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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;NorthKorea, post: 1665633, member: 29643&quot;]The above is the essence of it all. Honestly, how useful is a feedback system where approximately 99.993% of all feedback is:</p><p><br /></p><p>A) Generic</p><p>B) Positive</p><p>C) From sellers</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Victor, you&#039;ll notice that the sellers who fall into your definition of a good seller are super store power sellers. Each and every one of them. Feedback for them is automated. They either have it set up to leave feedback as soon as you pay or as soon as you leave them feedback. If you like buying from drop-shippers and import outlets, so be it. You&#039;re the target audience for an online mall.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is eBay&#039;s mission statement:</p><p><br /></p><p><font face="arial">&quot;eBay&#039;s mission is to provide a global trading platform where practically anyone can trade practically anything.&quot;</font></p><p><font face="arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="arial">By creating a system in which the majority of users can&#039;t afford to sell on eBay, how are they accomplishing this mission? eBay was an okay place to sell (re: trade) on when their fees were $0.05-$2 on average to list and 6% final value. They had many individuals who, obviously had personality issues. This meant you often dealt with the 10/20/40/20/10 rules of feedback management. That was probably the biggest problem as a seller. As a buyer, your biggest problem was power-sellers using their size as an excuse to offer poor service.</font></p><p><font face="arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="arial">Compare that to today:</font></p><p><font face="arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="arial">eBay stores pay about 4-5% on average for sales in fees plus monthly &quot;rent&quot; to maintain store status. Powersellers get rebates on fees for hitting quotas. It&#039;s gotten to the point that it is more profitable for a powerseller to give a refund to ANYONE who complains for ANY reason, because that gives them a right to have negative feedback removed, than for them to provide good service/products from the start.</font></p><p><font face="arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="arial">Essentially, eBay has gone from being an online marketplace, to claiming to want to be the premiere online auction site, to being an online stripmall. You know the type: You have your power sellers occupying the main spaces on the periphery, and you have everyone else in their mini-kiosks in the walkways.</font></p><p><font face="arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="arial">Now eBay has decided to run it more like an optimized food court:</font></p><p><font face="arial">1) You are only allowed to purchase items using the food court card (Paypal).</font></p><p><font face="arial">2) Court vendors (non-Powersellers) are required to pay a processing fee for the cards (Paypal&#039;s merchant fee). Primary merchants (Powersellers) can use their own processor.</font></p><p><font face="arial">3) Court vendors pay a commission of sales structure to eBay. The more sales you generate in a month, the lower your percentage. Primary merchants are offered special rebates and discounts for generating revenues of 20-500+x the average vendor.</font></p><p><font face="arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="arial">This is why corporate mission statements are often a joke. The difference is that eBay&#039;s is very specific and actionable. It&#039;s a good mission. The problem is that they&#039;re doing everything in their power to turn themselves into the exact opposite of that statement.</font></p><p><font face="arial"><br /></font></p><p><font face="arial">All in all, as I&#039;ve said before, I don&#039;t mind buyers withholding feedback. I don&#039;t see how it helps the buyer, personally, but so be it. Maybe eBay should make it a contingency of &quot;eBay bucks&quot; to have buyers leave feedback on 99.97% of purchases made in the current quarter and 97% of purchases in the trailing 12 months. At least then, there would be clear incentive to leave feedback.</font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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