Ebay is at it again! (1 Viewer)

[theBaron]

Why don't you chaps pressuruze your representatives and get the Competition Tribunla to break them up for being a monopoly. Didn't they do that to the Bell Telephone Company back in the eighties?

That suggestion reminds me of one of my favorite lines from "The Lost Boys":

"Silly boys-never invite a vampire into your home! It renders you powerless!"

We all the government we can stomach as it is.

 

[Njja]

Maybe they should go back to just selling pez dispensers

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Probably couldn't even handle that! Someone would ban plastic......bad for the environment.

 

[marco55]

One thing that bugs the heck out of me is their imposition of a ceiling on shipping costs. I just listed the other day a box set of jazz recordings. Shipping is usually around $9 or so. These idiots tell me I can only charge $3 for it. If it was just a single CD, I would agree, but it's not. It's a six by six box, with a booklet and three Cds, not to mention I have to buy the shipping box. So, I just indicated in the listing that shipping is still $9 and please ignore what ebay tells me to do. Just annoying.

$3?I just sent a package to Maryland and it was only 3 or 4 pounds and it cost $7.50.
Mark

 

[Njja]

Well I just spent a few minutes attempting to contact ebays corporate office. Here is a brief summary of my experience.

1.ebay is only company I have ever encountered with a non-working corporate phone number listed on NY Stock Exchange.

2.Investor relations et al appear to be handled through their web site with
their hokey choose your question format.

3.Using other sources I was able to locate a working investor relations phone number which lead me to a voice message asking me to leave my number for a call back.........unless it was a problem in that case use the websight to contact customer service.

4.Imagine if you will, a company whose customer service is so bad that they no longer even want to speak with their customers!

5.Having run businesses my entire life I had the following goals.:
A.Make Money
B.Have Fun
C.Keep my employees happy so they took care of my customers.
D.Keep my suppliers happy & making money so they continued to supply me.
E.Reduce expenses when possible by buying property, wholesalers ect.

I must have missed the part about screwing my customers then avoiding them because I don't want to deal with their complaints.

It makes you wonder about the grand plan of life and how it all fits together.
Pierre (ebay founder) and his partner (mystery guy) would appear on the surface to be geniuses.....or as much as the 333 Million Dollar Lottery Winner is a genius. Upon doing a little research I learned that they each repaid 1 Billion Dollars for a 1 Million dollar start up loan for ebay........normally thess Venture Capital loans have a cap on return.......especially if you are a "genius"

So as I have always found to be the case.......if you run into a poorly run operation look to the owner.....not the waiter, for it is the owner that determines how his business will be run.

ebay is what it is, a success inspite of itself, not because anyone onboard has a clue.

What can we do as customers? Use them as you would a tired old shoe....wear them in the mud.

Use them only when it suits you!
Explore other means to move your items.
Ignore their programs (I have yet to check any box on feedback) I just list
my comments.
Do everything possible to limit their return on your listings.
Tell others about your experience.

As it is they cannot figure out why sales are down and revenues are flat!

I hope old Pierre is enjoying himself.......I certainly wouldn't want to answer for what I did with all the wealth I was given if I was him.

 

[damian]

Guys maybe I misunderstood the economics I studied, but in a perfect market you have perfect competition so the consumer has choice and this drives costs down until you get the best product at the lowest cost.That is what Adam Smith described. Now note he also said that the perfect market does not exist as "Not a day goes by in the coffee houses of Edinburgh without the merchants conspiring to raise prices and keep wages down" What he was saying was the market has distortions. So e bay has monopoly and can do what the hell they like. You small guys are irrelevant to them. That is why monopolies are bad. Now when left alone a lot of markets tend to monopolies. When you have a monopoly you have price collusion and poor service. If you don't like my service go elsewhere.
So that is why you need to physically break up monopolies. You have to ensure that the market is truly free and that competition does indeed take place.
So without getting into any political discussions about who is currently in charge, I would just like to point out that breaking up monopolies should be something that all partisans can actually agree on in principle. Whether a particular administration can do it is another discussion and one which I am certainly not going to be drawn on.

 

[Gideon]

The "restricted" category means certain figures can't be shown/sold - not all.

Like I've said before, trying to speak with the "Trust & Safety" department is like speaking with the ideological backbone of an insane (place your pick here).

They are completely unresponsive and will not bend. Once they've made a decision, that decision stands.

 

[Njja]

I agree those people have no grasp of logic or reason!

Of course we are not without weapons, or recourse!

I have decided I will not bid on another item for the next two months. I have

deleted all my watch catagories and the 125 items I was currently following.

Now this may not seem like much, but I have seen significant price drops in

categories I neglect for one reason or another.

I am currently active in:

King & Country
Dinky Toys
K & O Outboards
Revell Model Kits
Lionel Trains
Colt 4 X 20 Scopes
Anchor Blocks
Marklin
Gold Coins
Knives

To name a few, any decrease in active bidding will lower prices realized and

to a small extent bottom line of ebay. Will this hurt them? Well it won't put

them out of business......but it won't help them either.

I will list a few item occasionaly, but buying is out!

 

[Warrior]

I wonder if someone reported your auction.

Perhaps the guy you bought it from.

Last week.

 

[Warrior]

One thing that bugs the heck out of me is their imposition of a ceiling on shipping costs.

I've gotten jammed several times on shipping costs; like the clown didn't make enough off of me on the auction, he's got to jam me on shipping and make money on that too?

Enough is enough.

 

[wayne556517]

One thing that bugs the heck out of me is their imposition of a ceiling on shipping costs.

I've gotten jammed several times on shipping costs; like the clown didn't make enough off of me on the auction, he's got to jam me on shipping and make money on that too?

Enough is enough.

Shipping costs on ebay tell me about it ive had items of same weight range from 13 to 66 us dollars as estimated costs unbelieveable,there should be away to stop people profiting from postage??

 

[Njja]

Part of the problem is our wacky post office. If an item is small enough and the weight is just right it can ship 1st Class which is quite reasonable. This cannot be insured.

We used to have surface mail as an option which was also reasonable about $20 for a King & Country Tank (average size) to London or Paris. This could be
insured.

Today the only shipping option is Priority Air which is quite expensive $40 to $45 for the average K&C tank to London or Paris. If the item is to be insured its your only option.

I recently sent a boxed figure set to Europe 1st class would only have been $17. Since item was to be insured it had to go Priority Air.....cost $35.

I haven't sent anything to Australia lately.....it used to be about the same as to Germany.....but with these new postal rates who knows?

By the way I just paid $57 to have a small truck sent to me from the UK....estimated time of delivery 7 to 14 days! It must be coming by tramp steamer!

 

[wayne556517]

Tramp steamer.....classic lol...............

 

[Cardigan600]

Yo Troopers, agree on what you are saying about ebay 100% its a case of dont do what I do, do what I say. But regarding the postage cost of items say from the USA to Ireland/UK is not something I ever include in the cost of an item. Before the days of ebay, I had to get up at 6am travel maybe 100 miles to a big antique fair hoping that I might find an item I was looking for, often came away empty handed, so wasted a whole day, plus the expense of petrol buying meals out etc. Now I can sit at home an view every item for sale from the whole World, and can buy an item that I want without moving out of the house. So if I spend a $150.00 for an item from the USA and it cost $35.00 postage usually takes five days, I don't give it a second thought, to me its a cheap alternative than wasting a whole day out at an antique fair or auction and coming all the way home with nothing. Another point I know exactly what the postage should be say for a Chas Stadden, simple I have digital scales so if selling or buying I just weigh the item go to the USPS site and see what the cost will be. It amazes me the number of sellers who say I will let you know the postage in a couple of days, got to take the parcel to the post office to get it weighed "HELLO" wake up man. But its a whole different ball game if a seller says its $35.00 postage and when it arrives it only cost $10.00 Then its down to ripp-off merchants, so if you think they are coming the old soldier on the postage dont buy it.
Bernard.

 

[Peter Reuss]

Oh good grief!

I just picked up quite large K&C collection from Belgium (which will soon show up on a DIFFERENT auction site ).

As was listed in the auction, I chose to pay using Paypal. Problem is, Paypal won't process that large of a transaction. So I cannot use the eBay check-out (which I suspects will lose me some 'protections' as we move along)! So according to eBay, I really can't use Paypal to finish the transaction!

Guess I'll have to use one of the other options - flying over to Belgium and handing him cash (or...I just may ignore their check-out and send money in multiple Paypal transactions...)

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Oh good grief!

I just picked up quite large K&C collection from Belgium (which will soon show up on a DIFFERENT auction site ).

As was listed in the auction, I chose to pay using Paypal. Problem is, Paypal won't process that large of a transaction. So I cannot use the eBay check-out (which I suspects will lose me some 'protections' as we move along)! So according to eBay, I really can't use Paypal to finish the transaction!

Guess I'll have to use one of the other options - flying over to Belgium and handing him cash (or...I just may ignore their check-out and send money in multiple Paypal transactions...)

Was it you that bought the 10,000 euro collection? I was guessing Bill Sager. And did it have the Patton staff car?

Terry

 

[tdubel]

Part of the problem is our wacky post office. If an item is small enough and the weight is just right it can ship 1st Class which is quite reasonable. This cannot be insured.

We used to have surface mail as an option which was also reasonable about $20 for a King & Country Tank (average size) to London or Paris. This could be
insured.

Today the only shipping option is Priority Air which is quite expensive $40 to $45 for the average K&C tank to London or Paris. If the item is to be insured its your only option.

I recently sent a boxed figure set to Europe 1st class would only have been $17. Since item was to be insured it had to go Priority Air.....cost $35.

I haven't sent anything to Australia lately.....it used to be about the same as to Germany.....but with these new postal rates who knows?

By the way I just paid $57 to have a small truck sent to me from the UK....estimated time of delivery 7 to 14 days! It must be coming by tramp steamer!

I try never to profit on shipping costs, but as a hobby, I also get slammed with ridiculous fees (I am not a business), anyhow, I try to make it fair all the way around by capturing the actual shipping costs (which is a crapshoot with our Post Office especially overseas and the West Coast!) and then have a modest handling (to share the foreign exchange add on from Paypal that is buried in the overseas transactions).

So far, have not had anybody scream at me!!!!

TD

 

[Peter Reuss]

Was it you that bought the 10,000 euro collection? I was guessing Bill Sager. And did it have the Patton staff car?

Terry

Nope...it was me. I'll have to check on the staff car (I'm at my office and don't have the list here).

Over 300 sets will be a great way to kick off a new auction site

 

[Wraith]

Nope...it was me. I'll have to check on the staff car (I'm at my office and don't have the list here).

Over 300 sets will be a great way to kick off a new auction site

Belgium is a long way from Eyota Pete.
As I'm much closer would you like me to go over and pick them up, and then house them at my place? I could send you photos of your collection from time to time if you liked?

 

[Gideon]

Shipping from me isn't that unreasonable. Sending a tank set over for $45? Seems very high even for Priority unless you're using their flat rate boxes. I tend to not use them as they are far more expensive than the same size box with just normal postage.

 

[Njja]

Shipping from me isn't that unreasonable. Sending a tank set over for $45? Seems very high even for Priority unless you're using their flat rate boxes. I tend to not use them as they are far more expensive than the same size box with just normal postage.

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I use Fedex whenever possible, they provide me better service then UPS. Items seem to arrive faster, and with an account we just print up our labels and I drop them off at our local Kinko's.