Megasellers... and why I avoid them

A new breed of seller has risen to dominate eBay - I call them "MegaSellers". Note that this is my own term for a certain type of seller and has nothing to do with eBay's Powerseller program. Though some MegaSellers may be Powersellers, it would be unfair and completely false to insinuate that all fall into that category. I have encountered many Powersellers who were an absolute joy to deal with… and a few who I will never do business with again.

eBay used to be a place where I could buy something I needed from someone else who was not using that item and had it just lying around. Now when I go looking for those items I have fight my way through a plethora of MegaSellers clogging up the works.

What's wrong with MegaSellers? Technically, nothing at all… but it seems to me that they're so busy shifting boxes that they have no time to provide any of the service that makes dealing with most "Old-skool" eBayers such a pleasure. Many of them avoid any kind of personalized contact wherever possible.

How do you spot a MegaSeller? Let me count the ways... here are some of the defining character traits.

• Poor response to questions, particularly after the sale
• Lack of flexibility ("no local pick-up, no combined shipping")
• Loads of "small print" on every listing
• Listings have a generic "mass-produced" look
• Automated and often cumbersome non-standard check-out procedure
• An almost total lack of the "personal touch"
• Large numbers of listings, many of which don't sell first time.
• Selling new items at close to - or sometimes above - retail price.
• Used items offered "as-is-no-refund-untested". This is the hallmark of a dumpster-diver shifting broken goods
• Tiny bid amounts, huge shipping costs
• Automated "tit-for-tat" feedback that amount to "feedback hostage"
• Huge feedback numbers (10000+) with low ratios (<95%)
• "Silly Shipping". Shipping=Postage+Handling. I'm all for making a little money from the handling charge, but $0.99+$15 shipping for an item that cost $3 to mail is just plain daft... but oh-so-profitable.

You've probably figured out by now that I don't like MegaSellers, and avoid doing business with them. The MegaSellers are, however, the darlings of eBay - the people whom eBay tries hardest to please. This probably has something to do with the volume of business - and fees - that they put eBay's way.

In my experience, dealing with a MegaSeller is much like dealing with a faceless corporation - poor service, poor communication and lots of rules & regulations - but without many of the legal protections that you could expect from a corporation. If I wanted that I would do business directly with a corporation.

To put it bluntly, buying from a MegaSeller is often not that much of a bargain. The exorbitant shipping charges usually mean that it is only slightly more expensive buying retail. Sadly, it appears that the MegaSeller is the future of eBay.

Even though I have encountered many MegaSellers on my travels, I am not going to name names, so please do not ask. Finally, remember that not everyone with a large number of listings or a huge feedback is a MegaSeller. All I will say is "By their fruit ye shall know them".

Amen