Entries Tagged 'eBay News and Talk' ↓

It appears one of my 5 predictions may be coming true already. As Randy Smythe mentions, it could be that eBay is already moving toward a single listing page with multiple sellers on that page, similar to Half.com and similar (once again) to Amazon.

eBay's recent announcement may pave the way for this. If it happens, it will get harder and harder to list an item without a bar code or some identifier that allows eBay to categorize it. Could it be that, in the end, the only category left for unique items is the Collectibles category? Could the Collectibles category become "eBay Classic"?

Read the full announcement from eBay on the changes here.

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I hope you have your agenda completed for eBay Live! in Chicago. I'll be speaking each day and hope you'll attend my classes and introduce yourself. Here's my schedule:

Picking a Niche and Pricing for Profit Thursday, 12:30 to 2:00 PM
I'll be presenting this along with Lisa Suttora from WhatDoISell.com, and former Director of Community and Education for Doba, Mikal Belicove.
Here's the description:

eBay sellers often wonder what they should sell, and how to sell it for a profit. Knowing the answers to these two questions is vital to the success of every online retailer. In this seminar, you will learn how to answer these questions for themselves as we share tips and techniques employed by top-selling eBay sellers and successful online businesses worldwide. Specifically, you'll learn: How to pick a profitable specialty niche, how to increase the passion for their online business, why we might see a "retail" price cheaper than "wholesale" and why creative marketing is more important than competitive pricing.

Blog to Boost Your Business on eBay
Mikal Belicove and I presented this last year to a packed room. We've freshened it up for this year and will present it twice. Friday, 1:00 - 2:30 PM and Saturday, 3:00 - 4:30 PM.
Here is what we'll cover the blogging seminar:

Stay competitive in the packed world of e-commerce. Blogging provides you with a marketing medium like no other stage, where you can demonstrate your passion for products and commitment to your customers. Here, learn how to implement a blog in your marketing programs. After attending this session, you will be able to add the personal touch that's missing from a majority of buyer-seller transactions, boost your credibility and find that competitive edge you need to take your eBay business to the next level.

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eBay Live! 2008 is upon us and I feel right at home. I grew up just across Lake Michigan from the city of Chicago and I thought I'd share my personal favorite restaurants for attendees. These Chicago eateries on on my "must visit" list during Live!

Heaven on Seven
111 North Wabash, 7th Floor
If you like hot food, this place is for you. The walls are covered from floor to ceiling with every type of hot sauce you can imagine. The food is really good too. It really may be the "Best Louisiana Cookin' Outside of New Orleans". They are only open for dinner on the third Friday of each month, so it will be open for eBay Live!

Gino's East
633 N. Wells St.
There are a lot of places that make Chicago deep dish pizza. In my humble opinion, Gino's East is the best, and you can write on the walls. You probably won't be able to eat more than one or two pieces of this pizza, and you'll be too full to walk. It's great.

In the neighborhood...
East of Gino's East, is the original Pizzeria Uno along with Pizzeria Duo which was built when Pizzeria Uno was getting too full. Many say this is the best deep-dish pizza, and it's the original deep-dish. Your choice of course. There is also a "Rock and Roll McDonalds" in case you can't afford the Hard Rock.

Boston Blackies
120 South Riverside Plaza in the Loop
This one is new for me. A friend recommended it and says the hamburgers are the best. Maybe I'll see you there.

Weber Grill Retaurant
539 N. State Street
If you think you're the bomb with a grill - you need to try this place. It has a huge Weber grill attached to the corner of the building that is visible for a block. And the coolest thing is your dinner is cooked by pros on Weber charcoal grills. It's a lot of fun.

For a $pecial night out...

The Chicago Firehouse
1401 S Michigan Ave

This one is pretty close to McCormick Place and is a real nice restaurant. It's in an old (go figure) firehouse. The steaks and chicken are great, and they have a great, well-stocked bar. I had an old scotch there and thought about the history of the place. Expensive, but I liked it.

Hope this helps during your eBay Live! visit - or any visit to Chicago. There is so much to choose from in Chicago it can be paralyzing to begin. I have actually been to these places (except Blackies) and I can vouch for them. Maybe I'll see you there.

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A few things are rising to the top in all the discussion of eBay's plans for the future. I suspect many will be announced at eBay Live! next week. Stephanie Tilineus, eBay's GM of North America said at the ChannelAdvisor Catalyst conference earlier this year that the eBay of today will be "unrecognizable" with the eBay a year from now. What will it take to accomplish that?

#1 - NEW Fixed-price Only - No Auctions

Ms. Tilineus also said eBay want's to move to a more "retail-like experience". Auctions are a lot of work for eBay. There are a lot of people monitoring them, enforcing rules, and fixing VeRO problems. The auctions invite more layers for scammers to get involved.

eBay says fixed-price listings will surpass auction style listings this year for the first time. That's not surprising since eBay has slanted things toward the fixed-price format. So were auctions really dying on their own? Or did eBay kill them?

In any case, the "split-screen" fixed-price / auction format won't last - the auction is being pushed out.

The Sourcing Pavillion - New for 2008

For the first time, eBay Live! will have a "Sourcing Pavilion". The registration materials say, "Find the hottest products, secure the best pricing, and boost your sales! Visit the ASD/AMD Sourcing Pavilion and discover how leading sourcing companies can increase your profits."

There are currently 17 exhibitors signed up to appear in the pavilion.

If the emphasis is on selling new fixed-price items, what better way to get sellers on board than a bunch of people offering new merchandise for them to sell?

More Control by eBay

Rather than going back to the "old eBay" or "eBay Classic" as my friend Randy Smythe likes to call it, eBay will begin exercising more control over sellers.

#2 - Controlling how sellers get paid

• They'll do this by requiring PayPal. If they cannot legally do that, they will make it painful for sellers to use anything else.
• eBay will then shift the responsibility of handling disputes solely to PayPal

#3 - Controlling shipping

• Just like Amazon, eBay will step in and offer a shipping credit, or in some other way standardize and control the shipping amount sellers can charge.

#4 - Standardized Listing Formats

• I believe the days of creative descriptions and individualism on eBay are nearly over. With the prohibition of links -even in About Me pages - eBay is setting that up. They will move to a one-size-fits-all description format and away from the homey kitchen table feel.

#5 - eBay Fees

I think the other thing that will change in a major way, and will save eBay a lot in expenses and bad PR is a change in the way people pay to list. Right now there are dozens of fees for every little thing in a listing. eBay will simplify everything with an Amazon-like monthly fee, free listings, and a back-end commission when an item sells. Just watch.

eBay Live! still has the logo "The Power of all of us." displayed on the website. I used to think that included me and my fellow sellers and buyers - I'm thinking now though that "us" is a more exclusive group...within the walls of eBay HQ.

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Another one bites the dust

Posted using ShareThis

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Back in 2001 eBay handed out a few little goodies to their employees. This book marker was one of them. The same day, we also received a book called "for the people". Full of stories from happy eBay sellers as well as a page from Pierre Omidyar, eBay's founder.

In light of recent events at eBay, I wonder if they feel they are holding to the "core purpose" and their "vision for the future"? Have they earned the title of "a global economic democracy"? Or have they abandoned these ideas? I think it's interesting how much these ideas lean toward the seller, and that eBay is a marketplace.

They have gotten so involved in the transaction now that these ideas seem like ancient history. I remember years ago when they agonized over whether to allow Nazi items on the site. It was so agonizing because they were making a moral judgment after demanding to be recognized as "just a venue". If sellers and buyers had a problem back then, eBay's line was typically that it's between those two parties and eBay could not get involved. "We just provide the marketplace."

I also found it interesting in Pierre's page of the book he mentions the member "experience".

A member's experience wasn't dependent on their interaction with us, but more on how they interacted with on another.

Seems that interaction is becoming more and more difficult, because eBay keeps getting in the way. Pierre goes on to say,

I was thrust into the role of communicating the values I believed in, and setting the tone for those interactions. That's actually where the core values for the company come from - basic ideas about people treating each other fairly and equally, respecting individuality, believing that everyone has something to contribute, and trusting that an honest and open environment can bring out the best in people.

eBay as we knew it is over. They have become strangely paranoid. Disallowing links to the outside world, trying to control sellers with smoke and mirror discounts based on shipping charges, and rumors of a PayPal only policy.

Does that sound like a global economic democracy? I did a search for a list of all the countries in the world on Wikipedia, then I looked for the ones that felt they had to tell the world they are a "democracy" by putting in their country's name. Here's a short list:

• Algeria - People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
• East Timor - Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
• North Korea - Democratic People's Republic of Korea
• Laos - Lao People's Democratic Republic
• Western Sahara - Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

Not surprisingly, these countries are not known as bastions of freedom.

Then there's one that is no longer around. They clamped down on people who tried to stay connected with the outside world. They even shot their own citizens. They built a wall to keep people in, but ultimately, people figured out a way to leave, and the country melted away. It was called the German Democratic Republic - otherwise known as East Germany.

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In an announcement this morning eBay's Brian Burke reviewed the upcoming changes to the eBay Feedback system. The main change is that sellers will only be able to leave positive feedback for buyers, and that change becomes official on May 19th.

While a few minor adjustments were covered in the announcement - buyers must wait seven days instead of three days before leaving negative feedback - there was a new one that may upset some people. To quote Brian:

We mentioned that we'd be aligning the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process with the new system. After much consideration, we've made the decision to remove the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal process. The reason is that – under the new rules - it opens sellers up to extortion. As part of this decision, Mutual Agreement from third-party Feedback mediation services, such as SquareTrade, will also no longer be accepted.

Obviously, if sellers cannot leave negative comments for buyers, feedback withdrawal cannot be mutual. But why not leave it open for recalcitrant buyers to withdraw a negative comment? Many situations are resolved after a misunderstanding, or even after a comment is left accidentally and the buyer may want to change their mind.

The stated reason is that sellers are opened up to extortion. But it seems allowing only the buyer to leave negative comments opens the seller up for the same extortion. Buyers can say, "Give me XXX or I'll leave a negative comment." just as easily as "Give me XXX and I'll remove the negative comment I left."

Anybody worried?

eBay is about to open up feedback all the way back to 1996 and tinker with it. They will be giving credits for old repeat buyers, wiping out certain undeserved negatives, etc. Given the latest track record with Best Match, eBay Partner Network, and other new roll-outs - is anyone just a little concerned?

See the entire announcement here.

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Lorrie Norrington, President, eBay Marketplace Operations announced today that eBay Live! in Chicago this year, will be the last one until 2010. She said management wants to get more up close and personal with the eBay community.

To quote her exactly:

In 2009 we are focusing our energy on smaller venues to facilitate more face-to-face interactions with our customers and community. While I can’t yet name all of the places we’ll be visiting in 2009, I can say that we intend to spend more quality time with more of you in 2009 than we have in recent memory. So while eBay Live! will not be held in 2009, we will be back with eBay Live! on August 12-14, 2010 in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center.

Okay, I'm going out on a limb here and predicting this will be the last eBay Live! - and although there may be another event called eBay Live! this will be the last one in it's current form. With every other thing changing about eBay, it doesn't make sense they would have an event:

1. for sellers
2. for "flea market" people
3. for people who like crazy outfits and collect pins

I think the days of the homey, aw-shucks eBay seller are over. Any thoughts?

See the entire announcement.

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eBay affiliate sites were given an 30-day extension on the deadline to update their links to the new eBay Partner Network. eBay recently announce they were taking their affiliate program in-house. Commission Junction has managed eBay's affiliate program for several years.

This is welcome news to those who've been worried about being early adopters. It appears the bugs are getting worked out though and the new system is working. Here's what eBay had to say:

We’re off to a great start and we are happy to report that in the three weeks since launch, more than two thirds of our affiliates’ traffic has already moved over to the new system.

Several of you have asked for a bit more time in migrating your links. Because we know there are some special circumstances that may require this, we have arranged to extend the migration deadline until May 31st. This will apply to Half.com and all eBay countries migrating EXCEPT Belgium, Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Singapore, which will still expire on April 30th).

If you haven't looked into eBay's (generous) affiliate program, one of the best places to learn about it, and actually make some extra money is Build a Niche Store. I've had a couple for about a year and a half and regularly make a little extra money with each site. It's really a great little program, buy it once and use it on as many niche sites as you'd like. Go check out Build a Niche Store.

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From my inbox this morning:
How to use Your IRS Rebate check

As you may have heard, the Bush Administration said each of us would get a rebate check to stimulate the economy.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money, will go to China. If we spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs, if we purchase a computer it will go to India, if we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, if we purchase a good car it will go to Japan, if we purchase useless junk it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it at yard sales, since these are the only businesses still in the US.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Can't find what you're looking for on eBay?

A lot of people are complaining about eBay's new default sorting method for search results - Best Match. The eBay discussion boards are peppered with buyers who say they cannot easily find what they want. Those boards are also full of sellers wringing their hands, complaining, and worrying that buyers won't be able to find their items.

Best Match takes many things such as the title keywords, user Feedback and Detailed Seller Ratings, shipping cost, and time left to determine which items will appear to the searcher. The idea is to place before shoppers the items most likely to result in a sale and subsequent good buyer experience.

In all the hub-bub there hasn't been much discussion of just how to reset the way searches are sorted. It's very simple, here is a step-by-step guide to changing search sort on eBay:

1. Perform a search for (anything) on eBay
2. Follow the "Customize Display" link on the far right near the "Sort by:" drop-down box
3. Under the "Advanced Settings" at the bottom of the page choose your preferred sorting method for: Search; and for: Browsing
4. Apply changes

If you find your settings will not stick, first try a hard refresh of your browser. Then try the steps again. (In most cases you can do this by pressing CTRL + F5 keys.) If that try removing eBay specific cookies from your browser.

If you still cannot get it to work after that, it's very likely that eBay has singled you out to be miserable. They have probably tapped your phone lines and bugged your car and home. It's probably not safe to speak out loud without a loud stereo or water running in the background. Move to Amazon.

photo credit: Ma1974

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Members may begin registering for eBay Live! 2008 now at: http://pages.ebay.com/ebaylive/

eBay is expecting between 10,000 to 15,000 attendees this year in Chicago. The event will be held at McCormick Place, June 19-21, 2008. Could this be the last eBay Live? Rumors are flying - but we'll have to wait.

I'll be speaking this year on Blogging to Boost Your Business, along with my friend Mikal Belicove. We had a great big packed room last year and hope the interest will be high again. We'll also be covering Choosing a Niche for your business which should prove to be very interesting as well.

More later. Gotta go sign up!
Below you can check out Chicago Posters on eBay now.

Nfl Chicago Bears Devin Hester Poster New US $8.98

George Morris Art Chicago Kennel Dog Show Poster 1208 US $10.99

Nfl Chicago Bears Brian Urlacher Poster New US $8.98

Nfl Chicago Bears Nfc Champions 2007 Poster US $8.98

Chicago Cubs Wins Wrigley Field Baseball Sports Poster US $17.99

Chicago Bears 1968 Theme Poster US $54.99

Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series Champions Poster US $17.99

1925 Chicago Soldier Fld Grant Pk Rodeo Program Poster US $30.00

Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls Poster 34x22 US $8.99

Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls Poster 32x21 US $8.99

Add eBay Listings to Wordpress

Popularity: 5% [?]

eBay is going to begin "masking" all bidder IDs on auction-style listings beginning this week. It's hoped the move will increase security for bidders by lowering the chances they'll be contacted by criminals. ID masking was implemented last year for items over $200, and according to Matt Halprin, Vice President of eBay's Global Trust and Safety, it has served to reduce the number of fraudulent Second Chance Offers.

What does this mean for you? If you're a seller, you can still see the entire high bidder's ID on your own items.

If you're a buyer, you will not be able to track your competition as easily, or really at all. When clicking on the Bid History of an auction, you can see the masked ID, and you can see other bids that bidder has placed in the past 30 days, and the category for each. The Bidding Details page also shows the bidder's feedback percentage, and a 30-day summary including:

• # Total bids
• # Items bid on
• Bid activity (%) with this seller
• # Bid retractions
• # Bid retractions (6 months)

When the over-$200 masking was instituted, people worried about shill bidding, and eBay does rely on reports from members to catch some shill bidders. But eBay has some very sophisticated tools to catch shill bidders on their own, and although it may seem easier to shill with a masked ID - the scoundrels will get caught if they try it, and likely suspended.

Trading the ability to look over another member's shoulder and see what they're buying for a more secure experience is fair. In the end it should make more people feel comfortable about buying on eBay and put more money in the seller's pockets. At least it's not costing more.

The official announcement also gave some very good advice about the email address used on eBay accounts. eBay members can help themselves by having an email address that is somewhat hard to guess. The scammers often use an eBay ID, along with a common email extension such as @gmail.com or @yahoo.com to guess the email addresses of eBay members and send a phishing email. If you have such a combination, it's suggested that you change it for your own safety.

photo credit: RYN TMRW

Popularity: 5% [?]

The annual eBay Strike is in full swing with the usual results. Serious sellers ignore it, negative sellers get a little louder. eBay stays the same. TameBay has it right.

Last time I checked a "strike" was usually carried out with the backing of a union. The union collects dues and helps the strikers out a bit during the strike. Maybe the intended recipient of the strikers wrath gets hurt a little. In this case, it seems the only people getting hurt by this strike are the people on the "picket lines."

Look folks. Lots of you entered the business world via eBay. Maybe you haven't run a business with all its associated expenses outside eBay. The fact is, it is hard. It costs money to have a shop. It costs money for inventory. It costs money to take credit card payments. People return things. There is competition.

Imagine the donut shop on the corner going on "strike" because the flour company raised their prices, or the rent was raised a little. Imagine they threw a fit every time the credit card company raised their rates a little or someone returned a donut. Who is hurt? I would just go to the next shop and get my donut. In the case of eBay, I wouldn't stop shopping on eBay - just move to the next item on the list.

As I've said before, buyers don't care what your seller fees are. They will continue to buy on eBay. You're only hurting yourselves, and helping the sellers who stay on.

I don't totally agree with all the new changes. But things change. Having your own business is not free. Learn to deal with it already.

photo credit: jonrawlinson

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