Responses:

northumbrian says

12:39 pm on 26/11/2008

So What! is what we say,
even if you list 100 items its only a saving of a £10
and being tempted to start an item at 99p these days, is very dangourous ,
you could give it away with less effort

Richard says

1:02 pm on 26/11/2008

Oh FFS, just what the site needs, like a hole in the head. Swamped with even more junk.

FenLex says

3:08 pm on 26/11/2008

Maybe exactly what the site does need – a bit more of the stuff that made eBay what it was in the first place.

northumbrian says

3:38 pm on 26/11/2008

3 totally agree ebay does need a bit more of the stuff that made it was

AUCTIONS ONLY,
NO, MULTI NATIONALS
NO, BUY IT NOW
A FEW TRILLION LESS RULES AND CONDITIONS!
A FEW ZILLION LESS LISTING OPTIONS

Richard says

3:52 pm on 26/11/2008

#3, If it was decent stuff starting at 99p it might be different. However from past experience it’s not. Most either goes for 99p or ends with no bids.

Sue Bailey says

4:09 pm on 26/11/2008

a bit more of the stuff that made eBay what it was in the first place.
I think buyers, ecommerce and the internet in general have moved on from then, Fenlex. The whole novelty of the auction has worn off.

Savvy Paul says

4:40 pm on 26/11/2008

eBay communicates:

“We need more buy-it-nows” – then promotes low value auctions

“We need less clutter on the US site, so we’ve removed UK listings” – then promotes international site visibility

“We need to protect members by restricting off-site links to seller’s websites etc” – then puts 3rd party adverts to offsite links anywhere it can possibly fit them

eBay should communicate

“We just want short term cash. Don’t care how we get it and don’t have a long term plan for anything, so don’t expect anything to make sense. Some things might work out for you, some might not. If you’re not a big volume seller we’re not going to be concerned”

As long as it makes me money to list on eBay, I’ll keep doing so. But, factoring in the time it takes to manage all the changes, u-turns and malfunctions, profit on ebay is only getting more difficult to achieve.

eBay – please make up your mind about what you actually want your business to be.

Robert says

4:44 pm on 26/11/2008

To Sue Bailey,

That’s interesting you say auctions are a dying breed. Many brick and mortar auctions around the country have been reporting constant growth for year. As a small ebay business, we typically ran about 600 auctions monthly on ebay last year and generally got bids on at least 500 of them that were all profitable. No matter which categories I search on ebay, ebay may be force feeding fixed price listings, but the sell thru rates on auctions is still far better than fixed price listings….so I beg to differ with you. Ebay claim auctions are dying because ebay hasnt experienced much user growth in recent years. That’s not because people didnt like auctions, its because there is so much corruption and fraud sellers on ebay that word of mouth keeps many people from joining.

Donahoe doent like flea markets and auctions, SO he and his PR team put up the smoke and mirrors claiming auctions are gradually dying, yet for 7 straight years ebay enjoyed 35% year over year gains when marketplace was primarily auctions, and since he’s taken over forcing fixed prices and free shipping, page views have dropped 32 percent from a year ago and nearly 6 million less ebay members are shopping ebay this year. Those numbers came from most recent Neilsen report.

The world doesnt need another online super mall filled with a glut of cheap junk from china! Auctions rule, and another major online player will recognizing the opportunity Donahoe is letting wither away and reinvent the online auction scene and it’s unique culture that once was on ebay.

northumbrian says

5:22 pm on 26/11/2008

auctions are not so interesting when you watch them, rather than bid on them

the Watch feature is ludicrous ,the whole point of an auction is to bid not watch

Whirly says

5:47 pm on 26/11/2008

#7 Well bloody said.