eBid needs a big publicity drive to entice disgruntled eBayers as thousands have left

[littledelving]

As you can see in the eBay forums thousands of sellers feel they have been let down by eBay.
Ms. Whitman’s (ex CEO of eBay) vision ended five years ago (2008) when John Donahoe took over eBay as CEO. Now, eBay’s mission is to connect corporations with consumers and boost eBay’s stock price. - See more at: http://www.antiquetrader.com/antique....AbACT1Y7.dpuf.

The way sellers are being treated is unbelievable eBay have stripped them of any recourse or protection against bad buyers and scamers using eBay, its just unbelievable that a seller who pays to list on eBay are treated like this, and I think eBid have a good opening to entice ex eBay sellers to join eBid and make it grow into what many auction sellers want, a friendly selling platform for the private sellers and buyers, in fact that's how eBay started out, and look how successful it was, but sadly eBay have lost the plot and only want business sellers and buy it now listings, what a shame, that cooperate greed has done to a once great business model.

I have just joined ebid after thinking about it for some time. Nothing listed yet, but I will soon. Have been on the 'bay for many years and their fees and percecution of good, UK based sellers is only getting worse. Keep in mind that I am a top rated seller on the 'bay with over 2600 postive feedbacks and 100% score. So you would hope that the 'bay customer service would want to help. Not a bid of it. Some chap purchased a DVD. Then got in touch 5 weeks later to say he wanted a return and refund. Why? Because the original recording wasnt up to his expectations. Nothing wrong with the DVD or my service. He used the 'bays buyer protection scheme and after contacting the 'bay for advice, they simply told me to accept the return and issue a refund. Not even large corporations are obliged to accept refunda and returns after 28 days, but the little guy in the box-room at home has to do so according to the 'bay. I am no business but the 'bay website tricked me some years ago into changing into a business seller (I am definately not) in order to be allowed to list more items which I wanted to do at the time. They will not allow me to revert to private seller status even though I obviously am not a business. Ebid is now much better and it just needs a higher profile to attract buyers. I dont want to list 500 items and sell one or two now and then. I want to know that if I list at the right price, there is a good chance of something selling.
Adding insult in injury the 'bay are based in Dublin for tax purposes and pay next to no tax on profits made in the UK. Plus the amount of overseas sellers or overseas sellers pretending to be based in the UK is insane. The 'bay is basically trying to become another alibaba or something like that would guess. They pounce on UK sellers for minor issues but there are so many overseas sellers with many negative feedbacks that seem to have no sanction. Plus the 'bay is very quick to take its fees but turns a blind eye to all the VAT and Customs Duty avoidance it facilitates. Just another big corporation percecuiting decent hard working people. Its like the EU and Westminster and the globalists in microcosm. Its not a good place to be anymore so I hope ebid pans out because there is nothing UK centric otherwise.

One other thing. The 'bay claim to offer seller protection as well as buyer protection. The 'seller protection' turns out to be the 'buyer protection' weasily worded to claim that buy protecting buyers, the 'bay is protecting sellers. Its Orwellian doublespeak. The highly paid staffers have to justify their existance with penalising tweaks and adding to the already burdonsome Orwellian regime over there.

[cheaver]

........... Keep in mind that I am a top rated seller on the 'bay with over 2600 postive feedbacks and 100% score.
One other thing. The 'bay claim to offer seller protection as well as buyer protection. The 'seller protection' turns out to be the 'buyer protection' weasily worded to claim that buy protecting buyers, the 'bay is protecting sellers. Its Orwellian doublespeak. The highly paid staffers have to justify their existance with penalising tweaks and adding to the already burdonsome Orwellian regime over there.

Your double posts (the same post repeated on another thread) appear to be doublespeak also as you appear to have been a member "over there" for 5 years with only 6 feedback and none of those achieved as a Seller?

[bluebedouin]

This is not the place to criticise another site,however much they deserve it.
Everyone here agrees that ebid need to advertise themselves more.It won't happen.It hasn't in the 13 years I've been here anyway.So it's up to the individual seller to do their own.
Your post could be edited down thus:

I have just joined ebid after thinking about it for some time. Nothing listed yet, but I will soon. Have been on the 'bay for many years ... a top rated seller on the 'bay with over 2600 postive feedbacks and 100% score. .... Ebid is now much better and it just needs a higher profile to attract buyers. I dont want to list 500 items and sell one or two now and then. I want to know that if I list at the right price, there is a good chance of something selling....

[theElench]

I have to agree with bluebedouin, there's little chance of any push to publicise ebid.

But you haven't (yet) bought the Seller+ subscription so don't have to chase sales to recoup your investment before seeing any profit from sales here.

A couple of tips that may be helpful.

Log in at least once or twice every week, this shows up as your Recent Activity date and will re-assure buyers that you are still active and hopefully adding to your listings.

If the areas you list in suffer from a "Dead Zone" of zombie listings on page 1 of the search results, forever re-listed but never selling, try a few long duration auctions. These will cost you an extra 5p when they end to re-list as RUS but will at least show browsers that there is some activity in the area. It will also give buyers access to all your other listings via the built in "See All" button.

Good luck for your future on ebid.

[astral276]

Ebid is now much better and it just needs a higher profile to attract buyers. I dont want to list 500 items and sell one or two now and then. I want to know that if I list at the right price, there is a good chance of something selling.

It's the same old story that has been done to death over the years.

Ex eBay sellers want to come to eBid and have the same selling figures that they previously enjoyed. If that can't be 'guaranteed' then they will not list their stock here. Yet they want eBid to finance an expensive major advertising campaign to attract those buyers.

So what happens if eBid do spend all that money to attract buyers? The buyers arrive and find that what they are looking for is not listed for sale here due to all those sellers waiting until the buyers are already here before they list their stock. Not finding what they want those prospective buyers leave; writing eBid off as a place to buy and not returning.

If sellers want eBid to grow than they have to support it through the leaner times to bring forth the good times. Sellers are the only ones that can do it; buyers can't and even eBid can't. Without the variety of items available to buy there is nothing to attract and keep the buyers here, and eBid spending wodges of cash bringing them here would be just money down the drain.

So if you want eBid to grow then you have to list.

A piece I wrote a while back:

An effective mainstream media national advertising campaign is a very, VERY, expensive exercise^[1]; eBid simply do not have the financial resources to follow that route (low user fees do not make for massive profits).

Anything less than a national advertising campaign is a pointless exercise as the catchment group, even at a regional level, would be just too small. Even if eBid did have enough available funds to mount a campaign, where would it be targeted? Which of the international sites would feel any benefit? Would it be the UK, the US, or one of the other countries that eBid serves (leaving other countries feeling abandoned by eBid)? How effective is such advertising anyway? Isn't advertising what the Mute button on the TV remote was invented for (it is in my home)?

Such an advertising campaign also carries a risk. What if the campaign did not generate sufficient income to offset the costs? Other, similar, sites have taken that gamble, lost, and then had to close down after (effectively) bankrupting themselves.

There is also the question: If such an advertising campaign did attract a mass of new users, would eBid's current hardware infrastructure be able to cope with the sudden influx?

Any new custom also need to be balanced. If a mass of new buyers are attracted to the site but they find insufficient sellers offering an insufficient variety of goods they will likely leave never to return. Equally, if a mass of new sellers are attracted but there are not sufficient buyers for their goods then they will leave never to return. In either case the money spent on the advertising campaign would have been wasted. It's rather a Catch #22 situation, to which I have never seen a solution offered.

So eBid relies on web advertising, search engine presence, and word of mouth to attract new custom. This allows the site to grow organically, at a rate the system can cope/evolve with, and within eBid's financial means.

Notes:[1] Example: A single prime time national airing of a 30 second advertisement on the UK's ITV1 channel is around 60,000 GBP (at 2011 prices) - and that does not include the advertisement's production costs.

[rocks2dust]

So if you want eBid to grow then you have to list.

Exactly!

And if you want to sell something here (or anywhere), you must to keep adding listings. You cannot sell if you do not list, and the more you list, the more eyes you will attract. People who come to see one of your listings often go on to look at your other offerings. People very often choose not to buy the first item they first chance upon, so give them a variety of other listings to consider in your store (and offer to combine shipping so that they will consider adding more items to the sale). Back in my first tentative attempts to sell my extras from my hobby online, I was advised that getting 100 listings available was the best thing I could do to grab the eyes of potential buyers. That was on a high-traffic site, but it applies here as well. I still consider that to be one of the more important selling tips I received (along with the importance of multiple photos and titles containing key search terms).

[astral276]

I still reckon Gazza should have pitched on the TV show Dragons' Den.

He could have turned down any offer if he didn't want Dragon 'partners' but it would be a massive free advertisement.

Download Application Form (.doc format)

[donovin4160]

Thanks for sharing this! I believe just like anything, you'll have to promote, eBid included.

[theElench]

Exactly! Back in my first tentative attempts to sell my extras from my hobby online, I was advised that getting 100 listings available was the best thing I could do to grab the eyes of potential buyers. That was on a high-traffic site, but it applies here as well. I still consider that to be one of the more important selling tips I received (along with the importance of multiple photos and titles containing key search terms).

Learning to make the best of Key search Terms is a must because here every Key Word will count and your item will show up in any search that contains that word or term.

Unlike on some other sites where you can use all the right terms in the title but your item is still missed out of the results because it's listed in a "wrong" category, or the results are not "fruitful" enough to be bothered with and for other inexplicable reasons.