iEntry 10th Anniversary RSS Newsletter Advertising
Join the WebProWorld Forum!
Text: Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size | Print Print Article | Share: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Post to Twitter Post to Facebook
12 commentsMonday, February 25, 2008

eBay Sellers Make Statement, Site Not Listening

Protest makes national news, but eBay holds firm on increases
eBay disputed third-party claims about falling listings during a week-long protest by sellers opposed to fee increases imposed by the online marketplace.

An eBay discount on listing fees coupled with management sticking by changes to its policies left the situation between sellers and eBay as it was before the strike.

Depending on the source, eBay either witnessed listings fall to the range of 13 million, as USA Today reported (via DealsCart), or had no change, according to an eBay spokesperson.

Unfortunately for the protesters, eBay behaved as predicted and kept the hotly-disputed fee increases in place. Sellers believe these punish people who sell in small lots, even as eBay courts higher volume dealers.

That summarizes eBay's strategy for growth. They have targeted volume and are willing to give up some discounts in exchange for receiving more listings. In other words, eBay settled for a smaller piece of the pie, but they want a much larger pie on the table.

The end of the protest leaves small sellers with the need to take a hard look at what they want to do next. If eBay's fees make selling on the site an unwelcome proposition, places like Amazon.com or Overstock may represent a welcoming alternative.

In August 2006, a smaller scale UK-based protest called for Google to create an auction alternative. That has yet to happen, although Google has the pieces in place to put something together between its Base and Checkout products.

News Tags: Boycott, Auction, eBay, Financial, Fees

the boycott was more about feedback

The fee structure is one of the reasons for last weeks boycott but the new feedback policies are more of a concern for sellers.

 Exactly! The media in

 Exactly! The media in general seems to be having a hard time getting this story right. While no one wants to pay eBay even MORE for things such as lousy customer service, now we get to pay for the privilege of buyers scamming us, stealing from us, and affecting our sales through eBay's new, one-sided feedback policies. Sorry, but if I wanted to pay someone to take my money and products, I'm sure I could find tons of people right in my own neighborhood who would be happy to be of service. Shoot, I'm sure the word-of-mouth would spread so fast that they would start camping out at my front door!

Publish A Comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
7 + 7 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
SEARCH
Popular WPN Business Resources












Subscribe to WebProNews


Send me relevant info