In a series of posts on Facebook, eBay CEO Devin Wenig has expressed thanks to various people, groups, and also promised more change and developments in 2018. It is, needless to say surprising that Tamebay isn’t one of the media outlets he recognises in his post about the media. 😉
As he signs off: “Happy Holiday and a great New Year to All. Expect big things from us in the New Year.”
You can check out his comments in full on his Facebook page here. But here’s a flavour.
From your perspective, has eBay had an exciting year? It’s difficult to pin down the major developments that stand out as positive and innovative from a seller perspective.
Granted there has been more change on eBay.com and maybe some of that change will move across the pond in due course and come to eBay.co.uk and other EU marketplaces in due course. But a cursory view at 2017 does provide a view of an eBay that is largely unchanged.
And considering that we’re now two and a half years out from the eBay/PayPal divorce, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to have expected a few more developments on the eBay front.
What say you? Do you want to see change on eBay in 2018?
27 Responses
if eBay is so good why the need for big changes?
We see them just pushing the big brands at the expense on the smaller/medium traders.
Yesterday we had one with a listing ahead of us despite saying delivery after Christmas and us on 24 hour post.
They clearly are going down this route, all the small biz PR is just spin, much like this fellow’s Posts. We also do not think they are ever going to do anything about VAT avoidance on the site.
We will still have an eBay presence in 2018, but it has been a total disaster this year, they are simply favouring the big brands with bespoke fee deals and coverage. People always came to ebay for the alternative now it is just the big brands it will turn people away.
We simply cant compete so will concentrate our efforts on more niche sites which we have this year anyway with a fair bit of success. We have done well over the years but it has run it’s course.
We need a viable alternative now in the UK away from the big two more than ever.
Apart from this month and it has been busy we are better concentrating our efforts away from eBay.
reminds us of these
new bigger better improved recipe ads ,
where often you only get the same product in a smaller size with a price hike
The captain of the Titanic has spoken.
I totally agree with the northumbrian seller everything o eBay is geared up to promote the big boys who are using eBay as a cheaper alternative to big money adverts.
eBay are not interested in the little seller anymore and our 12 years on ebay is currently grinding to a halt with sales 29% down on last year. But fortunately on other sites we are growing quite rapidly and we do not have to jump through hoops. Everyone is on an even keel for selling their items no special treatment for offering special delivery times or long returns policy. We just offer the standard posts and a returns policy that abides by UK law.
So when the big eBay bulls*** eventually grinds to a halt everyone can say the writing was on the wall plain to see but you would not listen.
I have to agree. Ebay is all about the big guys now. Proberly as the big guns never bother chasing up ebay irregularities and dodgy buyers. The sad thing is that most people shop on price…. then bitch when the service is crap etc. Sooner or later it will all come down and the customer will be saying ‘where have all the little caring companies gone?’
We are currently getting hammered by random companies getting hold of what are really specialised things and destroying the margins on them… yet offering no advice or back up, then the customers come to us expecting us to explain stuff or pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong. Add to that the ever increasing amount of private indiuviduals who should be business registered and blatantly arent paying any taxes! We have been dropping core lines like flies as the margins drop so low that it just isn’t worth it. Our whole structure is having to change to avoid literally being priced out of the market by ‘chance sellers’ who just get stuff and flog it regardless. I won’t even go onto the scammers, we all know how everyone feels about them.
We are trying to push away from ebay, but in our area its hard as most of our customers go their first. Others in the industry we have spoken to say the same. So without a credible alternative we are forced to adapt in way that doesnt really suit us, but you adapt or die… Simple as.
As for the big changes…. well everytime ebay says that it results in more work, more fees and more site function down time. Why not fix what they have before trying to bring in new unthought out stuff?
yep same here sale down a good 30% on last year and have been going down year on year for the last 4-5yrs and more changes in 2018 just means we get the shaft and ebay will make more money. will look to move away from ebay in 2018
Oh good grief… give someone (normally a man) an American business degree and what else can the poor sod do but ‘change things’. Change is the lifeblood of the corporate monolith as it squeezes every last drop of profit from the hapless customer and then, financial year end and we start all over again.
Like the noble Mark (above) I have played the ebay game for over a dozen years dealing in second hand collectables, an area that formed the original basis of ebay business but is now relegated to an also ran.
When Mr Wenig tells us to ‘expect big things’ next year my buttocks clench and I come out in a cold sweat. What ‘little changes’ can they come up with and what obfuscational management psychobabble can they use to explain what will, inevitably, be a subtle increase in costs set against a subtle decrease in service.
Your standard American business executive has a phrase book which translates ‘change’ as ‘good’. Trouble is the book omits the words improvement, loyalty and consultation
Fantastic, with all the changes weve had to make to our listings over the last 12 months seems it’s going to carry on into next year, really dislike this guy, he seems to think that businesses have nothing better to do than update listings consistently.
Just had an email arrive:
eBay Czech Republic: End-of-year message from Rob Hattrell, Vice President of ebay.co.uk
Says it all about this years performance. Lack of planning and attention to detail.
What makes eBay different from any other online retailer? Absolutely nothing! eBay used to be where you went to find unique items for a great deal, or sell your own items to a global market, but those days are gone. eBay’s bread and butter was bringing buyers and sellers together, now it’s just online retailers posting all the crap no one bought on their real websites, with free shipping. I’m sure 2018 is shaping up to be a great year. You can only move stock prices up for so long before reality hits and customers get too tired of the 10% fees.
The guy makes some positive posts and all he gets its criticism. I for one like what he has to say. My ebay business is up on last year and so are most of my friends and associates. I don’t understand all the negativity.
Alan, you are very lucky. Indeed my sales are up, but again margins are down and im doing alot more for alot less. I now spend more time sorting ebay issues and new rules etc than i do actually providing good service to the customer. We have had to cut our level of service in some areas just to stay competitive agains the non registered, fake private sellers and the Chinese companies that claim to be in Manchester.
Im glad he has actually asked for input, and indeed taken the time to respond and implement a few bits…. this is far more than we have ever had before. SAdly though he can not stop the onslaught of ebay mentality that one size fits all globally. Or that sellers have a unlimited amount of timem and staff to flap around with constant changes, that never work, get partly delayed and sometimes scrapped after we have spent months implementing them.
In general i see two groups not being affected much…. very small sellers, 100 items or less a week who have the time to make the few changes they need to a limited product base, and huge sellers with massive warehouses, expensive software and large work forces. Where the costs involved are watered down by sheer economy of size. We however are a small company with few employees (mostly it’s a husband and wife team!) We can be sending over 250 – 400 parcels a day in peak times. add to that the 30 to 50 messages a day all asking things from in depth technical questions requring research and long answers, to the damn right time wasting, is the blue thing yellow?! I do all the sourcing, web work, etc etc myself. To say we are at the limit is an understatement. Now i would employ someone else, but each year our profits go down due to those issue above, I would love to spend more time changing the range, sourcing and customising… but instead i spend a good few months of the year just solidly changing things to suit new ebay rules ( with serveral hundred lines its a long job…. longer when you just finish and they release another change….)
So yes, some of us are negative. We are negative because we are expected to do more for less, we are expected to drop everything to implement some ill thought out changes and we have other things to do, like actually running the business.
Ebay has so completely lost touch with its core customers ( medium sellers) that it crushing them. Sadly they are much happier with the giants who will never question a return, a inr, a new rule, fee rises etc… as they just swallow it all up due to economies of size. I would say we have a right to be negative sometimes. Ebay is a great idea, it could be a great place…. if only they would fix what is broken rather than just keep chruning our new things that start off broken!
sorry for the typos…. tried to edit but it wouldnt save them!
In 2016 eBay’s growth was outstripped by a mile by Amazon. Doesn’t look like that’s likely to be much different for 2017.
Our eBay sales used to outstrip our Amazon sales. Each year they keep falling back. Doubly so when it comes to European marketplaces. Now Amazon sales are outstripping eBay 2 to 1.
I’m not surprised. The site’s a mess. Full of duplicate listings and people selling last weeks toenail clippings for a quid as part of a listing for what they are actually selling at an uncompetive price. Seller’s are subjected to constant changes causing massive amounts of works and they still can’t produce a proper shipping table so international orders are lost. The only plus side is that they don’t have their own fulfillment so can’t use manipulation to try and force you to use it.
When is ebay going to make the staff at the global shipping centre more accessible and accountable? they have a bad habit of declaring items “restricted” without explanation.I have had many harmless items declared as such ie. wood work tools,antique lamps and various collectables. they disappear into oblivion and when contacting ebay customer services they are unable to assist stating they cant contact the GSP directly and have no idea what happens to “restricted” items but suggest that they are being destroyed. This would be an act of vandalism to most items .If I had unwittingly sent an item that was considered hazardous I would happily pay for return postage and then re-list for UK market only. Anybody had similar experiences?
We have had all sorts of things
Restricted using global shipping
And never lost a penny so don’t care
We’re proud philistines
when we used Royal Mail
We also had lots of innocent things
Destroyed or disposed of and also lost the money so
We’re great GSP fans
The only big news I want to hear is this waxwork going down with this titanic.
If you were privy to the real facts and not the fake news spin of from themselves, you’d make sure your raft was ready, you really would. All is far from what it seems.
Bollock to the raft we have the carpathia booked
@alanpaterson –
“If you think i don’t know the true condition and health of ebay………well.”
And how exactly DO you know Alan? Do you work for ebay? Or have associates/friends that do, and have inside information? Or access to specialist details that we don’t know about perhaps?
@jrichie
I think that shut him up! Or maybe he’s on a holiday with D Wenig somewhere.