Comments for Trouble at eBay

Trouble at eBay

2008-06-04T04:00:01Z

"I think [fixed prices] will disappear online, simply because it is possible - cheap and easy - to vary prices online." That was MIT Media Lab's Patti Maes in 1999, at a time when eBay's business was booming and auctions were seen as the future of ecommerce. Flash forward 9 years, and BusinessWeek is today calling online auctions a dying breed, Nick Carr is wondering if auctions were a fad. Indeed, the fixed price ("Buy it Now" only) format is beginning to dominate eBay, and the company has taken recent steps push fixed price even harder. But the death knell of the online auction format is not eBay's biggest problem -- no, that would be the small exodus of sellers from the site.

]]> eBay's business is still booming -- the company reported net revenue of $2.19 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 24% over the same period last year (that includes revenue from Skype, PayPal, and other eBay shopping businesses) -- but there are signs that trouble may loom in the core business. Fixed price BIN-only listings now account for 42% of the gross merchandise volume on the site, and the fixed price format has been growing at a much faster rate than auctions over the past 6 years.

In and of itself, that's not a huge deal. eBay is making moves to put more emphasis on the BIN-only format to guard against the slipping popularity of web auctions -- if auctions do turn out to have been just a fad, eBay is making preparations to reinvent itself as a traditional fixed price marketplace in the vein of Amazon. What should be of greater worry for eBay, though, is the number of sellers dissatisfied with moves the company has made over the past few months -- many made in part to push BIN pricing. Without sellers it doesn't matter which is the dominant pricing format.

eBay would argue that the number of active users has actually increased year-over-year by about a million. eBay's measurement of "active users," though, includes any user that has "bid on, bought, or listed an item in the previous 12-month period." So recent changes won't catch up to that measurement for awhile.

Sellers at Odds with eBay

We reported in February about a seller revolt at eBay that caused eBay listings to dip as many as 13%. It's impossible to tell if the boycott by sellers was the actual cause of any drop in total listings, but the larger point is that sellers felt the need to organize a boycott at all. That boycott was specifically about two policy changes at eBay that increased back end fees on auctions (which favors the BIN-only pricing) and changes to the feedback system that now prohibits sellers from leaving negative feedback for buyers.

But those aren't the only changes eBay has made recently that have put the company at odds with some of its most prolific sellers. One of the biggest was the switch to "Best Match" as the default search results view in a large number of categories on the site earlier this year. Many sellers railed against the switch, with some saying that the search algorithm had caused their sell through rates to fall dramatically. eBay's site wide sell through rates appear to actually be at the lowest point in many years.

That could be due to the company's recent partnership with Buy.com, who has flooded the site with fixed price listings (around 500,000 at any one time), with an abysmal sell through rate hovering around 5%. The Buy.com deal is indicative of eBay's slow transition away from its core auction format toward a more Amazon-like marketplace. But it comes at the expense of sellers in the categories in which Buy.com sells, many of whom have seen their sell through rates and visibility hurt by the flood of Buy.com listings.

At an eBay presentation to shareholders in January, the company showed off a prototype of a new split screen listings page that splits BIN-only listings off from auction listings and pushes buyers toward accepting a BIN (pictured above). Though only an idea that eBay is considering, the potential design change has some sellers worried.

"The sellers are leaving, with each new change you can see more posts on the eBay message boards where they are posting they are done, closed their eBay stores, ended their listings and are off," eBay seller nancybusinraleigh, who has been selling on the site for 10 years, told me. "And since eBay is doing the 'death by a thousand cuts' approach, this will continue." Nancy herself has stopped selling on eBay in favor of her own storefront.

Conclusion

Competing with Amazon on fixed price sales may be difficult for eBay. Amazon's sales increased 37% to $4.13 billion in the first quarter, eBay's net revenue from its "Marketplaces" (primarily eBay and Half.com) rose 14% to $1.26 billion. And if sellers are really leaving the site, then there is a potential that eBay could see a drop in volume. Fewer seller options, no product reviews, and no "Amazon option" that offers free shipping could spell trouble for eBay when attempting to compete seriously in the fixed price market. Major deals with large retailers like Buy.com notwithstanding, alienating the small sellers and auctioneers who helped build the site is probably not a smart move for eBay.

eBay's real future may lie with PayPal, though. PayPal accounted for just $559.7 million of eBay's total revenue last quarter (approximately a quarter), but year-over-year revenue has increased 34% -- the best year-over-year growth rate of any division at the company except Skype (which makes up just a tiny fraction of the overall business).

Comment from PimpMyClothes on 2011-03-27

2011-03-27T15:10:32Z

So you have a product or a service that you want to sell online, you may have already had some success via auction sites and feel you are ready to take the next step, why not because ebay has a monopoly and I found the %'s they charged topo excessive!

More and more people are looking for quick, Simple enterprise class ecommerce solutions! where they can be in control like: http://www.onlineshopcart.com/ I used them for my site!

Comment from Henrietta on 2008-07-02

2008-07-02T18:39:22Z

PayPal was functional before it was bought by eBay. After the purchase eBay fine tuned PayPal so it reflects eBay's current policies and moral tone. The changes to User Agreement this year are disturbing to say the least, any appearance of independence is gone.

PayPal's recent discovery of the money to be made on international exchange rates and consequent rate manipulations in favor of its own profit margins should raise very large red flags for any vendor who sells internationally. It may only be a cent or two on the dollar per transaction but multiplied by millions of dollars in transactions the harvest is very good, for PayPal.

I do not know any other payment processor that attempts repeatedly to thwart the buyers choice of payment method. This is directly attributable to the bottom line, the fees PayPal pays to process credit cards.

PayPal is not a true merchant processing facility, the credit card companies treat PayPal itself as a merchant.

Comment from Lu McInturff on 2008-06-29

2008-06-29T13:55:35Z

Go to google, click on news tab, on left choose ALERTS then Comprehensive. Its about 7 additional e-mails per day, but keeps you in touch with other PowerSellers, E-bay Promotional News Releases for themselves, issues around the world and bloggers.

What your fee's are paying for:

French court to rule in luxury group case against eBay
8 hours ago

PARIS (AFP) — A Paris court is to decide Monday whether to make eBay pay 51 million euros (80 million dollars) in damages to Louis Vuitton and other French luxury groups for letting fake copies of their goods be auctioned on its website.

Louis Vuitton Malletier, the handbag and luggage section of the LVMH group, and Christian Dior Couture are seeking 20 million euros and 17 million euros respectively for "negligence" on the part of the online auctioneer.

Four perfume subsidiaries of LVMH are between them seeking 14 million euros for "illicit sales" of their products in the proceedings that began a year and a half ago.

They say eBay knowingly let people use its site to sell fake bags, lipstick, perfumes and clothes from the famous brand names, and that even when authentic goods were on sale this was in violation of their authorised sales networks.

None of the parties to the case would comment when contacted by AFP.

Monday's verdict by a Paris commercial court comes amid a flurry of legal action against the online giant, which claims to have some 84 million active users in 39 markets worldwide.

Earlier this month, eBay was convicted by a French court of selling counterfeit goods and ordered to pay 20,000 euros (30,000 dollars) in damages to French luxury group Hermes.

The court ruling, which marked a first in France, found eBay directly responsible for the sale on its website of three Hermes bags including two fakes, for a total of 3,000 euros.

France's traditional auctioneers took legal action against the online auctioneer in December, accusing it of encouraging trade in pirated and stolen goods.

The council representing the auction industry also accuses the Internet trader of breaking a French 2000 law that requires all auctioneers to be approved by the state.

And last September, the cosmetics giant L'Oreal launched legal action against eBay in five European countries including France, over the sale of bottles of counterfeit perfume.

The case to be decided on Monday centres on three separate cases that legal authorities decided to deal with simultaneously given the similarities between them.

In the first two, Louis Vuitton Malletier and Christian Dior Couture sued eBay for "culpable negligence."

They said eBay was responsible for the sale of counterfeit copies of their goods on its site because it had not done enough to prevent such sales.

The perfume brands Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy and Kenzo meanwhile believe that even when eBay sells their authentic products, it is doing so illegally because the companies only permit their goods to be sold through specialist dealers.

In 2007, eBay says, the total value of items sold on its trading platforms was nearly 60 billion dollars.

Comment from Joe on 2008-06-28

2008-06-29T01:22:50Z

I have been moving my business from ebay, elsewhere. Amazon, Craig's list and looking for other smart choices. I am an ebay power seller and have been for 8+ years. Paying ebay an average of $1300 per month in fee's which keeps climbing even as my sales are going down. Doesn't even include the paypal fee's. If ebay's revenue is climbing, it is because they are bleeding the sellers to death that made them big in the first place. If this continues, there will be a snowball effect they will never recover from.
I am completely turned off now by their corporate attitude.
Squeezing every red cent they can to keep their stock price up is going to bite them is the a**. Everyone I know if fed up with it.
I can't speak for others, but profits are way down for me. I am paying more out to ebay and more in the marketplace for product. I am seeing much less traffic. Basic items discounted up to 70% that did or would have sold like hotcakes 2 years ago now just sit there. With the way the economy is there are less bidders. ebay makes up for it by sucking the dimes out of the sellers. More and more, until there are no dimes left.
I have moved my business around, seeing 40% less profit from ebay than the previous year and my fee's have not moved at all.
Where is all this money going? ebay claims that a large portion of it goes toward more exposure. If that is the case then why am I getting less traffic? My feedback is nearly perfect. I think 8 negatives out of 11,000+ positives and not one Neg. in ever 2 years. And I know how to sell my stuff, it is getting listed correctly. As I said, I have been a power seller for years. I am a pro at it.
I think with all of the money they are sucking out of our pockets there should be much more TV advertising.
I have seen none lately. They can definitely afford it. I wonder what their flow through is? 80%? maybe more?
I am paying $1300 a month for the use of their site... $1300.00 a month for a tiny spot on a server that requires nearly no maintenance from them at all.
I talk to a power seller rep maybe 5 times a year.
I don't owe them anything. Not even a thanks. They owe us a thanks for making them filthy rich. They did not invent the Internet or Internet auctions. It just happened to be a spot where a lot of people gathered and it turned into a big community. If it would not have happened there, it would have been somewhere else. My hat's off to the founder, but the corporation can go somewhere.
Enough is enough. I will be gone as soon as it is possible.

Comment from Kustom Kartoons on 2008-06-24

2008-06-24T13:04:51Z

Good article.... You can count me among the disheartened ex-sellers......

Comment from Gettin the word out on 2008-06-23

2008-06-24T03:46:23Z

I read an excellent article on the Blogger News Network regarding issues that Ebay has created for it's sellers. Interesting stuff on how they have crossed linked feedback in such a way to force sellers to do things the way they want. The article also touches on the Australian Paypal issue and also refrences the ongoing class action lawsuit that looms ever so precariously. And how Ebay cannot possibly continue to claim to be just a venue anymore with these new changes. Makes for very good reading. Check it out....
http://www.bloggernews.net/116216

Comment from Frisky Frocks Vintage on 2008-06-21

2008-06-22T06:22:40Z

eBay is surely destined to become the next Mega Giant Site of Cheap Plastic Crap from Overseas.

I have been selling Full-Time for 4 years now; never expected to become wealthy, but always held my head well above water. But the last couple months, something is going on; programming changes are being made that we are not even aware of. Mark my words! This is not something that I can prove as of yet (we're working on it) but just know that this "push" to weed out the small to mid-sized sellers with more unique merchandise (yes, the ones who made them!) it runs even deeper than any of us know. It goes far beyond the recent, very asinine Feedback changes and Search Viability. Call me paranoid, but I have been in contact with many other Small-To-Midi Sellers (over 250 at this point) and the sudden Drop-Off in sales was STAGGERING for over 82% of them!

And it was not the type of decrease in sales that can be accounted for by the recent slagging economy. It went much further than all of that; extremely drastic and sudden....and a staggering 32% of the people that I was in contact with said that they did NOT foresee being able to stay in business and were already either seeking other venues or looking for outside jobs at this point.

And I am within their midst, I'm sad to say. I've worked like a total dog on this business; I've paid eBay well over 30 thousand dollars in the last 4 years, and what do I have to show for it now?

Staying up late, now polishing up my Resume'

Comment from h j on 2008-06-20

2008-06-21T01:46:43Z

EBAY has changed their model by ignoring their customers (Sellers) and bringing in Buy.com listings (not a good model at all..they should have hired a pr firm to scope this out ahead of time).

They wll go down in history as the ecommerce equivalent of ENRON.

Comment from Leonard Grego on 2008-06-19

2008-06-19T12:22:00Z

I have been watching the jewelry Live Auctions on Ebay for some time now. I've also purchased several items.
I am convinced that these "Auctions" are fixed. I watch identical items come up many times (No problem with this - it's reasonable because I'm sure the sellers purchase many of the same items in bulk). The problem is that the Floor Bidders always bid identical items to the same value before any real bidding starts. This happens with both inexpensive, moderate, and very expensive jewelry. It happens so much and to such a degree, that the probability that it's happening by chance is virtually impossible.
What should stop this is the Auction House take of 12-1/2% to 15%, depending on the House. i.e. If someone bids up their own jewelry and nobody else bids higher they have to buy it from themselves with a 12-1/2 to 15% loss. Since it's obvious the prices are rigged, I cannot believe that sellers would pay the premium to assure a certain ground level price (which is usually quite high). Yes, I am flat stating there is cheating going on. A piece of identical jewelry always goes for a higher price on the live auctions than on the standard Ebay site. I have stopped participating and applaud Ebay for stopping these live auctions, too much fraud.

Comment from Lee on 2008-06-18

2008-06-18T14:21:09Z

Been a e-bay member since 1999.Have over 620 positives. Always maintained 100 percent rating. No negs.Went from a 100 pecent feedback rating to 97.6 percent for one nuetral recieved last year for something that didn't get there fast enough for the person...I started slowing down on my selling the middle of last year.Didn't buy much either.Alot of the good collectable stuff has gone.It's impossible to make any small profit anymore.I'ts a joke.Alot of the buyers now are getting impossible to deal with,they know they have you over the new feedback & dumb DSR system which was e-bay's BIG mistake.I can't understand why people continue to sell stuff on e-bay that you can buy anywhere else..A small seller like me has not got a chance anymore.E-bay forgot the sellers are also the buyers.Not going to sell anymore until feedback system is changed back to being fair.

Comment from John on 2008-06-17

2008-06-17T08:21:40Z

We now have the latest news that eBay have ignored the adverse comments about its new search system on the eBay forums and is going live with it. It is such a good system that when I search on car make, car model and air filter it comes up with brake pads. In addition to the company's lack of support for its sellers without whom there would be no ebay, we now also have the problem that it is going to be hard work for our customers to find what they need. They are not going to spend ages trying to find what used to come up straightaway under the old search system. They are going to go elsewhere.

Comment from Wade Escoffery on 2008-06-11

2008-06-12T05:32:19Z

I've seen one of my favorite ebay sellers that I suscribe to have feedback go from 100% (in 8 years) to 96.7 in 1 week!
Now he says he doesn't want to sell to certain states anymore because of this(don't know what the states have to do with it but my state is included now) and he's also had to add all these weird disclaimers and change his policy,so now all the good buyers have to pay for the bad buyers and it's not fair; all due to this feedback nightmare that everyone's talking about.

I think the best thing for sellers to eventually do is to just roll back to the oldschool way of doing things before ebay became this big wig. Just invest into your own website and promote it through Classified ads or get on google's marketing program (like those sponsored links you see on the bottom of the pages) and you too can have your items be in the top 10 searches. Forget Paypal and resort back to the good ole fashioned "Merchant account" where things have to be proven before a customer can get their funds back and or the seller has a fair chance to fight it.
Unlike the other nightmare i keep hearing with sellers and Paypal.
Just my two cents. I hope everything will work out for both sellers and buyers.

Comment from Joyce on 2008-06-10

2008-06-11T05:53:36Z

Ebay was built by the small sellers setting at they're computers working and selling they're products. Ebay supplied the forum and the little people built the business. Ebay more than any other Giant Corporation has really stuck it to the small business. Ebays entire business was made by these people that Ebay is now driving out. If ever there was a time that the average person has felt like they have had enough of corporate greed and would like to kill goliath, Ebay is the company and now is the time. If only some of this could be taken into public attention. The fact that the very sellers that built Ebay, are also people with families to support, or retired people that are trying to make a living, or disabled people trying to supplement they're income. Sellers are people that have been put out of work by the very company they buit.

Comment from John Swenson on 2008-06-10

2008-06-10T22:27:07Z

powersellersunite.com
go there, it is a service to all, sellers & buyers
there you will find all the e auction sites which are available to us. EX ebayer

Comment from marcia on 2008-06-06

2008-06-07T02:19:50Z

HERE IS THE LAST EMAIL THAT i RESPONDED TO EBAY WITH. i'M STILL WAITING FOR A RESPONSE. I'M NOT HOLDING MY BREATH.
I simply do not see where the feedback changes are going to provide " honest
and accurate " feedback." It is VERY loud and clear that the ONLY people
that are going to benefit from this is the buyer. There are times when the
buyer DOES deserve a neg.( not a personal attack ) and not only for non
payment. You have ALWAYS made it so complicated and frustrating for the
seller to resolve problems. ( sometimes you have to go around Finnigan's
barn to find what you need to resolve a problem or obtain information that
you are looking for ) Payment in ten days means payment in ten days. Not
when the buyer FEELS like it. All the buyer has to do is respond to a NPB
complaint and it let's them continue to "PROMISE " payment. If a seller
decides not to continue to play this game and close the complaint, no FVF is
returned. We are STILL losing out. The seller has to file a NPB claim, wait
until the seller responds and start the process of back and fourth messages
through Ebay. This could go on for days. In the end, we may or may not be
paid. The ONLY two options that are available to the seller are to either
give a positive ( even if it is not an " honest " opinion or to give no
feedback which still let's the " bad " buyer be protected. Sellers are not
able to look at the buyers profile to see if they are a reliable buyer or
not. The only thing that you would see are positives. What is the point to
that??? The only people that are satisfied with this " NEW " policy are the
buyers. Again because they are protected. I'm sorry if you do not agree
with me but I simply can not see this any other way. It is NOT fair to both
sides. Sellers can not give other sellers the heads up but buyers can
actually ruin a sellers reputation. What kind of leverage do you think that
will give to some people? Let's face it, there are a lot of nasty people out
there on both sides. I feel that some of these new policies are being done
deliberately and definately being created " exclusively " for the benefit of
the buyer. By checking out chat rooms etc. I have found that I am not the
only seller to feel this way. I just feel that in time, more and more
sellers are going to be leaving Ebay and going elsewhere because of the
unfair policies that are being put into place. Most of us work very hard to
create good auctions to provide the buyer with the chance to purchase items
that they are looking for. There is a lot of work that goes into selling.
The buyer simply has to go on line, find the item that they want and bid on
it,write a check, purchase a M.O. Or use PayPal. If they choose to pay at
all. Again, if the terms of the auction clearly states that the seller only
excepts M.O. Or bank check, SOME buyers use whatever methods they choose to.
If a personal check is sent, it has to be sent back. More work for the
seller and also more time lost in receiving payment for the purchased item.
I feel that Ebay does not REALLY have a clue as to how these procedures
REALLY work in the real world. If they do, then they are deliberately making
it very difficult for the sellers. For what reason? Do you not want sellers
that do not sell high end products only? or that do not have Ebay stores? Or
that choose not to use Pay Pal ( owned by Ebay? ) I simply can not figure
out what your real goals are. They definately do not include being " fair "
to both parties. As I have stated in my email, A NO FEEDBACK policy would
be better than the monster that you have created. I see absolutely nothing
in your email that really makes sense to me and I do not consider myself a
stupid person. I guess that when corperations are only really concerned with
dollars and cents, they seem to lose some of what is really important and it
sure isn't anything about the people that have made them what they are
today. How sad.
It really makes me sad that Ebay has changed so much ( and not for the
better ). I always loved selling on Ebay and have met some wonderful people
but these new policies have really damaged what was once such a wonderful
site to work with. Sometimes the old saying, if it isn't broke, don't fix it
is a good rule to go by. I know that this email is very long and that I
sound very angry and frustrated. That is because I am. But that is not as
bad as the sadness that I feel about what has happened and is continuing to
happen to Ebay. A place that I always loved to be a part of.
Again, I am sorry that this email is so long and even though I feel that you
do not REALLY care about my opinion,( that is partly why I do not usually
participate in surveys ) I feel that I have to let you know how I feel about
this whole thing.
I do wish for better days ahead for Ebay and their wonderful people, Buyers/
sellers that have worked so hard to make it such a success

Comment from Marcia on 2008-06-06

2008-06-06T23:12:44Z

THIS IS A COPY OF AN EMAIL THAT I SENT TO EBAY.I am not one bit happy or comfortable with the new feedback policy. The
buyer is allowed to leave neg. feedback but the seller isn't??? This
policy does not allow sellers to check and beware of buyers that either
do not pay or are undesireable buyers. This seems very unfair to me.
There are buyers that are very mean and nasty no matter what you do.Also
some buyers simply do not pay for items once they have won the bid.That
entitles the seller to receive a FVF reimbursement( after going through
" the process ") but what about listing fees? not to mention the time
and effort to relist the item. I'm sure there are sellers in that
catagory also. Therefore, Maybe it would be better to completely do away
with feedback altogether.This would be the " fair " thing to do for both
sides or, maybe
everyone should have their profile " private " and not bother with
feedback at all. As you probably can tell this " new " policy has
really upset me because I think it is designed to protect the buyer but
does nothing for the seller. Most of us work very hard to provide items
for people to have the oppertunity to purchase and enjoy.The wrapping
and shipping is also work. A lot of time and effort goes into listing
items. Hmmm. Seems a lot more work than making out a check, M.O. or pushing a button for pay
Pal. Can you please explain to me in simple terms that I can understand
why your " new " policy is better than the old one? I think that as long
as the new policy is in place, I will not participate in feedback at
all.
explain to me in terms that I can understand why your new policy is
better " maybe I will be able to understand it.
This is the answer that I received. A BUNCH OF BALONEY! DID NOT REALLY ANSWER MY CONCERNS. WHAT A JOKE THESE PEOPLE ARE.

Marcia, eBay's goal for the public Feedback system was to provide an
honest and accurate record of the buyer's and seller's online experience
to ensure safe and satisfactory trade. This goal was driven by the
desire to create an open environment and to ensure that eBay members
were accountable for their transactions

Over time, we found that the open nature of the existing Feedback system
makes some members reluctant to hold others accountable. For example,
buyers fear retaliatory Feedback from sellers if they leave a negative.

Therefore, we have made a few important changes to eBay's Feedback
system, both public and private, to continue to improve accuracy and
accountability. Within six months these changes should help to
differentiate and reward sellers who provide a positive buying
experience on eBay.

Moreover, if your buyer has failed to pay for an item, you should file
an Unpaid Item (UPI) claim. If the buyer fails to respond to the UPI
report, then any negative or neutral Feedback they have left for the
particular transaction will be removed. If the buyer shows a pattern of
such behavior and is suspended for UPI, all negative or neutral Feedback
they left will be removed.

Sellers should only file a UPI claim when a buyer did not pay. Filing
false UPI claims is a violation of eBay policy and may result in seller
suspension.

We will continue to change eBay's public and private Feedback system as
the Community and the online marketplace evolves.

If you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reply to this
email and let us know.

Sincerely,
Edna
I DID REPLY TO THIS EMAIL BUT OF COURSE I NEVER RECEIVED A REPLY. ANOTHER JOKE.

Comment from Zoe Salem on 2008-06-06

2008-06-06T16:10:46Z

I am trying to register and therefore place a bid. You did not sent me an e-mail with a sign on,. I have never used e-bay before, and don not understand why I can not register. Rather unhappy with you guys. Zoe

Comment from An Observer on 2008-06-06

2008-06-06T12:55:22Z

Ebay appears to be going the tradtional route that all companies which come into existance by selling software or providing onlines services and them which turned into giant monoliths which came to dominate the niche which they either created or became the dominating popular choice in that niche, they are moving to try and be all things to all people while at the same time trying to steer everything in their marketplace, their users, their vendors, their partners, etc. We've seen this over and over again now, when something in the software or cyberworld get popular then the makers begin to demand more and more concessions from its users from which the users have no choice but to conceed due to the nature of using computers/internet. And the nature of computers/internet is that in order for lots of people to really use it to communicate with each other then they have to speak a common language. Software forces common languages on to users who initially love it till the software gets so popular that the software begins to tell you what you want rather than really listening to you and providing what you really want. From this point then software begins forcing its users to accept all sorts of things up front they don't want (see EULA for example) when you install the software or you can't have it, which means you can't "speak that language" and thus participate with those who do. Microsoft is the best example of taking over a marketplace so completely then making it impossible for anyone else to really have a chance. You either "speak microsoft windows" or you don't and if you want to but you don't want their terms, too bad, and then you cant communicate with those who do speak "windows". The internet is a system of languages and Ebay has created a language that sells items online. And to play in their pool you have to speak their language which means you have to accept their terms or you can't play. With little meaningful cometiton to ebay and ebay pretty much going the route of Microsoft by defining who can play and how and how much you have to spend and on and on and on ebay is beginning to have the same backlash that all Tyrants eventually receive. They have become the same kind of bully that microsoft is, that oracle is, that so many of the small people who hold patents which you must use or you can't participate in something. Ebay is trying to do it all and rule their world and they don't much care about their original intent, they just want money and total power over who can and can't play and how. The strength of the internet is that we can all communicate with each other, its weakness is that to discuss something you need a language, and those who gain the power to control the language of something on the internet gets to patent it and control it. In the real world language is free, and only services are paid for. In the cyber world language costs and you can only speak what you pay to speak, THEN you pay for services too. BIG difference.

Comment from GoFrostfire on 2008-06-05

2008-06-06T06:54:14Z

The bottom line, not enough people can now make money selling on Ebay. 2000-2002 were the years to make any money on Ebay.

Comment from Patricia013 on 2008-06-05

2008-06-06T05:51:40Z

I remember going to Ebay Live in 2004 in New Orleans. It was so exciting and when we went in for the gala dinner on the last evening of Ebay Live, Ebay employees formed two lines and as we all walked into the Convention Center....they applauded us! There were thousands of us at that gala dinner - I hear there were some 700 ebay employees also there - all dressed alike. It was an evening I'll not forget. I felt so proud of ebay and what all of us accomplished by selling there and I truly felt management was proud of us too. There will never be another company like Ebay - and Ebay will never be like that again. :-(

Comment from Simon Slade on 2008-06-05

2008-06-06T00:39:26Z

The question now is whether eBay has the ability - or even the desire - to come back what used to the site such a fantastic experience. eBay used to actually care about its members, not just the bottom line. Now it seems that the community is a fairly low priority - and this is despite the fact that almost every other popular website at the moment has a very strong community base! eBay is severely bucking the trend here, and not in a good way. The recent litany of errors, as discussed in my latest blog post on Salehoo.com, has angered so many people, that it's going to take a massive turnaround from eBay to win those people back again.

Comment from dance2nite on 2008-06-05

2008-06-06T00:15:11Z

Very refreshing to see this article. I hope everyone posting here has taken the time to read thru the Discussion Boards at eBay. This started last summer and so many still do not have a clue. Read the Boards...it is all there and eBay has even made it very clear. Fortunately, I read the Boards there in January and by mid- Febuary...I saw the writing on the wall. I left, will not go back to buy or sell. I too found NeoLoch, The Friendly Auction Site. It started with a few and is growing every day. I believe in directing my energy toward a positive direction and neoloch.com is it. A new beginning which will be a household name one day and Sellers/Buyers will have reason to smile once again.

Comment from Sadie's Attic on 2008-06-05

2008-06-05T14:58:39Z

I do not understand with the massive changes inflicted on eBay why they didn't shut the site down - change it - and reopen it with all the changes made at one time. It would have been much less painful for all involved.

I do not think that auctions are dead. I think there can be a healthy combination of auctions and BIN. Also think people should be given incentives to list more and sell more - not be knocked in the teeth at every turn.

With some of the other's posting, I have picked up my eBay bags and moved to http://neoloch.com.

Please check out the community boards.

Comment from Ray Cornwall on 2008-06-05

2008-06-05T14:35:44Z

The removal of negative feedback from seller to buyer was a heavy-handed solution to a serious problem. For years, a bad seller could make it hard for a buyer to let other buyers know of any problems. I've had at least three retaliatory feedbacks left against me by sellers after I had to get refunds from PayPal for unsent merchandise.

Comment from Nancy on 2008-06-05

2008-06-05T12:50:24Z

Thank you so much Josh, you've opened the proverbial can of worms and as you can see by the comments from ebay members (past and present), the saturation point of frustration has been hit. In some cases, exceeded.

The problems at ebay/paypal are numerous and branch like a windshield crack that has been exposed to extreme temperatures. It spiders in every direction.

To expose the behavior of ebay and paypal is to give voice to hundreds of thousands of members who have been the recipient of the total lack of customer service two entities have ever been guilty of.

Worse, it goes beyond just the lack of customer service, but encompasses fraud as well. Yes, fraud.

This story is one any seller on ebay who uses paypal will recognize, over and over and over again:

http://www.kirotv.com:80/consumer/16494930/detail.html

Keep blogging Josh, you've just scraped the surface.

Comment from Simply Soft Elegance on 2008-06-05

2008-06-05T12:32:31Z

I agree that Ebay isn't and won't ever again be what it started out to be. It was fun and prosperous.
That is so gone. Ebay is on a downward spiral that it has been for some time.
I left selling on ebay September 2007. As of February 2008 I joined www.neoloch.com, Moved all my stock and set up a FREE store too.
I have been selling, meeting many ex-ebayers who are also happy to be selling there. The forums are friendly & helpful, the auction site is easy to use, with free listings, free re-listing up to 9x and as I mentioned a FREE store. No risk. I would encourage anyone looking for a new auction site to come check it out:)

Comment from Honeygetridofit on 2008-06-05

2008-06-05T10:31:12Z

Regardless of what eBay "was", it isn't now and will never be again. Unfortunately, all the boycotts, written comments and rants will not change the "vision" of management.

Therefore, I think eBayers will simply have to make a decision....remain or not.

For those choosing the "not" option (I am one), the search begins for a new venue.

My choice is NeoLoch, the Friendly Auction Site (www.neoloch.com).

On the auction side, listings, photos, gallery and stores are FREE with a very small FVF. Can't lose on this one!

On the Forums side, the community is incredibly helpful and friendly. Need help, just ask.

With listings, etc, being free, I think it's a no-brainer...you have nothing to lose and you just might find a comfortable new "home".

Comment from Ro on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T05:25:16Z

"Competing with Amazon on fixed price sales may be difficult for eBay."

There's the mistake right there!
Why join into a market that there is plenty of?
If they had stuck to what they do best, not raised fees so much and not went rule crazy, they would probably still be doing quite well.

All they did with the fixed prices is attract the kind of people that like that probably shop at the mall and other fixed price sites. They didn't really change that many people who like auctions, they just chased that crowd away.

The fixed priced items are usually over priced or their shipping is over priced, most often end with out bids and/or keep cycling through. I don't know how some of those sellers do it, they are just donating fees to Ebay. The pages are packed with them, so a regular auction loving person just get annoyed.

I've been selling on Ebay for 8 years. I used to love to selling small parts to people that used them because they were not made any more. When they made it non-cost effective to put small ticket items on for many sellers, then those buyers could no longer find unusual parts. Those buyers also buy other things too, but when Ebay takes away what it is known for, then why should those customers come around?

Their greed and size has made them flustered, focus has been lost, and human kindness is not even a part of them any longer.

My hubby has sold on there for 12 years. With recent changes, his competitors have reported a few of his actions as bad. But they were not bad, but Ebay doesn't care and leaves the alerts on his "Dashboard". The next one he will get kicked off. Not many of the sellers realize that after about 5 alerts you are gone!

Between us 2 we have earned Ebay tens of thousands. Do they care? Nope!

They fixed what was not broke, flubbed things up more than they want to say and now they are running scared. The new guy is a "stream liner", which people are in denial of. Stream liners mess with stuff and get a company ready to put up for sale. If he gets the site into such sad disarray that it can be sold cheap, it could get better after that or be gone entirely.
The other parts of Ebay which they have added no longer needs the auction part.

Comment from KD on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T03:16:14Z

To Marilyn,

It's too late. The plans were laid three years ago and constant changes are planned for the next three years. The new CEO, Donohoe, saw ebay as a triple disruptive innovation (his term (learned from some kind of ego professor) for ebay, PayPal and Skype) and he thinks he has to disrupt the businesses before someone else innovatively disrupts ebay, PayPal and Skype before he does.

Paranoid~

He never understood ebay, unfortunately. I think it's fair to blame Meg Whitman, with whom he worked with at another company before both of them went to ebay. They both are money animals and all the greed is killing the best of ebay.

I have been reading as much as possible about the downfall of ebay since I noticed something was really wrong, when as a buyer all of a sudden my bidder user ID was masked. I went crazy when that happened and knew it was the end.

Oh well, it's over and no one can tell this Donohoe guy he's ruining a very good thing. I think he thinks he's going to be the savior of ebay. Time will tell and I doubt it very much (that Donohoe will save ebay, since ebay was working very well the way it was before he touched it with his greedy hand).

He is immoral and unethical in the way he ruined business for thousands of small business persons by forcing changes he knew would force small sellers to want to leave the ebay site. He's tricky, because he didn't want it to appear that way, but anyone that studies the situation at all will easily see what this man did to so many people.

Comment from Patricia013 on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T03:03:33Z

I'm a 10 year small seller who has consistantly kept 50+ auctions running until the advent of John Donahoe and his "disruptive innovation." I stopped listing with a ten year old 100 percent feedback record and DSR's of 5,5,5 and 4.9. With ebay's "best match" I've heard it rightly called "bowel movement" I am listed as "standard" - my reputation is not good enough for elevated because I'm not a large volume seller. That left me so far in the back of that bus that I ended up with a few hits every day and almost no bids! Today, I am listing on smaller sites and on my own website. I'm not making as many sales as I USED to make on ebay...but what I do make is mostly MINE.....and I have my self respect back again.

An ebay rep recently told me that Ebay brings buyers and sellers together and the sellers know it - I felt that was quite a pompous attitude because that was true years ago but hasn't been true lately and not at all true since they turned the site into turmoil and drove a wedge between buyers and sellers just this year. My hope for John Donahoe and his crew....a good personal dose of "disruptive innovation" to all their positions!

One last opinion - Ebay will NEVER be Amazon for one good reason....they have NO customer service and never will - they don't want to spend the money on customer service manpower. Without it...they will simply be a cheesy clone of what Amazon is and soon they'll be doomed to utter failure.

Comment from KD on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T02:46:18Z

ebay did fail to realize that most small sellers were also buyers. As a buyer I spent over $30,000.00 from 2005 -2008. For one individual that is a lot. I do not buy on ebay anymore and will not sell again either. ebay is no longer compatible with my selling style. In my opinion ebay has reduced itself from a unique, wonderful site to a common online conglomerate slumming it's way around the e-commerce universe, (and ebay will not be able to compete).

Very stupid management and too many cooks~

Comment from Marilyn on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T02:42:40Z

I have to dissagree that auctions are a dying breed. I still
use auctions exclusively and do just fine with them. I dont sell much, but what I list does sell consistantly.

Ebay has overcomplicated the process and taken control of peoples businesses which has killed inovation and enthusiam.

The fees are way too high and the attempt to force the use
of Pay Pal is not something buyers or sellers are likely
to tolarate.

Remember, this is a massive group of entrepeneurs, not Ebay employees that make this site work like it does, not the kind of people to be told how to run
thier business. Not the kind of people to be treated like uncooperative children.

Between Ebay and Pay Pal fees sellers have had to increase starting prices, buyers dont get the bargains because of this too, it cant be helped.

Ebay was begun as a free and open trade site, management interfearence in that is killing the business.

I am not saying they should not address fraud, they should,
but they havent and that is a big problem too.

The very best thing Ebay could do for itself and all its sellers is listen to them! Put things back to what they were in the early years when everyone, buyers and sellers had fun with it. People having fun buy!

We need a time machine in reverse bad here.
Fixed price sites are a dime a dozen online, there was only one Ebay. Going to a fixed price mall will put the final nails in the coffin for Ebay.

Comment from Mrs.R on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T02:15:51Z

Josh, I'm so glad to finally see an honest assessment of what is really happening to the 'average' sellers on eBay.
Keep researching, there's a lot more !!

Larry (post 14) "what precisely does a bad buyer look like ?"

Check out the "Sopranos Meets eBay in Feedback Extortion Scheme" on Auctionbytes. The post by "dakota" on
Sun June 1 2008 01:41:24 has a copy of the email that the seller received.

You won't find it on eBay, the seller that posted it on 'Seller Central' did NOT self report the thread, it mysteriously disappeared.

Lots of threads have disappeared lately.

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2008/6/1212292804.html#comments

Comment from Melanie on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T01:57:58Z

ebay is going to be a thing of the past in Australia.
They dont seem to realise that we have standards and ebay does not meet those standards anymore.
I spend around $8000 a year on ebay and from last month I have shifted all my buying over to bang4bucks im so sick of these big companies walking all over us.
My regular sellers are willing to list products where I want to purchase from so I dont have to use paypal .
Other auction site in Australia are going to be the same as ebay now that they are public companies, they only one that isnt is bang4bucks and that where I will be spending

Comment from ardonau on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T00:41:10Z

"eBay's real future may lie with PayPal";
which accounts for this attempt in Australia.

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/823668/fromItemId/776499/display/submission

Through an ACCC error the final, damning submission was detected as coming from Google.

Comment from Debi on 2008-06-04

2008-06-05T00:31:00Z

Ebay will continue to lose business... What they failed to realize, is that most of the sellers that left the site (including me) were avid buyers too... The numbers of vacater's grows daily... Read the seller boards on there... It's a shame!!

I will never make a purchase on that site again...

And paypal... Once they've taken money out of your account due to poor security on the site, they will lose also... I will no longer use that part of their company either...

With the padded listings they've created, they've tried to cover up the drop in listings, but in the long run, you can't hide a loss...

I see the end of the ebay era forever... They lost site of whose work and money supported this company from the beginning...

Greed... In a nutshell...

Comment from Eli on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T20:12:42Z

The Ebay core business has lost its touch with its customers. Your article demonstrates it in spades. If Ebay wants to be like Amazon then they should spin the buy it now business into another division and just keep harvesting the auction business. Why kill a cow that still produces. I believe that the unique auction style Ebay HAD is a great money maker (It did build Ebay didn't it?) So this is another case of lack of understanding by management. There is no glory being in the used , auction business but there sure is a lot of money to be made.

Comment from LegendsOfBatman on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T19:57:12Z

My own mini investigation on this very troublesome Buy.com issue shows a much lower sell thru rate.
However, I will admit, this is based on real time stats, and, is merely a sampling. But, here are the facts I discovered; and, while the numbers change, as items come up and fall off, the results are the same: SOMETHING stinks in San Jose.

As of a couple days ago, Ebay's category Books, had over 900,000 listings.
Buy.com (Ebay user ID: Buy) had over 500,000 active listings. Of those half million plus listings, over 420,000 were in books. That translates to about 44% of all listings under books.
I mentioned their sell thru rate was lower than 5% and as of a few minutes ago, I was basing this on the sampling. However, I have more official numbers, and the numbers are astonishing!
These numbers were taken from Terapeak and are based on a 90 day history.
The most current info I have:
Seller: Buy
Total Items Listed: 2,708,987
Total sales: $3,924,907
Successful listings: 64,638
Total Items Offered: 249,431,285
Sell through rate: 2.39%
Average Sale: $44.43
MINIMUM listing fee would be: $270,898.70 (based on the minimum 10 cent listing fee, AND does not include dutchj auctions).
Minimum fee, including dutch auctions: $24,943,128.5
Does not include Final Value Fees.

So, the question here is, "What's going on ebay?". We deserve to know. Your investors deserve to know.
Tim
http://forums.delphiforums.com/boycottebay/start
http://myspace.com/boycottebay

Comment from Philip James on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T19:08:34Z

I like that it says "confidential" on the slide...

Comment from Larry Eiss on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T18:41:19Z

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback on my comments above.

I can see that eBay has issues that are vastly different from my own experience. The idea of backing out of a bid I won never even crossed my mind. The concept that a competitor would be such a loser as to create a buyer account just to give negative feedback is also stunning to me.

In the end, I'm sure that a more ethical system will be found, or eBay will rightly die.

Comment from Andy on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T18:11:13Z

Thank you for this very on-target article. Ebay has certainly become an un-seller friendly marketplace, with moves that have made many considering leaving the site altogether.

Ebay has diminished sellers motivation to correct customer purchase issues. Once a negative score is left, it is there for good. If a troubled buyer defaces a big box store by painting negative comments on the door. The store promtly removes it. It's bad for business. Ebay sellers have to live with it. There is no recourse.

The new Best Match default search is leave sellers struggling to be seen, even though we pay the same fees for our listings.

Feedback ratings are also seeing changes. One of the biggest changes was to the way Ebay calculates the overall score of a seller. Neutrals, which Ebay said would never count against a seller score, now do. They now only count in the overall calculation, but they are weighed equally.

Once a company that listened, responded to and celebrated the people that populated their marketplace, is now becoming a company focused only on it's own survival. But can they survive without us?

Comment from I Love eBay So Much It Hurts on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T16:50:54Z

GREAT ARTICLE!

Has anyone posted this to the eBay INK BLOG so they can INK SLAP it?

;)

Comment from Blondie on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T16:30:22Z

Well This is just another way for Ebay to pad their listings with Buy.com's products. As a fellow boycotter noted if you study Buy.com's listings they hardly sell anything with the thousands upon thousands of listings.

This in turn is hurting the smaller seller because they get lost in the search because of buy's 518840 items.

Just another way for ebay to push out small sellers as well as large ones too.

Comment from CEP on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T16:17:20Z

Refreshing to read something that has actually been researched and not gotten from the ebay feed machine.

Josh, please believe me when I tell you, you have only scratched the surface of this all. When these changes were announced I sat back and thought about them. My conclusion then has been confirmed of late. "All roads lead to paypal" my friend. That is the path to walk if you really want the full story. JD has mentioned a few times that paypal is where they will focus their growth. To grow anything you have to feed it. ebay is the food dish.

Comment from J. Gorman on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T16:09:13Z

You can email the article I found by going back to the top of the article and clicking on a button titled Dig It. From there you can share.

Comment from Wiggler on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T15:49:26Z

Thanks for the good article. However can we please get some form of "Email to a friend" functionality on the site.

Comment from J. Gorman on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T15:36:57Z

What is a Bad Buyer? How about an individual that bids on an item and wins. A binding contract under terms outlined in policy and agreed to by the individual prior to the sale. The individual decides not to complete the sale for whatever abscure reason. I have even witnessed an individual on ebays feedback discussion board purposely bid on a sellers auction with the express reason to leave that selling individual negative feedback. That is the hostile marketplace that eBay is becoming and the seller has little or no recourse under current policy. That seller can't even place a positive comment for the bidder stating anything negative such as "Bidder never paid for auction", "Bidders claims are false" etc...

Another interesting thing not mentioned is how eBay is currently "padding" its auction to make it appear that the actual number of items has not decreased in the wake of sellers departing. Buy.com as listings ranging from 400,000 to 700,000 at a given time. Add to that sellers, some who in their listing clearly state that they are an actual employee of ebay have auctions ranging in 20,000 and have dismal percentages and approximately 50 negative comments with a month.
http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=frogswamp
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=frogswamp&&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller&sspagename=VIP:feedback:2:us&iid=220224714604

There are bad buyers and bad sellers...whats missing is the level playing field eBay claims.

Comment from M. Elaine Layton on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T15:32:24Z

For years I have bought much more than I sell on Ebay. However, I am now looking to other auction sites because of the changes that Ebay is making. Would never have even thought of looking some where else if it hadn't been for the changes. What I think what Ebay may not be thinking about, is that most of the people who sell on Ebay also buy. If we get upset about their selling changes, it's a good bet that we are going to stop or slow down buying there. I have 100% pos. feedback, but I can't help but wonder how long that will last.

Your article was very good. I'll be watching to see if you have any follow up articles!

Comment from Josh Catone on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T15:23:08Z

@Larry #13: If eBay loses its single-person/small business sellers and transitions to a fixed price site where you seek the best price from corporate partners like Buy.com... well, isn't that what Shopping.com is for?

Comment from Kathy on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T14:47:08Z

The feedback changes have also allowed buyers NOT TO PAY for the items. Ebay allows a total of 15 days for a buyer to pay. That is quite a bit of time.

Comment from Chiatt Price on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T14:36:58Z

I think the reason why seller feedback is important is because it is a check and balance on the system. Sellers are not "forced" to pay for an item they may win and that negative feedback option was a good way to keep sellers in check and compel them to pay. If Ebay's system immediately collected the money from the bidder then that would negate this but they don't do that.

I know for my ebay store I would get a good number of people wanting to back out because they overbid (I list things in both BIN and Auctions and people consistenly bid higher than the BIN price) and what am I supposed to do? They wouldn't pay for the item and would leave me a negative if I left them negative for being a non-paying bidder. Seller should have the ability to at least charge the bidder the fees Ebay charged for the unpaid-for auction. These small amounts add up...no wonder why shipping is a rape these days...it is used to build up a 'rip-off fund' from shady buyers. And I can almost hear Ebay smack their lips over the idea of charging a Final Value Fee on shipping, too. It will happen...wait and see.

FYI - Ebay Live auctions are a freaking scam. Never use them.

Comment from BK on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T14:35:35Z

In response to number 14:

I've been selling on ebay for over 10 years and am currently a powerseller.
A "bad" customer can do serious damage to the seller under the new rules.
They (the buyers) have the ability to downgrade the
sellers rating causing an increase in eBay fees, lower
sales and a 21 day "payment hold" contingent upon
the buyer acknowledging receipt of the item.
If a seller has a total of 100 sales, it would take
2 negative or neutral feedback ratings to eliminate
any fee discount available from ebay.
A total of 5 neutrals or negatives would result
in a 21 day payment hold (if paid online).
If you are skeptical that this would happen, please
visit the ebay forums and discussion groups.
Many "bad buyers" are actually sellers with a seperate
buying account that are trying to eliminate their
competition.
Notice that Neutral Feedback is now considered to be NEGATIVE.
I have recieved neutral feedback from foreign customers
because they felt that the item took too long to arrive.
The item was shipped within 24 hours of payment and the delay
was caused by the customs clearance process of their country.
Under these new rules, 2 neutrals caused by a situation
such as this would eliminate any hard-earned auction fee discount.

Comment from Mooner on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T14:31:26Z

I stopped buying on E-Bay a long time ago, once they refused to do anything about extraordinary shipping rates and started allowing fixed pricing to dominate. The original attraction to e-bay was the ability to find those great deals and if you ended up in a bidding war with other clients, well that was part of the fun. I can usually get what I want just by going to the host sites now, and bargaining with the site owner.

Too bad, it was fun while it lasted.

Comment from Magnus on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T14:06:44Z

Following are many of the reasons Ebay sellers are leaving .
I sold on ebay for 10 years and now they tell me I am a bad seller !!! I am close to being kicked off ebay for using "like new " in an auction listing years ago - only to find out that ebay considers this as spamming ?? the item was like new BTY !
Ebay treats its sellers as if they are prostitutes and Ebay is our PIMP . I am tired of getting slapped around and told what to do - the new dashboard is an insult to the sellers and is a slap in the face -- this is why people are leaving --what ebay is doing is an abusive attack on the people who helped build it . We were ebays customers and now ebay treats us as if we are scum!

GRIEVANCES, MISSION AND TERMS STATEMENT

GRIEVANCES
1. Feedback Changes
A. Buyers will only be able to receive positive feedback effective May 2008.
B. Feedback older than 12 months will no longer be applied towards your
feedback percentage.
C. Neutral Feedback will now be considered as negative to determine buyer
dissatisfaction rate and seller account restrictions
2. DSR'S (Detailed Seller Ratings)
A. eBay allows buyers to think that a 4.0 (on a scale of 1-5) denotes good
business practices by the seller regarding item as described, communication,
shipping time and shipping and handling charges, while sellers are subjected to
various penalties for that same score.
B. DSR's are rated on a curve. Results of this curve may make even a rating of a 4.8
the median in a given rating category.
C. DSR'S will now be intertwined with "Best Match" search positioning.
D. eBay is unjustly red-flagging "good" sellers as well as "bad" sellers by stating
sellers with a 4.5 rating (On a scale of 1-5) now have a "low" rating, thereby
implying they are in the category of "bad sellers".
E. "Bad" Sellers will be kept because of their monetary value.
3. Minimum 21 Day PayPal Hold For Risky Sellers And Risky Categories
A. Sellers whose total feedback score is not more than 100 will have payments held
for up to 21 days.
B. Risky category sellers will be subjected to a 21 day hold, even well established
sellers.
C. Sellers with 5% or greater negatives in a 30 day period will be subject to the 21
day hold regardless of the circumstances.
4. Unreasonable Fee Increases
A. Promoted to the Ebay community as decreases, only the insertion fees were
decreased. Insertion fees decreased by $.05 with the gallery picture given free
($.35 savings) yet FVF (final value fees) raised by as much as 66%
B. Reserve fees increased from $1.00 to $2.00 and will no longer be refunded if
the item sells.
C. Store FVF's (final value fees) increased to 12% above and beyond monthly and
listing fees.
5. Miscellaneous
A. The universal anonymous bidder policy promotes additional
unsafe buyer practices and has led to buyers losing trust in the system.
B. The majority of Power Sellers will not qualify for newly stated discounts
C. The note "This item is not covered by buyer protection on eBay," which is
placed in two areas of the listings of sellers who do not offer PayPal, causes
harm to the good sellers' reputations and intimidates buyers.
D. eBay sellers are red-flagged on their listing page if their rating is 4.2 and below.
(per the beta test)
E. When sellers are red-flagged, eBay also lists other sellers' items on said sellers'
listings. (per the Beta Test for eBay Express items)

Comment from Larry Eiss on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T14:03:27Z

OK, I've read the other comments and just have to add another point.

What, precisely, does a "bad buyer" look like? I fail to see why sellers need to rate buyers. If I win an auction or buy a BIN item, the seller gets my money in their account before I ever see the product.

There is no parallel for this idea of rating buyers in the world beyond eBay either. Publications like Consumer Reports rate suppliers, not consumers, for example.

The very concept of rating a buyer is specious in my view. Nothing more than a distraction from the real point.

If sellers aren't making a profit on eBay they need to raise their prices or find another sales channel where they can make money. This is business 101, and every company in the world faces the same situation every day.

Comment from Larry Eiss on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T13:56:14Z

I have to say that I think the exodus of sellers is not a real problem for eBay at all.

Frankly, it's buyers that need to be kept happy and I, for one, like BIN and find auctions too time consuming. To top it off, my chance of winning an auction at a reasonable price is low, for items in demand, because of bots and snipe programs. I have a job and can't sit around monitoring eBay in the hope that I might save five bucks.

If sellers can actually make it running their own storefront, then more power to them. Maybe I'll even be able to find them and patronize their businesses. My guess is however, that they will end up coming back to eBay (or perhaps moving to Amazon) to regain the visibility such powerhouse sites bring.

In the end, it's simply not a sellers' market.

Comment from Eric J. Gruber on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T13:39:19Z

I'm surprised that Google or Amazon hasn't tried to get in on the online auction pie.

Comment from Dean Saliba on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T13:09:09Z

I've found myself drifting away from Ebay recently for reason such as this.

Comment from Misty on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T13:06:24Z

This is the only article that covers the story from the inside seller view, please keep them coming.

Another big issue with sellers is the DSR ratings (detail seller ratings), eBay has attached these ratings to seller performance and has instituted punishments towards sellers for low ratings, however eBay has deceptively skewed the ratings telling buyers that a 4 is good yet require sellers to maintain a minimum of a 4.5 or sanctions and punishments are enforced on sellers some even leading to suspension, many have all ready been suspended because of these ratings.

To me the big issues are with feedback and DSR's.

I have been a seller and buyer since 1998 and have quit selling and buying because of these new changes.

Comment from David Himel on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T12:42:22Z

The very simple long and short of ebay is...sellers are leaving because they are not making money. Ebay like many larger companies have entered the mature phase of their life cycle. Like governments and other big monopolies, Ebay has created a multiple taxation system where fees are charged at many different waypoints along the gateway but to the seller it is all one price that adds up to no profitability. Combine the huge fees with a confrontational attitude toward small sellers and small and medium size business' and the model looks more like an authoritarian oligarchy than a commerce model. Ebay devotes most of its policy these days to stopping sellers from getting around the rules, and sellers struggle to achieve profitability. All the while ebay caters to the worst quality, highest volume sellers that flood the site with crap. Collectibles were the "porn" that built the site, and that is what ebay targets for elimination!

Comment from MBA Geek on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T12:35:47Z

Nice article. It's great to get an analysis of what a player as big as eBay is doing to the market and, really, how it's digging it's own grave.

Personally, I feel eBay should go back to it's roots and strenghten both their seller and buyer communities. Alliances with buy.com might seem great in the short term, but competiting with Amazon in the fixed price market isn't what made eBay what it is today.

Time to focus back on your core strengths: the community that drives you!

Comment from Henrietta on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T08:30:09Z

This is one of the better reasoned and most accurate articles I have read on eBay in a long long time. Congratulations.

Please read my response on my blog at www.redinkdiary.blogspot.com

Comment from Near Earth on 2008-06-04

2008-06-04T07:36:14Z

The other Real Trouble at eBay & PayPal is that their Fees end up taking Too Much out of the sellers Total Profits.

To learn how much eBay + PayPal are Realistically taking out of Sellers profit, please check out this new eBay Profit Calculator here:

eBay & PayPal & Alts PROFIT CALCULATOR

If used over time it can also help eBay Sellers learn how to increase their profitability (by showing which items make more profit and which ones make too little).

If you like it, let others know. :)

Comment from J W on 2008-06-03

2008-06-04T06:52:40Z

If eBay management keeps the new one-way feedback system all sellers will be taken advantage of, large and small, by dishonest or demanding buyers. A new transaction rating system, "TRS", is in order for the security of all online commerce. A "trust score" where all buyers and sellers develop a permanent lifelong history, and all appropriate categories of member contention are rated at a single web portal, are tallied and compared to all other similar products and members. Ebay would be the ideal place to begin this process as it is a unique and vital venue for our heritage, economy and for the environment.
JW

Comment from Ebay is a Sinking Ship on 2008-06-03

2008-06-04T06:50:28Z

Ebay is a ship that is just starting to sink due to internal rot...stupidity and greed on the part of Ebay's Ceo and top management. It's not just the fee increases and feedback changes....I think it's basically the condescending attitude that Ebay top management has shown towards sellers. Sellers have no say in anything and are treated like so many barking seals that need to be trained to jump through an ever increasing # of hoops to get their rewards (a stupid 15% discount on already jacked up final value fees). To me, Ebay is just another 4 letter word. I bet Donahue probally dresses up in a Napoleon or King George outfit behind closed doors.

Comment from Disgruntled Ebay Powerseller on 2008-06-03

2008-06-04T05:45:28Z

If you want to see the revolt against ebay, that is going on, you can go here to join in or just see what ALL the sellers are talking: http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=113

Comment from Disgruntled Ebay Powerseller on 2008-06-03

2008-06-04T05:42:57Z

5 star article, in my book.
You covered just about all the bad points. Need more emphasis on the fact that sellers can no longer rate BAD buyers, to warn others of their dirty deeds. By May 19, 2009, ALL buyers, good AND bad, will have 100% feedback, since they can no longer get negatives or neutrals, from sellers. Where is the equality here?

And to go in and retroactivley count previous neutrals (which buyers left KNOWING that it would NOT affect the sellers feedback) as Negatives, is absurd.

Ebay has mase such a BIG mistake.

Comment from Fabian Schonholz on 2008-06-03

2008-06-04T04:50:50Z

My personal opinion is that eBay,or any company for that matter, should pay attention to its clients; specially in the case of eBay which the smaller guys made it happen. Bringing in big partners that compete with its core is a bad idea. And alienating its core is a worse idea still.