19/2/2008 - Ebay - Sellers are sinking the boots into them - shares are dropping...
Because this was such an EXCELLENT article and it has some very reasoned arguments put forward, by people who know their stuff... I decided to lift it from this site.
Ebay Sellers Revolt
seller revolt to last a week
Posted Feb 17th 2008 11:10AM by Douglas McIntyre
Filed under: Bad news, Products and services, Launches, eBay (EBAY)
The uprising against eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) by its sellers is now scheduled to last an entire a week from February 19 to February 25. According to CNNMoney, "Sellers say eBay's new policies are likely to cost them more money, but what's really inspired an outpouring of wrath is an adjustment to eBay's feedback system: sellers will no longer be able to leave negative commentary about their buyers."
Under the new system, egregiously bad behavior by buyers will not be shown to other customers coming to the auction site.
The action does not come at a particularly good time for the big online auction company. Its shares have fallen from a 52-week high of $40.73 to under $28, fairly near their period low. Investors do not need another reason to be tempted to sell the stock.
Why management made the move is still something of a mystery. Obviously the company believes that over time it will make more money with the new system, but the bad PR and loss of some business from sellers may offset that.
A company that is already in the dog house with Wall Street would be better off waiting for good news and a recovery in its shares before making a move which risks harming its top line.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Tags: EBAY, eBay feedback, eBay fees, eBay sellers, inthenews, online auctions
*
* Permalink
* Email this
* Comments [14]
Related Posts
* eBay sellers considering 'strike' to protest new fees (14 days ago - 28 Comments)
* eBay prevents sellers from leaving negative feedback (18 days ago - 34 Comments)
* eBay to list GM preowned inventory (7 days ago - 5 Comments)
* Before the bell: GM, TWX, TEVA, MMM, AMAT, TAP ... (6 days ago - 0 Comments)
* Before the bell: HAS, GRMN, AAPL, MSFT, F ... (7 days ago - 0 Comments)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
waca1071
2-17-2008 @ 12:19PM
waca107 said...
ebay sucks
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
wanda oreilly2
2-17-2008 @ 1:10PM
wanda oreilly said...
The genesis of this contention and distrust lies solely on ebay. Ebay started this whole issue of "buyers are scared to leave negative feedback in fear of retaliatory feedback from seller" based on less than 1% of complaints of all sellers. I found this out at http://imamerchant.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/deutschebankpatel020608.pdf - check it out… it is a very interesting read. Their motivation, when viewed in the big picture, is GREED.
Ebay is in deep trouble with acquisitions gone wrong, their lack of customer service and failure to address site issues coupled with continual, arbitrary rule changes and fee hikes that have driven hordes of sellers off the site and they’ve not been replaced.
Their answer, in the recent past, in order to pacify stock holders, has been to run a listings sale to boost revenue prior to quarterly reportings. This has run its course as sellers are tiring of the continual jumping through hoops and dropping everything to list at ebay’s whim - coupled with the exceedingly low sell through rates due to ebay’s continual tweaking of the search.
Ebay can no longer float its boat on the backs of the sellers and the pack of lies its been selling.
Reply
2.5 stars vote downvote upReport
Jay3
2-17-2008 @ 1:29PM
Jay said...
I sell very little on E-Bay, but I do buy. I don't like this for the sellers I do business with! I won't buy either!
Reply
2.5 stars vote downvote upReport
Raf Mebel4
2-17-2008 @ 1:29PM
Raf Mebel said...
NOT SURE IF YOU SHOULD BOYCOTT?
Here's a link to the Deutsche Bank conference on the ramifications of the eBay changes. Absolutely stunning stuff here, folks. Anyone debating on the merits of the boycott needs to read this pdf file:
http://imamerchant.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/deutschebankpatel020608.pdf
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
Dave5
2-17-2008 @ 2:49PM
Dave said...
As An eBay Buyer..I Really Hate to see that eBay.com is ruining the lively hood of so many Honest and Disabled and Veteran Sellers!!!!... Many Of The Smaller Sellers Who Helped Build eBay Have No Other Way To Make A Living!!....I Think Sellers Should Take Control!...And, A Strike Is Most Definitely In Order!!!!!...If most of the Sellers abandoned their listings for a Week or MORE!! and Buyers "Don't Bid Or Browse"..It May bring eBay Management to their Senses!!...My Favorite Business Management Professor at GA. TECH always said "If It Ain't Broke...Don't Try to Fix It" ...In My Humble Opinion....The Proposed Feedback Change and the 21 Day Paypal.com Holding Period may be "Unconstitutional" & "Very Illegal"...."One Sided Feedback" may be a violation of the "Equal Protection Clauses" in the the various State and the Federal Constitutions!!.....Additionally....Both The New "Unequal Feedback Policy" and the "21 Day Holding Period" may require that eBay act as a "Law Enforcement Agency" and a "Court Of Law " in order to settle contractual disputes between Buyers and Sellers!!..Both Of These Actions May Be Extremely Illegal!!.... We Need To Help Ebay Save Itself!!....If One Strike doesn't work, Sellers may need to do it Again and Again--->Until it Does Work!! .... Hopefully!!, Persistent Sellers Will Convince eBay Management to Withdraw these proposed changes and return to Business As Normal Before The Law Enforcement Agencies and The Federal/State Courts Bring Them DOWN!! I have heard that One Of The Best Civil Trial Lawyers in Atlanta is just waiting until the proposed changes take place before filing a multi billion dollar Class Action Lawsuit (On Behalf Of "ALL" present and past SELLERS) against eBay, Paypal and their new cohort General Motors for Violation of the "Equal Protection and Numerous Other Clauses" Of The US Constitution!....Additionally....He will be requesting that US Magistrates and the Attorney General issue Felony Criminal Warrants requesting immediate arrest of all eBay Management and all employees involved in making feedback decisions in which they act as a Law Enforcement Agency...AND... A Court Of Law!! I Am Afraid That "Good Attorneys" and the almost Trillion Dollor "Class Action Suit" may Bankrupt eBay, Paypal and General Motors!! It will be interesting to see how much it will cost eBay, Paypal and General Motors to reimburse all of the Sellers that have been forced to leave eBay and give up their only source of income because of the New Feedback and Paypal Rules!!!! .....Possibly Trillions!! ....My Professor Also Said..."Nothing Is "Forever"...Except Death And Taxes!!....STRIKE VICTOROUSLY!!
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
Debi6
2-17-2008 @ 3:09PM
Debi said...
Ebay blew it this time... They shouldn't have been so deceiptful with the fee increase and so blatent in calling their "Seller" dishonest...
I have moved my store to another venue, online auction, which is the most reasonable in fees, and you can actually get a responce to a message!! Very refreshing :)
BOYCOTT EBAY FOREVER!!
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
wanda oreilly7
2-17-2008 @ 3:12PM
wanda oreilly said...
I meant to say - based on less than 1% complaints of all buyers.
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
gumbo koontz8
2-17-2008 @ 5:48PM
gumbo koontz said...
Recession happens when all spending becomes uneven... You see, some is what you call recession proof like cigarettes, booze, gasoline, etc... Consumers are not adaptive enough to prevent recessions... If we cut spending across the board, then those recession proof industries mentioned above, would be forced to cut prices ..We would save money across the board and prevent recession... It is a mistake to call those industries recession proof... We think like dinosaurs and we hurt like idiots!!
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
Gumby9
2-17-2008 @ 5:54PM
Gumby said...
Recession happens when all spending becomes uneven... You see, some is what you call recession proof like cigarettes, booze, gasoline, etc... Consumers are not adaptive enough to prevent recessions... If we cut spending across the board, then those recession proof industries mentioned above, would be forced to cut prices ..We would save money across the board and prevent recession... It is a mistake to call those industries recession proof... We think like dinosaurs and we hurt like idiots!!
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
Susan10
2-17-2008 @ 8:24PM
Susan said...
I would respectfully like to correct Mr. McIntyre re: the strike/boycott date. Tt actually runs Feb. 18th-25th, not from Feb. 19th-25th, as stated.
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
Julio11
2-18-2008 @ 5:03AM
Julio said...
I used to sell on eBay back in the late 90's, even then they had an attitude problem. You could never talk to a live person, they made it almost impossible to find a link to customer service and they ALWAYS took the side of the buyer in a dispute, not matter how blatantly the buyer was wrong. The slightest little bit of adversity and they bounced your right off, always playing God against the sellers. That, to me, is like a dog biting the hand that feeds him, made no sense then and makes no sense now. I caught on early, not wanting to be at the mercy of a bunch of left coast weirdos who ran eBay I used them to build a customer base and then opened my own website where I am to this day. EBay management is a bunch of snotbags. Period. I once went to a party and there was a guy there who said he was an employee of eBay, well there were a lot of eBay sellers at that party and we asked this guy a lot of questions as to how they came by their policies etc. Snotty uppity answers is all we got, so we took him out back....I don't know what happened exactly to him then but when they found him the cops said "Looks like he fell up the stairs". Short the stock now, that is the play.
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
Dave Butler12
2-18-2008 @ 6:38AM
Dave Butler said...
Subject: Bruce Hershenson is leaving E-bay
WHY AM I MAKING THIS MAJOR CHANGE?
As many of you know, I became a full-time movie poster seller in 1989 (almost 20 years ago!). Between 1989 and 1997 I organized 10 auctions for Christie's and sold posters mail-order through semi-annual catalogs, and in those years sold around 15 million dollars of movie posters. In 1998 I completely severed ties with Christie's (because they would no longer agree to my printing the catalogs for my auctions), and in 1998 to 2000 I hosted three very successful catalog auctions with Howard Lowery auction house in Los Angeles, and continued publishing mail-order catalogs.
I also joined eBay in 1998, and I did some selling there in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, Howard Lowery retired, and afterwards I moved my entire mail-order business of vintage movie posters to eBay (including my full-color catalog auctions!), and since that time I have sold 300,000 movie posters on eBay, for total sales of $16 million ($3 million in 2007 alone). In all that time, I have auctioned almost all of my items with a 99 cents start bid, and no reserve, the very kind of auctions that made eBay so successful when they first "took off".
eBay has recently announced changes to both their fee structure, and also the feedback system. The recent price changes affect my business greatly. They will result in the fees I pay going up 40% annually! If I were to achieve the 5% discount eBay is offering a very select few, my fees would go up by approximately 27%. If I were to achieve the 15% discount, my fees would go up by approximately 13%.
I feel that the price increases are extremely misguided. Normally, companies only raise rates when THEIR costs increase, or when they are delivering better results to their customers. In THIS case, eBay's costs have not risen and they are not only NOT delivering better results, but they are actually delivering lesser results (lower sell-through rates and lower average selling prices). Any company that did not perceive themselves as a monopoly would never raise their rates under these circumstances, but, if you feel your customers have nowhere else to go, then you CAN raise their rates, to make up for the lower profits you are having due to the lesser results you are realizing.
eBay has miscalculated in my case. I have to examine how much I pay eBay per year, and what I received in return for that money. I have concluded that I can do far better opening up my own auction on my own site. Unlike many other sellers, I had my own business for 10 years prior to starting on eBay, so I am now reversing the process I started in 2000! At that time, I moved my entire business ONTO eBay, and in 2008, I am moving my entire business OFF of eBay (and I have no doubt that the very same people who told me I was "making a mistake" in moving TO eBay in 2000 will now tell me I am "making a mistake" in moving OFF eBay now!
I really don't understand why eBay would drastically raise their rates on people like myself, who sell 100% of what they list, and have "fun" true auctions, where all the final prices are set by two or more actual bidders (the very kinds of auctions that made eBay so popular), and I have virtually perfect feedback (only 14 people leaving negatives in 300,000 transactions!).
What is equally difficult to understand is that eBay has slashed their rates to media sellers only, who sell very little of what they list, and who have generally mediocre feedback, and who often charge disproportionately high shipping, which eBay says is their number one concern! It also is odd that eBay chose these sellers to be the first recipients of their new "non-level playing field", for I can see no reason to single out these sellers as being especially important to eBay.
But it is not solely an issue of rates that is causing me to leave eBay. I believe their recent changes to feedback will have a disastrous effect on their company. I believe they made those changes because their research showed that buyers do not return to the site (either ever, or as often) because of dissatisfaction over high shipping, and because they get upset when a seller leaves negative feedback on them. So they made their recent changes (primarily trying to force sellers to lower shipping rates, and stop leaving "bad feedback") because they think that will improve sales.
I believe they are completely mistaken. In spite of what their research shows, I believe the number one reason buyers buy less often (or quit the site) is because they were cheated in some fashion. Similarly, I believe the number one reason sellers sell less (or quit selling altogether) is because they are tired of having buyers who never pay. The solution to both these problems is to verify all other users on the site (both buyers and sellers). When a buyer or seller breaks the rules, eBay could then ban that PERSON, and not just that ID (which has no effect, because the person can get a new ID, under the current rules). If all users are verified, then a bad buyer or seller will be banned, and they can't easily get back on.
I believe eBay is aware of both these problems, but there are two things that prevent them from implementing my solution. One is that verifying all users would mean they would have to admit they would actually have something like 80 million users, instead of the 250 million users they claim (which counts all IDs as separate people, which everybody knows is complete fiction). The other thing is that eBay would have to have a REAL Trust and Safety department which would need to go after bad buyers and sellers, both with police and through the courts, and that would certainly be expensive, and would not bring eBay any additional income in the short term.
Under the current setup, eBay benefits greatly from the problems that beset the site. Many "bad sellers" are among the largest sellers, and pay eBay great amounts of fees. Many "bad buyers" cause items to have to be re-listed a second time, and this generates a HUGE amount of revenue for eBay in listing fees they never refund (and surely many people never bother to get a refund of their final value fees, so that is an additional revenue source as well).
To sum up, eBay keeps raising the fees sellers pay, without delivering additional value of any kind, and in fact recent years have seen a deterioration of the value they have provided. They also continually micromanage their sellers, taking control of a greater and greater percentage of their businesses. They constantly make major changes in their site, and I know of very few sellers who feel they do a good job providing an auction platform, and fraud keeps growing (both among buyers and sellers). What is so galling about this for me is that a group of "bean counters" who have barely ever sold anything in their lives, are telling me (and thousands of other excellent sellers) exactly how to run our businesses, and how to "fix" what isn't broken!
THEREFORE, I HAVE DECIDED TO MOVE MY AUCTIONS TO MY OWN SITE, and I feel certain the majority of my customers will move along with me (just as they moved with me to Howard Lowery from Christie's, and to eBay from Howard Lowery's). Sometime in the middle of March, I will hold my first auction on my own site, http://www.emovieposter.com. Sometime soon after that I will hold my final eBay auctions. I am currently in negotiations with other major sellers of different kinds of collectibles and antiques (not movie posters), trying to help them leave eBay as well, and set up similar auctions on their own sites. I have hope that, at some time in the future, I can help set up an auction site SOLELY for collectibles and antiques, so that all of the smaller sellers on eBay will have a place to sell on that is run by actual sellers, and which truly only does provide a platform for them to sell from. I believe such a site would be very welcomed by almost all sellers of collectibles and antiques.
Next week I will have lots more details about how the new auctions will work (there will be significant changes, because I will not be locked in by eBay's arbitrary framework), and I have lots of plans to make the first of these REALLY excellent, to better show my appreciation to those buyers who participate in my first auctions on my site. But time is short now, and so (as they used to say in the old time serials), return next week to learn more (in other words, to be continued...!).
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
TX CHL Instructor13
2-18-2008 @ 6:41AM
TX CHL Instructor said...
I have decided not to "boycott" ebay... I quit completely. I won't be back until ebay quits being such a PITA.
Once upon a time, I was paying $300/month in seller fees, and even briefly qualified as a powerseller. But now that ebay has made it clear that they aren't interested in the small sellers that made them what they are today, I am no longer interested in ebay.
I plan to dabble a bit in some of the other auction and listing sites (blujay.com, ebid.net, amazon.com), but I will mainly concentrate on my own websites.
Reply
2 stars vote downvote upReport
Delectably Yours Decor14
2-18-2008 @ 10:17AM
Delectably Yours Decor said...
Is it eBay or ePay? You Determine!
A bit about me; I am a Seller on eBay just shy of reaching ebay’s silver level of Power Seller status with a 3 month average of $9540 in gross monthly sales. Working 12+ hours a day to do. Out of this $1300 are my average monthly seller’s fees to ebay. With the newly imposed up to 66% historical jump in seller’s final value fee’s rate increase this our costs to utilize their service will increase substantially as well. Like any business it is best for all of us to do some research into what is the best plan in which to move forth. Hence, I’m including some of my research in this blog to assist all others in making their determination as well.
I have come to the conclusion that enough is enough. I am much the wiser and will be spending my hard earned income in another venue for advertising purposes. I am sure my small $15,600 a year to ebay will hardly be felt by ebay, however, it does make a huge difference to me and my clients. I would much rather be able to afford them the break or concession in price where it is appreciated. Remember “ePay” there is power in numbers. It will not be felt all at once, but it will be felt. Many companies have had their rise and fall. The difference is knowing and accepting when it’s time to exit. All good things come to an end. GR
Questions I Ponder:
Why does ebay need to raise seller’s fees when they had a 28% increase in yearly revenues from the prior year? Possibly to pay these salaries:
John Donahoe
President of Auction Business Unit, eBay Inc.
$1,445,948 USD
As of Fiscal Year 2006
Is to succeed Ms. Whitman as eBay’s president and chief executive officer. Mr. Donahoe will assume the role of CEO-designate immediately and will transition to the role of president and chief executive officer upon Ms. Whitman’s resignation.
• an annual salary of $900,000;
• a target annual incentive bonus of 125% of salary, or $1,125,000;
And performance-based restricted stock units and having a target value of approximately $8,000,000 on the Focal Date
Margaret C. Whitman
Chief Executive Officer, President and Director, eBay Inc.
$1,216,024 USD
As of Fiscal Year 2006
Is resigning as eBay’s president and chief executive officer, effective March 31, 2008. Will remain a member of eBay’s board of directors will serve as a special advisor to eBay’s president and chief executive officer through December 31, 2008 she will receive $600,000 anual salary with a target annual incentive bonus of 100%
The experience also has made Whitman, eBay’s third-largest individual shareholder, a billionaire.
Rajiv Dutta
President of PayPal, eBay Inc.
45 $610,526 USD
As of Fiscal Year 2006
Has been named by eBay’s board of directors to succeed Mr. Donahoe as President of eBay Marketplaces, effective immediately.
• an annual salary of $720,000;
• a target annual incentive bonus of 100% of salary, or $720,000
Plus performance-based restricted stock units and having a target value of approximately $6,400,000 on the Focal Date
Michael R. Jacobson
Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel, eBay Inc.
52 $454,066 USD
As of Fiscal Year 2006
Don’t feel bad for him. He made a lot more in one afternoon trading ebay stock than his entire yearly salary. (See below)
Bill Cobb and all who have had decisions in this project; This is YOUR new baby, you worked long and hard devising and implementing this stratigic plan. Why are you not proud of all of it??
Why did ebay.inc approve the ammended the restated bylaws on jan 15th, after this decision and announcement?
ARE INSIDER TRADING LAW’S DIFFERENT FOR EBAY EXECUTIVES THAN THE REST OF US?
Why are ebay executives selling off a great portion of their stock to lows below the past 2 year average?
Why did insiders purchase a net 1.3M sharesover the last 3 months when this is in stark contrast to the 2-year quarterly average where insiders are net sellers and indicates that insiders are more bullish about EBAY’s prospects for the next 6-12 months?
Why do ebay’s insiders control only 0.07% of EBAY through the 213,497,067 shares that they hold when this level of ownership is below the Internet Software and Services industry norm? Does it not and suggest that insiders goals could be less aligned with those of shareholders than at other companies in this industry?
The figures are public information available for anyone to view. They speak for themself. Please note most are all the same day trasactions. Are Bill Cobb; President-North American Marketplaces, Michael Jacobson; General Counsel, Secretary & Senior Vice President Margaret Whitman; President & Chief Executive Officerand Day Traders up on their luck or Inside Executives profiting from information the rest of us are not privy to? I’m sure we will be seeing a lot more of this on the news in the upcoming months.
On one day alone, Dec 14th, Michael Jacobson; General Counsel, Secretary & Senior Vice President bought and sold ebay stock to the tune of a $1.6 Million profit. Bill Cobb wasn’t quite as greedy with a $283,196 gross profit. By Chance? Margaret Whitman; President & Chief Executive Officer 7.4 Million profit for Dec 5th and 6th alone.
Now remember, this is only for the month of December 2007.
Overall Activity from Nov ‘07 to Feb ‘08
775.0K Shares Purchased for $415,001,850 .06% of which were Executive Shares and have Sold 3.7M Shares for $-24,264,206. -.28% of Executive Shares
Executive Shares Traded:
4th Quarter to Dec ‘07
Purchased Sold
775.0K Shares 3.7M Shares
$15,011,850.00 $-24,264,206.00
0.06% -0.28% of Exec Shares
3rd Quarter
Purchased Sold
3.1M Shares 3.7M Shares
$29,893,541.39 $-111,810,037.03
0.23% of -0.28% of Exec Shares
2nd Quarter
Purchased Sold
1.1M Shares 1.8M Shares
$8,403,460.87 $-34,763,555.99
0.08% -0.13% of Exec Shares
Purchased Sold
374.1K Shares 374.1K Shares
$1,784,293.04 $-11,958,966.12
0.03% of -0.03% of Exec Shares
4th Quarter 2006
Purchased Sold
283.2K Shares 11.5M Shares
$135,518.04 $-8,697,406.80
0.02% of -0.85% of Exec Shares
Yes, a whopping 85% of EXECUTIVE Shares sold in the 4th quarter of 2006. Why has this not raised a red flag???
Announced 01/23/08
2.00B for eBay Inc.
Buyback
The Board of Directors of eBay Inc. (NasdaqNM:EBAY) authorized a stock repurchase program on January 23, 2008. Under the program, the company is authorized to repurchase stock of up to $2 billion.
EBAY’s price was down 6.08% after the transaction was announced on 01/23/08.
Does this not make you curious to what will be showing when this quarters reports are out?
Ebay 2007 Revenues
eBay Inc. had revenues for the full year 2007 of $7.7B. This was 28.5% above the prior year’s results.
2007 revenues at eBay Inc. totaled $7.7B, while annual earnings equaled $1.53 per share. eBay Inc. had 4th quarter 2007 revenues of $2.2B. This bettered the $2.1B consensus of the 23 analysts covering the company. This was 15.4% above the prior year’s 4th quarter results.
THE BIG LIE is a re-post of a blog originating from ebay’s discussion boards. There are not many I read or keep however, I feel this one has the most meritt and is concise in spelling out the new changes in black and white. Changes that ebay representitives elected to present in a not so black and white format. They were so proud to promote the new possitive changes that will affect sellers and buyers alike while tucking away the real meat of their project only to be found in dribs and drabs.
THE BIG LIE
It’s been years since Ebay has really been a user friendly company, especially when it comes to sellers. This is easy to prove, just try any of the following: See all the hoops they make you go through to get a refund on an unpaid item, or try to have a patently unfair feedback removed, or try to fight an unfair PayPal chargeback (even if you have all the evidense on your side), or try to contact an actual, living customer service representive — and if you do succeed in contacting one, see how helpless they are at resolving most of your problems.
But now, eBay has reached a new low in their disrespect toward their sellers. They have cloaked their largest fee increase in the company’s history, as a benefit to the entire eBay community. And they have portrayed their destructive changes to the feedback / selling rules, as a positive change for sellers.
This “Big Lie” strategy was used during the lead-up to the war in Iraq. In that case, those in charge used a series of lies and distortions to successfully lead the public to a misguided support of the war. The oft-repeated rhetoric stated that the invasion in Iraq was a vital step in protecting our country from untold weapons of mass destruction. History has told us otherwise.
Now, eBay is using a similar tactic, in an effort to put a positive slant on the changes they have outlined for February 20th. This time, I hope, it won’t work.
Let’s look at eBay’s own statements, and compare them to the facts:
Lie #1 — Bill Cobb states, “Our goal for these changes is to continue to improve the overall experience for our customers, both buyers and sellers.”
Truth #1 — While these changes may improve the experience for some buyers, they drastically worsen the situation for the overwhelming majority of sellers.
Lie #2 — Bill Cobb states, “We’re making a fundamental change to the economics of selling on eBay, resulting in three significant price reductions.”
Truth #2 — The overall fee changes will NOT result in a reduction for anyone, except those who’s items do not sell (they will save a nickle). For everyone else, this is a massive fee increase of more than 40%. Most of the trumpeted “fee reductions” are for expensive add-ons, that are not often used by the majority of eBay sellers.
Lie #3 — Bill Cobb states, “First, we’re reducing the up-front risk for all of you by lowering insertion fees for auction and fixed price listings across the board…and we’re balancing that change by adjusting some final value fees.
Truth #3 — When you balance something, it is presumed that you give and take equally. In this case, eBay is giving an extremely minor token fee decrease (5 cent reduction on most listings), and ‘balancing’ it with a whopping 67% increase of the final value fee. In practice, this will increase the cost of selling a $25 item from $1.91 to $2.74. This is by far the largest fee increase in eBay’s history. I fail to see the balance.
Lie #4 — Bill Cobb states, “All of these changes came as a result of listening to your ideas and concerns … You told us that you want free Gallery. You said you’d prefer fees for success, not listing. But more than anything, you told us that our overall pricing structure is simply not working for you, and that high insertion fees, in particular, have been a big deterrent in moving more of your merchandise onto eBay.”
Truth #4 — How many sellers do you think contacted eBay and let the know that they felt that a nickle off the listing fees would be a major improvement in their listing structure? And how many of those same sellers would think that a massive final value fee increase would be a fair trade off? It is true that the free Gallery is a plus, but If Bill was really listening, and he really wanted to eliminate the ‘big deterrent,’ why couldn’t he of reversed the changes. Lower the across-the-board listing fees by 67%, or 50%, or even 25% — and add only 5 or 10 cents on to the final value fee, when an item sells? This would have been a real way to eliminate the “big deterrent in moving more of your merchandise onto eBay.”
Lie #5 — Jim Ambach states, “Let’s take a quick look at all the things we’re doing to strengthen our partnership with our sellers:
1. Reducing insertion fees
2. Free Gallery on all listings!
3. Reduced Feature Plus and Pro Pack fees
4. Increased listing exposure for sellers with great DSRs
5. Pricing discounts for PowerSellers with great DSRs
6. Protection from chargebacks for PowerSellers
7. All addresses are confirmed addresses for PowerSellers on their
eBay listings that are paid with PayPal
8. Unlimited PayPal protection for PowerSellers
9. Repeat Feedback credit
10. Rolling 12-month Feedback Percentage
11. Personalized Seller Dashboard
Truth #5 — Jim forgot to mention a few things, that might not “strengthen our partnership with our sellers.”
1. A stunning increase to final value fees — many, many times
higher than their miniscule reduction in insertion fees.
2. Ebay’s “Pricing discounts for PowerSellers” only eliminates a tiny
portion of the fee increases. Even with the full 15% Powersellers’
discount — fees will increase monumentally. With or without the
small discount for PowerSellers, THIS IS STILL THE LARGEST
FEE INCREASE IN EBAY’S HISTORY! (By a really, really wide
margin — really.)
3. There are many new penalties to sellers not meeting eBay’s
criteria fo success. For low-volume seller’s, one vindictive buyer
has the power to increase your fees and lessen the exposure of
your eBay listings.
5. Sellers can no longer punish abusive, dishonest or deadbeat
buyers with negative feedbacks — sellers can ONLY leave positive
feedbacks!
6. The new one-way feedback structure eliminates any constraints
on the buyers. They can use feedback as a weapon to extort
concessions from sellers, and sellers will have absolutely no
recourse or protection.
7. Buyers can, in some cases, cause sellers to have to wait for 21
days for their PayPal money, by simply withholding a positive
feedback. Here’s the eBay policy in their own words: “When eBay
suspects the transaction may result in a dissatisfied customer,
PayPal will delay release of the payment funds to the seller until
the buyer has left a positive feedback, or 21 days have passed
without a dispute.”
8. eBay can now force many new sellers to accept PayPal, even if
they don’t want to. They claim that the seller can get PayPal OR
a merchant credit card, but the cost involved in obtaining a
merchant credit card makes it prohibitive for most low-volume
sellers. This leaves PayPal as the only feasable option. And who
is it that benefits financially by PayPal’s use?
9. Buyer’s can anonymously hurt you by leaving a 1 or a 2 on any
of the DSR ratings — on any of the four attributes. This can
punish you by eliminating your PowerSeller discounts and make
your items come up at the bottom of searches. For example,
if you state in your description that you use priority mail for all
packages, the buyer can demand you use first class. And if you
refuse, they can leave you a 1 on the “shipping cost” attribute.
This will hurt you in numerous ways, but you will have no way to
determine who stabbed you in the back.
10. When they state, “All addresses are confirmed addresses for
PowerSellers on their eBay listings that are paid with PayPal,”
they are not telling the real truth. If you read the fine print, it says
that this will apply to most (not all) countries.
11. The “Repeat Feedback credit” is a double-edged sword –
multiple negative feedbacks will also count against you when
this change takes effect!
In conclusion, eBay has instituted a widespread series of changes, and they have tried (and lied) to project these in a positive light. They have made an attempt to imply that these changes have widespread benefits to the selling community. But, if sellers take the time to even give even a cursory glance at these changes, they will find that in fact, they benefit only two groups — buyers (especially the dishonest ones) and eBay itself.
As an honest and hard working seller, these changes are quite upsetting to me. However, when eBay tries to tell me that they are for my own benefit, they become even more repugnant. If they just were honest about it, eBay would say, we want to make more money off your labor and we want to make a big, public show of protecting buyers — even as it comes at our sellers’ expense.
It has become ever increasingly clear, that eBay does not respect sellers, does not care of our concerns, and does not choose to truly try to reach out to us in a spirit of mutual benefit. But at some point, anyone with any self respect has to say, “enough.”
I have never been one to stay where I am unwanted. If these changes become a reality, I will let eBay know that they have gone too far. I will stop providing them with thousands of dollars in annual fees. I will stop recommending them to my customers and friends. And I will find other venues to use, in order to sell my merchandise.
Maybe if enough sellers follow this example, eBay will finally stop treating us as second class citizens.
Reply
|
