EBay lays off 2,400 after earnings tank

I think eBay still needs to find the sweet spot between the buyer and seller's experience, though not necessarily large changes to their respective protection. Right now it seems a little more heavily sided with protecting buyers (not necessarily suggesting a caveat emptor approach, but perhaps offset the lopsided protection with other ways to improve the seller's experience like reduced fee schedules on PayPal/eBay). Couple that with the recent policy change to charge for automatic re-lists, the 180 day long PayPal return policy (buyer protection; this should be reduced), and not having more free listings per month (although there are free listing promotions), and sellers are given the negative incentive to limit goods and/or shift their goods to other marketplaces (e.g. Amazon).

When most buyers care about the lowest prices, all else constant including quality, buyers will gravitate to vendors and marketplaces with the lowest prices, which may not necessarily be on eBay. eBay's business is all about volume - reducing fees and other ways to increase the seller's experience will mean lower prices for the buyer and more aggregate sales. eBay should cut some more slack for sellers and make some good press out of it to draw in the seller crowd, and quarterly earnings should rise, ceteris paribus.

 

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The 180-day return policy is to protect buyers on electronics being semi-DOA and from international sales. I think, maybe, they should consider this and make the policy category specific. Another issue would be with authentication taking a while, so maybe the 180-day could apply to those issues, as well. All that said, it still only applies to item not as described situations, so I don't see a problem with the 180-day policy, overall.

Now, if they decide to expand it to a 180-day no questions asked policy, I'd be upset.

 

when you sell a coin with 12 photos and describe as circulated ,with minor scratches
and the coin goes for 1.99 and you get a low score with positive feedback you will be be selling only whatever limits they give you..

 

Different time limitations by category makes sense for something PayPal should consider - great idea.

However, couldn't SNAD be taken advantage of by the buyer, where the buyer can claim that the item was damaged by the seller or by the shipping provider (even though it was by the buyer) up until the 180 day mark? This is where clear photos help the seller, but even still, the buyer can claim the item "doesn't work" (no long works...), even though it worked perfectly up until the buyer maliciously or accidentally broke the item. Unfortunately, in this situation, the burden of proof usually rests on the seller in order to overturn the defaulted return policy.

 

I think what threatens this whole hobby business is the high quality counterfeits that we have never experienced before. From my understanding, the reason why there is a wait period of 180 days is simply because it allows buyers to consult with experts to make a 'final call'. That said, while many sellers if not most have no intentions of selling such but it's a bunch of bad eggs that causes a lot of grief.

Considering that ebay has removed some of their experts in identifying counterfeits, I don't see how they are going to improve. Sure, it might improve their financial situation in the short term but wait till you get a heap of chargeback and their reputation goes down. That's a more costly decision IMO.

 

Sure, consulting with experts on counterfeit goods is one aspect to the 180 days; however, the SNAD situation described previously would still apply. I'm not sure how restrictive the 180 day policy is, but if there's a clause that distinguishes damaged/doesn't work from counterfeit and how the policy works towards each, then that may make the situation more fair for the seller.

So, relatively speaking, the 180 days for counterfeit claims makes a lot more sense than 180 days for item damaged/not working claims, both of which are SNAD. And, what happens when the buyer switches out a bona fide product purchased from the seller, with a counterfeit?

 

A little elaborating on my previous post. I don't just sell coins, which I could and sometimes do ship for free, but also sell a range of things like vintage housewares, heavy electronics, heavy mechanical items, ephemera, etc. If I sell a vintage silver plate coffee urn for $40.00, and that's worth $80-100.00, it costs me $20.00 to ship, exact shipping, then my attempt at profiting is vastly reduced, because I also had to buy that urn at $20.00 in order to re-sell it. I am not a big box seller who relies on thousands of sales a month and can take a loss on shipping. I would not expect any company to operate at a loss but Ebay is HUGE. And much of Ebay exists only as HTML. Ebay also owns Pay Pal and makes HUGE amounts of money sitting on those accounts that do not get used. Ebay also owns Bill Me Later which is another HUGE cash cow. Maybe it's time to weed out some chaff in their ranks. If their current business model is flailing then it's obviously time for some changes. Ebay is not a business for me, it's my attempt to keep putting groceries on my table while in my social security years. And this is not a sob story, it's my reality. Somewhere they managed to mismanage their affairs this past year, I did not.

 

Again, if the buyer is wanting to spend X dollars, it does not matter what your shipping costs are, they are going to bid accordingly. I understand it costs more to ship big things (which is why I do not sell big things), but you should start your auction accordingly, or have a reserve.

 

I believe Bill Me Later had a change of name to PayPal Credit.

You could take your desired reserve price for a given item and add actual shipping costs to the starting auction price. That way, it's free shipping and appeals to more buyers. So, for instance, if your reserve price is $0.99 and actual shipping cost is $10, I'd start the auction at $10.99 and not a cent less.

This may be more beneficial because a lot of buyers have eBay certificates, eBay bucks, and coupons that are only applicable to the auction/buy it now price, and cannot be applied towards the shipping price.

 

Absolutely! I bet they don't raise their fees for awhile as they're too much already! I am figuring that they will try to induce business by giving out more free listings or something typical. I hope they figure out that they are losing b/c we, 'the public' are losing as well.

 

Couldn't happen to a better company. If they go bankrupt and shut down I'll celebrate the worst possible customer service I ever dealt with. And I've boycotted them since 2005. Add to the fact that they've had nearly pure crap on every field I buy since then

 

A little off topic, but I know you've boycotted them so this probably won't apply, but this may apply to others... I disliked calling them and waiting for a LONG time, let alone dealing with a physical person on the other end... until I found Get Human - eBay calls me back, and usually in a few minutes or less! Either way, they call me and I don't have to anxiously wait by the phone on hold for an hour with that hold music on repeat...

http://gethuman.com/call-back/eBay/
Just click the orange "Start Call Back" button, a new window pops open, and then enter your phone number. Hit enter and eBay calls you! The system navigates eBay's menu until it reaches the option to call you back, enters your number, and your queue is set. Moreover, I think your queue is put at the top since I've almost always had a quick call back.

 

Great post!

Just wanted to add/remind to the thread that some of the moves announced with the layoffs are probably in line with their planned corporate strategy stemming from last years announcement in September about eBay and PayPal splitting into two companies.

Ebay CEO John Donahoe Talks About The PayPal Split And Future Of Two Companies via Forbes.com 9/30/2014

 

as long as there is no good alternative, they can do pretty much what they want

 

I think coin collectors need to find and support other venues and stop whining about eBay, and supporting something they have so many problems with. Many dislike eBay but few have tried to support and build alternatives, even when options exist for them to turn to. Maybe one day enough of a tide will turn.

 

I wish I knew HTML enough to do this. I would start my own site.

 

That's a bit like saying "I wish I knew welding enough, I'd start my own airline".

For all its flaws, eBay has one crushing advantage: it's where the buyers are. Any new competitor simply won't have as many viewers and bidders, meaning sellers won't get as much for their items.

 

There is Craigslist... though not as many buyers... but no fees or even shipping req'd so you can sell for less if you really wanted to branch out.

 

All you really need to know about eBay in determining their future is that Carl Ichan is calling the shots. That's "Carl, Ichan-Bancrupt-a-Company-Faster-Than-Uchan". If you want a glimpse of eBay's future, just have a look at what Ichan did for the once great TWA. Ichan pretty much bought-in to the airline and proceeded to completely destroy it.