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I dont know if this has been aired before and perhaps I’m opening a can of worms.
I’m getting concerned at the price of spares being offered on Ebay to the public.The prices “Buy it now” are sometimes less than what I’m paying with trade discount.There’s a lot of people go on Ebay and it wont be long before customers start to moan at our prices because theyve seen it a lot cheaper on Ebay.Our prices include allowances for guarantees etc. but try and make customers understand that. I know that there is no such thing as RRP these days but these prices are ridiculously low on our “bread and butter “parts.I feel that it’s just another thing undermining our business.
I dont know who is offering these prices but I hope it’s not one of the major suppliers.Re: Ebay
“Tell you what, you get the bits and phone me when they come. That’ll be today’s call out and an hours labour when I fit them for you. Or shall I just go and get them from the van now?”
Not really had a problem with it.
Chris.
Re: Ebay
Ebay is indeed a can of worms. 😕
There’s good and bad, as was demonstrated on Watchdog the other night in their typically glorified TV report sort of way, but many of the points that they made were totally correct. Ebay is based on trust, there’s no warranty whatsoever and no chance of returning a part if it’s incorrect or faulty, many people don’t like that idea.
Personally I use Ebay on the odd occasion but I’d never buy small items from it like that, especially not if I needed them in a hurry when there are legitimate sources that are better and have at least a phone number for contact. What you may find is that some companies will use Ebay to advertise themselves with the hope that selling items cheap attracts attention and drives traffic to their own site to up their own sales. Maybe we should try it and see what happens eh Dave? See if it really does have any effect.
But I think that’s it really. You often see Ebay Shops these days with links to an actual e-Commerce site and, to be fair, it’s dead easy to do.And, just like a high street store you use a tempting offer or a loss-leader to drive the traffic through your doors.
I’m sure some people will use Ebay for such things, they do have (aparently) ten million registered UK accounts and from that sort of number you’d be bound to sell a few bits and bobs. But as Chris rightly points out, most people with a bust washing machine want the part yesterday, not in a few days time with no warranty on it at all.
K.
Re: Ebay
I did try selling carbon brushes on there but only sold a couple of sets so I gave up with it. I can’t see it seriously undermining our trade because few people will be able to identify what they need with enough confidence to spend money on parts they can’t send back. My problem with Ebay is Paypal. I am no longer able to accept Paypal payments or purchase items using Paypal. This is because I reached their £500 limit, after which you can only continue if you sign up for Direct Debit. I don’t do DD anyway and I certainly don’t trust Paypal well enough to give them a book of blank cheques. 🙁
Re: Ebay
The original great ideal of ebay is dead!
More and more people are turning away from it now. Have you been on there lately? It’s horrible! 90{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of it is e-stores. There’s a few different appliance spares places on there, undercutting each other, to the point where it’s not worth bothering, and they are selling non-genuine cr@p.
These will be used by the DIY free-loaders of the internet. People that are deludered into thinking that everything is cheap on ebay. People that would argue with you because your spare is 50p more expensive than somebody else’s spare. People that you don’t want to deal with anyway.
If they want to buy some non-genuine Hotpoint brushes off ebay, and blow up their motor, that’s fine by me! Enjoy!
Re: Ebay
Goatboy wrote:The original great ideal of ebay is dead!
More and more people are turning away from it now. Have you been on there lately? It’s horrible! 90{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of it is e-stores. There’s a few different appliance spares places on there, undercutting each other, to the point where it’s not worth bothering, and they are selling non-genuine cr@p.
These will be used by the DIY free-loaders of the internet. People that are deludered into thinking that everything is cheap on ebay. People that would argue with you because your spare is 50p more expensive than somebody else’s spare. People that you don’t want to deal with anyway.
If they want to buy some non-genuine Hotpoint brushes off ebay, and blow up their motor, that’s fine by me! Enjoy!
How’s that customer care course coming along GB? 😀
Re: Ebay
My customers are nice! 🙂
They have all just recieved a leather-bound diary, compliments of Goatboy.
It’s just everyone elses customers that annoy me 😉 Most of the public is annoying. I should know, I’m one of them!
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