Dinah Balk

eBay Buyer Incentives Are Not a Good Bargain

No matter what the reason for the Paypal 60 day hold, it's wrong, doesn't benefit consumers, and Paypal still earns money on the float. Paypal can claim that they're worried about chargebacks but this is nonsense because chargebacks are actually charged back to the seller.

eBay Buyer Incentives Are Not a Good Bargain

Good morning -

I shop almost exclusively online because it's more convenient and I've never gone to a website that offered a sale or any other discount (with the exception of Staples rebates) and not received my discount IMMEDiATELY as part of the transaction.

The 60 day hold on buyer's rewards is insane & designed for one purpose only - to line Paypal's pockets with money earned on the float because it doesn't take 60 days to process a payment!

And no, I don't hate eBay but I do take exception to any CEO who systematically destroys successful sellers & their families by introducing disruptive innovations that don't make sense & never work.

eBay Buyer Incentives Are Not a Good Bargain

Hi everyone!

Just a short note to say THANK YOU for your comments.

I think everyone can agree that DONAHOE is the problem and the only solution is for the board to fire him IF they want to salvage eBay.

And eBay has a lot of nerve announcing a "sale" that is anything but a sale because the word REBATE was never mentioned - not even once!

The Skype's the Limit

he stares ahead for a ditch to crash eBay into . . .

about the size of the Grand Canyon, lol.

No Christmas for eBay Sellers

Good morning Bob C -

I suspect Bonanzle will ultimately replace eBay because 1) it's a clean site; 2) it's very user friendly; 3) it uses basic simple keyword searches; 4) listing is FREE; 5) FVF is inexpensive; 6) payment method is not dictated; 7) the user agreement is written in plain English; 8) etc. etc. etc.

Yes, I too noticed that the "experts" are conspiciously silent. I predict eBay stock will ultimately trade at less than $10 a share because even Wall Street (who's always the last to get IT) finally realizes that Donahoe's disruptive innovations are a complete failure.

Have a great weekend!

eBay Q3: What it Means for Sellers

Scott -

You could have saved a lot of time & energy by just stating "Donahoe destroyed eBay." Nothing sums it up better than that, lol.

No Christmas for eBay Sellers

Thank you DownWithEbay!

One can only wonder how much money eBay generated in listing fees, final value fees, and paypal fees (including money earned on the float) for all counterfeit items because after all that's what eBay does best - levy fees, lol.

Which begs the question "What was Donahoe thinking?" which he added diamond powersellers who get charged NOTHING for listing fees, use their own merchant accounts, and drive traffic AWAY from ebay.

Have a great evening!

No Christmas for eBay Sellers

Good to hear from you Et tu Brute!

Yes, it's all about trust & most sellers don't trust Donahoe.

Every distruptive innovation he has rolled out seems to be designed to rid the site of it's most valuable asset - small sellers who sell items you can't find elsewhere.

Have a great evening!

No Christmas for eBay Sellers

Good morning everyone!

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to post your comments because small sellers (those who aren't diamond powersellers) are being systematically destroyed by Donahoe's disruptive innovations.

Last nite I noticed that if you put search terms in quotes best match automatically EXCLUDES some categories in search results. This is disturbing but not unexpected given Donahoe's track record.

Did Donahoe really think we wouldn't notice?

No Christmas for eBay Sellers

Good morning everyone & thank you for your comments!

It's 7:30 am, eastern standard time, and I just discovered that listings for EVENT TICKETS are not showing up in eBay's "new & improved" best match search engine.

I started my search on eBay's home page. Typed in EVENT TICKETS and was taken to a page with only 63 search results - most of which were not tickets.

Prominently posted above the search results was a link to STUBHUB. Then I noticed an OPT OUT link on the far right, clicked on it, and was immediately transported to eBay's home page where I did my search again & got the same pitiful results.

What an insult to small sellers of event tickets!

No Christmas for eBay Sellers

Good morning DownWithEbay!

Yes Donahoe has down everything in his power to destroy any seller who doesn't sell mass produced widgets made in China that anyone can purchase cheaper in a Dollar Store, Walmart, or Kmart.

When Paypal becomes mandatory, which I think is tomorrow, there will be a mass exodus of sellers because no seller wants to be subjected to Paypal's built in FALSE POSITIVES which allows Paypal to hold sellers' funds while they earn money on the float.

But I suspect that the NOISE will have the last laugh because one half of all Paypal revenue comes from eBay and when there's no sellers left Paypal won't have much income to report.

Have a great weekend!

No Christmas for eBay Sellers

Dinah's response to user273650 -

Good morning! I sure hope Santa leaves small sellers that Xmas gift because if he doesn't there probably won't be an eBay left.

Have a great weekend!

eBay: Q3 Looks Good but Q4 Guidance Disappoints

Blame IT on the economy? Not in this lifetime!
The blame needs to be placed on Donahoe where it belongs.

1. He destroyed eBay's SEARCH FUNCTION so finding IT is like trying to find a needle in a haystack 10 feet tall.

2. He capped shipping fees for media items so low that they don't even cover seller's actual costs.

3. He "lowered" listing fees by doubling final value fees.

4. Paypal is now mandatory for all sellers who don't have merchant accounts. Checks & money orders are banned.

5. The number of listings no longer reflect actual paid listings because buy.com & a few other diamond powersellers pay little if any listing fees.

6. Nothing works on the site due to constant changes & bad script. This includes shipping calculator, the sell your item form, markdown manager, etc. etc. etc. Many pages won't even load!

7. He drove buyers & sellers off the site with excessive advertising in direct competition with eBay's sellers.

8. Buyers & sellers are constantly being opted into guinea pig tests from which there is no escape.

9. Bill Me Later is inappropriate for eBay sales because it opens the door to chargebacks due to nonpayment & I suspect this cost will be passed onto sellers.

10. Last but not least Donahoe is directly responsible for eBay having to defend itself in an antitrust lawsuit (Malone vs. eBay) for violation of the Sherman Act and Paypal defending itself in Mehmet vs. Paypal due to FALSE POSITIVES that automatically hold sellers funds.

So is eBay a good bargin? I don't think so, not even at $1.00/share. Any company that allows its CEO to implement changes that make no sense and destroy a company piece by piece isn't worth anything.

eBay's Bill Me Later a Bad Idea

There's been some disagreement about how many days Paypal can hold a seller's funds so I copied & pasted the portions of Paypal's user agreement that specifically addresses this issue.

Please note that under Restricted Activities, paragraph 9.1., subparagraphs l & m below are most often used to hold funds:

l. Conduct your business or use the Services in a manner that results in or may result in complaints, Disputes, Claims, Reversals, Chargebacks, fees, fines, penalties and other liability to PayPal, a User, a third party or you;
m. Have a credit score from a credit reporting agency that indicates a high level of risk associated with your use of the Services;


10.2 Actions by PayPal. If we have reason to believe that you have engaged in any Restricted Activities, we may take various actions to protect PayPal, eBay, a User, a third party, or you from Reversals, Chargebacks, Claims, fees, fines, penalties and any other liability. The actions we may take include but are not limited to the following:

a. We may close, suspend, or limit your access to your Account or the Services (such as limiting access to any of your Funding Sources, and your ability to send money, make withdrawals, or remove financial Information);
b. We may contact buyers who have purchased goods or services from you, contact your bank or credit card issuer, and warn other Users, law enforcement, or impacted third parties of your actions;
c. We may update inaccurate Information you provided us;
d. We may refuse to provide our Services to you in the future;
e. We may hold your funds for up to 180 Days if reasonably needed to protect against the risk of liability; and
f. We may take legal action against you.

And here's another clause in Paypal's user agreement that gives Paypal the right to hold sellers funds. Please note that the time period is NOT defined.

10.5 Reserves for Premier and Business Accounts. PayPal, in its sole discretion, may place a Reserve on funds held in your Premier or Business Account when PayPal believes there may be a high level of risk associated with your Account. If PayPal places a Reserve on funds in your Account, they will be shown as “pending” in your PayPal Balance. If your Account is subject to a Reserve, PayPal will provide you with notice specifying the terms of the Reserve. The terms may require that a certain percentage of the amounts received into your Account are held for a certain period of time, or that a certain amount of money is held in reserve, or anything else that PayPal determines is necessary to protect against the risk associated with your Account. PayPal may change the terms of the Reserve at any time by providing you with notice of the new terms.

eBay's Bill Me Later a Bad Idea

Dinah's response to dmshs -

Bill Me Later is an eBay acquisition, just like Paypal, Skype, etc. In a recent CNN interview, Donahoe stated that Bill Me Later was purchased to help increase eBay sales.

You should check eBay's user agreement because PAYPAL IS MANDATORY for all sellers unless they have a merchant account, which most small sellers can't afford.

You might want to surf the net for Mehmet vs. Paypal or Malone vs. eBay. Mehmet addresses the issue of Paypal placing fraudent holds on sellers funds by automatically generating FALSE POSITIVES. Malone addresses eBay's flagrant violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Both cases are being decided by Judge Fogel.

And I hope you like your personal information shared with every single eBay acquisition because eBay added an addendum a while back that allows all eBay companies to share user information with eBay's entire "corporate family."