"The more changes I read about the less I want to use eBay" Topic

For all who are upset:

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Not at all. There seems to be so much angst on TMP lately, with people crying out in anger, sorrow, or despair:

"I'll never use eBay again."

"That's it; I'm done with eBay."

"I'll never buy Foundry again!"

Hey, how'd that slip in there?

In a non-electronic world, I always carry a hanky, always prepared to wordlessly offer that small comfort to anyone in distress.

Since this isn't the physical world, and besides, I'm not sure I'd want my hanky back from any of you lot, the virtual tissues are the next best thing.

Along with my condolences on your perceived loss.

Allen

What is your problem? Did I offend you in some way? I just stated my opinion. And you resort to name calling by roundaboutly calling me a crybaby.

Fine you win Allen. I have deleted the offending posts so that you do not have to read it again. In the future I would suggest that you stifle me so that my posts no longer offend you.

Allen forgot to add "I'm leaving TMP!" to the list as well.

But, aside from his crankiness brought on, no doubt, by an unfortunate incident involving the Bluebird of Happiness, prune-based birdfeed and breakfast al fresco, I've personally been more adverse to selling on e-bay.

Aside from my hobby stuff, I've used e-bay to clear out knick-knacks and other things for fun and profit. Their changes over the past year have made that untenable. Which, if one is to believe the reports of one of the senior managers decrying the front page "looking like a flea-market" then everything is going as planned.

However, for the past year, the stock's value has been steadily decreasing from a high of $32.94 USD in April to $24.54 USD as of 11am this morning – which is only 34¢ above its all time low in August of 06. link

What they are doing is clearly gearing towards favoring the larger sellers at the expense of the smaller ones. "Diamond Power Sellers" are getting nearly free listings while the average "hobby seller" has seen costs generally trend upwards (books and movies notwithstanding). link

The idea is to bring in additional buyers but e-bay is experiencing only a modest growth since the changes began. And, these latest changes aren't going to do much to improve that and are likely to actually drive people away. In talking to a few people about this in another forum, they are abandoning e-bay completely because they refuse to have anything to do with PayPal. A couple of them are pretty active buyers, and while this is only a small subset of e-bay users, I can't see how the move towards more fixed-price retail sales with limited payment options is going to bring people in when they can probably do better through Amazon.

Since E-bay has really been the largest source of buying or selling hobby items – especially the older stuff – anything that diminishes that option is definitely a blow to gamers in general. WargamesMarket (or whatever its called) really hasn't gotten enough traction to make it viable – which is most unfortunate as this is the time for it.

Wyatt

Crankiness? Not at all. Just very concerned about so many of my TMP brethren feeling such angst and hurt.

I wouldn't dream of stifling you, aka Mikefoster. Your posts are normally always gems of sweetness and light.

Allen

I still use eBay, as a last resort.
I put some stuff up on the TMP Marketplace. Half the time these sell, half no.
I thne took them to the Historicon mflea market. Most sold.
I then eBayed the raminder, and got a decnt price.

Agreed that eBay as currently and futurally constituted is a pain in the butt, but it is useful.

How else am I going to build up a PayPal balance to spend on miniatures?

I tried Wargmers Market, by the way, and nothing sold. It also looked like it was taken over by the same type of professional sellers.
And, don't even talk to me about Bartertown.

Oh lighten up Allen. You is one one of the aingstyist TMPers around. Have you read any of your last 3000 or so posts? Is you old man, or is you old woman? I forget (I know, Denzel said it better, but I'm twice as pretty!).

Anyway, back to the point. Ebay sucks so much that I've quit spending money. And Foundry is even worse.

Hey, who "i"d my angst?

I like "ainst". It's like how somebody from easteern Kentucky would say "aingst", if they happened to encounter the word.

Lighten up? Who's not being light? I'm just trying to commiserate with the suffering, woeful TMPe4rs whose lives have been irreparably shattered by these new developments. Just a little ol' human compassion, is all.

Allen

Have you ever noticed that "TMPer" is kind of a funny sounding word, whether you spell it with a 4 or not.

"4" is a positive message: "for". I think I need to throw it in there once in a while, to help dispel all th4is negativity.

Allen

I4 kin4d of4 l4ike i4t.

It's Thursday. There are a lot of TMP denizens who can never get the hang of Thursday.

My bad.

Thursday? Why didn't you say so? I am, too! Let's have a drink!

All4n