eBay Seller Goes Berzerk at eBay Live: Outraged Sellers Game New System To Survive

eBay ignored all the scams for years and got rich off of fees! But what goes around - comes around!

The Romanians are still picking eBay members pockets clean!

http://www.ebaymotorssucks.com/scams.htm

ebay deserves what's coming to them.

No only does eBay suck, their new in house affiliate program sucks more. I used to get referrals and commissions now ZERO commissions are showing up with the new system. Way to cheat your affiliates there eBay.

If you build your life around ebay, God blesses u then! Find some place else to rebuild your life!

There is no point to discuss ebay's new policy and new search algorithm anymore because we could be well paid off by spending the time searching for some other means such as building your own website, using google checkout, use amazon marketplace and so forth.

eBay will continue to change her rules to her own advantages. And eBay won't care for you (sellers or buyers). The marketplace there is unstable.

IF, Ebay changed everything back to the way it used to be...would everyone be happy or would there still be inherent issues to address. What would make a "perfect" Ebay?

The problem is ebay can't code their site for starters, and they apparently outsource to india for anything requiring "human" interactions on a daily basis. I can't grasp how a company who's ONLY stat quo is to have a working website, and is pulling in such sick figures, doesn't have a working website! Anyone who does volumes on ebay or works with their crappy affiliate program understands what I'm talking about. To the guy selling one or two items here and there, I guess this doesn't pertain to you.
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buyitnowauction

ebay can't do anything to go back. ebay did itself in with the drastic changes. Unwise changes caused ebay's demise. The innovative, change everything approach doesn't always work. I think ebay will prove that to be true eventually. ebay will continue to go down little by little everyday and never see that flip it was waiting for.

I think that part of the problem is actually on sellers like the one mentioned in this story.

If the seller has to keep creating new accounts because he is getting negative feedback on his old accounts, it is fairly obvious he is doing something wrong.

There are plenty of sellers with 1000's of feedback points who still have 100% satisfaction.

@buyitnowauctions I think their affiliate program, and API is one of the best out there. Been great to me at least.

I was selling anywhere from 240k to 300k a month on ebay last year. Many of the changes that took place our account manager in eBay didnt even know they were going into affect. We told him what was happening and after a day or so of looking into it he would say 'seems like the guys in Trust and Safety changed things'. Seems like when you sell too much, they turn you off. All the changes lowered our sales to about 90K/month, wasnt worth it and left eBay. They are going in so many dirrections that ship is going to get pulled apart. eBay now want the buyer to get a superior buying experience: So to have you listings on top, you have to give free shipping, you give your cut to both eBay and PayPal, you are constantly getting scammed by buyers ( I used to loose thousands each month to scammers, who said they didnt get it, they would use item for 1-2 months, then say if you dont take it back i will leave you neg feedback, etc,) if you sell legitimate items, you are competing with counterfeits, which the majority of items on eBay areand then you are to provide customer service too? This will sum up about ebay, lets play word association, When i say 'ebay' you say............

Thought so.

'nuff said

regarding Jeff's comment on the aff program, are you saying your happy with it as of this past month when they switched it from CJ? Because I think if you login to your account you will be shocked to see what you've earned vs. the valuable traffic you've sent these cheaters.


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buyitnowauction

eBay also said at eBay live that "they don't care about bad buyers they need them even if they are bad"

eBay has nothing to lose by bad buyers and everything to gain... It is the sellers who pay the price of bad buyers not eBay.

In response to Jeff ...Negative feedback left for a seller doesn't mean much in the big picture anymore. There are buyers who understand the new system well enough to bomb sellers with negatives for any reason, whether legitimate or not. Feedback extortion has become surprisingly common, i.e., refund half the cost or I'll leave a negative for you. Non-paying bidders are way up because nothing will happen to them if they don't pay.

For low volume sellers one neutral can lower their status to invisibility with the new search. That doesn't mean they are bad sellers. It means that creating a new selling ID is the only way for some to compete fairly in the marketplace.

I have been selling for a little over a year and have had only a few negatives....all by new buyers who never contacted me for a return...didn't like the color...etc. I am at 4.9 in all areas except shipping. It is going down daily. I ship priority only, insurance included and my price is less than what I have to pay. I include a flyer explaining fees and ask to please contact me if they cannot leave the five stars. I was fine for 2 months, just barely making the 4.8 on shipping but this month it is at 4.66 and dropping. Nothing has changed, I ship about 250-300 items a month. I will have to raise prices if the rules don't change soon. This is hurting people who really try hard to give great customer service. The consecutive 4.9's should say something

The changes at eBay ultimately will hurt the "buyer experience" as more sellers leave the market. Between the changes to feedback rules (which put all sellers at risk for fraud and extortion), the new indexing system (which is not only idiotic for a timed auction, but also discriminates against smaller sellers who often offer the best deals), and the fee increases, I can't see eBay surviving for more than another year or so.

I personally do have a perfect, 100 percent positive feedback rating, and I have never changed my account to keep it. But I haven't sold anything on eBay for months and don't intend to do so any time soon. Selling stuff on eBay was never a full-time gig for me, but it was a decent part-time one. Now it's just not worth the aggravation any more for what little is left after eBay and PayPal take their respective cuts -- and I have to worry about extortion by buyers, besides.

I'm also a certified eBay consultant, but I have no intention of renewing my certification. With the state of eBay being what it is, I just have no desire to guide others onto a voyage aboard eBay's sinking ship.

Finally, I'm an affiliate who is close to pulling all of the eBay ads off my sites because my monthly revenue from eBay has dipped below my daily revenue from other ads.

I used to be one of eBay's biggest supporters. It was the ultimate in fair, balanced trading between buyers and sellers -- with the risks inherent in any such operation, but the vast majority of participants happy the great bulk of the time. Now, in the name of improving the "buyer experience," it's become so hopelessly lopsided that I really can't imagine sellers not bailing out en masse if and when someone else comes up with a competing venue. And without sellers, there can be no auctions.

I was a silver powerseller on ebay for several year. When they started pulling my listings and telling me it was because my $1.50 handling fee was "ripping off the customers" and my customer service rep informed me that my company, a silver powerseller, with 99.8% positive feedback, a slew of repeat business was "just the kind of seller ebay didn't want around."

Easy enough. I'm not around. I make 3 times more running my own site and I sure as hell am not limited to paypal (who by the way just tried to run a transaction through my account on my expired card and fight me on it).

Ebay may want to make a better experience for buyers out there, but if they take away the tools of a business to protect their own interests there really isn't much point to being there.

Far to many buyers tried to scam me for a better price...telling me to refund them 50% or they would leave me negative feedback. One lady even went so far as to contact a competitor on a product that is sold in a very small community and attempt to ruin our reputation in that community. Not be able to leave those people negative feedback? I'm glad I left when I did.

I've been an ebay member for over 10 years, just buying things and selling thing for personal use. I have 400 or so feedback, so I've bought or sold at least 50 things per year.

I'm doing a major cleaning out of stuff, and was going to list the best of it on ebay, but after all the changes (both most recent and over past few years), the hassles of ebay/paypal fees, packaging and mailing, now my listing will be buried under some large company (who'll ever see my nice used chess pieces listing?) - I'm going to sell locally on craigslist, and specialized websites for unique things (vintage computer sites, mostly) I'll might make less money, but it'll be easier.

I don't think ebay will care, as the old core of their early adopter users (people cleaning out the garage) doesn't make ebay their money - it's the large volume sellers, and the buy-it-now sales (50% of revenue, i think).

As for buying, I've already shifted my used book buying to Amazon - they're just better at it: more inventory, better searching, better prices, nicer experience overall.

Why did he sit in the back of the row and who video taped it? When he creates a new ID, does he use his same name? eBay is going to only let you sell from your computer so wondering if it is to stop this. Also, ebay cares less about buyers. They lost fees when people had higher shipping. They have shopping.com their own company above the page numbers. I first thought there was only 1 page. They use buyers, but many lousy sellers benefitted as their thousands of negatives disappeared. They put high volume sellers because a 4 star will not lower that much compared to a small seller. They lost money on bad investments & trying to on paper show higher profits, but they are headed for a downward spiral.....I hope.

I was robbed by a buyer who claimed the item i sent(all the way to England) was repaired (it wasn"t)and asked for a refund Expensive return mail. I gave a refund(what could i do?) to avoid the sure negative feedback.I too hate Ebay and will leave at the 1st viable opportunity

One thing is certain eBay did not consider or realize that sellers are buyers also and in their arrogance they have also insulted good buyers.

Those top 200 power sellers that eBay confided in will not keep eBay/PayPal afloat once word of mouth gets around (and it is spreading like wild fire) NO ONE will want anything to do with eBay or any other business that is associated to them.

eBay's reputation is WORTHLESS!!!

I support the seller in this video who stood up for himself and for many others (that is not going berserk it is stating the TRUTH & FACTS), The world needs to know the truth about what eBay is doing.

I strongly recommend someone let Mr. McCain know exactly what he is promoting when it comes to eBay, the eBay board of director Meg Whitman who is on his campaign sure is not being honest with him.

If ebay had been getting rid of the CROOKS (both on the buyers AND sellers ends) that have been reported to ebay for YEARS or if ebay had done it's job and policed it's own site, ebay would not be out to DESTROY the HONEST ebayers now!

Evidently, the theives are much more valuable to ebay than the HONEST ebayers. Ebay's new policies invite, protect & promote buyers who want to keep the items they win, while getting their money back from Paypal AND destroying the honest sellers businesses and reputations in the process.

Ebay's policy of hiding bidders IDs, now protects the identities of those sellers participating in shill bidding to artificially increase the prices of their own items, AGAINST honest buyers.

Hiding crooked sellers past bad performance, by calculating ONLY the last 12 months of service, dupes honest buyers into believing their sellers have great histories, while those sellers, with the aid of ebay's new policies, may be some of the worst sellers on ebay.

Ebay's policy of handing out FREE, unchecked, user IDs to EVERYONE, allows bad ebayers to get a FRESH 100% ID in minutes. Bad buyers use their new 100% IDs to steal from even more honest sellers without fear of detection and bad sellers use their new 100% feedback to con even more honest buyers.

I would NEVER suggest that ANY HONEST BUYER or HONEST SELLER use ebay in it's current condition or climate.

If you play with fire, you're bound to get burnt!

I've been buying and selling on eBay (casually - a total of about 2000 transactions) for eight years. More than half of my transactions have been sales.

I don't depend on eBay for a living.

All that said, I have a few observations:
->eBay has been a great place to get lots of exposure for one's for-sale items and a great place to find lots of choices of stuff.
->There have been legions of sellers who charge .99 for an item and $15.99 for shipping (avoid fees). This seems less prevalent now.
->Casual sellers, in general, can't do too much free shipping - unless there is enough revenue in the item to fund it.
->Counterfeits are rampant on eBay (yes, and on many internet sites). It is extremely hard to find a well-priced item with reasonable shipping that is also legit.
->Good sellers and good-intentioned sellers do get penalized for the shipping cost rating. Most sellers are regular people who need to make shipping efficient. Don't forget that it costs $4.75 to send a mouse fart via USPS Priority. First class ship times for small bubble-wrap stuff has slowed down dramatically with the USPS.

I could go on and on and on...

Suffice it to say that WRT eBay, things have gotten much better and a lot worse.

I have over 20,000 ebay transactions and they can go straight to hell! .....nuff said!

One of the things that I really don't understand is that does everyone think that 100% of people like Amazon, or Wal-Mart? Is it really that bad to have some feedback to see what you as a seller can improve on for your business? Most people that use eBay understand that a business is not going to please everyone all the time. However for some reason the eBay community made the 100% feedback scores some type of Holy Grail that if you don’t have that then you can’t be a good seller? This is a business and if you are pleasing 80% of your customers I really thing that you are doing quit good.

If you feel as a seller that you are being scammed then have some guts and stand up for yourself and require proof before giving a refund. Any major store that has inventory will be able to eat the cost a damaged item and will send you a new one if it gets damaged. Usually eBay sellers do not have that luxury; however you have to plan for that? I am wondering how many of you actually have a business model set up and plan for refunds, damaged items, and negative feed back. eBay is providing the avenue to sell you the item, they are providing ways for you to have mediation between you and the buyer, and they are providing you customer service to you as well, all of this and more for just a small fee to list the item. In any other business you would either have to have this type of set up in house or hire an outsourcer to do it for you. I am sure that the majority of you are not paying over 2,000 month in fees to eBay

One thing about the shipping I am an avid buyer on ebay and what I have noticed is that the majority of sellers are putting priority shipping and sending it regular mail. So instead of receiving the item in 2-4 days I usually get it in 5-7. Is that being dishonest or fair to the buyer? I paid for the higher shipping I should get the faster shipping. For all of those people that are selling 200 to 300 times a month on ebay, have you not thought of contacting the USPS and creating a business account with then and get some discounted shipping with them? I know they do it all the time; however that means that you have to have an established business that is licensed with the State which you reside in. I wonder how many that have commented on this site has a business license. As well out of any on line store that I have been too, eBay is the only one that the sellers use different shipping methods then what is being said. Any other online store when I purchase 2-day shipping I don't get in priority mail.

I think the heart of the matter is that eBay back in the day was a Cash Cow for all of its sellers, and now that things are changing and the cash flow is not what it was like in years past people get upset and blame everything on eBay. Just remember if it was not for eBay the majority would not be in the situation you are now.

I've been buying and selling on eBay since July 1998. I used to LOVE eBay and even owned company stock.

No more.

eBay has made so many stupid changes to their site and policies that I can no longer bring myself to either buy or sell there. Despite buyers and sellers telling eBay that the things they are doing are bad for everyone, eBay chooses to ignore us all.

Anyone with a modicum of experience with eBay and PayPal knows that these companies SUPPORT scammers and thieves and punishes honest buyers and sellers.

I have been an eBay affiliate for a couple of years. I used to make around $400/mo with their affiliate program. Over the past few months, when they brought their affiliate program in-house, my affiliate income took a nose-dive to almost $0, despite sending the same traffic to them. It looks like eBay is ripping off its affiliates now too.

I have a fair number of high-quality items to sell that won't fit into my new, down-sized home. I would sure like to sell them on eBay, but I just can't bring myself to accept the pain of dealing with eBay and its scam-preferred system. It's cheaper and easier to just keep my stuff in storage until I find an eBay alternative.

I can't even bring myself to shop on eBay because I can no longer identify shill bidders and bad sellers, thanks to the new and improved eBay.

The decade-long, mutually beneficial relationship between eBay and this once-loyal member has been completely destroyed.

To Avid Buyer, and other such ignorant individuals:

Avid Buyer, did eBay hire you to write something nice about them? Do you work for eBay or PayPal? Do you own their company stock? I'm just trying to figure out why you would make such an ill-informed post.

You said, "[eBay is] providing ways for you to have mediation between you and the buyer, and they are providing you customer service to you as well, all of this and more for just a small fee to list the item." In the old eBay system, this may have been true. It is no longer the case.

eBay's so-called "mediation" system only works to protect scammers. And customer service? Really? I mean, REALLY? You have obviously never tried to get any customer service, because if you had you would know that it *does not exist*. You also say that eBay charges small fees to its sellers.

You win today's 5-Star eBay Idiot Award.

To Avid Buyer

You are so far off the mark. Obviously you have not tried to sell on eBay at all to even know what you are talking about.

I have had my own B&M store for over 30 years I am licensed as are many sellers on eBay.

eBay provides NO customer service or protection for sellers at all.

[You say]"If you feel as a seller that you are being scammed then have some guts and stand up for yourself and require proof before giving a refund."
We do stand up and ask for as well as show proof, eBay/PayPal refuse to accept it like any court of law would and they tie our hands and take the money out of our accounts without our permission among many other things that they do in my opinion illegally.

[You said]"I paid for the higher shipping I should get the faster shipping."
Feedback was put in place for a reason (when it was a level playing field)it was your responsibility as a good honest buyer to research your seller to find these bad sellers if you failed to do that it is your fault that you got scammed by those sellers - use the back button if you do not agree with how a seller runs their business, Don't blame all sellers for your misjudgment.

[You said] "I think the heart of the matter is that eBay back in the day was a Cash Cow for all of its sellers, and now that things are changing and the cash flow is not what it was like in years past people get upset and blame everything on eBay. Just remember if it was not for eBay the majority would not be in the situation you are now."
The heart of the matter is buyers don't want to take responsibility for their own misjudgments and failed research before clicking the buy button and when they get burned after the fact they want to place blame on the sellers.

Had eBay been policing their site and removing the bad buyers & sellers when they received the reports for YEARS - the majority would not be in the situation we are in now! However eBay likes the money they make of fee's etc. and DON"T CARE HOW THEY GET IT! Don't believe us research the facts your self before throwing and uneducated opinion.

I've bought and sold on eBay for six or seven years with 100% feedback, great DSRs, over 1000 transactions.

eBay have become the greediest and most unresponsive outfit I've ever had the misfortune to deal with.

I took the plunge and set up my own website, sales are slow but growing, the buyers are great, not conditioned into dodgy practices like so many buyers on eBay seem to be becoming.

I won't sell there now, the eBay/PayPal tie-up is an absolute racket.

That means I'm taking my money and am buying elsewhere now. And even if all the recent changes got undone overnight - I wouldn't go back. Just don't trust them!

I sold 330,000 items on eBay in ten years, for over 14 million dollars, over three million in 2007 alone. I am the world's foremost vintage movie poster dealer, and have published 43 illustrated books on vintage movie posters and have a free website with over 135,000 vintage movie poster images.

But thanks to the latest changes, I now don't sell on eBay at all, and I have auctioned on my own website, www.emovieposter.com for the past nine weeks, averaging $50,000 a week (just what I did on eBay without my special event auctions).

BUT, I now no longer pay eBay $120,000 a year in fees (which would have risen to $180,000 this year), and I can spend that money giving free gifts to my buyers, lower shipping, and spending some dollars on google and yahoo adwords, and still have plenty left over.

And I don't have some crazed micro-managers breathing down my back every second, especially galling since they have never sold an item to speak of, and they choose to dictate exactly how I should run my business, and they make 180 degree policy changes with regularity.

Meanwhile the crooks run rampant at eBay, and none of their changes have made a dent in that, but they have succeeded in harassing myself and countless other sellers into leaving eBay, thus diminishing the selection of interesting items even further, while pumping up their numbers with endless quantities of the same newly made items.

I get told a lot that it is a shame I have left eBay. I always reply that it is eBay who "left" me, by massively raising rates while delivering fewer and fewer buyers, and by attempting to constantly "fix" my business with endless rules, when it is not "broken" in the slightest.

I am a 99 cent no reserve seller who sells 1,000 to 1,500 items a week, and who has sold 330,000 items with 100% positive feedback, and I received one undeserved negative feedback in the last 60,000, unheard of among high volume sellers. I am exactly the kind of seller who made eBay what it was, who helped it grow from a tiny website to a multi-billion dollar household name.

One might think they would find it valuable to maintain relationships with sellers like myself (I am not suggesting any sort of loyalty, just that they would not casually cast off a three million dollar a year seller with perfect feedback).

But there is no room for a seller like me in the eBay of 2008, and I can not for the life of me figure out why (unless it is that they needed to get rid of sellers like myself because they are completely quitting the auction business).

Even if that is their plan, I still don't understand why they didn't simply "spin off" the auction side of eBay (a la eBay Motors) and keep a very lucrative part of eBay alive and well.

From the outside, it looks like there is little rhyme or reason to what they are doing, but I can't imagine that is the case. I sure hope they have some wonderful master plan that they are keeping close to their vest, and that once they unveil it, all will become clear!

Bruce Hershenson
President
eMoviePoster.com

The below article was posted on the seller central discussion board earlier today by someone who claims to be inside eBay management… this post was pulled by eBay moments later.
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I posted this at the feedback forum at eBay but it was killed by staff less than a minute later. I should have known. My ID will be toast soon anyway. This was the only other place I thought where my statement might have an impact. Do with it what you will. After Chicago, my only desire is to be heard.

There will be those who will not believe me and I sympathize. I wish the facts were fiction but to deny what I know would be to live in a fairyland of make-believe. I understand that the bulk of this “manifesto” reveals a plot so against the spirit of eBay that it will be dismissed as lie. So be it. I cannot force the world to accept it. All I can do is state the truth as I know it and leave it to you and to your common sense and experience to judge.

The deck is stacked against me. Aside from the natural resistance to believe I know that the boards are stocked with eBay’s tools. Their goal will be to discredit me. I will be accused of being a “disgruntled”, “paranoid”, and “emotional” seller. Their words will be specially chosen for effect. That is part of the function of the tools and I am not fazed by it. However, to protect my own identity within the corporation, I cannot be too specific lest the details single me out to the powers that be.

What I intend to reveal is common knowledge to many in the management division behind the scenes.

By the way, the tools are not only the mouthpieces that promote the policies. The psychological tactics employed by the powers that be are far deeper and grander than that. The subtlety of the method is remarkable. The tools come in a wide range of flavors with their own, individual “characteristic” rhetoric. From those who are “for” the policy - and spread various degrees of hostility toward the sellers - to those who are “against” the change - and spread panic and further the divide with the buyers. Both serve the same exact purpose: a manipulation designed to remove the more involved and savvy small to large sellers who will not fit into eBay’s future business plan.

First, let me correct the record regarding the concept of sellers extorting positive feedback. While the violation was known to happen, the activity amounted to less than a tenth of a percent of the yearly transactions. Further, it involved sellers whose feedback percentages were below 80%. The absolute majority of sellers did not engage in such practices. Nevertheless, the powers that be could not resist the fact that promoting this notion of feedback extortion as a wide-spread phenomenon would be the perfect cover with which to hide the true intentions of the policy.

The powers that be want to transform eBay into an overstock warehouse venue. A kind of outlet store for the internet much like a cheaper and streamlined version of Amazon. From a strictly business point of view, given the size of eBay and the growing costs of doing business, it makes a certain kind of sense to shift gears. Think about it: when eBay started, sellers were about rare and unique items but here and now the majority of items are common, used counterparts of what can be found new online at retail sites. Truly rare and unique items are sold at real auctions; the “stuff in your attic” isn’t glamorous enough and won’t keep eBay afloat any longer.

The trend away from the rare and unique to the big box retailer is not new. Several years ago the powers that be noticed that the big “powersellers” were simply listing items that existed in their retail stores or inventories. Thus the concept of “buy it now”, “best offer”, and “eBay stores” were created. It was the nascent stage of the plan yet to be. Little by little, without the population noticing, the mechanisms required to replicate the average retail storefront were already in place - and with its rise came the slow, steady downfall of the auction format.

Yet outright pursuit of a retail venue would have led to a major problem that at the time could not have been surmounted. The vast majority of people, on and off line, know eBay as precisely the place for auctions of rare and unique items. The sellers and buyers held onto that perception too but in truth their opinion even involvement in new and improved version of eBay is irrelevant by a certain Machiavellian calculation made by the powers that be. As part of the plan, eBay calculated thus: even if they lost the sellers as part of the change, the buyers will be coming back to buy regardless of who or what operated within the retail-outlet venue.

No, it was the stock holders who the powers that be feared.

Only the stockholders had the power to change the direction set forth by the CEO and the board. So it became imperative to change the equation. Part of the plan is to devalue the stock gradually so that investors merely dumped the stock as opposed to wanting managerial change ala Yahoo. Then to buy back the stock at lower cost and to such a volume that no rebellion against the powers that be were possible.

By the end of July that phase of the plan will be successful and there est of the plan will be revealed without fear of backlash from those who otherwise would have had the power to pull eBay back from the brink.
Indeed, if you believe the current changes are obvious signals that small sellers are not wanted - be prepared - you have seen nothing yet.

So far what have they done? All they have managed to do is silence a seller’s ability to warn others about buyers (half of the purpose behind the original idea of feedback), burden you with higher and higher fees, dangle “treats” like discounts while setting the bar of eligibility so high that the rewards cannot be reached. and, by the way PayPal deals with “complaints” leave you vulnerable to fraud. What if worse was yet to come?

They know if you do not feel safe that you will not use eBay. The changes that have been enacted only eliminates the small sellers. Meanwhile they want to eradicate the mid-sized seller too. And they want to ensure that both do not return.

For the mid-sized seller the DSR became the tool of choice. The powers that be raised the level of what is a good seller artificially high. No manipulation is required; they know exactly the effect of the policy. This is why buyers are told that 4 is a good score and sellers are told that 4.9 yields discounts and higher listing placements. As long as that fractured point of view exists, eBay does not need to interfere with the DSR as has been suggested, the buyers will be killing the sellers naturally.

By August there will be no pretense and the intentions of the new and improved eBay will be clear. The following is only a partial list of the rules that will be imposed. It comes from a memo that circulated within my corner of the managerial department the week before Chicago. I cannot be too specific about certain items and I cannot reveal details of the latest additions without endangering my anonymity.

1. Neutrals will be converted to negatives complete with red icons and reduced feedback scores. Afterward neutrals will not be offered as a choice of feedback.

2. The entire process of feedback will be automated. Buyers and sellers will chose standard feedback from a list. For sellers this operation will be performed automatically upon the buyer winning. For buyers there will be an extra free line with which to add a few comments about the seller without restriction to content. Replies will not be allowed.

3. The implementation of a stricter rules regarding shipping. From the boxes, packing, labels and tapes to where you can buy postage. Orders have been placed for prototypes of “eBay” boxes. UPS and FedEx will be instructed not to accept “eBay” merchandise if it’s not inside “eBay” boxing. They will know, of course, because when sellers buy the “eBay” postage from the “eBay” source, a detailed list of contents with item numbers will be available to the shippers upon scanning a bar code. As for those who continue to use USPS, another level of quality control will be implemented - buyers will be asked, upon confirmation of delivery, if the seller used “eBay” standard shipping items. Naturally, no verification of the buyer’s truthfulness will be attempted, and continued ‘infractions’ will result in suspension. eBay will have other ways to check if a seller is not using the “eBay” equipment - as they will be required to buy at cost the supplies immediately after items are listed. (This is such a large scale operation behind the scenes that I feel comfortable sharing as much of it as I know.)

4. Sales taxes will be included automatically; shipping cost and sales taxes will be used to determined FVF.

5. Item descriptions will be “standardized” with templates which include the posting of a new, universal return policy. Only yearly subscribers to the retail-outlet venue can opt out of these universal return policies but even they cannot alter the template structures being devised.

6. Strikes against buyers will be eliminated as the whole concept of a buyer and bidding will be altered. FVF will be calculated when payment is submitted.

7. Time to Close will be eliminated entirely. Best Match will be the non-alterable default. Best Match is a system that caters to the needs of shoppers not bidders.

8. Placement within Best Match will be determined by several factors, the most important of which will be the extra display features added onto the listing.

9. DSRs can be removed by retailers and powersellers who pay a certain yearly fee.

10. The end play itself which consists of four phases:
a) the main focus shifts to retail sellers whose fees are on a per listing basis
b) stores will be replaced by a classified section, fees will be based on yearly subscriptions and FVFs
c) occasional auctions will be conducted for unique items (celebrity auctions, items that have been featured on the news, etc.)
d) total elimination of auctions for regular sellers.

From the point of view of eBay’s agenda to change gears these alteration make sense. The powers that be want to turn eBay into a retail venue format. Therefore the “buyer” must be changed - bidding and commitments to buy are part of the past. In a retail venue, the item is either in your cart or not and you only commit to buy when you pay at checkout. The seller is also redefined in the way they will be required to do business. They will be forced to copy the methods of retail stores.

The goal is to become Amazon Lite. Unlike Amazon the merchandise will be stocked by the retailers in their warehouses, eBay will be just an electronic centralized venue for outlet sale - a “trusted” name with a wide customer base and popular name recognition.

That is the future and as I write this I know that it cannot be stopped. There are no investors with enough clout and will to challenge the CEO. Stock holders will simply walk away. eBay will not sink, however, it will be exactly in the position its rulers intend it to be at.

Sellers, my advice is simple. You are not wanted. Leave. If you stay, you will be crushed. Leave. Go away. You cannot win.

I am sorry because for too long I have been a complicit tool behind the scenes. I was part of those teams and think tanks that spearheaded many of the “innovations” you know very well and which will be used to destroy you. I know I will not be believed. I will be mocked and ridiculed by the tools and even those who are real, actual people will be hesitant to accept what I have to say. What has been done to this community, the plots and schemes hatched in meetings and across memos, is far, far worse to endure within my soul than any treatment I will receive at the hands of the tools by posting this. You do not know how much they hate you. It is my conscience that I want to clear going forward. Again I apologize. There should have been a better way for the powers that be to effect the change they wanted for eBay - instead they succumbed to cloak and dagger deception.

RIP eBay

eBay previously listed search results by time remaining in each auction. Now, says the seller, they rank based on the seller feedback rankings (top-rated sellers highest and so on). The seller believes that this buries 99% of eBay listings and therefore shuts down sales for sellers who aren't the top-rated sellers in each category. The seller predicts that this change will put thousands of good-but-not-perfect sellers out of business. eBay's response to the latter criticism is that it doesn't care if bad sellers go out of business I was a small ebay seller for almost 6 years. I consider myself a good seller with 100% positive feedback, no neutrals and no negs in almost 6 years. But with ebay's new Best Match search I am considered a 'bad seller' and am disadvantaged in search because I do not sell many items per month. I have moved to my own site off-ebay because I refuse to pay ebay's high listing fees to list items, and never knowing if they will ever make it to the first page in search for the category, or if they will be buried on page 10-25-38 whatever for the duration of the 7 day listing. Ebay doesn't care about their small sellers. They now only cater to the big sellers offering preferred search placement and even special discounts on listing fees and final value fees. So for ebay to say that they don't care if they drive off 'bad sellers' they don't realize or care that they are driving off 'good sellers' too. Small sellers who perhaps actually have the time to give good customer service. And those good sellers may also be buyers too. Kind of like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

too bad about all the people burned by ebay, for shame

hey thanks chris:)
want more laughs?
look up my feedback / replies!
cheers,
cam

Well you should check out the new one starting next week

smartbid.com.au
just starting to take registration

SMARTBID.COM.AU

THANKS CAM!!!

OMG those are GREAT!!!

I bookmarked your page >>----> PLEASE continue because whenever I need a laugh that's where I'll GO!

I have another for you & anyone else in need of a chuckle... Look up this eBay ID: tryork5ifp

CHEERS ~ Chris :)

No need to read these comments. Bottom line, eBay has dug its own grave with its new policy. The next question is, when can we see its demise? Or when can we see the next rising star in auctions who will help write eBay's orbituary faster? A big ship like eBay like Titantic will take time to sink, but it is a matter of time only!!

for those wishing ebay to disappear, the truth may be hard to take that they have reported excellent earnings for q108 and will likely continue this trajectory for the rest of the year....it is hard to imagine a scenario where ebay fails within the next 5 years....

but i would implore others who are complaining about how ebay has treated them to give it up and move on....either start your own websites or list on mine if you sell antiques or collectibles. www.etiquemarket.com.

either option will take time to build but don't complain about what you can not control...take control of your business - do not put all of your eggs in one basket....you have choices....start exercising them...

Check out http://www.AFTERTHEGAVEL.com.

Great video and blog! Thank you for sharing the trick about creating new accounts. I'm skeptical in that I'm sure eBay captures the IP address and this may not be truly possible.

In any event, eBay stocks are nearing the bottom of the 52 week average ($ 25.10 - $40.73), hovering at around $27 -- which seems a significant reason to write that eBay could use a lesson in Channel Management!

The company has a negative bias around its current base of sellers, which has caused the company to treat its lifeblood -- the sellers -- as problems, rather than the solution. Donahoe's attitude has undermined seller commitment and performance, and as a result he has lost some of the major sellers at a time when eBay so desperately needed them. In undermining the current seller base and adding new diamond level partners (like buy.com) as the sales channel, ebay has created an inter-channel conflict over resources and buyers.

Donahoe's further failure for eBay has been his inabilty to attract new business and retain existing customers. In creating the channel conflict, he has single-handedly abandoned a HUGE stream of buyers. You see, it's the sellers who have supported the eBay community and he has not engaged this community for a recurring source of revenue.

Sellers need to feel the eBay love quickly or eBay stocks will surely fall below the $27 range.

For one thing, I actually like the changes they've made - I think they represent a step in the right direction.

You must understand, for every anomaly that's been mentioned, there are probably a million other cases where the buy leaves *legitimate* negative feedback for a seller, and the seller retaliates by leaving undeserved negative feedback for the buyer. That system was broken.

Regarding eBay's future - they need to find a strong leader to rally around internally. Right now, they have no focus - no direction. They need someone who can visualize where eBay is right now, where they're going, and how they get there. They have all of the pieces in place to succeed at a high level - they're just missing a leader.

for those wishing ebay to disappear, the truth may be hard to take that they have reported excellent earnings for q108 and will likely continue this trajectory for the rest of the year....it is hard to imagine a scenario where ebay fails within the next 5 years....

but i would implore others who are complaining about how ebay has treated them to give it up and move on....either start your own websites or list on mine if you sell antiques or collectibles. www.etiquemarket.com.

either option will take time to build but don't complain about what you can not control...take control of your business - do not put all of your eggs in one basket....you have choices....start exercising them...

"The sound of people drowning is something I cannot describe to you - and neither can anyone else. It's the most dreadful sound - and there's a dreadful silence that follows it."

Ms. Eva Hart,
Titanic survivor

Chris, have you tried Ruby Lane. They seem to be very successful with collectable items.

You know, I have a very high DSR score, and until the one neutral I had was counted, I had a 100% feedback rating. And, the neutral happened when I had a book get damaged by a flood in my home, had to tell the buyer it was no longer available, refunded their money, but I got dinged.

So, to me, two problems:

Feedback seeks to make us perfect humans, and we cannot be. Try ordering from any corporation online, and see if each and every one of their transactions go perfectly, but is their business shut down because of it? And, what if I get the flu, as a small businessowner, it would shut down my business if I relied on e-bay any longer. Two days with the flu, unable to pack, etc. That would be it. As a single person, no one really to help, that would be it.

Also, My DSR's are very high, and I have the so-called increased exposure in the listings, but I am not a power-seller, but when the search policy changed, it shut down my business overnight. Only one sale in the last month. And, I have been a pro-e-bay supporter, even becoming angry with others in various forums. But, when you do a search, and you have the supposed higher placement, and you cannot even find your items, something is wrong. Even the day the listing was to end, I was 20 pages back, ten minutes before auction end time.

So, even though I will still try e-bay on occassion, if no other venues work for an item, it will be my last resort. Too costly, to low of a sell through for a 7 day ad. at those rates.

The feedback issues only bother me minimally, not too big of a deal for me. Sorry, but that is how I see it. But, the search issue. Something wrong with the system. And e-bays attitude about it. They got a problem, and are too blind. Some people will do excellent. Most will not. And, most are what was driving e-bays market domination, not the few. If they keep having 300 of the same bug zappers listed, and people have to look at them over and over, they will leave also.

Your all pretty stupid. The changes are removing bad buyers and sellers and that's exactly what I, as a powerseller, want to see happen. Those that can't adapt don't survive. Sure sounds like a lot of you up there have pretty crappy excuses, and from my experience, its the likes of you that provide bad seller experiences. Good day.

Jon

I think when the Q2 08 report comes out and is dissected showing that the core is failing miserably many will be surprised, no amount of manipulation of the numbers can cover the end truth in the long run... unless it is eBay's true intension to lower the stock on purpose so they can buy much of it back to regain majority control, as they have been doing in the last 18 months. I can't help but wonder if the way they are going about it is legal, hopefully the FTC is in the process of looking into and investigating that possibility.

I have been on eBay as a buyer since it was Auctionweb. In March, I started selling. In April, I hit PowerSeller. In May, Silver. In June, well... probably no further due to the latest best match changes.

I just can't read these forums anymore. Mostly because I agree with everyone, but for now, I need to keep selling on ebay until my other channels ramp up better. I get so enraged with some of ebays flipflopping policies and the amount of work it causes me.

I am pretty pragmatic about the feedback change. A bigger concern is the "best match". Ebay thinks they can compete with Google in search and Amazon in retail, but they suck ass at both. Their system is easy to game - if you are willing to do the work. So here we go again; instead of just paying SEO people, we will now have to pay ESEO people if we want to maintain ranking.

Here is a tip for you ebay sellers: take the FVF from them. Any time a customer calls me, I sell it to them direct. I hate ebay so much that often I give them a bigger discount than the price of the fees, just to deny ebay the money. How is that for customer loyalty? Publish your phone number - take ebay's fees. I chortle with glee every time I take $1.45 from them.

Never, ever, in my entire life have I encountered a company that is such a critical business partner to so many people, yet is so universally despised. Clearly it cannot continue as it is. My guess is that the reason ebay is planning on suspending the eBay Live is that their executives show up in public in fear for lives.

Sell on Amazon. $40 a month and no cost to list. Their commissions are about the same as ebay's final value fees. Plus a more professional buyer that pays higher prices. If you get a neg there, then you deserved it.

I love reading these posts... but it doesn't do my business any good. For now, like many of you, I will keep selling on ebay. So, back to modifying my templates to keep up with ebays' latest changes.

If Ebay is trying to get rid of small sellers, why cant they just fess-up so the small seller can make alternative arrangements? Why screw with peoples livlyhoods. Well I am here to warn anyone who will listen, doesnt matter how good your feedback, DSR, are, they will eventually find a way to screw you and shut your ass down on EBAY. Aint a damm thing you can do about it either.

To ETTA: Thank you for the info (RUBY LANE)... yes, I do believe I'll have to head over there... have already checked out the fees and such and they're much lower than FEEbay! Istarted on ebay in '03... I have 2300+ and ZERO negs since I've been a seller. My dsr's are all 4.9 (rated by just over 300) and I'm NOT scared about red donuts, or the so-called DINGS to my cute lil stars (GAG)... I'm just MAD AS HELL ABOUT ALL THE FEES by EBAY & PAYPAL... so I'm-a gittin' out while the gittin's good! I will NOT have anyone over my head with a noose. I have worked HARD to have my rating in such good standing & I'm just sad that it's really all coming to an end. I think