N E Buddie

A Stockholder, and Merchant, Loses Confidence in eBay

Very serious problems mount at eBay with Paypal support - false Item Not Received disputes and Not as Described claims, and now the silencing of the seller in feedback.
Is there a rabbit in eBays hat? Is this a marketing or business arrangement experiment, or is this a very disturbing and sinister version of company value manipulation? Is there going to be yet another secretary document shredding investigation?
It may appear suspicious that eBay would form a business arrangement with Buy.com at the same time as the implementation of the controversial reputation and revenue damaging feedback policies.
Whether or not management is "padding the numbers", (with questionable Buy listings and others), in a veiled attempt to keep up appearances, allowing time for new empowered buyers to gather is debatable. Whether or not there is a solid case against eBay for the Better Business Bureau, the FTC, the SEC, the Attorney General or a class action lawsuit, or even a criminal prosecution is a matter to be very seriously pondered. Whether or not John Donohoe will ever face justice, whether or not these policies constitute a criminal act, whether anyone is liable for irreparable harm is yet to be determined.
Seemingly beyond an attempt to "cook the books", these combined policy decisions may appear to be the opposite of a "pump and dump" investment scheme, - a "bear attack"- (an attempt to drive down the value of company stock,) and bears close scrutiny.
If this is not a clumsily masterminded conspiracy, or misleading and deceptive practices, or some attempt to monopolize certain category sales for under the table profit, then what is it?
Is leadership on the line with an attempt to defraud investors while the company poses to repurchase an announced 1.9 billion dollars worth of company stock, and is this going to become headline news?
If there comes an announcement at the Live! convention of the cancellation of the questionable Buy.com agreement, if there is a sudden rollback of the feedback policies all this will just be coincidence and management comes out smelling like a rose, right?
Wrong.
When the gavel drops, company reputation, member trust and potential revenue have been wasted. The rising global flood of competition grows, steadily eroding this pathetic sand castle.
Obviously at the very least, these decisions will be the focus of investigation and study by students of economics and law, by business law specialists and by media now and for many years to come.
Until proper member safeguards are adopted, from the perspective of countless users, eBay company reputation is no better than that of their worst member.