posted on October 26, 2001 09:04:01 AM new
Had to bring this to everyone's attention.
If you are using Ebay Stores - the new Checkout Process appears to be as follows:
Buyer requests a total from the listing page
Seller gets email, follows link to checkout page, and fills in the information
Buyer (I think) gets email notifying them that the information has been provided, and they return to the item listing to complete the sale.
Unless the buyer goes back to complete the sale, there is no sale in the Eyes of Ebay.
If a buyer gets the total amount $ and Paypal's it to you directly or chooses to mail payment, and does NOT complete the Checkout proess - there is no sale in the Eyes of Ebay.
Your # available doesn't change, and Ebay takes no fees.
There are threads now in the Ebay forums of sellers having the same item being "requested" by multiple buyers because it doesn't become available when the first buyer starts the checkout process.
And sellers who promptly ship their items after those Paypal payments make their customers happy, but are being accused of fee avoidance by Ebay. Yep, sellers whose buyers don't follow through with Checkout are committing fee avoidance.
And we all know how Ebay loves to chase down fee avoiders...
This is VERY BAD NEWS for Ebay sellers. I certainly don't like the idea of being accused of an Ebay crime (for lack of a better word) for something completely beyond my control.
Ebay needs to change checkout ASAP to register the sale when the buyer initiates checkout, not when the buyer completes it.
posted on October 26, 2001 09:13:54 AM new
Thanks for the heads-up!! I have been thinking about eBay stores. Now I really have to wonder if it's a good idea...
If you have only 1 of some of your items, this would cause a MAJOR problem! And upset buyers if the 2nd or 3rd person that requested final totals on the 1 item have to be told the item is sold... This is going to confuse and upset a lot of buyers and the SELLERS are the ones who are going to have to take the heat...
posted on October 26, 2001 09:24:19 AM new
OK, I came up with a work around for buyers who want to make multiple storefront purchases without doing a dozen checkouts.
Buyer contacts seller stating they want to purchase Widgets A, B, and C, but don't want to do 3 checkouts.
Seller lists a storefront item that is a lot consisting of A, B, and C for the total amount of the 3 widgets, and the appropriate S/H filled in the Checkout fields (this handles the Combined S/H problem). They can then edit the individual Widget listings to reduce the # available by one, and send the new auction ID to the buyer. To make sure no one else purchases that lot, you can set up a pre-approved bidder setting on the storefront item. 8) Its a lot of extra steps, but it solves the combined S/H and fee avoidance issues.
posted on October 26, 2001 11:30:42 AM new
In my opinion, the new checkout feature was introduced in a half-ass manner. Same goes with the online stores. The technology, in both cases, is not sufficient enough to allow these features to be used properly by its users. They were both introduced to the detriment of us eBay sellers and are not worthy to be added to eBay as active features. They are poor "beta" functions at best.
It is us sellers that have to live with the flaws and technology limitations that these inferior products offer. The end result is that many of us sellers are forced to spend our time inventing internal "Fixes" for these flawed products just to keep our businesses running. Time that is much better spent listing auctions.
One trend that is very easy to see is that none of these new features in any way mess with the well greased cash register drawers that ebay uses to extract fees from us. Their clear motives in introducing these products is also easy to see through, despite the public relation statements that are released to us and the media. It's all about eBay and to hell with everyone one else! They are the 2000 ound gorilla and were are mere peasants.
eBay has a clear cut monopoly. There's no doubt about this fact. It is what allows them to act in such an inconsiderate and ruthless manner to the customers they serve. They day will come when they are forced to change the way they do business. History shows this. And when the day comes, former eBay users will strike with the same vengenance that has been used against them all these past years.
Building a business realtionship is a two way street. The one way street that eBay has used to build their business will one day be the double-edged sword that brings takes them from power.
I've never been an eBay basher. I've been an admirer over the years. However, I can no longer turn a blind I on their behavior and can see the writing on the wall. A soft economy, unrealistic growth numbers, failed techonology introductions, increased user fees, increased obstacles & restrictions, fewer buyers and an incresing number of unhappy and dissatisfied customers can lead to only one thing...
eBay is now on notice by both wallstreet and its users that it must perform. The quarter that eBay fails to meet their ever incresing pie-in-the-sky growth figures will be the day the invisisable hands holding eBay up dissapear. And when this happen they will be forgotten by the market makers and users of their website and will be abandoned in the same manner for which they chose to abandon us.
Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. Famous words that will someday hold true again...
