Ebay complainers

kmfarm · 04-30-2006, 08:35 AM

I was recently trolling some Ebay forums. It's still amazing to me that people can get really wound up complaining about Ebay. Seems like some folks out there think that Ebay is some sort of public program to put them into private business.

Ebay is a great outlet for selling product and getting exposure. Are the fees a little high? Sure. Is it 100% safe from fraud? No. Can you sell stuff that you normally wouldn't have? You bet. Is Ebay making alot of money. Yep. But so are alot of other businesses. If you don't want to contribute, don't use it.

Too many people think that they should be able to set up an Ebay store, list a bunch of stuff, watch the money roll in.

There are alot of success stories out there in regard to people using Ebay and having some financial success. But that's the exception, not the rule. To me, it's one piece of the (big) puzzle for building a business.

I'm venting a little, but I get really corked when I read many posts from people expecting Ebay to suit their personal needs. Then if Ebay doesn't respond to them in the forums they're venting on, they complain that Ebay doesn't care about them. Like Ebay staff sits around monitoring forums so they can wipe the tears of whiners. Ya right.

I want to sit these people in a group, smack them around a little to wake them up, then ask this: Did you sell stuff on Ebay that you wouldn't have otherwise? Did anyone force you to use Ebay? You think Ebay owes you a business? You think something better is out there? If so, use it. If not, use Ebay for what it is and quit your crying.

Sorry for the rant, I just get tired of the "Evil Empire" mentality from so many people.

Mark

**keith** · 04-30-2006, 05:48 PM

eBay has a lot to recommend it.

Like Amazon, I like the 'transparency'. Voters who give feedback on the experience of working with a particular buyer or seller. Like everything (online and off) these are subject to fraud. However, they're a great start to getting feedback from others that you can trust (to a point). I look forward to the day when theBubbler.com offers the same kind of transparency. I see it already with Members helping other Members.

We've experienced that here at theBubbler.com sometimes. Someone puts up a classified ad. Two hundred people view it. Then they call me to ask why it hasn't sold. I wonder how many people pay $50 or more to run an ad in the paper, then call to complain that there item hasn't sold. I do like the classifieds that guarantee you can run your item till it sells. Thing is, you can do the same thing here and it didn't cost anything.

I don't know that your post above or mine are rants so much as just talking out loud to others who might be inclined to listen, maybe even join the conversation.

Thanks for posting.

Regards,
Keith

Crys · 05-01-2006, 10:59 AM

Frankly, that's the main reason I stay away from most forums. It seems somehow endemic to forum posters in general. I read and post here and on the groups (and not all of those) and friend's list I have on my Livejournal and that's just about it. The forums here don't seem to suffer from the, as a friend of mine put it, "entitlement syndrome" that other forums do, but maybe that's because all of our site is free (I also get paid to monitor the forums, but I probably wouldn't post if it was a problem here, so that's almost beside the point :lol: ).

I think it's a symptom of a greater problem in general. People expect something for nothing. I mean, really, even those of us who don't still want to get the greatest return for the smallest investment, whether that's time, money, or work. That's just smart. But it seems to me that most people, esp. in this country, take it beyond reasonable limits and into pathological egocentrism. It's the same mentality that makes people do things like run red lights and bypass the queue at movies and coffee shops.

That happened a couple days ago at Panera, where I stop most mornings to pick up breakfast. The queue was out the door it was so long, and this self-important ... uh ... woman ... pushed past us all (literally pushed me out of her way instead of saying "excuse me") and walked right up to the register and then complained about every little piece of her catering order, even disputing the amounts that were clearly labelled on the menu, to the point that I was through the line at what was now the only register before she was done.

The problem is that we don't tell people off when they really need it. I was angry for hours afterward, because I felt like I should have stepped in and put her back in her place (you know, equal with the rest of us) and I didn't. Nobody did. So there were no bad consequences to her for her bad behavior. We all just tacitly gave our approval because not one of us said anything to her. And that happens over and over and is probably the number one facilitator of that kind of entitlement syndrome.

MrsMik · 05-04-2006, 09:51 AM

We see the same thing in our store all the time, unfortunately. People always want something for nothing -- even if they have to steal it! Two months after we opened, someone actuall stole ONE-HALF of a fishing rod & reel combo! :evil: They took the top half of the rod, as if that makes any sense! so now, we have a $50 combo that's useless. We don't know if they were planning on coming back the next day for the other half or what. Either way, it's WRONG and it makes me MAD! Having to spend extra money on security cameras also makes me MAD.

You'd think it would happen so often in a small town, but it does. Someone even managed to walk out of here with a 64 oz bottle of Aqua-Chem toilet chemicals! How'd they do THAT?

Personal responsibility? There is not much of that in today's world!

Julie

Crys · 05-05-2006, 11:37 AM

It does seem kind of useless to steal _half_ a fishing pole. Maybe they couldn't figure out how to get the other half into their jacket/pants/however they absconded with it without it being visible. And the 64oz bottle... was that during winter? That's the only time I can think of when people would be wearing bulky enough clothing for something like THAT.

I don't know, small towns have always seemed to be more ripe for that than big cities. In a big city, that's just part of doing business, so everyone's got security and cameras and trains their employees to watch for shoplifters and scammers. So it's kind of stupid to even try there. In small towns people are more likely to not be set up to catch it in time because small towns _seem_ less prone to crime. I know when I lived in Plymouth (a small WI town), I was always far more concerned about walking home in the dark alone than I was when I lived in a larger city. Less bystanders, less police, less likely to get involved if there's trouble.