Contest Winner Reds in 2009

Posted this on the chat boards and did not get the attention I hoped, so I'll turn it into a contest here.

Basically I'm hoping to gather some info related to eBay for a group project for grad school (case study on eBay) and was hoping you could help out. We'll start the prize with this, and then add based on the number of responses. Anyone who posted in the thread on the chat boards is already included. (Questions below.)



When did you join eBay:
What is your feedback score:
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling?

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception?

Any other thoughts on eBay would also be appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

edit: Figured it's obvious and not an issue but I'd post this to make sure. The assumption is that posting a response indicates you do not mind me using the information for my paper.

Re: Contest

So should we post are responses to you questions in this post or PM them to you.

When did you join eBay:Jul-15-01
What is your feedback score: 100%
What percentage of your dealings are buying,80 % what percentage selling? 20%

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? Yes I was on one for about a year. Seemed most of the people went an ******* more then trying to be ones to fix things they hated.

Any other thoughts on eBay would also be appreciated.

Ebay has found away to really nickel and dime the seller and has sided more for the buyer over the last 3-5 years. So I try not to sell things on there. I just sell them on here or sell them to my local store and a great reduction of a price, so i don't have to fgo though the hassle of selling on Fee-Bay

Re: Contest

Pine Tar said:

So should we post are responses to you questions in this post or PM them to you.

Click to expand...

Posting it here would be easiest.

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: 04/09/05
What is your feedback score: 962
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling?: Lately more buying, but based on feedback since 04/09/05, appears to be approx. 60 % selling/ 40 % buying

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? No

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: June 10, 1998. Over 12 years ago.
What is your feedback score: 4911. 100% Closing in on 5k.
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling?
1450 feedback as a buyer, 4749 as a seller... so approximately 25% buying, 75% selling.

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? No.

Any other thoughts on eBay would also be appreciated. While it has it's obvious drawbacks, it is the only place on the internet - and the world - where an average person can sell his goods for a decent price without having to leave his office chair. It has revitalized this baseball card collecting hobby ,opening the doors of the hobby to obtain cards that wouldn't be available without eBay.

Re: Contest

I have 2 different accts that I use. I will only list info on the main acct.

When did you join eBay: 1/21/99
What is your feedback score: 4118
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? 4% buying, 96% selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? No.

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: July 12, 1998
What is your feedback score: 1455 pts, 100% positive
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? Approximately 91% buying, 9% selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? No

Any other thoughts on eBay: My very first purchase was a 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn RC. I had wanted one for quite a while and couldn't find a nice one at the local shops/card shows. I joined eBay and immediately had my choice of several. That continues to be the beauty of eBay to me (despite the fees).

Good luck on your work, and thanks for the contest.

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: October 12, 2003
What is your feedback score: 3014 - 100%
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? (Feedback - 2343 buying, 1658 selling - 58.6% - 41.4%)
Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? Never
Any other thoughts on eBay would also be appreciated. I would love to find an alternative to ebay, because I hate dealing with all the fees. Recently I have turned to Craiglist for selling, but I still use ebay. Even though I am a "Top Seller", I don't feel that the 20% discount on FVF is enough to keep me around, based on how the fees keep going up. I will always continue to buy on ebay, until they start charging you for bidding.

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: Sept. 16, 2000
What is your feedback score: 2721 (100%)
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? 80% buying, 20% selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? Used to post on the Auction Listings board, Booksellers board and Bookreaders board a lot.

Any other thoughts on eBay: Like others, I feel that ebay has changed a lot, and not necessarily for the better. The bias towards buyers has really turned me off as a seller. The fees have gone up and it didn't surprise me at all. I will say that unless I can both list an item for free and also feel confident that it will garner at least $5 for me, I will not list anything.

Thanks for the contest!

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: July 16, 1998
What is your feedback score: 3028 (100%)
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? Rough estimate: 80% buying / 20% selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? No

Any other thoughts on eBay would also be appreciated.
With all the flaws in the site, it is still the only site where people can sell 99% of their stuff that would never be seen by others.
Flaws being the mostly one-sided feedback system recently implemented, mostly one-sided chargeback/resolution system, often-raised seller fees.
Basically a trade-off of the world-wide audience of buyers vs. the fees and risks involved.

My opinion: Still much better than having tons of stuff sitting in your garage for years collecting dust. You never know where someone might live that is willing to pay for your "junk."

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: December 27, 2004
What is your feedback score: 552, 100%
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? Buying 86% and Selling 14%

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? No

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: Aug 18 2006
What is your feedback score: 391 (100%)
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? 91% Buying, 9% Selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? I used to post on the sports card message board from time to time, until I realized a large portion of the members on the board just *******, moaned and complained.

Extra tidbit: I sell very little, mainly because I rarely bust wax and generally only buy stuff I want to keep, but I feel the increase in sellers fees and the fact that seller's are defenseless when it comes to feedback, could eventually lead to less and less lower-mid end cards and collectibles be listed and only higher end/big money items being listed.

Re: Contest

Join : September 8, 2006
Feedback: 199 , 100%
Buying/Selling: 60% Buying + 40% Selling

"Community" - Have never been active within an official Ebay community. I have occasionally went there to find info, a few times I had luck, but for the most part it seemed convoluted and it was difficult to find the info I needed.
Honestly - most of my Ebay "knowledge" comes from first-hand experience and more than anything else this site and it's members (and before that the old Beckett site).

Other: Not sure what kinds of topics you're looking for here.....so a simple response to how I currently feel about ebay (without going into a large rant lol)....Within the current system and with the changes made the past couple years - I feel more comfortable buying items on Ebay and I am less comfortable selling items on ebay.

A couple more comments (again without going into long rants) - Since Buyers can no long receive negative feedback, feedback for buyers is worthless. It provides no indication if a buyer is someone that will pay or that it is someone you can trust.
The DSR system is also a huge failure in my eyes. I do not understand a 5 star system that virtually requires you to get 5 stars to reach ebay's mandated requirements. 5 stars should equal exceptional......yet in this set-up, it seems like you are supposed to give 5 stars for any positive transaction. I'm not sure all buyers realize this and when they honestly fill it out (where a 4 is very good) it potentially effects a sellers rating and standing.

Good Luck with the paper.

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: June 02, 2009
What is your feedback score: 159, 100%
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? Buying 30% and Selling 70%

Re: Contest

what grad school?

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: 6/23/07
What is your feedback score: 365
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? 63% Buying, 37% Selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? No

Any other thoughts on eBay would also be appreciated. -->Seller fees are high and their policies don't always make logical sense, but it's by far and away the best place to buy and sell on the internet.
Biggest flaws in my view are(in no order): 1. Constantly Increasing fees. Sure, they have to make money, but at some point there must be a maximum. 2. Feedback system. Sellers can't leave feedback for buyers unless it's positive? Doesn't make much sense, even if it does stop the retaliatory feedback issue. There must be another way to deal with this issue. DSRs? EBay finally mandated a 5 star DSR for sellers who ship free...which is good because I had heard of some people whose shipping price for every auction was free, yet their shipping price DSR was not 100% 5star. How in the world does that make sense? If eBay is going to put the power into the hands of their buyers, they need to account for the number of stupid and/or irrational people in the world. 3. Stop changing the interface please. It hasn't for awhile, but there was a stretch where it changed three or four times within 18 months or so. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Good luck with the paper.

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: June 8th, 1999
What is your feedback score: 2297, 100% Positive
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? 64% Buying, 36% Selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception?

I was never involved in an ebay community, but I have been involved in a few forums that wouldn't exist without ebay, and which discuss a lot of ebay-related issues such as proper listing techniques, sniping, etc. Those boards have mainly been FCB, the old beckett boards, and the PSA forums.

Any other thoughts on eBay would also be appreciated.

It has been a great experiment in supply and demand. It's great that I can list an item and have it exposed to 99% of the people in the world who are interested in buying that item. If I list something, and only 100 people out of 6 billion in the world want to buy that item, 99 of them will be searching for it on ebay.

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: 2000
What is your feedback score: 196 (100%)
What percentage of your dealings are buying 80%, what percentage selling 20%?

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception? I have never used any of these.

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay: 2001
What is your feedback score: 449 and counting
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling? 99% buying 1% selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception?
never did any chat boards with ebay

Other thoughts: I think that eBay has really added to the hobby of collecting cards. It makes it easier to get the cards that you would have never found before unless they were at a show near you. For people who dont get shows in their area often or collect something/someone no one sells at shows, eBay is an amazing creation.

Good luck with your work and thanks for the contest!

Re: Contest

When did you join eBay:September 2000
What is your feedback score:1337 100%
What percentage of your dealings are buying, what percentage selling?35%Buying and 65%Selling

Were you ever involved in an "eBay community" including their own chat boards and others that developed, especially shortly after eBay's inception?No

Any other thoughts on eBay would also be appreciated.eBay gets by far the most traffic of any online auction site, however, since their most recent rate increase, it is becoming much more expensive to sell on the site. Buying on eBay is unparalleled. You get a guarantee on your item or your money back for every item and you literally have an infinite inventory of items to choose from.

Thanks a lot!