Ebay ..Ugghh

[ehanes7612]

well, I lost another Ebay customer..I just don't have the right temperament to sell in retail and coddle other's anxiety..maybe if my life depended on it..hats off to people who do this for a living

 

[Tom Reddick]

From 1998 until about 2012, I sold on eBay all the time and in all kinds of categories. That has gradually dwindled to near nothing.

They actively promote a retail type experience where all sellers are expected to function as though we are full time businesses with sophisticated order fulfillment solutions.

And of course on pricing, the race to the bottom is as prominent on eBay as you will ever see.

I have found that over time the bargain hunters tend to be the worst customers. They want it cheap, and they want customer service as though they had just walked into Chanel. And eBay does little, if anything, to promote reality.

Just curious- do you find you generally get better prices on eBay for orchids than you would here or taking plants to the local society or advertising maybe on pinterest? I know you have taken things there that did not sell here, but over time is the money there?

I only ask because antique quilts and high end paperweights are the only two categories where I have done any real eBay selling activity in the past 5 years. And in both cases, it is now more lucrative to go directly to third party vendors and sell to them for resale, or take things to specialty auction. The better the quality, the worse eBay has become is my experience.

 

[ehanes7612]

From 1998 until about 2012, I sold on eBay all the time and in all kinds of categories. That has gradually dwindled to near nothing.

They actively promote a retail type experience where all sellers are expected to function as though we are full time businesses with sophisticated order fulfillment solutions.

And of course on pricing, the race to the bottom is as prominent on eBay as you will ever see.

I have found that over time the bargain hunters tend to be the worst customers. They want it cheap, and they want customer service as though they had just walked into Chanel. And eBay does little, if anything, to promote reality.

Just curious- do you find you generally get better prices on eBay for orchids than you would here or taking plants to the local society or advertising maybe on pinterest? I know you have taken things there that did not sell here, but over time is the money there?

I only ask because antique quilts and high end paperweights are the only two categories where I have done any real eBay selling activity in the past 5 years. And in both cases, it is now more lucrative to go directly to third party vendors and sell to them for resale, or take things to specialty auction. The better the quality, the worse eBay has become is my experience.

I dont think I get any better prices....it's just that a lot of people don't care or know about ST..I dont go to shows or society meetings

 

[AdamD]

Have you tried Facebook Buy Sell Trade orchid groups? Again, limited audience but I don’t see many paphs, could be an untapped market

 

[ehanes7612]

Have you tried Facebook Buy Sell Trade orchid groups? Again, limited audience but I don’t see many paphs, could be an untapped market

Interesting. Thanks

 

[Ray]

well, I lost another Ebay customer..I just don't have the right temperament to sell in retail and coddle other's anxiety..maybe if my life depended on it..hats off to people who do this for a living

If you cannot deal with that, don't sell things. It's all part of the deal.

eBay makes it worse on the customer, as the communications channel is clumsy, and the place is rife with rip-offs, so they are far more wary in dealing with the seller.

 

[Mikefallen13]

I'd certainly recommend checking out Facebook groups. Compared to eBay, communication is a breeze and no annoying fees tacked on. I've even done auction style listings where people put their bids in the comments section and the highest bidder at a set end time wins.

 

[ehanes7612]

If you cannot deal with that, don't sell things. It's all part of the deal.

eBay makes it worse on the customer, as the communications channel is clumsy, and the place is rife with rip-offs, so they are far more wary in dealing with the seller.

funny, because I hear the opposite from ebay sellers...they say ebay makes it worse for the seller by always siding with the buyer, so they stopped selling on ebay....my guess is that no matter your experience, people will say ebay is worse on them

I like selling but I am not going to give great customer service to people who do nothing but complain ... I tell them they can do their business elsewhere..kinda tired of this myth that sellers need to be on their tippee toes when it comes to 'satisfying a customer', I could care less about them being a 'customer', it's more about passing on something I value to someone else who will appreciate that value also...I never let a grouchy seller stop me from buying what I want..if there are people who want to be that sensitive then fine with me, they can go elsewhere, tells me they care more about their passive aggressive whims than they do growing orchids.

But I am not in it to make a living, and I dont fault those who have to coddle to a person's every whim to make a sale...I just won't be that person.

 

[Tom Reddick]

If you cannot deal with that, don't sell things. It's all part of the deal.

eBay makes it worse on the customer, as the communications channel is clumsy, and the place is rife with rip-offs, so they are far more wary in dealing with the seller.

I was chuckling at Ed's reply, because I am one of those former sellers who would argue that things got harder for us.

But your point is well taken Ray.

At the end of the day, the eBay business model is problematic because it has morphed into the company being presented as a general marketplace for everything that is intended to compete with major online retailers.

But the trouble is- they take a very hands off approach to the whole thing. If you buy directly from a major reputable company on their website, you have some assurance based on that company's reputation as well as some degree of legal recourse if you need it. If you go to the shopping mall, you can be reasonably assured that stores have been vetted before being allowed to sell there- plus there is the fact you need a pretty strong sales history in order to be able to afford to rent mall space. These are not perfect assurances- but they are valuable.

With eBay you have none of that. There are dispute resolution mechanisms in place that are helpful to some extent, but at the end of the day you have to put more faith in the transactions than you would in a face to face meeting or a traditional shopping experience.

In most all of my hobby areas, really solid full time vendors who have been on eBay a long time selling a very specific class of merchandise are doing fine- and they fetch the prices they are asking for the most part.

However, us smaller operators who only have things to sell occasionally do not have that same fortune. We are lumped in with the rest of the nobodys in many eyes, and it shows in sales results.

And frankly, I can understand that. I have been amazed in recent years on this and other forums to see the number of eBay orchids that turn out to be misidentified- and people just keep on going back for more. Or does anyone remember about 15 years ago when all those single sanderianum seedlings that had been in flasks for years were being sold for $100+? Those things were going to be dead as soon as they came out of flask after sitting in there for so long.

It is not just that there are scammers and lousy vendors on eBay- part of the problem is they stay in business because even repeat victims get allured by the lower prices. And that creates a class of customers who have unrealistic pricing expectations plus assume that mislabeling plants, and other issues, are common problems that every vendor has on a regular basis.

 

[Tom Reddick]

I'd certainly recommend checking out Facebook groups. Compared to eBay, communication is a breeze and no annoying fees tacked on. I've even done auction style listings where people put their bids in the comments section and the highest bidder at a set end time wins.

Are you referring to the new marketplace or FB groups that have been created for selling plants? I am on FB but not an expert- I did not know you could have groups dedicated to selling (I would have expected FB to route all that to some kind of fee-driven platform.)