eBay and ToysRUs Partnership? How Does it Benefit eBay ?

[notjomomma]

Just prior to the 2010 holiday season, retailer ToysRUs has opened a store on eBay. ToysRUs are just one of a growing number of branded retailers (Calvin Klein, Brooks Brothers, Fashion Vault ) attempting to utilize eBay's floundering marketplace.

Many sellers have noticed Ebay has been actively fixing ToysRUs'sr feedback and DSR stars for them. They went, magically, from about 4 on most (enough to get small sellers permanently banned) to 4.6 and 4.7 on all their stars. Ebay does this for their big retail sellers. They also removed several discussion threads about this matter from the eBay discussion forums.

Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes had some introspective comments regarding eBay allowing these larger retailers to use their eBay pages for cross promotion, which, as most sellers are aware, is a no-no....

Not only does eBay allow large merchants like ToysRUs, Calvin Klein and Brooks Brothers to promote their brands on their eBay pages, eBay actively promotes the brands by directing shoppers to their stores in search results and in marketing promotions, a practice that has small, longtime eBay sellers balking. But the tide has been flowing both ways for some time - longtime eBay sellers have increasingly turned multi-channel, selling on Amazon.com, alternative sites, and launching their own ecommerce websites.

Full article here : http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2010/11/1290573137.html

eBay once claimed to be a  "level playing field" for all sellers but the leopard has since changed  it's spots. Nowadays, eBay promotes branded retailers through email marketing, increased exposure on the site through banners, directing shoppers to branded stores in search results and other promotions

Smaller to medium size sellers not only get to pay more but they also get second rate service. Paying to have their items buried in "Best Match" search (assuming their items can be found in search), zero promotion on eBay's part and zero advertising.

When was the last time you saw an eBay commercial on television? Much less, when and where has anybody seena  link on ToysRUs website directing buyers to their eBay store?

Is ToysRUs good for eBay ? Sure, eBay is collecting fees from ToyrRUs but I'll be willing to bet TRU has a sweet deal with eBay that other sellers only could wish for.

One glance at TRU's feedback..

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=toysrus&&iid=180594221885&sspagename=VIP:feedback&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller

...and you will see they're not exactly performing up to eBay's rigid standard other smaller sellers are held to.

So the question remains...  How Does it Benefit eBay ?

[banana-buys]

I don't think there is any benefit for eBay or sellers by bringing Toys R Us onboard. I'm sure a lot of the smaller toy sellers are very unhappy about losing sales to a competitor that really shouldn't even be in the marketplace.

As for Toys R Us, I think it cheapens their brand by lowering themselves to do business on fleabay.

[JarretAAR]

Boy I wish eBay would pump up my listings like they are doing for ToysRUs.

[notjomomma]

32 Negatives and 21 Neutrals. Most all of them are for non performing seller (NPS) strikes.


Any other seller would be sent packing with that performance record.

[JarretAAR]

32 Negatives and 21 Neutrals. Most all of them are for non performing seller (NPS) strikes.


Any other seller would be sent packing with that performance record.

Now they're at 38 negatives and 25 neutrals. Doesn't seem like eBay is using the "Best Match" cap to put a halt to their sales like they do when other sellers get several negatives in the same day.

[JarretAAR]

Toys R Us is really doing a bang up job. They're now at 54 negatives and 46 neutrals.

Doesn't look like their eBay experiment is boding very well for them :-)

[Noblitz]

I see this as just another shameful display by eBay. There was a lot of commotion about Buy.com a few years back. Seeking Alpha had an interesting article about the "Level Playing Field" at eBay :

http://seekingalpha.com/article/75535-buy-com-partnership-a-bump-in-ebay-s-level-playing-field

That was nearly three years ago but obviously eBay doesn't seem to equate the continual downward spiral of sales and traffic to any of these power moves they're making.

[TomCA]

I'm not defending TRU or Ebay but looking at their feedback gives a good sampling of how difficult Ebay buyers can be. Being out of stock on an item and issuing a full refund simply does not warrant a negative feedback. It seems to show that Ebay buyers want to punish sellers for any little thing. Also, TRU has left over 11,000 feedback and only got 3,500 in return. Almost 2/3 of their buyers did not leave feedback. If Ebay wants to judge sellers on feedback and DSRs, they should be mandatory or the seller should receive automatic positive and 5 DSR after 60 days with no feedback.

This all shows how skewed Ebay policys are and shows how even big retailers can't keep their head above water in this marketplace where buyers expect to have their hand held through a simple transaction.

[AntiqueJeff]

I just wish eBay would realize that buyers aren't perfect and stop treating them as if they were. Sellers shouldn't be held so tightly to buyer ratings rather an overall performance standard. eBay really need to take notice.

[JarretAAR]

This isn't a buyers or sellers issue, it's an eBay issue. Plain and simple, eBay has created rules that make it impossible for small or casual sellers to survive while turning a blind eye to sellers like Toys R Us.

[ebay_flyer]

Get over it, the company has changed. It's now 2010, its not 2000. They had to change to survive. Their a Strong Company today, if they didn't make changes they'd be out of business. I love that they almost doubled Amazon in Profit. Marketplaces growth may never be double digit again, but its certainly not shrinking either. eBay will be here for a long, long time to come.

[brandywine]

It looks like they have a lot of complaints from buyers about items listed not being in stock.

Doesn't eBay have a rule that you can't sell listed items elsewhere?

It's nice to know the rules don't apply to everyone.

[foru2know]

ebay rules only apply to small sellers not big sellers