eBay Unprepared for Onslaught of Sneakerheads

by: lessthanthreerecords

I do not buy or sell sneakers on eBay, so I have no first hand experience, but I don't know that eBay was necessarily "unprepared."  Maybe a better way to put it is that they may have been "intentionally unprepared."  Here's my idea: under managed payments, it is eBay themselves (no longer PayPal) who holds a seller's money once a claim is opened.  Undoubtedly, eBay is making interest on those funds while they hold them.  It is basic logic to assume that the longer a package is in transit (or "being authenticated") the more likely it is that a claim is opened.  And, once a claim is opened, the longer that package takes to get to its destination, the longer eBay holds the money, and the more interest they make.  So, eBay takes forever "authenticating," and they pad their pockets with each passing day!  Was it intentional?  Who knows?  eBay is so bad at doing anything right, it could just be business as usual for them.  But in this case, how convenient!

by: pace306

Not sure why anyone is surprised as eBays total %100 ineptness.

eBay has done this time after time in every roll out. They roll out a 1/2 baked program and then it fails.

Look to the idiots from Walmart, Sleepy Griff and all the other useless eBay freeloaders for the cause.

Yeh - go buy eBay stock!

by: ynsider

The idea that eBay can handle authenticating all their sneakers over $100 in one location in NY is quite dumb. Most buyers do not realize that their sneakers will arrive in at least 10 days (in slow times) and 2 weeks + in busy times. A buyer from CA buying from a seller in CA must wait for their package to go to NY first then come back to CA. To say that they experience a boom in demand for sneakers is MISLEADING to say the least. People got their stimulus checks - and much like it happened last year they rushed to spend the money. To imply that this process of authentification is related to this increased demand (which by the way slowed down already) is like saying that the boom in online sales in 2020 is related to hiring some competent leaders at eBay - it all has to do with the stimulus checks , obviously. This "demand" was easy to foresee , any seller could tell you that. They just hoped that they'll ride the wave but it's a complete mess.  

by: unsuck

Arguably reductive and oversimplified, but at its core this move was nothing more than an end-of-quarter EBAY brass-ring GMV grab, not entirely unlike the desperate EOQ sitewide coupons we've seen from eBay in years past.

Ebay authentication delay complaints have crescendoed for weeks, but despite that Jamie bit the pillow and opened-up authentication floodgates for more brands, then appropriately threw the April-fools breaker switch.

More interesting info has surfaced since, but last Friday's ECB comment is still largely applicable, you can read that here 🔗 https://bit.ly/39KZjVS

by: Twinriver17

There are still no fees being charged on all sneaker sales over $100, they are just no longer requiring the shoes in the $100-$149 to be sent in to the authentication center.

I’d also like to point out my issues with the system. I sell approximately 30 pairs a day, so I’m very familiar. Why does eBay turn off messaging between buyer and seller? I’ve had a couple negative feedbacks from buyers who think that I’ve “blocked” incoming messages from them. I don’t understand the harm in allowing communication between buyer and seller. At least let the buyer know eBay turned off communication, and the seller did not block them.

I’ve also had a negative feedback from a buyer who was furious that the shoes were delivered to a different state, when in fact the shoes were actually delivered to the authentication center.

This leads me to my next point. When using the authentication service, why are buyers even allowed to leave negative feedback?  If the shoes were shipped on time, authenticated (aka the shoes were as described), and communication is turned off by eBay, what conceivable reason could a buyer even have to  leave negative feedback?  If eBay is turning off communication, they should also disable negative feedback from buyers.  

by: Ina

A seller said eBay is not charging fees on sneakers sold over $100 - "There are still no fees being charged on all sneaker sales over $100, they are just no longer requiring the shoes in the $100-$149 to be sent in to the authentication center," the seller said.

by: ynsider

Today a buyer left a negative asking why it takes over 2 weeks and still no delivery (item is sitting at the eBay facility for 2 weeks) - he implies that I ship from China. 10 minutes later my listing was removed for location violation (even if tracking shows initial acceptance scan in Chicago). EBay is becoming a joke.  

by: Silver Ice King

@ynsider

Funny how Ebay can immediately remove US listings that they deem to have location violations yet they allow all of the Chinese listings that state they are being shipped from a US location but surprisingly also say that it will take 30-40 days for the item to arrive.  Once again Ebay showing why Wenig was always saying that China was Ebays future and based on how they are performing I think they are going to keep sinking like a lead balloon just like Chinas economy is doing since all of Trumps tariffs went into effect and then low and behold along comes Covid.

by: ynsider

As we sell quite a bit of sneakers  we get a full taste of the biggest mess we've ever seen on eBay in 10 years of selling. Last week we got someone else's return instead of ours (this went thru the inspection facility) , luckily is a pretty expensive item so we can sell it and recover  our money. Turns out they are humans after all.  

by: ValueAddedResource

Jamie Iannone has mentioned in several interviews and earnings calls about sneakers bringing more buyers to the platform. In the March Seller Check In, Andrea Stairs repeated this spin saying sneakerheads on average shop in 10+ categories outsides of sneakers, spend ~$2500 with 80% of GMB outside of sneakers, and buy more items than general eBay buyers.

That's the theoretical "payoff" for sellers in other categories (many of whom were just hit with FVF increases), ostensibly meant to balance out the fact that they are effectively subsidizing these fee free sales so eBay can try to gain back a market segment they so carelessly lost.

But what happens when eBay's execution is so poor that it actually drives buyers away? I've seen countless examples across social media of buyers who are fed up with this whole process and swear they will never shop on eBay again - but I doubt we'll hear much about that from Jamie or Andrea any time soon.

by: Snapped

Of course eBay needs to be “bringing more buyers to the platform”.

They just spent the last decade driving them away with every seller of other than the ‘preferred’ items from ‘favored’ sellers. All those other sellers have been alienated by eBay’s unprecedented ineptitude and ham handed micromanagement of the entire potential marketplace. And so have those seller’s buyers.

While eBay has been decimating the seller base of less volume, treating one fraudulent or otherwise no-fault transaction ‘defect’ as cause for alarm by ‘possibly’ driving ONE buyer away thus claiming cause for seller sanction since their ‘percentages’ were ‘below standard’, the preferred sellers have amassed a thousand times the amount of ‘unhappy’ buyers - but are forgiven because their volume keeps their dragging feet above the muck that is eBay’s measurement of capability.

And now they are doing it again with buyers having to wait, uninformed, cut off from comms, while this latest ‘best new idea this quarter marketing ploy’ sale has to pass through a single point bottleneck which can’t possibly feasibly handle the volume while avoiding making the buyer displeased with the whole sordid money grabbing process. TAlk about a lack of ‘bandwidth’...

eBay’s sellers have been telling eBay for years how to attract buyers. More importantly, how to KEEP them, which is much cheaper than constantly scheming up ways to snare new ones to a platform that could not care less about the members that use it, rely on it, try to eek a living through it.

One more thing - to the point about all those newly attracted buyers making ancillary purchases now that they’ve been exposed to the ‘wonders’ of eBay. Who’s listings are they going to be offering as bait?

It won’t be those eBay has determined to be ‘unworthy’, (deserved or not), or out of alignment with their idea of what buyers want in form, fit, or price in eBay’s ongoing attempts to manipulate supply and demand.
It’s not like eBay’s going to toss off their invisibility cloaking.

So, just who is going to benefit from all these ‘new eyes’ and their stated proclivity for impulse purchases, even if they do materialize and show unprecedented patience with eBay’s marketplace machinations?

Nobody. Except eBay in the short term. Heckofa job, Brownie.

by: Silver Ice King

This experience of Ebay being unprepared for what happened is no different than any other changes they make.  They are never prepared for the outcomes as they truly believe that they will somehow magically take care of all the uptick in workloads these changes bring.  All of this happening  while eliminating staff and hiring the lowest cost personnel they can possibly find on this planet, even if they do not understand English or know anything about Ebay.   Nor do they care if the buyers or sellers are happy anymore, just so long as they can put some type of positive spin on the changes for Wall Street and their investors.  Then these fantastic executives sit there and wonder why Ebay's stock has done nothing during the pandemic while all of the competitions stock prices are going through the roof.

Nothing is ever going to change at Ebay until they make a complete replacement of all upper level management and their entire BOD.  Then they MIGHT actually see some positive changes if those personnel manage to get replaced by some competent personnel.  

by: Chicago48

i DON'T UNDERSTAND why anyone would pay over $150 for a pair of sneakers.  I know about the ponzi scheme  buying, selling and reselling sneakers, using it as a commodity. The same way you sell houses, but they are SNEAKERS! and unless they have DIAMONDS encrusted, I just don't get it.

by: DevilishlySarky

Yeah totally unprepared for an upsurge in sneaker buying , while a world wide pandemic is on , and the world and his brother is in lockdown - No sports shops open , no shoe shops open , all and sundry exercising and working out running jogging ,treadmills all sold out etc .....

Who'd have thought it ??