eBay's Donahoe Has Crow for Thanksgiving 122 comments
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Most eBay sellers enjoyed a nice turkey dinner yesterday with all the trimmings but I suspect John Donahoe, eBay (EBAY) CEO found a generous portion of crow sitting in the middle of his plate because Nielson's numbers are in and confirm buyers, sellers, and shareholders worst fears – John's disruptive innovations backfired!
The numbers tell the story. 1) Nielson reported a steady decline in eBay traffic all year but in October traffic dropped by slightly more than one third over last year; 2) Medved charts indicate sell thru rates at the lowest point I've seen in years; and 3) eBay stock is making new 52 week lows – none of which occurred prior to John's disruptive innovations that began earlier this year.
Dinah's top 10 list of what's wrong at eBay.
- Management. Sellers set up an online petition to remove John as CEO which is unprecedented but not unexpected given the results of John's disruptive innovations.
- Home page. It appears to have been designed by a tech student due to content and unnecessary bells & whistles that cause the page to load as slow as molasses.
- Search. Best Match is designed to think for buyers but it seems to have an IQ of less than 50 judging by its performance. Most sellers have reported a 50%+ drop in sales.
- Paypal. This has created a buyer vs. seller situation. Sellers refuse to ship before they are paid (can you blame them?) and Paypal is now judge & jury of all SNAD claims.
- Advertising. eBay has increased advertising that sends buyers off the site. No wonder traffic & page views are down – even Amazon is advertising on eBay.
- Shipping. eBay capped shipping rates below actual costs for media sellers.
- Glitches. These occur on nearly a daily basis which is inexcusable.
- Feedback. Feedback should be mutual & not used as an excuse to hold funds.
- Diamond Powersellers. These sellers' listings (reported to be free) have increased eBay's total number of listings by millions but the sell thru rate is low, the profit margin appears slim, and most items are cheaper at Wal-Mart & other online retailers.
- DSRs. The last time I earned a star was when I was in the first grade which puts eBay's detailed seller ratings in real perspective.
What the hell is John thinking? I bet shareholders are asking themselves same question as they sit down and enjoy their Thanksgiving feast. I bet SPIN is not the right answer.
Dinah's disclosure: I've been an eBay seller for many years.
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This article has 122 comments:
11. eBay Acquisitions. eBay continues expending resources (read 'cash and credit') by overpaying for questionable operations.
The $2.6 billion purchase and subsequent $900 million Skype charge (write off) comes to mind.
BillMeLater might be another.
www.washingtonpost.com...
Was Ebay's BillMeLater Acquisition A Huge Blunder?
Sellers are the real customers here, not buyers. Sellers are the only ones paying eBay fees. Buyers don't pay for anything except the merchandise.
You're absolutely right EventHorizon1984. I should have added acquisitions that don't make sense. I'll add it to my end of year list. If you can think of anything else I left out please let me know. Thanks!
Oh and so-called successful Ebay sellers, glad you're so happy that they put so many out of business and in great financial straights when times are tough already. I boycotted with the sellers even though at the time I had no problems with Ebay. I just thought that what they did to these people was horrendous.
> jack
You can say that ebay has cleaned out bad sellers with their changes but we know that to be untrue. All one needs to do is look around ebay and see that some of the worst sellers are there, still there and new ones showing up at the same rate they did before the changes.
Sadly, some of the best, longterm members are finding themselves restricted or worse, suspended for 30 days with the contradictory and canned notification that they need to improve their stars to get back to selling. Now there's a well thought out change!
The stars are not factual nor are they transparent. It is the opinion of a buyer, whose mood and behavior when leaving them questionable at best. Buyers may not even have a clue what a 4 means to a seller but think that 4 really is good because that's what ebay tells them it means.
It was all by design, to slowly but surely remove sellers ebay wishes to replace with diamond power sellers who sell things like toilet paper overpriced with outrageous shipping. But those diamond powersellers with all their special hidden deals with ebay can list hundreds of thousands of listings to give the appearance to the wall street analysts something to chatter about. Fortunately some of the analysts are looking past the surface numbers and seeing the revenue doesn't line up with the data ebay promotes to show "We're growing!".
Ebay is in fact, dying on the vine in the core site. All one needs to do is pay close attention to the real numbers, the ones that matter and those are not listing numbers, but in fact are member numbers verified outside of ebayspeak. And the revenue numbers which are not tied to forced paypal use.
Paypal is the ultimate life raft, without it ebay would already be gone off analysts radar screens. And forcing paypal use is an act of desperation to keep a positive balance sheet for the fourth and final quarterly report, you know, the one that ebay is bent on showing all they are still viable.
Many many sellers left voluntarily with the upheaval of draconian policies and micro management of sellers' business on ebay.
Many more sellers are being suspended based solely on the star ratings that are still above 4, which remember, ebay tells buyers is GOOD. That certainly makes a seller faithful to ebay doesn' t it? No, the ebay message boards are full of frustrated and furious sellers who have been suspended for this nonsense and in the critical largest selling quarter of the year. They won't be back either, they're leaving too.
Now the folks who defend ebay will say that those leaving will be replaced with more new sellers. Really? How long will they believe the video professor telling them they can make money on ebay when they spend a couple months trying to sell on ebay only to find their fees outweigh their sales income, that the whole system is set up for failure, unless, of course you get special deals with ebay because you can dump millions of listings on the site and demand special treatment.
Level playing field? And they still have the nerve to say it's such.
Smart sellers use ebay to feed their own websites but diminish their presence on ebay until they're established on their websites.
Watch the real numbers in the fourth quarter, forget listing counts, they're worthless when you look at what those listings are.
Watch the membership numbers, watch the revenue when paypal is broken out, watch the billions of shares of stock being bought back which has been ongoing and getting more intense recently, a program of buy back that started in 2006. Not normal for a healthy company to continue to buy back stock year over year, month after month.
eBay Announces Two-Day, Auction Style Listing Fee Sale.
eBay will reduce listing fees 50% for listings launched on November 24th through midnight November 2hth."
Talk about a flip-flop.
eBay used both barrels to blast auctions off the site for the 'Buy it Now' style.
Desperate people do desperate things. Such as buying back it's own stock.
Think what their share price would be if they didn't keep them propped up.
Besides, who else wants them.... at any price?
In fact, I always left feedback at time of payment, as far as I was concerned, the buyer had met their end of the deal when cleared payment was in my possession.
So that statement of "the only sellers complaining" of yours is false on it's face. You made a huge assumption and as assumptions go, they're usually wrong.
My feedback stood at 100% when I left ebay, my feedback stars are 5.0, 5.0, 4.9 and 4.8, and that was as of early 2008 when I left ebay.
I gave good service, ebay didn't appreciate it and wanted me to be punished for the sins of others. I don't call that a good business model. I call that a very hostile environment and left before I became victim of their insanity.
I'm honest.The package was sent but the ill bred sellers left themselves wide open for me to successfully file a claim with paypal by not properly shippiing their package. I do hope that they appreciated that I didn't follow through.
I know whereof I speak. I was one of their customers. Ebay was unwilliing to offer me any form of assistance because it would have meant riskiing their no risk venue status.
Going public spreads the financial risk away from the company to enable growth. Thay have never paid a dividend and are cash rich because they do not bear the costs involved in maimtaining an inventory.
They have everything to gain at this juncture by going back to private.
As ex-poster 'proBuyer' can tell you, we need folks like you that have no real clue about being an everyday seller on your wonderful eBay site.
Your type keeps the fire going in the belly of posters that know the real story.
BTW, do you know proBuyer? Your verbiage sounds awfully familiar.
Anyhow, welcome aboard!
Thanks for contacting PayPal. I appreciate the opportunity to assist you
with your questions.
You have a limitation on your account at the present time. If you go to
the Resolution Center in your PayPal account it will walk you through
the steps to lift the limitation. Until you do so, you will not be able
to refund your Buyers.
I appreciate the opportunity to assist you. We are committed to making
your experiences at PayPal pleasant and rewarding.
P.S. The limitation was imposed after a simple increase in sales and is pending a laundry list of documents and might or might not be lifted after receipt. Seller refuses to even offer SSN as Paypal is not a bank. Won't use Ebay/Paypal again. Amount buyers out is $775.
Thugs and thieves is all they are.
12. Hiding ALL Bidder IDs makes eBay "auctions" a virtual Shillers Paradise.
And, if things keep going the way they are with eBay, I can see an announcement early next year that tells Sellers it will no longer be “necessary” to leave ANY Feedback for Buyers. It would seem that after May 2009, all Buyers will have 100% Positive Feedback anyway.
As for all of Donahoe’s changes “cleaning up” eBay; many of the changes have actually made it easier for bad Sellers to stay on eBay. For example, when eBay was in it’s prime, buyers were able to determine a Seller’s reputation by using his Feedback from the time that Seller had started selling, going back years in most cases.
Now, eBay has cut that time down to 12 months, and in many cases 30 days. How does this help a Buyer determine a Seller’s reputation?
It is quite possible that eBay is concerned about all of the Government regulations that are right around the corner. The cost of keeping track of each Seller's tax information could overwhelm eBay/PayPal's shaky infrastructure, and they now seem determined to rid themselves of all but a handful of Diamond Power Sellers before the tax laws take effect.
eBay is fully aware they have no inventory, and John Donahoe is tired of being the ringmaster at the flea market. They want to rid themselves of ALL SELLING, and become an advertising portal. Oh yea, and in the future they want to be referred to as The First Bank of eBay.
No credit... Bad credit... No problem...
They did that for one reason only, to GROW PAYPAL as Donahoe likes to refer to it in his priceless presentations to stock holders in his powerpoint presentation.
And we know, those of us who have watched quarterly report after quarterly report, that paypal is the only revenue generator they have left. So growing paypal is a necessity to cover the losses elsewhere.
Oh, wait. There is one other revenue generator they are happy with, stealing bandwidth from sellers via all the click through advertising permeating every inch on ebay's site. Check those numbers in their financials and you will see they don't mind redirecting traffic OFF ebay (away from sellers) because they are making what they consider easy money.
@ Lucky Lenny
@Steve577
Thanks for trying to make us look good amidst all the negative publicity.
Your checks are waiting you at the front desk.
~Love John
you are exactly right
Hey Steve....Lucky Lenny - come on now - level with us....what IS Ebay paying you for this...or are you simply Ebay employees? I've seen your comments on several other articles - they always make me laugh ;-)
In this day and age if a site makes ANYTHING about its site "Slightly Difficult" then the PAYING CUSTOMERS are off to build a new one.
Wish granted. :-)
I too agree with most on the board that Donahoe has to go! eBay under his leadership has taken a wrong turn. eBay stock has tumbled to a new low. eBay stock without paying a dividend to shareholders may never recover! It might even go lower.
WOW!!! @ ebay +++!!!
Every time you post here, you're always just returning from a "wild spending spree" on eBay! Are you sure your palace is big enough to house all these goodies?
You'd think with all that kind of cash you're constantly spending, you'd be rich enough to let somebody else do the shopping for you.
You are so full of carp it's coming out your arse ( | )
You want real deals on these types of products?
Check out: TigerDirect.com
Check out: 6ave.com
Authorized dealers and reputable.
Forget BUY, and forget eBay!!
(Don't cry too much ebay +++ when you see that you paid way too much on eBay while on your "spending spree") waaaaaa, boohoo......lol
Go to Bonanzle.com start your own webstore booth and leave the stress and lies far behind.
"...If someone "invented" the original eBay (are you paying attention, Yahoo??), and started in today, all the action would move in a heartbeat..."
That's for sure!!!
Too bad Yahoo is sleeping with eBay and has caught the same disease.
If you want to get back on track, Yahoo, get yourself a shot of penicillin, re-open your auctions, and millions of sellers will flock away from the has-been giant called eBay and over to you. You picked the wrong time to buddy up with eBay just for the Pay Per Clicks.
Your site is still there Yahoo, all you have to do is flick the switch and turn it back on. What are you waiting for? Microsoft is not going to give you another offer.
Having said that, I think that most of us appreciate that the people currently in control of eBay are a bunch of unprincipled, unscrupulous, corporate snakes; it’s very difficult to keep track of such snakes as they slither through the undergrowth; and that “spinning” forked tongue doesn’t help any either!
A detailed criticism of the eBay “snake” at www.auctionbytes.com/f...
I say it's time to get rid of the real trash people like Steve and the others speaking the absolute lies about these trashy changes
On Nov 28 08:55 AM steve577 wrote:
> John Donahoe deserves accolades for the changes. Seller service has
> improved dramatically under his leadership. The ebay experience for
> the buyers has been hugely changed for the better. Bad sellers are
> the ones that hate the changes because they are being outed and are
> losing sales. Donahoe is taking out the trash.
I'm sure it was inconvenient for sellers to upgrade the quality of their customer service in order to earn stars and positive ratings, hence the complaints directed at astute ebay management but it sure makes for a more pleasant buying experience.
Love your good buyers and love your PITA buyers even more. That's the road to happiness and success on ebay.
Please keep posting so that everyone can see the type of idiot eBay sellers have to put up with while trying to make an honest living selling on Mr Donahoe's wonderful new and 'improved' eBay.
Please say hello to proBuyer, Lucky Lenny, la101, lusy, ebay+++ and all of your other posting alias Id's.
Bad sellers always blame others for their "bad luck". Nevertheless, I love them when they're offering me a great price on ebay. The bad sellers still selling have improved quite a bit, thanks to Donahoe's leadership and encouragement. I wish only the best for all sellers and for ebay.
Ahhhhh, well, a fool and his money are soon going their separate ways.
your nuts! i have been selling on ebay for near 10 years! in the past three years i spend more time trying to get paid by the worthless bidders! then if i turn them in for not paying and give them a strike! ebay removes the strike then the bidder leave's a negitive! i have had it and i have quit selling! in nearly 10 years i have had no problem's taking money orders and cashiers checks but i refuse to allow and company access to my bank account! i have seen the stories! perfect transactions with positive feedback and they still locked the account! not happening here! good luck going broke!!
On Nov 28 10:11 AM steve577 wrote:
> The only sellers complaining are the ones that had gotten used to
> keeping buyers quiet by the implied and implicit threat of negative
> feedback. Now that buyers are free to post the truth about bad sellers,
> sellers have been dethroned and have to earn good feedback the old
> fashioned way, with good service.
eBay however, has no excuse to hide behind the economy declining curtain, except for the fact the CEO is unwilling to admit he had led the marketplace down the wrong path.
Draconian policies and failing infrastructure combined with search that returns irrelevant results, and the worlds worst customer service has been slowly bringing eBay down for years.
Enter Mr Donahoe and his "new coke - green ketchup - disruptive innovation' plan for eBay, and the skids of failure received a new layer of grease.
Ebay has historically out performed the brick and mortar retail segment as well as the stock market during past recessions.
When times got tough, buyers used to flock to eBay in search of incredible deals on unique items as well as scoop up second hand goods to help stretch their dollar.
Then came John Donahoe, the killer of small sellers, the eBay suicide king, leader of the gang that could not shoot straight.
Under Mr Donahoe's leadership, eBay is being converted into a high priced shopping mall at the very time that retailers of new merchandise are filing for bankruptcy in numbers never seen before.
Mr Donahoe's choice to eviscerate the core of eBay by purging small sellers could not have come at a worse time.
eBay's quarterly reports are dismal and it's stock price which has seen its value drop by 2/3 since Donahoe assumed control, sinks to a new low almost every week.
This decline at eBay started to set in long before the economy displayed signs of recession, and runs completely contrary to eBay's historical success during tough economic times.
Ebay has always offered the worlds worst customer service, recent staffing cuts have served to exacerbate this problem.
Ebay has alienated buyers with forced search methods that do not return what buyers want to see.
The failed Best Match does not allow buyers to search, but instead shows buyers what eBay has determined they want buyers to see.
Sellers that pay to place listings see those paid listings deliberately disadvantaged in placement in favor of a class of sellers that pay nothing to list items. These Diamond sellers flood the core and drown the small sellers that pay to list.
eBay has further alienated sellers with a draconian DSR policy which is not the tool promised to sellers. Instead, it turns out that DSR's are really a weapon pointed at sellers heads that only delivers suspensions not information to foster improvement.
Sellers are frustrated by eBay's failure to address the increasing frequency of non paying bidders. NPB activity has increased since implementation of the one way feedback policy. The issue continues to be ignored as eBay profits from re listing of unpaid merchandise.
EBay further alienates both buyers and sellers with a crumbling IT infrastructure that is subject to rolling 'glitches' on an almost daily basis. Glitches that effect payments, shipping, searching, access to funds, correct payment information, delayed revenue transfers and others cause buyers and sellers alike to give up on the company that suddenly can't get anything right anymore.
As eBay continues to deteriorate, they have become less of a venue as they now want to dictate every facet of a sellers business from retail pricing and fixed shipping costs to what kind of feedback sellers are permitted to leave buyers. They cannot get anything right, yet they dictate what sellers must do. So much for the claim of being a venue.
Mr Donahoe and the rest of his executive leadership team keep their heads buried firmly in the sand. They only pull them out for the occasional press release to parrot Donahoe's claims that "all is well" and "everything is proceeding according to plan", while ignoring the roof that is obviously falling in around them.
Add the fact that as the marketplace crumbles, eBay continues to steadily increase fees and it is no wonder why so many sellers have opted to migrate to other marketplaces and open their own web sites.
This company is failing on every level. Emperor Donahoe continues to fiddle as eBay burns.
Will shareholders step in and call for the removal of eBay's current leadership or is John Donahoe the next poster child for failed CEO's?
We have a ringside seat, so time will tell.
You've been duped. The news... that's right... the new as in the network B*I*G G*U*Y*S are reporting that consumers comparison shopping online (e-commerce) state that ebay is much higher in price than Amazon now for the "hot commodities" such as electronics, games, etc, etc, are HIGHER IN PRICE(bold, italics, underlined) now on ebay than they are purchased thru Amazon.
No matter how much you say it, it just won't make it true! And the spenders won't be on ebay.
Means you are being duped and paid more.
Just a short note to thank everyone for participating in this discussion because everyone's opinion is important. Have a great weekend!
Dinah
Ebay's Downfall translates into TENS OF THOUSANDS of innocent, hard working & Dedicated people no longer being able to afford Health Insurance, Pay off the House in Time, and procure the Basic necessities of Life.
Ebay changed the rules so many times, No One will go back to it now.
There was Absolutely No Reason for this to have happened.
None.
nymarts.com
Talking of "green"....there is another site that IS unique and green so check out bonanzle.com..the new and upcoming site.
I'm EvesBooth, and I'm a former ebayer and now an addict of Bonanzle
Emigrate now, you can bring your eBay feedback with you and import all your listings.
Lots of room for personal choice on how you sell your stuff.
I'm Sarah, and I'm a former eBay seller and now an addict of Bonanzle
Ebay is the only auction house in the world that lets buyers walk, then lets them rate the sellers. I'll check out these alternatives I'm learning about here.
I've had close to 20 deadbeats since mid-June, a rate 10x higher than before this insane policy.
In eBay User Agreement it clearly states that eBay have no control over the ability of sellers to sell items but in fact they do control the sellers ability to sell their item IE:
# 3. Search. Best Match is designed to think for buyers but it seems to have an IQ of less than 50 judging by its performance. Most sellers have reported a 50%+ drop in sales.
# 5. Advertising. eBay has increased advertising that sends buyers off the site. No wonder traffic & page views are down – even Amazon is advertising on eBay.
# 9. Diamond Powersellers. These sellers' listings (reported to be free) have increased eBay's total number of listings by millions but the sell thru rate is low, the profit margin appears slim, and most items are cheaper at Wal-Mart & other online retailers.
# 0. DSRs. The last time I earned a star was when I was in the first grade which puts eBay's detailed seller ratings in real perspective.
Excuse me I have sold way over 200 items in less time then it took me to list 1 item and be held hostage at fartbay
Bonanzle is booming !!!!
I'll take the Jet to sales
while you sit on the slow boat to china thank you
TRY BONANZLE. COM WHERE YOU FIND EVERYTHING BUT THE ORDINARY!
Bonanzlze will grow, it is not an auction site but a site with Booths(stores) that are free to list in, and they have a CHAT box so if the seller is online, you can ask questions about a item and get real time answers.. and most have "best offer" so you can haggle with them on price.. and for seller the fvf are the greatest attraction.. at least check it out - the more that move over there the better it will become.. and again eBay is yesterdays news..
"I've become more confident buying from folks now that the riff raff
has been run out (good riddance)."
I sold on ebay for 10 years and watched it go down hill the people who have found better places to buy and sell are not the "riff raff" but those with the morals to want better for both buyers and sellers
I have received all kinds of coupons for shopping on ebay and its the "Riff Raff" "free loaders"and the "I want everything for nothing or I will Neg you" people that think they are such a great deal.
No thanks I respect Myself and my Buyers More then That
Thats why I Am at Bonanzle.com
On Nov 29 11:28 AM Roddy W wrote:
> As both an eBay seller and buyer I've never seen a more secure shopping
> environment then this year. For the first time ever friends and family
> members that were leery about shopping on eBay have asked me how
> it works - especially once they learn about the changes. Heck, even
> I've become more confident buying from folks now that the riff raff
> has been run out (good riddance). Couple that w/ the live.com cashback
> promotion and you can't find better deals online this year. I've
> already pocketed over $100 on just four purchases. Lastly, the shift
> to BIN is shopper behavior based and eBay is just reacting to that
> trend. Can you blame them? The days of people waiting 7 days for
> an auction to end are over. Good luck to whoever wants to go back
> down that road without understanding their business history.
"Lastly, the shift to BIN is shopper behavior based and eBay is just reacting to that trend"
On November 24, 2008
eBay Announced a Two-Day, Auction Style Listing Fee Sale.
eBay reduced listing fees 50% for listings launched on November 24th through midnight November 25th.
The offering was for auction style only, not BIN.
Someone seems to be getting worried!
So I listed one and it didn't show the reduced charge so I clicked on details and it said if I wasn't using such and such browser not to worry the discount would be reflected in my billing. So I listed a bunch of stuff with minimums I wouldn't ordinarly do because the sell-thru is so bad at eBay these days.
But my fees were not lowered in my biilling so I called today wand was told I was not elegible for the discount because my DSR scores were below 4.5. And they calim this was in the ad.
So last night I attempted to list something and was presented with a screen that said i could no longer list on eBay because My shipping DSR went below 4.3.
I just got back from a 1 month suspension because 2 people left neutrals (one said he thought that was an 'average' transaction rating) and 2 Bads. One was a nitcase who dekanded I reduce shipping and handling to what he figured was actual postage charged AFTER he had already bought the item (he was a newby and is now no longer a registered user). I have been selling on eBay since before eBay was a public company and he got me suspended.
The other bad was a scammer who claimed the item was damaged in shipping and I said ok, wait for UPS to pick it up as they insured it. Instead he filed and won a Paypal claim because 'item was not as described."
Since I've been back on Nov 11, I sold 60 items. 16 of them have given me feedback (don't you assume the rest were satisfied.) I got one bad 6 days ago. It was another nut case. I offered to give a refund immediately but he gave me a bad and didn't opt for the refund. They he added on the feedback saying he's going to file a Paypal claim, which he hasn't done...Why? I offered a refund.
So you see I get a nut case occasionally. Since that Bad I have got 11 straight goods with praise. Yet last night my DSR' average dipped below 4.3 and I can list any more. No email or anything from eBay.
Now today I tried again after getting another good feedback and I can list again.
Do you get the picture Steve 577? This company is no more than an insane asylum run by the inmates
Come on folks a little honesty goes a long way.
Look at the data, not the emotion. The data shows ebay is deteriorating rapidly for the bulk of sellers as is evidenced in those sell through rates.
Not to mention the October Nielson traffic (new traffic) rates information that came out recently. Ebay has lost 30% in that traffic while Amazon has gained.
The writing has been on the wall since the first round of changes were put into play the end of Jan 08.
The only difference between then and now is that the writing on the wall is in glowing and flashing neon letters for all to see and some are personally witnessing.
Just read the ebay boards, in particular the Search board, Seller Central as well.
When the site doesn't work for buyers, it certainly can't be working for sellers.
Buyer's complaining? Not good. Yet that is exactly what is happening when they can't make the search work and make it easy to find what they're looking for.
It's a mess and the end of year financials will show, once again, three quarters running, that ebay is still losing ground.
That is more of a reflection on good quality antiques, than it is on eBay at this point.
I would like to see eBay do 3 things to make things better:
1) Take 1/3 of their ad budget and put it into customer support.
2) Put at least 3 licensed auctioneers on the board.
3) Split the site into 2 factions. 1st, Auctions of unique items, antiques and collectibles. 2nd. Whatever else that mess they call the rest is.
One more thing to all those here that say it's all the "loser" sellers, that are angry about eBay changes. Not so, I'm a successful eBay seller, (10 years) and I'm pretty upset with a lot of foolish changes they've made.
Dinah, thanks for a great article with important insight. Now if only someone at eBay would listen.
BTW, I've linked to this article here tinyurl.com/5svd7j
Before ebay can correct itself they need to first admit there is a problem.
Lenny, maybe ebay hasn't bitten you yet ? sooner or later they will. They have gotten the best.
Time will tell. If Donahue and his policies are still in place a year from now then he was right.
But I will bet the ranch that that won't be the case
1) Fire Donahoe & his entourage
2) Hire the best techs in town & upgrade equipment
3) Delete best match, DSRs & mandatory Paypal
4) Add basic simple keyword searches
5) Stop Paypal holds immediately
6) Cancel all ppc advertising deals immediately
7) Cancel all deals with mega sellers (no free listings)
8) Reinstate two way feedback & member id's
9) Have 24/7 phone support for buyers & sellers
10) Delete any disruptive innovation I missed.
@ Roddy W. who stated:
“... As both an eBay seller and buyer I've never seen a more secure shopping environment then this year. For the first time ever friends and family members that were leery about shopping on eBay have asked me how it works ...”
Here you go.... just copy and paste this so you can give to your friends and family members:
First - If your a seller you pay to list an item. In turn, that item gets buried in “Best Match”. If by chance your item inadvertently gets “found”, it’s purely coincidental. Should that buyer choose to purchase your item, you’ll make near nothing because eBay and PayPal will be pocketing all the profits.
Second - If you’re a Buyer, you can hunt the site looking for unsuspecting victims. You can buy anything you want. After you've ordered and it’s been delivered, you open a "Significantly Not As Described" dispute through PayPal.
These funds will immediately be taken from the sellers account. After an “investigation” you will automatically get your money back AND you get to keep the sellers merchandise! Now that's the best deal going right now! Forget Black Friday! This is a non-stop year long event!
You may then proceed to the official small seller genocide feedback chamber, where you will have the opportunity to destroy the seller and their business via the DSR system.
And that’s all there is to it!
Now that your friends and family members have been properly educated, you can have a great time on eBay.
On Nov 28 07:29 AM lucky lenny wrote:
> You unsuccessful Ebay sellers are unbelievable. Ebay’s upcoming results
> will probably be record-breaking for several reasons. Not only are
> listings & sales at all time highs, but more & more merchants
> are using Paypal.
If you want to buy from merchants, why don't you go to Walmart. E Bay wasn't designed that way and trying to make it into another Amazon will kill the site.
eBay's biggest failing all along has been its refusal to intervene when a seller abuses a buyer, either through outright theft or abusiver customer disservice. eBay instituted the new rules precisely because of lack of trust buyers have for the whole process, which would never have come to be if eBay had not maintained it was a venue only, and allowed theives and rogues to do as they pleased on its site.
On Nov 28 08:10 AM redbaron wrote:
> Lenny, I repeat, take these complaints seriously. If you own the
> stock, sell it, and if you don't own it, short it. John D. has seriously
> screwed up the site for sellers, and sellers are the only ones paying
> the bills.
>
> Sellers are the real customers here, not buyers. Sellers are the
> only ones paying eBay fees. Buyers don't pay for anything except
> the merchandise.
>
I have to disagree with you. eBay's biggest failing is Donahoe.
I have 2 negatives in my feedback, and they were both retaliatory negatives from sellers. Sellers should not be allowed to bully and rob buyers. I never buy anything on ebay that I can get somewhere else, because I feel I have no protection on ebay if something goes wrong. That's what Donahoe's wrongheaded policies were meant to fix. The outraged reaction on the part of the sellers just demonstrates how strong they were before, and they're furious that any kind of controls are being put on them. Too little way too late.
On Nov 30 11:27 AM dinah balk wrote:
> Good morning User 309512 -
>
> I have to disagree with you. eBay's biggest failing is Donahoe.
I agree that there are some REALLY BAD SELLERS! eBay ignored them for years by saying "we're just a venue" and allowed these same sellers to create new multiple ids which speaks volumes for their security or should I say lack thereof.
Most sellers I know are honest hard working people trying to support their families. They sell nice items & ship promptly.
btw - Donahoe must have cut a deal with the mega sellers because I've actually seen negative feedback disappear.
Pricegrabber 3mos 1.87 out of 5
6mos 2.19 out of 5
All 4.20 out of 5
Service has declined dramatically last 6 months at Pricegrabber, but skyrockets at Ebay ???????????????
reviews.pricegrabber.c.../
All other venues 50-89% positive. Bad enough to get a timeout on Ebay.
On Nov 30 01:27 PM stock in toilet wrote:
> ElizabethRhys - works for Ebay's cheerleading team,why dont you sell
> something see how great it is,you should bid on a shovel its getting
> deep
eBay buyers purchase from sellers, therefore they are the sellers customers.
eBay sellers pay eBay for their listing service, therfore the sellers are eBay's customers.
How the heck 'ElizabethRhys' construes this into buyers being eBay's customers is beyond me.
As an 11 yr seller/buyer, I have purchased eBay's services, but never an item from them, only from it's sellers.
And the statement "The business fails if there are no BUYERS"
The business also fails if there are no sellers, being the true eBay customers.
Simple logic my friend.
"I don't like them because they've sat by and let people be robbed and abused"
After over 11 years of buying and selling, with over 1,400 transactions, I have never robbed or abused a buyer, nor have I ever been robbed or abused by a seller.
I've always used common sense.
I am sick and tired of some posters stating that the sellers protesting the policy changes are just bad or crooked sellers.
Most of the bad or crooked sellers are still selling on eBay.
The others could give a hang about posting here!
Sellers are eBays customers NOT buyers! Buyers do not conduct any business with eBay whatsoever other than the use of the site which is FREE.
Did you happen to notice SellerDome.com stats? eBay's largest sellers are falling by the wayside one by one.
"If your a seller you pay to list an item. In turn, that item gets buried in “Best Match”. If by chance your item inadvertently gets “found”, it’s purely coincidental."
No, it's NOT purely coincidental. It's something even worse.
IT's the result of a "Pssst... Zero Bids!" email sent out in spamlike fashin to thousands of people with buying histories of the items no one bid on... on the final hours of those auctions. No one even TALKS about this well-planned, well-thought-out strategy that makes ebay come out looking like the Good Guy to the buyers while screwing the sellers.
When wrapping up a sale, I used to ask my buyers "Where did you find this. At first, it was ebays keyword search. Then starting in around 04 or 05, more and more said Google. But towards the end, they said, "A Zero Bids email" where more and more expensive equipment was going out the door as 99'ers. Is second chance offer technology being used, in which 1, and only 1, bidder ever sees the items?
After the PayPal "texas address" handbag recycling scam in which ebay resold merchandise it hadn't even paid sellers for, I believe this corporation is cabable of ANYTHING.
Ebays smartest and most highly paid engineer quit ebay in spite of the present disastrous job market, over moral and ethical concerns. He intimated that no one outside of ebay has any idea what really goes on and that a tell-all book woud floor even the most jaded. Does he have such a book in him?
raghavgupta.wordpress..../
Compare that to
blog.adamnash.com/2008.../
And I think you can see which of these men depict ebay's true problem... that of managerial hubris.
Now that's funny, lol. I predict that most if not all the diamond powersellers Donahoe is courting will ask for a quickie Vegas divorce within 6 months due to low site traffic, low sell thru rates, too many glitches, etc. etc.
"Its no secret within eBay that I spent quite a bit of the last year trying to stop the monstrosity that became best match, but it wasn’t enough.
For those who don’t know, I conceived of and built the BayEstimator *before* I knew that Best Match was going to be made the default on site (at that time I didn’t believe it ever would, nor did I want it to). Of course once BM did become the default, the BayEstimator’s ups and downs became quite the public drama. The truth is that most folks associated with eBay (except the employees) have absolutely no idea what *really* happens within the halls of eBay. I could probably write a book, and I assure you it would read like a corporate thriller, if not for the tragic underlining.
It saddens me to see the amount of brain-cycles (and heart-ache) so many users on the ebay discussion boards have to expend trying to figure out what’s going on, or whats going to happen next. I fail to understand why the interests of ebay users, ebay employees and ebay shareholders cannot be aligned towards the same goals.
Or maybe the whole complaining lot of us are shortsighted and whatever is happening is actually going to turn out to be right in the long term? I can simply hope, just like everyone else, that one day things will all become great again."
I once maligned this great man in a board posting, mistaking him as an ebay lackey. I have seriously underestimated his moral compass. I most profusely apologize. This man should LEAD ebay out of the woods on the day that Microsoft buys it.
FREE listings (and there's millions of them) are nothing more than SPIN to fool ratings analysts & the general public but it failed miserably because free listings aren't real as they don't generate fees.
Can you post a link to Mr. Gupta? Perhaps he has a website, blog, etc. Thanks!
Welcome back!!!
Guess you're ready to take me up on the $10,000 wager I offered you on the last blog.
All I have to do is prove to you that I'm still a seller in good standing on eBay, with over 1,300 all positive feedbacks.
Just think of all the China made junk you can buy on eBafia with that kind of moolah!
My PayPal account is up to it, is yours??
seekingalpha.com/artic...
shows that Amazon is still well on top for online buyers, and that WalMart is about to overtake eBay, and even Target is sneaking up on eBay.
Bet the stockholders love this news!
Is it such a difficult concept to grasp - that commerce is about keeping BUYERS happy, not sellers?
Rather than bickering with all, do you truly want to test that theory and see how safe you are ? If interested, I will supply you the Ebay seller, rating, item you just bought and why you just got screwed. The seller got screwed and the seller is not HAPPY and the buyer will be less happy. Granted only 15 FB, 100% positive, close to perfect DSR's, but all FB is on similar products to what you just bought, which is Quickbooks software.
Bam your $1000 shopping savings took a $300 hit, due to ignorance of Ebay/Paypal policies. If you are also a seller BAM, your DSR's took a hit because your seller is not happy and chose to let the Ebay platform pay.
.Don't want to waste either's time, but if interested I will supply specific information,emails etc to support and walk you thru a real time scenario, still in progess. Your choice, but no bickering/insults back and forth. A yes or no will suffice.
Anyway, it's up to you....no big deal, just looking at realtime, supportable education for someone intent on disruption based on ignorance and Ebay luck so far.
You really should agree to the tutorial. You will not question authenticity, when I'm done.
No challenge,,,,,,,,,just fact. Let me know
Another thing some peeps here don't understand: Auctions are not the best way to sell MOST of the stuff in the world. Auctions are suitable for rare items in demand and for things a buyer want's to liquidate soon at any price.
Other than that, everything else does better with a fixed price on it. Think about it. Would you go to Kroger and bid on a loaf of bread and come back in a week to bid on another loaf if you didn't win? Same thing with a video game of which there are millions available. IF you auction your old game, all week long buyers will be buying immediately and move on.
Now that the facination of auctioning EVERYTHING on eBay has diminished, maybe eBay will change the rules of having an auction end at a specific time. Can you imagine a real-world auction with bids flying in left and right and the audience all excited, and then suddenly the auctioneer hears a bell go off and wont't take any more bids. that's the eBay model. That's how the word sniping got a new definition. It's created less revenue for the sellers of true auctionable items and less revenue for eBay. And it's easy to remedy....just never end an auction until 5 minutes have elapsed since the last bid.
Finally if you read my previous post about getting suspended by eBay last month and then reinstated and then being semi-suspended last week, I have a follow-up: I was allowed to create new auctions 1 day after getting that privilege taken away, why I don't know.
Then today I got an email from eBay saying I created another sin: The wacko who gave me a BAD last week and lied about it in my feedback didn't like that I left him a GOOD feedback (the only kind sellers can now leave) but told the story briefly in the comment field.
So it seems I broke an eBay rule I should have deduced before hand: Sellers are not allowed to say anything negative about a buyer in the buyer's own feedback field.
When I got ripped off THREE TIMES IN A ROW from fraudulent sellers I called it quits. Items included everything from a PS3 to a snowmobile part.
Ebay's promotion of fraud through complex "pass the buck" policies only enraged buyers, whom found that using "PayPal" only left them swinging in the wind - scalped.
No thanks, I can find anything I want elsewhere.
Nice article, it sounds as though there is a huge bonus waiting for the next CEO, and I'd gladly bring them back, but they better move quickly - amazon is about to eat their lunch.
If you relist an item to fixed price, of course you want to have it be 30 days, but most of the time the duration box says 7 days. So occasionally, I forget to change it and then I see my listing is only 7 days, so I edit it and change it to 30 days, right? Wrong. eBay won't let you change it to the 30 days which cost the same amount as 7. Maybe this isn't a bug but a gottcha.
Not only that but I was dumb enought to selced good until cancelled (automatic relist) when this first came out. No, I didn't even imagine that they wouldn't charge me another listing fee each month. But I did think that with a day or so to go, I could back it off to 30 days in case I didn't want to list it any more. NO WAY. You have to kill the auction or pay another listing fee. And if there's 12 hours or less to go, then of course you can't edit it at all and are trapped.
I wonder how many long time sellers like myself would love to see eBay fail? I have since they went public.It's been one thing after another how they squeeze the sellers and lie about the motives for everything they do.
Item as described
Communication
Shipping time
Shipping and handling charges
To the novice this all seem like a nice thing to impliment. eBay should like to know if the item was as described, right? Wrong. There was already a method for dealing with that and the buyer is not only covered but can easily scam the seller if they want over at paypal.
What about Communication? Does eBay want their sellers to communicate with the buyers? Like how? Thank you very much. Have a nice day?
I don't think they care and I don't think anybody else does either unless there's a problem. And just like the 1st item, there is plenty of remedy if something goes wrong.
What about shipping time? If seller's don't deliver, there is the same remedy as above. Hummm. I try to ship the next day after getting paid. Why would I wait a week? There are of course a lot of Drop-ship sellers on eBay and it's out of their hands when something actually get's shipped. Does eBay want to identify the slow shippers and get rid of them? I kinda doubt it but but maybe.
Item #4: Shipping and handling charges. This is what it's all about. eBay doesn't collect their FV fee on Shipping and handling and it really hacks them off if the seller is making a profit on shipping and handling. It shouldn't matter to the buyer what shipping is because it's right there in the listing. They are not stupid. They are on eBay to save money. They add the cost of the item and the shipping together to see how much it costs them. It doesn't matter to the buyer how much of their money goes to the seller and how much goes to eBay and how much goes to Uncle Sam.
But it matters to eBay because Billionaires Pierre and Meg are gone and Mr. Donahoe is a long way from leaving Dodge with his Billion $. So the buyers are recurited into reporting sellers who they think charged more than actual shipping. And it works. Buyers have got used to free shipping from Amazon and others and of course eBay is encouraging sellers to offer it as well. That means of course the selling price must go up to reflect the shipping costs but that's ok with eBay because they get their 15% of the selling price (Yes, if you list a media item in fixed price, you pay eBay 15% FV fee on a sale. And of course Paypal takes a cut of all the money changing hands, so if you offer free shipping you're getting raked twice.
You know Paypal is owned by eBay, right? I wonder how much control Donahoe has at Papal? It was a going concern when eBay bought it. Does Donahoe have a hands access to making changes over there too? I kinda doubt it, because this whole DRS folly could be avoided and eBay could get a detailed answer to their true concern just by looking at the sellers who use Paypal shipping to print their postage and compare it to how much they collected from the seller.
So there you are, scrap DSR and just get that computer programmer back to look at the data you already possess.
I finally did it! Dinah has a website. It hasn't been picked up by the search engines yet but when it is I'll post a link.
Any suggestions as to content?
Looking forward to visiting your new website!
Good luck!
So they let it fester, they never devised a way to make sellers prove who they were, anyone could sign up and sell without verification as to being who they said they were.
It's like leaving the front door open and all the lights on in a department store where no staff is present to keep the thieves at bay.
And even today, there are plenty of thieves on ebay too, buyers can still be ripped off without much delay or hassle. Buyers in turn are ripping off sellers now because ebay has made that very easy as well.
Then there is all the hidden ID's now, you can't see who's bidding. It's ramped up shill bidding potential through the roof.
Would I want to do business as either a seller OR buyer on ebay anymore?
Only if I like to gamble with my money.
And quite frankly, anything I want to find on the internet can easily be found through any search engine, and allows better comparison shopping than suffering through pages and pages of ebay nonsense. They've trashed every page with so many click through ads that take people off the site, they've hidden so many items you MIGHT be trying to find so you never really see what's available anymore unless you invest a lot of time resorting and trying to get rid of their default search nonsense.
Ebay's prime is long gone, and I don't know that getting rid of present management would instill enough confidence in ebay's name which has become synonymous with failure.
Very few people really encourage family and friends to use ebay anymore.
Market share is tanking, sell through rate is tanking.
Ebay is an e-commerce has been, and declining monthly.
That said, I still enjoy eBay, but you really need to check out the seller first. I can't believe some people on eBay... They'll bid in the $1,000 range with a seller that doesn't have 100% positive feedback, or has little if any feedback. DUMB!
Anyhow, eBay now reflects the economy's crash into a global depression as you watch the hard-hit regions sell everything they own for anything they can. It is really sad to look at some of the listings. Maybe eBay could make a special section called Paulson's Paupers.
I agree that buyers MUST check out their sellers! Unfortunately eBay doesn't want buyers to know the truth about their mega sellers because eBay got caught removing their NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. I've personally witnessed feedback "magically" disappear.
But I strongly disagree that eBay reflects the economy's crash. eBay should be thriving due to the bad economy but instead it is in a death spiral as a direct result of Donahoe's disruptive innovations.
I USED to be a seller, and a huge buyer. I left eBay the week of the feedback changes, as this is not only unfair to sellers, it leaves them WIDE open to scammers of all sorts. and the scammers figured it out VERY quickly I might ad!
When eBay opened up (years, and years ago) I was one of the first to join in the FUN, buying, and searching for those long saught after bargains on antiques, stamps, coins, etc.
It used to be a place to find DEALS! Now it is a place to buy cheap crap from china that you can find at any flea market in any town USA.
It breaks as soon as you get it, it doesn't work, or you never get it at all.
I have watched this past year as powerseller after powerseller left eBay. Those who had been there for years, had VERY good feedback, and worked very hard to get where they were.
The ones left I have kept an eye on have literially hundreds apon hundreds of neg's and nuetrals, sell crap, don't ship timely, or do not have supplies on hand. (NOT saying that all left are like this, just the ones I have been watching). My last eBay purchase was okay, it took longer to get the item, but the item was delivered. however I go over to Blujay.com and purchase, and the sellers are GREAT, ship quick, and WANT your business. its not improved on eBay in MY opinion, its horrible..to buy, or sell. and slooooowwww as molasses. As far as bad sellers hating the changes? try having YOUR fees double, and sales go out with the trash because you HAVE to increase S&H fees to adjust for the new fee increase.
or..go to the new, improved eBay (NOT) and look at 99 cent items listed everywhere that are total trash!
Anyways, your opinion is just that, yours, and not the truth for everyone.
On Nov 28 08:55 AM steve577 wrote:
> John Donahoe deserves accolades for the changes. Seller service has
> improved dramatically under his leadership. The ebay experience for
> the buyers has been hugely changed for the better. Bad sellers are
> the ones that hate the changes because they are being outed and are
> losing sales. Donahoe is taking out the trash.
Only on eBay!!
It seems that hackers are winning most of the Holiday $1 Doorbusters!
Users are not happy at all!
And, as usual, eBay is not doing anything about it.
They run a promotion, and get another black-eye!!
Details here:
redtape.msnbc.com/2008...
On Nov 28 09:14 AM Fomer 100%FB seller wrote:
> Ebay DROVE me out of business. High fees. Cryptic emails or no emails
> to questions asked. Crazy rules that no one could follow and make
> a profit. Hassles and more hassles. I bought and sold on Ebay and
> have left 4-5 months ago. Do not miss it at all. Probably spent what
> I made as a seller on Ebay. All in all, they lose. I can live without
> "deals" that I was buying. Feel sorry for the people who needed the
> extra income and income as a whole. Donohoe should rot.
>
> Oh and so-called successful Ebay sellers, glad you're so happy that
> they put so many out of business and in great financial straights
> when times are tough already. I boycotted with the sellers even though
> at the time I had no problems with Ebay. I just thought that what
> they did to these people was horrendous.
SmartBargains, the new 'Diamond' seller has a -1 feedback rating , and a 33.3 score.
They've received 2 negs out of 3 total FB's.
Now the fun part: The 1 positive FB was left a few minutes after purchase!
The bed comforter was to be shipped from Boston, to Texas via UPS. Fast shipping, eh?
This is the only item the buyer has bid on or purchased in over 30 days.
What's that odor I smell??
I challenge eBay to allow any non mega seller to continue doing business with a -1 feedback after only 3 sales!
Henrietta
Red Ink Diary
On Dec 01 05:18 AM dinah balk wrote:
> Good morning everyone!
>
> I finally did it! Dinah has a website. It hasn't been picked up
> by the search engines yet but when it is I'll post a link.
>
> Any suggestions as to content?
On Nov 28 08:55 AM steve577 wrote:
> John Donahoe deserves accolades for the changes. Seller service has
> improved dramatically under his leadership. The ebay experience for
> the buyers has been hugely changed for the better. Bad sellers are
> the ones that hate the changes because they are being outed and are
> losing sales. Donahoe is taking out the trash.
here's a link to my website dinahbalk.com
I'll be adding a lot more pages in the next few weeks.
Need a good laugh? Donahoe must not like what I write or the comments everyone leaves because some eBay sellers posted this article in different threads & eBay moved at least one of the threads to the SOAPBOX discussion page.
Other critical threads have also been moved. Have a great weekend!
Thank you for reposting your original thread that contains a link to this article because it's important for all sellers to understand why their items are not getting traffic - much less selling.
Again, much thanks!
You should start your own eBay Seller's forum site. You Rock this!!!
From a (de-powered) seller of antique vintage and new collectible items
I agree with everything you bring to light here. I started selling in 2005 and managed to ride the monster wave that wiped out so many sellers like me(just barely I am still stuck in the 4.3 for 12 month in shipping time all other DSR stars are 4.7-4.9), I wish that I could open a brick and morter store here in Wine Country California, but rent is fierce. I need eBay for this very reason and all of the changes have now seriously forced me to sell treasures way under value just to keep selling. While I watch competitor sellers of vintage clothes get by with using My Space friends to shill bid on stuff that i knpw is as vintage as the Mall store it was bought from. So you can add to your end of the year list the blunder of keeping bidder id's private, it has also put a serious crimp in the overall eBay seller(of collectible merchandise)style and success.
So if King Donahoe the dunce wants out of being the flea market ring leader he should go start his own advertising site and leave us alone!
happy Ho;idays Dinah!
Cheers
Get to know what the reality is before giving out false statement please. eBay's success was not coz of those mass drop ship sellers but those individuals who put their unique stuff on for auction.
steve577... you failed
On Nov 28 10:11 AM steve577 wrote:
> The only sellers complaining are the ones that had gotten used to
> keeping buyers quiet by the implied and implicit threat of negative
> feedback. Now that buyers are free to post the truth about bad sellers,
> sellers have been dethroned and have to earn good feedback the old
> fashioned way, with good service.
I have bought and sold hundreds of items on ebay. I actually preferred to have buyers use paypal but to require it as the only method gets my back up.
My biggest problem with ebay today is the sell through rate. I think that this is directly connected to the way they are pushing the big sellers vs the little guys (like me). It used to be a level playing field, but no longer. Even a year ago I had sell through rates of 90+ percent. Now I see rates of 30% or worse. Feedback? Fewer than 20% of buyers are leaving feedback. Why should they bother?
I have just about totally bagged ebay. Let them cater to the big sellers, "improve" things for buyers (not my experiance as a buyer, but perhaps some people like it). Sure some will say they are just "weeding out the riff raff&quo