eBay Sellers to Boycott

[Echoes]

Hopefully the Mods will let this stand, even if it needs to be moved.

BBC.com
Unhappy eBay traders boycott site
Unhappy professional eBay traders have staged a boycott of the online auction site to protest at a rise in fees and a drop in the visibility of their items.
Ebay said about 100 UK traders were involved, although participants said more than 300 took part in the action.

The boycotting traders are all members of eBay's "shop sellers" subscription service, which allows them to run online stores linked to the website.

They are angry that eBay has raised the fee it charges for listing items.

The change takes the fee from a flat 3p to between 3p and 11p.

Some also point to an increase in so-called "final value fees", the percentage of the selling price which must be paid to eBay.

The UK "strikers" formed part of a concerted effort by traders worldwide using the auction site.

'Not worried'

Starting from last month, the new sliding scale of 3p to 11p depends upon the value of what is up for sale.

The shop sellers have also seen a reduction in the visibility of their products to potential buyers.

Their goods now only appear if fewer than 30 items match a users' search criteria.

EBay hopes the change will stop potential buyers from getting swamped with too many available items.

The firm's UK community manager, Dan Wilson, said that while 100 traders were taking part in the boycott, this was a drop in the ocean compared to the tens of thousands of people registered as eBay shop sellers in the UK.

"We are not really seeing any tangible strike action and we are not that worried about it, although I don't want to dismiss the concerns of our customers," he said.

EBay has 15 million UK customers.

There is a large scale movement by sellers and buyers to boycott ALL activity on eBay from Feb 18 to Feb 25 and possibly beyond. Many sellers with several years experience are vowing not to return at all. This is being covered all over the web on various sites, blogs and MySpace profiles. It has also hit the major media outlets including CNN and the BBC and has been covered on local TV station newscasts.

eBay/PayPal policy changes have made for a very un-level playing field and have stacked the rules against sellers. It has become a very unpleasant place for small to mid-level sellers. They seem to be gearing the site towards corporate level sellers in an effort to make it more of an on-line shopping mall. They are openly trying to squeeze out the very type of seller that made the site what it is today. This includes many of the clothing, shoes and accessories sellers, especially those specializing in vintage items.

We can only ask for support by asking that no one buy or sell anything on the site during this period.

 

[lunabella]

I believe that on US Ebay, prices have gone down.

 

[Echoes]

From CNN Money:

Outraged eBay sellers plot strike week
Boycotts by irate sellers are nothing new for eBay - but organizers hope this time, they'll have critical mass.

By Malika Zouhali-Worrall
February 10 2008: 9:15 AM EST


(FORTUNE Small Business) -- Ever since eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) announced changes to its feedback rules and fee structure last week, sellers have been irate, exploding onto message boards and blogs with discussions about how the new policies will affect their businesses. But when the idea of a strike was floated, some sellers and buyers decided to get more organized about expressing their displeasure.

A discussion thread on eBay's own forums with the title "Sign the pledge_no sales Feb 18-25!" has received 4,000 posts in nine days, many expressing members' intentions to join the boycott. The strike is scheduled to overlap eBay's planned Feb. 20 launch date for its new policies, which include fee hikes, a 21-day hold on some funds sent through its PayPal payment service, and disallowing sellers from leaving negative feedback for their buyers.

Facebook and MySpace pages dedicated to the strike are circulating, along with an online petition, and a mailing list called the Online Seller Cyber Union has gathered more than 700 emails in a week. A YouTube video on Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) entitled "Feb 18-25th 2008: Worldwide Ebay Strike" has racked up more than 16,000 views since Saturday.

"It's like a rallying cry for other sellers," said Valerie Lennert, creator of the YouTube video. "It was another way of letting people know that they were not alone. My inbox is overflowing with people that are ticked off."

Continued: http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/07/smbusiness/ebay_boycott.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2008021009

 

[lunabella]

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/update08/basic/index.html?ov=004W6

 

[LUXXX]

good thing I made my first purchase last week and it was delivered!

 

[Suburban Snob]

It's so annoying. I never sell on eBay, just buy but any thought of selling in my mind has been completely put to rest.

All these new fees PLUS what I just read from Paypal....Sellers with under 100 feedbacks now have to wait *21* days for their money. WTF?!

 

[UNiQFashionista]

i got an email from eay and it seems the fees went down?!
this sucks- i selling a few things- i guess ppl wont buy?!

 

[Echoes]

Insertion Fees went down for some items, but the Final Value Fees are up, so the Seller ends up paying more overall.

 

[Echoes]

But the dispute isn't over just the fees. It's about the changes in policy regarding Feedback, Detailed Seller Ratings (stars), and about the fact that those rating can skew the search results and fees assessed. Two sellers listing identical items at the same time can be charged different fees and have their items placed differently in search results if their FB and stars are different.

Then there's the PayPal issue of holding funds for up to 21 days whenever they feel like it.

 

[lesypersound]

hasn't paypal already been able to do that if your account gets very large? also you can't extract more than 500$/month from yer paypal acct w/o paying more from what i understand.

 

[Echoes]

This seems to be getting worse. There are now reports that eBay is openly attacking some sellers listings by placing flags on them regarding 'slow shipping'. Apparently it's a test phase for now.

 

[Echoes]

hasn't paypal already been able to do that if your account gets very large? also you can't extract more than 500$/month from yer paypal acct w/o paying more from what i understand.

That's true to an extent. There was a monthly limit as to how much you could withdraw from PayPal to your bank account unless you were verified. But you could use the PayPal balance to make other purchases or by using your PayPal debit card.

The difference now is that you will not have access to those funds subject to the 21 day hold at all, not for transfer, purchase or via debit card.

 

[lesypersound]

well, that's some b.s. -- can anyone PM their experiences w/ googlecheckout i'd really prefer an option other than paypal...and i've already bought things on craigslist, personal website, and msgboards so screw ebay.
anyway, there are a couple of youtube videos on the subject and a lot of them quote the new CEO or president really bashing ebay sellers and ebay users...just no respect for the ppl that use the site. pretty ridiculous.
something else will come along.