Why do I get the impression people are afraid to buy here?

[emporiumdays]

........ There is a fee charged on the shipping amount now. If you charge for shipping, even though the actual amount plainly shown, you can get a bad star rating simply because it 'wasn't free' anyway. Buyer agrees to terms, yet can be free to post their dismay though their ratings which determine now if you are even able to sell at all...........

Yes well feebay probably know that there's an inexaustable supply of sellers available, so they can 'raise the bar' as high as they like, and still there'll be some sellers who will try to stay on because of the time they've already invested.

And the extra hoops that sellers have to jump through only make for happier buyers who are protected from all manner of bad experiences (and perhaps rightly so), but at an ever increasing cost to the seller. And if the buyers are kept happy they'll keep coming back, which in turn ensures ongoing 'extraction' of multiple sale fees, making feebay very very happy.

It all keeps going because there's an ongoing supply of self sacrificing sellers prepared to make a few cents on their items and sell by the truck load.

.....
I have seen items priced here so much higher then on eBay (same sellers) I have seen free shipping with same cost items there but added shipping charges here. Just a bit puzzling that's all. Good luck to you on eBid I wish you well.

I've seen the same Al, but to be fair, I've also seen some items here cheaper than elsewhere.

[adruml]

I've seen the same Al, but to be fair, I've also seen some items here cheaper than elsewhere.

[/QUOTE]

Yes most sell cheaper here.

[Gizmo11111Gizmo]

What Greedbay doesn't seem to understand, or they do understand and don't care, is that the small business that used to be the backbone of feebay, can't afford to take a loss on the shipping. I know I can't. So they have to up the shipping price to account for Greedbay's fvf on shipping. They are too lazy to deal with the "high shippers" on an individual basis, so we all have to suffer. And the upcoming return policy..... well that was the last straw for this gal... Feebay can have their B & M Stores, whole sale, drop shippers and scammers, which is what will be left there in the very near future. I hope Ebid is preparing the the potential influx of angry former Greedbayers. I believe that loads more will be coming.

[Juliebabe25]

Every time ebay increases their fees or brings in new draconian policies people (me included) predict a huge inflow of new sellers to ebid.

But it never really happens. We are only averaging under 400 new members a day whereas a few months ago we were getting 500 or 600 a day.

And the number of listings on ebid has been going down steadily for the last 3 months.

It is the influx of buyers we need so that sellers will stay on ebid.

We need some leadership from ebid management.

[adruml]

Every time ebay increases their fees or brings in new draconian policies people (me included) predict a huge inflow of new sellers to ebid.

But it never really happens. We are only averaging under 400 new members a day whereas a few months ago we were getting 500 or 600 a day.

And the number of listings on ebid has been going down steadily for the last 3 months.

It is the influx of buyers we need so that sellers will stay on ebid.

We need some leadership from ebid management.

Agree with everything you stated.

[Darthmatt]

With individual seller's items (as with mine) i expect a variation in prices due to used items being difficult to value. People have an idea of what they are worth and list them accordingly in the knowledge that they can lower the price easy enough if it doesnt sell. If we eventually get the 'best offer' or 'make me an offer' facility here i'd put it on pretty much all of my listings. It would also make valuing used items for the ebid market alot easier and i think it would bring in a lot more sales as well. I started merging lots together when they got to a certain price because as paypal take a base 20p plus a percentage of the total transaction there comes a point where selling an item doesnt make financial sense. My local P.O shut down so it costs me quite a bit to get to post. Add that to the fees (paypal's) and its easier to just have the item collected by a charity shop.

For businesses its a little more complex and rather dependant on the scale of them. Small businesses will often be unable to compete with big name prices as they are unable to buy in large enough quantities to sell at low prices. Ebay has a mix:
* Big businesses cashing in on the internet channel without the overheads of having stores so able to sell cheaper but still make clear profits
* Small traders who are somewhat restricted by both buying quantity/power and the fees for using ebay
* Individuals who do the whole buy to sell thing unofficially. These are often the ones who get sucked into something that looks like a good deal and then end up with stock they cant move. This often leads to them selling it off really cheap just to recover some of their outlay, but in doing so, it brings the market price down and further tightens sales of the smaller traders who are now trying to compete with the big name companies able to offer consistent pricing and the individuals who are panic-selling.
After a bit of poking from the legal system Ebay are starting to clamp down these days on those marked as individuals who are operating as a business (i.e. anyone buying with the intention of selling is classed as a business)

Ebid on the other hand seems to be a bit more awkward to classify. Despite its tag as an auction site, the lack of bidding makes it rather more like a shop window for buy it now items. If you list something as an auction, you really need to list it at the minimum price you would be prepared to sell it for and through all of the threads both here and across the net, this is possibly the underlying issue, as it can be accountable for frustrating new sellers who expect it to be an auction site and deterring new buyers who wonder why many of the auctions start so high.

I list my business items here, cheaper than i would on ebay (to balance the reduced fees) and within the confines of my small business scale, my BIN prices here are cheaper than most listed on ebay (excluding big businesses and panic-selling individuals who i cant compete with and maintain a profit). However, where ebay is an actual auction site, some sellers over there will start their items at 99p safe in the knowledge that they will at least reach a profit price from bidding. As a result when people search the net for an item and see eg. my item as buy it now for 12.99 they also see one at ebay starting at 99p. No-brainer from a buyer's view. Regardless of how close the bidding goes to the 12.99, its a mental thing that they are getting a better deal and saves them creating an account with ebid.

These are things i have got used to and will persevere with purely because ebid is an alternative to ebay. Many new users just dont though and much as people recycle the "if they dont like it here they can leave" that doesnt really resolve anything, least of all encourage growth. The recent fee hike by ebay has seen some people come over here and plenty of posts about it being the final straw. However, amidst the anger over the hikes ebay's listing count dropped to 110m but has actually now gone back up to 125m+ whilst ebid which should have been the ideal destination for those fed up users has continued to scramble around the 4-4.5m mark. So what should have been a massive opportunity to capitalise on millions of disenchanted ebayers has basically passed by with ebid in hibernation mustering barely a whimper.
Yes the economy is tight and we are all feeling it but its hard to bring it into the equation of ebids lack of prosperity when listings elsewhere have actually increased. Ebay, a business largely bemoaned has pulled in extra business during this same economic downturn and to make matters worse, it did so whilst whacking its fees up.

Next time there is an opportunity (and knowing ebay there will be a next time), this site should be literally straining at the leash to get at the extra users.

I've bought and browsed alot of stuff in the past 2months both for necessity and gift ideas, but despite checking here first have not located a single item and i've either come across sellers who have left and no longer respond, no items found or more recently items which are not only more expensive than ebay, but more expensive than shops where you wouldn't even pay postage. I wonder if some people have jumped in with high prices thinking they have no competition on here, but failed to see that its still cheaper to buy those things offline in stores Regardless of seller reasoning, a new buyer could take one look at that, choke on their drink and never come back. Of course prices will be subjective through all market genres and there will understandably be fluctuations as prices change on the high street, but the prices i have seen on here have been substantially higher.

I'm still firmly in the ebid camp though

[suesjools]

What Greedbay doesn't seem to understand, or they do understand and don't care, is that the small business that used to be the backbone of feebay, can't afford to take a loss on the shipping. I know I can't. So they have to up the shipping price to account for Greedbay's fvf on shipping. They are too lazy to deal with the "high shippers" on an individual basis, so we all have to suffer. And the upcoming return policy..... well that was the last straw for this gal... Feebay can have their B & M Stores, whole sale, drop shippers and scammers, which is what will be left there in the very near future. I hope Ebid is preparing the the potential influx of angry former Greedbayers. I believe that loads more will be coming.

Couldn't agree more - can't eat postage myself - it tastes nasty.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[emporiumdays]

With individual seller's items (as with mine) i expect a variation in prices due to used items being difficult to value. People have an idea of what they are worth and list them accordingly in the knowledge that they can lower the price easy enough if it doesnt sell. If we eventually get the 'best offer' or 'make me an offer' facility here i'd put it on pretty much all of my listings. It would also make valuing used items for the ebid market alot easier and i think it would bring in a lot more sales as well. I started merging lots together when they got to a certain price because as paypal take a base 20p plus a percentage of the total transaction there comes a point where selling an item doesnt make financial sense. My local P.O shut down so it costs me quite a bit to get to post. Add that to the fees (paypal's) and its easier to just have the item collected by a charity shop.

For businesses its a little more complex and rather dependant on the scale of them. Small businesses will often be unable to compete with big name prices as they are unable to buy in large enough quantities to sell at low prices. Ebay has a mix:
* Big businesses cashing in on the internet channel without the overheads of having stores so able to sell cheaper but still make clear profits
* Small traders who are somewhat restricted by both buying quantity/power and the fees for using ebay
* Individuals who do the whole buy to sell thing unofficially. These are often the ones who get sucked into something that looks like a good deal and then end up with stock they cant move. This often leads to them selling it off really cheap just to recover some of their outlay, but in doing so, it brings the market price down and further tightens sales of the smaller traders who are now trying to compete with the big name companies able to offer consistent pricing and the individuals who are panic-selling.
After a bit of poking from the legal system Ebay are starting to clamp down these days on those marked as individuals who are operating as a business (i.e. anyone buying with the intention of selling is classed as a business)

Ebid on the other hand seems to be a bit more awkward to classify. Despite its tag as an auction site, the lack of bidding makes it rather more like a shop window for buy it now items. If you list something as an auction, you really need to list it at the minimum price you would be prepared to sell it for and through all of the threads both here and across the net, this is possibly the underlying issue, as it can be accountable for frustrating new sellers who expect it to be an auction site and deterring new buyers who wonder why many of the auctions start so high.

I list my business items here, cheaper than i would on ebay (to balance the reduced fees) and within the confines of my small business scale, my BIN prices here are cheaper than most listed on ebay (excluding big businesses and panic-selling individuals who i cant compete with and maintain a profit). However, where ebay is an actual auction site, some sellers over there will start their items at 99p safe in the knowledge that they will at least reach a profit price from bidding. As a result when people search the net for an item and see eg. my item as buy it now for 12.99 they also see one at ebay starting at 99p. No-brainer from a buyer's view. Regardless of how close the bidding goes to the 12.99, its a mental thing that they are getting a better deal and saves them creating an account with ebid.

These are things i have got used to and will persevere with purely because ebid is an alternative to ebay. Many new users just dont though and much as people recycle the "if they dont like it here they can leave" that doesnt really resolve anything, least of all encourage growth. The recent fee hike by ebay has seen some people come over here and plenty of posts about it being the final straw. However, amidst the anger over the hikes ebay's listing count dropped to 110m but has actually now gone back up to 125m+ whilst ebid which should have been the ideal destination for those fed up users has continued to scramble around the 4-4.5m mark. So what should have been a massive opportunity to capitalise on millions of disenchanted ebayers has basically passed by with ebid in hibernation mustering barely a whimper.
Yes the economy is tight and we are all feeling it but its hard to bring it into the equation of ebids lack of prosperity when listings elsewhere have actually increased. Ebay, a business largely bemoaned has pulled in extra business during this same economic downturn and to make matters worse, it did so whilst whacking its fees up.

Next time there is an opportunity (and knowing ebay there will be a next time), this site should be literally straining at the leash to get at the extra users.

I've bought and browsed alot of stuff in the past 2months both for necessity and gift ideas, but despite checking here first have not located a single item and i've either come across sellers who have left and no longer respond, no items found or more recently items which are not only more expensive than ebay, but more expensive than shops where you wouldn't even pay postage. I wonder if some people have jumped in with high prices thinking they have no competition on here, but failed to see that its still cheaper to buy those things offline in stores Regardless of seller reasoning, a new buyer could take one look at that, choke on their drink and never come back. Of course prices will be subjective through all market genres and there will understandably be fluctuations as prices change on the high street, but the prices i have seen on here have been substantially higher.

I'm still firmly in the ebid camp though

Darthmatt - I find myself agreeing with your views -
I think your observations are spot on.

[Gizmo11111Gizmo]

Next time there is an opportunity (and knowing ebay there will be a next time), this site should be literally straining at the leash to get at the extra users.

The next time is approaching. They will be implementing some things as of Sept 1 AND the new mandatory return policy will be in effect as of Jan 1. This will be really bad for most of the sellers. It won't take long before the next wave of sellers/buyers are here... so what if anything is the EBID Management doing to prepare themselves and this site for all those people? We have to have a gimmick and be ready... As anyone who has had marketing experience knows the TIMING has to be right. It would be a shame for more missed opportunities. Do the management people read these forums? We all want what they want and that is more sellers to attract more buyers.

[Juliebabe25]

Do the management people read these forums? We all want what they want and that is more sellers to attract more buyers.

Yes they do as they often reply to posts.
But we don't know what they want.
They might be happy with a small site with a steady income, very few staff hassles and no major hassles
A little preview on their plans would certainly rally the troops.