WSJ: Four Big Gripes of eBay Sellers
Some eBay sellers aren’t happy campers these days — so much that some are flocking to other online auction sites.
Sellers complain the site is increasingly punishing small-scale sellers while catering to larger merchants. What needs to change?
Scot Wingo offers some good insights on eBay’s biggest issues on his blog, eBay Strategies. Here are a few of the biggest eBay seller complaints, according to Mr. Wingo and other seller forums:
Seller fees. Seller fees have risen over the years, and sellers pay fees to both list items for sale and then they pay a commission on any sales made. The percentage of items selling has dropped, which makes it more likley that sellers are paying fees for unsold items.
Sellers can’t review buyers. EBay used to let both sellers and buyers leave reviews of each other based on the outcome of sales transactions. Some sellers feel the change leaves them unable to gauge a buyer’s reliability and gives buyers the ability to make demands by threatening negative comments.
Payment can take too long. To protect buyers from fraud, it can take up to three weeks for PayPal, one of the main payment methods on eBay, to deposit money in sellers’ accounts. Sellers say that hurts their cash flow.
Weak fraud protection. Some shoppers may avoid eBay due to stories of seller fraud and PayPal phishing scams. Sellers feel eBay needs to be better about ejecting fraudulent sellers and offering more and easier buyer protections.