Happy eBay Live Eve
Hi gang,
Well, it’s that time of year again - eBay Live - Chicago.
I remember my first eBay Live very well. It was in New Orleans several years ago, back when I was but a guppy in the seller bowl. What I remember the most about N.O. Live was that it was a freak show! It was a giant Amway convention for eBayers. Everywhere you went, you were surrounded by people covered in ribbons and buttons and crazy T-shirts and hats, and every hour this bell would ring and you would literally get run over by collectors dashing to the vendor floor to collect that hour’s special Pin.
That was many moons ago.
I suspect that tomorrows eBay Live will be nothing of the sort. We sellers get the feeling that eBay may have “jumped the shark”. In other words, the novelty of auctions is wearing off. People now just want to log on, buy their stuff, and move along. You know - it’s called e-commerce!
So I don’t think i’ll be seeing too many Mardi Gras dressed collectors dashing for pins tomorrow - if this is anything like last years Boston eBay Live, it will be a very subdued, corporate event. eBay’s getting down to business now.
Lately, eBays business has been to try to shore up the buying experience, mostly by placing the blame and now exacting the punishment on the seller community. I wouldn’t be surprised to see protesters there, or possibly some booing going on at John Donahoe’s keynote on Friday. Sellers are mad right now, and leaving the platform in droves. Oh, you may not see their user id’s disappear - what is happening is much more subtle than that. What is happening is the big sellers are taking their A product and selling it on other channels, which will degrade the product offering.
I have very much looked forward to eBay Live in the past. It has traditionally been a great place to meet your seller peers and interact with eBay staff directly. The classes are great for newbies, and pointless for anyone else, but the socializing is the important part of Live.
Rest assured, I’ll be reporting on any major announcements while I’m there, and I’ll certainly give an update when I get back.
-K
June 19th, 2008 at 2:23 am
I remember the New Orleans Ebay Live well - it was 2004 and was the last one I attended.
I don’t see where auctions are dying at all. I do see where ebay has been killing them since 2004 by throwing more rules, regulations on the sellers then anyone should have a right to do. It has now reached the point where sellers just grit their teeth and wish the big bully would get the heck out of the way so they can sell! Same with buyers - the constant learning curves, the cluttered, glitchy site and the cranky search that’s even worse now then it was in the beginning. People just throw up their hands and leave. I don’t believe auctions are dying - the excitement that was there in the beginning has been quashed…by Ebay and nobody else. At this point, I think most sellers just plain hate them. They want new management…people with business sense.
No…you won’t hear any booing when Donahoe comes on for his keynote speech - most of the small sellers won’t be there - they’re too busy trying to find other sites to list on.
http://www.ACEOart.net
June 19th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Personally I have pretty much given up on Ebay. I list a few things here and there but surely NOT like I used too.
To me I think Ebay has become more like an ONLINE FLEA MARKET. People want everything for practically nothing. AND we as sellers, are not on EBAY to make FLEA MARKET compensation. If I wanted to make that kind of money I would just go back to selling at my local Flea Market. EBAY is at fault for ALOT of things. They have ruined EBAY. I do MUCH better selling from my own web site. WHICH I must add is on the first page of GOOGLE for my main keyword.
Just my opinion….. I could of course go on and on but I won’t. And I am sure not a NEWBIE to Ebay, I have been selling on Ebay since June 2000. WOW that’s 8 years!
June 19th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I’ve had a pretty long stint with Ebay too, but lately it seems they are TRYING to run themselves into the ground along with there sellers.
I’ve started my own website also and keep Ebay on the side for extra exposure. As soon as the website is running a little better I’m outta there. Let there be no false notions of loyalty, as Ebay hasn’t shown any lately. And, I don’t feel guilty in saying you reap what you sew Ebay.
June 20th, 2008 at 7:19 am
There is a mass exodus from Ebay as sellers are finding other new auction sites and some are getting out of online sales completely,selling off there merchandise in bulk.We have received some of the latter.Ebay’s days are numbered if they don’t start catering to the users that built them up to what they are today…the small mom & pop sellers.
Thanks,Paul
June 20th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Please let us know if you get any hints as to when they are going to enforce fixed allowable shipping/handling charges for several commodity catagories in the USA (as they now are in Germany….thanks!
June 20th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Bump in sales (tripling) for a couple days while Buy.com reloaded products and changed templates. He’s back in full force now. Diamond will be hard to reach while being oppressed. Good thing website and Amazon are ramping up.
June 21st, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I tried ebay and by the time they took all the fees out of what sold and DID NOT sell then I was just giving the stuff away! I did not stay in long until I figured that out.