A while back I posted a list of the top 10 things eBay could do to improve: Top 10 things to change at eBay
I now believe I missed the most important one:
0: Introduce auto-extend on auctions.
Auto-extend makes the auction last for, say, 30 seconds longer each time a new bid is received. Trade Me does this. It will kill the practise of sniping and make the auction site a level playing ground again. Right now the advantage is to those that use sniping tools and the auction experience is lousy.
My current next three are from the previous list.
1: Sell PayPal (and allow Google Checkout)
–> greater velocity of sales, greater trust, money in the bank
2: Charge for Skype use
–> immediate revenue lift from a captured market
3: Simplify and reduce all marketplace fees
–>increase in Gross Merchandise Volume, particularly from smaller sellers
Lance Wiggs 
Snipping on eBay – But snipping is so much fun lol !!. It def gets the blood pumping.
Maybe not for the sellers though. I get my bids ready 30 seconds before the action closes and only submit my bid 10 seconds before it closes, (I count down the seconds in my head). But here some hints for sellers: Set a real reserve, Snipping becomes a problem for sellers when they set crazy reserves (1 cent etc), and then are not happy to sell at that price, pick a time busy on eBay, I snipe on auctions finishing a weird times in the US, I also look for auctions that are poorly marketed that most buyers would not bother looking at, let alone placing a bid on.
By the way like a lot of people, I use snipping against people when im selling. I Basicly set a start price at a price im very happy to sell at, but set a higher buy now. The snippers want the cheaper price so its creates interest in following my auction, they then bid in the last 30 seconds of the auction and win at the lower start price, (but im really happy with the lower start price anyay).
Selling PayPal – I thought Paypal was a cash cow why would they want to sell ??. Especially since they have spent a lot of time and money convincing the Credit Card companies to allow PayPal. The Credit Card companies (especially MasterCard), where not that keen on consumer to consumer credit card payments. Some pople might say that the charge back issues is bad for PayPal, well yes it is (charge back is a dirty word at Paypal for sure). But PayPal is largely unregulated, and in some cases they just take the money out of peoples accounts that they freeze, to make up for any charge backs on others accounts. Apparently if you accept a stolen card on PayPal, they have a right to freeze your account and take all your money, due to the account showing “criminal activity”. Its in the terms and conditions.
Why is it a good idea to sell PayPal ??, and let a competitor have the market on your own site ?. What happens if the non-ebay owned credit card company goes bust, does this put ebay at risk if they recommended this provider on there site ??. It seems crazy to sell Paypal as its now a very intergrated product on the ebay site.
I can tell you one thing if PayPal ever took money out of my account, I would complain to the New Zealand Govenment. PayPal/eBay know we have a more regulated envioroment in New Zealand. So they are very careful as to not rock the boat in countries where possibly higher regulation maybe involved, especially if they want to expand here later. New Zealanders would not put up with there money being taken, and companies refering back to there stict terms and conditions.
I do find PayPal easy to use, as its a lot simpler than going to the bank, also as a buyer you have protection by paying with a Credit Card. I also like the resolution centre ebay has for sorting out proplems with sales. Trdeme has contacted its self out of sorting out problems, by passing the buck to the Seller and buyer, and saying “they had nothing to do with the sale of the item” (even though it was sold on there site). Ebay offers help with offers like “got a problem ??, we can sort it out for you” via the Resolution Centre. It certianly takes some of the risk out of Internatioanl Trading.
Hayden
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