A letter to John Donahoe at eBay

Gary...Gary...You are way to kind with your words.

If eBay wishes to survive, and I truly mean survive, They must change!
They know this already!

eBay depend on SELLER and BUYERS to make their money. Ebay itself sells nothing! Lose them and you have lost all the way around.

eBay lowering their insertion fees and free photos is a good start. This must include the gallary photo!

EBay's feedback system is BROKE. It needs fixing pronto, if they wish to keep their sellers!

Again...No sellers! No buyers! They will buy on Amazon.com. They will sell on Amazon. It's as simple as that!

While Meg the empire builder was making one bumb blunder after the other, and bleeding her selllers dry, Amazon was stealing eBay's business under their very noses!

Cramer and other investment gurus today have issued a SELL on eBay stock. I couldn't agree more! Their glory days are over!

Stockholders have also gotten the shaft with this company the last few years.

eBay makes good money, and this money should be shared with stock holders in the form of a dividend quarterly!

EBay company has matured, no more surprises coming from them. They will be lucky if they hang on to their shirts!

Donahoe will either make this company, or break this company.

Making all the right moves early on, just might put eBay back on top.

eBay must respect their shareholders, or lose them. eBay must respect their sellers, or lose them.

Meg Whittman did neither. She leaves eBay in ruins.

I definitely agree with your point about letting sellers keep more of the profits. I would definitely sell more of my stuff on eBay if it was more profitable. But I haven’t felt it was worth it for over two years now.

ebay is insulting our intelegence. They say free gallery -- who is trying to kid who? They just added the $.35 right back into the final value fee.

With your new rates I bought 100 shares.

My angriness and dsiappointment for Ebay after five years is so great that I would rather not make a long list of frustrations after being a seller. Once a business becomes focus on Money without looking at the whole businmess plan effect is crazy.

Inspite of all the bickering that the guys from
http://www/ebaypigs.com are saying about Ebay, I opt not to add my own issues as i d feel it is useless.

ANOTHER 'DEAR JOHN' LETTER.....

Dear Mr. Donahoe
I am sure, that you are aware of how Ebay members are extremely upset over all the changes. I won't go into ALL of them here- But do wish to address the problem with Best Match (#1 Menber's complaint)
Sellers, for the past week or so- have lost a LOT of money- due to the breakdown in Best Match search (This seems to happen quite often) Of course, we all know that Customer Service workers are programed to tell the members that there ARE no problems, and breakdowns along with other system problems, are never reported in System Announcements. We feel that the reason behing THIS deception is the fear that sellers will stop listing, until the problems are resolved (which they WOULD do) and Ebay doesn't want to lose that money- but it's ok for the sellers to lose money- listing thousands of items that will never be seen or sold.
Your Best Match is based on WAY too much inormation -criteria- that must be fed into each listing- too many 'factors' to determine WHERE it will be placed in search. Seller's feedback percentage- DSR ratings- FREE shipping- FIXED price- LOWEST price... etc etc.
We do not NEED or WANT this information. We do not WANT Ebay to decide what the 'Best Match' is.... Buyers are WELL-ABLED to look at a seller's feedback- to look at what they are charging for S&H... That's ALL they need to know !! NOBODY cares about ANONYMOUSLY given DSR scores ! They are a JOKE- Sellers no longer LOOK at a buyer's feedback- it's meaningless- since it's positive or nothing- and does not reflect the true reputation of that buyer. What good is it?
Of course you know that we ALL want Ebay to go BACK to the way it was. Back when it was successful. WHO is making all of these changes? WHY are they deliberately ruining Ebay? Whoever it IS- they should be FIRED without a second thought !!
If you want to make THOUSANDS if not MILLIONS of Ebayers happy - both buyers and sellers- GO BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS........
I have been on Ebay for eight years now- I'm a Power Seller. I always used to sell about 10 items per day- That is down to about 1 or 2 per day- when your system is working.
It used to be simple- We put an item in SEARCH and up they all came- in order of time ending soonest.....it was GREAT.....Sales were GREAT- I bought a LOT more 'stuf' when I could FIND IT. I'm not looking for the BEST seller- the CHEAPEST seller- the seller with the highest DSR scores- I'm just looking for items I WANT- Leave the REST up to the BUYER'S common sense !!
Betty L Johnson.

SELLERS CAN NO LONGER LEAVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FOR BUYERS-
And the purpose of this is.......?? The only way this policy could POSSIBLY be fair- is that NO negatives can be left by either Buyer OR Seller. Buyer are a LARGE part of the 'scamming' going on, on Ebay. Non-paying bidders are ALLOWED to leave a seller a negative feedback ? The seller can leave the non-paying bidder ONLY positive- or NO feedback? Ebay INSISTS on referring to NON-PAYING BIDDERS as BUYERS !! They AREN'T BUYERS if they do NOT pay for their item and should NOT be allowed to participate in the feedback program AT ALL !! The Community WANTS and NEEDS to see what sort of buyer they are dealing with, when looking at the 'reputation' of bidders on their items. I can think of NO reasonable purpose for this change. Buyer's Feedback is worthless!

YOUR DSR RATING DECIDES WHERE YOUR ITEMS WILL BE PLACED IN 'SEARCH'.
OUR placement in SEARCH is decided by ANONYMOUS members?? Our 'competition' can have a field-day with this one by lowering our ratings- anonymously !! The LOWEST scores given- of the FOUR catagories of these ratings- is SHIPPING AND HANDLING CHARGES. WHY is the Ebay 30 day average SO LOW? Why do even sellers who offer FREE SHIPPING and NO handling fees, ALSO get this catagory DINGED ? Buyers DO NOT understand WHAT they are rating here- Many, who are unhappy with the high cost of postage (even though they were charged ACTUAL shipping costs- will DING this rating low- Just because they are PROTESTING high postal rates- NOT the seller !!

DSR RATING OF 4.3 AND YOU CAN NO LONGER SELL ON EBAY !
The Ebay 30 day average (on S&H) is getting VERY CLOSE to this figure !! (Average is currently 4.64 !! ) Just another example of Ebay's scheme to get sellers to offer FREE SHIPPING and NO handling fees !!

YOUR SEARCH PLACEMENT
Where your items will show up in 'search' depends largely on your FEEDBACK PERCENTAGE RATE. The seller who has 50 feedbacks, NO DSR ratings- and has been selling on Ebay for less than a year- will have THEIR items placed in a more VISIBLE position than the 8/10 year seller with 7000 feedbacks and a 99.9% Feedback rating !!. BASED SOLELY on the higher feedback percentage ! TOTAL NONSENSE !!

EBAY ENCOURAGES US TO GIVE 'FREE SHIPPING'
...and this will give you higher placement in search. WHY should we offer FREE SHIPPING? Nobody can afford to ship out 60 packages (or more) per week- and pay the shipping OUT OF POCKET- Not to mention the high cost of their packing materials. How much does a seller make on a 99 cent sale with FREE SHIPPING? The SECRET is to tack your S&H cost onto the OPENING BID PRICE ! and THIS is what sellers are doing. WHY? Because it means MORE money in Ebay's pocket !! They REALLY want a percentage of that S&H fee you are getting- and THIS insures that they will get it ! Of course, your higher priced item (which includes the S&H fee) will be less likely to SELL.......But Ebay COUNTS on those relisting fees too.

LIMIT OF $4.00 SHIPPING FEE ON 'MEDIA' ITEMS.....
Doesn't matter if it's a 3 ounce paperback or a 12 POUND BOOK- Ebay doesn't KNOW the weight of our books !! Is it ONE book you are offering? Or a LIBRARY of 10 or 20 books? NOW our heavy books will have to be packaged and weighed, BEFORE LISTNG so that we can put CALCULATED shipping according to WEIGHT and LOCATION for shipping fees !! I, for one, do not WANT to PRE-PACKAGE and PRE-WEIGH my UNSOLD items !!
Ebay has been VERY successful- for YEARS without telling us what we CAN and CANNOT charge for S&H !! The BUYER can make up their OWN mind if they want to pay the quoted S&H or NOT....... Again- Ebay expects you to put the 'extra' costs onto the ASKING PRICE- MORE money for Ebay !!

PAYPAL ONLY PAYMENTS !!
What? No more checks and moneyorders? There goes about 10% of MY business. WHAT gives EBAY the RIGHT to tell us the PAYMENT METHOD we can or cannot accept ? Of course Ebay OWNS Paypal- and THIS policy is a complete conflict of interest !! Many buyers do not HAVE and do not WANT a Paypal account- Those buyers will no long shop Ebay !! THIS policy will be in effect come October. Look for a LARGE drop in SALES !!

EBAY HAS SAID THAT THEY ARE 'MERELY A VENUE' TO BRING BUYERS AND SELLERS TOGETHER "- YET THEY ARE DOING EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO TURN BUYERS AND SELLERS AGAINST EACH OTHER. THEY ARE STICKING THEIR NOSES INTO EVER ASPECT OF OUR SELLING BUSINESS !! THOUSANDS OF BUYERS AND SELLERS HAVE ALREADY LEFT EBAY DUE TO THESE NEW- AND UPCOMING POLICIES

WHAT IS EBAY'S RATING?

Funny how Ebay demands 'perfection' from it's sellers- Making them 'jump through hoops', following policy and hard to attain scores just to insure that when they pay for their listings- they will actually be placed in an order where they will be seen easily, or not- reaching for high DSR scores that are getting harder and harder to reach. "Ship it FAST- Ship it CHEAP or FREE- Communicate!- Sell items for about 70% less than their value-
But WHO IS RATING EBAY? If we COULD- THEIR DSR scores would be down- somewhere around 1.2 !! IF THAT!

COMMUNICATION?
Lucky if we receive an answer at ALL when emailing customer service ! When they DO answer, it's a 'canned' response telling us that everything is FINE and to clear our cache and history !! Telephone Service? FORGET IT !!

NON-PAYING?
How many have filed UIDs on a NON-PAYING bidders and NEVER were granted the deserved refund of the FVF ? Ebay accepts a RESPONSE from the non-paying bidder- ANY response- ie- "I'm not paying !"... and the non-payer is actually allowed to leave the seller a negative feedback AND ding their DECISION MAKING DSR scores !!

FAST REFUNDS?
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS have been paid to Ebay in WASTED Listing Fees- For listing items that are NEVER SEEN or FOUND IN SEARCH. Their system is messed up 50% of the time- and, although a FEW may receive SOME refunds- the marjority of sellers NEVER get a DIME refunded for these wasted fees- We are paying for something that we DON'T GET- Listing on Ebay is strictly a GAMBLE with more items ending UNSOLD and RELISTED than SOLD..... Ebay is getting MOST if not ALL of our PROFIT !!

OVER-CHARGING?
Listing fees- Paypal fees- ALL continue to RISE to where there is no profit in selling on Ebay anymore !! They encourage US to keep our prices LOW- While they get us coming and going, and eating us up in FEES- They are GREEDY- They give us a 'chance?' to redeem some of these FEES via our DSR scores (5% to 20% back on FVFs) and SOMEHOW these numbers manage to DROP right around invoice time- The SNAPSHOT is taken when they are at their LOWEST- not necessarily the day OF or the day BEFORE the invoice is calculated !!

NON-DELIVERY?

Ebay insists that we ship quickly to our customers- that the items be EXACTLY as described. However, EBAY describes what we get for our money- when listing on Ebay. Do we always GET IT? No, we don't !! In other words- WE pay- and THEY do not DELIVER !! EBAY IS GUILTY OF NON-DELIVERY and SELLING SERVICES THAT ARE NOT AS DESCRIBED !! FALSE ADVERTISING !! When we pay for SEVEN FULL days of having our items shown and advertised to the ENTIRE USA OR WORLDWIDE we have the RIGHT to expect that we will GET this service !! If Ebay's system is broken- suffering from outages- messed up 'SEARCH' patterns.... THIS is NOT what we PAY for !! Refunds SHOULD be automatic !!

Someone set up a blog where anyone can post an article about what J.D. is doing wrong.

This is a great idea having one central location for Donahoe postings. It looks fairly new and can use some traffic and postings.

Check it out: http://www.firejohndonahoe.com

Wow eBay just bit my hand that was feeding them!!!when a person get pos feedbacks and generates $1200 plus dollars a month they still envoked the stupid gold star 4.1 crap(five minutes after paying a $265 invoice) wonder what part of those states made me a bad seller? I am moving on I am trying out http://www.multi-sale.com it is twitter enhanced using the twitter api evey item I list is tweeted to my and @MultiSale simultaneously way cool Thanks ebay for saving all those listing fees http://www.multi-sale.com is free and charges 1% final value at this rate I am sure it won’t be long before ebay is down to 1% sellers