TecRecAg said:
I may be wrong but I don't think it is that surprising. When I think of Ebay I think of needing to find something very specific that can't be had anywhere else. If I want something new, why wouldn't I just use Amazon? Also, I would bet if you polled 100 people, 90%+ would say they feel more confident in the security behind an Amazon purchase over Ebay.
I'll tack on that I've been an Ebay customer for 20 years (90% buy / 10% sell). I love Amazon, but I try to spread the wealth a bit to Ebay and others so there is some semblance of competition. Three of my last six Ebay purchases have been complete scams. Bought a Roomba, guy mails an empty box to some nail salon with my same zip code and shows the "proof" to Ebay claiming the item was delivered. I thought well (this will be easy) I can show that the item was delivered to the wrong address and weighed less than 12 ounces, so clearly it was a scam and not a Roomba. Nope, Ebay forces me to get some certified letter from the post master where I live and jump through a few more hoops to get my money back. Then the scam artist sends Ebay another email with the same bogus tracking data, and after initially accepting my dispute and agreeing to refund me the money, we get to do the same dance over again for the 2nd time before I finally got a refund.
Huge headache dealing with Ebay and they have let the fraud issues get completely out of hand. As you mentioned, I use Ebay as little as possible now days, and really only for items that are antique or out of production parts that I can't find anywhere else.