Stickley Era, the Arts & Crafts Movement

[Stonecat]

A bunch of 'new' things have happened on eBay lately, so let's see your comments on:

1) anonymous bidding; and reserves and private bidder settings

2) the new feedback system where buyers don't get hit with negatives but only sellers do

3) the most recent fee restructuring for sellers

4) paypal integration/checkout

5) the end of live auctions

6) anything else including shipping fees, post office problems, etc.
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Stonecat

[casequarter]

good topic. i miss the old ebay, but recognize it has moved on and will never be the same, especially now that deals are much harder to come by.

my thoughts, entirely from a buyers point of view:

1. hate it, hate it, hate it. increases the chances for shill bidding and general fraud. knowing the other bidders had often gave you an extra sense of security, especially the greater the cost. private auctions were always an option for sellers, and buyers who want to be anonymous should not use identifiable user names to buy. it is just like most live auctions, if you don't want someone to know you are buying an object, bid via the phone, online or leave a bid. this to me was a bad idea all around.

4. has made my life easier as a buyer, but i'm sure has some downsides for sellers

5. the end of ebay live auctions is a mixed blessing. back to searching country auctions that only dabbled in ebay since i don't believe any of the replacement services will (at least initially) be as easy to use for auction houses as ebay had become. i liked the convenience of being able to bid online for lower dollar lots or auction houses that did not have decent phone bidding opportunities. the death of live auctions is probably bad for both buyers and sellers.

6. the postage for lower priced items is out of control. $5 items with $10 shipping appear to be increasing in frequency. recently found an old auction catalog i wanted and the shipping was 3 times the high bid (and that was for regular mail). sellers with high shipping costs (where postage cost plus reasonable material costs) due themselves a disservice.

[Stonecat]

1) agreed

2) the basic complaint here is that buyers can extort better service/fees/shipping/damage claims, whatever, out of sellers without fear of a 'negative' reprisal

3) I don't sell much so can't say, but hopefully this actually turns sellers off a bit from listing too much cheap junk

4) added convenience but the old system was fine; eBay trying to monopolize the system - and there could be more coming I think; have to read some more on this, like preventing other forms of payment in the future

5) agreed

6) postage is hit and miss for me, being across the border; some things seem cheap, some things expensive, so there's a balance, but what the difference is between, first class international, flat rate package, international priority, etc. etc. etc....I will never know, and I doubt most local post office workers could explain it
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Stonecat