val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,782 
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Post by val2525 on Oct 31, 2018 18:51:24 GMT
www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2018/10/1540952489.html/1/0#commentsAs usual, there is a lot of hyperbole and not much substance in the quote, but my takeaway is buyers aren't reacting the way eBay expected and now eBay has to retreat and retrench. Still not sure about exactly "what", however. Maybe it will be clearer after I read the article another 5-6 times. Is he talking about the new payment system? The new search? What? All I know is my sales have fallen off a cliff. I'm not sure they'll be able to climb back up, either. eBay experienced stagnant growth in the third quarter, and its CEO Devin Wenig said he will shift tactics after finding that existing shoppers don't like some of the changes made to the marketplace. "We're very conscious that we don't want to screw up the existing ecosystem," he told analysts in a conference call on Tuesday.
"Given that we have a large, stable, and successful business, but must also build for the future, we're shifting our tactics to balance the needs of a habituated base of customers who are used to shopping on eBay a certain way, while pursuing an even larger base of potential customers, who have different expectations.
"We'll continue to focus on delivering significant product experience changes for new customers, while evolving the experience for our existing base of users at a more measured pace."
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Post by Desire on Oct 31, 2018 19:36:05 GMT
WTH is he talking about? What specific changes do the older existing ebay buyers not like? The only thing I can think of is the no paypal thing that just rolled out to some sellers. The buyers rule ebay.
As usual, just a bunch of BS from this lame CEO.
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Post by SA on Oct 31, 2018 21:17:55 GMT
My guess is grouped listings from the catalog is what buyers hate.
I know I do.
I doubt it's the new managed payments. It's still in beta. Will have PayPal when it rolls out. So far it's been doing great in beta from what I'm hearing.
But, only time will tell.
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Post by RetroMonde on Oct 31, 2018 23:04:13 GMT
That's what I was thinking too Liz. Shoppers browsing eBay may be here for many reasons, for instance disliking the Amazon shopping experience, and may not be happy to discover that it's followed them to eBay.
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val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,782
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Post by val2525 on Oct 31, 2018 23:16:02 GMT
That makes sense. I haven't seen that view yet, but it's one reason I HATE shopping on Amazon. So I can totally see an eBay buyer not liking that view.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Oct 31, 2018 23:40:51 GMT
Has he lost the ability to speak in plain English?
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Post by zoesam on Nov 1, 2018 0:50:15 GMT
CEO speak to appease the Analysts. It it purposefully vague so the analysts can have their own takeaway. It means nothing. Except I'll say whatever is necessary to appease the analysts  Very typical. I wish it would mean they are backing out Cassini, but I'm sure that's not going to happen. Who knows what will happen, if anything. What I do know for sure is just like the latest MM sale debacle, they won't announce it. We'll find out when it's implemented. Or unimplemented. |
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Post by mupcycledcouture on Nov 1, 2018 1:41:15 GMT
I stopped shopping here after Cassini started changing my search terms to what it THINKS I want. I havent even looked once this grouping BS started.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 1, 2018 4:46:54 GMT
The grouping is nuts, and I'm saying this as someone who is affected by it (electronics, parts, media). I understand the reason behind it - eBay is jammed with replicate stuff - but calling buyers who prefer eBay to be, you know, EBAY "habituated" is insulting. Guess what, there aren't really a whole lot of 'new' buyers - that's the problem they've been fighting all along - relevancy to a new generation of buyers. Wenig is such a tone deaf twerp - reading anything he says is like hearing white noise.
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Post by kat on Nov 1, 2018 7:38:23 GMT
I don’t have the grouping experience but there is something I can click to opt in. I haven’t opted in because I don’t know if it’s permanent or per search. I’ll check my newer ID tomorrow and see if it’s default there.
I wish the search wasn’t such a guessing game.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 1, 2018 16:44:02 GMT
Well, I'll just stay tuned - it's good to hear that there is some flexibility. I know that the poor numbers and lack of real growth is driving a re-think, as it should.
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Post by kat on Nov 1, 2018 17:33:50 GMT
Well, I'll just stay tuned - it's good to hear that there is some flexibility. I know that the poor numbers and lack of real growth is driving a re-think, as it should. I was under the impression that the third quarter results were positive and showed growth? I understand those reports like Charlie Brown’s teacher is talking, but the summary shows everything is up. |
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 1, 2018 17:55:42 GMT
Well, I'll just stay tuned - it's good to hear that there is some flexibility. I know that the poor numbers and lack of real growth is driving a re-think, as it should. I was under the impression that the third quarter results were positive and showed growth? I understand those reports like Charlie Brown’s teacher is talking, but the summary shows everything is up. It's incremental - a small 2% increase on a stock that's down 27% this year. That's "positive" I guess, but when I ran Wenig's statement through the corporate argle-bargle translator, it came out to "we need to do better". The site still fights headwinds and I think it's proactive on their part to make some changes. I'm actually optimistic about this statement (once I translated it lol). |
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 1, 2018 18:02:42 GMT
I'm actually thinking that 2019 will be better.
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Post by kat on Nov 1, 2018 18:28:28 GMT
I hope so. I want eBay to do well. I know it’s not perfect and many changes are hard for me to adjust to, but know they are necessary to please the buyers, sellers, employees, investors, partners, etc.
Most on and off eBay forums are so negative and almost this attitude of wanting eBay to fail, looking for fault in everything, yet they continue to use it.
I love eBay and it’s the best job I’ve ever had.
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Post by zoesam on Nov 1, 2018 18:39:35 GMT
Well, I'll just stay tuned - it's good to hear that there is some flexibility. I know that the poor numbers and lack of real growth is driving a re-think, as it should. I was under the impression that the third quarter results were positive and showed growth? I understand those reports like Charlie Brown’s teacher is talking, but the summary shows everything is up. IDK off the top of my head, but having worked for a huge company that was private & went public, I know that it is ALL about the analysts EXPECTATIONS, not the actual numbers. A 10% growth is bad if the analysts were looking for 12. Stocks are downgraded, etc all based on those expectations & & how well you play the conf calls with the analysts. |
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kritter
Mod Squad
When we lose sight of how we treat animals, we tend to lose sight of our humanity
Posts: 19,901
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Post by kritter on Nov 1, 2018 18:52:12 GMT
It also depends on the Guidance Going Forward that the company provided in their quarterly report.
I haven't looked at their 3rd quarter report so don't know what their guidance for the 4th quarter showed. Apparently it wasn't good enough for the stock to gain any real ground.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 1, 2018 19:50:21 GMT
I hope so. I want eBay to do well. I know it’s not perfect and many changes are hard for me to adjust to, but know they are necessary to please the buyers, sellers, employees, investors, partners, etc. Most on and off eBay forums are so negative and almost this attitude of wanting eBay to fail, looking for fault in everything, yet they continue to use it. I love eBay and it’s the best job I’ve ever had. I feel the same way - I don't love eBay but I'm appreciative of it. My frustration comes from wanting the site to be the best it can be, and the feeling that their focus is often fuzzy and too much of an Amazon wanna-be. They can learn from Amazon without trying to BE Amazon, KWIM. I come from a perspective of constant improvement, not "everything is just GREAT because it has to be." It's one reason I was good at operations and quality assurance in the corp world. Most forums people come for help or to complain - eBay is by far not the only one. People don't post with 'it's all good' posts out of nowhere - it's just not human nature to do so. I do a lot of skipping when I read posts. |
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Post by labbypaws on Nov 1, 2018 21:42:13 GMT
I have hated the search for years. Stopped bothering to look at listings anymore. I used to have 20 things I would run through almost everyday. Between tanking sales and not getting anything I wanted in the searches, I stopped looking.
I get e-mails on saved searches but rarely look anymore.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Nov 1, 2018 22:33:13 GMT
eBay search is better than Etsy's, I'll say that. At least on more obscure searches eBay gives you the choice of whether you want a certain term or not (or pulls up an alternative only if there is no matching item).
Etsy just plain out changes your search term and will not allow you to change it back. It's a lot of run-around to try to get a search to work and people apparently just give up and shop elsewhere. Also the SERPs kind of suck - there's a lot of clumping of results. One problem is that there is so much mass-manufactured stuff on the site, Chinese drop-shipping and also just gribble like a zillion word T-shirts (I'm surprised Honeville hasn't come on there) that it's even hard to find something actually, you know, hand-made or vintage.
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Very typical. 
