May Day Revolt! Sellers Plan New Strike vs. eBay
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Organizers gearing up for a May 1st boycott of auctioneer
It appears we have not witnessed the last proactive counter-measures against eBay from disaffected sellers. May 1st has been set as the start date of a new boycott of the online auctioneer.
"We have picked the date of May 1 [because] it gives us time to organize and spread the word, [and] it coincides with the month the new feedback changes go into effect," Mary Killion, a seller who has been organizing boycott efforts through eBay's forums, wrote in a recent post. "And personally, I always think of May as the month when things really begin to grow."
Killon's comments were featured yesterday on PCMag.com.
Announcement of the new strike came just a day after the latest boycott ended. That strike, originally slated to end Feb. 24th, was extended through this past Sunday. Changes to eBay's feedback system and new fees inspired the revolt, which eBay claims had no impact.
"EBay has been relatively nonplussed by the boycotts. Though auction statistic Web sites reported a 13 percent drop in eBay listings during the first week of the boycott, eBay brushed off those stats, and said they failed to take into account a 20-cent listings promotion that caused a spike in pre-boycott listings," reported Chloe Albanesius in her piece, "Another eBay Boycott Planned for May Day."
"I'm afraid that if they do reverse the current changes, they will just find another way to slap us in the face," said Sandra Campbell, a power seller who was with eBay since its inception, but has since defected to other online auction sites, told PCMag.
In her own post on eBay's forums, Lillian Bauer, a seller since 1998 who shut down her eBay store last week, expressed scepticism that a new revolt will make a difference.
"Do I think the situation will change? Honestly I don't, because I think the goal of eBay management this time is to fundamentally change the nature of the site, making it more a retail mall of homogeneous goods than an antique market or (heaven forbid) a flea-market," she wrote, as reported in the story.
Question: Will a new strike by sellers mean much? Will you participate? What platforms might you use to keep your business going if you do boycott eBay? Click on the comments link below and sound off.
It appears we have not witnessed the last proactive counter-measures against eBay from disaffected sellers. May 1st has been set as the start date of a new boycott of the online auctioneer.
"We have picked the date of May 1 [because] it gives us time to organize and spread the word, [and] it coincides with the month the new feedback changes go into effect," Mary Killion, a seller who has been organizing boycott efforts through eBay's forums, wrote in a recent post. "And personally, I always think of May as the month when things really begin to grow."
Killon's comments were featured yesterday on PCMag.com.
Announcement of the new strike came just a day after the latest boycott ended. That strike, originally slated to end Feb. 24th, was extended through this past Sunday. Changes to eBay's feedback system and new fees inspired the revolt, which eBay claims had no impact.
"EBay has been relatively nonplussed by the boycotts. Though auction statistic Web sites reported a 13 percent drop in eBay listings during the first week of the boycott, eBay brushed off those stats, and said they failed to take into account a 20-cent listings promotion that caused a spike in pre-boycott listings," reported Chloe Albanesius in her piece, "Another eBay Boycott Planned for May Day."
"I'm afraid that if they do reverse the current changes, they will just find another way to slap us in the face," said Sandra Campbell, a power seller who was with eBay since its inception, but has since defected to other online auction sites, told PCMag.
In her own post on eBay's forums, Lillian Bauer, a seller since 1998 who shut down her eBay store last week, expressed scepticism that a new revolt will make a difference.
"Do I think the situation will change? Honestly I don't, because I think the goal of eBay management this time is to fundamentally change the nature of the site, making it more a retail mall of homogeneous goods than an antique market or (heaven forbid) a flea-market," she wrote, as reported in the story.
Question: Will a new strike by sellers mean much? Will you participate? What platforms might you use to keep your business going if you do boycott eBay? Click on the comments link below and sound off.
posted by Chris and Frank at 10:29 AM
7 Comments:
The way eBay is treating smaller sellers like me is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. The only way John Donahoe could be clearer about his intention to drive us off the site in favour of powersellers would be to point-blank TELL us to leave.
The new feedback rules and the introduction of best match mean I'll be running my last set of auctions in April. It will be WAY too risky for smaller sellers with the new feedback rules, because the buyers will have WAY too much power. CUE: lots more buyer fraud. What about respect for sellers? What about fair fees? eBay just doesn't care.
On May 1st, I'm leaving, and I'm not coming back.
BOYCOTT VICTORIOUSLY!
MAY 1ST - INFINITY!
www.accknowl.com
www.myspace.com/boycottebay
http://forums.delphiforums.com/boycottebay
In order for these to work, they need to get the other auction sites promoted so that the buyers have an alternative.
I have scaled back on what I buy and sell there my self (and I'm not a powerseller) just because it is expensive to buy or sell.
Thanks to both of you for your comments. We've heard from quite a few poeple who've NOT wanted to comment anonymously (since that would seem kinda of lame) yet also NOT felt right commenting "for the record" (as it were) here. They have expressed something close to rage at what they see as eBay pushing small sellers to the margins.
Though we want to be as objective as possible in all that we address on this site and in our podcasts, we feel safe in asserting that eBay ought to be able to come up with a plan that can accomodate the "regular" folks whose early and ongoing patronage of the company helped make it what it is today.
As to alternate sites for selling, we have many in our resources page - both broad-based platforms and niche sites. In the podcast we just recorded (we're finishing a few production details on it as we write this) and will have posted by Monday, we review a few other sites you'll want to chack out.
One feature to look for in alternate online auction sites: feedback portability. Being able to show your seller's credentials seems to us to be an important feature.
Thanks for your comments. Chris & Frank
Hi, I am cltdocmd, a regular buyer of vintage dolls and Shirley Temple memorablia. I also buy for my father who looks for vintage car parts & tools and my mother who collects Rooster & Roses pattern dishes. I've only sold a few things which made me have alot of respect for anyone who sells on a regular basis.
I've been looking at all the other sites and did buy something on Bidville recently, but the pickings are still pretty slim and some of the sites are hard to search. But I will not buy on ebay as long as they plan on going ahead with the changes.
thank you.
Been a member for almost 10 years now as a seller and a buyer. There is no being "vexed" by the changes at all.
They are horrible, untenable, hostile and punitive changes. And the beta tests being conducted now and split screen format presented to shareholders are unannounced changes coming up, we just don't know when.
All this and a fee increase too. There is no business I know that can treat their customers so poorly and with such total disregard and survive and increase it's presence and business volume.
Word of mouth is free, cannot be purchased, doesn't come in a glossy mailing or a 30 second tv ad and is invaluable to the long term health of any business.
And that will be the demise of ebay. They think advertising will overcome rank disatisfaction and that sellers leaving can easily be replaced. I believe they have way underestimated the damage they have done.
Even if they did an about face right now, the trust is gone.
exodusfromebay
From Melinda5563
If the question posed is whether or not a new strike will make any difference then:
1. I prefer the word boycott since I am NOT ebay's employee and it is employees or union members who go on strike. I PAY THEM. I am their buyer....their customer and my buyers are MINE, not theirs and this is where theY got off track. When they decided to focus on enhancing the buyer's experience then they should have made things better for US and let US worry about enhancing the experience of OUR BUYERS. Get rid of the bad sellers certainly (but they won't, because they are complicit with both the bad buyers and sellers because they make money from them).
2. It depends on how you define the concept of making a difference. I DO NOT believe that they will change any of these policies before it is clearly demonstrated that they are poor decisions that will hurt their site badly. However,
3. I believe that it will make a huge difference in the success and even just the overall quality of their site that we are not there. WE have "IT". If Wal-mart, Sears or GM had "IT" then their sites would be the number one e-commerce brand on the internet not ebay. Ebay will tank and will never be the same. They may come back to us AFTER they ruin the site and we can never trust them again, but if other sites have treated us (their customer) well and grown to have the traffic we need to get our items for sale seen, then why would we?
So Yes, a May 1st boycott will make a big big and necessary difference on ebay. And anyway, I CAN'T BRING MYSELF TO SELL OF EBAY AFTER MAY 1ST, IT ISN'T SAFE. I AM NOT LOSING MY ITEM, MY MONEY AND BE OUT OF POCKET THE SHIPPING COSTS WITHOUT KNOWING I HAVE THE MONEY IN MY POCKET.
To Melinda5563:
Bravo! Few things are appreciated more around here than strong opinions deeply held and boldy expressed - especially when the topic is of bread-and-butter importance to so many.
Your idea on the different implicit and inferential meanings of the words "strike" and "boycott," and how their use colors the characterization of this action against eBay, is cogent indeed.
To Exodusfromebay:
Your words convey real pain, the kind that usually inspires such anger. The sense that you feel betrayed, that your loyalty has been re-paid with a slap in the face, echos beyond the eBay boycott. In a week during which millions felt betrayed when a powerful man was shamed out of office after his reputed decency was exposed as a shabby veneer (in an act that was the ultimate and public disavowel of a loving spouse), and at a time when layoffs and losses are rippling through Wall Street, we are left to ponder the fates of those who leverage the loyalty of "the little guy" to attain great power only to disavow it when "sexier" opportunities arise. Makes us wonder about the identities of clients one through eight.
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