You have reached this page because you are wanting to read my (Bruce Hershenson's) comments about why I am leaving eBay, and the e-mail I have received!
My comments from club message #386:
WHY AM I MAKING THIS MAJOR
CHANGE?
As many of you know, I became a full-time movie poster seller in 1989
(almost 20 years ago!). Between 1989 and 1997 I organized 10 auctions for
Christie's and sold posters mail-order through semi-annual catalogs, and in
those years sold around 15 million dollars of movie posters. In 1998 I
completely severed ties with Christie's (because they would no longer agree to
my printing the catalogs for my auctions), and in 1998 to 2000 I hosted three
very successful catalog auctions with Howard Lowery auction house in Los
Angeles, and continued publishing mail-order catalogs.
I also joined eBay in 1998, and I did some
selling there in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, Howard Lowery retired, and afterwards I
moved my entire mail-order business of vintage movie posters to eBay (including
my full-color catalog auctions!), and since that time I have sold 300,000 movie
posters on eBay, for total sales of $16 million ($3 million in 2007 alone). In
all that time, I have auctioned almost all of my items with a 99 cents start
bid, and no reserve, the very kind of auctions that made eBay so successful when
they first "took off".
eBay has recently announced changes to both their fee structure, and also the
feedback system. The recent price changes affect my business greatly. They will
result in the fees I pay going up 40% annually! If I were to achieve the 5%
discount eBay is offering a very select few, my fees would go up by
approximately 27%. If I were to achieve the 15% discount, my fees would go up by
approximately 13%.
I feel that the price increases are extremely misguided. Normally, companies
only raise rates when THEIR costs increase, or when they are delivering
better results to their customers. In THIS case, eBay's costs have not
risen and they are not only NOT delivering better results, but they are actually
delivering lesser results (lower sell-through rates and lower average selling
prices). Any company that did not perceive themselves as a monopoly would never
raise their rates under these circumstances, but, if you feel your customers
have nowhere else to go, then you CAN raise their rates, to make up for
the lower profits you are having due to the lesser results you are realizing.
eBay has miscalculated in my case. I have to examine how much I pay eBay per
year, and what I received in return for that money. I have concluded that I can
do far better opening up my own auction on my own site. Unlike many other
sellers, I had my own business for 10 years prior to starting on eBay, so I am
now reversing the process I started in 2000! At that time, I moved my entire
business ONTO eBay, and in 2008, I am moving my entire business OFF
of eBay (and I have no doubt that the very same people who told me I was "making
a mistake" in moving TO eBay in 2000 will now tell me I am "making a
mistake" in moving OFF eBay now!
I really don't understand why eBay would drastically raise their rates on people
like myself, who sell 100% of what they list, and have "fun" true auctions,
where all the final prices are set by two or more actual bidders (the very kinds
of auctions that made eBay so popular), and I have virtually perfect feedback
(only 14 people leaving negatives in 300,000 transactions!).
What is equally difficult to understand is that eBay has slashed their rates to
media sellers only, who sell very little of what they list, and who have
generally mediocre feedback, and who often charge disproportionately high
shipping, which eBay says is their number one concern! It also is odd that eBay
chose these sellers to be the first recipients of their new "non-level playing
field", for I can see no reason to single out these sellers as being especially
important to eBay.
But it is not solely an issue of rates that is causing me to leave eBay. I
believe their recent changes to feedback will have a disastrous effect on their
company. I believe they made those changes because their research showed that
buyers do not return to the site (either ever, or as often) because of
dissatisfaction over high shipping, and because they get upset when a seller
leaves negative feedback on them. So they made their recent changes (primarily
trying to force sellers to lower shipping rates, and stop leaving "bad
feedback") because they think that will improve sales.
I believe they are completely mistaken. In spite of what their research shows, I
believe the number one reason buyers buy less often (or quit the site) is
because they were cheated in some fashion. Similarly, I believe the number one
reason sellers sell less (or quit selling altogether) is because they are tired
of having buyers who never pay. The solution to both these problems is to verify
all other users on the site (both buyers and sellers). When a buyer or seller
breaks the rules, eBay could then ban that PERSON, and not just that ID
(which has no effect, because the person can get a new ID, under the current
rules). If all users are verified, then a bad buyer or seller will be banned,
and they can't easily get back on.
I believe eBay is aware of both these problems, but there are two things that
prevent them from implementing my solution. One is that verifying all users
would mean they would have to admit they would actually have something like 80
million users, instead of the 250 million users they claim (which counts all IDs
as separate people, which everybody knows is complete fiction). The other thing
is that eBay would have to have a REAL Trust and Safety department which
would need to go after bad buyers and sellers, both with police and through the
courts, and that would certainly be expensive, and would not bring eBay any
additional income in the short term.
Under the current setup, eBay benefits greatly from the problems that beset the
site. Many "bad sellers" are among the largest sellers, and pay eBay great
amounts of fees. Many "bad buyers" cause items to have to be re-listed a second
time, and this generates a HUGE amount of revenue for eBay in listing
fees they never refund (and surely many people never bother to get a refund of
their final value fees, so that is an additional revenue source as well).
To sum up, eBay keeps raising the fees sellers pay, without delivering
additional value of any kind, and in fact recent years have seen a deterioration
of the value they have provided. They also continually micromanage their
sellers, taking control of a greater and greater percentage of their businesses.
They constantly make major changes in their site, and I know of very few sellers
who feel they do a good job providing an auction platform, and fraud keeps
growing (both among buyers and sellers). What is so galling about this for me is
that a group of "bean counters" who have barely ever sold anything in their
lives, are telling me (and thousands of other excellent sellers) exactly how to
run our businesses, and how to "fix" what isn't broken!
THEREFORE, I HAVE DECIDED TO
MOVE MY AUCTIONS TO MY OWN SITE, and I feel certain the majority of
my customers will move along with me (just as they moved with me to Howard
Lowery from Christie's, and to eBay from Howard Lowery's). Sometime in the
middle of March, I will hold my first auction on my own site,
http://www.emovieposter.com. Sometime soon after that I will hold my final eBay
auctions. I am currently in negotiations with other major sellers of different
kinds of collectibles and antiques (not movie posters), trying to help them
leave eBay as well, and set up similar auctions on their own sites. I have hope
that, at some time in the future, I can help set up an auction site SOLELY
for collectibles and antiques, so that all of the smaller sellers on eBay will
have a place to sell on that is run by actual sellers, and which truly only does
provide a platform for them to sell from. I believe such a site would be very
welcomed by almost all sellers of collectibles and antiques.
Next week I will have lots more details about how the new auctions will work (there will be significant changes, because I will not be locked in by eBay's arbitrary framework), and I have lots of plans to make the first of these REALLY excellent, to better show my appreciation to those buyers who participate in my first auctions on my site. But time is short now, and so (as they used to say in the old time serials), return next week to learn more (in other words, to be continued...!).
My comments from club message #387:
WHAT WILL CHANGE ABOUT THE
AUCTIONS?
I ASSUME THOSE READING THIS HAVE ALREADY READ MY COMMENTS LAST WEEK IN
CLUB MESSAGE #386 (if not, go to the e-mail club archive section of my
website and read it right now!). Here is some more on this big change I will be
making over the next two months:
I want to get out from under the restrictive eBay set-up, where everything has to be done exactly according to their rules, and ALL sellers live under the constant fear that they will break one of eBay's endless and ever-changing rules and enter the Kafka-esque eBay world where you are guilty until proven innocent, and where they try to micro-manage EVERY aspect of the seller's business, from how much you can charge for shipping, to what kinds of posters you can sell, and I am weary of the endless squabbling that I, and my customers do with eBay on a regular basis!
I want to expand the ability to bid during
auctions, because I have never liked eBay's "fixed time ending" format, and
neither do many bidders, for they are often left with the feeling that items are
"snatched away from them" in the final seconds, and that they would like the
chance to bid again. My new site will offer the bidder extended time billing,
WHICH IS USED BY EVERY OTHER ONLINE AND LIVE AUCTION COMPANY OTHER THAN EBAY!
This means that if you want a certain poster you don?t have to worry about
sniping or being outbid with one second left. Under the new system once the lot
listed has reached the closing time, it will stay open for bidding until a
certain time has passed without a bid, BUT ONLY IF A BID WAS PLACED IN THE
FINAL TEN MINUTES FOR THAT PARTICULAR ITEM. This allows two or more bidders
to stay with the auction until one collector decides to stop bidding, not when a
clock dictates, WHICH IS CURRENTLY HOW IT IS WITH EVERY OTHER ONLINE AND LIVE
AUCTION COMPANY OTHER THAN EBAY!
Other than this one very significant change, little will be different with our
new auctions! Most importantly, just as we have always have in the past,
eMoviePoster,com will not be charging a buyers premium when the auction closes,
EVEN THOUGH VIRTUALLY EVERY OTHER ONLINE AND LIVE AUCTION DOES! What you
bid is the exact amount (plus shipping of course) that you will pay.
So, we will be keeping what we believe is good about eBay (no buyer's premiums), but abandoning what we feel is bad ("fixed time ending" auctions). SINCE WE WILL BE DOING THE AUCTIONS OURSELVES, WE WILL, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME AFTER 20 YEARS OF AUCTIONS, BE ABLE TO PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT FEATURES WE WANT AND DON'T WANT! Our entire goal will be to continue to provide 100% honest auctions, that treat both consignors and sellers the way we ourselves would like to be treated when WE are the consignor or buyer to an auction!
Next week I will have lots more details about how the new auctions will work (I will be discussing the safeguards that will make sure the auctions remain 100% honest and free of shill bidding of any kind), and I will also be giving more information about how and when the first of these auctions will be; I have lots of plans to make the first of these REALLY excellent, to better show my appreciation to those buyers who participate in my first auctions on my site. But time is short now, and so (as they used to say in the old time serials), return next week to learn more (in other words, to be continued...!).
My comments from club message #388:
WHAT WILL CHANGE ABOUT THE
AUCTIONS?
I ASSUME THOSE READING THIS HAVE ALREADY READ MY COMMENTS THE LAST TWO
WEEKS IN CLUB MESSAGE #386 & 387 (if not, go to the e-mail club archive
section of my website and read it right now!). Here is some more on this big
change I will be making over the next two months:
I want to stress that an awful lot about the auctions will NOT change! We will still have a great selection of material, 99 cents starting prices, no reserves, large un-enhanced images of every item (that shows their true condition, accurate grading, expert packaging, quick mailing of orders, etc! What WILL change is that we will have "time-extended auctions", meaning you can never again lose an item because someone bid at the last second and you had no chance to re-bid (if you wanted to), although there still WILL be "proxy" bidding, where you can enter a higher than necessary bid, and the auction program will bid "for you" as the bid is raised, only bidding the minimum necessary.
All of the auction software is run by a third party, and we at eMoviePoster will not be seeing the actual amounts the high bidders are bidding! THIS IS EXACTLY HOW IT CURRENTLY IS AT EBAY, AND WHAT GIVES YOU ASSURANCES THAT OUR AUCTIONS ARE 100% HONEST! At all other non-eBay auctions, the auctioneers can see the amounts the high bidders are bidding, and the only thing that keeps them from cheating you is their honesty. There is no government regulation of auctions at all, and nobody overseeing anything, and auctions COULD cheat many of their customers, and no one would be able to catch them, for no one looks at their records either before, during, or after the auctions.
One fellow called me up a few weeks ago, and he said he had just discovered our auctions, after buying from another major auctioneer of movie posters for a year or so. He asked me, "How come it is that when I would bid $400 in THEIR auctions I was always either outbid, or I would get the item for right around $400, and if I bid $800 the same thing would happen? And how come in YOUR auctions I sometimes bid $400, and get the item for $72, or some fraction of what I bid?" I replied to him, "I think you KNOW what the answer to that question must be", and he said, "I guess I do, but I hate to believe that of people", and he added, "but that's why I stopped buying from them and now buy mostly from you".
I have run 100% honest auctions for nearly 20 years now, and I do all I can to make sure that there is NO cheating of any kind in my auctions! I constantly fight a battle against shill bidders. Apparently, most auctions don't mind if their bidders bid on their own items, for it clearly DOES raise many prices. And there is no 100% sure way to stop shill bidding if the consignor is dead set on doing it, for all they have to do is have a friend bid on an item they own "for them", and we couldn't possibly stop that.
But the next best way to stop shill bidding is to make it completely unprofitable for anyone to do so! Many auctions let consignors bid on their own items and then only charge them a discounted commission rate (or none at all) if they get "stuck" with the item. And of course, it seems a certainty that many auction houses "leak" the absentee bids to some consignors, so they can shill bid to just under the absentee bid with no risk at all. BUT IN MY AUCTIONS, NO CONSIGNOR IS EVER GIVEN ANY "DEAL" OF REDUCED COMMISSIONS FOR ANY REASON, AND NOT ONLY DO I NEVER LEAK ABSENTEE BIDS TO ANYONE, I DON'T EVEN SEE THOSE ABSENTEE BIDS (and this will be just as true in my new auctions as in my eBay ones).
Look at the mathematics of this. Say an item is currently at $150. If a consignor has a friend enter a bid of $190 to "get the price higher", they will make an extra $50 if their shill bid is outbid and the item goes for $200. But since I get 28% of that extra $50, they will get a net of $36 extra. But what if they get stuck with the item for $190? Then they have to pay me 28% of the $190, or $53.20! So, in this example, they are risking $53.20 to get an extra $36, and if they are wrong, they have to pay the shipping to get the poster to their friend and then back to them, and they have to sell the poster all over again! But say another auction tells them they can only pay 5% if they get stuck with the item. Well then the mathematics completely change, and they may well be willing to gamble on this.
My entire goal is to run 100% honest auctions, and to set them up in such a way that the rules keep them honest, so that you are not solely depending on my honesty! Over the years, I have had a few people shill bid on their own items. When I learn of it, I tell them they can't do this in my auctions, and I tell them that they can't consign any items if they don't stop. I HAVE lost consignors over this issue, and that is fine with me. One fellow had a lot of good consignments with me, and when I told him that he couldn't bid on them, he had me ship them directly to my leading competitor, who apparently operates differently than I do! But I would rather not sell nearly as much material and know that I have 100% honest auctions, than have to compromise my honesty or integrity in any way.
One thing that helps my auctions greatly is that most of my consignors are either former theater owners or collectors who bought their items decades ago, and they paid little or nothing for most of their items, so they can better accept having their items truly selling with no reserves. But if any of you have the slightest doubts as to the 100% honesty of my auctions (either my current eBay auctions, or my forthcoming ones on my own site) then you should not bid in my auctions! Obviously, my 29,000+ customers DO know that my auctions ARE 100% honest, and I only want additional customers who also know that to be true.
Next week I will also be giving more information about how and when the first of these auctions will be; I have lots of plans to make the first of these REALLY excellent, to better show my appreciation to those buyers who participate in my first auctions on my site. But time is short now, and so (as they used to say in the old time serials), return next week to learn more (in other words, to be continued...!).
My comments from club message #389:
I HAVE STARTED A WEB PAGE ON MY SITE THAT INCLUDES ALL OF THOSE COMMENTS I MADE, FOLLOWED BY MANY OF THE COMMENTS I HAVE RECEIVED FROM COLLECTORS AND DEALERS! To view that page, go to http://www.emovieposter.com/editpages/leavingeBay.html (note that this page also includes many of the responses I received from sellers who read my auctionbytes.com post, either first hand, or in one of its re-postings; see below for more on this)
here is some more on this big change I will be making over the next two months:
The first few auctions on the new site (with
the new time-extended format) will be held on Thursdays (It is looking likely
that the first of these auctions will be held Thursday April 3rd. For the first
few weeks, I will hold a Tuesday auction on eBay (with a fixed time ending
format) and a Thursday auction on my site (run by a third party auction software
company, with the time-extended format). Once I am certain we have ironed out
any bugs we find in the new auctions, we will then also move the Tuesday
auctions there (hopefully in just a few weeks).
My first auction with the new format will be a small charity auction, with
some cool autographed newer posters, donated by well known current celebrities
for the specific charity. The next few auctions will contain folded one-sheets.
I WILL BE GIVING REALLY AMAZING BONUS GIFTS TO ALL BUYERS IN THESE AUCTIONS
AS A "THANK YOU" TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS WHO PARTICIPATE, and you won't want to
miss these auctions!
Related news: Some of you may be familiar with the website auctionbytes.com, which gives lots of news about online selling, especially eBay. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote them a letter about why I am leaving eBay, and they printed it in a prominent place in their newsletter and website. I wrote the following:
"My name is Bruce Hershenson and I am the
owner of emovieposter.com. I joined eBay in 1998, and in 2000 I moved my entire
mail-order business of vintage movie posters to eBay, and since that time I have
sold 300,000 movie posters on eBay, for total sales of $16 million (3 million in
2007 alone). In all that time, I have auctioned all of my items with 99 cents
start bid, and no reserve, the very kind of auctions that made eBay so
successful when they first "took off".
The recent price changes affect my business greatly. They will result in the
fees I pay going up 40% annually! If I were to achieve the 5% discount eBay is
offering a very select few, my fees would go up by approximately 27%. If I were
to achieve the 15% discount, my fees would go up by approximately 13%.
I feel that the price increases are extremely misguided. Normally, companies
only raise rates when THEIR costs increase, or when they are delivering
better results to their customers. In THIS case, eBay's costs have not risen and
they are not only NOT delivering better results, but they are actually
delivering lesser results (lower sell-through rates and lower ASPs). Any company
that did not perceive themselves as a monopoly would never raise their rates
under these circumstances, but, if you feel your customers have nowhere else to
go, then you CAN raise their rates, to make up for the lower profits you are
having due to the lesser results you are realizing.
eBay has miscalculated in my case. I have to examine how much I pay eBay per
year, and what I received in return for that money. I have concluded that I can
do far better opening up my own auction on my own site. Unlike many other
sellers, I had my own business for 10 years prior to starting on eBay, so I am
now reversing the process I started in 2000! At that time, I moved my entire
business ONTO eBay, and in 2008, I am moving my entire business OFF
of eBay.
I really don't understand why eBay would drastically raise their rates on people
like myself, who sell 100% of what they list, and have "fun" true auctions,
where all the final prices are set by two or more actual bidders (the very kinds
of auctions that made eBay so popular), and I have virtually perfect feedback
(only 14 negatives in 300,000 transactions!).
What is equally difficult to understand is that eBay has slashed their rates to
media sellers only, who sell very little of what they list, and who have
generally mediocre feedback, and who often charge disproportionately high
shipping, which eBay says is their number one concern! It also is odd that eBay
chose these sellers to be the first recipients of their new "non-level playing
field", for I can see no reason to single out these sellers as being especially
important to eBay.
But it is not solely an issue of rates that is causing me to leave eBay. I
believe their recent changes to feedback will have a disastrous effect on their
company. I believe they made those changes because their research showed that
buyers do not return to the site (either ever, or as often) because of
dissatisfaction over high shipping, and because they get upset when a seller
leaves negative feedback on them. So they made their recent changes (primarily
trying to force sellers to lower shipping rates, and stop leaving "bad
feedback") because they think that will improve sales.
I believe they are completely mistaken. In spite of what their research shows, I
believe the number one reason buyers buy less often (or quit the site) is
because they were cheated in some fashion. Similarly, I believe the number one
reason sellers sell less (or quit selling altogether) is because they are tired
of having buyers who never pay.
The solution to both these problems is to verify all other users on the site
(both buyers and sellers). When a buyer or seller breaks the rules, eBay could
then ban that PERSON, and not just that ID (which has no effect, because
the person can get a new ID, under the current rules). If all users are
verified, then a bad buyer or seller will be banned, and they can't easily get
back on.
I believe eBay is aware of both these problems, but there are two things that
prevent them from implementing my solution. One is that verifying all users
would mean they would have to admit they would actually have something like 80
million users, instead of the 250 million users they claim (which counts all IDs
as separate people, which everybody knows is complete fiction). The other thing
is that eBay would have to have a REAL Trust and Safety department which
would need to go after bad buyers and sellers, both with police and through the
courts, and that would certainly be expensive, and would not bring eBay any
additional income in the short term.
Under the current setup, eBay benefits greatly from the problems that beset the
site. Many "bad sellers" are among the largest sellers, and pay eBay great
amounts of fees. Many "bad buyers" cause items to have to be relisted a second
time, and this generates a HUGE amount of revenue for eBay in listing
fees they never refund (and surely many people never bother to get a refund of
their final value fees, so that is an additional revenue source as well).
To sum up, eBay keeps raising the fees sellers pay, without delivering
additional value of any kind, and in fact recent years have seen a deterioration
of the value they have provided. They also continually micromanage their
sellers, taking control of a greater and greater percentage of their businesses.
Sometime in the middle of March, I will hold my last eBay auction, and I will
hold my first auction on my website http://www.emovieposter.com. I am currently
in negotiations with other major sellers of collectibles and antiques, trying to
help them leave eBay as well, and set up similar auctions on their own sites. I
have hope that, at some time in the future, I can help set up an auction site
SOLELY for collectibles and antiques, so that all of the smaller sellers on
eBay will have a place to sell on that is run by actual sellers, and which truly
only does provide a platform for them to sell from. I believe such a site would
be very welcomed by almost all sellers of collectibles and antiques.
Thank you very much.
Bruce Hershenson
President, eMoviePoster.com"
After the above appeared in Auctionbytes, I received several e-mails from people telling me to post it on many online forums, including eBay's. I posted it on the eBay Seller Central forum, and in 48 hours it never left the front page of that forum, and received 280 replies, all positive, from sellers agreeing with me, and many stating they too were leaving eBay. The post was reprinted on at least a dozen forums all over the Internet, and also on reply boards of major media outlets!
Apparently, that was too much for eBay, for they they removed the ENTIRE THREAD from the Seller Central forum, and that seems to be the first time anyone can remember a post (much less an entire thread) being removed simply for being critical of eBay!
Next week I will also be giving even more information about how and when the first of these new auctions will be. RIGHT NOW, YOU SHOULD GO TO http://www.emovieposter.com/editpages/leavingeBay.html AND READ THE MANY COMMENTS COLLECTORS AND DEALERS HAVE MADE ABOUT THESE CHANGES, AND THEN, IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE SO ALREADY, E-MAIL ME WITH YOUR OWN COMMENTS! But time is short now, and so (as they used to say in the old time serials), return next week to learn more (in other words, to be continued...!).
My comments from club message #390:
Here is some more on this big change I will be making over the next two months:
The first few auctions on the new site (with
the new time-extended format) will be held on Thursdays (It is looking likely
that the first of these auctions will be held Thursday April 3rd. For the first
few weeks, I will hold a Tuesday auction on eBay (with a fixed time ending
format) and a Thursday auction on my site (run by a third party auction software
company, with the time-extended format). Once I am certain we have ironed out
any bugs we find in the new auctions, we will then also move the Tuesday
auctions there (hopefully in just a few weeks).
My first auction with the new format will be a small charity auction, with
some cool autographed newer posters, donated by well known current celebrities
for the specific charity. The next few auctions will contain folded one-sheets.
I WILL BE GIVING REALLY AMAZING BONUS GIFTS TO ALL BUYERS IN THESE AUCTIONS
AS A "THANK YOU" TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS WHO PARTICIPATE, and you won't want to
miss these auctions, and I guarantee that everyone who buys ANYTHING in
one of the first few auctions will be very glad they did!
WE ARE WORKING VERY HARD TO HAVE THE FIRST OF THE "NEW" AUCTIONS (the small charity one) TAKE PLACE ON THURSDAY APRIL 3rd, AND THEN HAVE THE FIRST "REGULAR" ONE (with lots of nice folded one-sheets) TAKE PLACE ON THURSDAY APRIL 10th.
But we will NOT "rush" this! If we do not feel we have ironed out any glitches or bugs in the process, then we will delay the auctions by a week or two or three. Unlike eBay, we do not believe in "testing" new ideas on our own customers and then seeing how badly it is messed up and only then work on fixing it! One of the great joys of getting out from under eBay is that we can get 100% away from their many software problems (and their super-slow reactions to those problems, and their many lies about how bad the problems are, and the speed in which they are being fixed).
Next week I will be giving more information about how and when the first of these new auctions will be. RIGHT NOW, YOU SHOULD GO TO http://www.emovieposter.com/editpages/leavingeBay.html AND READ THE MANY COMMENTS COLLECTORS AND DEALERS HAVE MADE ABOUT THESE CHANGES (we have been adding additional comments we have received), AND THEN, IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE SO ALREADY, E-MAIL ME WITH YOUR OWN COMMENTS! But time is short now, and so (as they used to say in the old time serials), return next week to learn more (in other words, to be continued...!).
Here are comments I received from buyers and sellers alike...
I read about you leaving eBay. I own a company that does
almost 2 million dollars a year on eBay and agree with
everything you stated. Wishing you the best of luck and
looking forward to buying lots of posters from your site this
Spring!
-------
Bruce, congratulations on setting up a new site. If you do
have auctions from other sellers, please keep me on your list as I would
definitely love to participate as a seller.
I have been with Ebay since its inception and unfortunately a
few times Ebay chose to shut me down because of the dreaded
"copyright" issue although they really could never justify
it. I find it insulting that this is the only company where
you cannot speak to a live person. Another dealer that I
know was shut down recently because they identified him with
another site which he never heard of. After many emails he
was finally allowed back in. You and I have both been
through this runaround so know how insulting it is.
Again, go for it. There will be many of us joining you.
-------
Hi Bruce
I would love to sell through your new site. What are you planning to do? I have had a
web store for 1 1/2 years through Sam's Biz. i went with
them because it
costs me a staright 480 per month sn it is a deent set up
www.myerscollectibles.com
I also recently signed up with
goantiques.com
($39 per month and a straight 10% of sales price - it may
scale down 0 I have not checked since I sell very feww
expensive items like
you have from time to time) and have had a couple of sales
the first few
days. They will up load your entire eBay listings group - it
is also
possible to do through Sams Biz.
I suppose there are other sites I have
not heard of as well. These guys do not seem to understand
that Amazon and
those sites do not habdle vintage 'stuff'
Anyway - do you have other
ideas?
-------
Bruce, I have seen your comments about leaving eBay - We're behind you
100%. I've been trying to see how to leverage this service:
ustream.tv It's quite possible it could be used in live
auctions of movie posters. It's a free video stream relay
service - trying to become the YouTube of live video. They're
doing a lot of things right but I myself haven't figured how
to make money with it. Just something that you could use. .
-------
I too
have been looking at the options of setting up my own Auction
Site online and then possibly branching it out.I am also a
live auctioneer in Iowa and have been dealing in the antiques
and collectibles fields for 25 years.I'm just curious what
auction programs you may be looking at or if you are building
one from scratch.I myself have looked at several.
-------
I read your posting on Inkfrog.com. I am developing a way to
unite these independent sellers, leveraging the power of the
worlds largest search engine. I'll be able to launch by the
end of March, please allow me to contact you at that time
with a proposal.
-------
I was impressed with your posting on the eBay forums. I am
interested in
joining your online website. I am by no means a $3M seller.
I am a
trading assistant and I am a thoughtful and competent seller.
I worked for
the Federal Government for 30 years, most recently at the
IRS. I am going
to have to close my business with this rate hike.
-------
I've just read your explanation of why you've decided to
leave eBay and set up on your own. What a surprise - but a
very positive sounding one .
As a buyer, I've become less and less enamoured with eBay
over the past few years. And, though I've frequently
considered trying to sell through them, I've been put off by
the horror stories of bad buyers that I've heard.
Have you issued a press release about your decision? The
change to eBay's charges and feedback system has been covered
in the British computer press, and I suspect that they would
be interested in a decision like yours. If you do have a
release, I'd be happy to gather together some e-mail
addresses for the news desks of UK computer magazines, so you
could let them know.
All the Very Best - looking forward to this next great step
in your business!
-------
I think it is brilliant and bold on your part to leave Ebay.
Your loyal clients will come with you, both to bid and to
consign. I just spent 4 months on the picket line in LA
going up against the big conglomerates and I couldn't be more
sympathetic to your issues with Ebay. Furthermore, it makes
me want to find another site to sell any items I choose in
the future (posters will always go to you). Good luck to you
and your company...and to quote Field of Dreams..."If you
build it, they will come."
A big supporter!
-------
I just saw your post. I am boycotting Ebay for a week, but
am considering
moving my auctions somewhere else. Please let me know if you
are
boycotting or just leaving for good.
-------
Good luck in setting up an auction site for collectibles.
If everyone who leaves eBay tries to do it on their own, all
the little guys will fail.
I wonder if the departure of Meg Whitman, the long time CEO
of eBay, has anything to do with the changes.
The entrepreneur skips out with the big bucks, leaving the
MBA's in charge, and all they know is how to maximize profits
for the short term until they suck the company dry. It's how
our auto industry is losing to the Japanese.
-------
I’ve been a repeat customer since 2002
(although not so much recently) and you’ve always conducted
your business in a most professional and courteous manner.
You’ve answered some of my questions (even talking on the
phone with me once) and your data base of poster information
has been invaluable to me. All of your employees have also
been tops when they have contacted me (usually to get my new
credit card expiration date) either by e-mail or phone.
I can completely understand your feelings about leaving eBay.
I am, at heart, a collector. But I also sell some things from
time to time – this because I may go to a local auction and
purchase a large lot of movie paper and I’ll sell duplicates
or items that do not interest me to recoup some of what I’ve
spent, or simply to make room in my collection (I can’t keep
everything forever, despite the fact that I HATE to part with
things). As a “nickel-and-dimer”, I sell a small volume of
items (posters, lobby cards and stills, mostly) and list them
for what I consider a fair opening price ($0.99 to $4.99)
with no reserves. My items usually have one or two bidders,
so I get to unload the items, but at relatively cheap prices.
That’s O.K., I’m not losing anything because the box-lot
price I paid means I did not pay a lot for each item, plus I
get to keep everything I like. Except when you add in the
listing fee, the final price fee, and the PayPal fee, eBay
gets anywhere from 20 – 50% of the money! Now they will get
even more!! I only charge $5.00 to send an item Priority Mail
that costs $4.60 to ship, so I’m not making anything on
shipping and “handling” (I know you must take a beating on
some orders you ship based on what you charge). It’s tough
out there for the little guy – and apparently the big guy,
too.
I’ll be looking out for your new private auctions when you
begin so that I can keep filling in my collection when my
finances dictate. Good luck and thanks again.
-------
If you are not going to sell on ebay are you going to let
those of us who have been bidding on your items know what is going on and where you will
be?
-------
Please email concerning your future business. Ebay has
gotten so
GREEDY !! Love your posters and policy.
-------
Please be sure to
contact all of your e-bay customers such as myself so that we
know how to
find you easily after you stop selling on e-bay. We want to
make sure we
can find you!
-------
I am one of those sellers of unique collectibles - I AM the
artist, specifically, I work in turning and sculpting wood.
Though for almost 11 years I have sold ONLY my scale
miniature turnings on eBay [uid: gallerybminiatures] (years
ago, the market dissolved on eBay for my full scale artistic
hollow turnings, the gallery type pieces). I am looking for a
place geared to my unique art. The finishing touches are
being put on my professionally designed, gallery-style web
site (complete with thorough shopping cart with custom order
capabilities, etc.) and Custom Doll House Miniatures [CDHM
-------
I really enjoyed seeing you, it's been a long time. You've
got a great operation going there. Very impressive. I wish
you the best success in 2008, and I am confident your move
away from ebay will not harm your business.
-------
Looks like ebay in the past has been good to you.
Nice of them to
slap you and I (all the sellers) in the face.
While I in no way am in your league
(big bucks) I'm just a long time ebayer. I've seen them do
foolish things
in the past. They went a little too far now. I applaud your
action
(leaving) and wish you good luck where ever you go......
-------
This is awful news of you guys leaving Ebay.
Your site is
one of the few people I trust buying high end Wayne, Disney,
and Hitchcock
from. PLEASE let me know how / if you will be selling
afterwards. I am
not familiar with any other sytems, but would still love to
stay in
contact. Thanks!
-------
I was just reading all your fine print....When will you stop
selling
on EBAY? How will I be able to see what you have for sell?
Will you sell
through another online auction? Will you still be taking
consignments? Why
has you ebay name change from "emovieposter" to just
"movieposter"?
-------
I commend you for leaving eBay. I sell on eBay as my sole
income, and
trying to get my own website up and running, but like you, I
sell one of a
kind items and it's hard trying to figure out what to put on
eBay and on my
website.
Anyhow, good luck to you, maybe eBay will open their eyes up
with you, one if the top sellers leaving. Good for you.
Warmest Regards,
-------
Bruce, I am excited to hear of the big move you will be
making. I feel that you will recognize almost identical
prices on emovieposter.com as you did on eBay, especially for
the high ticketed items. You have a very loyal customer base,
and if you advertise in your future eBay auctions of the
coming change, your transition will surely be a huge success.
I am also a seller on eBay, however I do not have the power
to abandon the tyranny of the evil monopoly that is eBay. It
really does mean a lot to the little sellers on eBay that you
are making such a bold stance on the topic. I congratulate
you on the move, and I for one will continue to be an avid
customer of emovieposter.com!
-------
Sorry you won't be on eBay any longer but understand
completely. Is there a
way for me to be made aware of your auctions off eBAy?
-------
Best of luck in your new location - I am also leaving ebay -
I saw your
remarkable posting on a site,,,,not the ebay forums, as I was
blocked from
them after expressing my opinions - Best Wishes from Texas!
-------
Kudos on the ebay move. It's been coming for a long time,
hmmm?
-------
Dear Bruce I read your post on auctionbytes. As a mom of 4
small children with stage IV cancer. I appreciate your well
thought out post more than I can tell you! I have already
pulled my ebay items and have opened a store on Tias. I for
one would be thrilled to join your antiques and collectibles
site should you open it! I actually pulled my items when ebay
started posting our sales in our feedback. I live close to
Miami and a running tally of my sales is a tad dangerous in
my area. Especially after I had one weirdo pull my contact
information. I found them piering into my windows. They said
they wanted to know what I was selling. Ebay is far too
dangerous a place anymore. This is sad I remember how it was
when I started years ago when everyone was so professional
and friendly to trade with. If I can lend a hand in your
endevor please feel free to ask. I will be
adding a link in my Tias store to your site. I hope it helps
raise you in the google searches. Godspeed in your new
endevor!
-------
Bruce, I read your post on Seeking Alpha (eBay Bares Its Ugly
New Face). I am another disillusioned PowerSeller who is in
the process of moving to other auction sites and opening a
webstore. I sell collectibles (and other items) on eBay. I would be very interested in being
contacted when your planned collectible auction site goes
live. I would even be interested in being a Beta Tester :-)
Thanks & Good Luck :-)
-------
Hey Bruce... I am glad to see you are leaving eBay. Though I
was only a sometimes seller I was totally pissed off by their
increases that they tried to disguise as free services and
good for the sellers. Good luck with it and hopes it works
out great for you and the buyers.
-------
Please make sure to let me know your post-eBay marketing
plan. I like your
products very much!
-------
Hi, I just wanted to congratulate you on opening your store
along with your comments on Seekingalpha.com. I'm just a
lurker on the boards, part time seller. Millions more to you
in the future. Bravo!
-------
Dear Bruce
You asked for response about your decision to leave ebay...
I am a little disappointed - for purely selfish reasons.
While I expect it will make little difference to most of your
more frequent and profitable buyers, it makes it less likely
I will see anything.
I collect many things and looking for all of them would take
a huge amount of time - I therefore relay on people notifying
me and one way that ebay is excellent is that keyword search
notifications are pretty reliable. I suspect it would be too
time-consuming and unprofitable for you to do the same - but,
otherwise, people like me will have to go to your site to
search.
Obviously your newsletter will make a good prompt - but never
underestimate the laziness of some (like me).
I also suspect that your presence on ebay makes other dealers
on ebay more honest and competitive.
I think the way you operate - and your site - is just
excellent by the way.
Kind regards.
-------
Thanks Bruce. I look forward to doing business with you at
your new site. I love your cards. Best regards, Bill
(mysack1)
-------
I have
purchased much from Bruce over the years--my loft and office
at Georgetown U are lined with framed posters, still, lobby
cards from the movie poster place. I am so happy to learn
that you guys are leaving eBay. I believe that they have
lied to sellers and treated them with disdain. I look
forward to bidding at the new site.
Best!
-------
Hi Bruce I've also been selling on eBay for 10 years ( 8000
FB). I am upset with the changes, and decided eBay was no
longer a reasonable nor profitable venue. I will be going
back to work in my original profession. But I still had a
considerable inventory in the collectable categories. Some I
was going to just flea market this spring, but I had alot I
was reluctant to part with, so I was going to continue on
eBay after the commotion died down. The other sites really
aren't terribly appealing. Your idea has potential - I signed
up for your newsletter - I would love to see you succeed and
offer an alternative buying and selling venue in the antiques
and collectables market. Good Luck on behalf of all of the
good but displaced sellers ( let's not forget we are buyers
too!!)
-------
Read your wonderful article on the Sellers Central Board. I
now
have a better understanding of this whole situation. I am a
small seller
of antiques and collectibles Bravo to you and best of luck
in your
venture.
-------
I understand and congratulate you in your change from ebay.
I, and many of my sculpting friends, have moved to
onlineauction.com . A restart has been rough (waiting for
word to get out), but I'm confident you'll do very well. The
best of luck to you.
-------
THANK YOU for your post on the discussion boards. My husband
is closing
down his eBay store and I am taking mine as well to
onlineauctions.com,
which was developed by a former ebay powerseller. It still
has all the
charm eBay had in the late 1990's. Without all of the
micromanagement and
seller abuse! Best of luck.
-------
Hi Bruce - I've been reading your postings and feel we are on
the same
page. I sell vintage silver, antiques, etc. via auction, 9.99
no reserve.
I am very small fish, you are big whale :) . MY question to
you is this. I
see you are leaving to start another website to auction off
your movie
posters - a sort of eBay for movie posters. Have you
considered thinking
bigger, being a pioneer and starting a replica of the old
eBay? Not just
posters, but auctions for vintage items where bidder ids are
shown (the
change implemented today where all bidder ids are hidden is
the last straw
for me - the fun is now gone). No new stuff. No stores.
Everybody can
leave feedback. Modest final value fees. Free market. etc.
Just a
suggestion. Also, please don't be discouraged from
posting on the
discussion board. Some of those people are just like the
mean "alpha"
girls in Jr. high. Best of luck to you.
-------
Make sure and let the rest of us know where you are moving to
when you
leave Ebay. You left a very good post on the Feedback forum.
More should
follow your lead.
Take care!
-------
Dear Bruce, your public post on the boards is absolutely
phenominal and has
made it into the ebay AC and several groups and im sure will
be posted in
the off~ebay proboard group for members at odds with ebay. I
agree 100% and
you absolutely said it better than I could. I wish you a
stunning success
in your new auction venture.
-------
I just saw your post on the Seller Central. The link to it
was
posted on the chats over on OLA.com.
I wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to
you and I am sure you will have great success on your own
site! eBay has
shot itself in the foot I feel. Up to this point, I've only
had contact
with fellow sellers like me with feedback all under 10K. Now
we see how
this latest idiotic idea eBay has come up with to torture its
sellers has
not only chased all of us off, but an enormously successful,
7 figure
seller as well! All I can say is AMAZING! How can they be so
stupid!
If
you ever get over to OLA.com, please come by the boards to
say hello!
We're all behind you!
Kindest regards!
-------
I just read your post in discussion boards, I do not sell big
like you
but I put alot of time into the things i do sell. I have to
agree with you
totally about Ebay.
If you know of any sites that would allow me to sell
my homemade handmade rag quilts please if at all possible
contact me.
I
have checked into Wagglepop, cheap but looks like Ebay to
much for me right
now.
You need to start a new auction
site for us Ebayers to go to.
Thanks for your posting.
Good Luck and Best
Wishes.
-------
In theory, if you got in on the ground floor on the next "big
thing"
auction-wise, you could be a bazillionaire ;) .
I am heart-sick over
these changes coming down from on high - inability to leave a
negative for
buyers (even though most of MY buyers are nice sterling
silver collectors),
hiding bidder ids, hiking up final value fees. I make money
for them by
running impeccable auctions, and get no gratitude at all.
They have taken
all of the fun out of auctions.
Best of luck to you also, and I hope you
eventually create some version of BruceBay that will let us
sell in a fun,
profitable and unhindered manner once again.
-------
Bruce, while you are going thhrough your transition period,
you really
should check out onlineauction dot com. Just a suggestion!!!
-------
hi there, can you please include me in a "mailing list" or
however you plan
on notifying people where you will be selling posters after
you leave
eBay?
thanks
-------
Not really question about the item but I read your "goodbye"
poston the
forum and I wanted to let you know I fully support you. I'm a
small
powerseller that deals with collectables and if you get a
ebay like site
set up please let me know. Please email me if
you get a site together or can recommend an ebay alternate.
Looking over
your seller profile and history really impressed me. I've
made my little
niche on ebay but I don't have the computer skills to get my
own auction
site set up but I'm definately looking for a new one. Thanks
-------
i saw your post on seller centraland want to wish you good
luck. from your
hx, i think you done a brilliant job making ebay what it is
today. i am
also in awe of your html proficiency.
-------
Hi Bruce. No worries! We have our own new website(no sales
yet) but we'll
keep trying. This place has really gone to the dogs so we
will keep looking
for a new home. Good luck with your own new site.
-------
\I have just read your thread and am very sorry to see such a
good seller
leaving eBay. I only started selling last June, but because
of all of the
changes, will have to look elsewhere in order to make a
living. If you
ever do set up a site, I would sincerely appreciate your
contacting me. Thank you and I wish you all the best.
-------
Hi Bruce, I read your post last night and totally agreed
with you. I then
read what others had said, and kind of blasted them, or one
in particular.
Well, it was reported to ebay and removed at the speed of
light. I
obviously upset someone! -wink- Anyway,
you post and
vent all you want. You have earned it!
-------
Thanks Bruce :) I have my own website as well as a "brick
& mortar"
antiques and collectibles shop. Still in development (both of them), but have had some luck
selling the
plates as well as the shop and plan to start using Google
Base as well.
I'll probably play around a bit with some of the "alternative
sites", but
frankly, none of them is focused on antiques and collectibles
and so far
they seem to have mostly sellers with high starting prices
and no bids :)
I thought about just going ahead and opening a store on TIAS
or Ruby Lane,
but I think you have to maintain this god awful amount of
inventory to
operate there. I wish they would provide a less costly/time
demanding
alternative for a small seller. I retired from my full-time
job last August
and just need something to supplement my social security so I
don't suck up
all my savings/pension, etc. I'll likely keep selling on
eBay until I can't
afford to any more.
Anyway, if that "future" collectibles site happens, please
keep me in mind.
I'm unloading some small engine related stuff right now, but
my primary
focus is 1930's-1960's vintage stuff. I go to auctions and
try to buy at
reasonable prices so I can keep my prices low. I avoid
repros and stuff
with damage. And....I treat my customers honestly and
fairly.
Best wishes on your future endeavors.
-------
Dear Bruce~ I've read your posts in several online locations~
beautifully composed and well thought-out. Congrats. Most
excellent job. I'm a small time ebay seller(1205)and am tired
of ebay's shennigans too. Best personal regards.
-------
I don't need anything - I just wanted to let you know that I
really appreciated your comments about ebay. I started at
Yahoo Finance, don't know if I went to another link or if
that's where I read it. Anyway, good comments, thank you!
-------
Thanx, I am actually very lucky my items qualify for etsy and
have been doing better there than on ebay. A lot of others
are displaced, or have gone to ecrater wagglepop or ioffer.
Good post, regards.
-------
Hi Bruce, I read your post last night and really liked what
you had to say
about your business and Ebay's changes. Your post has been
removed. Are you
aware of that?
-------
Hi. I have been reading the eBay thread you started, titled ''I
have sold
300,000 eBay items but am quitting completely!'' I posted
there as
well.
I agree with you regarding ebay's recent idiotic decisions, &
was
reading the thread with interest. I don't know if you are
aware of this,
but ebay has evidently now pulled that thread completely.
COWARDS!
Anyway, I copied & saved your initial post, though not the
pages which followed thereafter. If you didn't save or print
a copy
yourself, & you want one, I would be happy to e-mail it to
you. Although I
guess you would have to provide a regular e-mail addy,
because I don't
think it would fit in the small number of characters allotted
for these
messages, lol, but I could try. And if you don't want to give
out your
e-mail address I do understand, just thought I'd let you know
about the
thread being pulled & that there is a copy of your initial
post if you want
one.
Good luck on other venues! I'm done on ebay too.
-------
Hi Bruce. We signed up for your emails a few days ago. Our
new website went
live over a week ago no sales as yet :( we really don't
want to go back to
ebay but we can't find anywhere that will be suitable for the
items we
sell. All the best!
-------
-
I've gotten two eBay surveys in the last week. I think they
will be very happy losing Bruce and other sellers of
collectibles. EBay wants to be the online equivalent of
Wal-Mart.
I am glad you are going to implement a "10-minute rule" and
have auctions that pass the closing time end a certain time
after the last bid.
Sniping software is ok, I can understand it and have
considered using it, but it takes what little fun out of
online bidding that there is.
-------
-
Bruce...I have been meaning to write for some time and now,
seeing that you are moving away from E-bay,I thought now
might be the right time for my comment.I and others like me
have not liked the practice of "sniping" as I feel that it
tends to ruin the spirit of the auction.I know that sellers
love snipers as it runs up the bids but if you intend to
include it as an option on the new site, then, I choose not
to be a member.I try very hard to make snipers pay more for
all that they snipe.and I have probably made you hundreds if
not thousands of extra dollars doing so. Thanks
-------
-
Speaking of your upcoming move i think it is a mistake. i can
understand why
with the 40% increases in fees but i feel a move to another
auction site
could be a disaster as you will not have the same following
as on ebay.
You may just find that Auction prices may not reach the same
prices on a
new site and i have noticed that prices realized are already
in decline at
the moment especially lobby's and posters at the lower end
that once went
for around $50 are now only going for $25 or less even stuff
that used to go
for $100-125 is now down around $60-$80 not just in your
auctions but in
everybody's on ebay and it is even worse on some of the
smaller sites.
I think a move now could be worse than paying extra in fees
also i think you
should take a hard line on accepting lesser items on
consignment i think you
should only accept items with a realistic value of $100 and i
think you
should increase the % you get for all of the work you and
your team do maybe
instead of 28% on a $150 item you should get 33% of that same
item and that
along with you only accepting $100 plus items will offset the
ebay fees.
I remember you mentioned once that it is just as much work
and time and
money you pay out in wages to sell a $10 item as it does a
$100 item infect
i think you loose money on a $10 item so why sell them?
Don't get me wrong i am no poster snob i love to buy lobby
cards and posters
from my favourite films for under $10 but how long can you
keep doing this
with prices on the decline it is costing you to much money i
would like to
see you around for a long time to come .
I think this hobby for the most part is in a decline that
will never recover
price wise especially a lot of the old B Western and B Drama
stuff from the
30s-60s most of that stuff is down to half or a third of what
it used to
sell for 2 years ago and i don't think it will ever recover
as fans that are
older pass way .
You will probably know more about the top end stuff than i do
such as
Universal Horror and Classic film noir and Classic Comedy
such as Marx
Brothers Laurel and Hardy ect as far as i know it is in good
shape price
wise but i guess it too will decline in years to come as
maybe some of the
1960s and 1970s stuff increases to incredible prices such as
Bond and Star
Wars or Escape From New York time will tell.
Anyway Bruce i have rambled on long enough and i will follow
you to your new
site which i hope goes well but i am a little worried about
your move i want
the whole world looking in on your auctions and new people
discovering them
all the time on ebay not trying to find Auction.. com or
whatever
Yours most sincerely
-------
I just wanted to say that i really liked your post on CNN
Money ,so sad and such a shame what E-Bay is doing to us sellers, very
stressful for me as E-bay is my only income, anyways i really enjoyed
reading your post, Good luck with your sales
-------
If your future venture does include starting up an antiques/collectibles auction, I sure would be interested. I currently am experimenting piggy backing onto a primitives website and it sure is nice not to have to pay ebay/paypal fees. Only a token monthly rental. I am still just baffled that eBay drove you to do this with your buisness. Perhaps it might be a blessing in disguise.
-------
I read your letter and wish you all the luck but I really don't
think you'll need it, I think you're well on your way already. I thought I
read that you are opening a site that will have other sellers that sell
vintage items. I happen to do that. I sell other stuff but I have 1000's of
vintage ads, paper items, books, cards, collectibles and I do mean 1000's.
I only have a small % of the items listed on ebay so far. I have a good fb
score and have been on ebay for about 3 years now. I'm a powerseller, I
don't sell the amt you do but I hope to within the next year. I would love
it if I had another place to list my items.
-------
I guess it is a little silly of me to give my thoughts to you on your move
as you know this business inside and out and have been doing well for such a
long time and yes it does sound like a great idea not having to put up with
all those rules and extra fees if you can do just as well if not better
somewhere else .
I am just a little worried that your business may suffer from the movie as
ebay seems to be the only big game in town and you have to play by there
rules if you want to do well and they know it and until someone else proves
otherwise i will not be convinced but i hope you can do it
-------
I totally understand your frustrations with the ebay monopoly, but I am sorry to see you leave. I feel the fixed ending time is in the buyer's best interest and as one of your "buyers" I'm very disappointed to see you go to the extended ending time format. I always hear people complaining about sniping, but the bottom line is if you enter the highest price you are willing to pay what does it matter? Bidding more than a few seconds before the end of the auction only serves to drive up prices as other bidders have a chance to think about it and get into the psychology of wanting to win and "not letting somebody beat me." Of course if you bid in the last seconds of an auction you don't have a chance to rebid, but if you're entering the highest amount you're willing to pay you shouldn't care. Human psychology being what it is, and you being as smart as you are, Bruce, you know that the extended auction format favors the seller. However, I feel you're being disingenuous when you claim you want the extended ending time format to help all the poor mistreated buyers who lose out to all those cruel and nasty snipers.
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I'm not surprised ebay removed your post from their discussion board, but I am angry & disappointed. I e-mailed ebay to ask why it was pulled; here's what my e-mail said:
"Why has ebay removed the thread from the Discussion Board titled "I have sold 300,000 eBay items but am quitting completely!", which was begun by emovieposter.com? Didn't ebay recently state that the boycott was having NO effect, and that Answer Center and Discussion Board posts on the topic of ebay's fee hike and asinine change to feedback were NOT going to be deleted by ebay? What happened?"
Thanks for the info re your auction plans -- I'm not a big poster buyer, but I think I read that you sell some vintage (or vintage repro) posters, & I might be interested in those at some point. I'll check out your website, & might even sign up for the club. Certainly if I want to buy any posters online I will buy them from you, not on ebay!
My boyfriend & I have been renting space in an antiques/collectibles shop for about a year, which is working pretty well -- we don't make much money, lol, probably none if we actually sat down & figured our outlay for items, what they sell for, & our rent, but we have fun & it's hands on. Can't say that about ebay anymore! My life is a bit hectic at the moment, but I do plan to sell online again in future, just not on ebay -- unless/until ebay becomes a viable site again, with execs who give a damn about members, & possibly not even then. ebay is losing many good sellers, & you are one of them. So am I (I've never been a large-scale seller, by any means, but I HAVE been an excellent one). Anyway, bravo on your Discussion Board post, even if the cowards at ebay pulled it. Know that MANY ebayers saw it and agreed with it. Good luck with your new website and any/all of your other ventures.
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I have a suggestion for your new auctions, but first off that was a great letter that you wrote regarding the problems with eBay and I too have a story that might be the epitome of the problem with media sellers that I'll share with you, as it shows a seller basically extorting buyers on here. I too am scratching my head over many of their changes, not just with policies but also how they have messed with the options and look of "My eBay" and search screens, and also with things as simple as the new winning notification e-mails that no longer list the item won in the subject heading. Some of the worst transactions I've had have been with burned dvds and cds of movie trailers and old comedy shows, where the transfer looks worse than a 25-year old video tape recorded in SLP mode lol. But the most glaring was when I purchased in September a Six-DVD set of old radio comedy shows, a CD of The Cinnamon Bear, and a CD of old Bill Stern sport shows for my parents, all from the same seller at the same time.
I was very careful in looking through the different people who were selling those as they usually have bad feedback. eBay seller "donfaillo" seemed to have the best feedback so I went with him. Problems started right away. I was supposed to get his "multiple item" shipping discount, but at checkout I was charged full shipping. I wrote a polite e-mail to his personal e-mail account that eBay USED to include with winning notification e-mails, and said I didn't get the multiple item discount and that I guessed it was just an eBay goofup.
Well he never e-mailed back and I soon approached his maximum time to pay by. So I sucked it up and paid his wrong overcharged s&h. This time I sent an e-mail through eBay messages to let him know I paid through PayPal, to mention again I had to overpay shipping, and to please let me know when shipped. Again I heard nothing back but finally received the items in the mail. Once I had a chance to give them to my folks for a gift and load them on their computer, I discovered major problems. The Bill Stern CD was supposed to have 139 episodes (one of the reasons why I chose him) but only had 22, and none of the six dvds in the comedy set would work because they had never even been formatted.
So I wrote him about the problems and also asked again about the s&h mixup. Shockingly I heard back right away with a long e-mail from him ... albeit with no mention or apology for me overpaying for s&h. He admitted that all the problems were on his end. He said he used to sell a Bill Stern 22-episode set and I somehow got that by mistake (even though the label on my cd says it is a 139 episode one). Then he said he had been having motherboard problems and that many of the dvds were not being formatted at all. While I appreciated the honesty I was shocked that they didn't bother to test anything before it went out, as these problems would be noticed instantly. He promised to send replacements and to e-mail him my address again, which I did right away and asked him once again to please let me know when shipped.
Well next thing I know it is late November with no replacements or e-mail from him, so I politely write again to let him know I never got them and that I hope everything was okay on his end. No reply from him at all. So I try e-mailing him again in late December. No reply at all. I then try once again at the end of January. Still no reply. Then again in mid-February letting him know I will be contacting e-Bay, unless I receive word from him. I tried him both to his direct e-mail and through eBay messages, but never got a reply nor any replacements in the mail.
I was going to give up but then decided to look at his feedback to see if he was still around and if others were having problems. I was stunned to see so many people trying to leave him negative feedback for the same things ("never received items", "no replies to e-mails", "no replies to phone calls"), yet his feedback had hardly changed. Why was that? Well it turns out that all these negative feedbacks from buyers ended up being "mutually withdrawn", so he got stuck with none of them. Investigating a little further by going to the buyers' own feedbacks I discovered that this seller ... nowhere to be found when people had problems ... instantly appeared when someone would leave him negative feedback, and would leave every single one of them retaliatory negative feedback within a day. And I would see some of the comments left by him and he'd say the buyers never tried to contact him which is obviously a huge bunch of bs.
What I'm sure happened is those buyers, with obviously genuine gripes from my own experiences with him, would agree to "mutually withdrawn" feedback after "donfaillo" would leave negative retaliatory feedback, because they were terrified of their perfect feedback being ruined by this jerk of a seller as eBay wouldn't have their backs. If you want a good laugh you should check out his feedback, especially for January, as you will be amazed at how many feedbacks were withdrawn. He strung me along until it was too late to give him negative feedback or get a PayPal refund, as I'm too easy going and kept thinking he would come around as maybe he was dealing with some personal issues.
I called eBay recently to find out if I had any recourse or to at least let them know what he was doing and have them put it on his record somehow. They said it was too late for me and they couldn't do anything to him (even though it is instantly obvious going through his feedback the extortion games he is playing). Instead the eBay rep spewed out the propaganda about how that is why they changed it so that sellers will no longer leave feedback. A lot of good that does me. But I had the same reaction as you have. There are a lot of bad sellers and a lot of bad buyers. Not just ones who don't pay, but also those brain-cramped newbie buyers who I've seen leave negative feedback only TWO days after they paid for an item, because they hadn't received it in the mail yet lol.
I also tried to talk to the eBay rep about having a department that would handle someone wanting to leave negative feedback, where they would have to go through them first and give specific reasons for it and then they would verify it. That way buyers or sellers could leave feedback without fear of a b.s. revenge negative feedback. But of course I got the same speel you did about how they couldn't afford to do that. I also told him that those feedback categories they implemented a year or so ago where you could rate a seller anonymously were useless, because you still had to leave feedback to do it. If the seller was a jerk why would I want to leave him positive feedback just so I could leave "anonymous" scores. And why would I leave negative feedback, as it defeats the purpose of the category ratings being anonymous. So I told him that feedback and those four categories should be able to be left separate of each other, and told him that quality of packing should have been a category to rate instead of cost of shipping. I can see s&h costs in the item description lol, and decide for myself if s&h is too high for that type of item lol. But of course I once again got the eBay speel.
Sorry for the long ramble, now onto my suggestion or hope for the new auction. The one thing on eBay that is very important for us dial-up users is being able to put things on that "items watching" list and I in fact wish eBay would expand that to being able to have even more than the current 100 items on a list. I really hope that there is some way on your new auctions where we can keep track of items that we will be interested in, so that we can see their progress and even their current bids and maybe even the current high bidder screen name so we can see if we are the ones winning or someone else. That way those of us with dial-up can have it set up ahead of the auction, which ones we are interested in and not have to find each one right before they go off instead. Thanks for everything over the last six years and have a great day.
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This message is for Bruce, the person who posted on the Seller Central ebay board a couple of days ago. I just found the thread this morning. I am a small seller who last year decided to take my business elsewhere, I sell vintage, I am on babylon mall at the moment and a couple of other places, last year was my best year on babylon. I am also working on building my own website/store. My son and I just purchased a home and we love your posters so we will also be looking to shop your website. Wanted to also tell you that I am also working on not using paypal in my stores, I am going with google, I refuse to give ebay any more of my money. I bookmarked your website also because you mentioned running auctions on your website, I am so glad that I did because your thread on ebay's Seller Central is now gone. It is obvious your post hit a nerve with ebay. You should post it on CNN, powersellersunite and auctionbytes.
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Bruce, Im glad your post made it to the Washington Post's blog :) I think your initial post has reached many more people than you could imagine, I posted it in my vintage group and people were overwhelmingly in agreement with you. If a little seller like me made good last year without ebay someone like you can certainly do it. The problem with ebay is that sellers are afraid to leave and make other sites a success so ebay has the monopoly.
1 week boycotts dont hurt ebay, leaving like we are and making other sites prosper is what is going to hurt ebay in the long run, they might not admit it right away but you will see how quickly ebay changes its tune as soon as people like me and specially like you, huge sellers start leaving in droves.
I honestly feel that there is a majority of sellers who still dont have a clue at what is about to hit them, they dont read the ebay boards and dont pay attention to the news, but you wait till May rolls around. I began listing on ecrater, besides my store in babylon, and made a couple of sales already so I know that buyers are out there we just have to work harder to promote our business without ebay. I blog and post in vintage fashion geared groups, myspace too...sometimes I dont feel like doing it but if I want to continue working for myself how are people going to find my merchandise if I dont give it exposure?
Before I forget, check this out, this was posted in the Washington Post blog as well, "A comment on a Tuesday Appscout post suggested that forum posts critical of eBay's policies had been deleted. EBay denied that any forum deletions were intentional. If any posts were taken down "it was accidental," the spokesman said. "We're not afraid of hearing from our community and allowing them to post and discuss things and be angry on our boards."
Can you believe it? such liars!
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I am just writing to congratulate you on your fantastic letter concerning the state of Ebay! I was a bronze power seller in the U.K. I had been ebaying since 2004 but 16 days ago I had my account hacked, along with two other sellers, and they moved all our listings onto 'Featured Plus' leaving me with a bill for £967! I have emailed, phoned and help chatted until I am blue in the face, but they have done nothing to help me! I have had to remove my bank details and so I can't list. What a way to treat a power seller! I have just moved to a site called Ebid it is a lot smaller than Ebay but ebayers are now joining in droves from all around the world. An American ebidder posted a link to your letter on our forum (before Ebay deleted it!) I luckily copied it and have been able to post it back on for you for all to see!!! We would all love you to join us. Looking at the thread comments you would get a warm welcome. If you can send me your email address I will send you a direct link. Well done on putting all of our Ebay concerns in black and white for all to read!
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Someone had sent me the threads so I was able to read what you posted. It totally resonated with me. If ebay had taken care of the Trust & Safety issues and stepped up back when it started to grow things would not have gotten out of hand.
You know, there's something similar that has happened onthe blogosphere, Digg superusers did a sort of boycott recently over the algorithm that was being used to disadvantage certain content and/or posters. The superusers were able to shake things up to the point where mgmt had to start talking. I think this is a pretty important time being on the internet and the power of the user. Anyways, if there's something in the future for the low volume collectors like myself, I'd be interested in joining up to idea share.
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I'm with you clearly this management team has not a clue a to what
will work..meg was not the answer ever she just happened to be lucky to be
in charge at a time when we could have put my beagle in charge and most
likely made more money as her decisions like the current ones will hurt
more tha help thanks
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It was my pleasure. It was so good to read such a wonderful letter standing
up to them after all the hassles I have had over the last two weeks. In my last telephone call to them I had great delight in saying that I have opened my Ebid shop, because nobody had bothered to help me in 17 days and I hoped
my call was being recorded for training purposes!!!
I have sent you a link through for Ebid to come and have a look. Check yourbulk folder it sometimes ends up in there if you can't spot it! Come to the forums on the English site and have a read. If you go to 'The Kitchen Table' section you will find your letter displayed under the post called ' Interesting post from a MAJOR power seller!' I think Ebid could have real potential so the more the merrier. Hope you will come and have a look.
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Can you tell me when you will be transitioning to your own auction site, ie, how much longer will you be with ebay? thanks
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I see you are leaving ebay, and I too as a seller, would like to do so. I completely agree with your feelings about ebay's new guidleines. I was hoping someone may assist me is seeing how perhaps, I could sell on your site or on consignment? I mainly sell vintage magazines from the 1930s-1970's. Do you deal with that? Please let me know and hope to hear from you soon.
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I currently sell Original Movie Stills, primarily from 1900-1950's on ebay. I am interested in selling off ebay but have not been sucessful in the past. The problem seems to be the lack of foot traffic. If you would be willing to open your site to other vendors such as myself, please let me know.
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I am really proud of you guys! Leaving eBay, way to go. I have bought posters from you guys on occasioan and I've sold misc. items on eBay although not on the scale you guys are at and I am ticked off about the new fees and rating systems. I don't know if that's why you're leaving eBay, but regardless you can count on my support and future business!
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We are a small antique and collectable dealer on ebay and I just read your reply on cnet I would be intrested in the site your planning.
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No question. I just wanted to say a big thank you to Bruce and gang at
eMovieposter for my favorite poster! I'm looking more forward than ever
to your new auction format. I hope to join you on your site for the very
first auction and move away from eBay myself. Thanks again.
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Just so you know, wherever you guys are on line, I will continue to shop with you -- just keep sending me emails!
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Bravo to you - I am your biggest fan! I sell Vintage China and presently boycotting eBay till whenever??
Hopefully I will be a future seller on your planned collectible site. Would appreciate, once your auction site is set-up,
if you will contact me.
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I look forward to bidding on your new auctions. There was an official "Seller/Buyers Ebay
Strike" going on from Feb 18th to Feb 25th. It has been no fun to pass on your
site that week. What eBay is doing with their feedback program and price hikes continues to sink their stock and business plan.
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I am excited to hear of the big move you will be making. I feel that you will recognize almost identical prices on emovieposter.com as you did on eBay, especially for the high ticketed items. You have a very loyal customer base, and if you advertise in your future eBay auctions of the coming change, your transition will surely be a huge success. I am also a seller on eBay, however I do not have the power to abandon the tyranny of the evil monopoly that is eBay. It really does mean a lot to the little sellers on eBay that you are making such a bold stance on the topic. I congratulate you on the move, and I for one will continue to be an avid customer of emovieposter.com!
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Congratulations on your decision.
I always felt that sniping was a "cheap trick", and was the victim of many lost auctions since I refused to use a sniping program myself.
Sounds like you're going to address this issue, and I or one will cheer you on.
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Everyone knows how to run a movie poster auction better than you. I’m surprised
you haven’t let your critics start running your weekly auctions already.
Good luck with the new site, I’m sure after a few weeks everyone will love it and stop complaining.
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I was reading your post on why you were leaving eBay and while it sounds well thought through, I did have a question; Will there be alternate means for bidding? By that I mean that I cannot always be in front of a computer when an auction is closing and have really enjoyed bidding by phone. Will you have options like that?
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There have been numerous non-Ebay auctions I have participated in, mostly toys for some odd reason, that incorporate the post-closing time bidding scenario based on bids place extending auctions close in 10 minute increments with each bid placed. I believe it is JUST KIDS NOSTALGIA that for me had the most fair set up versus say SMITH HOUSE AUCTIONS (always toys as opposed to JUST KIDS that have actually had movie posters, props, toys and just about anything else) that I would like to share.
JUST KIDS NOSTALGIA observes an 11:00 PM Pacific cut off time for their auctions. If a bid is placed on any item within final 10 mins, that begins the 10 minute increment extensions of auctions after closing. But that is only for those items that received a bid within final ten minutes greatly reducing the number of lots involved in extended bidding. Further, only those people who bid on the actual lot extended can participate. In other words, an extended auction bid scenario involves only those people who physically expressed an interest in an item by placing a bid on it prior to auctions close. Say an item received 7 bids by 5 different buyers. Then only those 5 buyers can continue bidding on said item post auction. Auction ends completely when no item receives a bid with a ten minute window. Yes a single item could in fact prolong an auctions close for hours. I believe that has happened quite dramatically one time extending until 5:00 AM for KIDS.
Other auctions don't restrict as thoroughly. This in fact might be more favorable for divining overall more monies for auction house and consignors, but not as democratic as above scenario. Smith House extends auction in 10 minute increments to all their items and ends when no bid is placed in last 10 minutes. All buyers who have at least bid on one item can qualify to bid on any item during auction extension. Well in my mind, that allowed anyone to just place a token bid on one item, then wait until end of auction and begin surfing and place bids on items he felt were well priced or by whatever criteria he gauges. To my view this is just another form, indeed modified, of sniping. But with KIDS NOSTALGIA, limiting extended bidding only to those who had previously bid on a certain item was supremely fair, as one is competing with others uniquely interested in the one item. This versus say someone who was going after an item, it reaching a level he didn't want to pay, so with that money unspent now surfing to bid on anything else that strikes a fancy within 10 minute window. Again, this may actually prove to auction host and a consignor ultimately more money, but as a bidder I liked competing only with those who truly expressed an interest in the item by placing a bid prior to auction's close and knowing if outbid I lost to someone originally engaged in the item rather than some Johnny-come-lately
A true story of extended bidding. When Sotheby's had on-line auctions, they engaged the 10 minute extension rule. The year, probably 2001, they auctioned Tim Burton's second wave of NIGHTMARE BEFORE XMAS props, I was bidding on a lot with a handcarved bed, a lighted Christmas Tree, and three gnomes asleep under a blanket. There were about 50 lots of other items, some great some not. Anyway when auctioned closed I was high bidder at 3600. But auction kept extending on who knows which items. About an hour later I was outbid on my item. I re-bid and now lead at $4000. Watched or would check in regularly and 2 and a half hours later I was outbid. That was my max so tail between legs I simply would check in on auction as an observer. However it is now something like 11:00 pm. Went to bed. Woke up next morning and auction was still going my item was now around $6000. Auction continued into the afternoon and finally ended some 30 hours later after official closing my desired item closing at $7100. I do not recall if Sotheby's required a bidder had to have bid on at least a single item prior to closing to participate or if it was wide open as long as auction extended. I believe the latter. Therefore auction was simply a snipe-fest and I felt I lost to bidders who had extra monies losing on other lots so kept grabbing items with these unspent dollars, grabbing consolation purchases rather than truly interested bidders from the beginning.
Again Burton and Auction House probably divined more money this way but I felt I lost to some guy who didn't want to go home empty handed and put his money on whatever was affordable and looked cool and therefore UNDESERVING . Naive...........but I never bid again with Sotheby's.
Good luck Bruce on whatever endeavor you decide. You will still command the business so we wait intrigued and excited.
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I hope when you're finally rid of eBay, you'll be rid of these clowns making
fake second chance offers on your items, sometimes before they close! I've been averaging about a dozen a week!
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I'm writing to offer my comments about your leaving eBay - I think it's a great idea. You obviously have the wherewithal to accomplish something like this, and you have a loyal customer base that should enable you to succeed in retaining most of the business.
eBay has managed to ride its wave for ten years or so, but technology keeps getting cheaper and the world keeps getting savvier about it, so the barriers to entry in the on-line auction business have become smaller. It's no surprise that a history of treating customers (i.e., sellers) poorly has finally started to cause a loss of business to
eBay. They were certainly fortunate to be the first to succeed in the business on a large scale, and they have developed their franchise in such as way as to make their name into a generic term like Kleenex. But being first does not always guaranty long term survival. In the PC business over the past twenty-five years or so, the market for spreadsheet software perhaps provides a parallel. Although I believe that the first spreadsheet package was Visicalc, within a few years the market was dominated by the Lotus 1-2-3 product, so much so that people used to routinely use "Lotus spreadsheet" as a generic term. A few years later, however, Microsoft's Excel began its rise to its current dominant position. Maybe someday
eBay will be remembered as the Lotus of the on-line auction industry! I know you always seek to please your customers (both buyers and sellers), and that you look for their feedback to help you in that effort. I don't have any specific advice about the auction process that you are setting up (but I might after you get it running!), so I'm just writing to offer my best wishes and encouragement for a successful venture.
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Thank you - currently opening a store on Yahoo - hoping Bill Gates buys
Yahoo and it will take off. I have just today finished getting the last
of my eBay listings ended. Best wishes to you in your new venture.
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As a long-time customer I am disappointed to hear that you are using an extended bidding period. While this may squeeze a few extra bucks out of an item, it makes it next to impossible to monitor the many items you have each auction to keep up on the bidding. I don't usually bid on other auction site, though I have used ubid.com to buy computers from time to time. Bidding can go on forever, maybe because they attract many bidders for multiple items, but also because people simply don't want to lose an item by a buck or two. Now everyone will have to give it their best shot, monitor items they really want to see how long the bidding will go on. I simply will not have the time or patience to get into extended bidding wars with others. That's what is great about eBay, you give it your best shot at the end and you win some and you lose some. I'll take a look at the your new site but I'm a bit discouraged.
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Bruce, with all due respect, I probably won't bid nearly as much under your new rules. I for one like the fixed end time of
eBay (which I handle with a snipe service) and have no intention of waiting and waiting at the computer for a potential win...it is just way too much hassle to have to be at the computer when the auctions go off, especially if I'm traveling. I can't imagine what your WW bidders would need to do in this scenario when auctions go off in the middle of the night for them (at least they can be well prepared with
eBay).
I really think eBay does it right in this instance....everybody should bid as high as they feel comfortable and if you win, you win......If you lose because somebody bid $1 and that upsets you, you should have bid more, end of story.
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Best wishes for your new auction venture. I have no idea as to whether I will embrace time-extended auctions enthusiastically or begrudgingly but I ask you to please give consideration to the closing times of your auctions. I remember you had a poll about this but cannot remember the findings. I live in England as do, of course, a large minority of your other bidders and most of your auctions tend to complete between 1.00 - 2.00 am Greenwich Mean Time. I am currently worried that I will not know when I can go to bed! Listing the end times one hour earlier would make a big difference.
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1. I agree with your identification of the two key items (1) not charging outrageous buyer's premiums and (2) offering extended time bidding to reduce sniping.
2. Sniping will still occur because not everyone can be online and bidding when you end your auctions, thus that continues to be a concern of mine given your previous discussion of wanting to move the closing time earlier. In my case my employer blocks ebay from being accessed at work so it may be a benefit if it doesn't block your site. I suspect though their blocking is based on "key" words and the same key words will block yours. I know you can't please everyone including your employees on closing auction times but you asked for input so I'm suggesting later times are better for me personally.
3. I noted with interest your comments about eventually hosting other sellers on your site. I caution you about relying on that source of revenue too much in your plans. You will face competition from
eBay and others including the option of the other sellers running their own site and trying to "steal" those you have signed up. I hope your model works without any income from others and if you get some it is a "bonus".
4. The other caution I have about hosting others is my experiences over several years at
eBay has shown that eBay's being a stickler about things and their feedback system does seem to keep a number of sellers doing the right thing. Once I have completed a significant number of transactions with an
eBay seller I will consider an excellent seller's offer of "adding to my order" or buying other items from their website. The unfortunate fact is that in probably 50% of the cases I have experienced notable differences in service between orders through
eBay and not through eBay with the same seller! I no longer do any business with several sellers I used to buy from regularly because of "off-eBay" issues. While I truly believe you will not change how you treat customers those other seller's you plan to offer hosting services to may be like the "other 50%" I have encountered and their problems could taint your whole site or at the least cause you lots of headaches.
5. I don't recall any comments yet about whether future auctions will continue to start at 99 cents or not. It's been a week and I'm not re-reading last week's email since the potential to change is always there and my comments would apply at that point. I suspect your 99 cents starting bids was both a listing fee cost savings ploy and a good promotion opportunity on
eBay. As you consider starting bids keep in mind one of the draws for eBay is the chance to get some purchases at a really good deal. This leads to more bidders and more activity than starting bids at full value or nearly full value like some ebay sellers who see large numbers of items go unsold. Since you have been indicating the upcoming end to the book give away offers you currently use to help drive up prices from the minimum I suspect you may be thinking about changing the opening bids and I wouldn't blame your increasing them to a higher amount but would still like you to keep the possibility of getting a good deal, maybe not an unbelievable deal as occasionally happens now.
6. I hope you continue the e-mail club weekly newsletters. I do read most of them but I wish you would indicate the category of upcoming listings in the initial email. I focus on one type of movie memorabilia other than posters so you don't offer what I bid on every week and I would like to quickly know if I need to check on your latest auction whether it is on
eBay or later at your own site.
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I think that rrauction.com in the finest and most fun auction format I have ever used both as a buyer and seller. All auctions remain open till no one bids for 10 minutes on any item. The only way you can bid after the close is by having bid on that item before the close time. So if you are the only bidder then you won at the regular close time. Try bidding on something and you can see how it works. Most items on their site start at $100 or more. If no one bids then after the regular bid close anyone can buy it now for the start price. They send out a full color catalog out every month.
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Hi, first of all I wish you all the best for your auction site, since I totally agree with your comments on eBay way of running things!!!!...And I'd like to know if it will be possible for collectors like me to sell anything through it. I'm looking forward to reading from you.
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I wanted to thank you for your professional service. I recently won 2 items
from you on eBay- a Grease poster and Xanadu daybill. I have received both of them and they are beautiful!
eBay is losing a great seller. I'm glad I had the honor of dealing with good people. Keep up the good work.
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I think it is a great idea for you to start your own site! Many others have and it seems to have been successful.
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eBayers will miss you... exactly where will you auction off your posters and
exactly when will this
happen?
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SNIPING: I have seen on other auction sites the "rolling gavel" method of extending the end time of an auction when there are late bids in an effort to eliminate sniping. It does eliminate some sniping, but also has the disadvantage of taking a lot of the fun out of the auction itself and often makes them drag on and on and on. ALTERNATIVE 1: Allow bidders who provide you a credit card in advance to place "silent bids". An auction would proceed as usual and show the current high bid, but would also show how many "silent bids" had been placed and by whom. When the auction is over, the "silent bids" are opened and added to all the other bids placed. The key is that you charge a fee for placing each "silent bid"! Every time a sniper wants to place a "silent bid", it will cost them some small fee, like maybe a buck for bids under $100, $5 for under $500, $10 up to $1000, $50 for $5000, and $100 for anything over $5000. And the sniper pays for each "silent bid" whether he wins or not. Some people will still snipe, but this way you will reduce it, the other bidders will be able to see there is a sniper who has placed a "silent bid" and adjust their bidding accordingly, and you will get some extra $$$. ALTERNATIVE 2 (Part A): Sniper's Tax - If a bidder has not placed any bid on an item until less than two minutes remaining (or whatever), then charge them an extra $5 or 5% (whichever is more) added to their purchase price as a "Sniper's Tax" or "Sniping Tax". ALTERNATIVE 2 (Part B): "Sniper's Tax Refunds" - If people give you shit for collecting a "Sniper's Tax" to pad your own pockets, refund it. BUT! The refunds are spread evenly to those bidders who are first bidder on an item and their first bid is the winning bid. In other words: Tax the Snipers and reward the people who bid early and high. If you do this, it will be easiest to not have the tax and refund for the same set of auctions. If you have an auction on the 1st of the month which results in $2,000 of "Sniper's Tax", you then announce that the following auction on the 8th you will give out "refunds" in the form of $2000 in discounts to all auction winners who are first to bid on an item and their first bid is the winning bid. You will not eliminate sniping, but this will at least give the non-snipers a feeling that they are not constantly getting screwed and it makes the snipers pay a little extra for their methods. Oh, and one last thing: Contrary to several other comments, sniping results in lower prices, not higher. Think for a moment, aren't there at least several times when you were sniped and you wish you had put in a higher price? You were willing to pay more, but somehow you felt that by holding back you would keep the price down. People who place high bids early drive the auction price higher.
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As a long time poster collector AND eBay participant I applaud your decision to establish your own site. And I hope it is successful and you can expand to other areas such as antiques and other collectibles. Maybe eventually compete with
eBay on all levels.
Personally, I have drifted to collecting italian posters of relatively obscure films. Most of these can be found only on
eBay italia. The corruption, shill bidding, multiple sellers in "cahoots" with each other in Italy is astounding. I could give you recent examples that would make your head spin. Fortunately they were playing me and another collector off each other until we got in touch with each other and compared horror stories and said enough is enough ! If it weren't for honest reliable sellers like you
eBay would be out of business. Even buyers are fed up. The present feedback system is a disaster. And now they are raising fees? I could go on and on but you know all these things anyway !
Well, good luck in your transition and I look forward to consigning you some posters in the not-too-distant future. I know you can be trusted and are one of the most honest and reliable people in the poster business worldwide.
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Hi Bruce saw your lengthy post about leaving eBay. I for some unknown reason have been on an "invitation only" program with
eBay support for a couple years where I CAN call in during certain hours and talk to a living human. Most of the people I talk to in support are nice and also usually competent and usually help me with what I need but I certainly can understand the frustration of not being able to talk to someone. Also, I have had auctions shut down several times over the past years for "violating" their firearms rules. Without fail, when I call support to ask why an item was in violation, the bottom line is.......someone shuts it down and do not indicate what part of the rule it broke. Not even the support person can tell me why. I have spent lengthy periods explaining to them that the shut down item does not violate ANY part of their rule but once it's shut down you're screwed. I don't sell regularly on
eBay. What I have done to get aroud their idiotic fees is---I use a software they supply for free called Turbolister. I load 100s of items into it at my own pace--I try to keep 1000-1200 items ready at all times---and then I wait for the 5 to 8 times a year they have "bargain listing days" (10 cents, 20 cents etc) and drop a bomb of listings onto
eBay, saving approx. $1500 in listing fees with that many items. BUT I have to say that I am a seller who does not start items low and I do not use reserves. I own my material and raise and support 5 kids with this income and a stay at home mom. So selling one of a kind items, I just can't afford to take the risk that there won't be a "second bidder" to drive my stuff up. So my approach is much different than yours. For me in 1998-2000 ,
eBay as a seller was a gift from God but in those days it was hard to buy well off
eBay. But for the past 3 years, selling has become a nightmare. Prices are down, bidders are down, fees are up etc etc. For my world, Toy Shop magazine was the
eBay before there was an eBay. A complaint everyone had with them was that they didn't do enough to police their own advertisers---buyers were getting ripped off. And the same thing with
eBay now so I always wondered why someone didn't create a "society" that to belong to it and sell within it, you had to obey an "honor code".
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Hi, Sorry to hear that you are leaving eBay, I too have been with eBay for
ten years and I am also thinking about calling it a day. I realize that I
am not in the same league as you but I understand and agree with your
reasons. Good luck for your future business
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I love your post on PSU. You are truly an inspiration. I am interested in your future plans - expanding your site or creating a site that incorporates collectors / sellers/ buyers. All the best.
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I recently read your blog and would love to speak to you about setting up my own website. I currently sell antique and vintage jewelry on
eBay. My sales are almost dead and I am very frustrated with all the changes eBay
has implemented. I am a single mom with two kids and I need the additional income my online sales provide. I hope you can help me.
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I just read of your decision to leave eBay altogether. I wanted to let you know that I am extremely pleased with this move. I believe it's long overdue. I read your comments about why you are doing this and I wholeheartedly agree. I have been a
eBay member since 1999 and it indeed has gone downhill. The business model that
eBay set up has been great for them and bad for users. When the company has virtually no responsibilities to it's users, you're not likely to get satisfaction in any way, shape, or form. Again, let me say I'm overjoyed at your jettisoning
eBay and look forward to using your new auction site. p.s. I also applaud your helping other sellers to move off
eBay.
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I am sell on eBay right now and I read your recent post to a cnet article and I amn really impressed by how articulately and professionally you addressed so many issues without losing any credibility by making generalizations. It is the best defense of a seller's perspective on
eBay that I have ever read. I hope you forward it to their new CEO. I think the sellers should form a guild and work on fixing the problem through collective bargaining and maybe have a logo to add to their auctions. Or perhaps the sellers guild could take their business and customers elsewhere and bargain with another site to move their auctions if specific conditions are met.
eBay is a wretched business partner. They capriciously ended a category, never notified the artists and then dumped 18,000 art auctions into one incorrect category before the new categories were ever set up. I was one of few who even got my fees reimbursed. They have done other things like this on other
occasions. The fee reimbursement never compensates me for the loss in bidding activity because I was denied the auction I paid for. Instead of appearing in "items ending soonest", a dozen of my auctions were 89 pages from where they should have been on one of two days they would have actually been seen by art buyers. A two dollar refund, doesn't cover my $10-20$ loss in bid price because I was cheated out of an actual auction. I think it is fraudulent at the very least. How many stars would I have if I treated my customers like that? I thing the sellers should approach another site and negotiate a percentage of our sellers fees go toward owning stock so we will always have a say in policy. If I had more money I would buy a lot of stock, show up at a stockholders meeting and have my say. I admire your resourcefulness and I hope you are even more successful. I may try what you are doing. I am really more focused on my gallery work which I NEVER put on
eBay because they don't enforce copyright laws and I get ripped off. So my real work has been saved. I was just playing with
eBay but realized pretty early on that they were a bad business associate. I'd be interested in knowing what you think of my ideas.
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I think Bruce should run for president. Not crazy about current candidates and
he's got to be better than the prez we now have, right? he's shown he can manage
a high-pressure business... can you bring it up at your next staff meeting?