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I am really hating their forced paperless payments crap more than anything else, including the feedback. So much more credit card than before.
201 commentsSunday, May 10, 2009
By Chris Crum
eBay recently announced it was returning to its roots as an auction site more focus on the "secondary market". This is probably a wise move as interest and enthusiasm for eBay have both steadily dwindled over the past year or so.
The company had been going for more of the fixed-price Amazon approach. That didn't seem to be doing it for customers. According to a study from Compete, eBay’s traffic decreased 5.2% last month – compared to the previous year – while Amazon’s traffic rose 18.7% in the same period and Craigslist traffic rose 40% compared to the previous year.
Other interesting findings from Compete's study include:
- The percentage of eBay’s visitors who shopped at Amazon jumped from 41% in February 2008 to 53% last month
- Over the same period, Amazon visitors’ cross-shopping of eBay has remained unchanged at 58%, suggesting eBay’s fixed-price strategy failed to attract significant numbers of new shoppers
- In February, 11% of eBay’s visitors, or 7.8 million customers, made a Buy-it-Now purchase (up 20% from the previous year). However, gains in fixed-priced activity have been eclipsed by declines in eBay’s traditional auction business
- In total, 1.5 million fewer shoppers placed a bid on eBay last month than did in February 2008
Here's a look at eBay's sales to bidders vs. buy-it-now purchasers:
eBay has driven a lot of its sellers away. Will a shifted focus on the secondary market bring some of them back? Or is it going to take a lot more than that?
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It will take a lot more than
It will take a lot more than that. Ebay should never be compared to a retail or classified site. It was a "first" of it's kind, and then it decided to get too big for it's britches.
The "buy it now" strategy was not a good idea as an alternative to the auctions, because what it brought in, were the people who were desperate to sell quickly, and buyers who wanted instant gratification. In auctions, there needs to be some mystique!
Offering better pricing for the sellers by pushing the "buy it now", "stores", and "free shipping" was intentional, and used as a method to entice sellers to sell in that format. This is why they had more of those kinds of listings! The sellers BOUGHT into it too!!
It was what the flavor of what ebay has become. They punished the folks with higher FVF's who sold in an auction format. That's why so many left! Who hasn't been a 10+ year seller in the auction format who has not repeatedly tried to warn the public that this was happening? This has been ongoing! It continues to worsen, because ebay is not to be trusted when they still have greedy corporate executives who know nothing of ebay's long successful history.
It's a psychology that ebay quite accidentally discovered, and then it took for granted. With the adidition of "buy it now" they might have seen a huge increase in buyers and sellers temporarily, but for the most part, those who auction things that are harder to come by, or limited, specialty items from the past, can always be auctioned at a higher price than retail. That was where ebay took advantage of the good sellers who left!
The "fixed price" was the McDonalds version of a gourmet chicken Caesar salad. Fun to shake in a container, then the novelty wears off.
The trouble is, the corporate types that run the place, are also into instant gratification, and were not willing to develop the site professionally where they happened to already have the entire corner of the market. They decided to go after the fast cash and lost their credibility as a trustworthy site. The economics were not focused on improving the technology gradually, as it should have been, it was focused on pleasing investors and stockholders, then it was run "as if" the sellers were their underling employees who they could subjugate and micromanage.
The site was initially established with 2-way feedback based on trust and honesty. That changed, and then, with ebay interfering with the business practices of the sellers, then adding ridiculous policy changes and SITE changes without any kind of open communication or warning, they expected the sellers to be so dependent on them, that they could do whatever they wanted.
Ebay lost site of who their customers really are. if they want to succeed, I'm sorry to say, they still do not know or understand their customers, the multitudes of sellers, because they NEVER communicate with them.