Comments on My Blog Utopia!: Buy.com Enters eBay's top 25 in Feedback

Anonymous, the only way you will be able to prove ...

2008-12-22T16:47:00.000-08:00

Anonymous, the only way you will be able to prove that though is with a whistle blower inside of eBay.

I'm sure that Buy gets the highest level contact within eBay and in the case of the 26 negs going bye-bye they may have said we didn't oversell please remove those negs.

I have no idea if that was the case. It does defy logic to believe that Buy's DSRs are not being manipulated but only actual proof will become a story.

Nadine, you are right that eBay has lost the leverage. eBay needs the Diamonds to accomplish their goal.

If Buy were to decide to back out they could negotiate a number of concessions.

@nadine,

in either plausible senario you me...

2008-12-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

@nadine,

in either plausible senario you mentioned....It still spells online fraud when you purposely decieve the public into believing a company has better customer satisfaction ratings than they actually do by posting articifial, manipulated ratings.

I dont know to what extent ebay manipulates BUYs ratings, BUT 26 negs did disappear overnight....

And, BUYS aweful buyer satisfaction ratings at resellerratings speak volumes in my book, and indicates to me that ebay has been significantly manipulated BUYs feedback and DSR ratings this entire year quietly behind the scenes.

Considering BUY works mostly with through dropship suppliers, and actually carries little to no inventory of their own, that makes it double hard to believe their ebay buyer ratings are remotely genuine.

Anon: I see two possibilities here, both with inte...

2008-12-22T14:10:00.000-08:00

Anon: I see two possibilities here, both with interesting implications:

1. eBay is really desperate to keep Buy.com in good standing, and will remove negative feedbacks and recalculate DSRs as needed to accommodate them, or

2. Buy.com has a smart person negotiating the eBay deal, who made it a condition that they were not going to be bothered with that DSR nonsense on eBay.

Either way, can you spell "leverage"?

For everyone's info...their was a comment left at ...

2008-12-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

For everyone's info...their was a comment left at auctionbytes "snotty tissue charity" blog today that said ebay removed 26 negatives from BUY sometime recently ALL for one particular item they over sold.

Does anyone besides me question how BUY can maintain a 99.6 customer satisfaction rating on ebay pumpimg out massive volume, YET their lifetime and 6 month ratings at resellerratings.com are absolutely horrid.

According to resellerratings stats.....BUY's customer lifetime customer satisfaction rating is ONLY 42.3 percent (4.23 on a scale of 10 with over 3500 shoppers rating them). BUY's 6 month customer satisfaction rating is even worse with only 30.9 percent satisfied customers leaving ratings.

NOTE: The average customer satisfaction rating for ALL businesses combined at resellerratings is 87 percent.

What the heck am I missing here? How can a company have such a dismall customer satisfaction ratings for websiite sales, yet only have less than 1/2 of 1 percent dissatisfied ebay customers.

I can confirm a notable change in ebays tone towar...

2008-12-21T23:44:00.000-08:00

I can confirm a notable change in ebays tone towards us, a fairly large seller. Before indifference was the rule, now they have actaully been telling us what a good job we have been doing! It does feel good after a year of severe emotional suffering over every rule change and neg/neutral. It has been quite unhealthy. Hoping for a less stressful 2009 for ourselves and all of you. Happy holidays.

-a small Diamond Powerseller

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! Randy. Have enjoyed your blog so...

2008-12-20T03:52:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! Randy. Have enjoyed your blog so much. Hope you're having a great vacation!

Your posts are a much needed sense of sanity we sellers certainly didn't get this year. At times, I wanted to pull my hair out. At times, I was so angry at Ebay I cried. Tough year.

You always provide good information, calmness, and best of all you do your upmost to empower sellers.

Thanks so much!

On vacation the week before Christmas? No wonder y...

2008-12-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

On vacation the week before Christmas? No wonder you Love Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)!!

Happy everything to everyone!

Hi All!

I wanted to wish all of you a Merry...

2008-12-19T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

I wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a fantastic holiday season. I haven't blogged much this week because I'm on vacation in Park City UT, but I've been following your comments.

Keep it up! I'm enjoying the back and forth. I'll be back posting again on Monday if I actually get out of the snow.

2009 - I love your post and I agree that Ebay just...

2008-12-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

2009 - I love your post and I agree that Ebay just doesn't get the fact that we can see right thru them and we don't like the view! their attitude is very immature for a business of its size. I'm certain they will not be able to hide or manipulate the next quarter - they might skim by on this quarter if you don't look too deeply into it but after Christmas people will have to tighten their belts and business will begin layoffs in earnest. I'm afraid for the whole country in the next quarter.

My own website does well...heck far from what I made on Ebay last year but, as a small seller, those days are behind me for now. A Paypal shopping cart does seem to make customers feel more comfortable and the oldtime customers I have could care less what payment form I have. They're just plain good people. On my website I'm free to negotiate and to cater to customer's special needs - something Ebay needs to look into more closely. Also Paypal seems to work differently for my website business then it does on Ebay. Its more seller oriented then buyer oriented - at least that has been my experience with them. I'm lucky in that the type of product I sell (my own artwork) seems to attract good people and I've only had a problem with a couple of customers in the past 10 years - and those customers were on Ebay and not my website.

I think we're going to see a far far different Ebay next year and the new model will not be nearly as arrogant or as smug because the new model is going to be scrounging for revenue right along with everyone else!

Happy Holidays to our host and all your posters :-) Randy - thanks for putting up with us.

I finally got into the site, and it's offering me ...

2008-12-19T16:12:00.000-08:00

I finally got into the site, and it's offering me the chance to create a cartoon avatar of myself:

"Now that we've enjoyed another successful year together, it's time to brr-ing on some holiday fun! Create your very own PolarSeller, a virtual-snowman likeness of you. After you're done, your PolarSeller will join more snowmen created by other PowerSellers. Before long, PolarSellers will cover the mountain, so come back often to see who's joining the holiday fun. Make your PolarSeller now."

Of course when I tried to do it, the network timed out again.

Pathetically lame. But the first attempt at "fun" I've seen for a long time.

They must be worried. Bigtime.

Now, could they aim some "fun" at the buyers? And could they fix Search while they're at it?

I wonder what this says about Q4 numbers?

This is so good I had to share it. I just got an e...

2008-12-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

This is so good I had to share it. I just got an email from eBay thanking me for "my accomplishments as a valued Powerseller" and promising me "some holiday fun" in appreciation. They gave a website to go to:

www.ebay.com/powersellerthankyou

The result?

Network Timeout

The server at ebay.promotionexpert.com is taking too long to respond.

I tried three times to load the page. No dice. Priceless.

The shift in tone is noticeable, however. Looks like the inhabitants of the ivory tower are looking to unburn some bridges with the sellers they've been dissing all year.

Well, good luck with that one, fellas. You're just one marketplace among many now. Though still the biggest one for collectibles and antiques. Unfortunately.

Randy if you haven't had a chance, I think the par...

2008-12-19T11:57:00.000-08:00

Randy if you haven't had a chance, I think the part duex of my interview with Ron really wraps up the great things about Buy.com on eBay. He makes some really good observations on Buy.com coming to eBay IN HIS PRODUCT platform as a direct competitor and took lemons to tasty, yummy lemon aid.

Check it out if you get some time on the ColderICE.com blog under the Powerseller audio interview.

http://3rdpoblogs.com/colderice/2008/12/18/part-duex-major-ebay-powerseller-gives-up-the-goodies-and-speaks-to-the-masses-or-mad-asses/

Sweeeeet...
John (colderICE)

@2009, Bravo, well said, and happy holidays to you...

2008-12-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

@2009, Bravo, well said, and happy holidays to you & all who post here! and to Randy Smythe, our host!

Sorry, didn't really want to get into politics and...

2008-12-18T14:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry, didn't really want to get into politics and tax rates. That is a slippery slope. Hugs all around.

But, I have to tell you a great story. I had to take off for 3 hours to my daughter's Christmas show at school and now that we are doing over half of our business (and growing) on channels outside eBay, I didn't have an anxiety attack!!

I didn't rush to check my Feedback or DSRs of to see if a competitor had tried to file a false VeRO claim. I didn't freak out that we were low on stock with a couple items (hey, new FP eBay policy makes it a sin to run out of stock on anything....ever!).

Found out a product we are selling had one component that was not up to standards, emailed our customers and explained that we could either cancel, ship a partial order or wait for the new parts to ship fully -- all without the fear of being extorted by teenagers who know how to game FB.

See, what I have come to realize, and I understand this may really depend on what you sell, is that the real problem has not been eBay's Sellers, it has been eBay itself.

People are not afraid to shop on my stand alone site. The love the fact that there is a shopping cart with a checkout and multiple payment options, including mailing in a money order or Google Checkout! The can choose sizes, colors and models.

And I am not afraid to follow up with these customers before 60 days with specials and offers. On eBay if we do that we fear getting a negative from a customer who after 59 days has decided he/she really doesn't like the color of the item they bought two months ago….

See eBay challenged all of its Sellers to up the ante, but the problem is eBay itself can not stand the scrutiny. They have tens of thousands of tough minded, honest and hard working small business people who see through their “noise” and laugh at them when they say the “hear us” and know that none of them could do for one day what we do every day, year in and year out.

We are on to you eBay. We love you like a pain in the a—friend, but we are on to you. You dared us to walk out the door and we did. And all those stock options you have are not worth the paper they are printed on because forgot the basic rule – take care of the customers you already have!

Working 20+ hours a day here in the home-stretch and just happy to have a place to vent and share the good news. Happy Holidays to you all!

@Nadine,

YES! I want Obama to raise the cap...

2008-12-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

@Nadine,

YES! I want Obama to raise the capital gains tax AND go thru with his promise to raise taxes on everyone making over 250,000. I can't put it any clearer then that. Giving the rich a tax break for the past 8 years has done nothing but make them even wealthier. We desperately need to give middle class and poor families a break. As it is I fear it will be hard enough just to keep the middle class at the status quo because of the huge recession tipped off by all the fat cats stuffing their pockets and getting even fatter! Obama was voted in by the middle class and the poor - they voted with their massive donations to him on the order of 750,000,000. Its unprecidented and its a clear mandate from the people who sweat and labor in the country that things must change. So...that's my take on it and you can argue points as much as you want because it won't change my mind. This is why I said we must agree to disagree.

Randy, if as you say eBay feels fairly sure none o...

2008-12-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

Randy, if as you say eBay feels fairly sure none of the new Diamonds will jump ship, then I predict a few sops thrown to the small seller in January.

After all, if the small sellers are to fund the transition, gotta keep them as long as possible, right? All eBay needs to do is make a minor course correction & remove one or two of the absolutely stupidest and most harmful policies. For instance, they could adjust the Seller Non-Performance rules to take some account of volume - base them on the last 100 sales if there are fewer than 100 sales per month, so that one awkward customer could no longer NARU a good small seller. This would cost them nothing.

See, it's an advantage to be making egregiously stupid policy decisions left and right. You have so much choice which stupidity you want to take back. You can pick one that is low cost and doesn't force any embarrassing climbdowns in policy.

As for the overall Diamond policy, I think it's set in stone now, unless the Diamonds force eBay's hand by leaving and/or getting aggressive. eBay will just make more abortive attempts to have their cake and eat it too.

I truly get the impression that eBay did not understand (until now?) that they couldn't make over the site for the Diamond sellers and retain their pre-existing seller and buyer base.

@2009, add in the payroll taxes, and the top quint...

2008-12-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

@2009, add in the payroll taxes, and the top quintile still pays 70% of Federal taxes. The notion that the rich are getting away without paying is a false one. You can see the effective tax rates 1979-2005 here http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/efftax05.html which don't show the middle quintiles "getting hammered" relative to the top quintile, and which show that the Bush years cut taxes about equally for all quintiles.

Furthermore, from 2001 to 2007 Federal revenue rose about 40% because of the tax cuts.

I just make this point because it's impossible to make rational arguments about anything, either taxes or ebay, if you don't argue from the actual facts where they are obtainable. If Obama hikes the capital gains tax for "fairness", he will lower Federal revenue. Is this what you really want him to do?

@Randy, sorry, you know how these things are once they get started.

@2009 - that's what I should have explained but af...

2008-12-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

@2009 - that's what I should have explained but after a whole year of political debates I'm all tuckered out on them.

Free listing and an 8 percent sell thru rate isn't going to get Ebay anywhere. I still don't see these big shots staying next year. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Wow - can you imagine the spin if Buy left eBay? G...

2008-12-18T04:33:00.000-08:00

Wow - can you imagine the spin if Buy left eBay? Get Usher Lieberman some Pepto Bismal.

How did this thread get turned into a political th...

2008-12-18T03:25:00.000-08:00

How did this thread get turned into a political thread? :)

2009 being President is not high on my wish list.

Nadine, up until the holiday season I wasn't sure Buy.com would continue and even now I'm not 100% sure they will continue even after what appears to be a good holiday season on eBay.

I can say that the eBay sales are additive and sales they would not have had they not done a deal with eBay. I have that info on good authority.

Nadine, federal income taxes are a lot different t...

2008-12-18T02:51:00.000-08:00

Nadine, federal income taxes are a lot different than federal income taxes and payroll taxes combined at which point the middle class really gets hammered and lower income people pay the highest overall percentages. Add in sales taxes for just the life-basics (food, gas, utilities) and the picture for the non-rich gets pretty bleak.

Warren Buffet often tells of how his secretary pays more in taxes as a percentage of income than he does.

The good news -- there is no capital to be gained in the current economy, so no worries.

Anyway, let's solve it all and elect Randy President -- Flat taxes and free listing fees for all! Vive in libertate aut morere!

@anon, it's very hard to estimate the success or f...

2008-12-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

@anon, it's very hard to estimate the success or failure of Buy's eBay venture just by looking. For instance, I should imagine one important variable they will keep track of is whether their more expensive eBay sales are canabalizing their less expensive website sales, or whether these are true new sales they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. I have no idea.

@pat, I was not assigning eBay to any political party. I was only commenting on the futility of making policy according to wishful thinking. In reality you cannot arbitrarily change one variable in a complex system, whether a tax rate or the level playing field, and not have the entire system react to the new parameters, with unintended consequences.

Sell-thru rate means nothing if you pay no ebay in...

2008-12-17T17:56:00.000-08:00

Sell-thru rate means nothing if you pay no ebay insertion listing fees. I think Randy has already stated that to the same people 10 or so times now.

People are grossly underestimating the success of Buy's deal on ebay.
I agree with Randy, economies of scale are at play here. The smaller seller isn't aware of the Six Sigma principles inherent in this kind of large operation.

I'm just glad McCain didn't win, because he would ...

2008-12-17T15:54:00.000-08:00

I'm just glad McCain didn't win, because he would have put Meg in there. Ebay would have gotten away with just about anything.

@Nadine - just to set your record straight. I've ...

2008-12-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

@Nadine - just to set your record straight. I've been watching politics for over 50 years now...long as I've been voting. That's longer then most people have been alive. So, I'm not talking off the top of my head. The past 8 years has left us a debtor nation - frankly - because voodoo economics doesn't work and hasn't really worked since Reagan set it in motion. The resultant global recession is directly tied to these same economic policies.

As for Ebay - they are so republican its not even funny...even supporting the republican campaigns. Don't forget even Meg worked for Romney and then for McCain. Liking them to democrats is pure bunk...pardon my straight talk.

Now, if you disagree - then we will have to agree to disagree because I'm not about to turn this thread into a political one. If find the back and forth tit-for-tat to be tiresome and nobody changes anybody's mind.ines