I don't mean to collapse the distinction between Paypal and Ebay. But Ebay has has some fundamental changes since 1998 that do make it very unattractive to buyers and sellers.
- In the old days, you were charged based on opening demands and closing bids. This kept demand prices realistic because you weren't going to pay $3.65 every two weeks to try to sell a 3.5 MX Rollei for $2,000. Today, there is a flood of listings from dealers that price high, leave listings up forever, and hope someone will bite.
- The fees have gone up. Way up. The only place they have gone down is on very high value items, where the fee is capped at $100.
- No buyer feedback. If I'm selling something, how do I weed out the problem people? You used to be able to eliminate people with negative feedback. And why, precisely, does anyone care about a buyer's history if it's all positive?
- The DSR system, which could be called the Kiss Arse Index, is ridiculous. Half of the fields populate automatically, but the killer - item as described - is subject to the whim of the buyer. If you don't have 4.99 or higher, your stuff is bottom of the barrel when it comes to search hits.
- Ebay persecutes shipping costs. In the old days, people avoided fees by putting all of the purchase price into shipping. Ebay overreacted by charging 10% on shipping. The problem is that it puts sellers in the position of (a) losing 10% on shipping by charging actual shipping, (b) getting negged by a buyer no matter how low the shipping price is (really, if you print a label off Ebay, Ebay should be able to tell the relationship between sale price, shipping, and actual spend - and cut you a 5-star DSR if it's within 10%); or (c) eating shipping costs (which have gone up a lot since 1998).
- Ebay has basically made tracking numbers the only proof of delivery, and this makes all postage more expensive, particularly international.
- At the same time, Ebay and USPS have cooked up "E-packet delivery," a highly subsidized way to move low-value items from Asia to the U.S. - sellers in Asia pay less to ship cheap accessories across the Pacific than U.S. sellers pay to ship across town. I suspect this is why used accessories and filters have greatly diminished in number on Ebay. No one can compete with a $1.00 multicoated UV filter shipped for nothing.
- Most gratingly, Ebay doesn't really let sellers set their own terms. The distinction between "returns allowed" and "returns not allowed" collapses with the Buyer Protection Feature, which can put holds on payment regardless of whether the listing says "as-is" or "unlimited guarantee." I'm fine with minimum standards, but they need to be more like 14 days and not 45. Just as you have to report freight damage to a carrier, you should have to report "item not as described" pretty much immediately.
I agree with the assessment that the business model really only caters to high-volume sellers. That said, people who wax nostalgic about camera shows don't remember the "count your fingers when you leave" part of them. These days, I just avoid buying anything I don't genuinely think I'll be able to use and amortize.
Dante
