 Re: Selling on eBay these days is depressing
Interacting article I found today which is related to this thread in some way or another. See below.
Why convenience shoppers aren’t buying on eBay
By Chris Dawson September 7, 2018 - 9:00 am
eBay is becoming an increasingly difficult marketplace to buy on when you want an item delivered promptly. It’s no surprise that Amazon (even with their more than one-day delivery for many Prime items) is winning as it’s the default choice for consumers when they want fast shipping with their item delivered tomorrow or in some cases today.
eBay talk a lot about ‘Retail Standards’. They use retail standards to justify why sellers should do things like offer 30 day returns, have great images and offer free postage but you’ll never hear eBay talk about retail standards and next day delivery. Today’s retail standards for delivery is that you can get your item tomorrow, either as default or as an upgrade. Some retailers, like Next, will allow you to order up until midnight and still deliver tomorrow.
There’s no kind way to say this, but eBay do not meet retail standards for delivery speed and that is part of the reason that buyers aren’t loyal to eBay. Certainly for many products buyers aren’t in a hurry and are willing to wait to receive their purchase, but for other products they simply don’t shop on eBay and go to places that do offer retail standards on delivery speed. When buyers want convenience they go to Amazon.
What’s really sad about this is that many of the merchants offering fast shipping on Amazon and winning sales also sell on eBay and tear their hair out wondering why eBay sales drop whilst Amazon sales accelerate.
So what’s gone wrong with eBay? There are many problems which can be traced back over a decade and today seller behaviour driven by decisions made years ago is still exacerbating the situation.
Fast & Free is not fast shipping
eBay highlight Fast & Free on listings but this is a program that was rolled out in 2012 when the world was a very different place. If you offer delivery in three working days or less and ship for free then your listings qualify for the badge.
Three working day delivery may be free but there is no way that in 2018 that this can be considered as fast shipping. With the proliferation of next day courier services tailored for ecommerce and Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 24 services, not to forget good old 1st Class post, there is no reason that sellers can’t get items delivered tomorrow. eBay introduced cut off times to assist sellers who can ship later in the day for next day delivery to highlight their service, but when fast delivery is mixed up with ‘Fast & Free’ three working day services the badge is entirely devalued and frankly should be a bit of an embarrassment to eBay.
Free postage = Economy Delivery
In the early 2000’s, eBay started to insist that sellers offer free postage in many categories. Their reasoning was that buyers love the convenience of free post and, to give eBay their credit, many buyers do and the mandates changed the face of postage on eBay forever – when the behaviour was mandated sellers were forced to offer free postage and in later years when the mandate was relaxed many sellers continued to do so.
However mandating free postage came with a problem. It lowered the service that sellers offered across just about every category on eBay. No seller was going to offer a next day delivery service for free when they could offer economy postage for free and so economy became the new norm. Some sellers continued to offer additional postage choices for express delivery but few buyers take up the option as it’s too difficult to find.
Mandating free postage turned eBay into a 2nd Class economy shopping destination and that still hasn’t changed today. If you shop on eBay expect slow shipping as the norm with fast shipping being the exception.
Trying to find Express Delivery on eBay
When you search eBay, definitely want to make your purchase on eBay, and search to find an item with express delivery, you really do have to work hard. There is no search option to display items which even offer an express delivery option and your only real option is to view items with the Fast & Free badge and we already know that’s a Slow & Free three day service.
There’s no point sellers offering express delivery and fast shipping if buyers can’t see it and the only way for a consumer to find items on eBay with express delivery is to click into each and every search result until they find a product that can be delivered tomorrow. Is it any wonder that consumers shop on Amazon, click the Prime search option and look forward to receiving their purchase the following morning rather than shop on eBay?
Doubtless eBay look at their metrics (as do sellers) and decide that there’s no point offering express delivery because buyers never choose it. Well think about it, buyers never choose your express delivery option if you offer it, not because they don’t want the service, but because they can’t find it. Buyers who want express delivery don’t even bother starting their search on eBay, they simply start their search on Amazon.
Chinese Sellers
eBay have encouraged cross border trade and nowhere in the world more so than in countries such as China and Hong Kong. International trade supports sellers in China with ultra low postage rates into the UK and sellers from the East have flooded eBay with cheap products.
There’s nothing wrong with Chinese sellers selling on eBay, any more than UK sellers listing on other overseas eBay sites. The problem is that many Chinese sellers claim that their items are located in the UK when in reality they are not. They may claim to be in Liverpool or Hounslow and even have a UK returns address but, when a consumer makes a purchase, the goods are flown over to the UK in bulk. Often they are pre-labelled in China ready to be delivered by Royal Mail or a UK courier but delivery is always slow.
eBay is riddled with Chinese sellers masquerading as UK based with UK shipping and they get away with it most of the time. If a buyer leaves a negative feedback comment then they offer to buy them off with a partial or full refund.
The big issue here is that even buyers who are aware of Chinese sellers and specifically want to buy from the UK so that they get fast shipping can’t eliminate Chinese sellers from search results. Selecting the item location “UK Only” will display a raft of search results, many of which today will be from Chinese sellers claiming to be in the UK who will in reality ship from China with abortionately slow delivery.
eBay seem to ignore sellers with a business address in China, claiming to have their stock located in the UK, who offer 3 day despatch followed by a ‘five day economy courier’ service. Think about it, name me one courier within the UK who offers a five day service – even myHermes deliveries take place within three days and there simply isn’t a five day service available. These sellers are misleading buyers with their item location to manipulate search and eBay aren’t clamping down on them.
Some sellers lie.
eBay turn a blind eye.
Buyers are disappointed with a slow service or don’t buy.
Amazon wins.
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