ARGH!
Just like they've done with the now-misbegotten video
categories; you've confirmed my worst fear. The
videos have become a MAJOR pain in the ass to list;
with all their drop down, category specific,
box-within-a-box listings to keep up with on every
page, the vids are easily prone to have to go back and
correct now. I can't tell you how many times I've
redone the regular description page on a video (or a
few) and realized that the "item specifics" portions,
as they're called, are still on the setting from 3 or
4 vids back. So then it's back to revise an item. And
revise and revise.
I've never brought this up on here, because this isn't
a video list, but those who have sold since the video
"improvement" will certainly know what I'm talking
about. This is major bad news and will be a major
listing headache the day it goes through.
Take care,
Fred
--- Bruce Hershenson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> "what exactly do you mean when you say eliminating
> categories."
>
> I mean there will likely be a memorabilia category,
> a poster category and
> maybe an "other" category.
>
> Beyond that, there will be a drop-down list of
> "keywords" to choose to add
> on to each auction. The way the clods at eBay see
> it, this makes listing
> an item ten times easier, as all you have to do is
> answer a bunch of
> multiple choice questions, instead of fill in the
> blank questions. They
> also think it will make searches far more productive
> for the same reason
> (bidders can choose which keywords to choose from,
> instead of having to
> decide what to write in the search box).
>
> Maybe in a perfect world, this system would have
> some shot of working. But
> first off, if the person who chooses the keywords
> doesn't do a good job, it
> is a disaster. Even if they are chosen perfectly,
> the sellers need to know
> what they mean and abide by them. The bidders need
> to know what they mean
> and how to search, and that is really unlikely.
>
> So let's all think about what we will do when
> "Hurricane keywords" hits
> movie posters on eBay.
>
> Bruce
>
> At 12:30 PM 8/16/2004, Richard Halegua Comic Art
> wrote:
> >what exactly do you mean when you say eliminating
> categories.
> >
> >do you mean posters will all upload into one
> category & you'll have to
> >wade through 40,000 listings to see the pre-1940
> posters??
> >
> >the problem we have here with eBay is that "WE"
> have no say in anything
> >they do. They don't ask us, they don't poll us.
> They undoubtedly just look
> >at the numbers and make decisions based solely on
> that data which as we
> >all know is making a "one size fits all" answer
> >
> >the other problem is that like all American
> corporations, the need to make
> >"bigger profits each quarter" and whether they must
> do that by:
> >
> >Increasing listing fees
> >increasing final sale fees
> >reducing workforce
> >decreasing advertising (I don't see any TV ads
> anymore and I haven't seen
> >a print ad in forever and this is the one area
> where no matter how much of
> >the other areas they reduce, most corporations
> don't reduce their
> >advertising campaigns)
> >
> >If you lay this on top of the fact that eBay has
> also "changed the
> >landscape" where collecting is concerned and the
> large part of any hobby
> >is now available 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year and
> at generally lower
> >rates, the effect eBay has had is either negative
> or positive depending
> >on what part of collecting you wish to talk about.
> >
> >In other words, if you totally sell "rare" items,
> you are affected the
> >least as that type of item will always be rare &
> sought after to some
> >degree. But if you're selling lower tier items,
> your results just really
> >keep going down & down and your sales percentages
> also keep going down and
> >now we see tons of items that have been "tainted"
> by not selling on eBay
> >as when you listed it, the whole world saw it and
> decided they didnt want
> >it, again forcing the price down or making an item
> potentially un-saleable
> >which is what happened when Sotheby's & Christies &
> everyone else stared
> >auctioning comic art. Some segments were shown to
> be popular & went way
> >high, many others - Flash Gordon sunday page art
> being the very best
> >example - went way down in value due to the small #
> of collectors. we had
> >been selling FG sunday for $20-50k, after the 2
> auctions got involved, the
> >prices went down dramatically and for some bad
> reasons.. for instance, one
> >particular page went up for sale & of the 5
> collectors at the time, one
> >was getting divorced - the top buyer -, one was
> slowing down - the next
> >top buyer - , and then the other three decided to
> make backroom deals on
> >bidding for the others. The result was the pages
> went for 1/2 their true
> >"value" and the rest of that market followed suit.
> This is exactly where
> >eBay is headed on many items but in this case
> mostly due to the overload
> >of items on eBay. Why pay the high price for that
> one item when you have
> >so many other choices to spend that money on at
> what you perceive is a
> >better value which is all now publicly seen and
> therefore pushes down the
> >pricing in the large part of any hobby.
> >
> >so eBay has "taken us over" because we have let
> them. We definitely have
> >fewer options when it comes to selling today then
> we did 15 years ago when
> >eBay did not exist, on the other side however for
> the buyer it is far
> >easier to locate what you want without ever leaving
> your desk. So eBay has
> >been a boon for buyers without question and sellers
> to a great degree, but
> >the opposite side for sellers may be getting to the
> point where the
> >balance between benefit & detriment is getting
> worse all the time.
> >
> >When I started selling on eBay i didn't list many
> valuable items as they
> >didnt sell well at the value level we associated
> with them. However, the
> >inexpensive items without a doubt were real "bread
> & butter" sales & did
> >well, usually achieving something better that their
> actual value. So you
> >could sell the items very well that you never
> brought to conventions,
> >rarely listed on your lists, or usually just sat in
> boxes in the garage
> >because it wasn' t worth dealing with. eBay made
> that material worth
> >dealing with back then. But this stuff has become
> anathema due to the
> >proliferation of sellers willing to take anything
> to move merch & pay
> >their eBay billing which may be good for collectors
> in the short term, but
> >is equally bad down the road as many sellers may no
> longer be able to
> >afford the low sell through rate, or even want to
> bother to adapt as they
> >see their income falling & their time having less
> value as a result. We
> >are not all Bruce Hershensons whose sales result in
> huge sell throughs and
> >have so many collectors to get consignments from
> which ameliorates his
> >exposure.
> >
> >the simple facts are that I have opened my gallery
> because I see this
> >happening - at a fairly quick pace - and want to
> insulate myself from what
> >I see as a downward trend in many ways on eBay and
> a far more cyclical
> >sales rotation than had been evident in the past.
> Like right now.. eBay
> >truly sux for sales and I know few people who can
> wait 5 times a year
> >until the "good months" come along. Most of us need
> a fairly regular flow
> >of cash in & out to run our businesses properly and
> eBay most certainly
> >does not fulfill that anymore.
> >
> >with the elimination of categories.. that spiral
> will only quicken
> >
> >by the way Bruce, ...... Doug Dalton says hello!!
> >
> >Rich====================================
> >
> >
> >At 06:32 AM 8/16/04, Bruce Hershenson wrote:
> >>All the higher-ups at eBay told me was that the
> elimination of poster
>
=== message truncated ===
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