What's going on over at eBay?

Here’s what’s really going on over there…..

Its not about the fee hikes. They can be passed on.

Its really about thousands of honest hardworking sellers being unjustly mislabeled by a rating system that seems to be designed for the sole purpose of turning good sellers into bad sellers by inappropriately “twisting” the ratings that are left from buyers.

These thousands of good sellers are then slated to have their business’s terminated by bots when their “star” ratings cross below the current seller NPS suspension percentage of 95%

The expected result of their new FB policy change is that most good sellers will float down towards 80-85%. They will be suspended by the NPS policy long before they ever get there.

These “star” ratings are anonymous. There is no way a user can check the data that they are based on for accuracy.

Additionally these “star” ratings are now being used to manipulate and limit a sellers visibility in the main search engine.

They want a cut of the shipping money and the “star” system is going to be used to “starve out” sellers that wont give it to them.

Add in the paypal 21 day hold and what you have is a train wreck just waiting to happen.

The net result of all this is simple.

Thousands of honest, hardworking sellers out of work. Possibly your friends, or neighbors or someone you know that lives down the street.

I've been dealing with a seller that has sold fake goods and added undisclosed charges to shipping. He/She has had over 12 negative feedbacks in the past month. For every negative feedback, he/she left retaliatory feedback on each item. I am a powerseller and I also am a buyer. I hear from so many potential buyers that don't want to use Ebay because they're scared of dealing with people like this. I'm not saying that Ebay's new feedback program is good, but it's better that what it was when dealing with idiot scamming sellers. So my question to everyone that is going to other sites: what do the other sites do that protect buyers from fraudulent sellers like this? Can sellers leave retaliatory feedback? When a buyer deals with a potential scammer or just wasn't happy with the transacation (perhaps the seller was a good seller but didn't describe the product right or shipped it really slow), will they be able to leave a negative feedback without fear of the seller striking back? After all the seller got everything they wanted...their money...but the buyer may not have got everything he thought he was going to get. In any case there are too many sellers that think they're god's gift to conducting online business - when in fact there are clear differences between the service and product quality one gets from sellers that often have the same 99.9 feedback. Does every seller deserve that? Is that suddenly a right for sellers - not only do they get money from the buyers but they get to trash a buyers rep if the buyer says anything less than perfect about the seller? All I see hear are a bunch of Bit@he$ that think they're owed a living by Ebay. Not once has anybody offered a real solution to the problem I mentioned about. Do these other sites offer it - if so why hasn't anyone really heard about it? I'm waiting and waiting to hear someone that can come up with a better solution to protect and attract more buyers to Ebay (which will mean more bids, and thus more $ for sellers, in case you skipped Eco 101) ...but all I hear is pi$$ing and moaning. Of course as I look to buy at Ebay, I see that I can find anything I want cheap and - hopefully in the near future without worry that the Seller with take my money for a scam or shoddy transaction, and then try to crap on me when I want to make others aware of this seller.

The following is a list of eBay owned or partially owned companies.
CARad.com
Craigslist
Deja.com
EachNet
GittiGidiyor
Gumtree
Half.com
iBazar,[36]
Internet Auction Co. (IAC)
Lokau
Loquo
Marktplaats.nl
Meetup.com
MercadoLibre
Opus Forum
PayPal
Rent.com
Shopping.com
Skype
StubHub
StumbleUpon
Tradera
Up4Sale.com
VoIP

When choosing alternate sites to list your auction items on, please consider the above list, and try to avoid them!
1. Increase in Fees
2. Feedback changes hurt both buyer & Seller.
3. Best Match - (Where is my listing? I paid to list, and I can’t find it in the search!)
4. PayPal 21 day hold on all funds in your PayPal account. In some cases the holds can be 180 days.

Support the Boycott February 18 - 25 & Beyond! "Power to the People"

I put them in alphabetical order, here:
http://www.auction.com/default.aspx
http://www.auction.overstock.com/
http://www.auctionaddict.net/
http://www.auctionfire.com/
http://www.auctionquests.com/
http://www.auction-usa.com/
http://www.auction-warehouse.com/
http://www.bid-alot.com/
http://www.bidville.com/
http://www.blujay.com/
http://www.buyselltrades.com/
http://www.cqout.com/
http://www.ecrater.com/
http://www.epier.com/
http://www.hibidder.com/
http://www.ioffer.com/
http://www.itsgottago.com/
http://www.onlineauction.com/
http://www.overstock.com
http://www.oztion.com.au/
http://www.plunderhere.com/
http://www.specialistauctions.com/
http://www.tazbar.com/
http://www.ubid.com
http://www.ubidright.com/
http://www.us.ebid.net/
http://www.wagglepop.com/
http://www.webidz.com
http://www.wensy.com/

I have never sold on Ebay, but it was one of the first places I looked for specific purchases. I have been a member of Ebay since 1998 and have met many wonderful sellers. Unfortunately, in the past 6 months, I have met some terrible sellers. I always check the feedback on sellers before I buy and buy from those who show excellent ratings. Has this helped to eliminate problem sellers? No it hasn't. I've had sellers use bait and switch tactics, telling me they had the exact size I needed before I bid, and it doesn't come in that size after I won. I've paid for items that never arrived and then had the seller tell me if he shipped it, I must have received it. I've purchased an item, paid for it, received a shipping confirmation with tracking number and then, 10 days later, received an email from the seller saying the item was out of stock and they couldn't ship my order. Ebay customer service and Paypal customer service have been little or no help at all. All I receive from them is a series of "sorry to hear you're having problems" generic emails, much like hearing a recorded reply on an answering machine.

Not all sellers are bad. There are scammers in buyers, also, and Ebay, with their new feedback policies, has just opened up the floodgates for these buyers. A buyer can now leave any kind of feedback they want for a seller, and the seller has no recourse. This is even further jeopardizing my ability to select a seller with honesty and integrity since I will be unable to tell if the feedback is accurate or false.

In addition, Ebay has now decided to stop showing the bidder's name to secure the safety of that bidder. That is not securing the safety of anyone; it is allowing fraudulent sellers the opportunity to bid on their own items, raising the cost. Since we can no longer tell who the fraudulent sellers are, the new Ebay slogan shouldn't be "Bid Victoriously" it should be "Bid At Your Own Risk". I have frequently checked the feedback on those bidding against me to see whom they are and if they are legitimate. I can no longer do that.

As with brick and mortar stores, I will only shop at places that show honesty, integrity and the desire to please their customers. Ebay no longer demonstrates these qualities.

On behalf of all buyers like myself, I congratulate the sellers who have taken a stand against Ebay because it shows they care about the relationship they have with the customers they serve. These new policies can only be putting more money in Ebay's pocket and taking it from the seller's profit and we all know what happens when that occurs.....prices go up to feed the greedy giant while the middle man, in this case the seller, is lucky to make a profit.

My advice to other buyers is to look into other, more honest auctions sites like onlineauction, etsy, webid and all the others that have been opening lately. If they don't have exactly what you want, keep going back because the sellers leaving Ebay are setting up in new locations as fast as they can. Some of my favorite sellers haven't yet opened their new stores, but I am willing to wait for them. There is nothing I need desperately enough to ever buy from Ebay again.

With the rollout of Ebay's new SMI policy, I have stopped bidding. My monthly range of spending is $1400-2000. I am now in the cease and desist mode.

Anonymous eBay user ids = a eBay shiller's paradise

Another "great" idea!

Investment idea? Buy some eBay stock as it bottoms out and sell on the first rumor that there will be a new CEO. Stock price would have to go up as the probability of finding a CEO worse than Donahoe is virtually nil.

Woddykid, this comment is directed specifically to you.

I guess its difficult to convince you of something which you don't want to believe.

Ebay has the right to determine its policy, and I'll give them that.

In this case, it is changing its Feedback system to the detriment of honest sellers. And this new Feedback change is also favorable to dishonest buyers.

The old Feedback system was favorable to dishonest sellers, and detrimental to honest buyers.

The blowback from the Feedback change will be the loss of honest sellers, who will leave Ebay and sell on other sites. And with it will come the corresponding loss of buyers that leave and follow the departing sellers.

What Ebay could have done was to create a large campaign to target dishonest sellers for permanent removal while leaving its old Feedback system alone. It seems to me that such a policy would create the solution that you are looking for. But, since Ebay derives its revenue from sellers, instituting such a policy would, potentially, lower their revenue. Thus, it comes back to profits. Its easier for Ebay to keep their profits up if they push small sellers away, then if they try to force dishonest sellers to clean up their act. Ebay is trying to change the symptom while simultaneously sweeping the problem under the rug.

The sellers that are leaving Ebay are tired of Ebay period. And good for them. They should leave. And, meanwhile, all you do is call the dissenters bitches who piss and moan.

So why don't you call me some bad words right here on a public forum and let every one else see it.

Good day sir.

For all those taking internet comments as serious as Mike - you need to take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzgEi_u9-88

And to address you and only you Mike, and for the record I'll believe it as soon as I can no longer find a plethora of sellers on Ebay. So here's a Serious internet comment reply to your internet comment:


2 questions though, after this premise - Anyone that has ever taken a class in Statistics knows that typically the voices of unhappy ones are heard more often the voices of those satisfied. Thus, looking on public comment boards will hardly be a fair way to gauge how many sellers are really dissenting. I'm not saying that it is just a few, I'm just saying that nobody can really know from the voices of those complaining on comment boards how effective a boycott is. Not only that - Every other commenter has a different site to go to - few of which have ever been heard of, muchless have any reputation for protecting and attracting mass buyers. Just look at the above post where the dude lists all the companies Ebay has an interest in - 'OK so now I'm a dissenting seller - and I can't use these sites.' My point is that a lot of sellers that are really using Ebay to make extra money and maybe are not completely happy with the changes - they're too busy selling on Ebay to make a massive change to sell elsewhere and research the viability of other sites. The reason I say this is because every seller I've regularly bought from (hundreds) is still listing on Ebay and in my communications with them they have no plans on changing unless some real alternatives pop up...Amazon seems interesting buy not quite there yet. Anyway my 1st question:

All these Ebay evacuees, would most of them even be in existence without Ebay, that is, would they really be 'making a living or have an online store' if Ebay didn't propel them in the first place? In other words are there So Many Sellers that have built up such an incredible reputation that masses of buyers will scour unheard of sites on the internet to find these sellers? I'm sure every defector would like to believe that's the case - but unfortunately the reality is most shoppers look for diff. items all the time and repeatedly come to Ebay because of the brand recognition, not the seller. If that were not true then every Ebay store owner would've set up shop somewhere else a long time ago. So again to rephrase my original question, how many defectors will be able to sustain any comparable-to-Ebay sales volume by listing their stuff at hundreds of barely known sites, especially when every other dissenter is going to a different place since this boycott is completely disorganized? Not trying to be a downer - but just stating the reality and looking for PROOF of anyone that thinks otherwise. I mean do you really expect mass buyers to follow the advice of the commenter, "look into other, more honest auctions sites like onlineauction, etsy, webid and all the others that have been opening lately. If they don't have exactly what you want, keep going back..." Does the average consumer really have that kind of time? maybe I'm alone, but for now Ebay still trumps all other deal sites and I think I speak for the average buyer..the one not terribly dissatisfied so as to post comments about how things are just fine and normal that they're part of the millions that don't have time to support a disorganized boycott that will leave them confused with a cluster of unkown and untrusted sites that offers little protection or brand name recognition, much less the hassle of re-registering and trying to build up a good buyer's rep again...you know, the average American consumer.

2nd question: is it really fair for a buyer that is not satisfied with a transaction - not a scam, just something like slow delivery or poor communication from the seller - is it fair that the buyer who sent money to the seller - is unable to leave negative feedback without the seller retaliating? i.e. let's say fraud sellers were all weeded out - does that mean every seller should be considered equal and have 100% feedback? The buyer either paid or he didn't. No pay should automatically get the buyer a negative feedback in addition to the strike, and it should prevent the buyer from leaving any feedback toward the seller. There -that is the best solution that I've heard nobody mention and believe me..I have sent this suggestion to Ebay a million time. Now if the buyer paid, The seller is responsible for timely shipping, ensuring the item is exactly as described, and overall making sure the buyer is a satisfied customer. If the buyer is not satisfied despite receiving merchandise, why should the buyer not be allowed to leave negative feedback? MY point is every seller is not the same - doesn't mean there is some are good and others are bad - it just means some are better than others - but as the system currently stands, buyers have no way of knowing that. If the buyer paid - what does he need to do to get positive feedback? On the other hand, perhaps there could be some rules set up to prevent buyers from leaving frivolous feedback. Perhaps before feedback is posted, buyers' feedback gets sent to the seller with an option to resolve the satisfaction issue - or perhaps the seller can have a premium option to have a mediator decide of the feedback is deserved, maybe certain level of sellers can have that premium option as a free benefit. Obviously the new Ebay system is not perfect. I've only been saying that to attract the mass of buyers afraid of all the scamming sellers on Ebay - they have to do something diferrent - and they have. Can it be improved - of course and I think it will. But will there really be a material effect from the sellers that leave? Only time will tell, but looking at Ebay right now in mid-boycott, it has not appeared to be significant.

Finally if you take these comments so seriously you need to take a step back...comments on forums have many people believing that the Jews are responsible for 9-11 - should I take that seriously too? I mean if my comments have upset you in a personal way for calling it like it is then I apologize - my bad. I didn't realize this comment board was so different and had much higher standards than others. Thanks for clearing that up.

PWNED

WOODYKID FTW

If there is any doubt that ebay is aggressively trashing the company (for WHATEVER reason) note the new anonymous bidder ID.

Many of my customers (numbering in the hundreds) have emailed ME asking what is going on...I can't answer, I'm cluelss!

They are telling me they will no longer bid when they can't see who they are bidding against...don't blame them I won't either :(

Ebay is doing a fine job! First chasing away the sellers and now the buyers.

So when they build it "from the ground up" (see post #6) who will come? EVERYone, and corporations are NOT exempt, must rely on their reputation first and foremost (money doesn't do it, rep does). Ebay is trashing their rep, what will they build ON?

Such a sad end to such an American success story :(

The proposed feedback changes will begin in May.

The idea is that in general the sellers current feedback percentages are artificially high across the board due to buyers fearing a negative comment in return if they leave one.

The feedback changes will supposedly correct this and lead to sellers having a more “realistic” feedback percentage. This “more realistic” positive feedback percentage is expected to more closely line up with that of other off site e-commerce business’s.

This should drop the average Ebay sellers positive feedback rating down to around the low to mid 80% bracket.

In itself the idea is fine. Other off site e-commerce sellers have had these kind of positive feedback (customer satisfaction) numbers for years.

Here is the problem.

There is current policy on the site called the NPS seller policy. This policy was created prior to the new feedback policy. It basically creates an automated shutdown system that finds and shuts down a sellers account when their positive feedback percentage falls below 95%.

It is implemented by “bots” and there is no apparent human intervention.

It is easy to see that until such a time as the current NPS seller suspension bar is changed to reflect the expected results of the lower positive feedback ratings due to the new feedback policy every sellers ebay business is in jeopardy.

Many sellers have a great deal of time and money invested in building their eBay business on the site.

The current policy conflict would seem to present these sellers with little hope to be able to continue in business. Their “time remaining“ factor would seem to just be whatever point in time they are “unlucky“ enough to have their own ratings drop below 95%.

So any other problem would seem to be a moot point.

There you have it. The great “train wreck policy of 08”

If I Was Investing / support in Ebay. I would keep a eye on all the inside trade! WHO IS BUYING THE STOCK? TO KEEP IT HIGH ? > http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/insiders.asp?nextid=5051261&symb=EBAY
as thousands have bailed from this business. They have been padding listings. to keep the numbers up. Proof> http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2008/3/1204379814.html#comments "It may turn out to be a desperate move on eBays part to mask boycott damage, but I find it hard to believe they'd open themselves up to a debacle with ''Enron'' potential, using such a transparent method.
They (eBay) knows they're under extreme public scrutiny at the moment, and I think there's a plausible explanation.
Either way, time will tell. The conspiracy theories are interesting (and may have merit)" I can not understand how more investigation is not done on the business of Ebay. they have money!!!! so the commercial spin EBAY PAYS FOR! is all hopeful and positive sounding!
when the truth.. TRUTH >> thousands http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?FVF
http://www.boycottvictoriously.com/


********************
Stop Drowning in thE bay ! Come Home to ewaey !
The Auction Site For The People !
http://ewaey.com/

To 'One of the Angery' (and poor speller at that, not meaning to be a spell Nazi - but since you're offering investment advice I thought you might want to present yourself a little more...oh I don't know...knowledgeable): I know desperate sellers will start trying to spread crazy rumors and lies about the company's downfall so as to make a useless attempt to migrate others away from Ebay and to whatever obscure site the departed is now selling on. But trying to label Ebay with Enron...I would think such last-ditch desperate acts would come months after a failed boycott, not right in the middle of its second week. Have you ever even looked at Ebay's financials? C'mon this makes you look really ill-equipped when it comes to staging a mass protest. Ebay's revenue is quite transparent as well as the fact that they have no debt - let me say that again - No Debt! They're sitting on so much cash right now that it makes them one of the most enviable companies around.

Here's a new thought...Let's say one of these off-course alternative auction sites actually grows enough to catch the attention of Ebay as potential small competition. What's to prevent Ebay from buying it? Do you really think that the owners of such a site would not sell out to Ebay? Remember Craiglist? Although Craig himself will likely never sell...Ebay bought out one partner some time ago...I think they'd do the same to any other viable site unless that site was Google owned. Who knows, there's been speculation of an Amazon Ebay merger for some time. Not sure how I feel about that..but the point is...don't try say that Ebay is in major trouble. They are transitioning without a doubt into a more mature company and it may be that its fast growth days are behind it. However it has a financial position right now that can't be ignored and at some point the market wakes up and says...Wow look at Ebay's cash and revenues! I can't let it sit at such a low price to its cash flows. Even at 15% growth Ebay is worth 2 or 3 times its current price!

Before you know it, Ebay is trading above 50 on intrinsic value alone. So much for your boycott.

Question:

Will heartlessly dozing over thousands of innocent US based “Mom and Pop business’s” have a positive effect on Ebays stock value?

Is this kind of questionable activity simply overlooked by shareholders?

What would it take to stop this before it happens?

Ebay has gotten to big for own good. I have not sold or purchased in three weeks and will keep it that way as long as they keep trying to rip off the people who built them to where they are today. Use craig's list there are no fees.

I have also found that Ebays customer service is a farce. When I have a problem, they never answer my emails. They also ignore bad service and illegal practices for their largest clients. Bargainland was their 4th largest seller, when they shipped me the wrong item I notified Ebay and they blew me off. The real meaning of Ebay is that "money talks and bullshit walks." Bargainland was finally removed from Ebay because of its underhanded actions and soon I will be gone as well!

I'm actually all for Craiglist - I love Craiglist and use it all the time. Their retro local style is awesome. Can't say anything bad about them Let's see now though who owns Craigslist?...Craig, a couple others, and oh....Ebay.

Hey! If you hate Ebay, email me at mrauctionexper@yahoo.com, I'd love to hear more about your negative experience with them. I'm doing some research on Ebay's recent "changes" and how they effect you as a seller.