Jumping ship from *bay......

[blundellbrundle]

I have to say, like many I have been prompted to jump ship after years of selling on that god forsaken site, due to all their recent rules and regulations that are basically killing off the personal seller in favour of attracting more big companies.
Like the topis starter, I too sell comics, and cannot afford to offer free postage as most of my items go for around the 99p mark, meaning I would actually have to pay a customer to take a comic off me, as the postage is higher than the unit price (and lets not mention the fees as well).
I tried contacting them about the ridiculousness of this rule, and their answer is that lots of websites offer free postage these days, and that they have to remain competitive.
What they are failing to aknowledge is that if a business offers free postage its because they have made that decision themselves and get a discount from the Royal Mail, where as they are making a decision for people who are just trying to make a little bit of extra money, selling from their homes, who get no such discount.

They also claim that media purchases are "impulse buys".
Well last time I looked, comics were not impulse buys, they are mainly bought by collectors who are searching to complete collections.

I decided to come over here a few weeks ago and listed a small fraction of items that I had listed over there, just to dip my toe in the water, and sadly have not even had a single bite.
I know its dependent on people wanting your stuff, but I have had quite a few views on some items, and am cheaply priced, so I can only assume people are nervous of someone with zero feedback.

I am probably not gonna relist when these auctions end, and hit the other site heavy until the October P&P rule comes in (its now been extended a month, so there is obviously some issues with it being implimented) as I obviously have a good customer base there, but after that, I just have to hope business picks up here when other sellers leave that site as well.

I will say though, I have found the listing here to be far and away the better and easier site to use.

Theres actually a lot more options, yet it takes a fraction of the time to list (or edit).


Hopefully some people will start bidding on my stuff sooner rather than later, but until I start getting feedback, I dont think those sales are gonna come flooding in.

[Rubysafira]

Blundel,

Try adding a buy it now feature to a few of your listings and see how that goes this way those listings will get Google exposure.

[blundellbrundle]

Thanks, I may do that, but I tend to dislike doing buy it nows as I prefer to list things at a reasonable price and let the market dictate the value...if that makes sense.
If people get something below market value, then as long as i have got what I want (the starting price), i am happy, but if it goes for more, I am even happier, obviously.

As you say though, it may be a good way to at least get a customer base started, even if I never offer BIN again.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Rubysafira]

Thanks, I may do that, but I tend to dislike doing buy it nows as I prefer to list things at a reasonable price and let the market dictate the value...if that makes sense.
If people get something below market value, then as long as i have got what I want (the starting price), i am happy, but if it goes for more, I am even happier, obviously.

As you say though, it may be a good way to at least get a customer base started, even if I never offer BIN again.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Oh that's understandable.

You can just choose a few listings and have the least amount you want as the opening bid, for example, then add a tiny amount as the buy it now. The good thing as I mentioned is Google exposure because of the buy it now feature. Then once the buyer looks at your auction they could also still have the option of the lesser price by placing a bid.

Hope that makes sense. LOL

[rethreads]

Oh that's understandable.

You can just choose a few listings and have the least amount you want as the opening bid, for example, then add a tiny amount as the buy it now. The good thing as I mentioned is Google exposure because of the buy it now feature. Then once the buyer looks at your auction they could also still have the option of the lesser price by placing a bid.

Hope that makes sense. LOL

That's what I was going to say. The OP may be confusing an auction format listing that includes a BIN option with a fixed price listing. BIN can be useful. Sometimes it stimulates someone to place a bid before the item gets "scooped up" with the BIN.

[deltadelta48]

has 1 site caused so much anger and disgust than the greedy one.
I may go on google and see if I can find a 'we love ebay' site, as there are about 20 millions we hate ones.
and every time people who use this site compare with the other find this one so far supirior in everyway.

Not much of a surprise!

And since feebay is still making money, the stockholders will still make money this year, so they will continue to support administration.

Doubt anyone is left that still thinks it is a "great place to sell", and they will soon be scrambling to find a new place to sell once all the new feebay rules kick in.

[deltadelta48]

Forgive me, but you sound surprised.

One reason 99.9% of my sales have been domestic is that I have for several years shipped ALL domestic packages with Delivery Confirmation for just that reason. Far from being an equal trading partnership, it has become a question of the seller covering his butt.

Despite the DC, the last negative feedback I received was from a twit who bought two items (shipped together to save her money), left positive feedback for one, then claimed not to have received the other (this is the Case of the Teleporting Plate). She had been a (buyer only) member for 6 months and already had a feedback score of nearly 600. In other words, she'd been buying an average of 100 items a month. By her own admission, she had bought so many similar items that she didn't know what she'd bought from whom. Now, I'd bet the farm I know what happened to that item--some trash collector was going, "Dang! why'd somebody throw this out?"

Because I had logged in the DC information as a note to those items at the time of shipment, e*ay could not prove anything either way, and did not refund her out of my funds. They did, however, allow her negative feedback to stand. As an aside, she left another negative for someone else the same day, also for nonreceipt.

e*ay does not care that some people are idiots, as long as they're spending their money on e*ay. They don't care about you or me or anybody else who's been around there, because they're recruiting a new breed of buyers who have no concept of what the site used to be, patting their widdle heads, and assuring them that they can have whatever they want on their own terms.

Talk about a prime opportunity for another site to step into the breach with some advertising...

You are lucky you got to keep your funds, it is obvious to me that that chick got both CDs and got confused. But rather than talk to you, she issued the negative! Which can never be changed, and you can not issue one in return! Great feedback system.

Recently talked to someone at an auction who got burned by selling a toy bike on feebay. Lisitng clearly said it was TOY bike, gave measurements of a TOY bike, had shipping price consistent with TOY bike, but when it arrived, the buyer complained he did not receive the REAL bike he bought. Seller lost the case, the toy bike, his money, everything and got a negative too.

[queenslancer]

Heard the latest from Feebay's Policy Department - Current UK Military Badges they say are Law Enforcement Item's. Which must have been made by a complete dork, who know's nothing at all about Badges, Military or otherwise.

Listings that breached their policy on law enforcement badges, are removed by them from their site.

How can your Listings breach their policy?

List a badge or ID which isn't allowed on Feebay. Genuine or fake badges and identification cards for the police, fire brigade, ambulance services, and private or public security services may not be listed on Feebay.

Items that aren't allowed include (but aren't limited to):

- Current or recent police/emergency services badges
- Military and international equivalents (i.e., Interpol) What!!!
- Replica and fake badges
- Badges issued by private security companies

So why are they pulling perfectly legitimate UK Military Badges which have nothing what soever to do with Law Enforcement?

Is this a sign of meltdown on the Darkside of Feebay?

When I have been trading in old and new badges for over 6 years on their site, with very little problem until recently.

No rational explaination from them just threats to ex-communicate you if you do it again, is that anyway to treat honest hardworking sellers, farewell Feebay!!!

[blundellbrundle]

Oh that's understandable.

You can just choose a few listings and have the least amount you want as the opening bid, for example, then add a tiny amount as the buy it now. The good thing as I mentioned is Google exposure because of the buy it now feature. Then once the buyer looks at your auction they could also still have the option of the lesser price by placing a bid.

Hope that makes sense. LOL

I get what you are saying, and it might very well be the way to go.
I certainly appreciate the advice.

Of course, on a side note, another reason I never used it over at the other site was the double insertion fee you had to pay for the priviledge of using it.
I actually didnt realise it did that, but a couple of times auctions had finished and people contacted me, asking if I would sell it to them as they missed the chance to bid before the auction closed.
It was only after I did this a couple of times that I noticed it not only charges a fee on the listing price, but also the buy it now price.

The more I used that site, the more I hated it.

[rethreads]

You are lucky you got to keep your funds, it is obvious to me that that chick got both CDs and got confused. But rather than talk to you, she issued the negative! Which can never be changed, and you can not issue one in return! Great feedback system.

Recently talked to someone at an auction who got burned by selling a toy bike on feebay. Lisitng clearly said it was TOY bike, gave measurements of a TOY bike, had shipping price consistent with TOY bike, but when it arrived, the buyer complained he did not receive the REAL bike he bought. Seller lost the case, the toy bike, his money, everything and got a negative too.

LOL! I don't know why I'm laughing. How sick is that?
I don't think the girl I dealt with was trying to scam me. I think she was stupid as the proverbial box of rocks, took the rug out of the box and pitched everything else, including the heavy copper plate. I'm sure I could have avoided the negative by refunding her money, but I'm way past taking responsibility for other people's stupidity and carelessness--which is, of course, what they're encouraging over there now.

I may have mentioned having spoken to Customer Service and saying to them, "So let me understand this: if I just feel like being a b**ch, I can leave negative feedback for someone and you're not going to do anything about it," and getting the reply, "Basically, yes." What is there left to say?