The week-long eBay boycott set to begin tomorrow is getting huge play in the media. Sellers are outraged about a series of changes to feedback, fees, and search results. Here’s a good rundown of the changes at CNN/Money:
And here’s a YouTube video that states the grievances of sellers devastatingly well.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23TomS5--nQ]
In part, it says:
New CEO John Donahoe] called eBay sellers and buyers “nothing more than noise.” He then proceeded to call eBay buyers and sellers “a flea market” and implied that he is ashamed to be a part of it.In his very next breath, Mr. Donahoe then announced yet another eBay fee increase. This increase raises fees by up to 66 percent higher for some sellers. eBay management had the bright idea to market this increase as a “fee decrease,” blatantly insulting the intelligence of millions of buyers and sellers worldwide.”
True enough. But as noted by Ina Steiner on AuctionBytes, the impact of the week-long boycott will be hard to measure. eBay has coyly scheduled a temporary listing fee reduction to coincide with the boycott.
Meanwhile, Amazon is doing all it can to attract eBay refugees. “We want all sellers on our site,” Amazon’s business solutions chief, Matt Williams, told Steiner.
eBay 101: Selling on eBay For Part-time or Full-time Income, Beginner to PowerSeller in 90 Days
Related posts:
![[Google]]( http://www.weberbooks.com/selling/wp-content/plugins/easy-adsenser/google-light.gif)
13 Comments
I’m almost speechless. The changes at Ebay are astounding.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. When there was feedback, the woman who bid on 300 items in 2 month period (all Bibles) finally got kicked off the site. How long will it take for that to happen now? How quickly will non-paying bidders face repercussions? Will it be more quickly than the old system- or less. Call me skeptical…I may use the site again but I”m concerned.
It will be interesting to see how eBayers unused to Amazon make the transition, if they choose to try the river.
It’s a different world on Amazon, and I’m guessing some eBayers will be frustrated by the slower pace of a non-auction platform.
We are perhaps seeing a meltdown of Ebay which I believe proves my point that no company no matter how big can ignore it’s users for very long. Amazon should be watching very closely because the same could happen to them
I have closed my Ebay Store and am not relisting any of my items during the strike. However, I do agree and like some of the policy changes Ebay is making. There should be a real benefit for Powersellers which will make the incentive to list more items.
But my emphasis in recent years is to gather customers for my newsletters and then gain residiual income. Beats having to “work” by listing hundreds of items on Ebay each week and instead automate my system and do much less “work”. Real example: In 2004 I grossed $43,542.28 on Ebay alone. I was “working” an average of 38 hours per week–so much for quitting my old job as I have no benefits like health insurance–something those “buy my secret Ebay system and get rich” others are flaunting out there inlcuding Mr. Weber. My final profit after all fees, taxes, etc. was $2,325.00 as reported in my Schedule C and 1040 with the IRS. In 2007, my total gross sales was $19,750.00 with a final net profit as reported and properly accounted for to the IRS, $15,998. I averaged less than 10 hours per work “working” my Ebay system. Average sale from 2004 was $4.32 up to $16.47 in 2007. However, although I qualified for “Power Seller” I never accepted it for several reasons most of which would have hurt my business and not helped it. With the new Ebay PowerSeller feature, it will definitely be worthwhile to accept the PowerSeller program as there is now a profitable incentive to do so. Feedback will never be fair without an arbitrator so that issue is moot for me as legitimate arguments are made on both sides. The lowball sales definitely get hurt and in 2004 would have killed me and permanently put me out of business. I have been selling since 1999 on Ebay and have since branched out beyond Ebay. I am not close to being rich but am virtually debt free only carrying debt over as purchase of stock with 30 day terms and most of the time is paid off by due date.
Those who are hurt with Ebay are those who sell low cost low profit items. Every time Ebay and the Post Office raised their rates, my profits always dropped significantly, partly because of the low price, value-less products I carried and sold. Go for the strike this week and help make a point. But face the facts and learn that higher quality items in big demand is the only way to make high profits and also to build a customer list of residual income
which will build a safety net for longer term income.
THE PAYPAL FREEZE IS A SUBTLE WAY OF ADMITTING OR CIRCUMVENTING THE FACT PAYPAL DOESN’T DISCOVER CREDIT CRAD FRAUD FOR 3 WEEKS.
Numerous sellers had debited accounts weeks after delivery due to CC’s begin accepted due to fraud.
Why label this as making sure sellers deliver. A Delivery or Signature Confirmation as well as the PayPal label should accomplish this.
The Invoice Label system on Half needs improvement to be non-PayPal if you aren’t buying ship services online
I sell on ebay and half com and have good success. I;ve had way more problems trying to sell on amazon and finally gave up and closed all my listings. I’ve had a lot more problems with sellers than buyers on ebay. Right now I’m waiting for 6 feedbacks for over 6 months. I’m also waiting over 3 weeks now for a book I purchased and paid for as soon as the auction ended. no communication no tracking number. I only hope all of the shoddy sellers go to amazon so I know where to stay away from.
There are bad sellers and bad buyers. The ffedeback system was designed so that both could be identified to help other buyers and sellers avoid them. Having feedback only for sellers defeats the purpose of the system.
Thanks for blogging this. I didn’t know about the boycott (I’m just a buyer). I just blogged about this and linked to your post.
I’m in the process of moving inventory from half to Amazon. I’m tired of the sluggish sales – and selling books for Amazon dropshippers like milde4, gretmedia, lavendarstar, etc.
I still think, however, eBay is the proper venue for collectible books.
This is related toSuccess Strategies that one could earn money through online ebay selling. The week-long eBay boycott set to begin tomorrow is getting huge play in the media. Sellers are outraged about a series of changes to feedback, fees, and search results. Amazon is doing wonders with respect to selling on ebay.
Hadn’t heard anything about this proposed boycott but it seems if people truly want to be free of ebay than they need to market their own website. Take the money you would spend on fees and spend on promoting a webstore. Otherwise you’ll just be another piece in a game ebay is playing.
MILDE4 TREBRONICS & QUALITY7 NEED YOUR HELP!
Think you can’t leave them feedback or have been bullied into giving them a refund? Go to Amazon.com—type “quality7″ in the ‘search, all departments’ box—Pick some books that have a low $ —click on the ‘new’ or ‘used’ link (it will have the # of sellers) look for the name quality7 in sellers—buy all the books you want—leave whatever feedback is deserved file any A-to-Z Claims warranted. Remember, feedback is a great way of letting your seller know when they’re doing a GREAT job.
OR feel free to leave your complements here:
Better Business link:
http://www.bbb.org/nw-south-carolina/business-reviews/books-wholesale/trebronics-inc-in-taylors-sc-11005225/