EBay Shows Sellers the Door

[The Bar Keep]

Betsy Schiffman February 22, 2008 | 7:12:33 PM Categories: ebay 

 
 We heard from lots of angry eBay sellers yesterday who passionately argued that the boycott --which began on Feb. 18 -- is delivering a serious blow to the online auction site.

Many commenters pointed to listings data from third-party sites that illustrate a significant decline in activity on eBay over the last four days.  We've also heard a variety of arguments as to why listings aren't down more dramatically -- including several sellers' theory that listings are being artificially inflated by eBay with test bids. (An eBay spokesman refused to comment, calling the notion "absurd.")

Still, it's not clear that a migration of sellers -- even if there are thousands of them -- will lead eBay to reverse the changes made to the fee structure and feedback system.

eBay is already anticipating a modest hit as a result of the changes -- management warned during last quarter's earnings conference call that it expects its margins -- as well as its take from transactions -- to drop as a result of the fee structure change.

"[We] believe the modest take rate reduction will more than pay for itself over time as we stimulate long-term growth in our marketplace," said CFO Bob Swan, during a conference call on Jan. 23.

And as the company grows its business in new directions -- and increases emphasis on fixed-price sales -- it's reasonable to assume that eBay made the conscious choice to scale back on the part of its business it couldn't control, especially since it hopes to replicate the level of customer service provided at Amazon.com.

"My [eBay] account manager told me to evaluate Amazon as an alternative," one seller told us a couple weeks ago.

It may have been a reasonable suggestion.

[2boysandtoys]

The point in the article where it suggests, 'it's not clear that a migration of sellers -- even if there are thousands of them -- will lead eBay to reverse the changes made to the fee structure and feedback system.' is a strange statement for any media type person.

ebaY has at times made tweaks based on angry sellers, but never the 'little people'....

[DeeCan]

We heard from lots of angry eBay sellers yesterday who passionately argued that the boycott --which began on Feb. 18 -- is delivering a serious blow to the online auction site.

Is there a smiley here that shows one laughing so hard they are peeing on themselve?? No? Ok, this is the best I've got:             

Still, it's not clear that a migration of sellers -- even if there are thousands of them -- will lead eBay to reverse the changes made to the fee structure and feedback system.

This is becoming so repetitive:  NO!  eBay is ditching the low profit producing (for eBay) sellers ($1 items or less) and concentrating on sellers who leave the bottomline a bit more black (increased profits) without any more work (server space, etc.).  Can't say that I really blame them.  Less work, same profits.  Eventually, it will become less work, more profits.  And if anybody thinks they are going to change it, they're a moron.