(abhorrent) eBay policy change

[brettnj]

Hey.

This is pretty much off topic and I understand if it gets deleted but I thought it might help some sellers and warn buyers of a potential pending issue.

Over the past few days, eBay instituted a policy wherein when sending e-mails to sellers indicating there are items in need of relisting, rather than offering a highlighted button that lets you edit your original information before submitting it, it now presents two options--both unbelievably inappropriate, unprofessional, anger-inducing (in me anyway), and potentially if not noticed, problematic.

The first, the highlighted one, automatically relists your item with a new price deemed more appropriate by the site.  In addition to the adjectives above, whatever algorithms the site uses to make these determinations are flawed at best, as it has no ability to make such recommendations with any accuracy.

The second--the non-highlighted one--seems to be like the old edit and submit option in that it takes you to the listing page so that you can edit it before submitting, but the site has here also changed your price to one of its choosing, forcing the seller to change it back to the original before moving forward.

There was no notification prior to the change, the customer service reps with whom I spoke weren't even aware of it and told me I was wrong (and it took forever to reach a supervisor), and if working as automatically as I typically do when rushing through relist mails, it's very easy to not notice the changes and inadvertently lower your asking prices.

I don't understand why the site doesn't simply allow for auto renewal (It offered one click renewal of all unsold listings for a price for a while.) or one click renewal without changes.  It makes no sense from a customer service perspective, though I imagine it's all about eBay's wanting prices lowered to increase sales and therefore final value fees.

Hopefully my making users aware of this will prevent mistakes from happening and perhaps prepare buyers for any unexpected discrepancies.

Finally, if you agree with me that eBay has no right interfering with our pricing, it would help to call the company and complain--or at least send a message via the Tell Us What You Think link on the site.

Thanks and good luck.
Brett

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

ebay really doesnt care about buyers or sellers anymore, they just their cut of something.

[brettnj]

A while back a buyer demanded (very rudely) a refund  for a figure because he expected it to be larger.  I did, btw, have the lowest price by a significant percentage for the item on the site.

When I complained to eBay I was told that even though I didn't misrepresent anything, I had to provide it.  I'm not about to take the time to take or estimate and post measurements for every Kaiyodo figure I sell.  They are well known collectibles and a buyer can always inquire.  I asked if I'd be required to provide measurements to hundreds of Matchbox vehicles or Crakerjack prizes (both of which I've listed) if I sold them and the rep didn't know how to answer.

But when something similar happened again last year, eBay took a strong position with me on a very similar issue.

For whatever that's worth, I was happy.  I wonder if it had to do with my seller level changing as a result of more sales.

All that said, this crosses a line, and I expect a lot of sellers are going to inadvertently lower their prices before noticing the change, and as a result there will likely be a good numbers of disputes with winning bidders/buyers.

[BlueKrono]

Anything eBay is relevant to us, as many of our dino purchases are through that site.

[Moodyraptor]

A while back a buyer demanded (very rudely) a refund  for a figure because he expected it to be larger.  I did, btw, have the lowest price by a significant percentage for the item on the site.

When I complained to eBay I was told that even though I didn't misrepresent anything, I had to provide it.  I'm not about to take the time to take or estimate and post measurements for every Kaiyodo figure I sell.  They are well known collectibles and a buyer can always inquire.  I asked if I'd be required to provide measurements to hundreds of Matchbox vehicles or Crakerjack prizes (both of which I've listed) if I sold them and the rep didn't know how to answer.

It is true that ebay's grievance policy is very heavily weighted in favour of the buyer, there's almost no protection for sellers from unreasonable claims. 

Thanks for the heads-up on the relisting ebay - I sell on ebay a lot, and often relist things if I'm happy to wait a while to get the price I want.  I will keep an eye out for this so I don't get caught out.

[Lanthanotus]

Thanks for that information, Brett.

[brettnj]

Since I virtually always have the lowest prices on the site for the items I list--at least for US buyers--I very rarely have reason to lower my prices and generally relist everything very quickly/mechanically until it sells either via eBay or directly to one of my buyers.

That being the case, I'm just glad I caught it (ADD and colorblind so sometimes I don't know what I don't see/know or how obvious it might be to others...) before I had to do more corrections or someone used BIN to take advantage of the sabotaged (strong word but I'm going with it...) price.

[CrypticPrism]

Wait, what's your eBay seller name?

[brettnj]

FYI...I complained long and emphatically last night, telling an eBay seller department supervisor that the editing page should not have the price pre-changed to one of its choosing.

I just received my next relist e-mail and now the price shown is mine with a simple recommendation above it to change it to their suggested one.

I'm feeling all kinds of important and omnipotent...    ;  )

My eBay ID is bmk17.

[terrorchicken]

what if you relist from your unsold items list on your selling page? I clicked one of my unsold items from last week and it still offers my old starting bid price, not the other 2 options you listed. I didnt click it b/c Im not planning to relist my unsold stuff until next week but I wonder if its just for those who use the emails to relist(which I never do).

either way, yes its awful, but not surprising they'd use such an underhanded tactic, they dont call it Evilbay for nothing. I really wish there were alternatives for eBay, the only one I know of is Amazon, Yahoo auctions(if it still exists) &  Etsy (but they dont really let you sell toys/ collectibles there) and only Amazon gets as much traffic as eBay.

[brettnj]

I, strangely, have no items listed in my unsold section to test--this despite the page noting 94 unsold items in the left column of categories.  So another glitch.

I only use the e-mails to relist when they arrive one or two at a time.  When the bulk of my listings end, I relist via the site.

It will be interesting to see what happens then.

[BlueKrono]

I keep wondering when Amazon is going to break into that market. There is a seller-to-seller sale option, but it seems like whenever anyone finds a box of old toys or comic books from grandpa's attic they end up on eBay.

[CrypticPrism]

Amazon had nothing I'm looking for except for around 5 CollectA standards. Partly because the deluxes  are highly overpriced, and partly because they don't have the majority of them.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Feebay is rapidly becoming the dinosaur it is..and headed for extinction. For one glaring example visit facebook and make note of the massive numbers of local buy and sell as well as item specific sales pages. I would never again work through ebay with the hypocrisy they use in buyer/seller disputes and the unfair fee gouging. On facebook you can find a page that specializes in your particular niche, offer the items, work with your buyer, and above all get out from under the massive fee ridden problems. Facebook is international, and you can normally pay using paypal insuring protection as a buyer on your purchases.......just my two cents.

[stargatedalek]

Wish there were viable alternatives to Facebook, I really can't stand the place. It's not like I think they steal everyone's time or whatever other excuse people are coming up with these days to make their childhoods sound better than now, I just can't stand that they refuse to do anything regarding the bigotry and propaganda being spread on their site. Feels like next thing I know we're all gonna be buying and selling through 4Chan and Reddit... *shudder*

This is a win though right? Since they changed it back?

[Simon]

Brett - I recently sold something on ebay for the first time in 3 years - and I noticed the same idiotic "more appropriate price" suggestion.

I was selling a rare Paradise 12" 1955 Godzilla unbuilt kit, for which the going rate, when it does come up on ebay - is just above $100.  When it didn't sell, ebay "suggested" a price of about $38 based on "recently sold similar items".

Uh - sorry ebay, there were NO such "recently sold similar items!!!"

Now I gather they are using borderline fraud in my view to push their "suggested" prices so they could get more sales and more fees faster.

I am beyond disgusted.  Around 2006 ebay was optimally set up in terms of navigability, and the options you as a seller had.  Now, its not only borderline impossible to find your way around, but many previous options - such as simultaneously listing an item in 2 categories - ARE GONE. (At least I could not figure out how to do it when I sold that model about a month ago).

You are 100% percent right about ebay.  Thankfully I will never be buying or selling on ebay frequently again as I did during my collecting heyday.  If it had been like it is now, I wouldn't have bothered, and they would have missed out on the business that my sales and purchases gave them.

Greed and the arrogance that comes with the power of having a de facto monopoly have done their evil work.  Ebay was a godsend once upon a time.  Now its just another thing that stinks about the Internet.  Sheesh! 

[Shonisaurus]

Brett - I recently sold something on ebay for the first time in 3 years - and I noticed the same idiotic "more appropriate price" suggestion.

I was selling a rare Paradise 12" 1955 Godzilla unbuilt kit, for which the going rate, when it does come up on ebay - is just above $100.  When it didn't sell, ebay "suggested" a price of about $38 based on "recently sold similar items".

Uh - sorry ebay, there were NO such "recently sold similar items!!!"

Now I gather they are using borderline fraud in my view to push their "suggested" prices so they could get more sales and more fees faster.

I am beyond disgusted.  Around 2006 ebay was optimally set up in terms of navigability, and the options you as a seller had.  Now, its not only borderline impossible to find your way around, but many previous options - such as simultaneously listing an item in 2 categories - ARE GONE. (At least I could not figure out how to do it when I sold that model about a month ago).

You are 100% percent right about ebay.  Thankfully I will never be buying or selling on ebay frequently again as I did during my collecting heyday.  If it had been like it is now, I wouldn't have bothered, and they would have missed out on the business that my sales and purchases gave them.

Greed and the arrogance that comes with the power of having a de facto monopoly have done their evil work.  Ebay was a godsend once upon a time.  Now its just another thing that stinks about the Internet.  Sheesh!

I agree with respect to eBay that they are acting arrogantly. Sellers have every right to sell their products at the price they deem convenient without the company interfering in the sense that they have to lower prices.

I honestly am not an eBay seller. I have been a buyer after contacting Brett. I do not buy anything else about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals from Japan or Asia regarding the eBay company. Brett is my supplier now and I'm very happy, but what eBay is doing is a complete injustice. For example, I have the second hand Ankylosaurus Bullyland and if at one point (for me it is unlikely) I would like to sell it at a price that seems appropriate for its rarity, for example at 120 euros (I have spent the price) EBay to tell me that Should you sell it for example at 30 euros or 50 dollars? I do not think the deal is right for the sellers.

This will cause them to be transferred to other online sales companies like Amazon. It is not fair what they are doing. The one who wants to sell it at a price sells it and everyone is free to buy that product or not.

[brettnj]

To answer a question from a few scrolls above, I had 19 listings come up for renewal yesterday and I processed those via my My eBay page--not linking from the notification e-mails.  Everything there was as it had been, with no interference with my pricing from the site.

That said, said e-mails still contained the two new options, though I assume the one that allows for edits continues, as I noticed a few days ago, to have reverted back to having my original prices as the defaults.

[terrorchicken]

^good to know...I started avoiding using the email relists when I read that using those links would automatically set it so that your item relists 3 times in a row.  Id prefer to do that manually since there are weeks that suddenly spring up for me when I just cant be out mailing packages.

[brettnj]

Hey.

EBay just reinstituted these mails(!).

I hope all sellers will call 866-540-3229 and complain.

Brett