The diversity of the Ebay UK market place is declining. This will result in several unpleasant outcomes: the total number of sales will decline faster than the economy alone would predict as buyers migrate to other sites in pursuit of the niche sellers, fees in the middle band of shops must rise to cover lost revenue take from the small sellers, and the diamond sellers will gain greater leverage the fewer overall sellers there are. One wonders why they’re paying 7% FVF when the conversion rate is dropping so fast and they can compete better on price from direct web sales via Google.

More sales? I don’t think so. Once the last of the SIFs expires around Christmas time, I think Ebay UK will find retaining small and middle shops a considerable challenge.

So how many people stand around in a field waiting for a mall to be built?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKSDUZj8woY

Agreed
PEOPLE NEED TO GET THEIR HEAD ROUND THE FACT THAT EBAY AND SELLERS TOO.
ARE HERE TO MAKE MONEY!

not to be religious, or helpful ,or charitable, I buy and sell for a living
I am not qualified in Mental health care
though some say I am in need of it after 10 years on ebay

“This above all else, to thine own self be true” was excellent advice from Shakespeare but there is such a thing as enlightened self-interest and eBay do seem hell bent on alienating the very customers who provide eBay with the profits they are in business to make.

There is another issue: eBay may not be a charity but it holds itself out as a “community”. That has been a profitable strategy for it in the past, but it should not be a surprise if the members of that community expect to be treated like stakeholders rather than cash cows.

ebay is not here to hold our hand ,.or be responsible to us ,other than the service they sell us,
they offer a service at a cost, buy it ,use it, profit from it if you can, but its not ebays problem if you dont,

if you dont like it, dont buy it

Even better , I would wish for some kind of ombudsmen to safe guard sellers rights!

Embiggen???

whats wrong with enlarge?

the feedback responses are classic

Basically it’s a numbers thing – If you have for example 100 listings each with 4 competitor cross promotions that’s 400 views (if they’re only viewed once). You’re now due 400 views on competitors listings. Now count up how many competitors listings there are in the categories you list in – there’s probably 10s of 1000s if not 100s of 1000s of listings. Out of all those 10s of 1000s of competitor listings you’re due to be cross promoted on just 400. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.

Of course if you *do* see one that’s bad news, it’s one less view that potential buyers may see

EBay wants the additional revenue they will earn by the sponsored links program, so they simply declare that “With a high degree of confidence we can say that sponsored links are not harming our sellers business as a whole“, since such a statement is supposed to allay the fears of sellers.

Is it any coincidence that this program is a year old, and completed transactions have been shrinking over the last 12 months?

The sponsored links appear at the bottom of search pages, and are inserted well be fore the links to additional pages in a buyers search. This placement leade buyers, especially new inexperienced buyers to believe that when they hit that sponsored link button they have run out of results, thus sellers move on without completing their search or making a purchase.

eBay is so hungry for revenue that they ignore the fact that new buyers are shoved off eBay with the placement and location of these sponsored links.

The ads may not compete with items within a category, but they do encourage buyers to take a look elsewhere. It would be like Target stores placing signs up that told customers that there are lots of things for sale at WalMart down the highway, then wondering why their sales volume declines.

eBay used to prohibit outside links until they decided they could be the one to receive revenue for them, so now, sellers are prohibited from posting any outside links and their listings, but eBay is free to do so.

EBay is losing their unique identity, no make that sellingf their unique identity as a retail web site.

ebay surely would be wise to put there efforts into there core business of commission based sales rather than off site links, it really is very short sighted.

That’s not true with off site ads where the traffic goes and doesn’t have a return path.

Unfair policy, unfair trade practice. Does any Lawyer care to take the fight and examine this practice?

Only if your potential buyer is a complete moron
any fool can add the price and the P&P together

Unfortunately I know from first hand experience that they will go with the lower “price”. The buyer isn’t going to click on all eight of those listings to compare them.

Only if your potential buyer is a complete moron

any fool can add the price and the P&P together

Come, come now, what do you want a clean playing field………………..With ebay it’s never going to be, Whats good for the goose…etc, etc.

# 7
Same goes here.
One point that maybe worth thinking about, is if all BIN listings are 30 day good till sold, then in theory a listing will not end till the seller decides not to stock it anymore, at which time ‘hopefully’ the product won’t be sellable so no one will be selling similar items anyway.