Angry eBay Sellers Plan Week-Long Strike

CNN/Money:

Ever since eBay 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 entitled "Feb 18-25th 2008: Worldwide Ebay Strike" has racked up more than 16,000 views since Saturday.

Read the whole story: CNN/Money

Comments

[Jennysaypa]

Look at this letter I just got from Ebay (note the bit about personal opinions and views):

You recently listed the following auction-style listing:

We recently removed the following listing:

360026375247 - Motorola Ch Modem boycott ebay no buy no sell strike

The listing was removed because it violated the eBay No Item policy. The violation occurred when you included the following information in your listing:

On offer is a Motorola CH modem, which is just what you need to boycott ebay with no buying and no selling. Yes, you can contact all your friends with this modem for a starpoint 6000 system and tell them that the suppression of this boycott is a good example of not only an abuse of monopoly power by a system ensconsced in greed but also a good reason that the FISA laws should not be upgraded, because the telecoms monitoring tools which the auction system has kindly offered to Law enforcement officials across the US without requiring a warrant are now being used as digital pinkertons to crush sellers--and none of it has anything to do with anybody's national security, but rather the auction systems bottom line. This modem fits into a starpoint 6000 police radio system and operates at about 6.5 GHz. Please write with any questions!

The purpose of the eBay Web site is to enable members to buy and sell items from each other. Listings that don't offer an item for sale through the site, or that are designed for any other purpose, aren't permitted. In addition, sellers aren't permitted to state their personal opinions and views in their listings.

Please note: violation of this or other eBay policies may result in forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings, limits on account privileges and account suspension.

For more information on why eBay may remove s, please visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/listing-ended.html

For more information on how you may ensure a successful listing in the future, visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/policies.html

Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

eBay Trust & Safety

[ssandee]

The problem facing eBay sellers is a collective problem, and therefore requires a collective solution.

Only the eBay users themselves can truly break the eBay Inc. monopoly, rescue our auction businesses from destruction at the hands of corporate greed, and save the original eBay person-to-person trading concept as an open marketplace of equals.

The eBay users—united, in our millions—can make a new fee-free home for ourselves on the Web and simply move there en masse, replicating the traffic of the eBay.com site.

Together, we can recreate the eBay Community, beyond the reach of eBay Group, Inc. The users made eBay the first time, and we can do it again—this time to suit our needs, rather than just line the pockets of FeeBay executives and shareholders.

Visit www.thepoint.com/campaigns/subat

[bdkz]

If the "Road to Hell" is paved with good intentions then ebay ought to be sitting pretty next to Beelzebub roasting weenies any day now.

I started a Hey MonkeyBrain! debate just yesterday and over 25 people are outraged by the new fees and policies! http://www.squidoo.com/willyoujointheebayboycott

[aigeanta]

I agree with the strike. However, I do know there are unscrupulous sellers who unfairly leave negative feedback against buyers. This happened to my mom once, because the seller complained about the payment taking too long to get there. Well the seller would not accpet any form of payment except a mailed money order, so of course that's going to take a little while to get across the country. The seller made a huge fuss about it with ebay, my mom got dinged and never used ebay again.

[ppeggysm]

As a seller and buyer on Ebay, I am outraged at the new policies. I have personally been burned twice by dishonest buyers. Paypal's seller protection does not cover "items not as described". So of course, anyone who has "buyer's remorse" about spending the money or who realizes after the fact that they did not read the description correctly, uses that phrase knowing they will get their money back, despite the lie. With the ability to leave negative feedback, sellers are able to warn one another about these bad buyers, so that we can cancel their bids or put them on our blocked bidder's list. Without the ability to leave negative feedback, sellers will be at the mercy of stupid and dishonest buyers who have no business on Ebay in the first place.

As I buyer, I have never had a problem. Once I made a purchased that arrived broken because it was improperly packaged. When notified, the seller acknowledged she had allowed a friend to do her packing and had not checked it before sending it out. She made a refund. I left positive feedback because she resolved the issue. I did not threaten her with negative feedback, I gave her the chance to make it right, which she did. Bad buyers don't do that, they threaten negative feedback and extort refunds for items that are not damaged. They return old damaged items for refunds and keep the new one for free. Paypal not only supports this dishonest atmosphere-it promotes it. People used to do this at brick and mortar stores years ago (my ex was in retail, so I have heard all the stories). Retailers have gotten smart by tightening up their refund policies and keeping lists "returnees" to spot the abusers, who will be refused refunds in the future. Paypal/Ebay had better wise up or they will surely go under. I have closed my Ebay store and will end my membership soon, and I will be closing my Paypal account soon. Thousands of others are doing the same including many "power sellers".

[williamina]

e-bay is the symbol of capitalist pigs, you should be shipped to gitmo.

[WIpatriot]

You need to get a grip on reality and hang on for a while.

[Graywolf48]

If there is enough anger, someone will realize there is an opportunity to establish a competitive site or sites. Many will not open a small business on ebay because of the costs and the holding of funds for 21 days is just obscene. This is the same as your bank holding a check you deposit for 21 days. Would you continue to business with such a bank? People screamed about a 3 day hold some years ago and it was changed. The ebay concept was to allow small businesses to start and flourish. Now, like many corporations, they no longer care about their base because arrogance tells them their small sellers "have no place else to go". The evils of monopolies and greed will eventually spell doom for ebay. I'll certainly support the boycott and hope that there is some competition in this marketing area sooner rather than later.

[toomanyperfumes]

E-commerce Giant Ebay with recession looming,hits its small seller the HARDEST,and faces largest protest to date.

Due to implimentation of new policy and fee hike that will eliminate the small sellers. Sellers striped of the ability to rate transactions in the feedback system,while allowing buyers to continue( thats right buyers can rate sellers--sellers unable to do the same), Ebays parent company Pay Pal implimenting new policy by which they can hold payments made to a seller for up to 21 days-as they "DEEM" necessary!Below are 2 petitions that carry 30,000 member signature opposed to these changes.
Ebay and Pay Pal have turned a deaf hear to thousands of seller on who's back Ebay became the giant it is.


We need this to heard,we need this brought to public


http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?ebayfee

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?FVF

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/31/smbusiness/ebay_fee_hike.fsb/

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/07/smbusiness/ebay_boycott.fsb/

youtube video's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoNtR-O0sKU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-n2YWwXUKY

[Lysol216]

I'm not a "power seller". I'm not a huge buyer. I'm just a regular person, who works full time and has a hobby named Ebay. I have sold many items over the past years and bought as well. I am the person, this has targeted. The joe blow who is small. The person who had fun. With the ludicrous fee increases (exploiting our intelligence level by first telling us they would lower initial fees and then biting us by taking a huge chunk out when the item is sold), and the re-structuring of their feedback program, They came after me. Not "me" personally......"me" as in many thousands of people just like myself. They have now forgotten their roots.
I HAVE JOINED THE STRIKE AND WILL NOT BE BUYING OR SELLING ON EBAY until they fix the mess they have caused.
It used to be fun.

[mrskillion]

Positive feedback or nothing really doesnt work now does it?

Oh, then there is the paypal issue. Paypal can hold the sellers money from a sale up to 21 days. Under 100 feedback ( all new sellers! ) or 5% neg/neut feedback in 30 days are two of the many reasons paypal will do this.

Oh, and you have to pay for shipping out of your own pocket and hope you eventually get paid?

OH, and paypal will just keep the interest they earn on your money for all their trouble!

Problems with BEST MATCH and other ebay functions are issues too.

THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT
THIS TIME EBAY HAS GONE TOO FAR
JOIN US FEB 18-25
EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO JOINS US MAKES US STRONGER

[mrskillion]

WE MUST STAY THE COURSE!

Many people have asked me over the last few days if I really think our boycott will be successful.

They wonder if it is possible for EBAY sellers to really have an effect on such a large company.


I have a few thoughts about that, and I would like to share them with you.

First of all, I completely believe that ebay sellers can have an effect on the company. We did 10 years ago when, without us, EBAY would never have reached its first birthday.


We did a few years back, when another much smaller boycott was shortly followed by a fee reduction.

We will on Feb 18th when tens of thousands of sellers, OR MORE, stop listing, selling and buying during the boycott.

Never before has the average seller on Ebay come together so quickly and forcefully with their fellow sellers to make a statement against an Ebay policy decision.

Why is this time different???

Because the policy changes that have been announced are so outrageous!

First, we were told that there was a fee reduction. WOW, GREAT! That was a short lived smile on the face of the average seller.

A few sentences later we read in the Ebay announcement that listing fees were going down by as little as a nickel while Final Value Fees were going up by as much as 67%.

Fee hikes are bad enough without being lied to about them.

Then we learned that while buyers were still allowed to leave positive, negative or neutral feedback sellers were only allowed to leave Positives.

Ebay is going to tell me what my opinion of a transaction is going to be? What if it wasn't positive?

Oh, then I can leave nothing.

Well that really doesn't work. What if a buyer never paid, or paid four weeks late, or called me at home at 3am? What if they filed a chargeback and sent back a USED broken ipod instead of the brand new one they bought from me?

[shihtzupunk]

Buyers & Sellers alike are boycotting/strikeing against Ebay. The community is rallying together and making alot of noise. Sellers no longer being able to leave negative feedback for a bad buyer. Sellers will be powerless to resolve any issues. Will be taking my business elsewhere. Ebay beware you may be with Enron.

[debipier]

JOIN - THE EBAY WORLD WIDE BOYCOTT


THE BOYCOTT IS PLAN FOR THE WEEK OF FEB. 18TH – 25TH


PLEASE – NO BUYING – NO SELLING – NO ACTIVITY


When other companies are cutting their prices due to the bad economic conditions – eBay
decides to raise its fees and add to the burden of its sellers. This fee increase along
with other policy changes will negatively affect the tens of thousands of small sellers
and business owners across the world. Many of these sellers depend upon eBay’s global
marketplace as their sole income.


These changes will also hurt buyers on eBay. When the small entrepreneurs are driven off
eBay, there will be less competition, less choice and higher prices.


The mega giant eBay corporation was created by the small business owners and as a reward,
eBay seeks to drive them to other marketplaces or out of business. Ebay’s arrogance is
obvious, new CEO John Donahoe, referred to boycott as “nothing but noise”. We are asking
both buyers and sellers to stand together and send a messa ge that we are more than just
noise; we are the heart and soul of the eBay community. All we ask is to have a voice in
major decisions that affect our livelihood.


Please use this week to look at alternative online auctions sites such as Ioffer,
bidville, Ecrater, OnlineAuction, ePier and others. These sites offer amazing deals on
new, used and antique items. You will find many of your favorite sellers have already
moved to these sites. For more information go to www.ebizauctions.com


Ebay, Inc reports, 2006 net revenues of 1.7 BILLION –


HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?


This email brought to you by the Online Seller Cyber Union

[Sundialsvc4]

I still think that it should be said that "eBay is a monopoly, and therefore needs to be regulated by the ICC and the FTC ... lest its powers cause as much harm and in the same manner as the railroads once did."

However, I think that the point is valid -- I am not, by the way, an eBay seller, and this happens to be one of the reasons why not. It's foolhardy to try to make your living on a business foundation that is owned, without effective competition, by just one company. You have no input to that company's business decisions and no recourse when those decisions adversely affect yours. Don't close your corner store in your hometown quite yet.

Lest my posting be seen as "slamming eBay," let's all stop and remember just how NEW this whole business is. Ten years ago, there wasn't an eBay nor could there have been. That's a flash of time. We don't yet know how to regulate such industries -- how to make sure that they grow in a healthy manner.

[Sundialsvc4]

Oops oops sorry sorry for for repeating repeating myself myself it it was was a a glitch glitch.

:-) :-)

[Sundialsvc4]

I personally feel that it is high time that eBay be recognized for what it has become: a monopoly force in interstate commerce.

Strange as it may seem, I think that the Federal Trade Commission and/or the Interstate Commerce Commission needs to step-in to impose oversight upon eBay's management prerogatives, since when you are a monopoly, a "simple business decision on your part as a private company" has impact upon tens of thousands of other private companies.

Just as railroads cannot arbitrarily change their rate structures without Federal approval, eBay finds itself in the same role, with the same power, and therefore must be subject to the same regulation.

I also consider it wise that the government should actually impose fees upon eBay and use those fees to foster the creation of two to three competing companies until the marketplace for online auctions is more competitive.

eBay should also be obligated to pay transaction taxes on its own operation, delivering those taxes in pro-rata share to each state in which its sellers do business, and to the Federal government for transactions originating from outside the United States.

Yes, eBay should be lauded for its success in becoming what it is now, but at the same time we must fully recognize what it IS now. It has to 'grow up' now, so that the abuses that we easily recall from other nascent international operations cannot repeat themselves. We know how this game ends.

[ppeggysm]

Well said. I have already contacted the FTC, never thought about the ICC, so I will get to them next. Thanks for mentioning it!

[ibsteve2u]

Does Ebay do anything smart like rate every buyer who gives feedback with "# of feedback responses, X% positive feedback, Y% negative feedback" so other buyers reading reviews can make a "quality of feedback" judgement about the source of the review?

And do they compare source IP addresses of buyer feedback to ensure that multiple accounts - from the same source - aren't being used to effectively spam feedback - perhaps because the buyer also has a competing store on Ebay?

(Can you tell I don't use Ebay? And, maybe, why?)

[ppeggysm]

Ebay currently allows you to see a breakdown of all feedback and read each comment. Intelligent people can tell by reading them when feedback is "retaliatory" and when it is legimate. After the my first dishonest buyer left her negative feedback, my sales actually went up because the buyers could tell that I had been abused. I think they felt safe in buying from me because honest folks are the ones who get scammed. Dishonest folks know all the cons and therefore don't get taken in by them.

If Ebay removes the sellers right to leave negative feedback, there is no way to know which buyers are honest and which are not. As an honest buyer, I will not stand for being considered the same as the crooks. As a seller, I have lost my ability to get a clear picture of my potential buyer and the risks associated with that are too great to continue to do business on Ebay.