eBay vs OZtion
70The Battle Begins... *ding ding*
I live in Australia so naturally I use eBay.com.au. As many may have heard by now, eBay Australia is enforcing a new payment rule - everyone must accept PayPal as a payment method - bank deposit etc isall other payment methods are soon to be a thing of the past. That's right, you heard me correctly. eBay have decided it would be more benefical for everyone to use PayPal and PayPal only because it is safe and secure. We all know they are only in it for the money. eBay have denied the allegation but according to most people, their opinion is that eBay Australia is a test run and if all goes well, eBay plan to adapt it to eBay World Wide. Of all the people I have spoken to about this, almost certainly none of them are happy about it. I think eBay is doing themselves a real disservice.
Meanwhile, In The Other Corner...
Meet OZtion.com.au. It's like eBay only a lot cheaper! It doesn't cost anything to join, it doesn't cost anything to list, the only fees you pay for are re-listing fees (which can be avoided by selling similar instead of re-listing) and final value fees. Yep, you only pay for what you use on this site. Isn't that amazing? These people actually seem humane and extremely decent!
In the state that eBay Australia is now, it would not surprise me if they lose as many members as OZtion gain from this PayPal mistake they are about to (and are in no doubt going to) make. I believe and hope that OZtion does benefit from this as I tend to support this underdog online shopping site as it doesn't pull stunts like this, and although it is currently sitting on just under 270,000 members, I see big things for OZtion in the future.
OZtion is a supportive site which makes it easy to 'support the team that supports you'. eBay, on the other hand, expects everyone to 'take one for the team' when they themselves are not team players. Nice. I can totally see how that is going to work... NOT!
If eBay Australia wants to kick themselves while they're down, they can go for it. I'm putting my money on the 'little guys', such as OZtion. The minute eBay Australia enforce their new payment rule, there is going to be disaster and I believe it'll blow up in their faces. They'll either have to come to their senses the minute their memberships dive by the hundreds of thousands or sink with the ship. Everyone is talking, eBay isn't listening. At least we tried...PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
Oztion has been growing in members but with so many members having multiple id's the real number is much less. The forums are stupid and really should be removed. There are the same people posting all the time and if you say something they don't like, they shoot you down. It's amazing to me how someone could spend their whole day typing in forums. Imagine the people they are neglecting to do that. As for sales, it is possible to sell there as I've been doing that for 3 years. Probably, could have sold 10 times that on ebay but I wouldn't have made as much due to fees. It takes a lot more work to sell on Oztion and the owners of Oztion don't help. They have made one commercial which appeared a grand total of once! And there has been banner advertising on survey sites like Rewards Central. There advertising is limited even though they could do more now that they have Jumbuck backing them and banner advertising on Oztion. They are getting money, they just don't spend it on what it needs to be spent on: ADVERTISING.They rely on word of mouth and members drumming up business. I personally think that is terrible and refuse to do anymore advertising for a site that doesn't try themselves. So ultimately, I think people will tire of Oztion as I have. I think giving Oztion 3 years to get their site in gear is enough and they haven't done anything except play with the website features. Not bring in buyers which is the most important part of what would make the site a success. The site is in desperate need of buyers and Oztion do nothing!!!!
the great ebay solution is to go back to caring for their sellers and buyers and not try to force fee after fee
Hi i live in Australia and have my own Oztion Vshop selling my wifes handcrafted jewelery.
I tried eBay first but was very quickly discourage selling there due to the fees. After my second of 3rd listing with no sales and still having to pay the listing fees. That made me want to quit selling online until I come across Oztion and the no listing fees. I think Oztion is Australia's best auction site by far share this view with with many other sellers and buyers on Oztion. I was so happy about Oztion I even created a lens on Squidoo's "EVER PROJECT" called The Best Australian-Auction-Site Ever where other members have left their feedback about Oztion
Having made recent changes to oztion, including annon
member moderators, the forums on oztion have become
awful and are filled with bullying and harrasment of members.Any response can be reported, and there is a lack
having a difference of opinion in the forums.If you dont
agree with the forum op your messages are removed.
There is addition fees for oztion besides the ones you listed, and the sales are terrible. If you want
a vshop it costs you $5.00 per month, and some members
dont get any sales or very little sales are paying listing
fees etc. Adminstration is no help with any of your
questions and just gives you a standard line regarding
fake items, purchases not recieved, etc.
There are members with poor ratings that continue to sell and certain members on the site have a monopoly on the selling. Also as a seller customers, want to pay next
to nothing for goods advertised. and there is a make an offer feature where members offer $1.00 for $20.00 items
etc.
I would not recommend oztion to buyers or sellers.
Eric Graudins says:
2 years ago
Hi,
I was going to write a hub about this too :-)
Ebay have made other changes that have wiped out the businesses of many people without even notifying them.
Recently, they banned the sale of electronically delivered goods such as E-Books, website templates, etc. unless you use a classified advert.
Sure, there were a LOT of crappy EBooks. But the "problem" they were trying to solve by banning electronic goods could have been done in other ways.
Also, they've increased their fees recently, and also removed the ability for Sellers to provide feedback on buyers.
I think that these Ebay changes, plus the compulsion to use PayPal will harm Ebay, and give a deep pocketed competitor the chance to establish themselves.