Very important issue about importing feedback

[johnwash1]

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Personally I think that it wouldn't take too much to get ebid moving. ... But what it needs more than anything is for new visitors / prospective sellers and buyers to see that there is life and activity here, ... that new ideas can be discussed with the management and sometimes welcomed and adopted. That the site listens to its sellers and at least tries to help them SELL STUFF.

Actually sometimes suggestions are listened to, and quite promptly, and acted on. You should give eBid credit for that.

Other times they're totally ignored.

But all too often, at yet other times they're listened to, "yes, we'll do that", and four years later it's still not implemented.


I do have a theory. Instead of using one of the excellent free tracking systems (e.g. Bugzilla), Gazza scribbles the idea on a post-it note and it goes on the side of his screen. 10 years ago that worked pretty well, but then eBid had enough funds to hire an office cleaner. Every so often some of the post-its drop on the floor and...

[theElench]

I do give ebid credit for that and would, I'm sure, give management even more had I paid more attention to the boards over a longer period. I've been here during at least one major re-design and one virus attack / hack (??) and was very impressed by how they were handled. Management opened threads for comments, reporting problems and made great efforts to keep everyone informed. There may have been other events that I missed entirely simply due to my inattention and because they were handled so well as to be un-noticeable.

But since I have been taking a bit more interest in ebid as a whole, not just adding my listings and hoping for a sale, I see things that are worrying and more importantly some missed opportunities that might help sellers and the site with (to me) seems little expense or effort.

Worrying, are the number of threads I've read which when discussing some change or improvement are mildly critical. All too often met with the reply of "Don't you realise that any criticism is harming the site". Things need to and can improve but before they can the reasons why they haven't have to be looked at realistically and tackled.

Would it be impossible to add a transaction counter? I genuinely don't know, I couldn't write coding to do it to save my life. I wouldn't "damage" the site by banging on about it if it was explained why it can't be done.

Missed opportunities that come to mind. When I first started selling on-line I soon learned from others that the biggest challenge is to get VISIBILITY for whatever you want to sell.

The recent on-line selling survey brought someone from management to the boards reminding us of their pride in ebids commitment to not increasing fees. I'd never heard of it in six years here, it isn't even mentioned in the "Ebid vs Ebay a Comparison" on the Home page. There is a blank space next to the listings header, why not use it? When refugees are looking here and thinking about setting up their shop it IS a selling point for ebid.

TOS has brain-washed many buyers that "their" MBG makes shopping there safer than elsewhere. I isn't true, most of the protection is legislation or from paypal. Buyers are very likely BETTER protected HERE but that isn't mentioned anywhere either.

The biggest problem ebid has is its reputation that nothing sells, not helped by buyers not leaving FB. I'm convinced that there are far more sales here than is acknowledged but they are invisible. So make them visible.

[theElench]

Nick and Andrea Hills have a youtube channel dedicated to 'Bay advice. They seem really pleasant, genuine people. One of the questions was is it better to do 30 days or GTC? According to Nick, the GTC is worse because it drops down the search. However if they have now removed the 30 day option, have they also changed the algorithm? In any event I think people will come here to buy as well as to sell in increasing numbers

If my weekly "Plug Your Auction" thread is anything to go by, there are more people at least looking at my items for sale here. Over the past couple of months the "Views" figure has gone up from 20 - 30 each week to 50 - 60. I just added this weeks thread and deleted last weeks, it had 55 views.

I also had a sale recently, the buyer was definitely not someone who had bought from me elsewhere and received a flier.

Best of all there have been a few more new listings in Art Deco Glass from sellers I haven't seen listing there before.

As for TOS and GTC. Someone replied to a comment I made there saying that there is a miss-match between the T&Cs for the new free listings allocation and the new GTC policy. One says roll-overs are free, the other says re-lists will incur a listing fee for each roll-over. If that is true there will be even more sellers caught out by stealth fees they weren't expecting adding to the already existing bad feeling at having another unwanted change forced on them. More incentive to try ebid.

[Cosnut]

OK so the latest is that my feedback from the 'bay is now imported. It took less than 24 hours so very pleased about that
In response to what the above user is saying, importing feedback is a lot better than the big fat 0 beforehand. I tried the purchase route but fell foul of having zero feedback and hence immediate payment. This meant that I was not able to ask the seller to combine postage.
Importing feedback also means that the very hard won feedback and 100% rating on the other site was not all a waste of effort. It also means that people on eBid can now see that I am genuine, trustworthy and a good sort. Perhaps its like a reference from an old employer. It shows a willingness to tow the line and stick to the rules. It shows the patience to resolve issues properly and to make sure customers are happy at the end of the day. It shows I have been around for a long while and am not fly-by-night and many other good things.
Ultimatetly being able to import feedback benefits everyone. Why? Because someone may see zero feedback and be put off buying an item from that seller and have to pay more elsewhere. Now they can be more confident about things.
I would also like to point out that the method eBid use when importing feedback ensures that the feedback is genuine and from the correct sourse. So imported feedback shoulnt be seen as 2nd class or in anyway inferior to non-imported feedback

I totally agree fellow Newbie. I just joined recently with over 5000 ratings and although I would prefer that the exact text of those happy customers was transferred over, not many buyers will take a detailed look at your feedback anyway. With that said, it's very important to me that buyers see my rating because of the reasons you detailed. Although I only have 600 plus on the other huge non-auction marketplace, I would also like to have that transferred as well, but I could not figure out a way to edit the page, to add Ebid's unique code. That marketplace is where I have almost 10,000 items listed & most are music cd's & comic books. Unfortunately, this site is not seller friendly to those items because they have no inventory system set up. Hence, items cannot be scanned in and there are no stock photos. Other sellers have stated that they wish new sellers like us would "stick it out" and be patient. I hope we can too, but for those like me, who depend on a certain amount of sales to supplement my income, sometimes that's not realistic. Good luck "littledelving"!

[LiquidationService]

I tried requesting my import feedback from Etsy, and copied the address to the admins here, but wasn't sure about the code I was asked to put into my profile page. I'd like to find out if I did it right, but won't know unless my feedback shows up here.