Not Seeing a 'Better & Safer' eBay 63 comments
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John Donahoe must have slept through SPIN 101 at Bain if he really expects buyers and sellers to believe that eBay (EBAY) is “better & safer” since he made PayPal mandatory for sellers that do not meet the following criteria:
1) The seller has higher than 5% buyer dissatisfaction rates (DSRs);
2) The seller has less than 100 feedback; or
3) The items are listed in categories with higher rates of buyer complaints.
And when John can’t find a reason to hold seller funds, PayPal will do it for him because they granted themselves absolute authority to hold sellers funds hostage for up to 21 days without having to give an explanation.
Feeling safe yet? Not me. John has yet to fix a serious security issue he was notified of 2 years ago by US-CERT that allows hackers to steal the following information without exerting any effort whatsoever:
1) Name, address, eBay User ID, email address
2) Last 4 bank account numbers and routing number
3) Last four credit card numbers and expiration date
4) Watched auctions, saved searches, favorite sellers
This begs the question of how can eBay be "better & safer"? It can’t. A member of John’s staff, Usher Lieberman, put a cute SPIN on the security flaw after it was demonstrated by Ina Steiner a few weeks ago.
He must have failed SPIN 101 too because “disabling script” doesn’t make sense. eBay is a script dependent site and the programmers seem to write nothing but bad script because nothing works right anymore.
This author surfed eBay for about an hour this morning and wished she hadn’t. Best match was a joke, site links were broken, listings wouldn’t load, page not responding errors were numerous, shipping calculator didn’t come close, checkout wouldn’t, live chat was dead, discussion boards were shut down, and then it got worse – eBay went completely offline (confirmed by my ISP) for the umpteenth time.
Is this the new “better & safer” buyer experience John has been touting? This author suspects it is, which helps explain why eBay is fast becoming the internet’s largest ghost town despite John’s apparent belief that sellers are working for him.
How else could the “stars” be explained? In reality, sellers work for themselves and John works for eBay. John has an “at will” contract which means he can be “invited” to leave at a moment’s notice without explanation and sellers have choices.
I suspect that on May 7 sellers will shout “Take this Job and Shove IT” because that’s the day PayPal will start “sharing” all eBay members' personal account information with John and the entire eBay corporate family.
Disclosure: Author is a long time eBay seller
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All the efforts at security, DSRs , feedback changes, punishments for sellers etc, have left the site a battlefield instead of a rich farmland that will grow the business in the coming years.
Announced improvements never seem to materialize, while the site emphasizes these areas to improve "the buyer experience".
Most sellers do not feel plastering ads all over the site is improving the buyer experience. Many large sellers didnt have great feedback but you know buyers kept buying from them anyway. Just as Walmart has that 70% or lower customer satisfaction rate yet keeps bringing in the buyers.
Too many changes of one kind and not enough excitement and new ideas coming forward. I can give many examples but Im all talked out on this subject. Like everyone else, just keeping up with the changes is a full time job.
Perhaps Ebay will finally finish this cycle of change and move on to better things. The site still inspires passionate comments both positive and negative and it will only be when everyone is silent that the opportunities will end.
Marty
It is refreshing to see that both you and Mr LaRouche have actually taken the time to do some REAL reporting on the issues involved with selling and buying on eBay now the new changes are coming into effect. The biggest changes, yet to be revealed, are the decline in both ACTIVE seller numbers, GENUINE numbers of listings, and buyers who actually buy rather than just look, ie. sell through rates, which remain at a dismal level below 50% and usually closer to 40%.
One slight correction, if I may, is that the eBay community (yes buyers AND sellers) renewed boycott is set to start on May 1st rather than May 7th. Of course, many have continued the February boycott and have no intention of returning to being active members until eBay once again becomes a place where they can once again get that feeling of "well being" while they conduct business at the so called "only a venue" which is rapidly turning into one of the most dictatorial places of business available. Unfortunately eBay's inability to manage it's own problems is leading to more and more restrictive measures to try to combat those problems instead of facing facts and actually cleansing their own practices first. What do I mean by this? Simply that eBay appear to take little or no action against fraudulent sellers and buyers because they are more interested in short term dollars than long term resolution and reputation.
Thank you & yes, I know the boycott goes into effect on May 1 because my finger is poised waiting to press the boycott button on my store, lol.
The new Paypal policy goes into effect May 7. Guess they failed SPIN 101 too because it's jibberish. Here is the new policy in it's entirely:
Amendment to the Paypal Privacy Policy
Effective Date: May 7, 2008
Beginning May 7, 2008 the PayPal Privacy Policy is being amended as to the purposes for which we share personal information with other companies in the eBay Inc. corporate family. These purposes are now as follows: to provide joint content and services (like registration, transactions and customer support), to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts and violations of our policies, and to guide decisions about these related companies' products, services and communications.
Dinah
And the only think I could see that could be added to is that the 21 day hold on the sellers monies at the whim of paypal can be extended to whatever ammount of time that paypal deems fit... So the 21 day is just a window, but they did add the clause that they could extend that period...
Thankyou for showing the bare facts :)
Thank you for your reply, it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO refreshing to know that some authors do actually read the comments (not sure the kool-aid ones do, but maybe they are just thick skinned)
Thank you again for publishing such a great article.
Thank you! I've been a victim of the "Paypal window" myself. The only purpose it serves is to create a means by which Paypal can earn interest on our monies by "floating" it.
I have more respect for a thief!
Dinah
Just read this and I as well, wanted to add one more thing. There are MANY people that have continued boycotting since the Feb dates. There have been grievances drawn up, websites started, state leaders appointed, newsletters circulated, media contacted..and all this is still going on. We gain speed with each passing day so that when the May 1 Boycott comes around, this will be a much more forceful issue for Ebay than it ever was.
Thanks a million! You've given me a great idea - Dinah Balk should have her own website. I could post policy changes, boycott info, etc.
Dinah
eBay has underestimated the "mood" of the buyer. Buyer's build trust with specific sellers and if an eBay seller is being hurt by its venue (and conveys its story to its buyers) a percentage of their buyers will follow. eBay was built upon a community and as such, sellers and buyers have formed bonds over a period of months and years. It is for this reason that sellers can take a percentage buyers with them and move on.
There was a time when our towns boasted a corner store and five and dime store. As time goes by those stores have disappeared and have been replaced by large chain stores. When we drive by what used to be the five and dime (which is now WalMart), we have a sense of loss. We knew the mom and pop owner of the five and dime and in many cases knew their history within the community.
eBay had one thing going for it and that was its ONLINE community of sellers and buyers. Your eBay storefront was your five and dime (so to speak) and sellers established relationships with their buyers.
Again, the loss of one seller starts a domino effect and others will follow. The community begins to take on the "look and feel" of a large chain store focused on simply moving merchandise (through a portal) which no longer resembles a "community".
Sellers who don't fit the new and improved eBay model are left to fend for themselves and/or get exiled off of the site through no fault of their own.
John
Have you ever tried selling off-eBay? How was that experience? Its so easy to trash a company like eBay but if you're so frusturated why don't you stop selling there? Move on??
Jack
I didn't trash eBay because all I did was tell the truth. And I'm not a frustrated seller because I own a successful paralegal firm.
btw, you never told us YOUR qualifications.
Dinah
When any company can create a monopoly (online or off) it's bit a hard to ask that question. What some may not understand is that for those who have relied on ebay for their living were not expecting ratical changes, which affected the majority of sellers.
In fact, it's been stated that even more changes are on the way. As for trashing eBay, no one is trashing eBay in their articles, simply pointing out observations and stating opinion.
In Febuary 2008 Citibank estimated Paypal earns approximately $10M quarterly "floating" our monies. Other financial institutions estimate a little more & some a little less but all agree on one thing - floating is profitable! That's why eBay buries it in their quarterly's.
Dinah
I'd also be discouraged... The sellers have had it with this site and they are flocking to other sites to build their stores and auction listings back up... When sellers leave, you lose a huge population of buyers because the sellers are the one's who are the most faithful to the venue they sell on...
I used to spend abut 1000 dollars a month on ebay... But that was before the boycott... Now I wouldn't spend a dime on there... I am only one of thousands of boycotters who feel the same way... The sellers who are left there are feeling the sting of an empty mall and they're paying through the nose for it plus allowing ebay to set them up for failure with the new deceiptful star rating system they have implemented...
It amazes me that people will continue to allow this company to steal money from them, use them for a padded bank account, and still come out loving them... It's almost like the abused child syndrome...
Keep up the good work Dinah and I WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU HAVE A WEBSITE!! You have a wonderful way with words which are easy to understand and to the point...
BOYCOTT VICTORIOUSLY!!
1st quarter earnings are looking good! lol.
Disgruntled eBayer's are saying that eBay is going to go broke after May 7th? lol.lol.lol.lol.
Nothing could be further from the truth! I predict eBay will hit close to $40.00-$45.00 by Christmas!
eBay is getting it together. eBay will be a safe and fun place to shop after the new rules go into effect.
eBay is not all about auctions either, there is pay-pal. Most reputable businesses take pay-pal on the internet, and more are joining every day. People love pay-pal it is safe and secure.
All this rubbish about power sellers striking on eBay is nonsense. A few people are out to make names for themselves. Every seller that sells 100 items a month is a power seller, lol. Means nothing!
Instead of griping and moaning why don't these people just move on. Millions of people love eBay. They should all get a life! lol.
eBay must do what is best for all! They must protect their buyers to keep sellers. If you have no buyers, you don't need sellers. It's kind of like the chicken and the egg. Who came first? Buyers or sellers?
eBay needs both! eBay will also be keeping an eye on who leaves a negative. It's not all one sided. I believe they said that if a buyer leaves more than three negatives in a given time period they will investigate and there must be a good reason for it! If not the buyer will be kicked off the site!
Most of the time the seller and buyer work things out mutually. In some cases this cannot be done however, (fraud-deceit) and a negative must be left. Hopefully the fraud seller will change his ways after the first such negative.
Buyers who hassle or threaten the seller with a negative because they want the item for nothing, also need to be caucious. Three negatives and eBay will investigate their motives. eBay is not stupid!
I believe eBay will be fair to seller and buyer.
Current Share Price: Ebay = 32.75, AMAZON = 76.92
Revenues: Ebay = $7,672 mil, AMAZON = $14,835 mil
Net Earnings: Ebay = $348 mil, AMAZON = $476 mil
Price/Cash Flow: Ebay = 47.40, AMAZON = 75.30
Total Return (12-mos): Ebay = -2.9% (yes, this IS A NEGATIVE 2.9%), AMAZON = +25.3%
Total Return (3-yr): Ebay = 3.9%, AMAZON = 137.5%