20 cent Insertion Fees tomorrow.

[whoscloset]

on .com

Kind of negates any value we may have had today's .ca promo.

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/20centpromotion07
Monique

Himalayan Salt Lamps - A Guide to Purchasing

[treasure-pot]

Thanks Monique...

Also got the email on the .com promo from eBay Announcements.

For anyone who did not receive this email, a part of it made for very interesting reading. I would urge you to check out Bill Cobb's web cast of his eCommerce Keynote address at:

http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=37388

I think you will find that there are some new initiatives promised by eBay that will affect all of us in one way or another.

Bill treasure-pot

[whoscloset]

Thanks Bill...that's 50 minutes I'll never get back. LOL

SSDD...focus on core auctions...
Monique

Himalayan Salt Lamps - A Guide to Purchasing

[systemagic]

Can't wait for "Feedback too point oh". Particularly when our American buyers start rating us on Canada Post's rates and service. Not hard to see that nightmare coming and it won't likely be a problem that'll come up in the foreign market beta tests.

I took part in the survey that our glorious leader was referring to. I don't believe that it differenciated between buyer fraud and seller fraud - just presumed that it was all sellers. My bottom line comments, which somehow didn't make it to his charts and graphs, were to reduce the fees - nothing else matters. Cut back service in every area if that's what it takes to reduce the fees.

I makes me nauseous to endure the man.

[systemagic]

A few more points on the broadcast:

1. I noticed that he said that the result of the brilliant fee rebalancing it was a success because fewer store listings were being made. Was there a concurrent increase in auction listings or are these just listings that are forever and henceforth lost?

2. He waxxed rhapsodic about the successful seller fraud reduction this Christmas with Elmo, Wii, and the PS3. He totally ignored the rampant organized buyer fraud via successful sham bidding (not paying) that destroyed the marketplace for PS3s. While eBaypop was reporting that the average sale price was $1500 the actual average sale price was exactly $601. (Cost of Goods, if you lined up for 24 hrs., in Canada was $550). Now there's a large group of organized young male buyers out there who know that they can reduce the price of any capital product that they choose to target on eBay if they act in consort. I reported this, naturally, and eBay's response was, of course, nothing.

Bill sure has a selective spin on his successes.

[zarzuella]

selective spin

And that pretty well sums it up.

[whoscloset]

The part that actually freaked me out was the Shipping Costs portion of the speech. It starts at about minute 40:00.

If you listen carefully, he is essentially saying they are building a system whereby ebay will determine the appropriate range of shipping costs for your items. This way they won't have to enforce excessive shipping. eBay is essentially going to tell you, and automatically to boot, what price you are ALLOWED to charge the buyer for shipping each item. Won't that be nice?
Monique

Himalayan Salt Lamps - A Guide to Purchasing

[funkywatch]

How long is Cobb's contract?


I find myself longing for the good ol' days when I was a newbie... just 3 years ago!!!!

Slow and painful death for canadian sellers. That's what it feels like.

ugh...

[treasure-pot]

Monique... who at eBay is going to tell you what the shipping costs should be on the items you sell? I could see them setting some guidelines for software, DVDs, CDs, etc. but they won't have a clue if it's bigger than a breadbox.

Heck, they can't even get a shipping calculator to work on .ca after a year of trying. The boards are rampant with Canadian sellers complaining that a listing has been pulled by a Trust & Safety in the US that doesn't have a clue what Canada Post rates are.

How are they going to manage to automate what our shipping rates should be when they can't even get a grasp of the Canadian tax system?

This looks to be another one of those initiatives to improve Canadian seller profitability forseeably by forcing us to offer the same S/H rates as our US counterparts when we ship to the US. Of course, we will also have to offer tracking and delivery confirmation and all for under $6 !!

I'm with you funky... I used to have hair and then I started yanking it out.

Bill treasure-pot

[zarzuella]

no, no ... eBay is just a venue ?:|