Where Have all the Powersellers Gone?

[grade_a_consignments]

I don't believe in conspiracy theories but I was looking at some old threads in here last night, and out of curiosity I tried to look at the listings of the people who contributed to the topics only to find that many of them are no longer registered users. These were powersellers with 2000, 3000, 4000 or more feedbacks who seemed to have disappeared after discussing outragious fees from Canada Post, Paypal, eBay etc.

I'm not suggesting that they are picking us off one by one or anything, - the same as I don't believe the old story that if one was to mention the words President and assassination in the same sentence online the FBI would be at your door within minutes..........

Gotta sign off, someone's at the door.........

[youreinthebook]

LOL.

My guess is that last year's eBay fee hikes combined with Canada Post's rate increases constituted the breaking point for many sellers and Power Sellers alike.

Those whose margins were too slim and who had too much competition to be able to continue profitably probably shut down shop and didn't bother to pay their final month's fees which led to their NARU status.

There might be other factors involved but from what I remember from last year at this time there was a great deal of turmoil and a lot of sellers came out to announce that they shut down their stores in disgust. It wouldn't surprise me if they withheld paying outstanding fees in further protest to eBay.

Cheers,
Ernie.

[whoscloset]

LOL @ grade a

I agree with Ernie's assessment. You know what they say: When the going gets tough.... The store fee increase was the last straw for many. I can only imagine how badly it hit those with small margins.

Monique

[recped]

They couldn't take the heat!

I did see a very recent post from Malcolm on one of the boards here recently.

Personally I hope to get my rating up to about 20,000 and then I'll be out of goods and out of here!
"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915

[moltencore]

just a thought....didn't eBay start out as a forum for dealers selling collectibles (with fairly wide proft margins) to collectors? --- then tons of people jumped on the bandwagon selling new product with razor thin margins. when the Canadian dollar went up, postage increased, fees went up etc --- profits dropped.
these powersellers might be selling thousands of dollars worth of goods a month and yet only making a couple hundred bucks off it once all their expenses are tallied up. That kind of business model just doesn't make sense to me. As someone who has a steady wide profit margin -- sure I've felt a bit of a pinch -- but it's just not THAT big. Gail

[hahrete]

The change in the Canadian dollar was awful, that hurt more than the postal and ebay fee increases.

[jewelbay]

ditto..Canada Post..Canada Post..Canada Post!

they thought with ebay they be making billions more, they slowly killing the chicken that was laying their golden eggs!

[catseye*]

Where Have all the Powersellers Gone?

Well, I know that Todd (auctiondropnship) went over to the dark side on both is PS ids.

[muminlaw]

Some of us are still here, I became a PS before .ca was in existence and, I think, so did catseye*! Some of us don't hang out here as much as we used to - it's not as much fun anymore for some reason ...?:|:O

Having said that, I won't be a PS much longer with this ID - haven't been listing and the store doesn't sell enough to maintain status.

[catseye*]

Yeah, I'm with you Glenda, not sure how much longer I'll keep status. Was in a car accident xmas eve, so January was a bust.

[muminlaw]

Oh, sheesh!! I'm sorry to hear that! Are you OK - were you badly hurt? I sure hope you get back to normal quickly!

As far as status, I'm not even sure I care any more. It was fun while it lasted but ... And there are a lot of people who have used eBay as a jumping-off place for their own website which is much better business-wise.

[my-imzadi]

Hello there fellow Canadian Powersellers,
I hope you don't think I am intruding on a private conversation...I just don't go to discussion forums very often, but I saw this one and thought I'd relpy.

I've been selling on ebay part-time for 4 years, but in October of 04, I opened my own store and started selling full-time. In Aug 05 I became a Powerseller, and surprisingly, have managed to stay one (despite the fact that I sell mainly inexpensive items).

jewelbay, I totally agree with you about canadapost. If it weren't for on-line selling (like ebay), they would have gone out of business by now, but because of us, they think they have this magical market that they can just keep bleeding. Raise the fees, raise the rates...they have to pay, they do ebay! That seems to be the general opinion of us sellers down at the post office. That they "have" us.

But you know, I'm getting sick of it. Not just Canadapost, but ebay and Paypal's rising fees...and not just the money, but the lack of support in SO many ways...
I have talked to quite a few other Canadian sellers, and they are going to do just as muminlaw says...they've tried ebay for a long time, but just can't make a go of it anymore and are using their experience and good name to start a new business off-of ebay.

I started my ebay store because I wanted to run my own business and I know a lot about the things I sell, and I'd tried it before and liked it. For a while, this was perfect...but it's starting to lose its appeal for me. So many non-paying bidders lately too.

Ah well!

[grade_a_consignments]

I understand that you can pay for a domain name to get people to your ebay store through other means. Is this something that some people are doing? Right now I have a separate website but don't know if I will continue it after the subcription runs out. I might pay for a domain name and use eBay store as my only store.

[zarzuella]

Yeah, I see Todd changed his ID to

emailusfatherpassedaway

before he was NARU'd, which I guess is self-explanitory.

Ann

[catseye*]

it was an interesting 'story'.

[zarzuella]

okay ........

tell more!