I'm not sure I agree with that, the term customers isn't mutually exclusive to either Sellers or Buyers, they are both customers of eBay.
I disagree. A customer is someone who's dishing out the dough...you, as a buyer, don't spend a dime to ebay. Now I do think Ebay has a responsibility to ensure that their sellers are legit, and that the items are legit, but the "true" customer is not the bidder but the seller.
When you purchase something on ebay, ebay is not responsible for the item itself, for shipping it, for making sure you're happy. That's the seller. The bidder can be considered Paypal's customer, sure, but basically Ebay's interest in keeping bidders happy is because they need to keep things legal and kosher in order to make their marketplace not look like some underground crack den.
I used to adore ebay, but because of all the bad seeds out there the whole thing is just jacked. I used to use Yahoo Auctions back in the day, but that caved when Ebay became uber powerful. I will probalby always use Ebay until there's another alternative...but I don't have the same "fun" as I used to.
Ebay enjoys taking money from the sellers and then stepping back and only involving itself when necessary (that excludes Paypal, which I actually have had very good experiences when it comes to getting effed over with my money...but i attribute it to their legal team and that paypal wasn't owned by Ebay initially). One prime example is how it's being sued by Tiffanys...
Ebay takes a stance that its not responsible for fake items on ebay...well Tiffanys disagreed and discovered that 75% of the items on ebay listed as Tiffanys jewelry is fake. Ebay claims it's just a forum...but it's NOT just a forum. They make money off the fake stuff too...the more fake stuff, the more ebay makes.
I think I lost alot of respect for them when they purchased Skype...NOT because they needed it, but because Google wanted it and if Google wants it, then Ebay HAS to have it (so an insider told me at the time). I just really question the people running the show.
/soapbox rant.
1 comment:
Interesting view point and I see where you are coming from for sure but eBay knows that every Seller likely figures in the the eBay fees when they set a starting bid on their wares that's what I meant by the Bidders and eBay knows that they couldn't attract bidders if they were charged a fee. Has eBay gotten complacent being the World online auction powerhouse that it is? Likely, it's what happens when you get large, at some point to some degree companies forget who got them where they are today.
I really don't know how Tiffanys can sue eBay for people hawking faux Tiffanys jewelery, it doesn't make any sense. How can eBay validate the authenticity of jewelery? I think it could be a potential new market for someone if they could come up with a way around this problem.
There is Kijiji.
eBay's purchase of Skype was dumb, keeping the company away from Google's hands??? How dumb is that? I wonder when Google will make a play for eBay? :)
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