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This The Future Of Ebay, Believe It Or Not
 

Not written by me. Found online. Interesting read.

THIS THE FUTURE OF EBAY, BELIEVE IT OR NOT.

1) Ebay is restructuring is model. It is in a process of phasing out auctions. (I know you do not believe me.) It is has decided to be somewhat like Amazon, a superstore. It’s also streamlining its company.

2) Phase out auctions and make it BUY IT NOW: The auctions times which are now mostly 7 days, will eventually decrease to 5 then 3 then Fixed Price Only. (Just like Amazon). This will decrease the time from purchase to payment to receiving the item. As is, it takes 7 days for the auction to last, it can take any where from 1-7 days to receive payment from buyer, it takes about 2 days to prepare for shipment, and it takes about 3-7 days for the buyer to get the item. So it can take anywhere from 10-21 days for the transaction to be completely success from bid to having it delivered to the buyer. That is along time and lot problems can pop up. Ebay wants to cut that down to 2-10 days from purchase to delivery. (Why you ask?) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

3) All items will be NEW only. That means Ebay will not allow the sales on used or pre-owned items. This will cut down customer dissatisfaction and make the Return Policy a mandatory aspect. If it new and unopened no reason to why you can’t take it back. They will push out sellers who sell used items to other sites like Ruby Lane. But, some new items cannot be returned, CONDOMS, ADULT SEX ITEMS, PERSONAL HYGIENE PRODUCTS, those things cannot be retuned. So it should be interesting to see how they will handle that. Maybe those things will be an exception to the rule or eliminated from their directory.

4) PayPal ONLY. Well that is being set up in some places already. It will set PayPal up as AMAZON PAYMENTS, meaning you can use your credit, debit or bank account to pay thru PayPal for the item that you purchase. You know that little box in your auctions listing that says: “If You BUY IT NOW you have to make immediate payment thru PayPal. If you do not make an immediate payment someone can still buy the item.” (Sounds familiar) Amazon has that. You put it in the cart on Amazon, and when you do checkout, if your credit Card is no good the transaction will not go thru and someone else who has the funds can buy it. By doing this Ebay eliminates the non-paying bidders.

5) PayPal ONLY continues with CHARGE BACKS. They found that a lot of charge backs happen because the buyer does not recognize the charge on his statement. They open inquires thinking it’s a fraudulent transaction. They buy something May 1, the statement arrives May 31, by then they already forgot what they got. Why you ask? Simple. They go on EBAY, Purchase from seller id DANDYCANDY, whose company name is FLOWERPOWER and the transaction on the statement says **PayPal FLWPWR Exotics***. Of course they get confused. I would too. Too many ids. Ebay wants to eliminate that, they want one thing EBAY & PAYPAL AND TRANSACTION NUMBER on your statement. You might not remember who you bough it from but your remember buying on EBAY and paying via paypal.

6) FEEDBACK that will eventually be dismantled completely. Many of you might remember when eBay came out with reviews. I bet everyone thought what is the point of a review, especially if eBay sells so many one of a kind item. But it was test and to let people get comfortable with reviewing. This way NEW only item (NO vintage, antique or used) can get reviews because there are more then 1 in the market. You won’t waste your time selling bad products and move on to good ones. At least that is eBay’s plan.

7) FEES, eBay will change its fees. No more per listing fee. You will pay a monthly fee and list as much or as little as you want. This also forces you to have an eBay store. That is why they lifted two seller restrictions - the Choice Policy and the Multiple Listings Limit Policy. So you will have monthly fee or yearly (if they are being charitable) and then a finale fee which will jump to 10%-15% per item depending on the price. They will rollout the scale of how they calculate your final fee.

8) CUSTOMER SERVICE: So with all these changes eBay will pull itself out of the middle and will not be involved so much with the customer service. They will focus primarily on seller services and let PayPal deal with Payment service. So if the buyer is not happy they can go through their credit card and PayPal. Or talk to the seller and resolve it. The way Amazon handles it now.

9) SHIPPING: EBay and USPS came out with FREE eBay co-branded shipping boxes. Do you know why? As part of their streamlining they will chose one carrier (USPS) as their mandatory shipping agent for eBay sellers. That means no more UPS or FEDEX or DHL or any other service. They will link it with PayPal where a tracking number is mandatory to fall under the seller protection policy at least in the USA. They will do that in all eBay operating countries eventually. Making the postal service in each country they are in, as the only eBay shipping service. This will get them in good standing with all the governments. Since all postal services are government based agencies with sub contracts to private carriers. EBay the largest auction in the world will drive revenue to the postal services. This will sit well with many if not all governments and it so much easier to close your ears and eyes to any misdeeds if the largest auction or SUPERSTORE to be is adding money into the treasury.
I shipped a package via DHL per customer request using the clients account number. When I went to put a tracking number it gave me 2 options USPS or UPS. Soon it will be just one. USPS!!!!!!!!!!
You will see that very soon.

So in conclusion with these changes and streamlining eBay is becoming proverbial MTV, it started as Music Television but it is now Teeny Bobber shows and reality crap. Video did not kill the radio star. The radio star joined the MP3 player and killed the video and the CD. Who saw that one coming? Not me. So Ebay will change from the auction site to superstore. But in its change it will leave a very bloody road. The ironic thing is the biggest change will be inside eBay. As all stream ling companies they will do the one thing no one in the company is expecting.
As TRUMP says: YOU ARE FIRED. They will let go up to 15-20% of their staff.

We are so busy protesting and arguing with ebay that we are not looking at the big picture. Look at GOOGLE, YAHOO, MICROSOFT, AOL and others. They know what is going on, they are waiting and planning to jump from behind the curtain and harpoon Ebay and stuff it and place it on their mantel.

Ebay has gotten so big it could cannot see around or behind itself. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Ebay is so into itself it does not see what others are doing and when it realizes it will be too late. That is why it went on a diet. But unfortunately there are so many other things in the works that eBay is a little too late.

I know most who read this will not believe me. But maybe a few will, and that is all that matters. Oh I am sure this post will end up on some idiot’s desk on eBay. Wondering how can I know? So ebay becareful, your friends can be your worse enemy.

Do you have proof?

How long until you think it will happen?

come on ebays soul lies in being auctioneer site.. and to prove that ebay is closing down ebay express which was only meant to be buy it now and new !!

An online article came out two days ago about this. In 2008, Ebay will make more money off fixed price listings than auctions. The novelty of auctionsis wearing off....

This is not hard to believe in our instant gratification society....

The only way this can happen and eBay survive all the changes, is if they did it very slowly, over 3-5 years. If they tried to do this too quickly it would almost certainly kill them and the big guys in the sidelines would take over. It's in eBay's best interest to do some of this, but then they lose so much of what they built up. If anything, it'll happen slowly.

lol eBay continue to destroy themselfs, the faster the better. I believe some of this, i mean they already have paypal only, and i read an article the other day how they want just buy it now auctions because the regular ones are loosing touch.

The majority of what the OP says is true. If you follow ebay advisors like auctionbytes, scott wingo-channel advisors, smythe et al- they all say pretty much the same thing,

---ebay moving to paypal only, -- see australia test

---ebay moving to higher fvf and free listings - see recent reductions for media listings and the words of the CEO
Plus the Buy.com deal in which buy.com gets to list for FREE

---ebay letting auctions die a slow death, all new ebay incentives have been about BIN, see ebay express

---ebay trying to cast off the "garage sale" image so more emphasis on new items
and large players, see the buy.com deal

I sell 99% of my items through BIN. Awesome!! :D

As do I.

I prefer buy it now both as a seller and a buyer. I never win anything I bid on because of bid snippers that bid in the last 3 seconds. On average, a buy it now price will be lower than the final bid price. As a seller I get payment faster without having to wait for the auction to end.

Oh, I agree completely , that this is what Ebay is trying to do. AND frankly, I don`t think it will phase the majority of buyers. People LIKE shopping on Ebay. Truly, I think, most buyers are honest, they are simply too busy to go "out" and shop.
I guess because I prefer th BIN , I see things a little different. I have had items sit in the store for 4 months, but then I get the buyer who HAS TO have that item.... and they will pay a good price.

Some of my competitors sell the same thing for $15.00 with auctions as I sell with BIN for $35.00. Yet I get dozens of buyers every day buying my item, which is the same thing. Many buyers will also rather pay a bit more to have it now instead of in 4 days when the auction ends.

I bet you a nickle and a cookie that they don't make it to the final phase! with all the people pissed off on there boards and protesting ebay live John Da Ho will be lucky if he makes it out alive there HAHA

My 2 cents worth
 

Most of these changes make perfect business sense.
Being a business of ebays size and caliber, why would it not?

I mean, if you dont like them, they dont care if you go somewhere else.

But it would be interesting if everyboyd walked away from them.

o WoW why thread resurrection action..

ive been telling my friends this for years now..i believe it will happen eventually for sure..thats why i want to sell as much vero (there im referring to vero as something certain people dont like..ha) as possible for the time being

and it does make perfect business sense,with the way idiot consumers think,they will definitely make more money

Thanks for taking the time to inform us of such detail!

After reading all responses, I will have to agree with Aspkin. It's only logical if they take their time to impliment one thing at a time to reach their goal, which would take some time to do so.
However, if ALL of this becomes the "New Ebay" someday, it will have the potential to make "Ebay" more profitable/lucrative for the board members etc..., BUT...there's always the down side and that's losing MANY current worldwide members who would not like the "New System" and would choose not sell any more or very simply DO NOT like change, like myself.

I personally enjoy, and I'm sure I speak for many others, going to yardsales, auctions, or whatever Mom-Dad-Grandparents-Inheritance and so on left behind, and finding a Tiger Woods Rookie card or an antique or great deal to make a simple AMERICAN DOLLAR and paying a few bucks and selling for $100's to $1000's or more.

Bottom line is that Ebay is an AUCTION SITE and was thought of, created, and designed to sell NEW or USED items/merchandise. Take that away, and you lose interest in customer selling & buying. That was fun and enjoyable at one time and the entire principle of it all.....right Mrs. W!
Current Members and Current Suspended Members :dance:, are fed up with Ebays rediculous rules, regulations and complete control & monopoly with the Ebay/Paypal issue!

In closing, :violin:, and to be very honest, Ebay isn't going anywhere for a while and will continue to make their billions no matter what, but there will come a time when the next "Big Dog" wants to step up, look around, read, listen, and have a somewhat leniente appreciation for the person making them a dollar. :hail:

Thanks H2o/proof

Never going to happen. At least not like it's written. Not even Amazon forces you to use one carrier - this is ludicrous. How can they expect to be able to force USPS on people?

I can foresee forcing Paypal eventually though as the only option... unlikely to be well accepted but who knows with eBay.

I am so surprised no giant has tried to undermine them. Google could have done this a decade ago... might not have been better than eBay, but why not competitors?

And finally eliminating auctions entirely and no more used items? They'd probably lose millions of dollars...

This was touted before by Ebay and then abandoned. Somebody posted a statement from Ebay's CEO about back tracking on this plan to concentrate on its core auctions and small seller business.

i agree, what about the big items that is too big and heavy for usps? it would need to be shipped by other carrier, ie fedex ups, etc
no way they can force just usps on sellers

This is actually a good news story if you choose to see it that way. With Ebay dumping auctions and used goods it will provide the perfect oportunity for another company to move into it's place. The end result even mean more than 1 large organisation in the auction bussiness. Can you image that? How long has it been since people have had a viable choice between more than one auction site to list on? The competition should also have the affect of keeping fees lower. The future looks bright to me. :bounce:

I keep hearing Ebay to be like AMAZON ,, but Amazon sells used items .. ebay will not get away from Vintage or antique items just like Amazon continues to let people sell Out of Production or print items.

Also EBAYS number one Focus is not even mentioned in the original thread ..Ebay is trying to get everyone to Ship for free or not pad the shipping cost so they can get their cut ..that is why they started with the DSRS hoping low DSRS on shipping cost would sway people to go to shipping for free...now they are doing the new 1's and 2' thing to keep from giving the discounts .all you have to do is get 1 person out of 199 to leave you a 1 or 2 and you wont get a fee discount or be a Top Rated Seller.