Sales up, eBay CEO backs changes
During eBay's first-quarter earnings call, CEO John Donahoe said the site's changes are here to stay. Have your say here.
From Colleen Mill Creek WA I have been selling on ebay for about 6 years. I have a 100% positive feedback rating with 2500+ transactions. I stopped selling when they changed feedback. I decided to try the new system and sold about 11 items. I got one neutral feedback saying 'item larger than expected' (size of keychain was listed) and I had 2 non paying bidders out of those 11 itmes. I was not allowed to leave a negative feedback for the non paying bidders and though I filed the claims, they do not show on the buyers feedback for others to see. I left a positive feedback and wrote NEGATIVE!!! NEGATIVE!!! On the comment line. Today I tried to relist the items that were unpaid and I have been restricted from selling. Great! Due to feedback or terse emails, I am not sure! I hate ebay now! They are no longer who they once were. Come on Google! Open the door for us.
From Vel, Bklyn, ny I am a small seller on ebay. However it is easier to destroy a small seller with a negative feedback. I list payment in 7 days on all my listing. Why? Because I need my money to live. Buyer does not pay, will not answer 3 emails, I go into dispute for my FVF. I win because buyer cleverly waits to the last day and tell me she mailed her payment. Still no payment, I closed and took FVF. Buyer then leaves a negative stating they never received, and I never returned M/O, I was a Fraud and made me out as a thief. I returned her late payment money order the same day I received it. I ask ebay to remove, as ebay has proof via FVF that this feedback was not true. They refused! However I wrote on the buyer feedback. Late payment, mo/returned. Buyer then sends contacts ebay for removal, they did and sent me a threat for telling the truth. Now I have her negative lie along with buyer checking off negatives on shipping, item description and so forth. I am done! I will in no wise participate with this form abuse. This is a set up. Already the sharks are smelling blood. It's time to pack it up. This sounds like a prison camp.
From Larry, Los Angeles, CA All the changes to eBay in the past year have been nothing more than nails on its coffin. Feedback doesn't work any better (from a buyer's perspective), the hidden id's don't let me know when I'm bidding against my arch rival and hence more likely to overbid, all the changes to the searches and categories are making it harder and harder to find what I want, and if you think for a moment I will ever having anything to do with PayPal again, Mr. Donahoe, you are sorely mistaken.
I find it ironic when I read a seller's post that s/he has spent $XXX in fees, etc. S/He didn't really surrender that money to eBay, I did as the buyer. My money's going elsewhere from this point on. Adios Amigos
From chattanooga, TN It should be clear, I am a wholesaler and not a good writer or a stock expert, but I have a first hand inside look having been a powerseller almost from e bay start, for over 10 years, 1.7 million per year sales and account for $156,000 paid to e bay per year for seller fees, this is the bases in which e bay shows profit or loss in a great way for there core business, this does not account for paypal fees charged, seller manager pro, e bay stores. Buyers and sellers are leaving e bay, this can be proved by http://www.sellerdome.com/
It is interesting how the 1500 employee lay off received so much attention, however, the 10% of total powersellers were laid off/suspended because of flawed aggressive policy poorly implemented has not had a placement. This is proved by http://blog.sellerdome.com/?p=16 between 15k-30K e bay powersellers who account for $3000-$20,000 in seller fees paid each month for each of those sellers. This seems a larger story than a simple layoff of e bay employees. Ebay saves money by laying off paid employees, but e bays profit takes a hit by getting rid of partners who contribute to e bay profit. For example: 20,000 powersellers/partners laid off/suspended that account for an average of $5,000 per month seller fees = $100,000,000 each month in seller fees not received by e bay. That is $1,200,000,000 per year in revenue given up for aggressively flawed policy by current management. The idea current ebay management had was by getting rid of 10% of its selling partners was going drive back 32% of its buyers, however, that has clearly not been the case, because the policy change was flawed and implemented with such aggression over a short period of time, 6 months total, 3 months aggressively. Ebay seems to have driven away buyers by this and the new search method that sellers or buyers don't like with no concern of management. The company has managed to drive its investors away in the same motion as stock prices show a drop since new management put in place 6 months ago, before market crash. Ebay management charged its sellers/partners for decline in its core business and seems not to have taken into account the increased competition of walmart, best buy, circuit city and many others putting marketing dollars into the online sector of business. Ebay pushing away its partners, sellers and buyers, is only going to make profit softer and push away investors. With 70% more competitors in the market e bay only dropped 30% seems a strong market hold for e bay and a reason to support its partners in a currently working policy rather than place blame partners and will prove to decline its future market share which is pointed out by many market analysis.
Ebay, through the wild west style new management, took a look at itself and realized it had a drop in the number of sellers buying on its site. It decided it was because of bad "buyer experience" and immediately, it seems without full thought of backfire, decided it was the sellers fault. In some cases, this may be true, but it is most likely because of the additions to online retailers such as walmart, bestbuy, circuit city and the list goes on that were not competitors before and had not sunk the marketing dollars into the Internet sector of there business plan before. The more big sellers the less customers for ebay. It is widely known that e bay has blamed sellers rather than external forces for the slow in sales. Instead of working within the community, that once believed that people are basically good, took on a policy that made its community fell like criminals and strong feelings of dislike for the symbol that was once regarded. Ebay has aggressively pushed away its partners will prove to decline its future market share and a relationship that may go un repaired when new management is called upon.
Ebay has withstood the .com storm because of a superior system and its ability to hold steady to the working core business policy. Its customers fell that is no longer the case and many companies like bonanzle.com and OLA.COM (onlineauction.com) are rushing to try to meet seller and buyer demands that ebay seems unwilling to meet. Many small auction sites have tried to compete in the past but been successful in driving traffic. Now a once complacent audience of e bay buyers and sellers are seeing the changes and the likely hood they are being driven away through aggressive, unfair, flawed policy changes and are taking note to change to someone with the old values that made ebay a community that worked. You can see from the chart below the demand that is being driven to for example.
http://www.quantcast.com/bonanzle.com
This is a small amount of buyers and sellers compared to e bay, but it does show a market who is hungry to meet the demand of current buyers and sellers, and what is maybe most important that buyers and sellers are finding the ability for change.
When e bay was a "venue", now it is felt by many of its sellers that it acts as an employer or landlord by design of new policy, it was profitable for sellers and a great value for buyers. Sellers drove traffic to the site because buyers knew they could get many of the items for a large percentage below retail, at or below wholesale. E bay is a follower now and is trying to make itself like Amazon and other .com retailers. Ebay sellers who use Amazon report little to no sales. E bay has a niche (wholesale products) and Amazon has a niche (books, CDs with unmatched distribution etc) and both worked independently of each other, this is why Ebay sellers are not successful on Amazon and Amazon sellers are not successful using ebay. New ebay management has had a hard time realizing Amazon is a different market plan. Many e bay sellers are leaving to do Amazon but it is feared this will not prove successful for them. The e bay system worked and most were satisfied, buyers and sellers could realize other bad buyers or sellers.
Buyers and sellers are not happy anymore and the numbers will continue to show as long as this management stays. Economy will play a roll, that is why ebay can't afford to gamble with management that has proven to drive its partners, sellers and buyers, away. The company is large enough it will be around for a long time, maybe not in the online auction sector effectively as it was before, but it is still a mystery to many who use or used to use the site why this management has been allowed to make this aggressive of a change. If this is where they wanted to go, it would takes years to change a company this size effectively, it can't be done in 6 months times and certainty not given a slow in the economy.
Things are not happy under new management/John Donahoe management has made no one happy, sellers or buyers or its investors. It has been a 6 month meltdown since new management fumbled a working system.
I talked to the owner of onlineauction.com 1-800-900-2828, Rowen Grisham, a previous e bay powerseller who seen improper change coming long before many sellers and buyers realized. He said he had seen a flood of sellers and buyers calling to learn about the site in the last 4 months. Rowen Grishamw says they are about to roll out a goggle search program that will make it more visible. This is just one example of where e bay buyer and seller base is going. Grisham seems to want to supply its sellers and buyers with a fair service, as when the ebay site was born and acted as a venue rather than an employer. Small companies that are hungry and taking advantage of a situation where ebay is not satisfying its demand.
Anyone considering investing or putting time into future sales may want to take a look at the aggressive, flawed policy’s they have put in place, there are little to no direct policy as there has been. Sellers, buyers and investors wouldn't be leaving if there was any good reason to stay.
E bay has done a poor job or emplaning the new changes to its buyers, sellers only after a few months of effect, some loosing there e bay business because of improper, unmonitored data, is still learning and it seems no one knows the answers even at the top account managers level. Its buyers do not realize that the DSR DETAILED SELLER RATING, the 5 stars under the feedback rating is not based on a 100 point scale like every other system in the free world. For example, from 1 to 5, 1 is poor, 3 is average and 5 is excellent. With e bay, 4,5 is average and 5 is good, I am glad they didn't have my math teachers in Collage. So many times buyers rate a 3 when they don't realize they are giving the seller a unacceptable rating that could potentially suspend his/her account from e bay as so many has been suspended in the last 3 months because of improper data that has been now used as the bible of e bay to rate seller performance. It should also be noted that a flaw in the data of the 5 star DSR is that if a customer is happy, they fell that leaving positive feedback served its purpose and they have caused a positive vote to the seller, e bay has not educated the buyer, so they do not leave a star rating at all, and are not required to and a large % do not, but leave a positive feedback as it is not required. But the buyer who is mad and is leaving hasty feedback will be more than motivated to leave a 1 or 2 for all stars. For this reason, good sellers offering great service and products are being suspended from e bay by record numbers, this cuts the life cord of the seller as well as core business at e bay and the reason buyers come to the site and investors invest in the company.
Ebay may have ruined their market flair for both buyers and sellers forever. Too many restricting rule changes, increased charges, paypal demands, seller ratings. This has ultimately destroyed their bottom line.
Don't think eBay and its payment system engage in unfair, at the very least unethical or even illegal business practices? Retailers are asking for congress to crack down on organized computer crimes, but eBay, said "they would be unfairly targeted in the proposed legislation" Read article from link below:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=AP&Date=20080922&ID=9174700&Symbol=EBAY
Many sellers, buyers and investors alike have a dedicated special interest and hope they turn themselves around, but it is going to take some quick and correct policy change back to the system that worked to undo what has been done in what would be considered by many as well as a powerseller account manager in a telephone conversation said that this is "the most aggressive change e bay has ever done" it is costing sellers there business and driving buyers away from the site. The Best Match search is fatally flawed and $0.35 listings are not going to fix that.
Sellers of the unique items that made eBay famous (and who paid listing fees) are leaving in droves, while eBay brokers deals with corporate sellers of new stuff you can get anywhere who don't pay listing fees deteriorate the profits. And their buyers are following them. Watch the Q4 and Q1 figures. A company of this size can keep up appearances for some time, but its customers, its customers customers, that is sellers and buyers, are speaking up and cannot be ignored in the long term, the leader of these policy's are and continue to drive away the core business of e bay and investors are taking notice.
E bay bought Bill Me Later, I would have been surprised just 6 months ago, but I am unhappy to report that I am not at this time, the reason is this management has taken down the tread that holds e bay together as can be seen by its buyers and sellers everywhere complaining about the flawed aggressive policies that have taken place over the last few months, maybe you have heard some of them or are one of them. Every comment citing that the previous system was not broken. E bay has had community and trust, this 13 year trust has been violated and has failed both sellers and buyers in just a few months of unfair, faulty policy change that has taken a ship this size and turned it so fast that it is out of control and is facing a challenge to bring the ship back to course as it was before in the core business, although still ignored by management at this time, this is just in the core business, this shows the danger of a lateral move like credit right now. Take into account there could't be worse timing as the world economy will not view this favorably given recent events. This policy change was over a short aggressive period, but the negative impact will make it difficult to navigate back in position, if this venture is not successful, it will be even worse for ebay, its investors, and the management that follows. The core business has taken a great hit world wide, now it is committed to a market that is new. A new market during the time when its core business is in jeopardy due to flawed policy and a slowed economy with management proven only to drive away customers. This will prove a challenge that may take years to repair relationships of its sellers and buyers when it has been realized by investors concerned on top of unpopular credit service. Migration back to the system with effective proven 12-15 record, built by previous management over 12-15 years, seems to be the only way to save the future profits and stability the company once enjoyed.
So, e bay wants its investors to trust it in a huge risk buy, when the investors are clearly concerned and most can see that e bay can not run its core business in a way that is satisfying to its customers, causing them to leave, look for other suppliers that will eventually be able to meet demands of the once complacent sellers and buyers. Sorry, it would be hard for anyone with basic knowledge of the problems with recent policy of the core business to buy this, having been a seller and buyer for 10 years, it makes it even harder to buy. I can say, I am happy to report my family, who bought stock when they seen my success on e bay, sold there stock when I explained the new managements flawed, unfair, and aggressive policy handed down. The stock has followed since this and many are betting with there dollars fell it will continue to fall. Maybe Jim Cramer, hyper as he is, has a point when he said he could not get behind the company, and that someone should buy the company "and put them out of their misery." It is hard to argue with him, stock sold back in march, when these policies were being talked about, not yet implemented agressively, sold ebay seems to be the smart move. Stock was $30-$32 per share at that time, March 2008, it dropped every since as can be tracked from any stock quote chart. Yes, the economy took the abrupt hit, stock price had already plummeted by 1/3, $19-$22 per share, before it happened that our country was in trouble from bad credit/debt. Some say they wouldn't want to touch this a credit market at this time. I would also not want to answer to shareholders when they learn what long time sellers and buyers have seen in the past few months. Good thing for golden parachutes I guess, maybe that will soften the fall?
I think this report on NYtimes has some good in site of the problems facing the company with the current buy:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/ebay-plays-warren-buffett-buys-online-lender/#comment-55807
From B. Cleary Miami Fl. Ebay has made a multitude of changes. The results are in.
They have not worked.Donahoe says the changes are here to stay. Fuld blamed his companies (lehman Bros)failure on a lack of gov't intervention and a loss of faith in the financial markets. He was in business to make a profit. He sucked at it and his business failed.
Donahoe and Pierre have tried to make changes when and where none were needed or went draconian when a lighter hand would have been better.
Now they both are going to regret they have gone off-model to the extent they have.
From Anonymous http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=EBAY&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
just look at that is the ceo trying to break the company
From Ralph, Chicago, IL The problem with the ebay new customer rating system is that it can easily be manipulated by the bad buys. For example I was looking for a laptop a week or so ago and there was this seller who had 16 negative ratings and 18 neutral ratings this month. But he was still in business because he sold s lot of $2 and $3 items and then screwed the people buying tha larger items. So the ebay system thought he as a good guy, but in reality he was a crook
From Nashville, TN I agree, Mr. Donahoe and team have really created a disadvantage for sellers and buyers alike, that can be seen here or on any other form you visit.
I want to make it clear, I am a wholesaler and not a writer or a stock expert, but I have a first hand inside look having been a powerseller for over 10 years, 1.7 million per year sales and account for $156,000 paid to e bay per year for seller fees, this is the bases in which e bay shows profit or loss in a great way, this does not account for paypal fees charged, seller manager pro, e bay stores. E bay was a beautiful place before it has crashed and failed not only its buyers, but its sellers. This, although it would seem, at the moment, can be seen by the stock prices offered currently.
I have to say, those numbers above of my volume and seller fees paid, compared to e bays total numbers may not mean much to them, but they have lost those numbers from me, and many other sellers as seen in the message boards, as I am discontinuing to use e bay, who was loyal for so many years and its sellers were loyal back. I cant see how this can be good for e bay stock, cash flow as well as myself and my buyers who I hope will find me elsewhere now. Buyers who now have a reason to go somewhere else to buy. E bay has spoken, sellers have listed and regrettably moving on to something else. These are resourceful business people who will do well marketing for another company.
Anyone considering investing or putting time into future sales may want to take a look at the aggressive policy’s they have put in place (There are little to no direct policy as there has been for the last 10 years) it is now “at there discretion” rather than a written or qualitative policy in many cases. This is making the company policy as un uniform as it has ever been. Even when the rules were written for all to see, there were interpretation issues, however, now it is just up to the person answering the phone or sending the e mail and no room for improvement or debate to better or change. Although communication has always been an issue for E bays customers as well as sellers on message boards complain how hard it is to get in touch with them and when you do no one on the other end seems to be empowered to help or care to do little more than quote out of the corporate handbook offered in form letters and help pages. If you are as lucky as us to have been a powerseller, you can call and sometimes have your call returned within 3-4 business days and hope to be available at the time the call is returned, you can ask the same question to 10 different e bay “officials” and get 10 different answers that do not relate to one another. This is not a speculation, this is based on personal experience as well as discussions with other large sellers. They have turned a blind eye to its sellers and buyers alike. I wouldn't be leaving if there was any good reason to stay.
I admit, service needed to be better, customer service is something that all should be striving to improve, there is a way to do that without destroying the e bay fabric that has worked so well in the past. I have a business to run, so there is not enough time to go into all details of in site, there are many dissatisfied sellers (who drive e bays profit) and dissatisfied buyers (who drive the sellers profit) and it does not take a NBA to fugue out the future.
E bay has done a poor job or emplaning the new changes to its buyers, sellers only after a few months of effect, some loosing there e bay business because of improper, unmonitored data, is still learning and it seems no one knows the answers even at the top account managers level. Its buyers do not realize that the DSR DETAILED SELLER RATING, the 5 stars under the feedback rating is not based on a 100 point scale like every other system in the free world. For example, from 1 to 5, 1 is poor, 3 is average and 5 is excellent. With e bay, 4,5 is average and 5 is good, I am glad they didn't have my math teachers in Collage. So many times buyers rate a 3 when they don't realize they are giving the seller a unacceptable rating that could potentially suspend his/her account from e bay as so many has been suspended in the last 3 months because of improper data that has been now used as the bible of e bay to rate seller performance. It should also be noted that a flaw in the data of the 5 star DSR is that if a customer is happy, they fell that leaving positive feedback served its purpose and they have caused a positive vote to the seller, e bay has not educated the buyer, so they do not leave a star rating at all, and are not required to and a large % do not, but leave a positive feedback as it is not required. But the buyer who is mad and is leaving hasty feedback will be more than motivated to leave a 1 or 2 for all stars. For this reason, good sellers offering great service and products are being suspended from e bay by record numbers, this cuts the life cord of the seller as well as e bay.
Ebay has ruined their market flair. Too many restricting rule changes, increased charges, paypal demands, seller ratings. This has ultimately destroyed their bottom line.
I was talking to another large seller, he said something that is funny but true, he said "e bay is the only company I know to date that has actually implemented the policy of THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORAL HAS IMPROVED"
Ebay is definitely a stock headed down down down. The Wall Street analyst’s who cover Ebay need to find out what is really going on because the sellers who actually use ebay have been seeing it for the past several years as seen by past message/blogs. Anytime a company treats their customers with little or no concern, it’s not a good sign for the future.
There are alternatives to ebay and they are getting stronger everyday while e bay lets it strong sellers go who offer products that drive customers to the site. Many of them showing up to other sites and, yes, drawing e bay customers to competitors site.
CNBC analyst Jim Cramer said on Mad Money last night that he could not get behind the company, and that someone should buy the company "and put them out of their misery." That is a big statement in and of itself, however, that with all the negativity on message boards from its sellers and buyers in the past few months should have already grabbed someone's attention at e bay it would seem and some favorable policy changes would have followed already, this didn't come and could come too little too late.
It has been pointed out that CNBC analyst Jim Cramer said to buy, buy, buy at one time, the people who listened did well at that time. He has good in site to this company it would seem. Now I think this Caramer is a voice to listen to as he has made it clear that there is problems now, not anything that large sellers have not already foreseen for the last year.
http://www.marketintelligencecenter.com/articles/649789
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ebay-buyers-concerned-re-feedback-changes
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/new-feedback-policy-unfair-for-sellers
Articles from bias 3rd party's are now starting to surface all over the Internet community, although limited to in site, show they know of seller dissatisfaction:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/95329-ebay-is-a-losing-bid-barron-s
It is speculated that the Standard & Poors rating will be updating soon, because of e bays unpresidented fast and agressive changes made in the last couple of months have not given any room for changes of amindments of ratings yet, but I will asure you they are coming the changes were simply done so fast and agressive that ratings have not had time to catch up. It would be advisable to keep a close eye on this in a few months when agressive policy changes reach the rating level.
I have a dedicated special interest and hope they turn themselves around, but it is going to take some quick and correct policy change to undo what has been done in what would be considered by many as "the most aggressive change e bay has ever done" it is costing sellers there business, although it is realized that a very few had to go, they are taking the good sellers, some of them my competitors out in the process. Not that I am sad to see some of my competitors go, it is still sad to know that these people have sold on e bay for 5-10 years, know they have adjusted themselves to e bay, the kind of inventory, business plan, warehousing and equipment and 100's of thousands in inventory stuck in the warehouse they cannot sell, all of this done to a veteran of e bay because of policy changes made/implemented over just a few months.
From m.j. malik Estero, Florida …Article 911 September 11th 2008 CNN Money POST……..
…………………..QUOTE………………………..
'Mad Money Lightning Round':
eBay (EBAY Quote – Cramer on EBAY – Stock Picks): "No. Ebay has lost touch with reality and the company is hapless.
They ought to sell themselves to someone. "
Today, Friday September 12th 2008 Ebay Stock continues to stumble to another new LOW at closing in advance of "MORE NEW EBAY POLICY" PUSH PAYPAL PAPERLESS POLICY with NEW ABUSIVE BUYER INCENTIVES AND PROTECTIONS come October 2008.
Along with the new lobsided feedback system which encourages Abusive buyer BLACKMAIL,EXSTORTION,Fraud,etal against good honest unprotected and vulnerable Ebay sellers that are still sticking it out till the end. What A Shame. Ebay WAS a wonderful and fun place to shop and sell. "WAS"
From m j malik Estero, Florida "Triple whammy eBay news day weighs on the stock…" …….check out this link: ……………………
http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_strategies/2008/09/triple-whammy-e.html?cid=129898742#comments
Quote's from article/comments:
"Ebay losing staff at a great rate now" "internally employees are fleeing from certain departments"
"The employees are worried about their stock, as well as there future."
"Expect that a lot more of the real brain power at Ebay will be leaving in the next six months."
"Ebay has imposed a hiring freeze within the last few weeks, at both Ebay and Pay Pal … despite having hundreds of job opening and a loss of top middle level employees that have never been replaced."
" Internally Donohoe lost the faith of his top core people when he told them he was only onboard to 'turn around the company' and would look to jump ship after about 18 months to 2 years."
"Job recruiters in the Valley are getting indundated with resumes from Ebay employees, and that will continue."
Check out the rest of this rescent article and comments from : Scot Wingo's eBay Blog "eBay Strategies "
From matt meryk, clinton, iowa ebay is not legitimate!: ORGANIZED CRIME LINK
What is ebay? Ebay is a money launder orgization that is owned and operated by ORGANIZED CRIME!
This company is one of the greatest scams ever created. It has a cult status that is unprecedented in business and the organized crime world. operates under the same system that other crime business operate, such as produce companies, garbage collection, on-line universities, etc. ebay inflates their on-line sales numbers and is able to launder money legitimately. Sellers and buyers aso do not have to register a social security number and ebay exploits this weakness. Let’s not forget about paypal, either. They are part of this organization, as well. Right under the noses and right in the face of the IRS and the Justice Department. Have you ever wondered why ebay is so concerned about the government intervening in their business and making it madatory that sellers provide social security numbers so their sales can be monitored?
If ebay had to maintain ss numbers to identify sales, ebay would no longer be able to operate as a money laundering enterprise. By not having to maintain ss numbers, ebay can make up ficticious sales. This is a great scheme!
ebay sales and income will never go down because these manipulators mirror economic activity, in order to not bring attention to themselves. ebay doesn’t produce any products, it is just a clearing house. It doesn’t act like a legitimate business because it isn’t one. Send this posting to your congressional representative!
Where is ebay and paypals money laundering income going to? Terrorists?
From m.j.malik Estero Fl. Despite huge volume of trading Thursday September 4th, 2008 and yet another anouncement by Ebay Inc.of despiration giving j.j. Donahoe a newly announced Ebay VP. Mark Carges, to maybe try and shape up j j’s mess, Ebay stock closes at 1 cent off it’s lowest value of the day and at it’s lowest overall value seen in quite some time. “MAD MONEY LIGHTENING ROUND” say’s quote: EBAY IS IN TROUBLE 09/03/08 7:27pm EDT (EBAY – Cramer’s Take – Stockpickr): “no, no, no. Volume is declining and I can’t get behind it. That one is trouble.” I say : Solution is to mend the relationship with the customers ( SELLERS) For some reason or another Mr. Donahoe seems to think that he does’nt need his customers. He has created a real mess and it’s scheduled to get worse in October 2008. He won’t listen to the loyal Customers that built Ebay. What a shame. Maybe now they will listen to their investors. Let’s all try and cross our toe’s on that note.
Read comments posted below and you’ll get a better idea of what is really happening at EBAY INC
update:
Friday September 5th 2008, Ebay stock
officially surpasses it's lowest dollar value in the last 12 months.
Monday September 8th, 2008 Ebay stock
goes even lower than Friday's Close even though the nasdau and dow market's
were up. Ebay stock holders are finally
bailing out in larger numbers realizing that Ebay Inc has no intention of correcting their newly
designed "abusive buyer" market place and "fraud infested" breeding ground.
From J Black Diane, You've used the name "greedbay"
several times in your comments. I understand your frustration as a seller. I just feel that the name your
using "greedbay" at this point has fully excelorated to a more appropriate
name "FRAUDBAY"
From J.Black Ft. Myers FL. "TO LITTLE , TO LATE" Afterhours, The day "Ebay Stock" expectedly crashes to near 52 week low ,yesterday, Corporate desperately announces the launching of a "New Ebay Site"
called "Worldofgood.com
in the efforts of "once again" reaching out to Ebay Stock Investors instead of mending wounds inflicted
"by Ebay Inc." upon the milliions of Ebay customers "the Sellers" whom they have allienated so severely in
rescent months . Way to go, J.J. Donahoe !!!!!! You really think the stock investors are that stupid ???????
Openning another Business called "worldofgood" isn't gonna do a "wholelottagood" because it's settup to be more of the "same old story". Since the sellers know they can't trust Ebay anymore, why do You think the investors would be that stupid as to reinvest into the same Company that they just dumped out of ?
From m.j. malik Estero, Fl. “TRINKETS ONLY?” Will Ebay be offering expensive hard to find collectibles, antiques, paintings, sculptures, and so on to the Ebay buyers in the future?
Will it be worth the risk of the possible “total value loss to the seller” due to MORE NEW EBAY POLICY? Where’s the seller protection?
Sooner or later, all sellers selling expensive items on Ebay will be forced to offer their expensive valued merchandise in exchange for a 180 day (6 month) option for all ABUSIVE BUYERS to cheat sellers days or months later for any reason whatsoever when purchasing items thru the mandatory merchant account or “push pay pal” paperless program come October 2008.
Even if items are marked “as-is”, perfectly described, or noted “no return policy” , it won’t mean anything anymore. Sellers will now be required to except merchandise back within 45 days of purchase for whatever excuse the buyer has under the new policy terms of item not as described. Believe it or not it even gets worse. Pay pal will now not only snag the money for the item out of the sellers pay pal account, it will also now reimburse all shipping and handling costs to the buyer as an added bonus.
Now ABUSIVE BUYERS can purchase items thru PAYPAL that they may have had no intention of paying for, remove parts they need and then either return or not return item to seller, then filing a claim of not as described, missing parts, or lying that it was broken and force the seller to reimburse including the additional shipping and handling. If the seller legitimately complains about the ABUSIVE BUYER, he will then receive an UNPROTECTED NEGATIVE and all the buyer will get if seller takes the “uncompensated for “time and effort to prove the buyer was a fraudulent or abusive, according to: Clint from clint-us@ebay.com Aug-14-08 14:57 PDT 34 Quote: “We would reevaluate the case and, if we agreed that the buyer was at fault, we would flag them as an abusive buyer and prevent them from taking further advantage of the claim process.
Best regards,
Clint"
FLAG THEM?? Are you kidding me????
WHAT KIND OF GARBAGE is that? WHERES MY MONEY??????
WHAT IS GONNA STOP THAT THIEF FROM DOING THE SAME THING TO ANOTHER SELLER USING SOMEONE ELSES USER ID or A NEW USER ID, or A DIFFERENT NAME ETC… THIS NEW POLICY MAY ENCOURAGE MORE THIEVES, FRAUD AGAINST GOOD HONEST SELLERS and put the final nail the coffin of EBAY.
It sure doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how disastrous this new policy will be. You can see how well the new one-sided feedback system is working. Encouraging buyer dominance, black mail, control, and abuse over the seller.
Brilliant Mr.Donahue ??????????????????????????
From m.j Estero, Fl. It’s obvious we do not live in a perfect world. It never was and it never will be. There will always be the honest majority and the ones that are not. We also have laws in the land that punish the ones that steal from others without punishing the honest that do no wrong.(try telling Ebay that—ya right!!!—)
With regards to the EBAY COMMUNITY, the vast majority of sellers and buyers have always been honest, while the smaller portion of dishonest
sellers have been either thrown off Ebay while the dishonest buyers have caused a great financial loss to the sellers with their fraud, damage of merchandise , pay pal charge backs, causing uncalled for locked out paypal accounts, overdrafts , Ebay Suspensions, financial stress and much more causing good honest sellers to leave Ebay Community do to NO FAULT of their own other than agreeing to allowing the 180 reverse charge option which destroyed their Ebay business.
In the past, Honest Ebay Sellers had the option of selecting a safe form of payment for their value of merchandise exchanged which was really the American Way. They could select the form of payment that they were comfortable excepting which gave them GUARANTEED IMMEDIATE FUNDS with no future Unpleasant surprises. Money that was relied upon for sellers and their families to: pay bills, raise a family,go on vacation, save for the future or just go out and buy something else e.t.a.l. That WAS
truly the American Way and the Ebay Community offered this opportunity to the public. Perfect examples include: Postal Money Orders which are guaranteed immediate funds to the seller in exchange for immediate
shipping to the buyer with no hold time for funds to become available. Another example would be a simple personal check that once it cleared the bank the item was then safe to ship with funds in hand. For Overseas and in the States there is always the safe bank transfer option. These options mentioned above are especially desirable for larger ticket items
over $100.00 and up. Pay pal and Credit Card payments are only
desirable for speed and convenience with smaller ticket (LOWER RISK) items because the charge back option on them are easily absorbable and not as likely several months down the road. Besides, The scammers won’t hit the sellers on the little transactions, only on the substantially larger big-ticket items. Also in times like this where money is tighter, people think twice about what they just bought, recently bought that they realize that they either got their use out of it, desided they really didn’t need, money right now is more important than keeping it just to name a few examples. Given the temptation and opportunity to charge back an item for 6 months (180) days from purchase, unfortunately many good honest upfront sellers get stung on this example in the most unfair manner.
NOT ANYMORE…..STOP……LOOK…..LISTEN………………………………….
EBAY staff is now telling us sellers that we MUST OFFER THE OPTION
FOR ALL BUYERS TO EXCHANGE OUR VALUED MERCHANDISE FOR a 6 MONTH BUYER OPTION ! YES You know what that means? No GUARANTEE OF PAYMENT WITHOUT REVERSED CHARGES FOR 180 DAYS FROM DATE OF PURCHASE. This option gives the buyer all kinds of time for excuses as to why he or she doesn’t want the item anymore. On any large ticket item this could be disasterous results. NOW, WHERE DID AMERICAN WAY GO ?…GONE BYE BYE
MORE NEW EBAY POLICY
ABSOLUTELY NO MORE IMMEDIATE EXCHANGE OF VALUED MERCHANDISE FOR U.S. DENOMINATION FUNDS. When that large
charge back appears somewhere within the 180 days from purchase and the money is already by that time spent. IT’S ALL OVER and the EBAY/ PAYPAL system will have literally Destroyed EBAY SELLERS families lifestyle with absolutely no remorse whatsoever. Ebay’s track record has proven time and time again that they really don’t care what’s in the best interest of the Ebay Seller’s . They feel that there will always be enough sellers and their additude is like the boss that tells you if you don’t like it you
can leave and don”t let the door hit you in the rear end on the way out.
You’ve all heard the old saying, “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”
I get the feeling EBAY has just modified that phrase to something like
this. “IF IT AIN’T BROKEN , KEEP SMACKING IT ARROUND REAL GOOD SO YOU KNOW THAT IT TRUELY IS BROKEN THIS TIME ”
MORE NEW EBAY POLICY
by looking at all the new policies that Ebay will be implimenting in September and October of 2008, I honestly, I totally agree with todays comments that Ebay is on the path to TOTAL DESTRUCION. I’ve been a member since 1998 and Ebay use to be a fun place to buy and sell not any more more. Their new policies will allow
ABUSIVE BUYERS a FREE RIDE to destroy
good honest sellers businesses. Ebay has always preached but not teached
“buyer beware” . Take a look at all the new policies : “no feedback
protection” “Paperless only” “push pay pal” just to name a few that definitely make Ebay a “SELLER BEWARE”
place.
From Gabriel Da Silva, Culpeper VA I have been using ebay for several years selling very successfully electronic parts and other components. Now the auction end, I pay the fees and the buyer does not pay and leaves negative feedback. They have taken a system that was not utterly perfect and made it into AUCTION BS BAY where your commitment to purchase is on whim and you can mess up other peoples ratings by stiffing them. Auctions with no recourse. I guess they are not aware of the time it takes to list these items. Good job ebay nice way to look toward the future in this economy. With out vendors you have nothing to sell. I am seriously looking into other sites that appreciate who butters their bread. Hope the your stock hits the commode as it should!
Regards Gabe
From Anonymous "watch item" function on eBay should not be allowed. Other stoolpigeons are watching and not buying, especially those BUY NOW items. But eBay won't listen and won't do anything about it.
From Mike Reitsma As a recreational user of eBay I thank you for your July 14 article on
their new feedback policies.. I encourage you to return to eBay in a year to
see what the final results are.
My observation is that eBay policies define a "culture" determined by the
boundaries of allowed behavior and that this culture (like any) is learned.
This implies that the impact of policy changes takes a while to evolve to a
stable state (in most cases, spiraling downward to a more cynical
baseline).
The best eBay example is "sniping" (bidding in the last minute or so of the
auction). It has been allowed from the start, but only in the last few years
did it become the norm rather than the exception.
The recent change to disguising bidders' eBay names may hasten things a bit,
so let's see what becomes of the new feedback policies in a year or two.
Mike Reitsma
(argusmike on eBay)
From Boyd A. Berrett, Corry, Pennsylvania I, too, find the changes to the feedback system unacceptable but think that some of the other changes are even more egregious. In particular I'm referring to these DSR ratings which can penalize the seller for facets of the transaction which are beyond his or her control. I understand that the inclusion of a rating for shipping & handling is Ebay's less than subtle way of 'encouraging' its sellers to offer free shipping, but they aren't looking at my bottom-line. It's impossible to build 'shipping & handling' into the price of any item being sold at auction since the 'final value' is unknown when the item is being listed, but, if I choose to ask for even 'at-cost' shipping I risk a less-than-perfect rating in that area (and anything less-than-perfect is punitive is this inane 'system'). Then, of course, I'm also going to be rated on 'speed of delivery', which is so obviously not a factor within my control (unless I choose to ship every item via Fed-Ex Overnight and pay the entire cost out of my pocket).
I sold collectible books on eBay for ten years (since 1997) but haven't listed a single item since last July. In that time I worked diligently to satisfy all of my customers and maintain a 100% positive feedback rating (and not without kissing a few butts along the way), but I decided that eBay was becoming just a little bit too corporate and intrusive even before these most recent changes. Being a bookseller, there are many other established and viable alternatives on the internet and I have opted for one of those. It's not as much fun as the auction format but at least I can sell my wares there and still make a profit.
I haven't closed my eBay account and probably will not (since there are so many obvious advantages for bidders these days), but I won't be selling again unless eBay chooses to revert to the kind of venue it was in the early years of this decade (and what chance is there of that?).
From Amy, Oakland, California I tried to start my business on ebay in March. With all the fees for a store and just to sell, I had to price my handmade items way higher than I wanted. In the month I was on e-bay I got less than three hundred views total on all of my many items due to the way that items are now also displayed on their search results and their preferential placement of certain sellers over others. Having little luck there, I moved over to Etsy (www.etsy.com) and opened up my shop there selling handmade bellydance items. My views in one month were triple the amount of ebay, and I was able to lower my prices to something more reasonable for people. Many people who sell handmade are switching over to this platform for handmade!
From Fred, Orlando, Florida Ebay changes dropped my sales from over $3000 a month to less than $1300 due to ratings changes,feedback changes and Ebay hold the funds policy. Closed store and have gone to other auction sites. Unpaided items went up 50 % after no negative feedback for buyers. Can't wait for Christmas when every package that don't get their causes a slew of negative feedbacks and store closures. Ebay deserves everything it should get for being so stupid.
From JD Ingraham Olathe, KS http://www.trade2win.com/boards/foyer/35097-any-detectives-here.html#post463211
I link of detailed scammer technique… This is why I never use Ebay/Paypal
From R Good Most buyers are good. Most sellers are good. The feedback system should be hidden until all parties have left it,
say 21 days after the sale. We need
equal feedback on both sides to protect ourselves.
Ebay fails to realize how angry they have made sellers.
My feeling is to reduce listings on Ebay and put some eggs in the Google Base, Ecrater (free store) basket. I am already using Craigslist and free local news ads. I think Google Base is the best bet. Biggest and best search engine, and people will look there for alternative shopping.
A lot of buyers are angry with Ebay also. I am one. (a Buyer-Seller)
Ebay, you did us a favor, by forcing us to seek out new avenues. I would never have even looked at Google Base or Google checkout, if it hadn't been for your feedback stupidity.
From jefferson erck san antonio tx. I do good business and am proud of close to 130 positive transactions. I pay quickly and if there is a prob try to work with the seller.
If I deserved a negative. then I would deserve it.
where is the honor in impunity ??
It's like making goood grades and having someone abolish C,D and F grades……
It's a TOOL so that sellers can distinguish bad customers.
I personally think it's to push paypal.
instant pay……… no probs.
From todd elgin, il i cannot believe they are changing this excellent tool. it was the only way to feel confident in dealing with a person you never met before.
this is a big step backwards in my opinion and now they have the same problem Craigslist has which is that you cannot safely buy anything on line without driving to the item and seeing it in person.
From Jay, Everett WA eBay missed the boat on its 'no negative seller feedback'. A superior system which protects buyers from retaliatory feedback yet allows sellers their fair say would be a double blind system in which both buyer and seller are required to leave feedback (or suffer a feedback penalty from eBay), but neither is allowed to see the other's until both have been left. The result would be that when the transaction was complete, both sides report accurately what they experience.
From Lynne Just my opinion..I think the NY TIMES article published today really says it all. Ebay appears to be eliminating the sellers by layers, First by the fees, then by the feedback,then they are forcing folks to be in BETA programming that's incomplete and limiting their listings. You would have to check to see why they are placing members in forced testing of their Beta, but it does make sense in light of the comments made in the NY TIMES article. I wonder why they didn't just tell the small sellers to just close their accounts? It would have been the more humane thing to do.
From Robert Robison have ya read the by rueters? whith one swipe of the pen today, ebay and buy basically put 1000s of small business out of business guarranteed. Any business offer similar products as buy will be buried so deep in search engines now their listings will rarely if ever be seen by any shopper that competes with buy for sales.
From Jean-François Galy Re: Your article on Ebay
That CEO will get fired sooner or latter. They are already backtracking on some seller's issue, like the neutral. Why: because sellers are closing their accounts and it will affect Ebay's margins and sales.
A former 10 tear power seller( and BUYER), with 2 ebay stores veteran, who has called it quits
Regards
Jean-François Galy
From Jean-Francois Galy Dear Brandi,
You can listen to ebay management or the sellers. Why do you think they are backtracking on their recent changes, such as a neutral counted as a negative, or having sellers and buyers come through an arrangement to ,remove negatives ( this will of course not work since sellers do not have the possibility of giving a negative to a buyer) ? We sellers are closing our accounts and they are feeling the pinch!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A 10 year veteran power seller ( and buyer) with 2 ebay stores which has called it quits!!!!!!!!!
Regards
Jean-Francois Galy
From Carol Costabile Thank you for your recent piece on Ebay, however the company has NOT been honest at any point down the line. Seller are leaving , as a buyer I will no longer buy on Ebay. Read what some of these people are saying…
The petitions:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ebay-buyers-concerned-re-feedback-changes
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/new-feedback-policy-unfair-for-sellers
Both good sellers and buyers have been impacted by these changes… Ebay management has shown disrespect to those speaking out calling it "noise"… back peddling offers little comfort the damage has been done.
thanks Carol
From Tom Medlin What percentage of Ebay's revenues are generated from buyers ? The obvious answer is none. Then why does Ebay so favor their buyers over their sellers who are responsible for their success ? Maybe Ebay should institute a buyer's premium like the auction houses and offer a little relief to their fee burdened sellers.
From Bill Butler, South Bend, IN I think eBay has reached the top of its growth curve and that curve will turn negative as growth contracts. Between the policy changes and PayPal (many people now despise PayPal), I believe eBay now starts its gradual decline. eBay has simply interfered too much in the business relationship between buyer and seller. When eBay started they enhanced that relationship and now they negatively affect it. Fresh new venues are arising in response to gradually replace a now obsolete eBay.
From Anony, Vegas, Vada Ebay's changes were great. LONG TIME COMING. As a buyer and seller, I was absolutely tired of being hosed by sellers who ripped you off and held feedback over your head. WAY TO GO EBAY. When a buyer sends payment, he's done. Sellers should have posted positive then. If they came through and delivered what they wee supposed to, there would have never been a problem. If your a good seller then this doesn't effect you. So get over it.
From Peter Howell Hi Ms. O’Connor,
My name is Peter Howell, Marketing Coordinator for Flippid.com and I ran across your article regarding the eBay seller strike, “eBay fee hike sparks seller rebellion” on CNN Money/Fortune Small Business. I thought your readers might find our site of interest since as you may know there is quite a large seller strike that is still active. We are a completely free site without any fees to list, sell, or buy and we offer a completely open feedback system for both buyers and sellers. In addition, we offer free stores to any seller who lists ten or more items and are unleashing a marketing campaign with ads on TV, radio, and the web starting next month. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thanks for your time.
Best regards,
Peter Howell
Marketing Coordinator
Flippid.com
From Alex, San Bernardino, CA I used to sell on Ebay and have been a power seller for two years. I have been buying and selling for around 4 years and on Ebay for a total of 7 or 8 years. Out of over 1300 transactions, I have a feedback rating of 99.8 I started seeing a change in the type of buyer I would get about a year ago. People would bid up to $700 on an item and then back out, with Ebay doing absoluting nothing to enforce the agreement made by that bid. With each month after that, I would see more buyers abuse the system. Then when Ebay announced that in May they would no longer allow sellers to leave negative feedback, I started to see a real increase in abuse. In March, I even had 2 buyers, 2 weeks in a row, recieve an item that I sent via Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. The buyer recieved the item and them claimed that the item was just not in the box. Threaten me with a negative unless I give a refund, so I unwillingly after being blackmailed into it, give a refund. Now I lost the item and the money from the sale. This happened 2 weeks in a row. I really felt that Ebay abandoned the sellers to cater to only the buyers no matter what the cost, so starting in Mid April, I stopped selling and buying on Ebay and have not been back since. I may be just one guy but feel that if enough sellers took this action that Ebay would feel it in the pocketbook and finally pay attention to the sellers needs and not just the buyers.
From Jeff, Huntington Beach CA If Ebay's 2nd quarter results show any type of positive sign, it's entirely due to their cash cow PayPal. It's understandable that the 1st quarter results would show a profit, since after they announced these changes in January, re: feedback issues and the ridiculous Best Match feature, a large number of sellers were listing around the clock to get rid of their inventory before the changes took effect in May. Ioffer.com is sitting at 5 Million listings, and other auction sites are well over 1 Million listings as well. Ebay has never seen this type of competition in the past, so you really have to wonder what they are thinking.
From Beth, Northeast Ohio I recently listed 10 items, all of which sold quickly. One person has not paid and I do not expect to see payment based on my email 'conversations' with him. That's a 10% default and as far as I can tell the only credits I will receive form Ebay after I pursue the non-paying bidder route will be the final value fee. I still have to swallow the listing fees and the repeat listing fees. 10% is high considering that I list only sporadically. Ebay has changed a lot in the last 5 years and the only beneficiary has been Ebay.
From Ray, Chicago, IL I think ebay's new 'no negative' comments from sellers is a big mistake. To begin with, our society's business ethics have gone by the wayside; this new policy only encourages bad behavior. I believe in the long run, many sellers will decide it is not worth listing as many items on ebay. As a seller, it makes you feel vulnerable. Why should feedback not be 100% "2 way"?
From Ken, Chelsea, Ma. That whole best match thing is a bunch of garbage too. I have a 100% feedback rating and have been a member since March of 1998 and Istill don't get listed at the top of best match. I don't see the frenzied bidding at the end of an auction any more because my auction is on page 2. HELLO EBAY, YOU CAN'T HAVE A BETTER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATING BETTER THAN 100%. Maybe if I give 110% like athletes do, I can raise my percentage to 110%. That'll do it. I wonder what ebay's feedback rating would be? hmmmmmm???
From Ken, Chelsea, Ma. With no fear of retaliation, a buyer no longer has to pay for their item. Of course we get a final value credit after jumping through many hoops. BUT!!! You never get the listing fee back. So ebay really could care less if the deal goes through or not. So you have to list an item 3 times before a bidder actually goes through with the deal, ebay gets 3 listings fees and a final value fee. My way of fighting back is I will never leave a buyer a feedback again. Easy!!!
From Don C Birmingham, AL As a seller on EBay since 2000 let me say these new changes were among the dumbest things the company has done. EBAY has allowed buyers to no longer worry about paying for items, leave malicious feedback and try to extort the seller, and EBAY is doing nothing about it.
I had a buyer buy 10 items from me because he was unhappy with one of the auctions he left 10 negative feedbacks but EBAY says there is nothing wrong with that.
I had another buyer tell me not to insure a package that VISA was all the insurance he needed, and put a lower amount on the customs form. I refused to lie, and I insured the package because VISA only protects the buyer not the seller, much like EBAY. He left me 2 negatives saying I didnt honor the deal he set forth. I sent this to EBAY to request removal they have told me they are researching the issue, but that has been a week now and no response from EBAY.
If you are a buyer EBAY is for you but if you were thinking of making EBAY a career FORGET IT!
From Scott Flint, MI We have been a Silver Powerseller on eBay since 2001, and never has it been so difficult to deal with eBay as it is now. Their ever rising fee structure, DSR ratings that can affect a seller with one bad rating, etc. To those of you who think this is just a sound-off of bad sellers, take this into account. WE pay eBay to advertise and sell on their site, but we have no say in their rule changes. There are plenty of bad buyers out there (non-paying bidders, those who expect merchandise to be delivered overseas in 3 days, etc) that have completely taken advantage of the new system. We maintained a 99.9% feedback rating until the new system took effect. Nothing changed on our end, but buyers became bolder, with increasing ( and impossible) demands on how soon their product should arrive and such. Ebay thinks that the buyers will respond more honestly, but lot of them have done just the opposite with no threat of retalitory feedback. Again, eBay has slapped their bread and butter (the sellers that PAY ALL THE FEES) in the face and do not seem to care that we walk away. The system works when you have buyers and sellers who are treated EQUALLY. We'll see how much longer the system works.
From Paul South Florida Ebay's demise is coming. If you have merchandise that is filling up your warehouse shelves and you need to sell it check out http://www.sellmyinventory.com
From FK, CT I am getting the heck off eBay for good. This is a huge insult to small sellers. I have run into so many ignorant, thoughtless buyers and now you are giving them the upper hand. Unbelievable and not worth the huge hassle and little reward. Thanks a lot, eBay!
From Robert Nashville, TN The new feedback policy is a great thing. It restores it's very meaning. Sellers had hijacked the system, and rendered the feedback policy absolutely worthless. What most of you whiny sellers do not understand is that the feedback system is NOT for you! It is for the buyers! You have plenty of other methods to go after non-payers and their ilk, but us buyers get screwed with just one vindictive seller. And if you don't like it, then by all means leave – and a good riddance to you, at that.
From Bob, Newington, CT Caveat emptor has never been a truer statement for all Ebay parties.
From JD, Toronto Ontario To operate a successful exchange that brings buyers and sellers together, it is so fundamental that buyers and sellers have equal power. If that isn't there, then there will be abuses by the party having the dominant and unchecked power. Ebay built a billion dollar enterprise with that fundamental principal in place. I think they have forgot what made them great and have now created an unfair exchange – one to be avoided because it is fundamentally flawed.
From Philip Cohen, Sydney, Australia eBay introduces absolute anonymity for (shill) bidders
In Australia, the UK, Ireland and the Philippines, eBay has obscured auction bidding to the point that genuine bidders have got absolutely no chance of detecting and thereby protecting themselves from “shill” bidding (a criminal offence in most civilized countries) by unethical vendors. Notwithstanding eBay’s statements to the contrary, this application of absolute anonymity (ie, Bidder 1, Bidder 2, etc) by eBay on these sites serves absolutely no purpose other than to deceive consumers by making even any otherwise obvious shill bidding undetectable; and the same criticism has always been applicable to eBay’s other shill bidders’ facility, “User ID kept private”. Again, notwithstanding eBay’s various pronouncements about shill bidding being banned on eBay, eBay is now, on these sites, effectively (and knowingly) “aiding and abetting” such shill bidders at the expense of consumers. …
For those with a longer attention span, a lengthy critical analysis of this matter appears at:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6498345#6498345
I apologise in advance for the length of this above-linked “rant”. If you are an unethical shill-bidding seller or a buyer who is not concerned that on the above-mentioned national sites eBay is effectively “aiding and abetting” such shill-bidding sellers to cheat you, read no further.
From Pam, Burbank, CA. I found your article to be somewhat "soft" in its analysis of the problems facing sellers on ebay. Some of the responsibility for this rests with the "spin" ebay personnel are currently putting on all reports in the media.
In an effort to modernize its website, ebay has chosen to put all of its value in the buyer and place the financial burden on the seller. In addition to this unfair strategy, ebay has chosen to make PayPal its only accepted payment vehicle.
By implementing new policies that are inextricably intertwined and always in the buyer's favor, ebay has made its website a hostile environment for almost all sellers.
The only sellers that can take advantage of the "discounts" ebay dangles tantalizingly close to sellers, (but are never truly attainable for the small to mid-sized seller) are the mega-sellers like Buy.com and other sellers who can muster 500,000 units sold per month.
This is an impossible situation for almost all of the sellers currently selling on ebay and ebay knows this.
Had ebay laid all of its plans on the table and approached the imminent changes honestly and openly, there might have been less outrage and more of a chance that we sellers would have accepted, though not liked, some of these changes.
The environment which ebay has created, whether by design or sheer greed, or stupidity, has set into motion a mass exodus to other, more welcoming auction sites.
I am one of those sellers who will never buy or sell on ebay again and who will go to great lengths not to use PayPal.
I will not work to support a company who doesn't value its sellers and treats them without honor, kindness or care.
From AL,Wichita Kansas we have closed 2 stores ,my associates have closed there we went from 300 items to 30 items and an increase of non paybidders is getting larger and larger ,we closing our ebay oe going to just use aa a advertizing tool but opening own web site which has been doing better than ever and cost lots less a month than one sale on ebay cost altogether
From Gary West, Maryland Coin dealer for 9.5 years on ebay and I have decided not to put another dime toward my future there (like I have one anyway?). 99.9% positive feedback and I am under attack by the same company that I PAY TO WORK FOR ME. EXCUSE ME BUT EBAY IS A SERVICE – A SERVICE THAT I WILL PROVE I DONT NEED, THE SAME WAY I CANCEL A SUBSCRIPTION TO A MAGAZINE I NO LONGER READ – IT WILL JUST TAKE A BIT MORE TIME! I have built a website and am going to advertise and drive traffic "my way". I have enough low grade material that I can "dump" onto ebays swirling sesspool until I can get a footing to build above all the stink. Whos idea were the DSRs..Good luck getting all those fiery hoops to line up and have your listing seen…what a joke those are – the sob that invented those should be in the bread lines. Maybe the new CEO is a genius but I wont be around when the smoke clears.
Good selling elsewhere, Gary West
From diane, new milford, pa While this article about ebay's new policies make it seem like everything is a bed of roses in greedbay land, it is truly not portraying the actual sellers & some buyers experiences & feelings.
Another corporate twist of words and hiding the true facts. The fact is, there is tons of sellers leaving ebay. Sellers & some buyers HATE the new feedback policy. They HATE the dsr ratings and they HATE the high fees that greedbay & paypal have imposed on sellers. Everyone put up with the high fees, but when the new 1-sided feedback policy went into effect, that was the end. In less than 1 year, all buyers will have 100% feedback, even if they buy something and don't pay for it. There is no way for a seller to tell other sellers in the feedback that the customer didn't pay. Buyers are "blackmailing" sellers with a negative to them if they don't refund money or give in to their requests. There is NO customer service, you get a automated reply after a few days, there is NO concern for the mom & pop sellers that built greedbay. It's just like any other corporation, have people build your business then kick them to curb for the bigger money making people.
People are PO'd, and I am being very polite using the word PO'd.
Sellers are not only making "noise" (as the new CEO said they would) but they are leaving!. The buyers might be left but they are going to be left with a mall type site without all the unique sellers that made greedbay what it is today.
If that is the way greedbay is heading, then be it, but there it tons of sites out there like that. When the buyers can't find that unique collectible on greedbay – they will look elsewhere.
Ebay ought to be ashamed of themselves. If I had stock in this company, I would of sold it back when they announced the new changes because the more time goes on, ebay is going to be a ghosttown.
I have been on ebay over 8 years. 100% positive feedback. 1,752 feedbacks, 0 neg.'s & 0 neutrals. I am not a seller who got neg'd by a scam buyer and out for revenge. I am just a seller & buyer who thinks this whole site stinks anymore.
I moved to onlineauction.com. The fee is only $8.00 a month for unlimited listings, 0 final value fee and 0 relisting fee. And you have options on how you want to get paid.
I have seen thousands of posts by people that are leaving and sick & tired of greedbays dictatorship!. Greedbay can sugar-coat it all they want, but us on the inside are seeing it and we know what's coming.
Thanks for the doing the article. I'm just a little surprised there wasn't more in-depth talk about the sellers point of view. No, actually I'm not surprised. That's the way "BIG" business works. Silence the "little" people. When all the "noise" is over and greedbay is nothing but "silence" I bet someone at greebay will be saying – That was a bad policy change.
From Ken Johnson Island Lake Illinois I am a seller on eBay, my account has been opened since 2001 and have enjoyed most every customer that I have had the pleasure of serving, with that said however eBay has created a situation in which I am paying the company the same amount of money for the listing I have on their website, before when I listed an item, the default setting was ENDING SOONEST for bidders that looked for an item, eBay changed that default setting on the bidders to BEST MATCH, this change has create HUGE problems for myself and other sellers. Do not believe what this article says that things are mostly roses at eBay….their NOT. The sellers are being told by eBay…YOU MUST IMPROVE YOUR SELLING PRACTICES, EVEN IF YOUR PERCENTILE GRADING BY THE CUSTOMER IS OVER 90%…..EBAY HAS CREATED UNOBTAINABLE GOALS, REASON WHY??? MAYBE BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO MISS THEIR NEXT EARNINGS TARGET AND THEY NEEDED SOMETHING TO BLAME AND THEN SAY….WE FIXED THE PROBLEM ALREADY!!! THIS SYSTEM WORKED FINE FOR HOW MANY YEARS???? 9 OR SO YEARS???? NOW THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH IT????? NOT SO!!!! EBAY IS MAKING EVERY EFFORT IT SEEMS TO CREATE PROBLEMS THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST FOR THE SELLERS AND USING THE BIDDERS AS THE TOOLS TO MANIPULATE THE SELLERS. THE EXECUTIVES AT EBAY STAY HIDDEN DURING THIS WHOLE PROCESS, THEIR LIVE CHAT CUSTOMER SERVICE IS TOTALLY CLUELESS ABOUT THIS NEW SYSTEM, TRUST AND SAFETY WHO I WAS TOLD TO EMAIL QUESTIONS TO, DON'T ANSWER QUESTIONS, THEY ONLY SEND OUT COPY AND PASTE REPLIES, IF YOU ASK AN ORIGINAL QUESTION TO EBAY…….DO NOT EXPECT FOR IT TO BE ANSWERED BY THIS COMPANY. AS FOR CALLING THE COMPANY??? THEY WILL NOT ACCEPT THEIR CUSTOMERS TO CALL THEM, YES THAT IS RIGHT….I AM A SELLER ON EBAY, WHICH MEANS I PAY EBAY MONEY EVERY MONTH, YET EBAY WILL NOT ACCEPT MY PHONE CALL, LIVE CHAT DOESN'T WORK, TRUST AND SAFETY DOESN'T WORK AND THEY DON'T ACCEPT PHONE CALLS…..WHAT IS A SELLER TO DO???? FIND OTHER PLACES TO START SELLING MERCHANDISE BECAUSE THIS SHIP IS TAKING ON WATER AND THEY HAVE NO CLUE SINCE THEIR ALL PLAYING THE CAPTAIN OF THE BOAT.
From Billy North VT leave negative feedback at http://www.afterthegavel.com
From Bobbi Miller I closed my 11 year old account 2 weeks ago. I won't be back. No matter how they spin it, the new models of eBay have broken seller confidence and has become a game for bad buyers who are often recycling bad sellers. Good and honest sellers continue to leave and set up shop on other online venues or B & M s. Pride and principles have a value that eBay failed to notice. In the end they will have the den of thieves they so desire. Check out the user ID Buy…one of their anchor stores now. The negative & neutral feedback numbers that Buy has been hit with is amazing. They have made how many angry customers for the site and eBay supports them with low to no fees. Not a well grounded plan. There is so many more discouraging changes and games there isn't enough space to report all. Suffice it to say, ebay fool me once shame on me….and no more chances to fool me twice. Thanks for the space.
From Bill Withers, Hempstead, TX Everything is great! People took years to build their business on eBay. They purchased inventory, signed rental leases on buildings, etc. Overnight in 2008, they were stripped 100% of their business model. Fees increased. eBay PUSHED free shipping. Bidders began a new level of extortion and leaving negative feedback. eBay was good, but I predict next June, we will see $8 a share!!
From Denny Titusville PA I too have been selling for over 10 years. 99.1% feedback down to 97.1 and a 30 day suspension, thanks for nothing ebay.
From Ms Davis, Coastal, NC Al, Stanton,MO
What you say is only true for some sellers. Thanks to these new rules, I've lost money on two sales, both of which ebay/paypal sided with the buyer only to have one buyer admit she was wrong (after reading forums)and offer compensation. The other one claimed her account was falsely used after she was notified that the item was in transit. I'm still waiting for the money or the item. How the hell is that right?
From Shannon NY What a disaster the new feedback policy is. The scamming, blackmailing, non paying buyers are coming out of the woodwork on E-bay now. Sellers are now getting E-mails from buyers telling them to refund the money for purchases without returning the product or they will NEG the seller!! I have had a multitude of non paying buyers lately and I have no recourse whatsoever. Just the stupid UPI strike that E-bay swears by.
From MATT MERYK, CLINTON IOWA ebay: ORGANIZED CRIME LINK
What is ebay? Ebay is a money launder orgization that is owned and operated by ORGANIZED CRIME!
This company is one of the greatest scams ever created. It has a cult status that is unprecedented in business and the organized crime world. operates under the same system that other crime business operate, such as produce companies, garbage collection, on-line universities, etc. ebay inflates their on-line sales numbers and is able to launder money legitimately. Sellers and buyers aso do not have to register a social security number and ebay exploits this weakness. Let’s not forget about paypal, either. They are part of this organization, as well. Right under the noses and right in the face of the IRS and the Justice Department. Have you ever wondered why ebay is so concerned about the government intervening in their business and making it madatory that sellers provide social security numbers so their sales can be monitored?
If ebay had to maintain ss numbers to identify sales, ebay would no longer be able to operate as a money laundering enterprise. By not having to maintain ss numbers, ebay can make up ficticious sales. This is a great scheme!
ebay sales and income will never go down because these manipulators mirror economic activity, in order to not bring attention to themselves. ebay doesn’t produce any products, it is just a clearing house. It doesn’t act like a legitimate business because it isn’t one. Send this posting to your congressional representative!
Where is ebay and paypals money laundering income going to? Terrorists?
From Pam Ptyza, Perkasie PA The inmates are running the asylum. Ebay has turned their backs (as usual) to the ones who are footing the bill – the sellers. Let them kiss the behinds of the buyers, I've gone elsewhere and am doing much better at other sites where the bidders are friendlier, more prompt in payment and easier to work with all around. I was a seller on Ebay for 10 years with 99.9% feedback. In May, I had over 20 people threaten negative feedback if they couldn't get free shipping, have the high bid reduced to "a more reasonable figure" and other B.S. "negotiations" that they wanted to do after auction end. I deleted my account, deleted my store and have urged other sellers I know to do the same until Ebay realizes just who is keeping them in business.
From Terry Barber, Arlington, Virginia I feel like I have no control whatsoever on my selling on ebay anymore. I will be looking at other auction sites.
From Al, Stanton,MO The sellers brought this on themselves. A measurable percentage of them have the gall to state in their auctions: "We give what we receive", which I've learned means: "If you get screwed, you better not whine about it".
eBay has been a seller's paradise for too long. The changes are being made because the buyers are on the endangered species list. I personnally know of NO ONE who hasn't experienced at least one dishonest seller.
The only ones (sellers) who have anything to fear are the unscrupulous. Apparently a large number of them have expressed their displeasure on this forum. Ironic how so many refer to eBay as "organized crime". Funny, they didn't mind being a part of the syndicate before their "cut" was reduced. Go ahead and leave, please.
From Vince Piscopo Have you done a follow up on this story, ebay sellers are being
slaughtered. We have been doing this for 10 years and our feedback is being
desimated.
From Sue Taylor The short time we have been on EBay we have learned that EBay is all about
the buck and nothing else. If it is going to cost them a buck, they will
react. If there is nothing in it for them, filing a dispute is a waste of
time.
We have petitioned them sending over 100 emails for the past year now
regarding their flawed feedback system. The system is flawed for one reason
and one reason only…human nature. Most Buyers look at a seller's feedback
rating before bidding. For some reason, ONE big huge red negative sticks
out so much more than 500 Great Green Positives. Why? Simple human nature.
It is like that one big red pimple on a face with an otherwise flawless
complextion. No one is saying, "What nice skin, too bad about that one
little pimple." Nope, everyone is gasping saying, "OMG! Look at that!
It's horrible!" and they are backing away like it is contagious trying not
to stare at it.
And there starts the war between the buyer and the seller. EBay calls their
feedback system "mere opinion". But it is not, human nature does not allow
it to be merely opinion. It is that one big red pimple in the middle of
your face that everyone is staring at! It reduces bids and reduced bids
decreases sales, and too many sellers go out of business!
The Seller get to their computer in the morning, sets down their cup of
coffe and BAM!…there it is! The big red negative! They panic just like
the teenager in front of the mirror on senior picture day who just
discovered that big red zit on their face.
Why? Because many good buyers will see that one big zit…I mean
negative…and go buy from someone else. That big red zit reduces bids and
puts many ebay sellers out of business. With huge EBay fees, each bid is
extrememly important.
9 times out of 10, the negative or nuetral was placed there by the buyer
WITHOUT the buyer ever talking to the seller about whatever problem they
had. It is in this paniced pimple state that retaliatory feedback gets left
and it just gets worse and worse for both buyers and sellers.
We have asked EBay for 2 things over the course of the past year to fix
this. Over 100 emails and not one email back from them other than the form
letter saying they have passed our concerns on to the appropriate
department.
Here is what we have been asking them to review over the past year and
concider. Needless to say, when they overlooked these suggestions and made
these new changes…we were shocked. I am sure they decided what they
decided to get rid of the smaller seller.
I guess we are looking for a way to be heard. EBay started out as being
there for the small seller. I know things change, but it could work for
both small and large sellers if EBay just pulled their heads out of the
green fog they are in (and I am not talking about their enviornmental
position). It is true, the bigger you are, the harder you fall. They are
not seeing the trees for the forest.
Here is what we have been suggesting to them:
Suggestion #1: (Simple but not as good as #2) Get rid of the green, red and
grey. No negatives, no positives, no nuetral. Just let each person leave a
simple 100 charater comment and that is that. No pimples that hide
otherwise flawless skin.
Suggestion #2: (In our view, the best way) EBay already has a dispute
process for anyone who does not pay for their auctions. Before a seller
can take any action against a non-paying bidder, they must file a dispute
and work with the buyer via that dispute for 7days. All messages betweem
buyer and seller are to go through the eBay dispute system so eBay can see
who make an effort to resolve the issue and who did not. After 7 days, if
there is no resolusion or payment, the seller may close the dispute and give
the buyer a non-paying bidders stike. The seller then gets a refund of the
fees EBay charged for the auctions that did not get paid for.
Why not do this same thing for feedback? Before anyone can leave negative
or nuetral feedback, why isn't their a dispute process where the buyer and
seller are allowed to talk it out? No one can leave a negative or a
nuetral until a dispute process is followed and whoever does not participate
in the dispute process loses the right to leave feedback for that
transaction.
EBay has a dispute process for Non-paying bidders because eBay has to refund
a seller's fees if a buyer does not pay for the products. Sooo…the
dispute process is there so that more buyers will be given the chance to pay
and ebay will not have to refund the seller their fees.
It would be soooo easy to have the same process for feedback, but they don't
do it, because it does not translate into $$$ for them.
They are blind though, because this will be their end. There will be a
class action lawsuit over this and they will lose. The enviorment they are
creating with their new rules is an enviornment where they are encouraging
bad buyers to blackmail sellers with feedback and the seller loses business
or they comply with the blackmail. There are no other choices for the
seller, because of the rules eBay has implimented.
For someone like us to get ahold of someone at ebay who would be responsible
for making these kinds of decisions is impossible. We tried for a year.
For a year we have thought about these "suggestions" and we truly feel this
would have resolved eBay's problems between buyers and sellers. Now eBay
has alienated the seller, the one who pays those high fees and works hard to
be sure that aucitons are listed correctly and items are shipped quickly.
Hard work can go right down the drain in an instant when a buyer leaves a
negative. Just one will hurt a seller, especially a small seller. I would
certainly think that if EBay's actions hurt a large number of people's
businesses that those people could sue and win.
Can't they see that? Or have they become that arrogant?
What can a little fish like me do to change it?
From Canada New ebay policy SUCKS ! We are big company with 60000+ square foot warehouse and sales totaling over 20 mil a year. With new ebay changes coming all the time we long suspected that this is not the place to grow the business. It is unreliable, expensive and full of bad suprises.
We are reducing ebay business. We understand this is not an east task but we started to move away from it as we have power, money, resources.
We will still sell some on ebay probably but in small irrelevant numbers. I guess this is what they want.
Thanks
From kerry Karp why does everyone keep leaving out the fact that ebay has re-invented the
word neutral? They are now counting neutrals as negatives. The very essence
of the word neutral is to have no effect on something. Neutral =
negative?????????? IN WHAT EDUCATED UNIVERSE IS THIS TRUE?????
From SCHMITT To: Lorrie Norrington, President, eBay Global Marketplace Operation, and
cc: California States Attorneys Office, CA Department of Consumer Affairs,
and CNN
As a response to our query of 23May2008, we received from (no name) Risk
Operations, PayPal, an eBay Co., that ?UnknownSender#UnknownDomain? is a
phishing email. Yet this ?phishing? e-mail seems to have been used by
Elizabeth, Protection Services Dept., PayPal, to decide our case.
Is this an example of PayPal ?security team? in action? Or may it have been
yet another attempt by ebay / PayPal employees / management (Donahoe) to
help others steal member identity / financial info. Obviously, We do not
trust and wish to hear nothing further from Elizabeth, Protection Services
Department, PayPal.
We are a small honest seller & buyer, typical of many that have recently
been victim of possibly fraudulent, felonious activities of buyers due to
e/P ?perfectly clear? policies and practices. eBay ?commitment to
excellence? and ?call to action? philosophy as to policies / reports seem to
be: in confusion, there is (eBay) profit.
We wonder: Are eBay and PayPal accessory to these felonious ?vengeance?
activities. (all quotes: Norrington)
Could Norrington / Donahoe, be complicit in eBay / PayPal using phishing
emails such as ??UnknownSender#UnknownDomain,? or center#paiyfupal and
complaint-response#paypal? as a internal SCAM to defraud sellers.
From Johnny, Bayside NY I am voting Down with FeeBay's new policys against sellers.
Since receiving a negative feedback from a buyer, whom left the negative feedback without even asking for a refund or to resolve the problem, I have pulled all of my items for sale and no longer will be doing any kind of business with eBay until they possibly change their policies and attitude toward sellers. I am sure it will probably be too late by then for eBay anyway. They tried to fix something that WAS NOT BROKEN TO BEGIN WITH!! Add eBay fees, and PayPal fees (HELLO! Are they not the same company now? Why do they have to charge us twice?) and I am left with barely a profit margin to begin with. I would rather sell stuff on CL now so I can judge a buyer by his face, and his cash on hand, and not by some silly feedback system people (buyers that now hold all of the cards) are inherently abusive, irresponsible and vindictive towards.
No Apologies FEEBAY!
From Buffalo, NY I have created a petition against eBay’s NEW FB policies. I was kicked off the FB discussion board by eBay for a week for providing a link to my petition. If you e-mail me I will provide the link to you and you may sign the petition against eBay's NEW FB policies.
When you get the link, please pass it on.
JoAnne
FleaMarketTreasures.com
onlineflea@roadrunner.com
Would you believe I was just kicked off again?! PLEASE pass the link along since I cannot re-post:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=253721859&blogID=396996897
Please also pass this link along. I really want to fight for our rights.
From Tim Portland OR To see the padding going on with eBay's phoney listing numbers… Do a search on, for example, Women's Clothing. Roughly 848,000 items found. BUT, if you look at the bottom, there are supposedly 17,000+ pages. Jump to page 16,000…NOTHING IS THERE! 14,000…. NOTHING IS THERE! Choose next or previous on these…NOTHING IS THERE! False numbers. Listings are padded. eBay's numbers are dropping, other sites are rising. eBay, you blew it.
From diane, new milford, pa For 8 years I mostly sold on ebay, but did buy also. I am DONE with ebay unless they reverse the new feedback. I just saw a seller get a negative because he didn't leave feedback right away for the buyer. The negative said something like – Paid within 30 minutes and seller didn't leave feedback. This is what the seller's are so mad about. You might think, well, people can see that this person is a jerk, but it effects the seller's auctions on where they come up in searches (another one of ebay's stupid ideas).
Ebay thinks sellers will just spout off for awhile and it will all go away. Sellers are not going to stand for this one-sided system. Read some of the discussion boards. Sellers are leaving ebay!. They can pretend for awhile that a few sellers leaving won't hurt them, but every seller that leaves will add up and will soon be the end to Greedbay.
I have 1,750 feedbacks on ebay. 100% positive, 0 negatives & 0 netruals , so I'm not a seller who is mad because I received a negative, but with this new feedback system, it's open season on sellers reputations just because someone might be having a bad day.
From Jane F., DeKalb IL Sorry Greg, but you are missing the point. Just paying for an item is not the buyer's only obligation regarding their purchase. Plenty of buyers have claimed they never received their package, did a chargeback of funds after they received their item (which is fraud), or claimed something was broken and demanded a refund (and refused to offer proof of damage, also did not purchase insurance on their package). All of these scenarios have occured with my sales as well as my seller friends' transactions. I consider a transaction complete when my buyer leaves me feedback indicating that they were satisfied. Anyone who contacts me with a problem has always left satisfied–whether it was by receiving a refund, or getting assistance in tracking down a lost parcel. I don't know any sellers who leave retaliatory feedback, but I've seen plenty of buyers leave it before ever contacting their seller first. These changes on eBay hurt everyone, and as a result–I have left too. Sellers already have enough problems with unpaid items (which can tie up funds for weeks since eBay collects its fees whether the buyer has paid or not) and dishonest buyers, so this was the last straw.
As a buyer, Greg, you should reconsider your position regarding buyers leaving feedback first. It's arrogant to think that your only responsibilty is to make payment. I'm a buyer as well as a seller–and I always leave my feedback as soon as an item arrives. That tells my seller that I'm happy and it arrived safely. You should start doing the same.
From Jack, Boca Raton, FL We are eBay Titanium Power Sellers with well over 40k positive feedbacks and less than 20 negatives with many more coming soon! LEAVING EBAY BY ANYONE WHO IS SELLING AT LESS THAN PLATINUM PS LEVEL IS NOT GOING TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING. THEY HAVE MADE A DECISION AND PLAN ON STICKING TO IT. YOU NEED TO KEEP RAISING YOUR VOICE AND DEMANDING CHANGE BECAUSE THE CHANGE TO THE SYSTEM IS PREPOSTEROUS. For anyone who has stated the buyers only responsibility is to pay you are completely ignorant and foolish. If you go into a retail store and purchase an item, get home and its broken, do you light a firebomb and throw it through the store window? Not if you have a fraction of a brain or any sense of right and wrong, here is the problem, the people who think this change is good are the people with integrity who are so utterly naive and do not understand that well over 80% of negative feedbacks are left by users who never contact the seller with their issues. IF THERE IS NO CONTACT HOW CAN A SELLER NOT ONLY CORRECT A MISTAKE IF ONE IS MADE BUT PLEASE A CUSTOMER WHO IS UNFAIR????? There are many sellers who will do anything to please their customers, this system no longer allows this….. HERE IS THE MESSAGE WE SENT TO OUR PS MANAGER AND WE ENCOURAGE ANY EBAY USER WHO IS UPSET WITH THIS CHANGE TO SEND SIMILAR MESSAGES. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET A BADLY NEEDED MODIFICATION TO THIS SYSTEM;
This new system has 1 massive gaping hole, plain and simply, and it is one that most certainly will cost eBay sellers AND eBay ITSELF plenty of money in lost sales.
To not admit that there is a large portion of buyers on the internet as a whole who are simply lazy would be foolish so let's not bother to even consider that there isn't such a group.
If eBay can track this, obviously you would know, and must know, that the largest portion of negative feedbacks that are left are done so without any contact whatsoever. Anyone with any sense can safely assume such by viewing most seller's negative feedbacks and seeing that the highest percentage of them are from users with less than 100 feedback rating, probably around 70% for most, for us its probably around 80%, well over half are less than 50 feedback rating.
For you to not FORCE, NO ACCEPTION, YOU MUST FORCE the buyer to contact the seller, its simple responsibility, not only to protect your sellers who will do anything to please a customer, but probably far more important to eBay, A RESPONSIBILITY TO YOUR STOCKHOLDERS, of which I also am one. There are too many people who do not know the system well enough, this is your fault, and clearly education of the use of eBay is not paramount in any way shape or form to your business model. That is fine, but you are hanging your sellers from a tree like a pinata. At least force the buyer to contact the seller prior to leaving feedback and make them wait 24 or 48 hours to leave the feedback, 72 hours if the message is sent on a Friday or Saturday. This gives ample time for the seller to contact the buyer and resolve any issues that the buyer has. A company that no longer has the ability to please most of its disgruntled customers, this is what you have created, not only for the seller to be such, BUT FOR EBAY TO BE SUCH AS WELL. This is going to foster more business? Are you joking? It cannot possibly for that largest percentage of users who will not contact the seller prior to leaving a negative or a neutral feedback. These buyers will either leave eBay period or certainly use it less than they would if you forced them to contact the seller, they got treated like gold, the seller makes a customer for life, AS DOES EBAY. THIS DECISION COULD NOT POSSIBLY HURT, IT CANNOT, there is one downfall of this change at that is buyer frustration to have to wait, and you can safely say if that person cannot wait to leave the negative, these are the problem buyers, so it may not even be a problem.
The exposure to sellers who will do anything to please an unhappy customer is far too costly for them and for eBay as well. This system as it stands now will absolutely not accomplish what eBay thinks it will. There are too many buyers who leave feedback without contacting the seller in any way whatsoever. If you force them to do so and create some kind of time buffer, you will satisfy your most valued sellers (the ones who will do anything to please all customers) , in turn satisfy more buyers, in turn create more life long customers for those valued sellers and for eBay. The bottom line for all parties involved is more money, more transactions, more buyer satisfaction, more seller satisfaction, the fact that this was not in place to begin with is a huge mistake to say the very least.
From Arkansas Hates ebay we need to start our own auction site – for honest sellers that are SO sick of ebay and their dishonest ways!
From Arkansas hates ebay Totally agree. I'm getting malicious feedback now since the new policy has been implemented and there is nothing I can do about it. Even though I am addressing any concerns, the feedback has to stay – Ridiculous and VERY bad business!
From Smitty, Oregon Been on E-bay since 2001, 100% postitive feedback. In the past year I have stopped buying/selling on E-bay by more than 90%. I'm sick of their ridiculous fees, horrible "customer service" and the rampant fraud and abuse that occurs constantly.
I now use Craigslist and Amazon and couldn't be happier! I highly recommend Amazon for their great customer service (you can talk to real people) and very fair pricing structure.
I hope E-bay withers and dies.
From Ebay Sucks, Milwaukee, WI Ebay is going to lose their originality and end up being a huge breeding ground for fraud.
From Greg Ireland Nashville TN Case in point. Just last week, a buyer purchased an item from me, waited until the shipping info was sent, then reversed his transaction at the bank. The buyer can still leave me negative feedback, but I cannot warn other sellers of their actions. News folks, all of the onus is on the seller. What is eBay's loss here? I am a Power Seller with over 10,000 feedback, but my time is limited. This new system will not work and I am working diligently to move my business to another venue.
From Edi, Jacksonville, FL Regarding comments below Janet Clinton.
E-Bay was extremly fast to remove all negative feedbacks which this member left for other sellers.
Acctually he left 11 negative feedbacks on long time Power Sellers pages, blaming them for slow shipping. Items he purchased were zippo lighters in a price range of 5-10 bucks. Right after he commited that "masacre" to the honest and fair eBay members he left his comment on Feedback forum explaining to the people how powerful he was and how fun that was… All the sellers exposed him on hundreds of pages like this one, and that was a lot of preasure on him, so he closed his account, he was not suspended from e-Bay, he just close that account. He is on eBay again but under a new user ID…I don't have any comments regarding this except…it's a very sad day for eBay members all over the world. I closed my account with my Power Seller Star, I just didn't want to be VICTIM after all my hard work. At least I didn't give a chance to "unsatisfy buyers" to destroy my sellers dignity and reputation.
But buyers like this one are not alone on eBay. Everyday there is hunderds of them, looks like RAT RACE who can leave and make the biggest score in one day…
HUNTING SEASON ON HONEST PEOPLE & HONEST SELLER'S IS OPEN ON E-BAY, FIND AND DESTROY REPUTATION OF YOUR "DEE-AR SELLER"
Thanks for the space
From SCHMITT, WEED CA As a response to our query of 23May2008, we received from (no name) Risk Operations, PayPal, an eBay Co., that ‘UnknownSender#UnknownDomain’ is a phishing email. Yet this phishing e-mail seems to have been used by Elizabeth, Protection Services Dept., PayPal, to decide our case.
Is this an example of PayPal ‘security team’ in action? Or may it have been yet another attempt by ebay / PayPal employees / management to help others steal member identity / financial info. Obviously, We do not trust and wish to hear nothing further from Elizabeth, Protection Services Department, PayPal.
We are a small honest seller & buyer, typical of many that have recently been victim of possibly fraudulent, felonious activities of buyers due to e/P ‘perfectly clear’ policies and practices. eBay ‘commitment to excellence’ and ‘call to action’ philosophy as to policies / reports seem to be: ‘in confusion, there is (eBay) profit.’ We wonder: Are eBay and PayPal accessory to these felonious ‘vengeance’ activities. (all quotes: Norrington)
Could Norrington / Donahoe, be complicit in e/P using phishing emails such as ‘Unknown…,’ or center#paiyfupal and complaint-response#paypal’ as a internal SCAM to defraud sellers.
Do you remember: Where’s the beef?
cc: California States Attorneys Office, CA Department of Consumer Affairs, CNN
At your service, RS at return e-mail address
From Hans, Boise, ID Very simple, guys. STOP USING EBAY and PAYPAL!
This is a free market situation. If the service that eBay is providing no longer meets your needs as a Seller (or Buyer) then stop patronizing them.
If a sandwich store suddenly raised their prices, lowered their quality, and allowed their employees to spit in your food would you continue going there? Would you give them another dime of your business?
STOP USING EBAY PERMANENTLY. That is the answer.
From Susan, St Lucie, FL Glad to hear it! i've been a power seller for 5 years I will start looking elsewhere. I never agreed to this garbage when i signed up THIS IS DISCRIMINATION Against Seller. SHAME ON THOSE STUPID PEOPLE WE ARE THE ONES THAT MADE THEM! Can we get a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT GOING? They are ruining our reputation and we cant do a thing? SHAME ON THEM THOSE IDIOTS!
From susan, St Lucie, Fl Tom, Can't we as Sellers get together with a Class Action lawsuit? Isn't this discrimination? how can Ebay allow Buyers to LIE and ruin a sellers reputation and we can only give them Positive Feedback?? Did you agree to think when you signed up with Ebay, I surely didn't. THIS IS SICK, we need to do something
From Susan, St Lucie, FL Ebay could monitor feedback BEFORE they allow it to post. THIS IS A DISGUSTING POLICY, IT DISCRIMINATES AGAINST SELLERS and lets any nut job lie and ruin a good sellers reputation
From Susan, St Lucie, FL I Think Ebay stinks! They don't care about their sellers at all! I am already putting up my own web site, been with ebay for 4 years but had enough. Now buyers can LIE & STEAL from you, proceed to give you negative feedback, ruin your reputation, and sellers are only allowed to give them Positive feedback, that is disgusting and sick. I wonder if it's legal? I surely NEVER agreed to these conditions when I signed on. I blasted Ebay about their sick policy on an on-line chat and they pretty much told me TOO BAD! THEY STINK!
From Louie Rodriguez, New York, New York Ebay's new feedback system aims to model Amazon's feedback program where buyers feedback is critical to sellers but sellers feedback to buyers is worthless. Amazon's feedback system more closely reflects an accurate account of a sellers worthiness as retaliatory seller feedback on Amazon is non-existent.
From Carla, Lake Tapps Here is the response I got from my compliant to Ebay about the feedback score change in there own words:
"While calculating the percentage due to our conversations
with Community members and our research indicate that a neutral feedback
is most often an expression of deep buyer dissatisfaction."
This is how Ebay has interpreted the buyer's neutral when the buy has decided not to leave a negative feedback which at the time would have affected the sellers score.
I feel that the reputation I have worked very hard for as a seller has been slandered by Ebay's change in policy that interprets what previous buyers meant by leaving a neutral feedback score when the rules were clearly stated by Ebay "A neutral rating has no impact on the feedback score".
How can Ebay say a neutral indicates extreme dissatisfaction when the buyer chose to leave a neutral that would not affect the sellers score and they had the option instead of leaving a negative which would have affected the sellers score.
I too have pulled my listings on Ebay and closed my Paypal account. I will be looking for other selling options and no longer be a buyer on Ebay.
From Janet Clinton CT IF NO SELLERS , THEN THERE WILL BE NO BUYERS! DUH!
UNFAIR EBAY FEEDBACK POLICY!
We are Powersellers for 10 years & have upped & gone else where .
Closed up our Store & subscriptions!
Down to 3 auctions from 100+
Best to you Ebay!
See you on yahoo, amazon & others & doing very well. Who would of thought the other (online auctions & Stores) ) would be so good !
From Edi, Jacksonville, FL Do I have to say something about this…Is this what do you want Mr. Donahoe?? Is this one of your "excellent" buyers who need protection from sellers. I AM ASKING AMERICAN PUBLIC TO JUDGE THIS, FAIR AND HONESTLY. – Please look this and write your comment. For God sake, I think I am dreaming…
From Michael Holcomb Hey, JD, Sales are Up? Care to allow and independent audit to verify that? I don't trust a thing you say. The actual boycott has already started, "May 1st and Beyond". We know you are padding the listings again to hide the effect. You think this is just Noise and will go away? WRONG. This is it Bubba, the Real Deal. Soon, you won't have a way to hide the effects any longer as this thing snowballs. I'd love to an SEC investigation. You are going down.
From Donn Dabney, Sonoma, CA Thursday night (Tonight!) I will dedicate my live radio program to discuss this
Change in Feedback Policy. You all can have a voice. I will make the podcast available afterwards as well. My show airs on the FM band but most of you will not be in the area. YOU CAN LISTEN ON THE INTERNET. Everyone is welcome to call in and take part. It’s important to get this discussion outside of eBay and on to the internet and airwaves. If you are truly passionate about this and want your voice heard, join me!
THURSDAY 5pm (Left Coast Time, PST)
at http://www.donndabney.com
Click the RADIO LINK at http://www.donndabney.com, then the
LISTEN NOW BUTTON.
Once the show begins I will announce the telephone number to call.
Thank for joining me. Let’s keep it clean and make it productive.
-Donn Dabney
You can also join me at http://www.sonomasun.com
From Beck, Salt Lake, Utah This is in reponse to this comment, "When a seller holds you ransom for feedback by saying ” I’ll leave you feedback when you leave me feedback” that is 100% feedback manipulation and if Ebay allowed it to continue they may be guilty of helping sellers artificially inflate their positive feedback rating and that would be fraud. Sellers have always been able to file a Non Paying Bidder claim with Ebay, so for sellers to say they have no protection is complete nonsence."
I have been on both side of the equation, a buyer and a seller. As a buyer I protect myself before commiting to buy by reading a seller's feedback first. Then after buying, I use Paypal, I know I can file a refund through them if the transaction is not satisfactory. I even checked how much coverage a seller has through paypal just incase the seller scam me. If I purchase something that is way too expensive, I use a credit card through Paypal which means I can be protected by my credit card too.
Now as a seller, if a buyer runs, hide and not pay for the item, I lost money and time. What protection or help can I get to compensate my lost?, Nada, nothing but that is business right? The NPB?, yea right with 14 days of waiting time, take note of time just to wait for the FVF? How about my time, my listing fee?? but hey I can prevent the buyer to victimize another seller or me again in the future by leaving an appropriate feedback. With this new feedback policy, I am left defenseless as seller. If a buyer decided not to pay for an item, what do they lost… NONE some may even be grinning that they got away violating their contract with the seller when they hit the buy or bid button.
I do value my buyers because I am one of them too but there are a lot of buyers there too who file false claim, cheats with high expectation and can't be pleased no matter what.
So unless you have been on both side…a comment like that I think is just plain one sided as the ebay's feedback policy now.
From Joe, Phoenix Arizona I have one question. Would anyone do business with a company they new nothing about?
Then why would ebay ask there sellers to..
From Larry This is clearly a must need for Ebay. Far to often have seller's rated a
buyer after fedback has been left for them. A buyer's obligation is to pay
for the item in a timely manner after auction closes. That's it, nothing
else. They do not have to leave feedback at all for the seller. And they
should have their buyer's rating manipulated by a seller simply because they
had an unsatisfied customer. Retalitary feedback has no place on Ebay
whatsoever and it is so easy to see when it happens.
From John "What’s ultimately best for the buyers is to give them something for nothing. I suppose that’s also best for the sellers too, based on your model."
Excellent point!
From TOM HARPER EBAY…I JUST LISTED ON CRAIGSLIST AND SIGNED UP WITH I OFFER AND AM LOOKING AT OTHER AVENUES…
OH YEAH EBAY….DON'T YOU GET IT??? IT'S YOUR SELLERS THAT BRING BUYERS TO THE SITE…US SELLERS…NOT THE BUYERS…
IT'S THE SELLERS THAT ARE OUT THERE LOOKING TO BRING IN BUYERS…
SELLERS GOOD REPUTATION THAT BRINGS BUYERS BACK…NOT SELLERS WITH CRAPPY REPUTATIONS…..
EBAY WORKERS AND OTHER CORPORATE PEOPLE…WHO ARE NOT MAKING THE DECISIONS..YOU SHOULD START COMPLAINING AND WAKING UP TO WHAT THE DECISIONS YOUR GODZ ARE MAKING BECAUSE…THE LATEST DECISIONS…SKYPE PURCHASE…FEEDBACK POLICY…FEE INCREASES…THESE ARE NOT GOING TO BRING SELLERS TO YOUR SITE…NO SELLERS…NO BUYERS…GET IT???????
YAHOO AUCTIONS…NO SELLERS….GONE!!!!!!!!!!!
THAT IS WHY MOST OTHER AUCTION PLACES NEVER MADE IT…NO SELLERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO SELLERS MEANS NO BUYERS…….
IF YOU GO DOWN TOWN…..AND THERE IS A VACANT STORE….NO SELLER…THAT MEANS NO BUYERS…..AND NO REVENUES…..
THE EQUATION ISN'T THAT HARD……..
YOU BRING SELLERS TO A SITE…YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL….
LOOK AT CRAIGSLIST…THEY HAVE SELLERS AND THE BUYERS ARE FLOCKING TO THE SITE……
REALTOR.COM….SELLERS AND THE BUYERS COME……
AGAIN…NO SELLERS….NO BUYERS..MEANS NO REVENUES…….
YES I'M SWITCHING….GOOD TO GO OUT AND FIND NEW AVENUES…!!!
TALK ABOUT HOW TO RUN A CORPORATION…WHAT DID YOU GUYS HIRE ALL THE ENRON EXECUTIVES??????
YOU BRING SELLERS TO YOUR SITE…THE BUYERS WILL COME…THE REVENUES WILL COME…THE MONOPOLY EXISTS…
YOU LOOSE YOUR SELLERS…YOU LOOSE YOUR BUYERS…YOU LOOSE YOUR REVENUES..YOU LOOSE THE MONOPOLY….
YOU EBAY EXECUTIVE DECISION MAKERS ARE TOTAL IDIOTS!!!
YOU SHOULD FOLLOW THE FORMULA…KEEP IT SIMPLE…BRING IN AS MANY SELLERS AS POSSIBLE…THE BUYERS WILL FOLLOW…THE REVENUES WILL FLOW..AND YOU HOLD THE MONOPOLY……
BUT…GREED…MAKE THE COMMON HARD PERSON WAKE UP AND ANGRY…USE SELLERS..AND WHEN US SELLERS ARE ANGRY…YOU WATCH WHAT HAPPENS!!!!!
I'M LISTING MORE STUFF ON CRAIGSLIST TODAY…AND YEAH..I'LL LIST A COUPLE OF THINGS BECAUSE I HAVE BILLS…BUT I'M SPREADING OUT AND FINDING NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE..BECAUSE YOU PISSED ME OFF!!!!!
From DH, Rockville MD "We've concluded that the best way to grow our active user base is by not losing any of them" – Bob Swan, CFO
Sure, you can KEEP your buyers community. We the sellers will just find other venues.
"This is not to say that sellers are not important to us, but our belief is and has always been that what is good for buyers is ultimately good for sellers." – John Donahoe, CEO
Are you still living in the stone-ages, John? Do you live in an Utopian society John? Did you ever work in retail, John? Did you ever work in the customer service department where you need to handle unreasonable demands from inane buyers, John? eBay and PayPal do not have the best customer support on the Internet and you expect small sellers to have the resource to handle every demands from the buyers? What's ultimately best for the buyers is to give them something for nothing. I suppose that's also best for the sellers too, based on your model.
From Edi, Jacksonville, FL I will join to boycott which starts at June 1. 2008 – If E-Bay managment don't change this rules I am going to close all my accounts, E-Bay and Pay-pal. There is huge number of auctions like E-Bay on internet. Yes, they are not sucessful like E-Bay, but I will wait for couple months, that auctions like Overstock.com, U-Bid.com, OnLineAuction.com must take this chance and make some progress. For sure, people who agree with this new E-Bay policy don't have idea about selling on E-Bay. I am member more than 9 years, Power Seller in last 5 years, I know very well both side of streets…E-Bay just don't care for sellers…you ask why??? Simpley, they think it's not possible that somebody can be more succesfull than E-Bay….Wrong decision people in managment, wrong, wrong. I guess in next two months, E-Bay stock will be below $20.00 – Now is about $ 30.00…Question for stock holders??? Yes…and good luck folks. I have great rating on Overstock.com, profit is not huge, but will go up…patience.
From Carla, Lake Tapps Scott Sliwinski- Perfectly stated exactly my experiece as a seller and feelings too.
From Scott Sliwinski, Levittown, PA. On May 19, 2008 eBay's Feedback system changed and it seems to ONLY benefit Buyers.It takes away the ability of a Seller to leave Negative Feedback even in the even a Buyer Backs out of the Auction after winning / never pays for an item.It's ironic that everyone here the loves the new Feedback (Looking through the Community Boards) is someone who has never sold a thing on eBay.Most Sellers have been on both sides of the eBay Street (Buying and Selling) and have every right to comment and be pissed about it.If you have no experience with it, you really have no right to comment.Let me ask all you "Buyers", what do you contribute in $$$ to eBay? What cost do you pay? THAT'S RIGHT… NONE!This new Feedback system is fair how? My knowledge of Fair gives equality and right to all parties involved.Feedback is an essential way of seeing who is the Honest and Dishonest on both the Buyers and Seller's Side. I have been on both sides of this street and over the almost 10 years I have been on eBay, I have 2 negative posts left on my account. Both because the Buyer did not read my auction fully and because they felt cheated (Even though I showed them the details they forgot to read) I received bad feedback. I live I move on, but overall, I come across a lot of "Non-Paying Bidders". I have to process at least one request a week that someone decided they are not going to pay or communicate with me. So I put in the Non-Payment Request which is a sellers right 7 days after the auction ends. The Non-Payment process takes close to two weeks overall to complete, when it is done, the Seller generally get rewarded their insert fees back and the now Bogus Buyer gets a Negative Strike on their account (After 3 eBay Suspends your account) and then I genuinely leave Negative Feedback on their account (Along the lines of "NEVER PAID, NO COMMUNICATION, AVOID " ).Now if I get someone that never pays, I have to be nice about it??? I will no longer have the ability as a Seller to notify others that "Joe Buyer" never paid for this item and be carful dealing with. Yet on the other and, buyers if they feel they have had some type of 'Bad" experience with a seller, they will still be able to leave the Negative Feedback.Again, this is fair how???I think this could have been handled / done another way:1. Like Sellers do, make buyers put in Credit Card information. Buyers don't contribute any $$$ to eBay. You pay no fees regardless of winning an item or not. A Seller on the other hand pays all the insert fees and once a Bid has been placed on an item, as far as eBay is concerned, it's sold and they take that percentage. Buyers putting in a Credit Card will solve / help solve buyers backing out. Rather then eBay loosing $$$ on rewarding me back my insert fees, they should be charge back to the buyer that backed out. Also on that, eBay should not take a percentage until the item is marked paid / sent by the Seller. You can change the system and make it almost like a wizard that a Buyer or Seller must go through to complete a transaction. From the initial bid, to communication after winning to leaving feedback. MAKE IT A REQUIREMENT ON ALL ENDS! Accounts neglecting to follow the rules get deleted after 3 months.2. If you are going to put in this change, then there needs to be some considerations. For instance, let Sellers still leave Negative Feedback, if a Buyer gets more then 3 Non-Payment Requests or 3 Negative Feedbacks against them in the course of say 6 months / year, then the Negative feedback should show up. (eBay put something similar to this in effect)Feedback overall is based on two things:1. A Sellers ability to provide the item as described / promised.2. A Buyers ability to pay for the item and in the way the Seller accepts.THAT'S IT!It is a Buyers Responsibility to Ask the Seller a Question. If you as a Buyer don't ask, you may be disappointed in the item you receive, especially if is not what you expected. Also to alert the Seller as to when the Payment is sent.It is a Sellers Responsibility to Advertise the item honestly and give as many details as possible, also maintain communication with the Buyer that won the item.Do you know how many Buyers I have that NEVER communicate with me, then the minute I send a Non Payment request, I get the "Why did you do that…" The auction ended 7 – 10 days before, I have sent you several invoices and reminders and have not gotten one response, that is why. Overall, bad transactions generally happen because there is a LACK OF COMMUNICATION! I don't care that you went on vacation… I don't care that you only access eBay from your Work PC if you had time to bid / win then you have time to send me a quick note as to how you plan to pay for the item. It's simply common courtesy.I have 383 Feedback notes on my account. Most of it as a Seller, the remaining (About 37 Transactions) as a Buyer, so I have been on both sides of this street.Don't get me wrong, I know there are as many dishonest Sellers out there as there are Buyers, for the most part we are all good and in the world of Sales / Retail, in most cases, you sell an item based on 'Word of Mouth" (FEEDBACK)I am sure that some of you will disagree with me and I would gather that for the most part, you are all Buyers and you have the right to your Opinion, but unless you have been both a Buyer and a Seller, you really don't realize how unfair this is.Comments Welcome!
From Edi, Jacksonville, FL I just read one of the best comments posted on E-Bay Feddback Forum and I must share this with you. Thanks…
EBAY FEEDBACK = SELLER SILENCE
Ebay’s new feedback system is a violation of equal rights to all Ebay users and a betrayal to all loyal and dedicated Ebay Sellers–particularly those who have worked diligently to protect their perfect feedback records.
Ebay’s new feedback system has silenced the Seller and taken away their equal rights on Ebay. The Seller is now a silent, second class citizen in every transaction they create.
Ebay's new feedback system assumes there is no such thing as a bad Buyer and leaves the Seller completely defenseless against unscrupulous Buyers, with absolutely no recourse except to run to Ebay's already over-burdened complaint department where they will receive little or no satisfaction.
Ebay’s new feedback system has stripped all Sellers of their ability to defend themselves against unscrupulous Buyers who, for any number of reasons, decide to hold the Seller's feedback record hostage.
Ebay’s new feedback system renders the Ebay feedback system inaccurate, misleading, and therefore invalid because you can't read both sides of a disputed transaction.
Ebay’s new feedback system is solely intended to increase purchasing on Ebay by eliminating Buyer accountability.
Ebay’s new feedback policy is unfair, unethical, and a vicious insult to every honest, considerate and loyal Seller on Ebay who has worked hard for their positive feedback.
Ebay’s new feedback policy will compel many honest and caring Sellers to stop selling on Ebay. In particular, you will see a marked decline in rare, unique, and one of a kind items, particularly from nonprofessional sellers; private citizens who possess or locate rare or unusual items.
Ebay’s new feedback policy will result in more "Power Sellers" on Ebay, those who sell large volumes of commercial items because random negative feedback is among hundreds or thousands of sales per week. Ebay will soon become the premiere commercial selling site, forsaking the small, unique boutique seller.
Ebay’s new feedback policy will result in arbitrary and baseless negative feedback by dishonest Buyers to Sellers and, ultimately, will render the Ebay feedback system useless and dysfunctional as an accurate and unbiased purchasing evaluation tool.
Ebay’s new feedback policy will inspire unscrupulous Buyers to renegotiate their purchases after receipt, using the threat of negative feedback unless the Seller complies. Other Buyers may simply demand a total refund, including shipping/handling charges, compelling the Seller to comply or risk accumulating a negative Selling reputation.
Ebay’s new feedback policy will compel many Sellers to stop leaving Buyer feedback–why should a Seller participate in a system they have no voice in?
Ebay’s new feedback policy will compel many Sellers to stop trying to preserve or protect their feedback records–why should a Seller care any longer if they are likely to receive unfair or baseless feedback along with fair and accurate feedback?
Ebay’s new feedback policy will compel a Seller to examine a Buyer’s feedback record and reject any bid from any bidder who has left negative feedback after 5/19/08 because this the only way a Seller can protect themselves from abusive.Buyer feedback.
Ebay’s new feedback policy is a blatant attack on fair and equal treatment for all Ebayers, both Sellers and Buyers. Is it is right to hold a Seller accountable but not the Buyer? Is it right to be able to publicly criticize a Seller for a transaction who cannot respond in their defense?
Ebay’s new feedback policy hurts everyone on Ebay, not just the Seller.
DEMAND A FAIR & EQUITABLE FEED BACK POLICY FOR ALL EBAYERS!
SELLERS SIGN PETITION HERE: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/new-feedback-policy-unfair-for-sellers
BUYERS SIGN PETITION HERE: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ebay-buyers-concerned-re-feedback-changes
From Mary Rahl, New York I am finishing up the last of my 5 auctions on ebay. I have already signed onto another internet auction site and will sign with one more later today. Done with selling on ebay.
From BJ Skeleton I think the changes are RIDICULOUS! They have taken away the sellers rights. I am a small scale seller, and I have never left negative feedback for a buyer unless they were a non paying bidder. My biggest problem as a seller is a non paying bidder. I have had far too many lately. I rely on feedback to gauge whether or not there may be a problem on the buyers end. High feedback? There's probably a good explanation for the non payment. Non payment before? They're are probably losers just playing on the computer. Now, they can't get negative feedback? DO SELLERS COUNT AT ALL? Without the sellers, there would be no buyers! ALSO, to let a neutral feedback pull your score down is idiotic! I had 100% feedback. NOT ANYMORE! If anyone knows of another reputable auction site, please E mail me with info. I am definitely not a happy E bayer anymore! WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE START A NEW SITE? It's time for change!!!
From John Using multipule ID's, I plan to buy lots of random things, not pay, and negative feedback as many honest sellers as I can. Look out everybody!
From Les Smith Kent UK Well one from the UK for you. I was a seller/buyer for several yrs. Now will not ship outside UK,reduced by 75% ebay sales & sell elsewhere now. I think with new FB rules etc ebay has finally shot itself in the foot(Head!)
From K. Irvine, Black Forest, CO I too will stop selling and buying on eBay until this one-sided feedback is changed back to an even playing field. The equal feedback exchange is what made eBay a safe environment. Now, it is hostile to sellers. And as mentioned before, most sellers are also buyers. I never thought eBay would make such a daft move as to keep me off their site. But, alas, they have outdone themselves this time and are hanging themselves with their own rope. I am searching for a new auction site as of today. Thanks for the kick in the teeth eBay.
From Greg, Dayton Ohio O.K. Where do I start, the change was absolutely necessary, The way it was did allow sellers to artificially manipulate their feedback. Yes really, when a buyer makes a purchase and pays their job is done, so why did so many sellers say Oh I'll leave you feedback when you leave me feedback? Answer: Feedback manipulation. If I send an email as a buyer and don't get an answer for a week or it takes two weeks or more for you to ship guess what negative feedback for you. I guess what sellers are crying about is this new policy may force out those who provide poor customer service on Ebay or make them provide honest listings and good customer service. I have been taken on Ebay and could not leave negative feedback for fear of seller leaving negative feedback. In a marketplace where positive feedback is everything the old policy almost constitutes fraud, How you ask? When a seller holds you ransom for feedback by saying " I'll leave you feedback when you leave me feedback" that is 100% feedback manipulation and if Ebay allowed it to continue they may be guilty of helping sellers artificially inflate their positive feedback rating and that would be fraud. Sellers have always been able to file a Non Paying Bidder claim with Ebay, so for sellers to say they have no protection is complete nonsence
From Edi, Jacksonville, Florida Mr. John Donahoe don't have clue what he did with new feedback rules. At this time every single minute new comment is posted on discussion forum, it's over 200.000 pages for only two days, and they go up and up by every minute. Petition is already full, most sellers closing accounts on E-Bay and Pay-Pal…Reading all comments, this is very serious situation for E-Bay and Mr. John Donahoe…My message for Mr. Donahoe: Don't bite hands that feed's you. – Sellers pays for all fees, not buyers. I am still with Power Seller star.
From John / Nevada I should note, that I've only ever been a buyer and I still think it is unfair to sellers.
From John / Nevada Feedback is a two-way street. The majority of buyers have no ill intentions of leaving negative feedback unless they have a bad experience with a seller. Nor do sellers want to unnecessarily punish their customers. Restricting seller feedback is UNFAIR and a HUGE MISTAKE.
If the seller doesn't mark a buyer as untrustworthy to do business with, who will? Ebay is setting up buyers to be taken advantage of. It won't last long and Ebay will fall faster than the housing market.
From Carla, Lake Tapps Here's a piece of information you have to wonder if the CEO of Ebay John Donahoe considered when they were making their new policies.
A large portion of the Sellers who are closing up shop on Ebay are also Buyers!!!
From Daryl White Cooper City,Fl. I am a seller,right now I have a buyer who won the bid on my item and 3 weeks later still has not paid.He has put me off three weeks until this policy took effect.Now,I will not get paid,plus I have no feedback option.The real kick is that he can turn around and leave me bad feedback and I am the one who hase lost money.Deadbeat bidders are out there and now we have to live with it.Great job e-bay!Craigs list hear I come.
From Peter Leeflang, Dedham, MA The aforemntioned alternate sites are minor players with low traffic.
Thhe real site that just started in beta is Wigix. It is an Ebay killer, due to totally new concepts, like 'paying' catalog content contributors and product category experts and having a realtime price ticker for each product, all in combination with the newest technology, so not as antiquated as Ebay. The payment service they offer or will offer is Google Checkout, ACH and Paypal. In JUIne there is an updated release that will offer a tool to Ebay sellers to migrate. Wigix is a serious venture capital funded company, no fly by night thing.
From Carla, Lake Tapps EBAY's rule prior to May 19th-
Neutral rating has no impact on the Feedback Score.
How does ebay justify changing our score prior to May 19th when this was their rule then?
Neutrals left prior to the change were left by buyers with the understanding that 1) it did NOT mean they had a negative experience, and 2) it would NOT affect the seller's rating otherwise they would have left a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
From Bobbi Miller Benton, Arkanasas have been a registered eBay user – buyer & seller for 10+ years.
The new feedback change is horrific, and has been destructive to
sellers already. Personally, it has had little impact but that does not
make it correct. There has always been an option on both sides to leave
appropriate feedback: Positve +1, Neutral 0, or Negative -1. Now
neutrals are also -1. The eBay sellers (who are also buyers) including
myself have been on all boards throughout the eBay since the change
went active yesterday.
Years ago when Pierre made his original gaff of "only a $1" I was
very vocal on the boards to the point that eBay was threatening me.
Those clips are still around. eBay modified the edict and all settled
down but it was many years until I regularly bought & sold again. Some
changes have been beneficial, some not. But I was always proud of my
feedback-my cyberspace footprint-but no more. Now they have managed to
destroy many cyberspace footprints in one fell swoop. When a business
has been based and branded with a superior ingredient that is modified
the result can be detrimental. New Coke springs to mind.
After thoughtful consideration, I am letting my last auctions wind
down and my last bids on purchases finalize. By next week I will be
posting on other sites. I wanted to let you know the result of the
newest action for one member. There is a firestorm brewing and I am
moving out of the line of fire.
I am leaving this everywhere I do business and for the News Media. Power Sellers have started closing their stores. Sellers have been suspended. Ebay had it's own commodity or product, the sellers. It damaged its product.
From Louise Colorado Springs CO Yup I'm going and plan to chew on anyone and everyone's ear who is an employee. Also going to stock brokers meeting to vote against Donahoe.
From Steve San Antonio Texas Ebay has gotten out of control. I am a small seller since 1999 with a rating of over 3000. I am still small and recently ebay yanked off all of my .99 auctions stating i was circumventing their fee policy???!! I still have not received a response from they as to what they meant by that.
I really think that ebay has forgotten the small sellers that made them what they are. I actually am selling items at flea markets and yard sales and making more money since I dont have to pay the out of control fees.
Too bad ebay time for this small seller to abandon you like you have done to us!!!
From Kelsey TUS,AZ PS. Is anyone really going to Ebay Live? I'm surprised they are having it this year. I'd love to know if anyone really goes to this, esp after they had the rug pulled out from under them.
From Kelsey TUS,AZ While ebay struggles to find itself, (as though what it started out as wasn't what attracted all of us in the first place), they take all of the fun out of selling. I sold a few items as of now on ecrater. It will be hard to establish such a giant reputation that ebay built, with it's initial swap meet style. What happened to Omidar? Did he just *Poof* disappear? I thought he wanted global peace. This company has turned into global chaos, and if polled I'd say the majority of us are unhappy and ready to run to the NEW EBAY, wherever it may materialize. UGH!
From Ken, Allen Texas I purchased an item from one of ebay's big sellers. A few days later I received an email saying they didn't have the item. After multiple emails back and forth I finally left negative feedback. They then left negative feedback on me and emailed me telling me if I removed my negative feedback they would remove theirs. They had 20K plus feedback's. I checked through several negatives and in each case they left negative feedback on the buyer. Many of those folks (like me) had 100% rating before then.
I reported the initial sale issue to ebay (ebay told me the seller was warned) and then I reported the issue with the bad feedback and was told that ebay can't do anything about it. This change at ebay will solve this seller abuse so I'm happy to see this being done.
From Laurie Borden Sellers should check out RepXchange.com – a free service where sellers can download a custom blocked bidder list, aka black lists, to prevent bad bidders from participating in their actions.
The goal of this service isn't to simply fill sellers blocked bidders list with a lot of names; when sellers do so, they are potentially losing good buyers in with the bad. On RepXchange sellers can be very specific about the buyers they want to block, thus allowing them to focus on servicing profitable customers.
From gbayemporium, eBay Inflatable madness is actually an example of a user who deserves to drop off. 98% feedback for a large seller like that is complete and utter garbage, as it means that hundreds of buyers left them negs or neutrals for non-delivery of items.
they've been feasting on the gravy train for long enough.
From ST, Jacksonville, FL I don't agree with this at all.
I've been on eBay since 99, and as an individual I have sold over 300 items. Feedback is like blood to sellers, you need it to survive. I know that if someone has too many negatives, I won't buy from them, period.
There was this instance where I sold some ink on eBay, the ink had expired, and I said so in my auction. I wrote it in red ink and I wrote it multiple times. The ink was never opened, so I explained this as well. I had someone buy the ink, receive it and then email me saying I ripped them off, because the ink had expired.
I referred them to the auction, asking them to reference anywhere on the details where I mislead them. They lied saying they didn't see where I said the ink had expired. I went so far as to cut and paste my auction and email it to them…finally they said they didn't read the auction.
In any event, that was someone who didn't read, bid, got what I described, and then complained. They didn't leave negative feedback, but if they did, I sure would have. Now if a situation happens like that again, boom; there goes a negative.
BAD MOVE EBAY. I may sell somewhere else, I have to see ahts is out there. It's sad, but thats business.
From Kevin, Algonquin, Illinois Ebay policies are being restructured to cater to the large corporations.
Just look at what they have done. They pride themselves on lower listing fees, while increasing the Final Value Fee. It's obvious why they have done this.
These large corporations are listing thousands of items at the same time, most likely selling items .99 cents and below. They avoid the Final Value Fee because they charge 9.99 for shipping.
Us small people (who originated eBay) are now being charged less to list our fewer items, and at the same time are charged more when they sell.
Feedback…is a whole other ballgame. As a seller I think it is important when a buyer has a rating. I don't want to sell to some idiot who doesn't know how to pay…and then makes me wait two weeks before getting a credit…that is if you can prove they haven't paid, which in most cases is easier to fork over the money to eBay for the fees than duke it out.
From a PowerSeller to a nobody… Thanks eBay.
Do you know the way to use eBay? Millions of people do, don't make it you!!!
From Ric Roe, Clark, NJ eBay boycott / revolt presents opportunity for Google
It is no secret that new eBay CEO John Donahoe no longer sees the value of small from home sellers that have dominated the landscape and helped grow the eBay brand into a billion dollar global marketplace.
Under Donahoe's short term of leadership, eBay has engaged in policy changes that have angered, antagonized and discriminated against the very customers that eBay developed its brand identity on, resulting in many buyers and sellers pulling out of eBay's marketplace as they have felt the slap delivered by the new CEO.
Increased final value fees have hit small sellers hard as no doubt intended. As eBay has increased fees, sellers have increased prices further driving sales downward. eBay executives continue to downplay the final value fee increase by pointing out that listing fees were reduced, indicating executives false belief that sellers somehow benefit from paying more when an item sells.
The corporate decision to make Best Match the default search method, results in frustrated buyers and sellers alike. Buyers no longer find what they are looking for in the manner they were accustomed to. Sellers find that their items listing visibility is discriminated against based on a 'secret algorithm' which utilizes factors not related to the item offered, but rather non merchandise related criteria as well.
eBays final value fee increase coupled with the recent change to disguise bidders names has buyers believing that shill bidding is taking place at a growing rate. There are some customers that have lost so much faith in eBay that they believe eBay is condoning and turning a blind eye to shill bidding in the search for increased profits based on items closing at higher prices.
Feedback, which was a two way street of buyers and sellers rating each other based on transaction results is scheduled to become a one way street that prevents sellers from being able to identify problem buyers to the rest of the community. Sellers are penalized in that fraudulent buyers will no longer be able to be easily identified.
PayPal policy changes now allow the payment processor to hold payments to sellers and freeze accounts at the slightest hint of a problem, real or invented.
eBay continues to ignore the outcry from buyers and sellers alike. There is an obvious lack of participation by eBay executives on discussion boards. Many threads critical of eBay changes have been deleted to silence some of the opposition.
The natural solution would be for Google to create an auction site aimed at the market eBay is steadily alienating.
Why Google?
Google is the leader in search.
A Google auction site would be well organized and would offer accurate search relevancy, something eBay claims it is addressing with the failing Best Match. Better relevancy is what buyers are looking for, and an advantage to sellers.
Google already has a built in cross advertising platform in Google AdWords, which would be a huge advantage over eBay.
Like eBay, Google already has its own payment processing branch, Google Checkout so there is no need to create or acquire a payment processing arrangement.
Google has a brand name already associated with products other than its top ranked search engine which have proven to be quite successful, so expanding into auctions to fill the eBay void can be accomplished with virtually instant recognition with buyers and sellers.
If Google entered the auction field, they could conceivably become a over night leader especially given the unfriendly environment being created by eBay's CEO John Donahoe.
Creating a platform dedicated to small from home and small business sellers would provide Google the opportunity to capitalize on the recent missteps over at eBay which has driven away buyers and sellers alike.
Google should strike now while the iron is hot, there are thousands of unhappy eBay buyers and sellers looking for new opportunities and markets to move to
From Selling Beyond Ebay Sellers are one of eBay's biggest source of buyers and they have chased us off. A lot of experienced sellers realize it is definitely in their best interest to diversify their market position before eBay’s master plan is put into place.
A few points Mr. Donahoe and eBay need to publically acknowledge:
* eBay allowed unscrupulous sellers on their venue – It was all about $$$$ in listing and FVS's. Bad seller's average listing and sale is much much higher than the average honest seller's item's with price points at $50 or less made them more money in listing and final value fees – there was no incentive to force out bad sellers until they lost the good buyers.
* eBay made a huge mistake putting the $$ above ethics. It cost them their reputation and they are now struggling to trying to rectify it. Don't wait till the ship's half full of water to start bailing out.
* eBay's platform is antiquated in today's marketplace and they know it
* Why doesn't Mr. Donahoe or eBay promote getting rid of bad fraudulent buyers? First, they are a huge money maker for eBay. eBay knows they are there and that they will use feedback extortion, charge backs, stolen accounts, as well as many other schemes. Second, eBay is using bad buyers as free pawns in their game to get rid of sellers. One more way to make sellers think they made their decision to leave.
* Neither eBay nor Mr. Donahoe are going to publicly accept any responsibility that their actions are the sole cause of many disabled honest sellers families going bankrupt, feeding their children catsup and crackers from the condiment stand to survive or any other of the heartbreaking stories I've read over the past several months. It simply doesn't make good advertising copy.
Mr. Donahoe, eBay executives and stock holders; where have your and eBay's ethics gone??? This is one of the first courses in Business 101 and a vow we all take.
http://sellingbeyondebay.ning.com
From matt meryk, clinton iowa ebay: ORGANIZED CRIME LINK
What is ebay? Ebay is a money launder orgization that is owned and operated by ORGANIZED CRIME!
This company is one of the greatest scams ever created. It has a cult status that is unprecedented in business and the organized crime world. operates under the same system that other crime business operate, such as produce companies, garbage collection, on-line universities, etc. ebay inflates their on-line sales numbers and is able to launder money legitimately. Sellers and buyers aso do not have to register a social security number and ebay exploits this weakness. Let’s not forget about paypal, either. They are part of this organization, as well. Right under the noses and right in the face of the IRS and the Justice Department. Have you ever wondered why ebay is so concerned about the government intervening in their business and making it madatory that sellers provide social security numbers so their sales can be monitored?
If ebay had to maintain ss numbers to identify sales, ebay would no longer be able to operate as a money laundering enterprise. By not having to maintain ss numbers, ebay can make up ficticious sales. This is a great scheme!
ebay sales and income will never go down because these manipulators mirror economic activity, in order to not bring attention to themselves. ebay doesn't produce any products, it is just a clearing house. It doesn't act like a legitimate business because it isn't one. Send this posting to your congressional representative!
Where is ebay and paypals money laundering income going to? Terrorists?
From Adrian, Bard, Ca. don’t know what the perfect solution is, but I do know I am a buyer who pays immediately upon closing an auction and expects good service in terms of delivery intervals and product quality in return. Most sellers have instituted a policy of leaving feedback for a buyer only after the buyer has left feedback. From my perspective this is entirely so the seller can reserve the right to leave retaliatory feedback for a legitimately dissatisfied customer.
I used to leave FB as soon as a buyer paid! After I already left FB a buyer did a charge back to the tune of $480.00! I lost the item and the bucks. I will never leave FB upon payment again, that is if I ever sell on eBay again after 10 years!
From Steve Townley I was a victum of a seller who didn't like my negative feedback and can certainly understand ebay's desire. However the problem could have been resolved if ebay would have done anything via their arbitration process. Not once did I hear from them. My issue is still pending after 4 months and will likely never be resolved. My perspective is that they are looking for someone to assume responsibility for their short-comings. Steve
From Majik Merlin I have been a seller and buyer on ebay for 9 years and have toughed it
through many of ebay's changes. However, this last group, specifically the
feedback has given me pause to the point that I have decided to close my
store and move my items to other venues.
I will do this because I am very concerned of the one-sidedness of the
feedback and the way ebay will be using negatives AND neutrals in
conjunction with DSRs to penalize smaller sellers. It may or may not be
their intent, but one negative, or one neutral could impact my sales
dramatically- deserved or not. That combined with their new Best Match
search which has already reduced visibility, just cinched it for me. Ebay
is no longer a viable resource for me or my product.
I do not want to jeopardize my current 100 percent feedback and good DSRs,
so it is my intent to step back and adopt a 'wait-and-see' attitude until I
see how this plays out. Once the vindictive, neg-happy buyers and
underhanded sellers who will try to destroy their competitors have had their
chance to 'play' with their new 'power' and the dust settles down, I may
return to selling on ebay.
From Wendy What the USA doesn't realise is that we never got ANY fee concessions, our
fees are one of the highest in the world, we can no longer leave neutral or
negative feedback for buyers, and if they do for us and we get slapped for
low buyer experience, there is no way for us to build more feedback to get
us out and trading again, which means as soon as it happens a seller is
closed forever! On the 17th of June we will be forced to accept only Paypal
which will alienate up to 50% of our customers!
AND WE GOT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!
Imagine if a rival seller decides to sabotage us? We are GONE with no trace
and no chance of ever getting back. I used to love eBay, I am disabled and
it gave me a chance to live, now I hate it, I am losing my house already as
sales are right down. I wish I had never heard of them.
Wendy
From Paul South Florida I believe this is the beginning of the end of Ebay's dominance in the auction forum. It won't be long before one of the other "big boys" launch their own site.
http://www.sellmyinventory.com
From Bill, Birmingham, Alabama The thrill is gone at eBay. The seller is at too large a disadvantage. It would be different if eBay truly had any customer service but they never have had service unless you were a power seller with more than 1k per month in sales.
Smaller sellers like myself will be much better off by selling elsewhere. There is a big surprise down the road for eBay when they're no longer the 800 pound gorilla in auctions.
Google or Yahoo would be foolish not to take advantage of this opportunity. It is a great time to compete.
From Joe Averagebayer, Chicago, IL I don't believe a word they say about anything anymore, here's why, in their own words:
eBay:
The Community is made up of members, buyers and sellers, as well as staff. You'll find that respect and communication are the cornerstones of a dynamic Community. The Community is guided by the following five fundamental values:
We believe people are basically good.
We believe everyone has something to contribute.
We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people.
We recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual.
We encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.
eBay is firmly committed to these principles. And we believe that community members should also honor them—whether buying, selling, or chatting with eBay friends.”
EVERY BIT A LIE!!!
And YES! I do believe they are criminals! Forcing paypal, removing mutual feedback, anonynous bidders. All the lies, padded listings, sending bills to hijack victims… way too much to mention here.
Every last bit of it designed to line their pockets while harming the users.
Where is our government & law enforcement? ebay has CORRUPTION, FRAUD & SCAM written all over them.
Make Noise!
From Ro, Stanwood, WA counter a growing trend of sellers leaving retaliatory ratings for buyers who give them negative ratings.
I'm so tired of hearing this! The buyer shouldn't give negatives with out working something out first! Ebay should push communication, not the lack of. The neg left by the seller is a warning for other sellers that the buyer is not to be dealt with. Had the buyer first communicated kindly before leaving a neg, then the buyer would have been happier! Just because the buyers will be able to leave negs at will doesn't mean it's going to make thier buying experience better, they will still be upset!!!!!!
From Sherrie, Potlatch ID I see a lot of people sounding off about how they don't think the changes are that big of a deal because a feedback to a buyer doesn't matter anyway…Well, I wonder then why so many of those people are happy ebay made this change??? If it doesn't matter anyway, then why did it need to be changed at all.
Ebay is turning its self into a scam house. There will be far less good deals and a whole lot of sellers getting charged high fees, fraudulent paypal payments (such as stolen credit cards, bounced checks…)and then they won't have the ability to leave the appropriate feedback to warn of a foul transaction.
This whole idea is to make buyers all have a very high rating and the stockholders will all believe that ebay is doing well…why; because the sellers are having to leave those marks, regardless of what ebay (paypal) problems have occured. While ebay and paypal rake in the fees and don't do anything in your defense.
Everyone should check out other venues. OLA.com and Ewaey.com to name a few. Ebay doesn't care anymore and it is very painfully obvious, they are money hungry greedy people who need a big chunk taken out of their greedy pockets.
Support other sites and let Ebay know they are not the only house in town!
From Darla, New Orleans, LA All the sellers wait for the buyer to leave feedback before they leave theirs. I have purchased multiple times and always paid within minutes. I would think that the seller would not have to wait till I leave a feedback! I’m glad that Ebay is changing their feedback policy. I always look at Amazon for their feedback ratings for any product, coz it is sooo much better than the present ebay system (Which in my opinion is useless).
THIS IS A POSTER CHILD FOR WHY PROHIBITING SELLERS FROM LEAVING FEEDBACK IS A BAD IDEA. This scientist things leaving negative feedback for a seller/ human being and a bad review about an inanimate PRODUCT is the same thing!! Ok, so on top of clueless buyers, now if the buyer gets angry at the product they can leave me negative feedback. How STUPID is THAT!
From Dawn, NY How can you make someone CEO of a company when they don't understand the basic things that make it work? Tune in Monday, May 19 for the death of Ebay. Funeral services the following weekend. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Society for Brain Dead CEOs.
From Hillary, New York, New York The new feedback changes were done purportedly because Ebay claimed negative feedback hurt buyer's feelings. Can you imagine ANY other large company making a major change in its methods because someone's FEELINGS were hurt!? The new CEO Donahoe has made one stupid change after another costing Ebay and its Sellers millions. The bottom line for Ebay? Soft numbers in the most recent quarter wth sell through rates down over all. In essence all of these changes have made not one bit of difference overall.
New management is an embarrasment overall: including the Director of Communications caught red handed taunting sellers and calling a blogger names (via his IP address); Ebay Australia's rep foolishly comparing other payment methods besides paypal to heroin, and many other senseless actions, such as calling their new ideas an "experiment" (Stockholders-do you want your investment to conduct experiments, live? )
Worse, for the first time, private companies such as rottenbananas and leaveauctionfeedback has centralized leaving buyers negative feedback OFF EBAY. Sellers can then research buyers off Ebay and say whatever they want with no policing.
Ebay has once again thoughtlessly made a change..based on FEELINGS. While saying and adoing things that make Sellers FEEL like crooks.
My feedback to Ebay? A big FAT negative.
From William, Stuttgart, GE I disagree that e-bay should prevent sellers from not posting less than favorable ratings on buyers. At the same time, I can see their point. How many times have I felt I was held hostage to a seller as he would not place his feedback until he received mine.
I am not a big seller, but the few times I have sold on e-bay, I have always posted my rating once the funds were transferred. I also always asked my buyers to make sure that they contacted me prior to posting unfavorable ratings so that we could work out any issues. Granted, I have had only one issue and the buyer and I worked it out satisfactorily.
Both seller and buyer should understand that e-bay is based on trust and yes should a buyer get a bad rating…yes, when he stiffs the seller. Should a seller get a bad rating.. yes, when they stiff a buyer or does not back the quality of their item.
From Joe Sabatino, College Station, TX Not being able to leave feedback for buyers is insane. I've had buyers that have claimed the item isn't what they wanted even though it was brand-new, in the package and advertised correctly. Buyer remorse I guess. They then ask for a refund after 20, 30, 45 days and when I don't give it, threaten negative feedback.
I've had other buyers claim they didn't get the merchandise even though delivery confirmation shows it was delivered. I've had others want it shipped to a non-confirmed PayPal address and when I refuse to do so, threaten negative feedback.
Once a buyer purchases an item, they can immediately leave negative feedback without even paying for the item. Does that sound fair?
Needless to say I've closed my eBay store and will only sell limited things at auction. I also won't really care anymore if the buyer is satisfied or not since feedback ratings are becoming meaningless.
Thanks eBay for getting so big that you can't manage yourself effectively.
From San Diego, CA In 8 years I never left a negative for anyone. Ever.
I went all those years with 100% positive feedback. In December, shortly after I reached 1000 feedback I changed my settings to "automatically leave positive feedback when customer pays" What a HUGE mistake! Within 2 weeks I received 2 negatives. One because the customer didn't read the dimensions on the auction so they got mad that it was a little smaller than expected and the other they said the item was damaged. The first I heard of the problems was when I got the negatives. If I had not already gave them positives I am sure they would have contacted me and we could have worked it out. The one I would have given the option to return and the other I would have refunded. I have done it before – it's what business people do…
eBay has removed the incentive for customers to contact the seller to let them know there is a problem. In fact they are pointing out to buyers that they can leave negative or neutral feedback now without worry. Really. They have rolled out a pop-up window in feedback in Australia (their feedback changed this week) that as soon as the buyer clicks "positive" the pop up says "Buyers, you can no longer receive negative or neutral feedback from sellers. You should leave honest and accurate Feedback without the fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings." Great. Put it in their heads. Well, the shipping did take a week, hmmm, I think I will leave a Neutral. Too bad seller! In the new eBay math neutral (ok, fine, pretty good) = a NEGATIVE. Just like DSRs. If the customer ranks a seller as 4 out of 5 stars aka "Good" Ooops! Too bad again! If you get a few too many "goods" you can lose PowerSeller standing, your fees go up, you get buried in the searches. In the new eBay math anything less than a 5 star rating is BAD. Some newbie customers don't know this. They don't understand how much damage a neutral or good can do.
The inability to leave feedback for buyers is not really the issue, you can't on most selling sites, including where I have moved to. The issue is that on eBay that a seller's feedback means dollars. A small drop can mean the virtual ending of all sales because buyers can no longer find your listings. With the new Best Match search two or three customers out of a hundred that simply didn't read your listing correctly or are just having a bad day can put you out of business. With the old system you could do a mutual feedback withdrawal, which helped correct those little misunderstandings and new buyer mistakes.
Feedback is forever…or at least 12 months (under the new rules)…I pity the buyers in 12 months time. I really do. The really smarmy rip off sellers that had decent feedback numbers, but had too high a negative ratio? The ones that abandoned those IDs and just let them sit (eBay never deletes them – keeps their numbers high). They will be baaaaccckkk! In 12 months all those nasty red negatives will roll off and they can start selling again with 100% positive feedback. I can just see it – they can have half a dozen IDs and just keep cycling through….
I was an eBay PowerSeller for about the last year (and always a Power Buyer LOL) and a True Believer for 8 years. I loved eBay. No more. I ended my nearly 1,000 listings and closed up shop. I have moved on. It's sad, but I can't stay there any longer. Their attitude to small sellers is appalling, my sales were dropping, and my fees were up to 28% BEFORE the recent fee increase. Their recent actions make it crystal clear they want big, big sellers. They don't want us little guys. I've gone to places where I feel welcome, that I can be proud of associating with. I'm off to eCrater.com, OnlineAuction.com and BuyItSellit.com There are so many good options out there. Dozens of alternate auction sites! Lots of Store Fronts! Endless opportunities away from eBay! Once you get past the fear it is very liberating
http://anightowlstreasures.googlepages.com/home
From Ric, Clark, NJ Recent missteps by eBay executives should have everyone questioning the quality and vision of the new leadership at eBay.
First, in announcing pending changes in policies and final value fee increases, eBay CEO John Donahoe disrespectfully referred to anticipated dissenting opinions from buyers and sellers as "noise".
Not exactly a great way to demonstrate the value he places on the opinions of the very buyers and sellers upon whom his company is dependent upon for its continued survival.
Second, after small sellers rise up in arms, pull listings and cancel accounts due to: 1) announced fee increases, 2) discrimination with regard to listings visibility in Best Match search, and 3) new listing prompts insisting sellers reduce shipping fees when postal rates are increasing – Lorrie Norrington posts on an eBay blog that "eBay wants small sellers".
The horses had escaped already escaped the barn by the time Ms Norrington tried to close the doors on this one.
Not helping her case is the timing of the announcement that eBay had signed a discount fee agreement with Buy.com at virtually the same time as Ms. Norrington's post, further documenting the preferred status for large sellers while adding possibility of similar deals to come.
Third, eBay announced that they were going to make PayPal the only form of electronic payment in Australia, eliminating competitive online payment processors, as well as direct bank deposit, and thus telling buyers and sellers that it is PayPal or hand to hand payment at pick up only on eBay Australia.
If successful the plan was reportedly considered to be enacted across eBay globally.
Then comes a non denial denial from eBay spokesman Usher Leiberman who wrote: "In the U.S., we are not mulling, planning, or otherwise seriously considering a move to PayPal-only," and…"There are U.S. market-specific reasons why PayPal-only is something we simply cannot do in the U.S."
But Leibermans' statement gets less definitive as he continued to write: "Categorical statements have a tendency to cause headaches down the road,". Apparently, the headache down the road is either his denial that future plans are to force PayPal only in the US or not.
At best, Leiberman's statement is confusing and seemingly contradicts itself.
Fourth, in a meeting with eBay buyers and sellers in Australia about plans to allow PayPal payments only on the site, eBay Vice President Simon Smith stated: "We're not allowing people to offer unsafe choices, just like in this democracy you can't go out and buy heroin on the streets."
Not exactly a well thought out analogy any quality executive would offer to customers as they express outrage over the new proposed policy.
Fifth, in an article here :
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23690645-8362,00.html
Alastair McGibon, eBay's trust and safety executive claims that undisclosed "internal numbers" are the basis for eBay's claim that PayPal is the safer payment method in Australia.
McGibbons, eBay, and PayPal refuse to offer any statistics to support their claim.
This is quite similar to the manner in which the mafia collects extortion. Don Corleone stops by your store and says he wants a fee from you on a regular basis, and for that fee he will promise that his mobsters do not burn down your store.
eBay is now extorting members in Australia in order to benefit their own bottom line.
What kind of executive extorts members on the basis of statistics which he can not and will not produce to support his case?
At what point is eBay going to realize that the current leadership is inept and doing more damage than any competition could hope to inflict?
eBay is rapidly losing buyers and sellers, and it is the executive leadership of the company holding the door open for them as they leave.
If this represents the quality of eBay leadership going forward, then this company seems destined to go from champ to chump in less time than it took AOL to self destruct.
From Rocco, Chicago, IL Well considering the fact that over 60 per cent of the top eBay "Powersellers" will lose that status on May 19th, I can's see any good coming out of this.
What kind of company upsets 60% of its top 100 producers?
Well 2nd and 3rd quarter earnings will tell.
From Diane Brownton, MN I am afraid that it won't hurt ebay at all but I sure wish it would and that there would be a good dependable market other than ebay for we "little people" who Used to love doing ebay for extra cash.
From scott,cape cod, mass I had a buyer create a new account, by something from me and some other buyer, never paid either of us and negged both of us.
When I emailed ebay about it, I was told and I put this in quotes because this is exactly what I was sent
"When an auction closes with a high winning bidder, both the winning
bidder and the seller are allowed to leave a feedback comment for the
transaction. This is regardless of what events transpire after the
auction has ended."
so basically buyers can buy from you,not pay then give you negatives and ebay wont do anything about it
thanks ebay for watching out for us good sellers, close to 8000 feedback,99.9 percent good with only 1 neg in the last year(being a non paying bidder) which they refuse to get rid of.
nice huh?
From MATTHEW MERYK, CLINTON, IOWA ebay: ORGANIZED CRIME LINK
What is ebay? Ebay is a money launder orgization that is owned and operated by ORGANIZED CRIME!
This company is one of the greatest scams ever created. It has a cult status that is unprecedented in business and the organized crime world. operates under the same system that other crime business operate, such as produce companies, garbage collection, on-line universities, etc. ebay inflates their on-line sales numbers and is able to launder money legitimately. Sellers and buyers aso do not have to register a social security number and ebay exploits thisweekness. Let's not forget about paypal, either. They are part of this organization, as well. Right under the noses and right in the face of the IRS and the Justice Department. Have you ever wondered why ebay is so concerned about the government intervening in their business and making it madatory that sellers provide social security numbers so their sales can be monitored?
If ebay had to maintain ss numbers to identify sales, ebay would no longer be able to operate as a money laundering enterprise. By not having to maintain ss numbers, ebay can make up ficticious sales. This is a great scheme!
From Becki Champion Hailey, Idaho I am a buyer on e-bay but have sold in the past and there are sellers that are not reputable. When they don't follow through with a transaction fairly and therefor a buyer has left an account of the transaction, the seller then lies to cover up the truth, which e-bay can see by reviewing the transaction from the start, but the other buyers are left not knowing what is the truth and therefor may go ahead and buy from a bad seller which continues to give e-bay a bad name and lose buyers. I don't want to give up shopping on e-bay so I like the idea that sellers are held acountable as we all should be. Maybe other sellers should coment on ways to get bad sellers gone instead of complaining when e-bay finally tries to stop it. When they are consumers they expect nothing less than a fair transaction which we all deserve!! BTC
From Jim, Omaha NE I have made numerous purchases on EBay and received positive feedback for all of them…except 1.
A seller waited over 2 weeks after I had paid for my purchase before sending an item. This caused my gift to be a week late for my wife's birthday. The item was in good shape and was exactly what I had purchased. I left a neutral feedback stating basically "Great item, but it took 2 weeks to ship the item. Item was only shipped after numerous emails where seller promised they would mail it 'tomorrow'".
For my neutral and honest feedback, I received a negative feedback stating "Whiny buyer. Terrible to work with. DO NOT SELL TO!!!!"
And that's why E-Bay is stopping sellers from leaving retalitory feedbacks.
Besides, what good does a negative feedback to a buyer do? A new purchase account is easy to set up. With a press of a button, a new account is created and all the negative feedbacks are gone. Would you refuse to sell to a buyer with 0 – 10 purchases?
From JV Monrovia CA This feedback change is the end of eBay for me.
I am an eBay Power seller of 8 years 99.9 positive feedback. And also an eBay buyer.
A sellers perspective. I have worked very hard over the last 8 years to build up a positive reputation over 2000+ positive feedbacks to now have it compromised by fraudulent feedback from competitors or pranks. AS A SELLER YOUR FEEDBACK IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SELL YOUR PRODUCTS. That is why you run an honest auction and do anything to please your customers. All to protect your reputation/feedback.
A buyer has very little if NOTHING to loose if they get a negative feedback. The simply open a new account and start over again without any repercussions.
As a buyer before I bid or buy anything I check the sellers feedback. If I choose to buy something from a questionable seller or pay high shipping fees, it is all my decision to do so and I take the risk as an informed buyer.
Buyer beware…. but now most important SELLERS beware.
I am done with eBay and moved on to my own website.
From York, PA I keep hearing about buyers complaining about sellers waiting for them to leave feedback first. There is a very good reason for this. Many buyers rather leave negative feedback than contacting the seller about the problem FIRST. My feedback policy was quite fair in my opinion, if you give me a negative feedback without contacting me first, you will get a negative. In my time on eBay I never left a negative and never received a negative. The old feedback policy forced buyers to be reasonable.
EBay does not want to be a Flea Market anymore. They don’t realize that they do NOT sell anything. They have no inventory! Personally, I never have and never will use eBay to buy something that is available new in a regular store (the ones that have inventory).
From Shelina, East Durham, NY Quite honestly, I think the fuss that buyers make about feedback is childish. All this "holding feedback hostage" talk is just so much hyperbole over an anonymous rating by a stranger. I don't get it. I buy on one id, if a seller were to deserve a neg, then that's what he'll get; an unjustified return can clearly be seen for what it is and will not affect my buying ability. Personally, I believe that feedback for buyers should just be dropped. But, eBay would then have to have MUCH BETTER solutions for those buyers who don't pay, who claim that items are not received when DC shows it was, unauthorized chargebacks and any number of myriad ways a buyer can abuse the priviledge of shopping on eBay. Those solutions don't exist, and eBay has done nothing in the past to show that they are willing or able to deal with these problems in a responsible way.
For sellers, feedback can hurt their reputations and sales. With the changes there are even more sanctions put in place by eBay for a low (well, 95% can get you in hot water) customer satisfaction rating. I sell on another id, currently at 99.7%, which will go up to %100 when the changes roll out. I was happy with the 99.7. I'm honest, I ship quickly and will correct any mistakes with as little inconvenience as possible to a buyer. If I really foul up, then I deserve a lower rating. But, the problem is, I sell small volume, so one mistake and my rating can drop like a rock, leaving me open to all kinds of sanctions from eBay. Mega powersellers and giant retailers can absorb negatives much more easily.
All of that being said, I think the biggest problem with the feedback change is the way eBay handled it. The attitude they conveyed was that most sellers were rip off artists just salivating at the opportunity to retaliate when they were called on it by buyers. All of the "numbers" they used to prove this were based on faulty reasoning. They determined that a negative was retaliatory if it was left last! They did no research to look at the content of the negative rating, nor any further investigation to see if that negative was, in fact, deserved. They have burdened all sellers, good or bad, with having to overcome the now public assumption that eBay sellers are dishonest; and based on what? Shoddy research.
Moreover, all of the feedback "protections" they're rolling out are for powersellers only. I have yet to see any justification for the exclusion of small sellers from these benefits. They give reasons, but reasons aren not justifications. How, for example, does a 12 month long member powerseller with, say a 98% approval rating have a better "proven track record" than a 10 year member small or casual seller with an 100% approval rating? Clearly, there is something going on here that has nothing to do with the "buyer experience".
I think the new management at eBay has seriously misjudged their customer base. Perhaps because the only sellers they bothered to consult were the mega sellers? But I could be wrong. The prevailing sentiment among smaller sellers is that they are no longer welcome at eBay. That may be the case. I've heard a lot about the 80/20 rule; but eBay would do well to remember that the 80 were buyers as well. And they're a stubborn bunch, make them angry enough and they'll never be back.
From Terry, Washington I have to agree that as a seller not being able to leave feedback stinks. When I leave neg feedback for a buyer it is because they have given me one first. I consider my listings to be very accurate and even spend extra money to be sure the item is correctly described and pictured. The cause of them leaving me a negative is always because they did not now what they where bidding on,did not read the listing or some other newby excuse. The last time it happened was because the buyer had not changed his email address at ebay, so when I answered him he did not get my message. So he leaves a neg. and somehow ebay figured this was my fault and let the neg stand. Like so many others have said, ebay policy is just feel-good policy as they sure don't back up a seller. Ebay is stictly for buyers. Just think, I could leave a neg for a seller because they spelled my name wrong, or I guess I would not even need a reason, and there is nothing the seller can do about it!
From JT in Roanoke, VA I disapprove of ebays policy removing the ability for sellers to leave neutral or negative feedback. As both a small seller and buyer I find that the folks new to ebay that have very few or no feedback at all are more opt to leave negative feedback because they havent bought or sold enough on ebay to know how the process really works. I had a buyer purchase something on Friday and was asking why he already doesn't have it delivered to him across the country on Monday threatening to leave negative feedback if the product doesn't arrive next day on Tuesday. Obviously the person doesn't even have a clue that it takes more than 1-2 business days for the USPS to deliver across the US. My suggestion is this, if ebay wishes to eliminate retaliatory negative feedback by blocking sellers from making this feedback, then they should not make it that easy for buyers to make neutral or negative feedback. Ebay should step in, such as the buyer should file a dispute where all the facts are given and then Ebay should only then allow the negative or neutral feedback if the seller is truly found to be at fault, rather than the person just venting to make bad feedback. For instance, I always use USPS Delivery Confirmation numbers, and ship items out the next day after the sale. If the buyer complains that it took 1 or 2 days too long to receive the item, for instance it took 4 days to deliver when the buyer wanted 2. The buyer should not be able to leave negative feedback if i can prove via USPS that it did ship out the next day so we sellers aren't held responsible for the fault of the US Postal Service. Besides out of over 100 items I have encountered some issues with the US Postal Service and they say they deliver 97-98 Percent ontime. Once I had them miss a delivery and another time, they didn't deliver for over 19 days. But both times it shows that USPS rec'd the item the next business day from me. I think before neutral and negative feedback can be left, buyers first need to open a dispute with ebay to investigate to see if truly the seller deserves the negative feedback before allowing it. New ebayers with zero or very few feedback are the problem children that are very impatient and ready and willing to leave negative feedback at a moments notice. If ebay doesn't make this policy better and ends up hurting a lot of sellers, they can be sure to count on that I will be looking for another alternative to sell my wares.
From Orange, Ca Let the "Feedback Bombing" of rival eBay sellers begin!
From Nancy, Atlanta, GA Do you want to have more control over your Paypal money? Move it out of your Paypal account as soon as you receive it. They cannot put a hold on money that is no longer there. After my auctions end, I leave about $50 in my Paypal account.
From Brett, Grand Rapids, MI Posted By George Guadiane Austerlitz, NY : May 14, 2008 3:24 pm
I don’t know what the perfect solution is, but I do know I am a buyer who pays immediately upon closing an auction and expects good service in terms of delivery intervals and product quality in return. Most sellers have instituted a policy of leaving feedback for a buyer only after the buyer has left feedback. From my perspective this is entirely so the seller can reserve the right to leave retaliatory feedback for a legitimately dissatisfied customer.
I’m sure that is true for some – maybe even many sellers, but I have been selling on eBay for 10 years (BenchJeweler) and have ZERO negative feedbacks so far, MOSTLY because I don’t leave feedback till I hear from the buyer. I don’t care if they leave ME a feedback or not, I just don’t want a negative for a problem (yes, even the best make mistakes) that could easily be resolved… Once I get an email telling me the product is as described, I leave feedback. You could insinuate and/or speculate all you want, but MANY OF US just want to make sure that we have a chance to provide good service.
To be clear, George, I got lucky for many years from a buyer's perspective. Most of the sellers I baught from were a PLEASURE to do business with. But that has changed. My responsiblity as a buyer is to bid, pay you, and as you say, act honorably when evaluating your performance. I guess the question is who gets the last word? Perhaps feedback should be left in a vacuum, neither party seeing the other's feedback until both have left it.
We have had unnecessary negative feedbacks removed by eBay, because THE CUSTOMER was wrong to leave it, even with our “protective” policy…
Ebays fault for not enforcing their own rules. This doesn't change the fact that the customer should be treated as a customer (as I believe you personally do, but I'm telling you fraudulent sellers are as rampant as fraudulant buyers). You should have the right to refuse subsequent service to someone who does not do business with you honorably. But the system is close to the point of excluding both sellers and buyers who want to do business legitimately.
It reduces the quality of the community to the point where Ebay is practically useless from a buyers perspective. Sellers can take it for what its worth, but Ebay is taking these steps because of your conduct.
Yeah, guilty until proven innocent. Take a look at buyers who write bad checks, make false claims, extort concessions from buyers – they DO exist, and there are lots of them.
Yes, true. I can't argue with that. But there are two sides to the story, and the buyers side is whoefully underrepresented here.
What can a guy like me do NOW, how can I defend myself from those people? Or how can I defend myself from someone who just wants to ruin people’s reputations for “fun?” I CAN’T!
Again two sides of the story. How does a legitimate buyer, who has legitimately received poor service leave negative feedback if it is tantamount to exposing your throat to the seller?
They do believe the buyers are more important than the sellers, and they are right. One contributor said that as the sellers leave, so will the buyers. I’m telling you, the quality buyers have been turned off by the lack of quality sellers, and they are already gone.
Maybe I don’t understand the business thing all that well… I sell nice stuff to nice people, I get plenty of bids and what I think are normally good/fair prices for my items. What I DON’T get is why people like you feel the need to be able to punish those who you feel have failed to meet your expectations, no matter how unreasonable, but are not willing to face the same kind of treatment.
"People like me"? For the record, I have (like you) hundreds of positive and zero negative feedback postings as a buyer, and have never, ever left a negative feedback for a seller, even those who deserve it. The way Ebay has set up the system makes it practically impossible for a buyer to leave negative feedback since the seller can demand the last word. So, if I'm unsatified, I just choose not to use the seller again. Like in the real "business" world. Vote with your feet.
The truth is cash is king, the buyers have it, and Ebay knows it.
I have blocked HUNDREDS of mean and surly people from bidding because “cash” is NOT king in my house (or business)… HONOR is.
Can't argue with that philosphy. I think we are in agreement on this one, but Ebay is a big publicly held company responsible for maximizing shareholder equity and for making sure you have customers to purchase your goods. The only way they will act with "honor" is if customers leave or shareholders are willing to pay less for their stock.
The rest is just irrelevant. Sorry.
YES, sadly you ARE “sorry.”
Thanks for making it personal. That is honorable.
From Trudy, Portland, Oregon If you own Ebay stock, take a stand and vote your proxy. If you are a Seller or Buyer on Ebay, call their main telephone number, type in the last name of Donahoe and let your voice be heard. Ebay started out as a good, basic concept, but has been ruined by bad Sellers, Buyers, and Company Management.
From John, Brooklyn NY As both an Ebay Buyer and Seller I agree with the rationale behind this. In almost every case where I have purchased something off ebay, the seller would always wait for me to leave my feedback (even though I pay way ahead of when I receive the package)before leaving me my feedback as a buyer. The seller's feedback mostly relates in how long the transfer of funds took and whether it was problematic. This feedback whoch logically occur as soon as funds are transfered almost always occurs after I would leave my feedback when receiving the product. The system never worked. How about only allowing seller feedback if the seller enters it prior to receiving feedback fromt he buyer?
From RN, Iowa City, IA All the sellers wait for the buyer to leave feedback before they leave theirs. I have purchased multiple times and always paid within minutes. I would think that the seller would not have to wait till I leave a feedback! I'm glad that Ebay is changing their feedback policy. I always look at Amazon for their feedback ratings for any product, coz it is sooo much better than the present ebay system (Which in my opinion is useless). Thanks ebay, for looking after the buyer's interests.
From Scheib, las vegas, NV I have joined the ENORMOUS & CONTINUING GLOBAL EBAY BOYCOTT! Will I ever sell or buy on ebay again? Only if ebay ACTUALLY begins listening to their customers, the sellers, and acting on those requests, rather than on ebay's own greed. …Only if ebay ACTUALLY takes actions to remove the scammers that have been reported and ignored time and time again, rather than enticing, rewarding and protecting the abusers.
When I can figure out how to pay for an item, then list it for 99 cents, offer free shipping (as ebay is pushing us to do), keep my listing visible to my buyers (impossible with ebay's "Best Matches"), compete against huge sellers like buy.com & Sears, pay ebay's fees and paypal's fees, not get scammed by an abuser ebay's protecting, keep the abusers from damaging my scores and ruining my reputation, block paypal from withholding my funds at their "sole discretion" AND STILL make a profit, MAYBE I could become a successful seller on ebay.
From Valley, Al. I just don't get it, if retalliation is the concern set it up where when the buyer finishes the transaction by paying. Which is when the buyer side is complete the seller has to leave feedback at that time or paypal will not release payment to the seller. Problem solved and the buyer will leave feedback when they receive the item. This not only will stop the retalliation but will also tighten up the sellers to do a better job and provide better customer support.
From don castiac ca. hey for years i sold on ebay, and when they bought paypal thing started going down hill, i had over 800 sales and buys,collectselltrade and visualpets were my user names, now no more for over 4 yrs. now i am working on my own page to list items and i will list your too http://www.collectselltrade.com
From greta ~ JOIN THE WORLD WIDE eBay BOYCOTT ~ BE INFORMED ~
Find your State or International Location folder and join us. Former employees are welcome too!
A place to organize.
A place to unite.
A place to focus.
United we stand, Divided we fall.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/boycottebay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs3o3Ed3Rog
Add yourself to the map:
http://www.frappr.com/?a=constellation_map&mapid=137440513566
any problems with the map, please email admin: map@3peaz.com
Boycott Victoriously … While Making Noise!
Evacuate May 1, 2008!
Please support Australia's protest and sign the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/ebayau/petition.html
From George Guadiane Austerlitz, NY Posted By Brett, Grand Rapids, MI : May 14, 2008 1:36 pm
I don’t know what the perfect solution is, but I do know I am a buyer who pays immediately upon closing an auction and expects good service in terms of delivery intervals and product quality in return. Most sellers have instituted a policy of leaving feedback for a buyer only after the buyer has left feedback. From my perspective this is entirely so the seller can reserve the right to leave retaliatory feedback for a legitimately dissatisfied customer.
I'm sure that is true for some – maybe even many sellers, but I have been selling on eBay for 10 years (BenchJeweler) and have ZERO negative feedbacks so far, MOSTLY because I don't leave feedback till I hear from the buyer. I don't care if they leave ME a feedback or not, I just don't want a negative for a problem (yes, even the best make mistakes) that could easily be resolved… Once I get an email telling me the product is as described, I leave feedback. You could insinuate and/or speculate all you want, but MANY OF US just want to make sure that we have a chance to provide good service.
We have had unnecessary negative feedbacks removed by eBay, because THE CUSTOMER was wrong to leave it, even with our "protective" policy…
It reduces the quality of the community to the point where Ebay is practically useless from a buyers perspective. Sellers can take it for what its worth, but Ebay is taking these steps because of your conduct.
Yeah, guilty till proven innocent. Take a look at buyers who write bad checks, make false claims, extort concessions from buyers – they DO exist, and there are lots of them. What can a guy like me do NOW, how can I defend myself from those people? Or how can I defend myself from someone who just wants to ruin people's reputations for "fun?" I CAN'T!
They do believe the buyers are more important than the sellers, and they are right. One contributor said that as the sellers leave, so will the buyers. I’m telling you, the quality buyers have been turned off by the lack of quality sellers, and they are already gone.
Maybe I don't understand the business thing all that well… I sell nice stuff to nice people, I get plenty of bids and what I think are normally good/fair prices for my items. What I DON'T get is why people like you feel the need to be able to punish those who you feel have failed to meet your expectations, no matter how unreasonable, but are not willing to face the same kind of treatment.
The truth is cash is king, the buyers have it, and Ebay knows it.
I have blocked HUNDREDS of mean and surly people from bidding because "cash" is NOT king in my house (or business)… HONOR is.
The rest is just irrelevant. Sorry.
YES, sadly you ARE "sorry."
From Eva Here is yet another example of how ebay does not take care of their sellers, properly investigate anything, and should be shut down. This happened to me a couple weeks ago:
1. New buyer with 0 feedback bought an item from me
2. I sent the buyer a invoice/reminder every other day, like normal
3. Buyer did not pay for item
4. After 7 days (1st available day to leave feedback) buyer left negative feedback for me with no vaild reason
5. I left buyer negative feedback because this was an obviously malicious
6. I Submitted a claim to ebay to look into the matter and requested removal of the unwarranted negative feedback I received
7. Ebay said no, they won't in one of their generic templates saying it's not worthy (it is in their policy to report this behavior and is one of the few valid reasons to get negative feedback removed)
8. Buyer never bought or sold anything ever since
End result: I received a damaging negative feedback from someone who created a new ID just to do so and EBAY DID NOTHING ABOUT IT!!!! And now, I won't be able to leave a negative for these losers! So they can use the same ID to nail lots of sellers. Absolutely disgusting! Enough said.
From Alex, San Bernardino CA I don't really like any of Ebays new changes. I think the new feedback system is just going to allow to hold sellers hostage with the potential of negative feedback if the seller doesn't give in. Mostly I don't like the increase in fees, but the combination of both are driving me away from Ebay. I am not a huge seller, but Ebay made about $2,000 in fees from me in the last year. I decided when I saw this coming up that I would stop selling on Ebay and just work more hours at my jobs. 2 months agao, I cut down what I was selling, and a month back I stopped altogether. I have no plans to sell on Ebay again.
From Brett, Grand Rapids, MI I don't know what the perfect solution is, but I do know I am a buyer who pays immediately upon closing an auction and expects good service in terms of delivery intervals and product quality in return. Most sellers have instituted a policy of leaving feedback for a buyer only after the buyer has left feedback. From my perspective this is entirely so the seller can reserve the right to leave retaliatory feedback for a legitimately dissatisfied customer. It reduces the quality of the community to the point where Ebay is practically useless from a buyers perspective. Sellers can take it for what its worth, but Ebay is taking these steps because of your conduct. They do believe the buyers are more important than the sellers, and they are right. One contributor said that as the sellers leave, so will the buyers. I'm telling you, the quality buyers have been turned off by the lack of quality sellers, and they are already gone. The truth is cash is king, the buyers have it, and Ebay knows it. The rest is just irrelevant. Sorry.
From Eric, Nashville, TN I think the change is good. Seller feedback on users is useless, and in almost every case is just a retaliatory action. If it gets rid of the sellers who are bad apples, then good riddance!
From Ima Done I think the changes are terrible! NOT happy at all with the fact that buyers can not pay you and you can't leave any negative feedback! WOW Ebay, way to f-it up for sellers. I do like that the buyers will get to blackmail the s**t out of sellers. That's good for biz.
From T Thomas Davison, MI I used to be both a frequent seller and buyer on Ebay, but have really curtailed that in favor of other sites. The whole atmosphere for a small seller on Ebay has turned negative. I can't say that I see anything positive coming out of the new changes and over time I'm sure it will play out that Ebay is limited to a few power sellers who haven't figured out that it would be cheaper to put up their own site to sell their goods. However it goes their stock doesn't even make it on my "buy" radar.
From KG, Tulsa, OK As a fairly frequest E-bay buyer I have repeatedly reported items that were clearly fraudulent. I have NEVER seen one of these items removed.
Likewise a seller I recently had a buyer try to cheat me – and got nothing but form emails from E-bay.
Buyer and seller beware – you are on your own.
From Karie Ridgley, Foster City, CA I used to constantly list items on eBay but now I wait until eBay has a special or discount on their fees. The fees have gotten so high that I am giving away 25% of everything I sell. For instance, if I sell $100, I only get $75. This is from a combination of eBay fees + PayPal fees that eBay also receives. Secondly, I will no longer sell used items and I will only sell brand new items. Otherwise, buyers will be more likely to leave negative feedback because not everyone agrees on what an excellent, like new, good item is. Ebay eventually will lose a lot of business by their greed.
From Mary. Anaheim, CA Ebay has done nothing but infuriate sellers due to their new policies and charges. you can not make a decent buck any more between all of the fees they impose and then G-D forbid, PayPal.
Buyers are looking for a good item at a decent proce and you can no longer give that to them thru Ebay. If the sellers leave, then so go the buyers.
I am not sure what Ebay was thinking when they did this, but my suggestion is they need to pull their head out of the sand and look at what really is going on.
As others have done, I am moving my business off of Ebay to other more seller friendly sites where I can offer my buyers a better price because I am not getting reemed by fees and restrictions.
From Laura Ebay is all for the buyers-they could care less about the sellers.This new policy of paypal holding someone's money for 21 days is the most absurd thing I have heard in a long time.For instance let's say a seller has just sold an item,they use a dropshipping company and then the money is held by paypal.They then cannot buy the item to have it shipped to the buyer.Buyer then contacts ebay for item not received,paypal takes the money out until dispute is settled,buyer leaves hasty negative feedback with no fear of receiving the same.Seller is frustrated,buyer is disappointed.Let's remember one more thing,while paypal is holding the money they are gaining interest on it!This "idea" is going to end up turning around and biting ebay right in the butt.It is going to make sellers very unhappy with the whole process because it has a trickle down effect.Ebay really seems to try to do their best to make it harder on the sellers-to which they are the ones that pad their pockets!They lower the listing fees but then raise the final value fees,of course-there is more money to be made from the final value fees,they must think we are all just plain stupid.They have an attitude that you can take it or leave it and if you are disappointed-too bad!The lack of fairness is clearly visible,both from ebay and paypal.That kind of attitude turned into policy will be their downfall,people are sick and tired of the way they do business.Poor customer service and never a straight answer to questions,all premade responses that do not apply to every situation.Negative feedback can only be left for sellers which is going to mean alot of blackmail and threats from buyers because they know the seller cannot do the same.Doesn't ebay realize all these things are going to come back on them?In any business it is so important to please the people that make your paycheck,maybe ebay feels so big they don't care about unhappy members,if they really had all their bases covered there wouldn't be websites devoted only to ebay complaints and paypal complaints.They might want to take a closer look at them!!
From Anonymous RE: Adam Hersh
Did you verify Mr. Hersh's status on eBay?
Do a Google search using "adam hersh eBay", and you'll find his eBay
store "adam hersh auctions" "stores.ebay.com/Adam-Hersh-Auctions".
Now click the link and see "Sorry, this store does not exist."
If you look at his Other account, "adamhersh"
http://myworld.ebay.com/adamhersh you'll see a seller with major
customer service problems. That's 4,851 Negatives, with "Detailed
Seller Ratings" under eBay's minimum 4.5.
And they're not a very big seller at the moment.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=adamhersh&fta
b=AllFeedback&myworld=true
That's one feedback/sale in the last 30 days.
And ZERO items for sale:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZadamhersh
This individual appears to have moved off of eBay right after Best
Match Search was made mandatory. And should be considered an
inappropriate supporter of Best Match.
Or perhaps it only proves how poor a search eBay's Best Match is, when
even it's supporters don't use it.
Nice article otherwise
From Paul Costello Regarding seller Adam Hersh.
Just so you are aware, there are many sellers who are frustrated with him at
the moment as he is manipulating DSR's and best match in an unethical
manner. To see for yourself, do a search for seller, click the box
(completed listing over the last 30 days) Here are a few of his ID's. If
you need help doing this, I will gladly walk you through it.
getzatart
wantzat
getzatposter
getzat
getzatposters
Adam Hersh is using these id's to manipulate dsr's and best match. He is
using the first four to build feedback through 1 cent items and free
shipping. Once the DSR's have been lowered under user id getzatposters
(where most of the auctions listings are at now; 15,000 to 40,000) they will
take their listings to one of the other 4 that are being artificially
inflated. This is unfair to sellers who are trying to raise our DSRs in an
ethical manner. He is reaping the benefits of a temporary loophole that is
created by best match.
From John Ucolano As a veteran eBay seller with 9 years of consistent participation on
the eBay site, I can confidently tell you that you must not trust any
information that eBay provides to you. They are now full of half
truths and deception and twisting facts have become normal.
The support staff has been trained to not comment on any
interjections of unhappiness with the new policies. They simply
remain silent. This is never a good sign.
I would be happy to share my information and thoughts with you if you
are interested. There is an obvious resolution to the problems
plaguing eBay right now and the new regime has taken a completely
different approach. They simply have no idea what the problems are
and less of an idea how to fix them.
John Ucolano
again, I have been a full time power seller, gold level for the past
9 years.
From R. Tim Bonelli "While eBay did not disclose its conversion rate – the percentage of listings that translate to closed sales -"
A close look at completed auctions for 30 days(ebay USA) in several categories reveal that less than 30% of listings result in a sale. A good portion of those sold are in the $10-$20.00 range. The 1 cent listing sale in all likelihood resulted in the skewed numbers.
" eBay's "gross merchandise volume," the total value of items sold through its various Marketplaces sites, continued its double-digit growth, increasing 12% from last year to $16 million."
I believe most of this is ex U.S.A. Many American sellers are not offering their items worldwide any more and many more are leaving eBay because of their autocratic, dictatorial way of doing business. Their attitude seems to be it's "their way or the highway."
"We may have some sellers that make some noise," Donahoe said,"
"Noise" This is exactly the kind of remark a virtual monopoly CEO would make insulting their sellers.
I'm a low volume seller of scarce to rare antiques and collectibles. My feedback is excellent and my customers are well satisfied however their new DSR system which grades me on a curve with high volume sellers makes me look deficient in the Shipping & Handling cost area even though I charge only actual shipping/insurance plus a $2.00 handling fee. The skewed stats prohibited me from participating in their last listing "sale." If they discriminate against a seller of my caliber, I'm afraid there is little hope for their future improvement.
I place a reserve on the majority of my items. Ebay has increased the up front cost of Reserve auctions significantly while hiding that fact in their proposed new fee structure. I found out through my monthly invoice.
What all this means is that there is a lot more "noise" than eBay is acknowledging in their public statements. The Boards and the Internet are replete with angry sellers about both eBay and PayPal.
They want sellers to give their merchandise away and while they create a lot of fluff that is supposed to help sellers, they seemingly have little regard for how much they make. They want it to be a place to "buy cheap."
From eBay user agreement:
"You will not hold eBay responsible for other users' actions or inactions, including things they post. You acknowledge that we are not a traditional auctioneer. Instead, the Sites are a venue to allow anyone to offer, sell, and buy just about anything, at anytime, from anywhere, in a variety of pricing formats and venues, such as stores, fixed price formats and auction-style formats. We are not involved in the actual transaction between buyers and sellers. We have no control over and do not guarantee the quality, safety or legality of items advertised, the truth or accuracy of listings, the ability of sellers to sell items, the ability of buyers to pay for items, or that a buyer or seller will actually complete a transaction."
"We do not transfer legal ownership of items from the seller to the buyer, and nothing in this agreement shall modify the governing provisions of California Commercial Code § 2401(2) and Uniform Commercial Code § 2-401(2), under which legal ownership of an item is transferred upon physical delivery of the item to the buyer by the seller. Unless the buyer and the seller agree otherwise, the buyer will become the item's lawful owner upon physical receipt of the item from the seller, in accordance with California Commercial Code § 2401(2) and Uniform Commercial Code § 2-401(2)…." ( this is NOT what the code says…it is a misinterpretation or an intentional misstatement by ebay).
PayPal user agreement has the user relinquish his/her rights under the very same laws. There seems to be a conflict between Parent and it's Wholly Owned Subsidiary which under the law is a separate legal entity and which requires an "arms-length" relationship between the two. I don't see any "arms-length" relationship. It would appear they are working hand in glove as a single legal entity and piercing the corporate veil. (each others "alter ego").
Judging from many of their recently announced changes, one would hardly believe the above statements.
In fact, while eBay states they want a venue of trust and safety, very few sellers trust anything they say.
All their changes are supposedly a result of input from the "community" but no one ever sees or hears any detail concerning that "input." The users have to take their word for it which they are no longer inclined to do. As mentioned earlier, a review of the Boards and the Internet including YouTube will confirm this.
If you want to see a good example of their onerous changes, take a look at what's going on with eBay Australia and their proposal now before one of their regulatory bodies (ACCC) . When you're the biggest kid on the block and your daddy is even bigger (a Virtual Monopoly) you probably take the position that you are invincible (like Enron et. al.) So far it has worked but I feel reasonably certain that these issues will eventually come to a head in a protracted class action suit.
From Thomas Sims I have sold thousands of items for tens of thousands of dollars on Ebay
over the last 5 years. I have moved to other auction sites recently because
of the despotic decisions of it's new "leader". Believe me, since Ebay is
really nothing more that "training wheels for web-hosting" I predict that 10
years from now the whole company will be viewed much as AOL is
today.."training wheels for the internet".
From Alexandria, VA For those aquarium and aquaculture equipment and fish sellers. start selling on http://www.finvillage.com. No listing fees and no final value fees. check it out today.
From Amos Quito, Anchorage, AK Switch to onlineauction.com! I did. More thna a coincidence that Meg bailed. This turd of a company is about to be flushed. R.I.P. Feebay!
From vintagerob dotcom Chicago, IL I started selling on ebay in 2001 and enjoyed very robust sales becoming a power seller for a short time until the rules changed. I went from a decent income in coin and vintage sales to a measely $20/month which DOES NOT cover my store FEES. Since February of 2007 my sales starting curtailing to the point to where i finally just decided to close my store for good. The whole model used to be so simple but now like someone else mentioned on the boards it is just a VERY HOSTILE and regulated place to be selling. Yahoo auctions used to be a good alternative but they are no longer around since they too had shot themselves in the foot with bad management decisions. Google Checkout will be the next coming of ebay and I am glad to see ebay finally have it coming to them for their incompetence.
–Vintagerob dotcom
From Tom, Atlanta, GA We may have some sellers that make some noise," Donahoe said, "but we're absolutely confident of the direction we're going." – End Qoute from the story.
Well I'm "absolutely confident" that the 21 day Paypal holds and the inability of sellers to leave buyers feedback will equal Titanic like results eventually. Ebay can't disenfranchise their entire seller base by saying basically 'shove it if you don't like it.' Ebay won't continue to build their franchise this way because it is a simple equation: seller on one side, buyer on the other equals a transaction. Take away the sellers and what do you have? My suggestion contact all the institutional investors of Ebay stock and let them know that they better sell out while they still can.
From Karen, Lenexa KS I am an occasional ebay user – so as an outsider…it will be interesting to see if this step by management will benefit, or ultimately kill the company. The key to many companies success is customer service, it appears like ebay is forgetting that their sellers are their customers too.
From Patricia, Harrison, NJ I need to say one more thing. Wherever you find comments from readers you will find a long long list of outraged ebay users with perhaps one or two positive posts among them. With that in mind…ebay is shoving these new policies down our throats with their usual arrogant "take it or leave it" attitude. This is something that benefits only THEM – NOT sellers NOT even buyers – only EBAY. They say they are doing this to "enhance the buyer experience" but what they are doing fails to bring one new buyer on board or convince one old buyer to return. They are banking on the changes working toward their own profit and nothing else and it is my hope that they fail! Its the hope of almost every other seller too!
From Patricia, Harrison, NJ Just for once I'd like to see an article written by someone who knows the ins and outs of ebay as both a buyer and a seller. Right now, we have Ina Steiner and little else. I think it would make fascinating reading. We all know that ebay is feeling the pain. Look at their quarter as far as auctions are concerned….its almost stagnant! It doesn't take an Einstein to see if you add up the listings of all other off-the-wall auction sites that are popping up you will find 5 or 6 million listings that used to belong to ebay! I'm a 10 year buyer and seller and I can tell you I've gone from exclusively listing on ebay to listing now on 5 other venues plus my own website. Ebay refuses to believe they are losing large amounts of sellers and as other online sites grow, they will lose their precious buyers as well. Always hard-headed (take skype for a perfect example of what not to do) they will hang onto these changes believing that they are king and eventually their "subjects" will have to come groveling to them. I think they best take another look – this is a process that is happening slowly but happening all the same. Every year some online auctions will get stronger and stronger…from sellers AND buyers disgusted with ebay. If ebay is headed toward retail…they will fail! All major retailers are online and if you want them all under one roof – there is only one Amazon. If they're after Amazon's business model, they will fail. Amazon knows the value of customer service and fairness to its sellers! At some point in time I do hope they'll change the sloppy management they have now and turn the ship around before its too late! As a business, the last thing you want is angry customers. Whether ebay wants to acknowledge that or not makes no difference. Sellers pay the fees and buy Ebay's service (a service that is now totally lacking in fairness)…that makes THEM ebay's customers….NOT the buyers!
From Orange I quit eBay when these changes started. I've had enough. eBay wastes too much of my time, and this was the last straw.
*Here is the new way to sell people: Open your own website. Advertise on Google.
How do you think people arrived at eBay to buy your stuff? Google. Start now, because eBay just shot themselves in the foot.
From Jeff, Denver, Col. This article is ridiculous. It completely emphasizes the slumping sales of some sellers (who probably have major selling issues) and buries the main point of the search algorithm on the last few paragraphs. eBay is trying to fix a problem that originated with sellers like the ones crying in this article.
From Paul P Assonet MA So can't the search be changed by a bidder from "Best Match" to "Ending Soonest" still?
From gamezoneusaatyahoo.com E-bay is not fair to sellers if sellers can not warn others of buyers who do not pay! Higher costs decrease the amount of sellers and when you have a recession fewer people want to pay higher fees. The average sale is most likely 70 bucks on E bay. they blew a great opportunity to increase their business in a prolonged recession. United parcel service is laying off workers and business is down along with profits due to lower ebay sales and high gas prices.
From Linda, Las Vegas NV I have been a seller since 1998. I was a power seller for 4 years, and then the constant search changes started destroying my sales in 2004. As a result, I opened my first store. Until then I just listed in auction format and loved it.By time I figured out how to make the store work for me they decided they didn't want store inventory items cluttering up the site and raised the fees to a point I couldn't make a profit there either. Since August of 2006 I have bounced from one plan to another trying to rebuild my business. I sell collectibles and have literally tens of thousands of items. As soon as I figure out how to make ebay work for me they change something and I'm back to square one.
Best match is the final straw. My sales have plummeted from selling over 70% of the listings in February to less than 35% in March and less than 10% in April. I have 100% feedback and 4.8 and 4.9 DSR rankings. But, I'm no longer a power seller and I no longer list thousands of items and I sell one of a kind items. It is getting very difficult to make ebay work for that type merchandise.For the first time I am actually moving merchandise elsewhere. Tias is a collectible site that appears to have promise and I am going to give them a try. The recent changes make ebay a hostile selling environment with every move we make being up for criticism from both the buyers and ebay itself. It is just not a healthy place to sell, and I think many thousands of other sellers will soon be joining me.I used to sell on Yahoo and way back in 1999 I could do as well there as I did on Ebay. When Yahoo started playing with the search results where you had to bid for placement the sales started dieing. Not just for those of us who wouldn't pay the top $$ to be seen on page 1, but for everyone. I believe it happened because eventually there was only a very limited variety of merchandise left to buy.I see the same thing happening on ebay. Already it is becoming much more difficult to find the unique and unusual item. If it is listed it is hidden away. I cannot believe a site who once enjoyed the reputation of being the "fun" place to sell and shop has sunk so low. It is a sad day for me as I loved my years of selling and buying there. And, I hate to see it all falling apart. I never thought I would see it become what it is today.
From CANDI SACRAMENTO CALIFORNIA I am only a buyer but i do think it is very unfair that sellers can't leave negitive feedback this goes against the whole purpose of the feedback system i believe you will loose alot of good sellers because of this it is not right if someone does not pay why should they not recieve negitive feedback isn't that why this system was put in in the first place to protect both the seller and ebay this is not right at all and it upsets me that now you put sellers in jeopordy because who knows if the buyer is telling the truth now and sellers feedback is going to be so not right if anyone ever finds out if there is another place to buy from like ebay let me know i will boycott myself because this move is not right i am very upset about it i have recieved one unfair negtive feedback but that still doesn't say i believe all sellers are that way to many people are going to get away with leaving feedback that is not right for these sellers and there is not a thing they can do about it this is really messed up you have people who have so many negitive feedbacks sellers and buyers but yet they are still on ebay i just don't get it your not fixing a problem your adding to it by doing this all sellers i agree with you all the way like i said i am not a seller just a buyer and i believe this is wrong and not fair.
From Nancy, Cleveland, OH Want to see what people REALLY think about Best Match and other changes that eBay has forced upon their customers ? Have a look at these discussion boards on eBay.
Search board
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jspa?forumID=80
PayPal board
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=97
eBay Stores
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=21
Seller Central
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=143
From bob ny ny I was part of the February strike,and intend to boycott ebay from May 1st,as are many thousands of sellers,and buyers disgusted with the changes ebay has made over the last couple of months.Unhappy members of ebay have used the time since the last boycott to spread the word,open State chapters,and prepare for the major strike beginning on May first.No buying,selling,or Paypal.This boycott will last for at least a month,and longer if necessary.
The strike in February was noted by large numbers of the media as having up to a 13% hit on listings.This in spite of a large number of bogus listings counted in the hundreds of thousands entered by ebay in an attempt to skew the numbers.These were quickly removed when discovered.They also timed a listing special to coincide with the strike.They tried to say that the strike had little to no effect-the media was not fooled,and stock prices dipped sharply for over a month to the lowest value in over a year.It has risen lately,it will be something to watch after May 1st.
How long can eBay continue hurt & insult it's sellers and buyers, is a more accurate question. Ebay has become such an unfriendly and hostile environment, it now bothers me to do any business there at all. I will avoid selling on the site….I've been a member of eBay for 8 years and I used to really enjoy the entire experience. Now I am beginning to truly loathe the company.I have not sold ,even tho' I have many,many, items I could sell.I'll hold on to them until ebay reverses the ill advised changes,or another venue to sell at appears.
Ebay forces the DSR rating on us,telling buyers that 4 stars is a very good rating,while penalizing sellers for having ratings lower than 4.8 with reduced visibility in the new default Best Match search,and moving their listings to the bottom of searches if not above that number.If a Powerseller does not meet those star ratings,they will not get the fee discounts,and could lose their Powerseller status.It also will leave the seller open to the Paypal 21 day hold on funds because of buyer dissatisfaction.Very few of the top sellers on ebay will qualify for the discount now,and all any seller will need is one or two buyers not up to speed on the DSR's to knock down the points.After all "ebay told us that 4 is a great rating"!The new buyer only feedback system will leave sellers open to feedback extortion from bad buyers,and others looking to "ding" a particular seller,like a competitor,or someone with a grudge.The new system where bidders names are hidden is going to be a problem,and a playground for shill bidding(where friends of the seller.or the seller himself,under another name,bids up the price of items to make more for the seller,at the expense of the buyer.-Ebay was very bad at stopping this behavior before,now a bidder has no idea who is bidding against them.Its amazing how many ways sellers(and buyers), are coming out on the short end every time ebay shoots themselves in the foot with these self serving changes.
Many are beginning to see a pattern of how eBay conducts itself, refuses to take care of its customers, makes changes without warning in what looks like a kneejerk reaction that instantly affects the livlyhood of thousands of sellers, and then gives us the “educate your buyers” nonsense to make up for their own shortsightedness and inability to think things out in advance? It looks to us like eBay management is either extremely clueless or in chaos (or both). The level of customer care is certainly around zero…
How many businesses operate this way and stay healthy and in business? ebay seems to be stuck on doing everything wrong.
From JW Stroudsburg, PA eBay sellers – check out http://www.AFTERTHEGAVEL.com
From Jim Smith, White Lake, MI What the person in charge of ebay does not understand is that sellers don't move as fast as ebay with changes.
THose changes are happening and it will show in the lost revenue in the next 3-5 quarters. Price is the main selling feature for ebay. If sellers can put the same items on another site like ubid for less; (which they easily can); BUYERS will migrate to those sites for the lower price.
Yes it is the beginning of the end of ebays dominance in the online selling market.
Patience Grasshopper!
From Paul South Florida To find great deals on merchandise for your auctions check out http://www.sellmyinventory.com
From Sydney, Australia eBay's latest move to alienate sellers (and buyers) is to require PayPal be used in all transactions on ebay.com.au from June. As most transactions on eBay Australia are paid for by direct bank transfer into the seller's bank account (very safe system in Australia), it means many, many sellers and buyers will no longer be able to use eBay. Many large formerly eBay-only sellers and buyers are flocking to rivals such as Oztion.com.au and TradeMe.co.nz. Doesn't look like a smart move even if it will make a true monopoly.
From GENISTA, ADELAIDE SOUTH AUSTRALIA. I am a Power Seller from South Australia and have been selling on eBay for 4 years. To continue selling with eBay has become totally unviable as they have slowly eroded my profits. I will be closing my store at the end of May and will be taking my customers with me. A lot of them pay via direct deposit as they do not want to disclose their bank account and credit card details to a third party. They also make multiple purchases. Under the new eBay rules, Paypal would be the only payment method accepted and it is something 95% of them do not want to sign up for. PAYMENT CHOICE HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM BUYERS AND SELLERS. To receive "paypal protection" (an oxymoron here) all items must be posted via registered mail and not comibined. So if a customer buys six items, each must be posted via registered mail separately! Who ever thought up this stupid idea??? I would have to be spending more time packaging things to get less money as well as losing customers who will not pay via paypal. For the amount of fees I pay eBay and Paypal for one month I can run a website for a year!!
eBay is currently being investigated here by the ACCC The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. The new Paypal regulations they are introducing to Australia as testing ground may well contravene our Fair Trading laws. Australian eBay is now in damage control after the printed and tv media have reported this and I believe its days are numbered as more FAIR players enter the online auction markets! Hasta La Vista eBay!!
Please do not include my full name.
From HK, Seattle Wa. The reason why the first quarter numbers went up was a lot of the smart sellers like me decided to sell off the majority of their inventory before the price changes went into effect making it MORE costly to sell along with no future voice in the wake of the new ridiculous feedback changes!
Sales are down all over ebay and they know it! Thats why they keep having sales and distributing the ridiculous coupons! Ebay…if you are so confident in your plans…why would you need to keep having sales and coupons?
Also you were caught red-handed padding your listing numbers with fake auctions during the last boycott to make it look like we were having no affect. Then you just pretended that the listings never happened! You "accidentally" deleted the very long thread with all the proof of these padded listings TWICE! And continue to delete comments that have anything to do with the fraudulent listings you created! For those interested, you can see proof of these padded listings in this very informative video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf14CEHv__c
I was there…I was part of the thread…I saw these listings along with hundreds of other users get deleted right before our eyes!
Ebay is now HIGHLY censoring their own forums and putting most boycott threads to the back of the thread list. They are also banning many many users that have anything to say against ebay and that are speaking out about the padded listings and the boycott! I was banned from the forums with NO explanation whatsoever!
The share holders really only care about 1 thing…..money. I understand this. And ebay has shown that all they care about is MONEY. Their customer service area is non-existent. They promise to help sellers with the now huge problem of non-paying bidders but they do NOTHING! They still make money off those auctions so why would they do anything? They refuse to do anything about the high volume sellers with horrible feedback, and sellers that sell fake or replica products because they also make ebay money!
My question to you…the shareholders, along with the general public. Do you really want to support a greedy, lying corporation that is willing to kill millions of peoples livelihoods to fill their own coffers? Do you really want to be part of that?
Ebay you have now become one of the most corrupt and greedy companies to have ever existed. You have bullied your way into a monopoly situation and consistently lie to the public about your antics. Your website along with paypal are HIGHLY UNSECURE.
I refuse to step aside and let you go through with this. I am only one person but I know I am NOT alone.
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO VOICE YOUR OPINION!
BOYCOTT EBAY MAY 1ST AND BEYOND!!
From Liz Summerell, Sydney, Australia I am in eBay Australia. They are about to change payment policy to only allow Paypal on June 17th. We are the trial country for this however, as we all know it will be the start of the policy worldwide.
Paypal will also charge fees on postage so of course prices will rise which in turn will have to turn away buyers. If eBay is "only a venue" (their words) how can they do this?
This move is completely wrong morally, and in a business sense, to me and many thousands of other members here, judging by the discussions on the boards, the petitions and the mass media exposure.
I think this will be the beginning of the end of eBay as we have known it–very sad and very ultra greedy.
I hope someone will take charge and open another site where the customer (both buyers and sellers) are listened to.
From JW Stroudsburg, PA eBay SELLERS check out http://www.AFTERTHEGAVEL.com
From Allen eBay is about to come crashing down. Why Donahoe thinks he can get away with controlling individually owned businesses is beyond me. Can he get away with is some? sure. In the end though he will find that you cannot force people to run THEIR business the way eBay wants them to.
I am in business for myself so I can be my own boss! I will not stay on eBay and suffer the abuses of being told how to run my own business. If I do not satisfy my customers I will not have them for long, that is a core principle of business.
I will not allow eBay or anyone else to dictate what payment methods I can accept, when I can receive my payments in my bank account, what my return policy is or any other aspect of my business.
eBay I am walking out the door. No I am running. Every change provides growth and stength to eBay's competitors and shrinks eBay until they become microscopic.
From T. Parker Rio Grande, New Jersey I'm a Powerseller on ebay and have been since 1999. I am not bothered by the higher back end fees, but the feedback change has me both baffled and outraged. Two way feedback keeps the playing field level. A buyer will most likely work with a seller if they are not happy, because they don't want retaliation feedback, and vice versa. By taking away the sellers ability to leave buyers feedback, they are creating a catastrophe. I can easily predict that buyers will be bombarded with negative feedbacks that have little or no basis most of the time. It takes away the buyer's willingness to work with a seller. I've managed to only receive 6 negative feedbacks out of approximately 3,400 positive. Once this new system is enforced, I'm sure that the amount will increase drastically compared to the past 9 years, not because I'm a bad seller, but because buyers will leave negative comments on a whim. This will make the ebay marketplace look like a giant gauntlet of bad sellers, when in reality, we're just getting an unfair shake. This feedback change will also add extra hours of work for sellers. When this feedback change happens, my 10 year old can go on ebay and bid on 100 things and not pay. Since no feedback is shown for her (for example), sellers will let her bid freely on their items, despite the fact that she never pays. Then the seller will spend hours sending reminders, final notices, and then requesting final auction value fees be refunded from ebay. If buyers are against sellers leaving them feedback, then they are obviously bad buyers. Way to go ebay, screw the sellers who are equally as important as the buyers. My question is WHY??
From Kelsey M What ebay does not realize in this "community". Is that the BUYER'S ARE THE SELLERS in a lot of cases, with different names to buy and sell under. EBAY UNIVERSITY IS THE KEY TO NEW CUSTOMERS. NOT COUPONS AND THE CANNING OF THE FEEDBACK SYSTEM. Everyone knew a nickel knocked off the price wasn't going to motivate those "some-day" sellers to suddenly spring into action. Ebay University should drive around in busses, giving away keychains, and giving free lessons. That is how new buyers and sellers are born. I wish…someone who actually buys and sells on ebay, would run that company some day……..
From Matt, Jacksonville, FL. I haven't sold anything since the boycott, and will not. eBay thinks things are stable and strong and I personally cannot wait until Google or some other power house comes in and opens it's doors.
Then and only then will eBay see how damaging it's decisions have been as sellers will flock fast and quick, especially if Google steps up.
From Daniel Columbia, SC The increase in price does not bother me as much as losing the ability to leave negative comments. I will most likly STOP buying stuff once that rule comes into effect.. when you get burned on Ebay.. Ebay and Paypal really do little to recover your loss. I enjoy having the feedback to see who is a good/bad buyer and buying from those who have a posotve reputation. I think this will hurt Ebay and its ability to gain new customers to the site who are already edgy about the auction style of pay first and maybe receive an item in the mail. Feedback also keeps the seller on thier toes.. they better ship it next day or they fear negative feeback. Several sellers have hired third party companies to control negative feedback and try to alleviate that feedback through moderation and customer service.. then the feedback is mutually removed. Sellers do CARE about that feedback and somewhat rely on that for more/better business. It will take time for me to get used to the feedback changed.. if I ever do purchase again.. I know I will not purchase expensive items anymore. I can afford to lose 20 bucks.. but not 200 bucks.
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Please be aware that there is a new FRAUD being implemented right before your eyes on eBay.
It's is difficult to identify due to it's cleverly hidden implementation.
Fake and nonesense accounts are being created and used to bid on high value items with no intention to pay.
These are actually account created and managed by eBay servers/people.
A normal non paying bidder situation used to be resolved by waiting the standard 7 days and filing a NPB Alert. After the expiry of an additional 7 days, the seller could choose to place a strike against the buyer and receive a fee refund. These buyers were often ones who had a problem with some term or condition they didn't approve of or communicated they simply changed their minds.
BUT NOW….
Suspicious and mysterious account using fake or missing account information are being used to target items in the 1000-10000 range. These accounts having missing or invalid contact information are considered a violation of the TOS and used to be immediately suspended or the accociated transaction was nullified/cancelled leaving no trace of it on the system. NOW….these accounts are not being treated them same and it's left to the sellers to finalize the cancellation process to receive a refund.
Often sellers will not do this because They fear that a negative strike against the buyer will cause them to leave a negative feedback. This fear for the seller is overwealming, especially for business owners who depend on eBay for a living.
With over 20,000.00 in npb sales on my two accounts in the last 30 days, the numbers being added to ebay's sales figures and the subsequent FVF collected as a result are most likely staggering. It is my estimation, a high percentage of these fees go unrecovered or unclaimed by seller out of fear of a negative.
Although a new feature has been added to allow the immediate starting of the 7 day process for refund, it's a little known feature and most likely would be used as a defense to this accusation.
The winfall from Ebay's new NPB fraud coupled with the revenue from 21 day holds are difficult for laymen to comprehend. These two matters should be investigated by federal trade comission authorities and charges brought forth against management if crimes are discovered.
I am convinced that Ebay is involved with NPB Fraud. The next time you have someone who hasn't said a word to you after 24 hours from invoice being sent….open your eyes to the truth. eBay is trying to steal your money while making itself look good to shareholders.
From a 10 year power seller with a retarded savant like illness which allows me to see the truth in situations easier than others.