I’ve written quite frequently about eBay’s Daily Deals of late, and haven’t been too impressed with their choice of Christmas Gift ideas. This weekend is the last few days in which you could order Christmas presents online so it seemed to me like the ideal opportunity for eBay to have some really great present ideas along with next day shipping to ensure they’re delivered in time for the special day.
So what do we get from eBay for last minute Christmas presents? Saturday is some folding shoes or Wrangler jeans and Sunday’s offerings were a jacket and a winter coat!
What’s gone wrong with eBay’s Daily Deals? Where are the unique gift ideas and the must have Christmas gifts? Why is almost every deal of late and especially in the run up to Christmas just run of the mill high street products? It’s all clothing with a few flat screen TVs, a couple of laptops, and last week a desktop tower computer.
eBay’s Daily Deals are not inspirational, they’re not aspirational and quite frankly they’re boring. eBay’s heritage is that you could stumble across all sorts of esoteric and unusual items. Buyers flocked to the site 15 years ago because they could buy and sell almost anything, so it’s sad that all eBay can find to promote are fleece hoodies with the odd laptop thrown in for good measure.
All I can hope is that eBay’s New Year Resolution is to find some exciting merchandise to promote.
17 Responses
Chris, I could NOT agree more. Well put.
I agree too…. but I did buy one of those jackets!!! lol
because most outlets are high street.
There are unique products on ebay but they are deminishing, however they are still there.
It’s just the sellers are not part of the daily deals ELITE team.
maybe eBay is offering products that they know will sell rather the just amuse
Maybe it is simply more about WHO is being presented that WHAT is being presented?
If Ebay just want to stick their favourite select Outlets on Daily Deal, then the offerings make sense…
Perhaps this is because ebay are not a retailer like Amazon so they don’t always see the possibilites in offers like a ‘buyer’ would, as in a buyer not a consumer.
Also I doubt anyone from ebay is pushing companies to really offer the best prices they could either.
The outlets are probably onto a really good thing with daily deals.
Maybe its because ebay has gone through the Exciting and Innovative early Stages and is now in the mature(or should I say Senile)stages. The people with exciting ideas have been replaced by the boring bureaucrats who do everything by numbers. Perhaps what is required is for a clear out of the upper and middle management and bringing back of people with exciting ideas. People who have a dream of where ebay goes from here. Then perhaps in so many ways ebay will become an exciting place to buy and sell again. But I doubt if its going to happen. What will continue is the rapid descent into mediocracy that typifies so much of ebay today( and is clearly seen in such as Daily Deals).
Those folding shoes are a Godsend for holidays! If I didn’t already have 3 pairs I would have bought some more.
So, an interesting deal for me. For once.
I also note that the contributors so far to this thread are MEN, so ladies folding shoes not of interest really, lol!
Quite often I have seen daily deals from places like Zavvi at higher prices than from other sellers on ebay, and its very off putting. I used to look at them every day, and buy a few – now its part of the search process. There is too much reliance on the original selling price – which most people know is usually a 28 day established price – I know as I used to do this myself when I was Product Manager at a leading High Street PC retailer.
I always believe that its the actual price that should be the killer price, not the saving.
I had a choice last week to buy items online or at an outlet village, and I decided on the outlet (apart from 1 item I bought on Amazon). What put me off were the delivery times sellers – typically noone I saw was offering 24hr delivery, most were 3-5 days, so I did not want to risk it.
I agree Chris. I used to browse eBay for Christmas presents looking for unusual items that would be a big surprise and unexpected. I don’t bother anymore because none of the interesting shops get promoted and I simply can’t be bothered to wade through pages and pages to find something interesting.
The deals today, surely a prime slot for last minute Christmas shopping, were hoodies and boots. Neither deal offered expedited shipping even as an option. So nothing doing for pre-Christmas delivery.
What on earth are the eBay deals team paid for?
Are they in denial of Christmas?
Actually apart from a perfunctory ‘shop gifts’ link the whole of eBay seems to be in denial of Christmas.
xmas 2009 – just about purchased all xmas presents on daily delas
xmas 2010 – purchased mainly on amazon as they were cheaper in most cases on any stock offered on daily deals
xmas 2011 – bought a tv on daily deals ( not an xmas pressie ), bought xmas pressies again mainly on amazon and play – cheaper than ebay, nothing bought off DD ( apart from TV) as found offers boring.
says it all really, i think if amazon accepted paypal i wouldnt buy anything on ebay, i only buy on ebay with money in my personal paypal account from sale of junk etc from around house…..
To be honest, I thought all the “great deals” were boring on all sites. Amazon is dragging, too. The Cyber Monday and Cyber Week deals were ho-hum. The “Free Shipping” deals were often cons that weren’t free unless you bought a minimum.
Big corporations sell products from overseas and then keep prices high for us – we get a double whammy and I’m ticked about it. Our economy probably got very little real boost out of the holiday shopping season. Ebay used to have imagination and guts, but now they’re same old/same old.