[meteorite-list] AD... Time to get back to work

Meteorites USA eric at meteoritesusa.com
Sun Sep 27 16:51:30 EDT 2009 

Hi List,

Regarding watchers. They're worthless...

Not the person mind you, but the fact that they are nothing more than a 
number in the "My Ebay" section, they mean nothing to the seller and 
provide no benefit at all other than to let the seller know they aren't 
buying.

The only time a watcher becomes worth anything to the seller is when 
they buy. Did you know that a seller cannot contact a watcher? This is 
ok I guess, but it seems silly to me that Ebay does not allow sellers to 
contact watchers. There have been countless times I've had 10-20 
watchers on an item and would have loved to have the chance to contact 
any one of those members to offer them a deal or ask "WHY" they are not 
buying at that moment.

It's rather frustrating in my opinion and I liken it to a looky-loo 
walking into my brick and mortar store. Ebay basically says that people 
can come in, and look around and even place an item in their watch list, 
but you can't talk to them. Being able to talk to a potential customer 
is crucial and could add ultimately to Ebay's bottom line through final 
value fees through increased sales for sellers.

Ebay is supposed to be smart right? So why the hell don't they allow you 
to contact watchers? It's not about security... If Ebay allowed it, 
sellers "could" contact watchers anonymously without Ebay ever having to 
release a buyers contact information if they do it through Ebay's 
contact buyer form within the My Ebay section. No personal information 
is given out, and the buyer is given another opportunity to buy. Ebay 
gets the final value fee, sellers get the sale and buyers get a deal! 
Win, Win, Win all round!

I've been selling on Ebay for over 10 years. I've sold thousands upon 
thousands of items as have many sellers, and over the years I've noticed 
as other sellers can attest that Ebay has become more and more biased 
against sellers and give obvious favor to the buyer. So much so that 
Ebay is truly "Hell for sellers & a haven for buyers." Don't believe me? 
Try selling 25-100 items on Ebay and you'll see the fees are outrageous 
and the rules are ever tightening. The new rules that forbid sellers 
from being able to leave negative feedback for buyers, constantly 
increasing fees, and worse, the blatant conflict of interest of Ebay 
owning it's own payment gateway Paypal is unfair and idiotic and should 
be illegal. Not to mention forcing sellers who don't have their own 
merchant account to use Paypal for their ONLY payment method... Did you 
know that sellers are not allowed to accept Money Orders or Personal 
checks any more, period? Ebay claims this is for security and fraud 
prevention, but when you realize that they own Paypal, and by forcing 
all payments through Paypal they make 10's of millions of dollars per 
year because of this. Not to mention the increased payment processing 
fees to sellers! Sellers have no power over this other than to get their 
own merchant account (which we do have) but we're still not allowed to 
accept money orders or personal checks.

Anyway, that's enough of my Ebay rant, there's way more things that most 
buyers NEVER realize or know about from a sellers point of view but not 
really the subject of this forum.

Ebay is screwing themselves over, and eventually their will be a 
competitor that will start snagging their market share.

They are ripe for it...

Regards,
Eric





Mike Miller wrote:
> I have always thought that the item is being watched while the
> potential buyer tries to talk his or her spouse into the purchase.
>
> On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 11:47 AM, Greg Catterton
> <star_wars_collector at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   
>> Watchers are funny. I have some items with up to 12 watchers, but no buyers.
>>
>> Greg C.
>> http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZwanderingstarmeteoritesQQhtZ-1
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --- On Sun, 9/27/09, Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] AD... Time to get back to work
>>> To: "Mexicodoug" <mexicodoug at aim.com>
>>> Cc: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com, nwa482 at comcast.net
>>> Date: Sunday, September 27, 2009, 2:37 PM
>>> Hi Jim, Doug and List,
>>>
>>> eBay is a fickle mistress.
>>>
>>> I have heard one well-known dealer describe eBay as "a hell
>>> for
>>> sellers and a heaven for buyers."
>>>
>>> I've been selling collectibles on eBay for about 10 years -
>>> since the
>>> days before PayPal (remember BillPoint?) and the behavior
>>> of other
>>> eBay members has always confused me.  I try to make
>>> sense of the whims
>>> of the market and just when I think I have it figured out,
>>> the bidders
>>> (or the sellers) throw me a new curveball.
>>>
>>> I concur with Doug's conclusions about watching a cheap BIN
>>> item.
>>> There are many reasons behind this phenomena - some
>>> financial and some
>>> that are quirky at best.
>>>
>>> I have a cheap $10 USB Wi-Fi dongle on watch right
>>> now.  Why?  Well,
>>> it's a little complicated, but here goes - I have a
>>> backburner project
>>> right now that involves building a "Wok-Fi" parabolic
>>> amplifier to
>>> boost my wireless internet reception.  I discovered
>>> this need for this
>>> while staying at a rental beach cottage whose promised
>>> "high speed
>>> internet connection" was slower than dialup and more
>>> sporadic than
>>> Robert Downey Jr.  The project requires a few
>>> ingredients - a
>>> parabolic dish (or facsimile there-of), a USB Wi-Fi dongle,
>>> and a USB
>>> extension cable.  I searched the web to find a
>>> suitable dongle (hold
>>> your jokes) and found this one on eBay.  I am not
>>> ready to buy it yet,
>>> because I don't have the other parts rounded up yet.
>>> My wife's
>>> birthday (and our wedding anniversary) are both next week,
>>> so I am in
>>> a cash pinch at the moment.  I put the dongle on
>>> watch, so I can go
>>> back and easily find it in a couple of weeks when I am
>>> ready to
>>> assemble the amplifier.  Why don't I just BIN because
>>> it's only $10?
>>> Because, as sad as it sounds, $10 makes a difference to me
>>> right now -
>>> money is that tight.
>>>
>>> But, I do have to agree that if money is no object, then it
>>> makes
>>> little sense to put a BIN item on a watch list.
>>> Either use the BIN or
>>> move on to something else.  But, who is to say what
>>> motivates each
>>> watcher?
>>>
>>> Best regards and clear skies,
>>>
>>> MikeG
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 9/27/09, Mexicodoug <mexicodoug at aim.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>       
>>>> "I have a question that has puzzled me for some
>>>>         
>>> time....... On a cheap
>>>       
>>>> item, $20- buy it now, why would anyone bother to
>>>>         
>>> watch it? "
>>>       
>>>> Hello Jim !
>>>>
>>>> Maybe the IRS.
>>>>
>>>> $20 is more money than 2/3 's of the current eBay
>>>>         
>>> prices in the
>>>       
>>>> collectibles category.
>>>>
>>>> Maybe they debate between (grocery shopping and
>>>>         
>>> cooking a romantic home
>>>       
>>>> cooked steak dinner for two), or (some old rock or
>>>>         
>>> 40-kopeck (USD
>>>       
>>>> $0.01) postage stamp).... so they put it on a watch
>>>>         
>>> list so it doesn't
>>>       
>>>> get lost.
>>>>
>>>> Or maybe long on bids and with a fixed perk budget.
>>>>         
>>> Losing other
>>>       
>>>> auctions, he would pounce on the $20 thingy.
>>>>
>>>> Maybe she is 11 years old and $20 is her week's
>>>>         
>>> allowance and she is
>>>       
>>>> waiting for her "paycheck". Or ditto, retired, fixed
>>>>         
>>> income, unemployed.
>>>       
>>>> Do you happen to have several of the same items for
>>>>         
>>> $20? Maybe one of
>>>       
>>>> your competitors thinks $10 has been the standard for
>>>>         
>>> whatever the item
>>>       
>>>> is, and he may be thinking, let's see how quickly Jim
>>>>         
>>> sells these at
>>>       
>>>> $20 !
>>>>
>>>> My money is on the latter,
>>>>
>>>> Kindest wishes,
>>>> Doug
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Jim Strope <nwa482 at comcast.net>
>>>> To: Meteorite Central <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>>>> Sent: Sun, Sep 27, 2009 11:51 am
>>>> Subject: [meteorite-list] AD... Time to get back to
>>>>         
>>> work
>>>       
>>>>
>>>> After playing all summer, I find that I must get back
>>>>         
>>> to work. So I
>>>       
>>>> have
>>>> started listing on ebay again. All items so far are
>>>>         
>>> buy it now listings
>>>       
>>>> with
>>>> some of them accepting reasonable offers. Noteable
>>>>         
>>> items are a complete
>>>       
>>>> Portales Valley Stone, nice Esquel slices, complete
>>>>         
>>> Millbillillie,
>>>       
>>>> Gibeon,
>>>> Planetaries etc, Link is below:
>>>>
>>>> http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=catchafallingstar.com
>>>>
>>>> I have a question that has puzzled me for some
>>>>         
>>> time....... On a cheap
>>>       
>>>> item,
>>>> $20- buy it now, why would anyone bother to watch it?
>>>>         
>>> It is only $20-
>>>       
>>>> and not
>>>> an auction where you would want to know where it ended
>>>>         
>>> or wanted to bid
>>>       
>>>> at the
>>>> last minuite? What is the logic behind cluttering your
>>>>         
>>> watched item
>>>       
>>>> list with
>>>> this kind of cheap item?
>>>>
>>>> Good luck to all as I have some exceptional items
>>>>         
>>> offered and plan on
>>>       
>>>> adding
>>>> more in the next few days.
>>>>
>>>> Jim Strope
>>>>
>>>> http://www.catchafallingstar.com/
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
>>>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>>>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
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>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
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>>>>
>>>>         
>>> --
>>> .........................................................
>>> Michael Gilmer (Florida, USA)
>>> Member of the Meteoritical Society.
>>> Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
>>> FaceBook - http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
>>> MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fine_meteorites_4_sale
>>> Twitter - Twitter - http://twitter.com/GalacticStone
>>> eBay - http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/maypickle
>>> ..........................................................
>>> ______________________________________________
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>>>       
>>
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