eBay to face first sellers revolt - Boycott begins Monday
By Dave Parrack
eBay may have been doing great business for many years now, but the system is not without its problems. And those problems are about to come home to roost, as the marketplace website faces its first revolt, with a boycott being staged over the next week.
Many millions of us have bought or sold items on eBay over the last few years, and some have made it a regular exercise, either to buy products at a fraction of the price they’d pay at retail, or to make some extra cash, selling their unwantables as a secondary source of income.
Two of the main concerns when doing either of these, buying or selling, are: How much will eBay take from you for its part as the middle man in the deal; What security do you have in the event a deal goes wrong?
Both of these concerns have recently been made more complicated by eBay announcing fees and policy changes. All of the rule changes are due to come in to force on February 20.
The fee changes mean that most transactions on the site will now cost more than they would have had before the alterations. Although eBay is talking up the new fees as fairer, independent comparisons show the real truth.
But that’s not the main push behind the boycott by eBay sellers, which according to CNN Money, is due to run from February 19 to February 25. The main reason most people are against the changes are the policies now concerning feedback.
The policy changes in this regard mean that the option to give negative feedback to buyers has disappeared, to be replaced fully by eBay’s Security & Resolution centre. This means tedious and long winded complaints forms and investigations to try to mediate on any problem.
The feedback system has always been controversial, and not without its problems, but to abandon it completely, and not allow sellers to view complaints of bad behaviour by potential buyers is just ludicrous.
The groundswell of support for the boycott, which calls for a total lack of activity on the site, including buying and selling, could cost eBay dear, with many of its most active users abandoning the site for seven days.
Shares in the company have already fallen from a high of $40.73 to under $28, and this will just be further ammunition to the investors shaky nerves. Has the eBay bubble burst, and about to be blown away by its own users?
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February 19th, 2008
Policy changes come in a close second BUT it’s the fee changes that have me supporting the ebay boycott.
I have taken my business to sites like - jooxter.com (very interesting concept) - epier - webidz - ioffer.
The masses can make a difference!
WW
February 19th, 2008
eBay sucks to the max. They keep screwing sellers more and more. I’ve finally had enough! I’m selling elsewhere!!
February 20th, 2008
To take away the reviews/complaints section is just plain stupid. It’s like buying via word of mouth, which is usually the BEST form of advertisement. I’ve only ever used E-Bay twice in my life, but wouldn’t have on either of those occassions, if I hadn’t been able to read reviews.
Now,
All we need is a boycott of Firefox and Google!!
February 20th, 2008
Spending the entire week reporting all the sellers with exessive shipping.
YES$$$$ AND DON’T PAY YOUR SELLER FEES EARLY EITHER. DRIVE THAT EBAY STOCK WAY DOWN! ! ! ! !
February 22nd, 2008
The problem facing eBay sellers is a collective problem, and therefore requires a collective solution.
Only the eBay users themselves can truly break the eBay Inc. monopoly, rescue our auction businesses from destruction at the hands of corporate greed, and save the original eBay person-to-person trading concept as an open marketplace of equals.
The eBay users—united, in our millions—can make a new fee-free home for ourselves on the Web and simply move there en masse, replicating the traffic of the eBay.com site.
Together, we can recreate the eBay Community, beyond the reach of eBay Group, Inc. The users made eBay the first time, and we can do it again—this time to suit our needs, rather than just line the pockets of FeeBay executives and shareholders.
Visit http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/subat
February 24th, 2008
ebay will go down the tubes
I encourage every one to register 2 names and start buying items and dont pay for them this will piss off ebay and alot of the sellers that are ebays side..
since they cant leave negative feed back for buyers every item on ebay will be a fire sale
February 25th, 2008
MonsterMotors.com is a great alternative to ebay motors.
February 26th, 2008
Goodbye Ebay
I find ebay’s comments after this boycott to be repulsive! Saying it had no effect! Thats like saying none of those customers ever mattered to them! Ebay has let their head swell to an unmeasurable size. They don’t care to listen to their customers legitimate complaints; instead they are too concerned with how deep they can make THEIR pockets!
I personally feel that the week long boycott isn’t enough if it “had no effect” on them then let’s see what kind of effect it would have if they lost all of those customers for good! I myself am using USAuctionsLive.com I opened a store on there and couldn’t be happier with their service. Ebay will crash and burn, and who ever stays on board will just go down with the ship!
VISIT: http://www.usauctionslive.com
February 29th, 2008
I invite all sellers to sell anything on http://www.mystore.com for FREE!
Todd Meagher
CEO
MyStore
February 29th, 2008
I invite all eBay sellers to visit us at MyStore.com and sell anything for FREE.
http://www.mystore.com
Todd Meagher
CEO
MyStore
March 9th, 2008
Stop paying ebay fees, iBidMotors.com does not charge any selling fees etc.. best value around!
March 11th, 2008
Unfortunately I missed the Febraury boycott and wished I had known about this venue.
As a former business broker many years ago,all businesses have several things in common if the business is to be successful.First,the business must be able to pay for its self;2nd,the business must have a profit at the end of the calendar year; and 3rd,there must be a salary for the owner as a return on the time invested.If any one of the 3 parts of the equation is missing in a business, then an owner might as well place his or her gravestone in front of the business.
eBay is hard at work trying to eliminate the gross profit margin for all eBay sellers by continuously increasing the selling fees amd other selling costs which have a tendancy to eliminate sellers of marginal profit items.
I sat down last night and assessed my position with eBay and my selling fees and associated costs utilizing a basis of $10.00 as an average selling price.
Listing Fee: 35 cents
Selling Fee:
March 11th, 2008
Continued:
Selling Fees 87.5 cents
Auction Host Listing Fee 12 cents
Auction Host Selling Fee 12 cents
Pay Pal Fees includes shipping 32 cents
Cost of goods sold $2.50
Total $4.285
My cost of sell for a $10.00 item is 42.85% before sate and federal taxes.
Where is the profit?
Where is the return on the time invested?
March 11th, 2008
Continued:
Selling Fees 87.5 cents
Auction Host Listing Fee 12 cents
Auction Host Selling Fee 12 cents
Pay Pal Fees includes shipping 32 cents
Cost of goods sold $2.50
Total $4.285
My cost of sell for a $10.00 item is 42.85% before sate and federal taxes.
Where is the profit?
Where is the return on the time invested?
March 11th, 2008
Continued:
Selling Fees 87.5 cents
Auction Host Listing Fee 12 cents
Auction Host Selling Fee 12 cents
Pay Pal Fees includes shipping 32 cents
Cost of goods sold $2.50
Total $4.285
My cost of sell for a $10.00 item is 42.85% before state and federal taxes.
Where is the profit?
Where is the return on the time invested?
March 19th, 2008
Buyers can leave a Feedback rating for sellers (positive, neutral or negative). Likewise, sellers can leave Feedback for a buyer (positive only). Recently we added detailed seller ratings (DSRs) represented by stars in four aspects of a transaction: item as described, communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges. These ratings are anonymous-sellers don’t see which buyers rated them. DSRs allow buyers to provide additional information about their purchase experience and sellers can get a more complete picture of their performance.
This unfair playing field is why I and many others no longer sell on FeeBay.
March 22nd, 2008
Ebay restricted my account today, due to suspision of shill bidding. I
absolutely did NOT do any shill bidding. So how am I supposed to deal with
this when They don’t contact you first to find out what is going on?? Any
help would be helpful, as Now i’m afraid to bid on anything, and trust me, I
buy a Ton of stuff on ebay, sell alot too, this is a BUMMER!!!!
We are honest good Christians and our son is a MARINE serving our country.
When my husband saw the email he threw up he was so upset.
We sell a lot of horse related stuff to people within 25 miles of us because
the
items are too heavy to ship. We also have a community wifi system which has
caused lots of our friends to be falsely accused also because the internet
address
is the same for everyone.
Why is ebay allowed to make false claims and RUIN OUR LIVES???
http://www.members.ebay.com/aboutme/redrose64
March 23rd, 2008
How is anyone supposed to make any money off ebay when the fees are outrageous. I am practically selling my goods for a profit of just a few more cents than what I bought them for. SO many fees and when your done with ebay you get to give more money to their partner PayPal. What a scam!! I’m never going back to feebay!
April 18th, 2008
I urge all buyers and sellers on eBay around the world to take a stand against the greed that has set in to eBay’ headquarters.
May 1st 2008 is the next worldwide eBay Strike day, join in and let eBay know now before it’s too late. In 5 years people will be talking about the site that was “eBay”.
eBay! What’s eBay?
Make some NOISE!
http://www.boycott-ebay.net
May 3rd, 2008
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August 9th, 2008
Hi,I have read so many complaints & whinging about the greed & dishonesty of both paypal & eBay, whilst i agree 100% with these comments, none of it will do any good, they may lose 100,000 members or so but will gain 200.000 registering, they will always gain.
whilst there are so many other small auction sites out there they will have no impact at all, they will gain a few people but nowhere near enough to make a difference.
If you really want to burn eBay & Paypal, then a new strategy has to emerge, i can think of only one way to do that.
first you create a list of all you people ( And there are thousands of you, me included)get their email addresses & log them, you need at least 500.000.
i am absolutely sure their are some very bright people out there that will do this.
Then one or a company of you create a new auction site, much the same as eBay but with none of the rubbish ( no big brother attitude)
you will have an instant 500.000 members all buying & selling on your site, that will in itself attract thousands more to come over, it will have a devastating affect on eBay.
Then create a payment system, again much the same as paypal but without the crap I.E.blatant greed, or just let people pay by any method they want (which is better) its up to you, get together all of you, puts your heads together & do something positive, stop whinging & harping on about ebay & Paypal, CREATE CREATE, for all of us sellers & buyers alike, i would do it if i could but i do not have the brainpower or the ability to create websites, i am just too old now(62) however i implore you SORT IT OUT & make ebay/paypal pay, before you say it, i realize its a big undertaking but it can be done, all you need is the Will to do it.
The first thing to do is gather the email addresses.
Best of luck to all of you.
Brian.