eBay’s Actions Evoke Strong Emotional Angry Reactions
And something new arises…
Sellers’ Union & Buyers’ Association Together
“We’ve had enough of eBay, Inc! With the recent fee hikes, we no longer believe that the corporate-run eBay site serves the needs of its users, we who made that site in the first place. However, the eBay Community now has a massive userbase. We must secure the commitment of a critical mass of sellers in order to develop a realistic alternative.
If we can secure the commitment of 10,000 eBay members to migrate to a new site, that will give us the numbers we need to make the move without risking our livelihoods. Run the seller unity badge in your sales, wherever they are! We’ll show FeeBay who really runs that site!”
Seems that many of these folks have been down this road with eBay previously and these new changes have added to the anger felt before. I’d wonder if the new “powers that are,” i.e. John Donahoe et al, gave that consideration when they dreamed these revised terms up?
I think I’d also feel disenfranchised as this person does;
“The REAL issues? FEEDBACK – PayPal’s new (Patriot Act) payment withholding rules.
I don’t know about anyone else, but if buyers can leave me negative feedback, just because they feel like it, completely protected by my inability to respond in kind, AND dispute an item at the same time, causing PayPal to withhold payment to me for up to 21 days, just because they feel like it. If it were an expensive item, it could bankrupt me, JUST ONE!
What reason would a serious business person have to invite that kind of abuse? What kind of businessperson would subject themselves to that kind of danger???”
Comments? Thoughts? Agree or disagree?
Selling on eBay is a choice. I understand that the changes will negatively affect many sellers, but if sellers adjust their strategies (more or fewer auctions, more or fewer store inventory items) the fees can actually work in their favor. I really like the new fee structure.
As an eBay seller myself, it is much easier on my budget to pay the bulk of my fees after the item sells and the customer pays, than having to spend the money out of my own pocket up front. Many other high volume sellers feel the same way.
As I have visited various eBay groups and forums, the sellers making the noise are the smaller, lower volume sellers, who enjoy eBay as a hobby. Business people who take eBay seriously will adjust their plan to handle the fee changes accordingly.
As for the feedback changes, most high volume sellers are not threatened by this. We are busy concentrating on what we can do for our customers, not what they might do to us. There will be the occassional bad apple (compare this to a customer who throws a tantrum in a restaurant when is food is not exactly right), but for the most part, if sellers continue to offer quality products at a reasonable price, ship quickly and securely, and communicate with their customers, we have nothing to fear.
Happy selling-
Suzanne Wells
The eBay Coach
Hi Suzanne,
I really welcome your comment, thank you…
I am looking for some honest feedback from past or present eBay
sellers. Please participate in the poll:
http://tinyurl.com/5fyfry
Thanks
I am in contact with an IBM Architect that said if I can get enough angry E-bay sellers to commit, IBM will create and host our own site where we can creat a fair and friendly playing field. I need as many sellers to commit. Send yours to chateauantique@yahoo.com SOON!
I’ve been buying and selling on eBay for a number of years and I’ve had great luck- only 4 failed transactions where I was the buyer. All four of those transactions were immediately paid for, with insurance, but for whatever reason they never arrived or arrived damaged due to extremely poor packaging. Notably, three of the sellers pocketed the insurance money without insuring my package, and one seller disappeared after getting my payment. Incredibly, in all 4 transactions I received negative feedback despite the fact that I was an ideal customer who paid immediately, waited patiently for my items to arrive, and attempted to resolve the issues with polite communication. Two of the sellers, both of whom fraudulently pocketed the insurance money, actually expected me to pay the costs of shipping the item back to them. Ultimately eBay removed one negative feedback but stated that the other 3 didn’t qualify for removal. And CLEARLY, for years, a near majority of eBay sellers have been taking advantage of buyers with undisclosed and inflated shipping rates often charging 2-3 times the actual cost of shipping and insurance, often not insuring the package at all, or charging an additional insurance fee for UPS and Fed-Ex packages that are automatically insured for free.
So I welcome the new feedback policy. It’s no different than filling out a satisfaction survey at a restaurant or clinic- customers rate businesses, not the other way around. Like someone else said, for the most part if businesses are treating their customers right, they have nothing to worry about. And with ANY retail business, there will be loses due to customer fraud i.e.: shoplifting, damage to store merchandise etc. Online retail is no different, in fact it’s better because where else can the average Joe, with no reputation whatsoever, set up a business and get electronically paid for their merchandise with nothing more than a promise to get it in the mail? And I wonder, what’s the going rate for retail space in a strip mall? And what about advertising costs? Hellooo?