A three percent drop in listings at eBay this week could be due to a boycott kicked off by enraged sellers this week, or simply a dip in the normal course of business.
Fee changes coming into effect at eBay have the potential to impact smaller sellers, as eBay appears ready to court high-volume sellers much more heavily in 2008.
The hue and cry for attention from eBay has been heard, at least. Sellers called for a boycott of eBay this week over fee changes that include increases to the final value fees they pay to eBay upon completion of a transaction.
eBay Boycott Forum Topic
(Screenshot Credit: eBay)
Fortune Small Business noted the change takes place on Wednesday. They also cited a tactic eBay used last week, in promoting a one-day discount on listing fees
Listings made on February 13th could run as long as ten days. A spike in listings made that day may offset whatever small gains the boycotters may have hoped to make.
eBay has been standing firm with its changes. We think they may see the protesting sellers as a less-profitable nuisance eBay would not mind seeing depart, especially if they plan to be more friendly to higher volume sellers.
With that likely being the case, we think eBay sellers who are truly dissatisfied with the online marketplace should measure the merits of staying with eBay versus permanently stepping away. Other sites like Amazon offer auction services, and plenty of options exist for more active sellers to create and operate ecommerce sites.
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Minimal effect? You are wrong.
If you want to look at listings during the boycott, look at specific listing numbers- for example I have noticed that prior to the boycott there would be at least 3 to 5 pages of paper dolls listed in any given day (one of the things I USED to buy on ebay) now there is an average of 1 to 1 1/2 pages being listed. I would say that is not a minimal effect. Same goes for specialty items (Dolly Dingle for example) on any given day there was approx 1 page of items listed, now there are an average of 6 items a day being listed. I could go on and on about specific catagories that are seeing double digit lower listings during this boycott, but those catagories are the ones in which the small unique item sellers primarially list their items. If you want to only look at the site as a whole, you need to factor in the increased listings for media which ebay made a concession for and lowered fees. You also have failed to take into account the fact that this is not just a sellers boycott, but a buyers as well. I for example was pirmarially a heavy buyer, and an occasional seller of the "flea market" type items Mr Donahoe is embarassed to see on his site, so he had to impliment a 66% fee increase on us small sellers to get rid of us. Because Mr Donahoe no longer thinks my items are good enough to be sold on his site, I have decided that my money is no longer good enough to spend on his site for purchases either :) So when you figure if the boycott is having an effect or not, look at individual catagory listings, look at sell through rates ( which are dropping) and at final sale prices, which are lower because small sellers who are also the buyers have left ebay in droves. There is a mass exodus from the site by small sellers, and rightly so.