eBay to Host Session on How to Reach Customers

by: COVID-19

eBay sellers = Hopeless. eBay chat sessions = Pointless. eBay management = Clueless.

by: comments

I look forward to hearing the ebay take on how to reach customers so I can do exactly the opposite. I have never seen a company more passionately hated by its customers.

I am guessing that it will go something like.

Sales are bad? Raise prices
Sales are good? Raise prices
Just raised prices? Raise prices
Trading cards trended for a summer? Go all in
Stuck with a bunch of trading cards you can't sell? Raise prices (if the vault will release them)

by: ebayout

What a complete joke...eBay controls the reach.
In pre-historic times, if you placed an ad in a newspaper classified section, there was no section labeled "hidden listings". EVERYTHING was visible.
Why is that so difficult for eBay?

by: HappyOne

Ebay's solution buy more ads; promote with a higher % this may reach customers. Next how to get customers to buy?

by: Marie

@HappyOne

This Monthly Chat is not about how to promote listings.  It appears you misunderstood the subject matter.  

I'm interested in seeing what I might learn from this Chat.  Or maybe I won't learn a thing.  But for some they will likely learn how to reach out to their customers.  

Hard to say until the Chat actually happens.  

I prefer the weekly Chats to these Monthly chats that are subject specific.

by: Shanna

Marie,

How can you learn anything from eBay, when they have no idea themselves? Its buyer pool declined by 13% compared to a 9% decline in the prior quarter. Sales volumes on its platform fell even faster, down 20% in the first quarter compared to a 10% drop in each of the last two quarters. Ebay has lost its way, it has no idea how to attract customers (most businesses that have customers advertise), it has no way to retain customers. Ebay thinks it know what customers want, instead of using an organic search, its Cassini engine pushes customers toward the sellers it chooses, and they are not choosing you.

by: BackOff

By accident, I found a way to directly reach buyers and watchers but then eBay took it away: Last month there was a big glitch on eBay which allowed a seller (me) to see the full username of any ebay member who was receiving my sent offers i.e. all of my watchers on listings were exposed. All I had to do was click on “Manage Offers”, select and copy the redacted name of someone I sent an offer to and then paste it elsewhere. The full uncensored name showed up! I discovered that the majority of my watchers were former sellers who hadn’t sold anything on ebay in more than a year according to their feedback. (presumably because they didn’t want to join MP) After about a month, ebay fixed it the glitch and it doesn't work anymore.

A few of my watchers were other sellers of similar items and some were buyers only who never had any sales in their ebay feedback history. I saved some of the names of buyers for the future. The best part of this was sending an offer to someone, checking their feedback and preemptively blocking them if they left too many negative feedbacks for other sellers.  

by: ebayout

At the risk of being called Capt. Obvious...
Why doesn't ebay's results drill down menu have a check box for..."ALL"...?

by: Snapped

“ This Monthly Chat is not about how to promote listings.  It appears you misunderstood the subject matter.”

It appears not, per this latest ECB article: “ eBay Recommends Sellers Run Promotions to Boost Sales”?  Can’t ‘reach’ a customer who won’t likely even see your offer no matter how many eGizmo’d gadgets you might attach to it - unless it’s ‘promoted’.

by: pace306

How to reach customers 101 (aka reaching out to Dummies to get (your) customers (back)

1) stop hiding emails
2) stop hiding phone numbers
3) offer EVERY possible payment option aka not only the ones eBay wants
4) stop your war on sellers and work with them
5) muzzle VERO
6) get REAL Customer Service - not script reading Filipinos
7) reinstate 2 way feedback (to reward good buyers)

its not really that hard - and if YOUR stock has gone from 72 to 45 ... you'de better step on it!

by: Marie

@Shanna

Many times I don't, but sometimes I do because I keep my mind open to new ideas.  Over the years I've learned things on this site too even though most posters just want to slam Ebay for whatever their personal reasons are.  Even through all of that there are things that can be learned if you take the time and keep yourself open to it.

The lousy sales right now for many sellers isn't just on Ebay.  For me I've found Amazon and Etsy pretty slow too.  People are simply struggling with the huge price increases for things they need daily to keep them going.

I have never liked the Cassini search engine since the day they took it site wide, I believe that was April of 2014.  But the Chat isn't going to be about that.

by: pace306

"Over the years I've learned things on this site too even though most posters just want to slam Ebay for whatever their personal reasons are."

Its PERSONAL when eBay hides your listings

Its PERSONAL when eBay pulls your listings and accuses you of a crime for no reason

Its PERSONAL when eBay lets lieing buyers steal your money

Its PERSONAL when eBay tells Paypal to hold YOUR MONEY for no good reason

Its PERSONAL when eBay ropes off categories to protect favored sellers/makers

Its PERSONAL when eBay extorts you to pay additional fees to provide services you ALREADY pay for

Its PERSONAL when eBay pays millions to do nothing employees then FIGHTS you for every nickle and dime

Its PERSONAL when eBay forces you to use payment methods that ONLY they make money off - and then lie about why

Its PERSONAL when eBay FORCES you to create their catalog, just because they would rather provide free gym membership to the do nothing employees rather then spend ONE THIN DIME to do it on their own

Its PERSONAL when eBay doesnt let you leave negative feedback for some scum that tried to rip you off

I could go on - but I DONT want it to get PERSONAL with any other poster here..........

by: The End

That's FUNNY. After 20 years, Ebay Knight's itself "Sayer of So".
At the start, all you had to say was, "I sell stuff on Ebay".
Then we'd get ALL the uninterrupted business flow we wanted.
When Meg Whitman came in, right after founder Pierre Omidyar was politely thrown out, the penchant for Over-organization and Butting in became a constant growing problem for us.
In Short, HOW TO REACH CUSTOMERS :
"EBAY" GO AWAY. Give us the wheel.
The reason "Ebay" won't give us control is because when we make Ebay the ordinary guy's raging money tool once again, they'll all want to burn their College degrees and Bain Certificates because they are failures.
They may even want to jump off a bridge  :o)
We can make Ebay THAT successful.

by: Snapped

When there’s no argument suitable to rebut the truth, all that remains is to try and discredit it as the random ramblings of a madman who’s only motivation must be hate.  

Thing is, the truth stands alone.  It doesn’t need a spokesman.  And it can’t be changed or stopped by mere detractors or accusations of ulterior motive alone.  

Debate the message - if you can.  Not the conduit.  

by: pace306

The real truth is - the emperor STILL has no clothes

eBay is hosting a "session" on how to reach customers? what exactly do eBay employees DO all day? Isnt this THEIR job?

Where is the eBay advertising (not a few commercials here and there)?

eBay is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars (most stolen from sellers) - do they not know how to run their business?

Dont sellers pay eBay unheard amounts of VFVs already - does eBay need MORE cash - to simply just do what they should have been doing all along?

Does Hersheys ask its line workers how to make better candy?

If you dont show ALL listings 24/7/365 - what exactly is the point to any of this?

What this conference means (in english) is that eBay just doesnt have the buying base to support all the listings it does have and that they need to know how to get buyers.

I cant reach my customer if you hide his email, I cant reach my customer if you hide his phone number, I cant spend time on sourcing, shipping, buying if I have to spend time "playing with eBay and their stupid games".

eBay stock went from 72 to 45 - if that doesnt tell you all you need to know - then maybe FOR YOU - the emperor DOES have clothes and they are the best in the land.

by: Chicago48

Most, repeat MOST, of my sales come from other platforms.  I see my listings in Google search all the time and I don't pay extra promotion ad fees to get sales and listings.
This month alone, I have had about 3 EB sales (I don't have a store), but I've had 3 times more sales from the other platforms.

by: Chicago48

@ Marie is right:  The lousy sales right now for many sellers isn't just on Ebay.  For me I've found Amazon and Etsy pretty slow too.  People are simply struggling with the huge price increases for things they need daily to keep them going.
*****
I want to add that buyers are getting sticker shock when they check out.  All type of fees and taxes, postage costs are being added to an item.  If you buy a $10 widget at checkout that $10 has totaled to $20.  You have to factor in that most sites add from $6 to 10 for shipping alone!  With those totals, I do believe the average customer feels they will go to the nearest store and pickup the item and save on postage. (And that's why AMZ Prime is a good deal! - free shipping)

by: Nothingnewecrater

That's ebays job. To get customer's to the site. That's what the fees are for. Oh wait! They don't want to work anymore? They just want to hold their hand out to be paid for nothing? Typical. Reminds me of all the people that expect their first job to pay them $25.00 an hour to know and do nothing.

by: vman

Ebay doesn't have a clue on anything!!!! the site is broken and may not be able to be fixed. Every time the change something they screw up the code which causes glitches in other areas. For instance, I have sent offers to customers and I get a message back from the buyer that it says that I don't ship to their area. Really???? I ship to every part of the United States (I really don't know how you exclude areas of the United States) and most of the world. If some are sending me a message like that how many don't and just go on their merry way????? I just think that Ebay is desperately hoping that some other company will buy them out and do whatever with it.  

by: Snapped

“ The lousy sales right now for many sellers isn't just on Ebay.”

Any impacts that might be ‘explained away’ by economic factors ought to have the same or similar degree of ‘impact’ across all channels then.

But they don’t.  eBay ‘performance’ has demonstrably and consistently across all categories (not ‘promoted’) fallen way below that baseline, no matter where or why that baseline might be measured in any given ‘economy’, or in comparison to any other economic situation.

And why is that?  That’s the issue here.  It’s not “the economy, stupid.”

(That’s a historical quote, not intended specifically applicable to any herein).