They are really hurting us!

[sidthelamp]

Since the Adm. has not chosen to address the issue before we can only hope they are taking a good look at the issue now. We know they want us to grow and that they do respond to the easy issues. This has got to be a kettle or worms once opened will have long ranging effects. They seem to be really smart people, just not responding to this issue.

All we can do is keep trying to get their attention.

ebid did respond to this issue and another related issue months ago they cleared out thousands upon thousands of duplicate auctions a sizeable amount of these were listed by absent sellers the total number of listings at the time was around the 3 million mark they droped to about 1.4/ 1.5 so ebid do listen to members concerns.

i doubt very much ebid is going to mass whitch hunt apparant absent sellers, if you have a concern about a non active seller that you [ or any one else ] has tried to buy off, then report the auction/ seller, ebid then have a clear mandate to act,

[astral276]

Yes. Bigger does not equate to better. One of the constant complaints on the forums over at 'the big place" is that the flood of Chinese junk and other junk listed during their free listing periods (especially the 99 centers) clogs the site and reduces both visibility and sell-through rates. I shop there when I've exhausted all other possibilities.

Without figures to back it up my impression is that the majority of sales come from either Google or fellow sellers. I don't think eBid's pure buyer user base is all that large - so for the purposes of this message I am going to ignore them (politely of course).

Fellow sellers in buying mode are aware of eBid's 'issues' and will usually make allowances or work around them.

Google buyers are a totally different matter. They do not know eBid, they do not know how large the site is or how many listings it has running. All they know is that the particular item they are looking to buy is shown as available here. If they come here and find that they have wasted their valuable time then the next time Google throws up an item as being on eBid they will pass it over. eBid would not have made any money out of the dead listing as it was never going to sell (it didn't exist). What they have done is lost any chance of income from future purchase that buyer may have made.

So listing numbers may look good on auction site comparison websites but they mean nothing - repeat NOTHING - to the people that generate eBid's and our income - i.e. the buyers.

[TonyBridger]

I get the impression that eBids main source of income is not from FVFs but from selling the Lifetime membership. IMO eBid prefers to ignore the problem as high listing figures encourage new sellers to sign up.

[sidthelamp]

I get the impression that eBids main source of income is not from FVFs but from selling the Lifetime membership. IMO eBid prefers to ignore the problem as high listing figures encourage new sellers to sign up.

guess you werent around when they did this.

"
ebid did respond to this issue and another related issue months ago they cleared out thousands upon thousands of duplicate auctions a sizeable amount of these were listed by absent sellers the total number of listings at the time was around the 3 million mark they droped to about 1.4/ 1.5 so ebid do listen to members concerns. "

cant see how thats ignoring any issue you might see.

[dardonboi]

guess you werent around when they did this.

"
ebid did respond to this issue and another related issue months ago they cleared out thousands upon thousands of duplicate auctions a sizeable amount of these were listed by absent sellers the total number of listings at the time was around the 3 million mark they droped to about 1.4/ 1.5 so ebid do listen to members concerns. "

cant see how thats ignoring any issue you might see.

I think that what we are all asking for is a solution that is ongoing. Evidentally since the big purge there has been another wave of absentee sellers that have come online.

[sidthelamp]

I think that what we are all asking for is a solution that is ongoing. Evidentally since the big purge there has been another wave of absentee sellers that have come online.

by your addmission the purge was not a solution so there would be little point in continuing down that line.

the best way i think to solve the problem with absentee sellers would be to flag up a account that has not been used for a certain amount of time and ebid put in place a system were the account holder is contacted and given the oppertunity to resolve the flagged issues

[kedo]

guess you werent around when they did this.

"
ebid did respond to this issue and another related issue months ago they cleared out thousands upon thousands of duplicate auctions a sizeable amount of these were listed by absent sellers the total number of listings at the time was around the 3 million mark they droped to about 1.4/ 1.5 so ebid do listen to members concerns. "

cant see how thats ignoring any issue you might see.

I've got to say I'm with you on this one sid. I'm surprised at the intensely negative tone of this thread. Over the last few years I've seen vast improvements in the site. The last big one was to open up sales to the whole world but there was also bulk edit, five free pictures and many others before that. A lot of the change seems to have been in response to user requests. The place is completely changed from when I joined four years ago.

Having said that I don't disagree that the absent seller phenomenon is a problem!

[sidthelamp]

by your addmission the purge was not a solution so there would be little point in continuing down that line.

the best way i think to solve the problem with absentee sellers would be to flag up a account that has not been used for a certain amount of time and ebid put in place a system were the account holder is contacted and given the oppertunity to resolve the flagged issues

they could for instance if not responding have there listings moved to the far end of any search results and/or if they have B IN s listed these could be removed from google searches, whitch would then not give them a edge over present sellers on site, this would do away with any mass drop in listings and at the same time give back priority to present hard working sellers !

[sidthelamp]

I've got to say I'm with you on this one sid. I'm surprised at the intensely negative tone of this thread. Over the last few years I've seen vast improvements in the site. The last big one was to open up sales to the whole world but there was also bulk edit, five free pictures and many others before that. A lot of the change seems to have been in response to user requests. The place is completely changed from when I joined four years ago.

Having said that I don't disagree that the absent seller phenomenon is a problem!

yes it was getting negative putting ebid between a rock and a hard place is never gonna solve any problems

addressing only one problem out of the two that this thread brought up was never going to get a responce from ebid

[florida33549]

I still think the best solution is: if a seller has not logged in for a certain amount of time [perhaps 1 month], ebid sends a message to seller and asks something along the line if they wish to still be active on the site they must sign in. If they don't sign in, close their listings [not delete them]. That way the items are not found during searches by potential buyers and the stores list that so many 'active' sellers are concerned about would rectify itself by the numbers of listings in each sellers store. And by just 'closing' the listings, if the seller wishes to become active again, it would be easy for the seller to relist items.