Ten days ago, while I was still away, I was sent two emails regarding a four-day strike planned by eBay UK merchants. Yes, yes, I know, as if we haven't mentioned the issue enough here at BloggingStocks. Well, apparently not. As long as there are ill feelings and danger to eBay from their merchants (which merchants would say eBay brought on itself), we must continue and report/discuss this.
Well, the first email I received was a video that has appeared on Google with a favorite background song by the Rolling Stones, Paint It Black (too many interpretations can be given here). You can imagine what the video features - Meg and Bill rolling in money while eBay merchants suffer from fee hikes as well as crazy and scam auctions. The video announces the four-day strike, asks buyers and sellers to participate and even uses one of my headlines - eBay merchants want top management's heads. I'm not really sure what to make of that last...
The next email I got was a press release regarding the four-day strike called - 4 Day Clean Up Ebay campaign announced in UK. The gist: A four-day campaign starting from 21.00 GMT on Thursday 14th September until the same time Monday 18th September 2006. They ask sellers to put their stores on holidays during that time and to put their time to good use to report bad listings. Claiming the numbers of those signing the petition in the UK has more than doubled since their last strike day, they hope for a wide support.
The group organizing the campaign calls themselves CORE - Campaign Of Rebuffed Ebayers, which is cute since this exactly what eBay is trying to do with the fee hikes - wants to shift the listing mix back in favor of core listings rather than store. The group also hopes to get management rattled enough to at least speak of the effects of the different merchants' protests. Quite frankly, I would like to hear what management has to say about that too.
I've been pondering for quite some time the differences, if any, between eBay merchants and eBay investors and perhaps I'll share my thoughts later on, but this article covering the strike finishes with the writer feeling sellers don't want to fight eBay and "bring it to its knees" as a commenter once said here, but rather help make it better. Interesting.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) shares have gained 1% and were trading at $28.28 late this morning.
Update: It seems that U.S. and international sellers have decided to join their UK comrades in this campaign, at least according to the comments here and on the forums.
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Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
9-30-2006 @ 4:57PM
Steven said...
I have not heard one peep about this in the American TV, radio or print media.
10-12-2006 @ 11:01AM
Gary E. Sattler said...
This is just a promo for one of the many new on line sales ventures which is bleeding revenue from eBay coffers. This site, called WAGGLEPOP has benefitted greatly from the poor decision making at eBay in the last 6 months.
My wife Anna does business on Wagglepop under our former eBay store name, Grand Avenue Treasures. Stop in and check out her Aeropostale clothing!
http://www.wagglepop.com/bin/Auction
Quote:
For the week ending 10/8, we enjoyed a huge sales increases as the customer base continues to expand, with 1392 total (sales) for the week, a new record. That's the 14th consecutive week with an increase, and an incredible 25.7% increase in sales in just one week compared to the week previous, when 1107 sales were recorded.
Overall site traffic continues to increase dramatically, and search engines continue to play an important role in funneling new potential buyers to Wagglepop. Be sure to optimize both the titles and descriptions to increase search engine relevance. For more information about search engine optimization, visit the related thread in the Advanced Selling: Wagglepop Stores forum on the Community Help & Discussion Boards.
The BusinessBuilder tools continue to play an important role in overall sales volume, particularly Buy More Now with DynamicDiscounts. If you are a seller and you have not yet subscribed to SmartSell Pro, we strongly recommend you do so. For current SmartSell Pro subscribers, be sure to enable Buy More Now, configure your DynamicDiscounts, and create rules for display/presentation in your Merchandising Manager. Buy More Now may be the single most useful and important selling tool in the BusinessBuilder suite!
We anticipate continued strong activity in the upcoming week, and we encourage all sellers to stock the shelves, and use all of the BusinessBuilder tools to help increase sales and build a long-term customer base.
End Quote
10-13-2006 @ 11:30PM
Gary E. Sattler said...
This is an email I received after returning home from work today. I believe is is from an aquaintance of mine who works in the justice system.
Quote:
UPDATE
PRECURSOR CHEMICALS AVAILABLE ON EBAY
A prophesy come true! NOW ebay IS ON THE HOMELAND SECURITY PRIORITY LIST Duh!
This came out of a newspaper in the Middle East;
Airline terror suspects used eBay for funding
AFP
October 13, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Suspects in an alleged plot to blow up flights from Britain to the United States helped finance their operation by buying and selling items on Internet auction site eBay, ABC News reported Thursday.
An intelligence report cited by the US television network says that a suspect, Assad Sarwar, 26, "used eBay extensively" to raise funds for the plot. "It is believed they would sell and purchase items to make a profit to fund [the] plot," it said.
According to ABC News, the report says that Sarwar also surfed the Internet to price and purchase supplies, including 20 liters of hydrogen peroxide bought online from a hydroponic gardening center. Hydrogen peroxide is a critical ingredient in several types of homemade explosives.
British authorities arrested two-dozen people in an August raid to foil the alleged plot to bomb airliners using liquid explosives.
According to the intelligence report, ABC News reported, the suspects hollowed out AA batteries and experimented with filling them with a small amount of homemade explosives and other components.
Several AA batteries were seized at a house in High Wycombe, Britain, that investigators describe as "the bomb factory," ABC News said.
The intelligence report says that video secretly recorded at that location allegedly shows two suspects drilling small holes in the bottom of plastic juice drinks.
"They would then drain the liquid and replace this with [a homemade explosive] mixture," the intelligence document says.
Seventeen people who were arrested in the August raid have been charged with terrorism-related offenses in connection with the alleged plot, while the remaining eight have been released.
___
SINCE I REPORTED THIS TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, THIS AND OTHER ISSUES ARE NOW A PRIORITY!
To ebay, thanks for my POWER SELLER Certificate, it came in the mail last week. Not sure if I will need ebay soon, I am entertaining a job offer!
(signature)
End Quote.
10-15-2006 @ 11:35PM
Gary E. Sattler said...
Dateline: October 15, 2006
Sources from inside the following internet mechandising venues have revealed speculative talks.
Wagglepop
Etsy
Bidville
ebid
Hibidder
Sources say that established merchandisers have intiated dialog expressing an interest in unifying the five individual marketing units under a single banner.
Joining of these five units would amass a total client base equaling nearly 20% the size of market leader eBay.
It is not immediatly apparent if the unification is intended to be a business partnership or simply an intermarketing relationship.
Comment was not readily available from eBay as to how that site would view this possible threat.
10-22-2006 @ 1:26AM
Sue Cox said...
I am a U.S. seller and I don't believe the eBay stock holders have an honest perspective of how fragile things are for ebay. There is a huge change in the 'Sell Your Item' form that is a bug-filled beta monster. This is NOT just a 'stores' issue. It challenges the very fabric of the auction site, because it is just too convoluted and time consuming, and often the only option is to close the internet connection and try again. That has a direct effect on sales, since listing is cut in half for many sellers.~~To have a clearer picture of the the difficulties and problems, check out these three threads on the ebay U.S. discussion board....
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000141736
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000188051
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000368518&tstart=0&mod=1161489921254