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Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Looks like he's getting annoyed. I dropped my price below his, and he did the same. So I dropped it quite far down, but enough for me to make a decent profit.

Hi My name is ....., I run ........ Last week I was selling ....... for ....... and people gladly paid it. This left me with a nice profit. You then started undercutting my price and by doing so reduced both my profit and yours. Each time you reduce the price both you and I lose out. I don't understand why you are doing this unless you are selling for some reason other than to make a profit. I can afford to reduce the price down to zero if that's where you want to take it but as a business person I would prefer to make a profit for my efforts. I'm am going to raise my price to a reasonable level and wait to see what you do. If you want to continue this stupid price war we can but as I said the only people losing out are you and I
Looking forward to your reply
........ ......

I'd drop your price again.

You know, I never jump into those price war bs. That'll just kill the market and make yourself in a lose lose situation in my opinion.

I'd focus more on other areas such as customer service, getting good feedbacks, making people happy , etc

I'm all about getting good feedback, etc. Keeping the customers happy.
That's business.

By posting a letter like that in the open asking for opinion...it's pretty clear you aren't all about that...you want to dominate the market, and while nothing wrong to do that...this other seller is weak and writing to you to stop. Maybe best discuss with him and come to resolution - that's the way business works these days...competitors come up with agreements so both profit...or one drives the other into the ground.

Choice is yours but you're asking the forum to consult on this competition? Going to get very varied answers.

Basically, you're saying a seller can't provide good customer service etc, and dominate the market?

I was the first with this product, and along came everyone else under-cutting my price, that's what happens.

I don't message other sellers asking for them to raise the price.

This guy is is sincerely reaching out and is being professional. Made no threats, no anger, or hostility. If I were you, I would suggest to him an agreement that if these items are selling well that one week you can set the price, then the following week he can set his price without undercutting. Alternate weeks and if they continue to sell well, both parties will profit. There are many people on ebay and Amazon that would have went on the offensive and made your life miserable, and destroyed your account and sales potential. Take the high road and prosper my friend. Good luck.

You do not own the rights to the product.

You therefore have to share the bounty.

Do it in such a way as to not be impeded in petty squabbles.

You are on the mark by saying you offer great customer service & get good feedback.

Keep the faith.

:mod:

i totally agree with the approach of your competitor. He/she is doing the right thing and you should be thankful he did not take the hurt your account route. reaching a peaceful resolution would be in both of your interest, without any escalation.

When I first started selling on Ebay I was selling a very specific software and I had 1 major competitor and he would try everything in the book to derail me. Unfortunately we never tried to work it out, we could of both made decent money.

In a few areas I have only 1 or 2 competitors. We all work together to ensure we all get the most profit possible, and we also import together to get the best prices.

I may sell only 10 items per day because my prices are higher, but I make £10 on each of these items instead of £3 and selling 20 items.

Down to you to work out how to maximise your profits. If that means collaborating, then do that. If it means trying to run them off the road and then having no competition, do that. First approach tends to work best IMO

It depends on certain situations. I have a product I sell that nobody on ebay can match my price. It's not a product that you can go buy on dhgate, nothing mass produced. I found my own manufacturer for it, contracted them to make it for me, the works. I have undercut everyone on ebay selling similar items and I have made several hundred k this year off it. The competitors tried to take me down when I sold on big accounts, and instead, I've spread the products across 120 accounts, so I've slowly tied up the market and pretty much control the sale of this product.

I don't need to make deals with anyone, I just need to keep operating.

Depending on your sources, and your profit, you can decide to share the pie with them, or you can put them out of business. If you each have the same source for the product, it might not be in your best interest to engage in war because it may put you both out of business.

I feel bad for you guys having to deal with competitors trying to derail you. I have always figured if I can't compete on price and service than I shouldn't be selling. And no way in heck would I stoop so low as to try and get somebody kicked off. Well of course instead they tried to pull some funny stuff with me.

Thankfully most of the products I sell are somewhat unique. Lots of people selling them but so many variations etc. And the quantity isn't limitless so if someone wants to give their stuff away I can just ride it out and when they run out I am the last one standing and I can charge whatever price I want. Sometimes can even increase the price.

Price wars are a waste of time and effort to me. If pricing on a product gets ridiculous I get out of that line and move on to something else.

price wars are a nono for me too, both people will end up losing out, agree to sell at same price, keep ur dsrs good and u will sell more than him

This happen to me one time. I had someone selling the same product as me, and we would have price wars. Well one day I just sent him an email We became pretty cool after a couple of chats, and after a long talk we actually created a business plan around our products, and how we could both making money!

The product was normally priced at $49.99. I paid $5 for the product, so you can see I had a lot of wiggle room and could still make great profit, but I didn't want a bidding war so we agreed to switch off each week. What I mean by that is I would sell my product one week for $49.99 and he would sell at like $44.99... each week we would switch back, and forth. It was a great business model for at least us, and we were both able to win!

The best thing to do is just try to make good on any situation. You don't want to try and ruin each others accounts, or money because in the end both will lose! I hope my post was a little helpful!! Keep up the good work, and keep on stealthing!

I wouldn't drop it again unless you can still turn a profit (there is no point cutting of your nose to spite your face), if you are happy with the profit you are getting then sell at your own price, I wouldn't worry about what he is doing. After all business is business, you don't have to be a cock about it but if your business can run on less profit then his to survive then good luck to you, if he is going to threaten you and say "I will drop my price to zero blah blah blah" I would just ignore him. After all if he is going to lower his price to get back at you then obviously he is not a genuine person and is only mad because he isn't ripping people off with his outrageous pricing. He says he will lower it to zero then in the next sentence he says I am going to raise my price to a reasonable level, by saying this he is saying that he needs to raise the price for him to make a decent profit, it seems to me he has had the pick of the litter in that area for a long time and is mad he is not making the amount of cash he was making, no matter what if you raise your price or not if its under his price he is going to complain anyway, Ebay is cut throat and people will do whatever they like to save $1, its just the way it is. Do what's best for you.

Thanks for the mixed replies. I've agreed to bring my price up to the same as his, but he seems to be able to still sell more even though I have 100% feedback, and excellent DSR's. It's because he runs an actual business for the product we sell. I think I will suggest the one week on one week off idea, if he declines, I will just drop my price and worry about myself. Thanks everyone.

This thread reminds of American Gangster when Denzel tells Cuba not to dilute the brand. Blue magic that's a brand name. Trademark infringement lol.

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

He's not interested in that idea! He want's to alternate charging postage costs each week, i'm not to keen as then it brings the post DSR in, what would you do?

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

i had the same situation a few years back.
and started the pricing war (which is stupid if you want to make money).
talked to the guy and worked it out set prices and stuck to it.
and then let the buyer decide,,simple....
worked ok and both made a bit of money...

if it gets out of hand both feedbacks will be trashed and both lose money..

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

You can only do so much - if he is going to win out with matching price AND you have met his demands...might be time to a) move on or b) get more sales your way in a competitive professional manner

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Wow you're lucky to even get a message from your competition.

Most times you wake up in the morning with some type of ridiculous ebay restriction and that's the end of your sales/accounts.

Work with him.

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

One of my fav movies.

"I don't care what you call it, put a choke hold on the mother***er and call it blue dog ****"

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Haha. Reminds me more of Prop Joe from The Wire. Trying to set up the New Day CO-OP.

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Yea definitely be careful because he could easily ruin your account if he wanted to. Best case scenario is to work it out on the price.

Never been a fan of price wars, I always let people come in with lower prices and I never match, they usually dont last long.

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Nothing quite like starting off your day with an eBay restriction out of the blue.

Of course you could pull off a pre-emptive strike and nail him from some stealth buyer accounts. :heh:

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

I hear that - if you have time for war and screwy antics...guess depends on the competition. Many ways to approach this - OP has a lot of options posted

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

That really is childish especially considering today's eBay environment. I prefer to mind my own business an leave everyone else alone. I can say in years past. Some sellers who are larger and have have account managers. I want to say in the US you have to sell 150k to years in a row to get one. But they could pull certain stings to have items removed resulting in account suspensions. Especially for certain products that fall under Vero or Trademark Infringement. I know this was quite prevalent for a certain category of goods from 09-11. eBay has since basically eradicated that category. But I would not put it past other to pull out the same playbook.

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Drop your price right down get him to drop his price and then buy all his stock out, Make sure he doesn't do this to you!

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

And what if his stock is plenty and he can refill? Meh - this idea has been done before but still more money to your competitor...

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Lol, College Degrees are worthless for the most part. But I studied economics. If you consider Game Theory it is the "prisoner's dilemma".
You all can look it up yourselves. Essentially those who agree to compromise have a Cartel lets call them "OPEC". Those who don't one moves first and each acts in their own behavior to compete try to drive each other out of the market. It may work it may not.

Hard to compare on an eBay scale but usually the one, like eBay member contacting the poster is ready to fold. Thus leaving market control up for grabs to the remaining competitors. You only contact someone like that if you are weak. True monopolists like Rockefeller would incur the losses to sell at a loss to eradicate a competitor.

Obviously you have to know your market. Know what you can price at and the quality at which you can sell. If you can drive someone else who can not compete on such basis then you are doing everyone a favor.

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Exactly what I said (but you phrased it like a big boy).

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Solution:

Keep the account steady at this price.

Open 6 more accounts and undercut him x6.

Re: Competitor getting annoyed!
 

Well-stated vogeltron - was hoping to see who would pull out the economics on my statement :) props.