If you've seen bugs life...

[abmedia2020]

I look at this BPF debacle and have this vision of Princess Atta (eBay CEO) looking down at Flik (person responsible for BPF) and those memorable words "WHAT DID YOU DO????"

What was wrong with just reducing private seller fees to 5%? I think most private sellers would have been delighted at that.

[tressygirl]

I think a lot of sellers would agree to your alternative,  but must admit how funny is this scenario now, unthinkable months ago when seller fees for Private sellers was dropped,   for members now to be asking for seller fees to be put back on ! 😶

@abmedia2020 

[andha-21]

I'm starting to see posts from business sellers saying they think this is a mistake now. Some are reporting massive down turns in traffic/sales since last week and are starting to wonder if the "updates" are anything to do with it. 

If they lose the private sellers, they are almost certainly losing buyers too.

I'm a prime example, I sell so I can buy. Only way I can afford to change my collections. Remove one side, the other goes by default.

[goodibags]

Me too. I bought heaps of stuff on Ebay. Now, having helped me into my own mess, I get the impression that Ebay doesn't want me to sell the same. This is so weird.

Does Ebay want to wind down operations or continue going? Big decisions.

[andha-21]

I'm honestly wondering if they are near insolvency. Could explain the 14 day money grab. It would almost certainly be free money with no opportunity for compensation if they fold.

[tressygirl]

@andha-21 wrote:

I'm honestly wondering if they are near insolvency. Could explain the 14 day money grab. It would almost certainly be free money with no opportunity for compensation if they fold.

Mmm, it's not showing any imminent demise in their share price,  it was up nearly 10%  in the last trading session.  🤔

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[goodibags]

If the share price is up despite everything it could be a takeover bid? Here comes Xbay!!

[lucy_farmer]

'.....What was wrong with just reducing private seller fees to 5%? I think most private sellers would have been delighted at that.'

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Yes, we would on the whole.

But;  Ebay wanted to 'look just like Vinted!' . Because V are doing pretty well at the moment and that's where the young people (all online businesses' target audience) do their 2nd hand clothes shopping.

 Ebay wanted to advertise themselves to new private sellers as 'free to sell'!

And, as there are no seller fees to be gained from private accounts, they want to 'encourage'  businesses- pretending-to-be-private, change to fee-paid business accounts (by making the private account rules awkward and unwieldy from a business point of view)

The fact that ebay have never really been honest about telling small businesses that they should actually be registered as business accounts, has always been irritating.

To the point of offering private sellers 'shops' , 'out of stock' options, and until recently, 'multi-buy options'....really?? to a genuine private seller flogging off the contents of their outgrown wardrobe, overflowing garage, toolbox or loft??

(I'm of the opinion that -when there were private seller fees- ebay didn't try to deal with this because  *not* having contact details on your private account suited them. It made 'off ebay' dealing very difficult, and contact details are a legal *necessity* on business accounts. )

[andha-21]

Because the stock market never get it wrong? Because big corp never cook books?

Remind me how the last big financial crash started again...

[jma2815]

Yep. I was a collector. I started up ebay to clear out a few redundant pieces and ended up buying about twice the £ amount I sold over the five years since. I stopped selling (and buying, as I’m not on the site listing) last weekend.