Yesterday's eBay changes

Posted Tuesday, July 28, 2009, at 8:53 AM

Pre-announcement chatter may have been a bit inaccurate and more negative than necessary. I guess that comes from eBay's recent history of coming out with some frustrating and unpopular policies.

At first blush the announcements seem OK, at least to me. http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200907.shtm... but if you want to watch the comment board to see what points are raised and how they are answered, go here. http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum/72709-A...

As with most controversial forums, please take everything with a "grain of salt" (where did that saying come from?) and a sense of humor. They may even need a PG rating.

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Speaking of buying to resell, I just got an e-mail of 16,975 letter openers going up for salvage sale! Probably will be a great deal but what would I do with that many openers? Most of my mail is junk mail and I don't open them anyway.

-- Posted by stevemills on Thu, Jul 30, 2009, at 11:51 AM

Our prices have not declined but our sales have slowed, mainly because we have not listed. (My fault) Deb keeps her end but in general we have been way too distracted with "other" things. After this week, things should start returning to normal, whatever that is.

Surprisingly, classes have slowed as well, but I have not been marketing them as in the past either. I have actually started teaching on the net, but not as an eBay Education Specialist. They still frown on that and for good reason.

Overall, I am positive about the new changes. As I mentioned above, the small details may make a difference, but maybe they are starting to listen more and think before they make changes.

-- Posted by stevemills on Thu, Jul 30, 2009, at 11:45 AM

I haven't even looked at it yet. The last changes didn't really affect me, at least as far as I know, so I can't complain much. I hope your teaching is back on track and doing well. I also hope your sales are good.

I have not noticed much decline in my end prices or percentages, except in the categories of antique glass/pottery which I seldom sell. The bottom has dropped from under so much of that, even the rarer hard to find pieces, while still pricey, have dropped by 50-75%. If I were able, I would be buying up as many of those as I could to put them up for another day. Oh well - with my luck, their value would only continue to drop anyway.

-- Posted by memyselfi on Thu, Jul 30, 2009, at 1:34 AM

If you want to learn more and voice your opinion on these changes, AuctionBytes has a questionnaire. It takes about 15- 20 minutes, but it gives a bot more insight.

I am not sure if my link is registered to me, so you may want to go to the AuctionBytes website. It is legitimate. http://www.auctionbytes.com/

-- Posted by stevemills on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, at 9:10 AM

All sounds well so far. http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y09/... The revamping of the DSR system was apparent soon after they started using it.

Now they will look at the 1 & 2's rather than judge between the 4 & 5's.

-- Posted by stevemills on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, at 8:36 AM

Thanks. I have heard about putting salt on a bird's tail to catch it, but could not recall the pinch. (it does not work any better than I presume the pinch for poison does)

-- Posted by stevemills on Wed, Jul 29, 2009, at 8:30 AM

thnaks for the heads up..

Here is your answer on the Grain of Salt...To take 'with a grain of salt' means to take with a heavy dose of skepticism, caution and suspicion.

The saying came from the old cure for poison - a pinch of salt. Salt was said to have healing properties, so to eat a meal 'with a pinch of salt' meant that you suspected the meal of being poisoned.

-- Posted by 4fabfelines on Tue, Jul 28, 2009, at 7:35 PM

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Steve Mills

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Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter and live on a farm outside of Bell Buckle. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.

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