Re: So many ebay sellers Message #7 Posted by Howard Owen on 2 Feb 2006, 10:50 p.m., in response to message #6 by Namir
Yes, the stability is part of the safety equation. Also, they work really, really hard to address issues that could undermine trust in the site, generally. Their efforts to educate people about phishing schemes using eBay and PayPal as bait is an example. The warnings and educational links are right up front in "My eBay" most of the time. They have PayPal, which has basically no downside for buyers, offering guarantees, for extra money of course. A user doesn't even have to use the service to get a sense of safety from that. And then there's the reputation system. While it's flawed in the sense that people are reluctant to mark anyone down for fear of retaliation, it actually works pretty well for dissuading outright criminality. (Nobody is reluctant to give negative feedback to a crook.)
So between managing actual site safety and the perceptions of same, eBay keeps the buyers on board. They have to, because buyers under the influence of the modified auction are eBay's product.. That product attracts eBay's customers, the sellers. Sellers get fees hiked on them every year, and they keep coming back. And eBay keeps on minting money.
But hey, you can get some cool calculators there! 8)
Regards, Howard
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