A Solution for eBay and Its Frustrated Seller Community

Not a day passes by without word spreading of another eBay seller boycott. If you were truly to believe each seller, eBay (EBAY) is the most evil of all companies. There is never a word of praise for the company that made them what they are today. Before eBay existed, these sellers were likely selling their wares at various markets throughout the United States. Yes, they would freeze on cold days and sizzle on those days that were scorchers. If they sold their wares through trade shows, etc, they would pay steep fees. Then along came eBay and turned them all into instant business gurus. The sellers started to whine with each seller increase, albeit it a few cents there a few cents here. These sellers lambasted eBay. "How dare such a company take food from our table" was their common mantra. Little did they see the improvements on the site.

For example, eBay purchased PayPal, which made it easier for buyers to pay with credit cards and thus these buyers made more purchases. eBay purchased Shopping.com to draw more eyes toward eBay's seller's wares. eBay even started up a free classified listing sites in the U.S. called Kijiji for all of those sellers who would like to list for free. Yet all these moves are still not enough. eBay announced earlier this year that they were going to reduce fees, but the sellers are still not satisfied. It has reached a point that these sellers will always whine and complain.

I have come up with a simple solution that will make both the seller community and eBay happy. eBay can post a link on their website with the following info: "For all of those sellers who are upset with eBay, please click on this link and complete the following to be removed permanently from our site. We understand the difficulty you are experiencing. We tried to satisfy your needs to no avail. If after leaving the site you continue to harass us through vile messages, threats etc, a restraining order will be put into place. If you have had a change of heart and decide to come back, you would have to go through an appeal process that may take up to two years. We understand your complaints and are satisfying your request."

There you have it. Simple, indeed. A way to satisfy both eBay and the sellers.

Did you know that Channel Advisor did away with their lifetime guarantee of 120 per year to subscribers of their service and are forcing their loyal subscribers to pay $29.95 per month? How is that for price gouging? How about your local gym membership charging $200 extra per year to sign up? Have the prices in your local supermarket changed this year? How about your transportation costs? Movie tickets? Sports Venues? If you are a whiny eBay seller, put all of those costs into perspective and you will see how ridiculous your complaints truly are.

I have been a seller on eBay since its inception and have never complained about a fee increase since I realize eBay is still and will always be the #1 place for e-commerce. Period.

Disclosure: Author has a long position in EBAY

Comments

[stonedagain]

Nice job economic genius,

E-bay raises their final value fees from 5.75% to 8.25%, while reducing the insertion fees by pennies and voila, they claim a price decrease.
How about posting your e-bay seller ID so we can check you out Mr. long time satisfied e-bay flunky, oh, sorry I mean seller.

[LBC]

Amen, brother. These whiny sellers seem to think that eBay should be running itself as a non-profit. eBay has a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders to squeeze its sellers for every last possible drop. Sellers: if you want e-commerce welfare, what are you doing in a capitalist country?

[Monkeydungeon]

You actually believe anything ebay puts out there without questioning it? That is the type of though that allowed the Nazis to take over. Yes, ebay lowered it's fees, that is unless you actually sell your item. Have you done no research at all? When the FTC investigates the claim that ebay was padding it's numbers during the strike you may start to think about ebay a little differently. The only reason ebay is still doing well is because there is no other company that has the traffic and buyers that ebay has...for now. You cannot possibly sustain that position with the huge number of dissatisfied customers that ebay has. Do you realize that ebay's sellers also make up a huge portion of ebay buyers? If we are not selling then our paypal account stays empty. If our paypal account is empty then we are not looking around on ebay as a buyer. As soon as a company comes along that looks like it's having a breakout in the numbers of buyers and sellers
it has then ebay sellers (and therefore buyers) are going to be jumping ship like madmen at sea.

Obviously John Donahue has little or no experience as an ebay seller. If he did he would know that you can't treat your customers like he is and still expect them to come begging for more. The truth is ebay is experiencing slowed growth. Instead of trying to get new customers they thought it would be more cost effective to go up on there prices.....again. One of the big problems this time is that they tried to pull the wool over our eyes and call it a price reduction. How dare ebay insult all of there sellers like that did they think we wouldn't notice?notice? Not all of us are as gullible as Paul.

I've already started to expand my own website as to not rely on ebay as much, and I've been a powerseller for years. Don't think that I'm the only one. My suggestion to you is to sell your unquestioned ebay shares before the ship sinks. Oh, and I've got some swamp land I'd like you to put your money into when you do.

[warren zbon]

Hey people, this is not about fee inceases, it is about real people who were drawn into thinking that selling theie old junk on e-bay would be better. Now 10 years later as people have figured out the best way to tie e-bay into there lives, to make a diference in their quality of life, single moms, retired , disabled, they decide to change the rules in the middle of the game. yes e-bay is a business to make money, but how many lives do they have to ruin to do this. When is enough? and it's not just sellers, it's buyers too, wait till may, when you the buyer, wont know who is a good seller, because none will have any negs, and only 1 year back worh of feedback, how would you feel if you were expected to ship and pay for it, and have to wait until you get feedback, or 21 days, which ever comes first to get paid. what about medicines, e-bay was a great way for millions of people to just make it, I bet the people who think having this monopoly is a good thing, and is part of the american way to squeeze as much money as they can, I bet these people, live in nice, homes, with nice cars, kids go to private school, and have blinders on as they did with enron.
I hate the way Ebay is either trying to overload you with big company lingo, or making statements that are so blatantly false, only the people boycotting, buyers and sellers alike really know what's going on. that's right, just as many sellers are buyers too. this was our site, how dare they slap us in the face! and If it was legal, if this wasn't just a smoke and mirrors to benefit greedbay's pockets, why keep removing these test auctions, How come there are so many glitches, 'er test's, 'er glitches which could range in the hundreds of thousands. it's like How are WE the people suppossed to know, in the middle of all this turmoil , if this company isn't another enron! we need some investigative reporting into this. Is it fair that WE invested our hard earned all mighty american dollar into a masterminded scheme to manipulate the stockholders, into thinking the company is doing better than it is, padding auctions, don't put it past them, these people need to keep those multi-million dollar estates, golf courses and such! meanwhile ceo's are selling stock off in the millions, and when the stock does bottom out, which is planned I believe, they will be buying it all back again. Also why is it okay to suddenly change the rules in the middle of the superbowl. How many lives are affected by the unscrupulous actions of a greedy monopoly which has seeped it's way into the hearts and minds of so many!
Please, do not let this happen. Keep up the boycott or rather as someone else said "evacuation" and move to other sites. don't let the politics of big buisness fool you into thinking you can't win!
and please ,Hear us news media, If you won't take up this story, for us, we the people, we shall stand and be heard!
PEACE :)

[duckie]

you are clueless we made ebay what it is get a grip man

[whoiskiddingwho]

Not for a very long time have I read such a piece of one sided, unbalanced, piece of reporting. This current, yes, current, as most who joined the one in February are in this for the long term, and the far bigger boycott coming in May is NOT about price increases. Sure, that is a part of the problem, but is no way the biggest part of the problem. The FAR larger problems are the change to the feedback system, best/worst match, search bias, and also the potential/probable 21 day money hold by PayPal. These changes affect both buyers and sellers. Indeed most sellers are also the buyers, with the exception of the hundreds of thousands of cheap imported items listed and the likes of GM boosting the figures. Not sure why GM are doing this, other than they themseves are in all sorts of trouble and are no doubt grasping at straws to increase the chance of sales. Would I buy a GM, or any other type of expensive car through ebay, of course not, 99% of the people want to see/drive the expensive new toy before they buy, so, at best Gm is using ebay as an advertizing medium to bring buyers though it's brick and morter doors, of course, the "regular" seller is not allowed to do that. If I want a car, I just go out, find one I like and buy it, sure, I might look at dealer websites first, but not ebay. Same for Sears, why would I go to anywhere but Sears to buy it, Wal-Mart (rumored for a long time to be starting on ebay) is the same thing. ebay is, it appears, trying to become yet another online mall, where it will lose all of it's widgets etc which actually INITIALLY bring the buyers in, many of whom then buy other things once on site. Finally ebay needs to remember who IT'S buyers are, they are not the third parties who shop with sellers, the ebay BUYERS are the sellers themselves, unless ebay is planning to charge a buyers premium they get no revenue from what they THINK are their buyers. I notice the author has a long position on ebay, hope that is a VERY long position as it will be a long time, if ever, before ebay is an investment option. Personally, I have used the boycott to more than double my income from ebay, not by listing, but day trading on SHORT positions.

[dyna]

Wow, it's unbelievable how misinformed the writer of this article is. Talk about having some rose colored glasses on. Take off the glasses, see what is REALLY going on at ebay, then come back and write something that makes some sense. This author is completely clueless and I'm embarrassed for him!

[User 160859]

I think you got it backwards--the sellers are the folks who made Ebay what it is, not the other way around.

The sellers are Ebay's customers, and the buyers are the seller's customers. Ebay does not seem to get that and they treat their sellers like chattel and micro-manage them as if the sellers are Ebay's employees. Buyers are saints in Ebayland and sellers, in Ebay's own words are "noise".

Interesting that he mentions the PayPal and Shopping.com acquisitions. Do you think they did this for the seller? No, they did this to increase their own profits. They will only take PayPal and will not allow other payment systems on their site (i.e. Google's payment system, saying that it is unstable and has not been proven) to maintain their monopoly.

There is something down right dishonest about a company who will send out a press release reporting a listing fee decrease and not mention an increase in final sale price of an item. A company who will allow a VERO member to shut down any "suspect" auction with out an ounce of proof. (Guilty but not a chance to proven innocent.) And a company who intentionally pulls public postings from their discussion boards (you can't say anything negative about the all powerful Feebay) and when confronted by the press claims it to be an error or glitch.

Yes Men have existed since the dawn of mankind and apparently the writer is either the King of the Yes Men or has absolutely no back bone and will let any body stick it to him and beg for more. Enjoy your fees Mr. Yes Man!!!

[9 yearssales ebay]

Either you are a fool who does not listen to the market or you have no real experience on eBay (perhaps both?).

eBay has *increasingly* alienated their base of customers with raising fees and absurd feedback rules (to name a few issues). Overall, fees have *not* been reduced, they have increased steadily over the years.

Paypal is difficlut to deal with for some customers. Often, Paypal just plain acts unfairly towards it's clients. It's intergration with eBay is a hassle since now no other payment source has a chance of use by buyers (or eBay has anti-competitively banned genuine payment alternatives like Western Union) .

In business, people are concerned with the now. You idiotic "customer removal" solution would almostly certainly open an nice opportunity for one or more of eBay's competitors to immediately and almost permanently grab a huge portion of eBay's customer base.

eBay needs to listen to customer feedback and make changes accordingly. I bet you don't want this feedback comments section replaced with a "please permanently remove the reader from this website/author/etc.&qu... button.

[fellowex]

Surely this one satisfied customer cannot be as representative of the 10's of million of eBay sellers as the entitlement crowd who usually post here. eBay has empowered? Surely nobody really feels this way, which is why eBay is nearly out of business. Look at their site, there are only 5 items for sale, and they're all fake!

[3Muses]

everythingelse.listing...

These are some of the minor padding of listings...notice (if they are not being pulled) the days they are being listed.. 1204 days, 700+ days... this is current as of 3/6/08 8:06 AM MST I just looked at them. this has been an ongoing issue since THOUSANDS of sellers (who I might mention are also buyers) have been boycotting, this boycott has not ended and will not end, it has been continuing and ongoing, of course ebay won't tell you that. There have been over 9000 pages censored from the sellers central discussion board from those who are not happy with the padding of auctions, the release of virtually criminal complaints against ebay. filings to the FTC FCC SEC

[Tiglet]

If you think eBay has done sellers a favor by giving them a great place to sell and buyers a place to shop, they did, for many years.

But that began to change when they started hiking the fees up so they reach as much as 65% for some sellers, and make is so the seller can't tell anyone that the buyer didn't pay or was rude and demanding. And make direct contact all but impossible. And passed right over their own customer base (the sellers) to mess with the seller's customers, (the buyers). Promising discounts to their high volume sellers, only to make it impossible to get the discounts. And eventually it will also be impossible to even be a Powerseller if the seller falls below 4.5 (a rating that by eBay's own standard is above average performance... and so on and so on….

If you honestly believe that, then you are as delusional as eBay is when they say they are creating a safer place to sell.

What they have done is create a place where buyers and sellers are pitted against each other. And called the sellers noise because they object to higher fees and losing their voice. They will end up with the sellers who don't care if they have low DSR ratings and negative feedback and the sellers who do care will go elsewhere.

Sorry, but you are clueless. Ask the sellers who have been selling on eBay for 7, 8, 9, 10 years or longer. And take the trouble to listen to what they say. eBay asked, but didn't bother to listen. Now they are have created a mess where their best and brightest sellers are going elsewhere, using the fees they save to run their own successful sites with targeted buyers being brought in by Google AdWords. Not a dream my friend, but a reality that is already happening.

Do we appreciate eBay? Yes indeed, that was why we stuck with them even with fees out the roof. But when they call us “Noise” and treat us like servants, the magic is gone and we leave.

So would you.

tig

[Batman3777]

PayPal is aweful: They offer limited to no fraud prevention, and are not FDIC insured. PayPal is not an improvement over anything else before it.
eBay never advertises Kijiji since it is free, so how would people know about it?
eBay lowered insertion fees and RAISED Final value fees: net results are INCREASED fees! Nice try, though. But you are wrong again.
eBay charges store owners AT LEAST $15.95 a month, PLUS the cost of each listing, PLUS the final value fees for each successful sale, PLUS paypal fees. Add it all up and its STEEPER than trade shows, flea markets and the like... Looks like you are wrong again.
eBay no longer allows fixed prices under $1.00, FORCING some business out all together.
As so many REAL news outlets have already stated, fees are the lesser reason for protest for most people. The protest is mostly over UNBALANCED changes to the feedback system opening sellers up to yet even more fraud. You are wrong yet again!!!
Any other NON-improving eBay "improvements&quo... you would like to add to that list? Are you paying attention now, or are you still busy towing the company line of lies and misinformation?
Instead of you nonsense idea, how about eBay include a link on its main page that says "If you'd like eBay to compensate you for all the time and effort you the seller have put into our marketplace to make us execs millions of dollars a month while you barely make ends meet, tackle fraud we don't help you with, and time otherwise spent on anything other than enjoying life, click here."

[kenthesailor]

What is your name on eBay?

[maxbid]

What a one-sided piece of crap reporting.

You just like to stir it up to piss off people don't you?

[noneebaylacky]

This person has used ebay as much as the ebay top brass and has no idea why people, sellers and buyers alike, are so angry at ebay.

This is not just a problem with the fees and if ebay and this ebay employee thinks that is why people are so angry, then they should start forcing them all to start trading on ebay and see what the real world of ebay is like.

No security for buyer or seller and the more changes they make that are supposed to fix it just make it worse.

No customer service from both ebay and paypal when things go wrong

No NPB system, as even NPBs have the right to claim item not received or not as described and then if they respond to your NPB with "I just did this so I can leave you negative feedback." They can leave you negative feedback and then also reduce those great stars. So basically a seller has just been struck three times by one purchase that was not going to happen. Most sellers allow atleast three items to the same buyer So kiss your account good buy, as ebays restriction to stop this is to for them to have an account open for more than a few month, it is does not have anything other restrictions.

This is before the changes come into place that will also add buyers the oppotunity to say Just send me the money back and I'll keep the item and we will say no more about it or I am going to leave you negative feedback in an email. A seller can't prove a thing and ebay would do nothing if they could

Ebay will stop this is the ebay claim, But we all know ebay do not hire employees for their brains and can do little more than match the words of the complaint with a copy paste response of the regulations, which really does you a lot of good???

I could go on all day about what is wrong with ebay but why bother when they will not listen. I'm just NOISE and proud of the fact.

[Mere]

Yes, I have seen increases at my grocery store, at the gas pump, at the USPS and ebaY.
As I go to real auctions, I know that auctioneers get a percentage of what sells and can charge winning bidders a buyers premium.
What the ever increasingly money hungry monster that ebaY has become doesn't realize is that they can and will be replaced by friendlier seller venues.
ebaY was a blip on the radar screen when they started, as other venues were, but other venues will absorb many of the exebayers who are, quite rightly, more up in arms over the feedback, search results and Paypal mandates being jammed down our throats then the increase in FVF's. The introduction of the DSR's will speed up ebaYs demise, where it will soon be known as the site to get overpriced products that you can find in any box store in any town, state or country, without the s&h fee.
I know from my own personal experience as a seller and buyer on ebaY, that it is the sellers who spend their time taking photo's, checking items for flaws, listing those items with a description, looking for just the right words in the item title that will get them exposure in search, keeps in contact with bidders by answering questions, sending invoices after the close of the auction, packs that item up for shipping, prints or buys postage and gets it to the post office. All ebaY has to do is hold out it's ever increasingly greedy hand to collect what is owed them for the not always so pleasant experience of using their venue. Then ebaY gets another cut of the item by sellers via Paypal, which is what I call double dipping. Reagan ixnayed double dipping back in the 80's, and it should apply to ebaY and Paypal.
As for you, if you are an actual seller and buyer on ebaY, you better get the tissue box out and have it handy when the best match search places you on the back page with an hour left on your auction, your bidder decides not to pay, or does pay and tells Paypal the item was not as described, it arrived broken, didn't get it, etc, etc., and they want their money back.
The fact that ebaYs higher ups made bad decisions when purchasing Skype at a hugely inflated price, started Kijiji, that is and never will be as well known as CraigsList (which ebaY owns 25% of the stock) is not my problem as a seller or buyer. EbaY has always been about how much money they can make and doesn't give a damn who they ride roughshod over to get it.
Good luck to you if you continue to feed the insatiable monster that ebaY has been and will continue to be.....YOU WILL NEED IT!
Just my 2 cents worth.

[Raia]

CONGRATULATIONS paul rapa! That is one of the most ignorant articles I've ever read!

"There is never a word of praise for the company that made them what they are today"

Um, that might be because WE, THE SELLERS "made them what they are today"... less the idiotic new changes of course.

"The sellers started to whine with each seller increase, albeit it a few cents there a few cents here. These sellers lambasted eBay. "How dare such a company take food from our table" was their common mantra"

Um, no... the majority of sellers realize the cost of doing business and do not "whine" (that term speaks volumes about your character by the way paul)... and after just celebrating my 10 year anniversary on greedbay, I never once heard, nor said "How dare such a company take food from our table"... I'd be interested to know where you get your inaccurate information (and then you're actually ignorant enough to print it) or do you just make it up as you go?

"For example, eBay purchased PayPal, which made it easier for buyers to pay with credit cards and thus these buyers made more purchases"

WOW! You really have your homework to do paul! LMHO!
eBay only bought PayPal AFTER their payment system BillPoint was a COMPLETE FLOP... it was (as always) all about MONEY! LMHO

"eBay even started up a free classified listing sites in the U.S. called Kijiji for all of those sellers who would like to list for free. Yet all these moves are still not enough."

LMHO again!!! The ONLY reason ebay opened up kijiji is because Craig Newmark, craigslist founder, refuses to allow ebay any more interest in his company, than they already accidently gained...
ebay started their FLOP of a company kijiji to *try* and directly compete w/Craig... it's about GREED paul... LMHO again! I can't believe how ignorant you are to all of these FACTS paul!

Then to publicly display yourself like this... I mean, my gosh, aren't you embarrassed?

"I have come up with a simple solution that will make both the seller community and eBay happy. eBay can post a link on their website with the following info: "For all of those sellers who are upset with eBay, please click on this link and complete the following to be removed permanently from our site.""

LMHO, yet AGAIN! You obviously haven't spoken to too many actual members of ebay lately have you? You know, those of us who've actually tried to CLOSE OUR ACCOUNTS... EBAY WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT(S) at the moment... they call it a "glitch" (they sure have alot of those lately, eh paul?)... they even tell STORE OWNERS, after CLOSING THEIR STORES, that their store will "show as open for six months"... why do you think that is paul?
Okay, don't hurt yourself, I'll tell you... it's so the MASS EXODUS of HUGE SELLERS, along with their TENS OF THOUSANDS of listings will not be reported to the shareholders... are you keeping up with all of this? I know this is alot of info to absorb all at once paul, but I'm trying to help you out here dude.

"If you are a whiny eBay seller, put all of those costs into perspective and you will see how ridiculous your complaints truly are. "

If you are an ignorant idiot, please don't play reporter.

[User 161028]

I've been using ebay for almost 10 years now... There have been some good changes, like integrating paypal. But lately they have been doing things wrong. Removing seller feedback abilities, banning Google payments, banning purchase of firearms and firearm related items (hello this is America?) and creating an awkward emailing system that buyers and sellers must communicate through. The fees increase but the positive experience of using the site goes proportionately down.

At this point, the one big thing Ebay has going for it is a huge user base. History has show that just is not enough to sustain a company.

[Lyn]

What a complete idiot. It's not all about the money, it's about LOTS of issues, the foremost being that all these sugarcoat changes are being crammed down our throats as though they are great for sellers and great for buyers. They aren't great for anyone except buyers who are scammers, extortionists, and nonpayers. It is no longer safe to sell anything on ebay, or even for an honest and conscientious person to think about buying from the new crop of scum sucking sellers who will step in to take our place when the remaining dregs of sellers do as you suggest and sign your pledge. That's the bottom line, so most of us already signed our own pledge quite some time ago and are already gone. Old news, Mr. Rapa--move on to what's new and vibrant in the world of e-commerce, not what is scrambling to survive.

[ebayersince 1998]

wow.. this guy is clueless...
ok, lets start with what has gone on at ebay in just a matter of a month or so?

no negatives for buyers because there's no such thing as a problem buyer that causes headaches. stood in a return line lately at a department store? lots of perfect examples of buyers there right? this feedback thing basically the equivalent of allowing people to go around poking others in the eye with no fear of retaliation.

moving on.. the paypal down your throat issue.
i sell antique electronics. those items fall under consumer electronics. now i am forced to accept paypal or a merchant card service. ebay is now going to tell me what payment forms my business can accept? uh.. NO! ebay has no business telling me what funding i shall accept on my sale.

feedback over a year old doesnt count...
soo several years of busting your butt to have a happy customer rating now means nothing. if its over 12months old, its meaningless.

items ranked by magical DSR system...
items ranked in order of closing date seems to make too much sense. lets mess that up and require a little brown nosing on the sellers part.

ebay needs to clean up its fleamarket image...
why? its what made ebay what it is. go ANYWHERE in the U.S. and you'll find fleamarkets. they are fun and folks enjoy bargain hunting. thats why they are not called malls. get rid of the fleamarket image, you get rid of the fun.

the sellers boycott did nothing to ebay...
yep, specially if you pad the auction numbers to hide the boycott. read all over the web as folks have been keeping track of fake auctions.

the writer of this article really needs to seek another employer that isnt ebay.

[Raia]

"Disclosure: Author has a long position in EBAY"

That about says it all, doesn't it?

More damage control for greedbay and their extraordinarily high dose of bad press lately... lmho!

So, you don't make the comments readily available to people 'eh paul?

In order to read them, we must post everytime we want to catch up w/people ripping into you for being so utterly ignorant...

Well, so be it... I'm rather enjoying your new found "fame" paul...
(or would that be "flame" lol)
lmho! :-D

[User 161053]

oh boy you need a head transplant

[Ousted]

Wow..........you sound bitter? I personally have found this article very one sided. I am a buyer and small seller and I find it odd you havent mentioned WHY the sellers are so upset. The fee increase is only PART of the reason. You neglected to mention the feedback issue, the fact that Ebay is REQUIRING that paypal be used, the new "Best Match" system and the fact they told their community that they were decreasing fees...........when in reality, that was a semantics ploy. Yes, sellers and buyers are yelling........yes they are displeased..........ye... they will do anything they can now, to let the public know what has been served to them, all in the name of that Goliath Ebay. Well...........I for one won't stop the noise. I trust you know how silly this article is.

[User 161116]

Do you actually believe your own line of bull? What a bunch of half truths and slanted, caustic comments. You are wrong and you know it! I hope your portfolio is loaded up with Ebay stock and your living depends on selling on Ebay.

[User 161132]

Sorry Paul, but you didn't do your homework or surely you wouldn't have written this article.
It doesn't begin to address what the seller complaints are.
It's really not about the fees.
Most sellers are saying they can live with that part of the changes.

You need to go back and perhaps read the forums.

[northernma]

Let's see,

Ebay raises final value fees, disallows sellers to leave feedback for buyers,says Paypal can hold sellers' money for up to 21 days while the seller is expected to ship the item to the buyer during that time and just "hope" paypal will disburse the funds to them. Decides that they will give Powersellers a 15% discount on the new inflated fees if their "star" DSR rating is over 4.7 but sellers don't know who leaves bad stars and only a tiny percent of any sellers have stars now over 4.7 (mostly for shipping price, which they buyer agreed to before purchasing). Oh, yeah, and will now sort auctions by "Best Match" with the ones with the highest DSR rating coming up first. They are also putting pay per click banner ads above categories for the same items. For example iPods, would you buy from me if you see a banner ad on that page for the same item but cheaper? So as a seller, you paid for your auction to be listed on their pages and they go an put a banner ad up for the same item.

Me thinks the author of this article isn't telling the whole story.

[gregnull]

Clearly th eauthor has no knowledge of what he speaks. I truly hat the thought that you get paid for throwing darts in the dark.

[Shary]

As a LONG time disabled Power Seller and eBay being my only source of income, I am tossed in the middle with mixed emotions on these issues. If it were only the price increase only, I would gulp and continue, after all,, the seller just needs to provide good service, fair shipping (which I feel should not even be allowed to be rated if the shipping is stated on the auction and thus the sellers decision to purchase or not) and all in all honesty and fairness and then the back end fees will be given a discount. That does not cause me distress.

It is the fact that after a buyer buys a product, I send them an invoice, after 10 days I send a reminder and after another 5 days another reminder, then 3 days later I file a non paying bidder alert and then after about 10 days I finally get my selling fees back. During this almost 2 month process, the buyer does not even attempt to contact me or tell me the reason for his nonpayment it is still with great reluctance that I leave negative.

Being a seller, I know how a negative feels (I have received 11 out of about 15,000 fb and do not feel I deserved any, but that is another story). I do not leave negatives lightly, but that is my decision and ability to do so. This basic right has been taken from me.

The other change that eBay has made that could hurt me in the long run is that I ship to a seller that does not have a confirmed address. To have a confirmed address, the seller has to have a credit card on file. Even I do not have a confirmed address; I have gone through all the bells and whistles only to get a "verified" address. I refuse to have a credit card on file with if not the biggest at least one of the biggest payment processing presence on the web. If anyone were to be a hijackers dream, PayPal would be it and they have been hit. (If they were FDIC insured, I would not have such reservations). I also have a copy of a letter from an ex-PayPal employee that sheds some definite dark sides to using their services. So now, if we do not ship to a "confirmed" address, PayPal, at its discretion, can hold my money for that transaction for 21 days (until it clears the bank statements) and still requires us to ship within a 7 day period. What happened to the seller protection and what potential losses can I expect to see if a customer decides after receiving their product to say they did not get it (thus requiring an increase in shipping costs to request a signature) or that they did not order the item. There is nothing to stop PayPal from returning the money to the customer and I am out both the product AND the money! It can and HAS happened to me under the old policy and can only see this possibility increasing.

All we are asking is for more protection for the seller and respect for our business. I do not like price increases, but that is a fact of life. My (our) major concern in general is the seemingly total disrespect for the seller who are the ones buttering their bread. We need both buyers and sellers to keep this marketplace a valid venue and fun place all parties concerned. eBay was built by the small buyer and seller and with its growth, the profits have decreased and the total costs increased. I have finally grown to the point where I have hired 2 employees and was feeling confident in my position within the company. All of this bickering and backstabbing by both parties is only hurting eBay’s reputation and thus further cutting into the bottom line.

eBay IS listening and have hired a full time, unbiased person to create a venue that we all can voice our opinion without being removed from the posting sites which should increase the communication between the company and the community. I have personally made hundred of calls and letters to the company about a program I have developed and spent THOUSANDS of dollars investing in and not one person has been able to send me into the right direction for answers to my development issues. Perhaps this forum is the best thing eBay has done in a long, long time. You can read about it at: money.cnn.com/2008/03/...



Thank you for listening,
Shary

[Shary]

Enter your comment hereI would like to add one more comment. There have been reported auctions that if the DSR is below what the averages are, ebay has actually made a note on the auction to that fact and have actually said similar items can be found: and then give other sellers links! That is on an auction that a seller actually paid for! They have NO RIGHT doing that to a seller, ANY seller, no bad ther DSR's are. It is up to the buyer to make their own decisions.
BTW, my user name is Vintageaddict2

[neutral_jeff]

Interesting article, and very insightful comments. It sounds like the majority of comments are from very passionate sellers. however, to be fair, have any of you ever experienced a poor seller? one who sent you items that weren't as they described, and then threatened negative feedback if you gave an honest assessment of their subpar selling practices? it's fine to complain, but please suggest ways to address the issues of retaliatory feedback, and the proliferation of buyers getting screwed over by dishonest sellers. if there are no buyers, then it doesn't matter how well sellers are treated by eBay or what they do with selling fees. without buyers, eBay is about as useful as overstock.com. FYI - i am a casual seller and buyer.

[AussieBattler]

Paul , you bias and total mis-representation of facts are truly amazing and would be simply be unbelievable if one was not aware of your holding position of eBay stock .

Don't mind me quoting here:

"For all of those sellers who are upset with eBay, please click on this link and complete the following to be removed permanently from our site. We understand the difficulty you are experiencing. We tried to satisfy your needs to no avail. If after leaving the site you continue to harass us through vile messages, threats etc, a restraining order will be put into place. If you have had a change of heart and decide to come back, you would have to go through an appeal process that may take up to two years. We understand your complaints and are satisfying your request."
Last sentance is just blatantly wrong , feeBay do NOT listen to the hundreds of thouands of small/medium sellers who have built this 800 pound gorilla over the years.

The sellers built it up from scratch and I'm sure founder Paul did not treat those earlier folks in the way they are being treated now
Your dictatorial entry above must be out of ebay management 101 or apart from a few technical terms something out of Orwells 1984 !
If you cant report unbiased facts and why report , however with a log position in ebay this could not happen could it Paul.

This new blog that feebay is organizing, frank open discussion or more double speak ?
There is enough in the world for every mans need , not his greed !!
Greedbay knows no bounds for pilfering every last dollar , , pound or sheikel out of their customers (sellers) pocket
Watch MAYDAY May the 1st Sellers BOYCOTT (and a lot of buyers joining ranks now) and see how many combine sellers there are .
So here is an alternate solution before the empire crumbles , listen to what the majority of sellers are saying :
They don't want restrictive trade practices and the emafia butting into every facet of their business.

[AussieBattler]

Once again Paul same inaccuracies !!
Comments in other articles say's it all about your dictatorial attitude regarding sellers.
In most of the cases you state above price increases can be overcome by choosing an alternate service , business or supermarket/market .
As feebay is currently a greed orientated monopoly folks have had no choice .
They will have many in a short time , as other auction services improve and expand their services .
If you are a wagering man Paul , care to place a bet that ebay will still be in their monopolistic position in 12 months time ?
They will not be, they are self destructing at an ever increasing rate .
Others have seen a golden opportuniuty being handed to them on a plate.

[northernma]

Did you also know that Ebay is testing putting comments of their own..IN RED...on the sellers auctions stating "This seller has slow shipping". This was found on an auction that had 4/5 stars for shipping, which by Ebay's own standards is supposed to be "Very Good".

How can that be justified? The seller paid for that auction! If buyers want to see his shipping rating they are smart enough to look at his starts. And if I saw 4/5 stars on a movie, restaurant, hotel, etc. I would think that was POSITIVE.

And for the poster who mentioned bad sellers and retaliatory feedback. That situation definitely goes both ways! Some buyers are plain awful and know how to play the game. They say something is stained, broken, missing, etc. but they don't want to send the item back....they just want a full or partial refund! They do chargebacks 3 months after the fact with no notice. They say it was bought with "unauthorized funds" so you are out the money and the item. They try to extort positive feedback. I could go on and on. The sellers need protection from bad buyers. How can we know if a buyer is bad if the only feedback that can be left is positive?

[Tranquility]

You deserve high praise for writing this article. Very well said. Will the link be part of the 2008 changes coming to eBay? When people learn to appreciate opportunity and the goodness and success that is amassed by this genius platform, they too will learn gratitude.

[Monkeydungeon]

O.K. Paul , You have lots of feedback on your article. Care to defend your position with some research?

[Raia]

Hiding your lovely comments from readers again paul?

I would too, if I were you! lmho!

[reineeos]

After all the changes have taken effect this will be your world of selling on Ebay:

* A 4% to 67% increase on final fee's. (varies depending on price structure, check charts.) www.hammertapresource....;>www.powersellersunite....;br>www.hammertapresource.....

*All the years you have worked on keeping and growing a Positive Feedback percentage : GONE. It is now a 12 month rating period.
(Although your entire feedback history will still be able to be seen when accessed.)

Unbalanced feedback:
Seller's can only leave a positive. Buyers can give a positive, a neutral [neutrals will count towards your 5% dissatisfaction rate] and a negative.
The potential of abused negative feedback by a competitor, unknowledgeable buyer or a retaliatory buyer will have an effect on your account in these ways:
(Good Buyers do not be offended I am not referring to you. These other buyers do exist and must be acknowledged)

The Small seller who sells fewer items per year will be impacted on their percentage rating far greater compared to the much larger sellers who sell 1000's of items per month. If your percentage drops below 5% due to neutral or negative feedback or a DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) of 4.5 this is what will be required of you:


What Pay Pal will require from you:
PayPal will require sellers to accept either PayPal or a merchant credit card and will have a 21 day hold on you account if you meet this criterion:
(21 day hold means shipping your product without the money from that purchase or risking receiving a negative due to poor shipping time.)

*Seller's Dissatisfied Buyers more than 5% in the last 30 days
*Seller's Detailed Seller Ratings in the last 30 days less than 4.5
*Final price for the item (high ticket items, not based on feedback rating)
*Shipping & handling fee (to much charged, not based on feedback rating)
*Seller's tenure as an Ebay member less than 6-months (not based on feedback rating)
*Seller's total number of Feedback less than 100 (not based on feedback rating)
*Seller is listing items in higher risk categories (and sub categories) (not based on feedback rating)
(Pay Pal has reserved the right to make an exception per individual basis. For more info please use links provided)


What Ebay will require from you if you meet this criterion on your feedback rating:
*Sellers will get a decreased exposure in Best Match. (Buyers will have a harder time finding your auctions because other sellers will be placed above yours first)
*Your Auction page will have a note embedded by Ebay which will contain a red warning message in the Meet the Seller section indicating the Seller has a low Detailed Seller Rating (DSR rating.) This will happened when your DSR is a 4.1 or lower (4.1 is considered below the average and therefore not a good rating).www.ebaychatter.com/th...
*Sellers will not be allowed to qualify to be a Power Seller and/or will lose their Power Seller status. (Below a 4.5 DSR [12 month average] or 98% feedback rating [30 day average])
*Power sellers will lose all discounts if they do not maintain a rating of 4.5 or higher in all four DSRs within a 30 day period.
*Power sellers are judged differently in many areas. For more info go to: pages.ebay.com/service...

Further information can be found at Ebay site:
pages.ebay.com/sell/up...

Are you ready for these changes?

By the way, I ship for free and/or exact shipping amount charged by the post office which is printed on the label for the buyer to see. I do not charge for supplies or handling. I have not achieved a 5 on my DSR. I believe buyers are uninformed when it comes to the DSR system and do not understand anything below a 5 is detrimental to the seller on Ebay.

[User 161922]

The author may be biased, may write without any research, may spout garbage, that is his right. This is America and we do have free speech here. He also has a right to be stupid but I hope he isn't relying on his eBay position to keep him in cornflakes in his retirement.

Sellers on eBay have those same free speech rights everywhere *except* eBay. eBay does not tolerate any kind of dissent, on their venue and that is their right. It IS their venue.

Everything eBay did 'for sellers' was NOT done for sellers it was done to enhance eBay's business. That is what a corporation is supposed to do, grow. You have a new product or service, your customers pay for it, you grow.

The key phrase there is *your customers pay for it*, eBay is not a retailer, it is a venue. Sellers are retailers and we are eBay's customers, we buy their product or service and we pay for it.

Sellers on eBay can take their *junk* product and their *noise* elsewhere, since most of us are buyers too, we can take that activity elsewhere also. Other venues may not have the traffic yet, but neither did eBay in the beginning, I know this, I was there.

Yes there are rotten sellers out there, I have been ripped off by them too. It would be nice if eBay enforced their policies on high volume bad sellers who make them a pile of money but in the corporate world that eBay has become, it is not going to happen.

If eBay has lost touch to the extent that they no longer know who their customers are it IS time for us to move on.

I believe what most of us mourn is the eBay Community, but that too can be rebuilt, I'll see you guys * Elsewhere *, maybe up the River, on the Moon or in the Pond!

[How Long?]

The poster above did not even touch on the reason for the boycott, and why it is getting stronger.

For years now GREED-BAY has been getting more and more HOSTILE against we smaller sellers....the ones who have actually made eBay what it is today.

The Straw that BROKE the Camels back is Greed-Bays announcement that we sellers will no longer be able to post TRUE feedback for the many, many bad sellers that eBay has been recruiting the last few years.

Buyers can post negative feedback for any reason, or no reason at all to the sellers, but buyers will not even be able to post TRUE feedback for non-paying bidders.

Yes, the continued increasing of rates are totally uncalled for too. Yes, costs are rising on ALL PHYSICAL GOODS ITEMS, however rates for intangibles such as electronic listings only rise because of Greed. The old time proverb has been....."cheaper by the dozen", So therefore by the millions it should be getting even lower cost per each.

As PROOF of eBays wealth....just look where their (former) CEO Meg was listed as the worlds 8th most wealthy woman last year....by Forbes or Time....I do not recall who does that listing each year.

[User 82744]

I seemed to elicit quite a angry response to my first article titled "A Solution for Ebay & their Frustrated Seller Community. Through various articles, boycotts etc, the concensus seems to be that sellers are fed up with Ebay and are leaving in droves.

I simply suggested a link which would allow them to fulfill their request. Notice these frustrated sellers are always approaching Ebay with angry comments and threats. It reminds me of all of the so called celebrities; George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, etc who promised to leave the country if George Bush was elected President. However they are still here to this day. They had eight years to leave the country. Why haven't they left? Because they realize that there is no better country out there. The same can be said for Ebay. For example so many people chimed in and left comments to my article. However if these people have already left Ebay and are finished doing business with Ebay why are they still leaving comments about Ebay.

Enough is enough already. For example I love Sports however the ticket prices have gone through the roof; thus I do not attend any games. I have the freedom not to attend the sports venue; thus I do not which is a very simple logical way to look at the situation. I have been selling on Ebay since inception and Channel Advisor, formerly auction rover recently announced that they were doing away with my lifetime membership fee of $120 per year. If I remain with Channel Advisor I would have to pay $29.95 per month. How is that for price gouging?

This move barely created a stir in the Ebay community. This is ironic as Scott Wingo, CEO of Channel Advisor is always lambasting Ebay for their price increases. Think about it, an increase from $10 per month (supposedly guaranteed for life) to $29.95 per month for basically the same service. Can you guess what I am going to do? I am going to Leave Channel Advisor. I will not whine and whine for months on end

For those who stated I have no clue about Ebay; I have been a seller on Ebay longer than if not equal than you. Ebay did use to use billpoint and it flopped as most buyers and sellers where using Paypal. Thus by acquiring Paypal Ebay made it easier for buyers and sellers. Ebay had purchased Kruse International and Butterfields and Butterfields. Both companies flopped with sellers thus Ebay sold them for a loss.

The huge majority of the buyers and sellers I have met on Ebay have been wonderful. As for the law of averages you will always have one or two out of 500 that cannot be satisfied no matter how hard you try. Additionally the post office will always wind up losing at least three out of 200 of your packages once a year. However the majority of people understand problems that cannot be controlled. Thus buyers will not hold sellers hostage with any new feedback rating system. If you are a deceptive seller and charge $15 or more for domestic postage under one pound or sell inferior products than of course you are going to be upset. After all no one hates the authority more than the criminal element. For those of us who are honest sellers the feedback system will not effect us and only make the Ebay community continue to grow.

I only encountered what was fraud once on the site since inception and Ebay went out of their way to help me. Thus from the so called stories people tell about frustrated customer service you are probably contacting the wrong people to being with.

Regarding the price increases.the higher your item sells for the more you make and the more Ebay makes. For example a famous actress once e-mailed me and asked me to sell her an old deck of playing cards she was planning to throw away. These cards went on to sell for over $300 dollars on Ebay. Thus this actress was expecting zero dollars. She wound up selling her cards for $300 dollars. So from an angry sellers comments Ebay took a percentage of her $300 dollars. However if it wasn't for Ebay she would have made 0 dollars.

Ebay has also pumped most of their funds into making their site and paypal safe. Try going to another site and see how safe they truly are? If you really left, you may get fleeced and wish you were back at Ebay.

A company has to increase fees in order to enhance and make the site better than ever. Again this is a free country if you don't like Ebay leave already and quit whining. What hubris, to think that you are all irreplacable. The minute you leave there is someone to take your place. If you put as much effort into your constant whining as you do into your business you would be a success.

Thus for the final time, for those sellers who issue threats and vile comments. please stop whining and leave already. That will give sellers like myself and others who have pride in Ebay your business(if we are to believe you contributed any). For it is common logic that most whiners contribute the least and are a deterrent to morale Just look at the NFL Football New York Giants, the year that Tiki Barber, their biggest whiner left, they won the Super Bowl.

Thank you,
ebaymonday.blogspot.co...

Paul Rapa

[reineeos]

IT IS NOT ABOUT THE FEE'S!

I have left Ebay and am selling else where but I would love to return to Ebay this is why I keep fighting. Ebay is worth fighting over....to a point.

For me IT IS ABOUT THE FEEDBACK CHANGES.

I am one of the seller's with an outstanding feedback profile and DSR rating. I achieved this rating by working hard for 10 years and being an honest, trustworthy seller. I will not let my feedback be a victim to an unbalanced feedback system. In my experience Ebay has not protected me against unwarranted feedback. I only have one negative from years ago when a buyer confused me with someone else back in a time when you need not complete an auction to leave feedback. She left a positive with an apology right after the negative. It is in black and white on their own feedback board and they still refuse to remove it after years of trying. My seller name is reineeos and it is on the last page of my ID if you would like to confirm what I am stating. I would have 100% if not for this negative.

Do you even understand what is going to happen to us small seller's when all the new changes take effect? I do not believe Ebay will protect me. They haven't in the past why should I believe they would now?

Let me also point out. My ego can handle getting a negative I deserve. It is the negative's I don't deserve that worry me and how they will effect my bottom line.

With the new changes we will be penalized for someone else's actions. Ebay has directly entwined how we make money, how much we make and when we will receive it all dependent on our feedback profile and DSR rating's.

I do not believe you can judge everyone's experience by your own. I believe the variables such as what type of product you sell and how much it is can influence the type of buyer you attract. Therefore not everyone's experience is the same.

Any community (and yes Ebay is it's own community) will suffer when you do not allow equal rights to all. Then again, I do not believe this is not about the buyers and sellers.

IT IS ABOUT how Ebay can make more money thru the manipulation of the new changes directly linked to the sellers feedback.

[Scot Wingo]

Hey Paul,

Scot Wingo from ChannelAdvisor here. We never offered any lifetime guarantee of any pricing and als it's a mis characterization to say we are increasing prices.

In fact we are end-of-lifing our Pro product and offering people the ability to move to another product, MarketplaceAdvisor Standard that yes does cost more, BUT it is a different product and has vastly more and advanced features. eBay raises prices and delivers less (buyers) which is a cat of a different color.

Scot

[User 82744]

Hello Scott, you are entitled to your own opinion, however what you have done is unethical. You may put a spin on words to believe as such but to raise fees from $10 per month to $29.95 per month and then state that Ebay is increasing fees, well I would let the readers comment on this. You should go back and honor your committment to your loyal customers and offer your new product for $10 per month. After all we are lifetime members. Please do not put down Ebay for raising fees by a few pennies and then raise your fees by 200%. After all if there was no Ebay there would have never been an Auction Rover or a Channel Advisor.

[boycottmay1]

Hmm - the author is an emplyee of Feebay - think he's biased ?! Yet another member of the corporate greed community - as long as he's making the bucks he will smile....

[boycottmay1]

Ever heard of Standard Oil ?!? Well it's the same situation in cyberspace with todays e-commerce - ebay has the monopoly on the internet and now they own paypal - think they have very much control over e-commerce ?! You bet they do and when a monopoly occurs the price gouging begins. The government will step in eventually (they do want their tax money and need to put a stop to all the financial fraud) and maybe some regulation will then happen that will help stop the greed and price gouging. Until then we will pioneer to the other new auction sites that are springing up -

[boycottmay1]

Scott - you can't be so stupid. I think you are simply just trying to antagonize the public to make for interesting reading.

Ebay thinks they are invincible - so did Enron, Nixon, Rome, and the Titanic.....