Lost in the shuffle the hobby auction seller

EBay announced the new changes to their platform today and as all eBay sellers know they become effective either day, October 22, 2009 or in April 2010.
You can find the overview here:Announcements

I read them and then reviewed them several times today. I have followed the hashtag on twitter #ebayTrS, yes I am a big fan of twitter. I have listened to the podcasts where it has been discussed. Both on Ebay and Beyond Basics to Business with Special Guests Usher Lieberman and Andrew Chase of eBay, and The Selling Circus. Both podcasts had very active discussions on the changes what they mean and how they affect the sellers.

My take on the affect to the business of the Hobby or casual seller is this, there is the good news bad news to it all. The good news is come April 2010 even the casual or hobby seller has a chance to achieve Power Seller status with the discounts that title provides. All you have to do is sell 100 items or $3000.00 in 12 months on eBay and have the appropriate average in your DSR's. Which in April will be bumped up to 4.6 in all ratings but no longer include International DSR's in the average. So you follow good practices and sell and average of 8-10 items a month and $250.00 - $300.00 you can get a 5% discount on your eBay invoice.
If you qualify for Power Seller then you also have the opportunity to qualify for the 20% by having no more than two 1's or 2's in any category of your DSR's and get the Top Rated Seller Icon.
The bad side of that is being a smaller seller with 8-10 transactions a month or 100 a year buyers it will only take a few who report via the DSR's an unsatisfactory experience to have a greater impact on your selling experience on eBay. We all know that no matter how hard you try you can not please everyone all the time.

The other thing that may negatively affect you if you are a hobby or casual seller and you list on more that one platform is the stronger enforcement of Selling Practice policy. If you list one of a kind items you can only list them on eBay to ensure if the buyer purchases it that it will be available. I know that just makes sense but if you don't have a lot of inventory sometimes you list something at more than site and then end it when it sells elsewhere. It is not necessarily eBay that will find your multiple listings and report it so you must take care in cross listing items. Google is also cracking down on duplicate listings from the same sellers across multiple platforms.

The last of the big changes to me that affect the hobby seller is the cost of doing business. Insurance will no longer be an option. You either roll it into your shipping and handling,item price, don't offer it or pay for it yourself. You may no longer have it listed as a separate fee for the buyer. Now in truth insurance covers the seller more than the buyer. The buyer already has Paypal protection on their item. USPS insurance can be rather expensive. I personally use a Third Party Insurance provider. Shipsurance.com They provide insurance at a much better rate than USPS and I think UPS includes insurance to cover up to $100.00 in value in the shipping cost.

So all in all it is not the announcements that all eBay sellers were dreading and there appears to be both good and bad in today's announcements for the casual and hobby seller. I am sure there is a lot more I did not cover as the announcement when printed was 13 pages long but these are the big things I thought effected the littlest sellers on eBay.

One final note these changes should make you really think about selling as a hobby on eBay because even a casual seller is going to have to think of it more like a business then just selling their stuff for extra money. These standards take it one step further away from being an online garage sale or flea market.

Lots of online auction sellers are waiting for the next site to grow up and attempt to slay the giant. Will it happen? I don't know but I really don't think so. The internet has changed a lot since eBay first started. The internet used to be a luxury. Now to a lot of people it is a necessity. I know I do most of my communication, bill paying, comparison shopping and even sending holiday cards online. Rarely do I use a check or a letter. So when eBay first started it was with the early adopters and the folks who just has some stuff they wanted to get rid of and make a little money.

Fast forward to today. Most people are much more internet savvy. Whether you are 3 or 93 you more than likely have used a computer for something. Now people are creating businesses online, with basic skills, computer skills and the variety of platforms available. If you have the desire you can create a business. Yet not all those businesses will be successful. You need to develop some basic business skills like marketing, accounting, product line development, and customer service.

People that do become successful are the reason I do not think there will ever be another eBay or a site that will take the giant down. They are entrepreneurs who want to work for themselves. The have the drive and ambition to move a business forward. An alpha personality if you will. They all have different needs to drive their individual business so there will never be a one size fits all site for them to build to the size of eBay.

When sellers first started on eBay it was the online flea market. It is now home to thousands of businesses of all sizes. I personally don't think when eBay was first created even they knew that they were giving rise to the largest organization of solopreneurs on the internet and as each experienced seller leaves the platform to expand their business a new seller steps in to take their place. For a lot of people eBay is a starting point to go on and create their own piece of the pie, their own little real estate, their personal website. Which is also why as they move to the other platforms like Bonanzle, Ecrater, Ebid and many others the have a much stronger sense of what their business needs as opposed to working together to create a stronger platform.

Right or wrong the goals of the individual seller are much different now than in the late 90's when eBay started and IMHO the needs of sellers will prevent any one platform from reaching the success of eBay at its pinnacle.

Please feel free to add you opinions in the comment section below. This is only one person's opinion and I would love to know what others think.

If you are a hobby seller in the auction world like I am, I bet some of you are feeling lost in the shuffle.
eBay was where all the really little guys used to flock to because it was advertised as a place to clean out your attic, closets and garages and make a little money. Well last year that all change and eBay is not as friendly to the little guy anymore. DSRs, and feedback the tools that were supposed to tell you who were the good sellers and buyers and who needed improvement or were just plain scammers have now made it impossible for little hobby sellers to actually make any money. Then the fees are high so if you only sell a little you lost most in fees.

So you do your research and read everything, everywhere you can find it and what I discovered is everyone is an expert.

Build your own website some of the decree is the only way you will ever make any money Well if you are a hobby seller there is a reason you are either you don't have the time, money, experience or expertise to be a professional seller so a website of your own is not a feasible idea.

The next group of experts say stay on eBay as they have the buyers there for you. Well that is all well and good if you trust that their policies won't keep changing from day to day. They also say if the fees are too high your profit margin is too low. Well if you are a hobby seller you don't have much of a profit margin as you don't have a true stock just what you have on hand that you want to get rid of and make a little money on. Plus just one bad buyer can drop your feedback and dsrs low because you don't sell more than a few things a week or even in a month.

The third place you are advised to go is the Alternative auction websites or "st. elsewheres." They are attractive because the are usually free or relatively inexpensive to use. However they also don't have a lot of traffic which means not a lot of buyers for your stuff. Then you have to actually promote yourself and again if you are a hobby seller it is the same issue as with your own website. You either don't have the time, money or expertise to know what to do and where to go.

So the only safe conclusion I can draw from reading all over the internet is:
1. Be careful where you read as everyone has there own opinions and not every opinion has actual knowledge of the subject to back it up.

2. Forums can be great places for information but also full of spammers desperate to get people to their sites and less knowledgeable people can land on unsafe sites. No security, absentee owner or just plain idiot owners who have no idea what they are doing.

3. There is no one size fits all solution to the problem nor can you any longer put all your eggs in one basket.

4. Then again you have to make sure you don't spread yourself too thin trying to jump on to the bandwagon of the next site that will be competitive with eBay.
There is not an alternative site out there that is truly the next eBay and even eBay is no longer the eBay remembered fondly.

5. Read, read, read, there is a ton of information out there. Just take all you read and see what works for you. The "experts" all have different opinions and they are not you living your life, trying to do all you do. Some will tell you that you don't need to do your research because they have the answers. Well for anyone to be successful you have to do your own research.

6. Learn a little about self promotion. Start a lens, a blog. Just take a little time one a week to write about you and what you do or what you sell or even just where you sell. The more you do it the more comfortable you will become.

7. Since you don't have to make a living at it, find one or 2 sites and stick with them. Do it in any combination, Alt sites, Ebay whatever works for you. As my mother always said life wasn't built in a day. It takes time to get name recognition and your seller name is your "brand" name.

8. If you sign up for new sites try and keep the same user name across all the sites it helps buyers who like you find to you and continue doing business with you.

I am still just a hobby seller trying to negotiate my way around this auction world. You will discover some great and helpful folks out there but also beware of the bitter angry folks who attack with the slightest provocation. I have found support from a lot of different experienced sellers who take the time to help me learn the ropes of this strange new online auction world where the little guys tend to get lost in the shuffle.

I picked a site and choose to stick with it because it has a mission that I care about and that works for me, you will have to do a little research and find your niche. My personal feeling is some of the smaller auction sites will last because even the smallest of us needs a place to call home.