy.

The powers that be want to transform eBay into an overstock warehouse venue. A kind of outlet store for the internet much like a cheaper and streamlined version of Amazon. From a strictly business point of view, given the size of eBay and the growing costs of doing business, it makes a certain kind of sense to shift gears. Think about it: when eBay started, sellers were about rare and unique items but here and now the majority of items are common, used counterparts of what can be found new online at retail sites. Truly rare and unique items are sold at real auctions; the "stuff in your attic" isn't glamorous enough and won't keep eBay afloat any longer.

The trend away from the rare and unique to the big box retailer is not new. Several years ago the powers that be noticed that the big "powersellers" were simply listing items that existed in their retail stores or inventories. Thus the concept of "buy it now", "best offer", and "eBay stores" were created. It was the nascent stage of the plan yet to be. Little by little, without the population noticing, the mechanisms required to replicate the average retail storefront were already in place - and with its rise came the slow, steady downfall of the auction format.

Yet outright pursuit of a retail venue would have led to a major problem that at the time could not have been surmounted. The vast majority of people, on and off line, know eBay as precisely the place for auctions of rare and unique items. The sellers and buyers held onto that perception too but in truth their opinion even involvement in new and improved version of eBay is irrelevant by a certain Machiavellian calculation made by the powers that be. As part of the plan, eBay calculated thus: even if they lost the sellers as part of the change, the buyers will be coming back to buy regardless of who or what operated within the retail-outlet venue.

No, it was the stock holders who the powers that be feared.

Only the stockholders had the power to change the direction set forth by the CEO and the board. So it became imperative to change the equation. Part of the plan is to devalue the stock gradually so that investors merely dumped the stock as opposed to wanting managerial change ala Yahoo. Then to buy back the stock at lower cost and to such a volume that no rebellion against the powers that be were possible.

By the end of July that phase of the plan will be successful and there est of the plan will be revealed without fear of backlash from those who otherwise would have had the power to pull eBay back from the brink. Indeed, if you believe the current changes are obvious signals that small sellers are not wanted - be prepared - you have seen nothing yet.

So far what have they done? All they have managed to do is silence a seller's ability to warn others about buyers (half of the purpose behind the original idea of feedback), burden you with higher and higher fees, dangle "treats" like discounts while setting the bar of eligibility so high that the rewards cannot be reached. and, by the way PayPal deals with "complaints" leave you vulnerable to fraud. What if worse was yet to come?

They know if you do not feel safe that you will not use eBay. The changes that have been enacted only eliminates the small sellers. Meanwhile they want to eradicate the mid-sized seller too. And they want to ensure that both do not return.

For the mid-sized seller the DSR became the tool of choice. The powers that be raised the level of what is a good seller artificially high. No manipulation is required; they know exactly the effect of the policy. This is why buyers are told that 4 is a good score and sellers are told that 4.9 yields discounts and higher listing placements. As long as that fractured point of view exists, eBay does not need to interfere with the DSR as has been suggested, the buyers will be killing the sellers naturally.

By August there will be no pretense and the intentions of the new and improved eBay will be clear. The following is only a partial list of the rules that will be imposed. It comes from a memo that circulated within my corner of the managerial department the week before Chicago. I cannot be too specific about certain items and I cannot reveal details of the latest additions without endangering my anonymity.

1. Neutrals will be converted to negatives complete with red icons and reduced feedback scores. Afterward neutrals will not be offered as a choice of feedback.

2. The entire process of feedback will be automated. Buyers and sellers will chose standard feedback from a list. For sellers this operation will be performed automatically upon the buyer winning. For buyers there will be an extra free line with which to add a few comments about the seller without restriction to content. Replies will not be allowed.

3. The implementation of a stricter rules regarding shipping. From the boxes, packing, labels and tapes to where you can buy postage. Orders have been placed for prototypes of "eBay" boxes. UPS and FedEx will be instructed not to accept "eBay" merchandise if it's not inside "eBay" boxing. They will know, of course, because when sellers buy the "eBay" postage from the "eBay" source, a detailed list of contents with item numbers will be available to the shippers upon scanning a bar code. As for those who continue to use USPS, another level of quality control will be implemented - buyers will be asked, upon confirmation of delivery, if the seller used "eBay" standard shipping items. Naturally, no verification of the buyer's truthfulness will be attempted, and continued 'infractions' will result in suspension. eBay will have other ways to check if a seller is not using the "eBay" equipment - as they will be required to buy at cost the supplies immediately after items are listed. (This is such a large scale operation behind the scenes that I feel comfortable sharing as much of it as I know.)

4. Sales taxes will be included automatically; shipping cost and sales taxes will be used to determined FVF.

5. Item descriptions will be "standardized" with templates which include the posting of a new, universal return policy. Only yearly subscribers to the retail-outlet venue can opt out of these universal return policies but even they cannot alter the template structures being devised.

6. Strikes against buyers will be eliminated as the whole concept of a buyer and bidding will be altered. FVF will be calculated when payment is submitted.

7. Time to Close will be eliminated entirely. Best Match will be the non-alterable default. Best Match is a system that caters to the needs of shoppers not bidders.

8. Placement within Best Match will be determined by several factors, the most important of which will be the extra display features added onto the listing.

9. DSRs can be removed by retailers and powersellers who pay a certain yearly fee.

10. The end play itself which consists of four phases:

a) the main focus shifts to retail sellers whose fees are on a per listing basis

stores will be replaced by a classified section, fees will be based on yearly subscriptions and FVFs

c) occasional auctions will be conducted for unique items (celebrity auctions, items that have been featured on the news, etc.)

d) total elimination of auctions for regular sellers.

From the point of view of eBay's agenda to change gears these alteration make sense. The powers that be want to turn eBay into a retail venue format. Therefore the "buyer" must be changed - bidding and commitments to buy are part of the past. In a retail venue, the item is either in your cart or not and you only commit to buy when you pay at checkout. The seller is also redefined in the way they will be required to do business. They will be forced to copy the methods of retail stores.

The goal is to become Amazon Lite. Unlike Amazon the merchandise will be stocked by the retailers in their warehouses, eBay will be just an electronic centralized venue for outlet sale - a "trusted" name with a wide customer base and popular name recognition.

That is the future and as I write this I know that it cannot be stopped. There are no investors with enough clout and will to challenge the CEO. Stock holders will simply walk away. eBay will not sink, however, it will be exactly in the position its rulers intend it to be at.

Sellers, my advice is simple. You are not wanted. Leave. If you stay, you will be crushed. Leave. Go away. You cannot win.

I am sorry because for too long I have been a complicit tool behind the scenes. I was part of those teams and think tanks that spearheaded many of the "innovations" you know very well and which will be used to destroy you. I know I will not be believed. I will be mocked and ridiculed by the tools and even those who are real, actual people will be hesitant to accept what I have to say. What has been done to this community, the plots and schemes hatched in meetings and across memos, is far, far worse to endure within my soul than any treatment I will receive at the hands of the tools by posting this. You do not know how much they hate you. It is my conscience that I want to clear going forward. Again I apologize. There should have been a better way for the powers that be to effect the change they wanted for eBay - instead they succumbed to cloak and dagger deception.

RIP eBay

WOW! I think he/she hit the nail right on the head

Someone bombed ebay! Found this here. Is ebay losing? One business writer says yes. Ebay gets hit with another suit over billing. Ebay's SquareDeal Scam! Deceives ebay users into thinking they are protected, but in fact, it's deceptive on purpose! They only pay up to $1000 per seller, not buyer or item!

&ltSCRIPT> //<!-- num=Math.round(Math.random() * (10000000 - 1)); document.write("&ltA HREF='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_url.cgi?num="+num+"' TARGET='_top'>\n"); document.write("&ltIMG BORDER=0 SRC='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_img.cgi?size=468x60&ampnum="+num+"' ALT='BannerWeb'>"); //--> &ltNOSCRIPT> &ltA HREF='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_url.cgi?num=777' TARGET='_top'> &ltIMG BORDER=0 SRC='https://bannertesting.com/cgi-bin/ban_img.cgi?size=468x60&ampnum=777' ALT='BannerWeb'>

73% of Tiffany items sold on ebay are fakes! So Tiffany is suing ebay.

BigBrother is spelled "e-B-a-y"

"We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told his listeners. "When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site," he adds. He says he receives about 200 such requests a month, most of them unofficial requests in the form of an email or fax.

The meaning is clear. One fax to eBay from a lawman - police investigator, NSA, FBI or CIA employee, National Park ranger, or anyone claiming to be, and eBay sends back the user's full name, email address, home address, mailing address, home telephone number, name of company where seller is employed and user nickname. What's more, eBay will send the history of items he has browsed, feedbacks received, bids he has made, prices he has paid, and even messages sent in the site's various discussion groups. Read the full article here Another: eBay is not only "The World's Online Marketplace" but the world's online snitch!

More information you should know about ebay's auction site.

Now make up your mind.....

while some of the above is clearly paranoia, what's crazy / interesting to me is how they build the entire new my ebay, 'beta tested' it for months if not longer, and it's still totally broken and barely usable. like really basic features. for example, everyone complained about not being able to choose number of items displayed in the search. after like half a year they added a dropdown to select it. but IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING AND IT'S NOT IN BETA ANYMORE. A lot of my ebay is totally horrible and broken. They either don't care about the functionality anymore or they reason that they're such a big site that it doesn't matter because you will use it anyways.

[paultp]

I guess this is as reasonable a time to ask as any. I've brought this up before here but never really gotten any straight reply. Why did Soulbid (I think that's what the site is/was called) never really catch on? The site didn't seem to be 100% fluid and as easy to use as eBay, but clearly, an alternative is wanted by the masses. If I was either skilled enough to do it myself or had the money to invest in somebody else to build it, I certainly would. But there has been an alternative available that never really got used.

I think mainly because it was too niche and, at the time, ebay was better and reached a bigger market. The attraction of auctioning a record is getting the best price which at one time was not too difficult on ebay.

Ebay became a global market for everything and a lot of niche collectors markets rode on the back of that. Whereas soulbid would never have got enough traffic and revenue to make it global which unfortunately reduced its impact.

I think that for something to compete with ebay now, it needs to be sophisticated enough for a lot of people to take it up in a short time. That would take a lot of cash initially and there isn't much about a the mo.

Cheers

Paul

[Guest]

I've never listed anything on Discogs, but it's been really useful for picking stuff up cheap to sell on ebay.

I rarely list on ebay - just classical lps these days. On the other hand i buy job lots of vinyl on ebay to sell on Discogs

Derek

[Guest]

It can't "diminish" rapidly enough for me - tumbling profits and smug, misplaced confidence seem to have become the order of the day on that place - the rest of the world is catching up, it seems...it's now just a meeting place for thieves and scammers - ebay are ill-prepared to protect people's rights and the world is voting with it's feet - as I've said since a very early time - FCUK EBAY.........

Pure greed......MRez

[hrtshpdbox]

A falling dollar now makes these records far too expensive for the UK market.

A falling dollar makes records less expensive for the UK market, you get more dollars per pound.

[Dave Moore]

A falling dollar makes records less expensive for the UK market, you get more dollars per pound.

I think Paul meant that with the amount you get for a UKP falling. Buying 45s from the States is now a good, 25% at least, more expensive than this time last year if the asking prices are the same as last year.

[hrtshpdbox]

I think Paul meant that with the amount you get for a UKP falling. Buying 45s from the States is now a good, 25% at least, more expensive than this time last year if the asking prices are the same as last year.

Yes, exactly right, if you look at it longer term; a year ago it cost an American $1.96 to get a British pound, today it costs $1.46; so the dollar has strengthened by almost exactly 25% versus the pound during that period.

Ebay has certainly made a lot of mistakes, screwed a lot of sellers, and tried to move away from the collectibles market towards a "retailer outlet" style of business. Nevertheless, if someone has a truly great record to sell, and they're primarily interested in getting the highest possible price for it - I think they're still going to be listing it on Ebay. It's also not completely impossible for Ebay to see some of the error of their ways and actually improve going forward (I think, for instance, that they're already realizing that the "no negative feedback for buyers" policy isn't an unalloyed success).

I think it's probably difficult to quantify (or qualify) the nature of sales from one period to another - it's seemed to me that for quite some time there's been 50,000 or so 45s on sale on Ebay at any given time. I'm sure there's other measures of this, but this page, when set to "completed" auctions, shows the 40 highest completed Ebay record sales in the previous week. Last week had a "Salt & Pepper" for 3,300 dollars, a Moments for 1,777 and a Jimmy Delphs for 1,632 dollars.

Edited February 5, 2009 by hrtshpdbox

[Kidinquisitive]

I haven't noticed any truly major changes on ebay with regards to the number of titles being listed nor the end prices. Obviously it has fallen off a bit over the last year or so, but it would truly be bizarre if it hadn't, given the shifts in currency values and the macroeconomic downturns. I would guess record prices are down something like 15-20 percent.

Totally unscientific guess though.

If you stick to buying from established dealers then ebay is as good a place as anywhere else online to buy records.

[kevinsoulman]

i buy off both tazbar and online auction, im sure with a bit of promotion they could be as good as ebay used to be, dont know what they charge must look into the selling side of them .

kev

[Guest]

Good subject - as a smaller user of ebay I have kept with it mostly for the convenience using it combined with paypal - kinda lazy but then again I have had 2 occasions (2 out of 2 so 100% success rate) when ebay/paypal have refunded me the purchase price due to problems with the record not arriving (not dirt cheap records either). So whilst, like many others, I am not a great fan of ebay these days, I have some confidence in the back up process.

On the downside, the greed factor is starting to stand out beyond the enjoyment I used to have in using ebay. Plus as someone said earlier, so many records listed as buy-it-now - 60% of 20,000 on my US search preference - same % on UK. I have now started to search on ''auctions only'' as I am fed up of searching through pages and pages of buy-it-now non-bargain listings. And of the 40% that are left, I would guess at least half are listed at a price the seller wants to sell for rather than the fun and madness of the traditional ebay auction.

As a relatively new member to Soul Source I have delved into buying records on here with at little nervousness at first - but so far so good - not a single problem. One factor is that here I just don't know who I am buying from and there is no track record for me to refer to - so it's a little harder to check out the sellers credentials but still possible to get an idea with some checking of previous posts and stuff. In general I find that I get better prices on the lower end of the market (<£50) by using ebay as you can still get many bargains, and better results on higher priced items on Soul Source as these are generally listed as buy-it-now on ebay or if listed for auction are they are at high starting prices - no fun !

I haven't used Discdogs before but will now give it a look to see how it manages the process.

Probably like many other smaller collectors, I used to be 100% ebay - but not any more.

Mark.

[Mark Bicknell]

Reckon my record mountain theory is still part of the problem, masses of records in the market place and unless they are the hot tunes or indemand then it don't matter how rare they are they won't sell or certainly not for the top prices, not the case with all records but a large percentage, I used to play the Ebay game but not listed any sales on there for ages, I'm gonna get back to getting out there with a sales box lol

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

[paultp]

Another annoyance with ebay US at the moment is the sheer amount of listings from Craig Moerer - all buy it now at double the going rate.

If you looked at ebay from highest price down you used to get to the realistic stuff on page 2 or 3 but his listings sometimes take up a whole page (200!). I have to do auctions only to enjoy a good trawl.

I can't believe he sells anything but the most indemand stuff at his silly prices.

[Roger Williams]

Another annoyance with ebay US at the moment is the sheer amount of listings from Craig Moerer - all buy it now at double the going rate.

If you looked at ebay from highest price down you used to get to the realistic stuff on page 2 or 3 but his listings sometimes take up a whole page (200!). I have to do auctions only to enjoy a good trawl.

I can't believe he sells anything but the most indemand stuff at his silly prices.

This character takes the piss big time as well:

https://shop.ebay.co....id=p3911.c0.m14

£600 for a Cool Notes CD!!!

[Kris Holmes]

Another annoyance with ebay US at the moment is the sheer amount of listings from Craig Moerer - all buy it now at double the going rate.

If you looked at ebay from highest price down you used to get to the realistic stuff on page 2 or 3 but his listings sometimes take up a whole page (200!). I have to do auctions only to enjoy a good trawl.

I can't believe he sells anything but the most indemand stuff at his silly prices.

I actually don't mind paying a bit more to Craig for certain things because I am confident of his grading, fast shipping & bulletproof mailers. Peace of mind has a price. Taking a gamble on some other sellers version of VG+ or Ex just to save a few dollars has led to enough major disappointment/hassle in the past for me to be thankful that Craig does what he does. I have a list of 20+ sellers I trust on ebay & usually will just buy from them, Craig Moerer is on that list. No complaints about him or his stock from me.

[George G]

Another annoyance with ebay US at the moment is the sheer amount of listings from Craig Moerer - all buy it now at double the going rate.

If you looked at ebay from highest price down you used to get to the realistic stuff on page 2 or 3 but his listings sometimes take up a whole page (200!). I have to do auctions only to enjoy a good trawl.

I can't believe he sells anything but the most indemand stuff at his silly prices.

You can remove sellers from the search from the advanced search page. I have a complicated search setup that saves me 30-45 minutes a day. You can save pages with different search options in your browser and use them once every few days or whenever.