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yeah, thats exactly what I found. I think its part of ebay's push to get bigger and better sellers on board. I think ebay is moving away from being a good selling place for the little guy who sells things. And to be fair on Ebay, they would make a lot more money on sellers who turn over a lot.

And when you sell a lot, you need that 5 star rating. I wonder if thats the reason some sellers block buyers quickly, in that they view a potential problem to a 5 star rating worth more than a lost sale.

Ebay and paypal policies are more geared towards shop style selling that can factor in a certain percentage on wasted goods that are either lost in transit, or the odd buyer who complains and wants a refund etc. The rules seems to also make it more shop like in terms of warranties etc. Not that I an advocating that a buyer doesn't have rights, but to me if you are buying something secondhand in a private sale, you have to assume some risk. Think buying a car from a dealer vs buying privately. A car dealer must offer warranties (at least here), whereas a private sale only needs a road worthy certifcate, the rest is up to you to find out.

This might be why ebay bought (in Australia at least) Gumtree. It seems to be more built for the one-off sales, local buys etc but you don't get an international market,

regards

Johann

Good points there Johann, I'm with you. This probably explains it, and I had been wondering what the tactic was in buying up Gumtree as well.

Simple, if you can afford it you buy up the competition & either close it down or merge it with your own company. That way your customers don't have the choice to buy from somewhere else.
Ebay obviously saw Gumtree as a threat to their business

I would say in the case of guntree its more so to cover all areas of the market (like coke does with soft drink, they own a lot of smaller companies, and keep them to get access to smaller markets). Gumtree has still been going since bought out, and still is largely free to use. Although that makes me wonder how they do make any money.

Advert space I'd guess