I heard today that Ebay is suing craigslist. I for one benefitted immensely from craigslist. When we moved from the Midwest to SF, I sold all my woodworking machines, cars and other household items on craigslist. I bought most of my woodworking tools and two used cars in SF Bay area craigslist.
What do you think, Ebay a greedy sob?
Well they're not suing for anything entirely obvious. The statment claims:
"Craigslist executives took actions that 'unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest by more than 10%'"
What does that crap mean, exactly? I don't know. Nonetheless, if eBay is behind it, you can be almost certain that it's not a friendly action.
According to:
The inside scoop is that craigslist is getting too competitive with a similar offering by e-bay (Kijiji.com). e-bay's offering charges for their services where craigslist doesn't. E-bay is a greedy POS. You can't make any money selling on there anymore. Once you pay listing fees, a percentage of the sale price and then paypal fees you end up with about 25%. Not worth it for sellers. Plus their customer service sucks.
Amen. I don't sell there, but I've bought there quite a bit, and it's now really not worth the hassle, having been burned a couple times. I've looked at hand planes there for ages, and just last week I stopped my email updates. Used Lie-Nielsen and Veritas planes go for
90% or more of what I can get them brand new. I'd rather establish a relationship with the manufacturer, who's frequently willing to provide a set screw or other part at no charge if needed. It's a no brainer.For other tools, there are better prices elsewhere - toolsplus, amazon, etc... Google is your friend. JP
Plus their customer
What customer service?
"Customer Service" is a script that replies with canned statements based on keywords. What a joke.
Then there are the new "Detailed Seller Ratings"...
As a seller, we can't see who rates us at what level, so we have no idea who didn't like our description, shipping time, etc... One rating less than 5 really beats up small volume folks like me.
When I first started earning DSR stars, I could tell who rated me what, as each rating came in one at a time.
I got a "4/5" for shipping cost, when I actually paid more than I charged the buyer for shipping. The proof was right on the box, as I used Priority Mail. The same moron gave me a "4/5" on shipping time, when I shipped the package the SAME DAY his money order arrived. Proof was also on the postal label Why is he a moron? His feedback to me said "Great deal, cheap and super fast shipping!" Go figure...
I expect, and usually get, 5/5 DSR stars on all categories, as I break my ass to provide excellent service, underpromise and overdeliver, anddescribe my items very conservatively. Someone who dosen't understand the process, and may have personal belief that "nothing is perfect in life" costs a little guy like me 1/2 a star. The effect? DSR's change your listing placing during searches!
How can we improve if we don't know which transaction didn't earn the
5/5 by making the customer happy?I've been using Craigslist more and more...
Besiding breaking your ass trying to please your customer, now you have PRC (Chinese) competing with you, like starting bid at $0.01.
"B A R R Y" wrote
Take this heart:
| > I've been using Craigslist more and more... | | Take this heart: | |
I always start my bids at a penny, as I'm selling used items.
Inspiring!
I like the shot of the Dali painting.
B A R R Y wrote on 24 Apr 2008 in group rec.woodworking:
You obviously ran into someone who understands rating systems, but not Ebay's flawed system.
Here's the way it's supposed to work: If you provide me with my expected level of service, I should rate you 3 out of 5. 4 would be if you gave me better-than-expected service, and you'd get a 5 if you drove over to my house for delivery. Notice--the only way to get a 5 is to be MUCH, MUCH better than anyone else. I would have rated you at 4 if I didn't know how Ebay's system works.
Ebay actually has only two scores. 5 is pass, and 1-4 are fail. Everyone eventually figures out pretty quickly not to deal with anyone below excellent, even though excellent really means average.
Absolutely correct!
Similar corporate "survey" rating systems work the same. Not knowing WHICH transaction received which score makes it even more useless.
Hi their, Picked this out of the business section of the LA Times:
EBAY sues Craigslist over stake
EBay Inc. sued competitor Craigslist in a dispute over whether the Internet bulletin board tried to blunt EBay's ownership stake.
San Jose-based EBay alleged in the lawsuit that Craigslist, the Web's dominant classifieds listing service, took "unilateral actions" to dilute EBay's 28.4% stake by more than 10%.
The suit asked a Delaware Chancery Court to rescind the unspecified actions to protect EBay's stockholders and preserve its stake in Craigslist.
EBay bought a minority stake in 2004 and launched its own competing online classifieds site, call Kijiji, three years later in the U.S.
Have fun and mahalo, jo4hn
[Kijiji?]
One of the problems is knowing how to "rate the rater". We run into the same problem with any kinds of surveys or assessments we do. To some people, everybody who works for them walks on water. For other people, the same personnel who are clearly outstanding rank only an average rating because they meet the rater's expectations and don't "wow" them.
"Mark & Juanita" wrote
In the US Army of the 60's and 70's, "Officer Efficiency Reports" (OER's), come immediately to mind.
Out of a possible "100" whole number rating, it soon came to pass that anything less than a "99" was a gold plated, toad sucking, slacker not worthy of promotion.
Not to mention that it also came to pass that there were simply not enough superlatives/adjectives in the English language to populate the intended OER of a truly excellent officer in order make it stand out from its brethren ... they'd all been used/abused to the point of triteness.
Based on the number of politician like Generals with the dead giveaway "Senatorial haircut", it's doubtful that things have changed.
Do I hear that. We hired a retired AF guy a couple of years ago; great guy, excellent productivity. But when I read his annual performance review inputs, I cringe at the number of superlatives heaped upon his accomplishments. I know it is from his AF past, I've seen the same thing in resume's from AF people we look to hire. One guy whose resume I read, I would have chucked immediately with a "just another arrogant fighter jock" summary, but after interviewing him found out he was a down-to-earth really humble person. That whole OER thing really must get deeply ingrained.
Same with enlisted ratings. There were two ways to get promoted; get a "This airman ressurects the dead." or be known widely by name. It didn't matter Why you were widely known, just that the name was familiar. My name was widely know as a "Hell Raiser" and that seemed to be enough.
Boy did you hit THAT nail right on the head! A few years back it was bad too. I bought from this goofy broad who went nutso and posted negative feedback on nearly every buyer she had sold to then dropped off of the planet.
GOOD buyers... like ME!
I emailed Ebay over and over trying to get them to resolve it and never did get any satisfaction.
Thanks to all of that, I still do not have my 100% positive feedback rating back, I have that one ding.
Now, sellers hold feedback hostage. If you don't post positive for them then they won't post.
I even got a notice from Ebay awhile back saying that buyers would not be able to post negative feedback on sellers... they were making some changes. I emailed them, and of course never heard a thing back.
So, I've not been Ebaying much myself lately, unless it's for Jeep stuff... heh... gotta have my fix ya know.
Plus their customer
What customer service?
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