stop the Ebay bashing!

First of all, I absolutely understand that there has been some bad experiences that people have had dealing with certain ebay sellers, but it really bothers me that ebay is being bashed as much as it is.

There are those of us (like myself) who are honestly trying to run an ebay business, and have managed to keep 100% positive rep thus far. Granted, there are some people who don't make the effort, and as a buyer, we can see what their reputation is and where their problems lay.

My advice: whenever you're tempted to buy something via ebay, LOOK AT THE PERSON'S REP FIRST. There's a reason why you can see their reputation, as well as the comments people have left behind. If the person has had a lot of negative rep in the last month or 6 months, be weary of dealing with them. Read comments left for them. If you deal with an ebay seller who has had problems in the past with mailing the wrong item or overcharging for postage, it'll likely be in their rep, so you can't entirely be surprised that it happens to you.

I've been shopping and selling on ebay for a few months now, and so far have not had a single problem with any ebayers. Whenever buying, I've gone with people who have 100% rep or very close to it, even if it meant spending a few extra bucks on an item.

But please don't knock ebay as a whole, it hurts those of us whom are honest and have an ebay business!

 

I always wonder why people think that what others say or do reflects on them. If you have a good seller reputation and offer great products and stellar customer service people will ALWAYS come back to you.

People will always bash EBAY, ETSY, HANDMADE and other selling venues, but I really don't think it has anything to do with an individuals store. It's strictly the business of those places and what they charge.

As for bashing, I don't really see that here. I think people will buy from you on EBAY, if you provide quality products and great customer service. It's all about how YOU conduct business.

 

What others do DOES reflect on them.... The unfortunate thing is that there are people who have had bad experiences with certain ebay sellers, and have since stopped dealing with the site as a whole, which is unfortunate.

Granted, there'll always be someone bashing ebay or etsy or other online shopping venues, but sadly it does reflect on the site as a whole. It's rare that someone will complain about a certain seller or a handful of sellers, but much more likely to complain about their bad experience on ebay as a whole.

Complaining about ebay isn't a hot topic around here, granted, but I tend to come here and read through people's threads, and there's at least a new one each week about someone's bad experience with ebay, or knock the site in another way, which is unfortunate. It tends to scare non-ebayers from even giving ebay as a whole a try, whether you're buying from a single person or business.

Agreed, but let me use an example:

Let's say you walk into your local Target store, for example, and for whatever reason (bad personel, bad day, whatever) you end up getting extremely bad customer service when shopping.

Now, does that bad customer service reflect just the employee you dealt with, the store as a whole, or the chain as a whole? The next time you want to go shopping, will you return to that location of Target or will you shop at another Target store, or even at a completely different chain? And if, by chance, you are bothered enough by the crappy customer service, you decide to pass on your experience to a friend or family member, what are the odds that the particular story would stick with them the next time they consider shopping at that Target store?

It's one of these things that rub off. Chances are, the individual employee you delt with was just being a jerk, and that one person's customer service sucks, but more often than not, that rubs off on the customer as a reflection of the store and/or the chain. There's a good chance that you've lost that one customer, plus whomever they've passed on their bad experience to.

That's what I'm talking about with venting about ebay. The advantage with this particular form of online shopping is you can see how individual customer service works. The unfortunate thing is that there are people who deal with ebay sellers who have a lot of negative rep and are surprised that they had a bad experience.

All I'm saying is please give these sites a chance, don't knock them, and be a bit more careful with which ebay and etsy sellers you deal with.

 

You can't compare apples and oranges though. Target is it's own entity, while EBAY is a venue for different stores. I guess you could liken it to someone saying they don't want to shop at a certain mall anymore, but seriously.... even then it all comes down to the traffic you drive to your store and the way you conduct business.

I don't know. I personally don't shop on EBAY. Would I ever shop there? Possibly if I found something I really wanted or a seller that I really liked, but I don't think you should take it personally if people are upset with EBAY (fee issues, customer service).

Do what you can to drive more traffic to your store or look into branchin out ot another venue if you know more people will go there over EBAY.

Just a thought.

 

I don't think it's too much like apples and oranges, it's just an example.

Many people don't see ebay as a 'mall' of stores.... in fact most people don't. Ebay is a website, just like Etsy and Hipforums is a website. Granted many people run business via these and other sites, but it is still a site in itself running a business. Target was used as an example to represent staff as a whole who work there (like the 'staff' or people who work through ebay).

Understandable, but it's hard when there are people who are upset with ebay because of a few bad apples in customer service... going back to my example, the issue with the Target store isn't with the store as a whole, nor the chain as a whole, but with the one employee. A single Target store has many employees, like ebay has many businesses and individuals selling. The unfortunate thing is that a few bad apples hurt the whole batch.

It's unfortunate that there are a few problematic people doing business on ebay. All I'm saying is that I wish people would give ebay more of a chance, despite the bad apples. And like you (and I, in my first thread) said, there needs to be a better understanding that ebay is home to many sellers, and because there are a few problematic people, doesn't mean that a person's business should shut down from the entire ebay website.

 

That was actually quite silly.... If that's how I came across, then I apologise. I'm not telling people what to say, all I was stating was to be reasonable. It isn't fair to generalize a whole site for poor service when the problem is a select group of people, that's all. It wouldn't be fair to say, for example, that all posters at hipforums are immature 13 year old stoners, because that's not true either, and it would be silly to post that.

I'm all for warning folks of problems, but again, to not make generalities. I don't mean this thread to offend or upset anyone.

If you've a problem dealing with ebay, what the actual problem is dealing with ONE PERSON or ONE STORE on ebay, likely not the whole entire website. The problem that I've noticed with many posts venting about ebay is, in actuality, with certain sellers on ebay and not the whole entire site.

By all means, vent and warn of problematic sellers online throughout, but be sure to be specific to the seller and not the site. By being vague about the site as a whole hurts those of us who aren't making problems! That's all I'm saying!

 

I understand your point.

I choose not to sell on EBAY, because frankly, I have had nothing but crap service when I did. I got tired of handmade items being drowned out by mass produced stuff. I even had to deal with a few bad bidders.

I haven't shopped there in years and honestly I don't ever go there to even browse. again, would I NEVER buy there again? I might shop there again, but chances are I will support Etsy over EBAY because I like the whole handmade market idea that has developed there.

My advice to you is to do a bit of research and find out where people are going to do their handmade shopping.... from what I have learned, more people are choosing Etsy as a place to shop to find unique handmade goods. Ebay is good for other kinds of auctions, but if you are in the market selling handmade items, I think your best bet adn probably more lucrative venue is ETSY.

 

that's true... agreed