I thought I'd post this here, as the Power Sellers' board needs a new topic, and because I think this subject is important for those of us who really work hard on our eBay reputations (pardon the length of the text, but chime in all!):
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hautehookup wrote:
I totally agree with EVERYTHING you said. As a new seller I feel so daunted at times by the lack of feedback despite eating a lot of the shipping costs. The shipping is my main problem and really frustrates me. I am not big enough to get the shipping discounts to get big. Massive catch 22. I think Ebay just needs to stop changing everything so the buyers are happy with the site and not getting tonnes of junk feeds of stuff they don't want.
(My reply): Yes, it was so much easier being a new seller and getting established on eBay even 2 years ago; 5 years ago it was a breeze. I've been selling actively since 2008 and the game (and this site of course) has changed more in the past 12 months than it had in all the previous years.
I can honestly say I've tried virtually everything eBay has made available to me to increase sales - free shipping promos, discounted prices, email promos, discounted US/Int'l shipping, more photos, etc. etc., and yet I'm getting complete "dead zones" where sales are concerned, the past 3 weeks being a case in point. This is new - it almost never occurred previously.
The suggestion made by many on these boards, to roll shipping costs into item prices, to me is counter-intuitive: we Canadians also have to compete with lower U.S. item prices, so where do higher item prices get us - nowhere. Buyers are looking for the best price overall. I lose in shipping discounts on almost every transaction already, and I've lowered my prices somewhat over the last year, but neither has made a significant difference. I've got Canadian TRS status, but that doesn't help my visibility where the U.S. is concerned (and 90% of my buyers are American).
If I had to put my finger on the two major changes that are most affecting smaller sellers at the moment I would say the swamping by millions of free listings (don't forget that also means free listings every month for eBay stores the size of Target), and those "Feeds".
Of the two, I think the "Feeds" are ultimately going to be the biggest long-term game changer. Buyers will stop using searches (why bother?) as eBay's computer algorithms get better and better at personalizing these Feeds. And GTC listings will drop off the radar.
However, let's not miss the forest while staring in disbelief at the trees! Without sounding like a conspiracy theorist, my personal view (and it's just that), is:
1) I imagine eBay must have been obliged to agree to a number of radical changes in order to seal the deal with big sellers such as Target. These sorts of sellers have legions of employees who can list, list, list, keeping everything new and fresh on the Feed; and
2) I suspect Target and other big players told eBay they wouldn't come on board until the site is more friendly to their own needs, i.e. clean up all the "mom & pop" yard-sale sellers' acts, tighten rules, streamline (or better still - eliminate!) the need for direct communication between buyers and sellers, automate returns, etc. etc. etc. In other words, make it look like a big eCommerce site that such huge retailers can feel comfortable with.
Whether eBay is cognizant of it or indeed whether it cares, I expect Target and other such retailers will use eBay for their own purposes too, to test out the viability of online sales until they're ready to set up their own sites.
Still, I think eBay should care. And here's my pitch for the small seller (anybody listening?):
In the long run, it's the millions of individual sellers who use eBay's site that are here because they can't afford to sell through their own sites or would never get the same visibility elsewhere. What if they begin to fail, or trickle away to other, more comfortable sites? I think eBay is putting too many eggs in one basket in its starry-eyed effort to cater to huge retailers by drastically altering its policies and its site. Pierre is right that eBay doesn't give a hoot which seller it is that makes the sales, for now at least, but what if some of those big sellers have agendas of their own for the future that don't include eBay?
Watch out Canadian sellers - as 'bb' said earlier, life is going to get tougher here. I will now step down from my soapbox...
. This is usually (hopefully!) after the fact of course, but I find the more input there is here, the more the light changes on some subjects. 
