Power Sellers Unite

ESTATEDEALS · Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 24

Just have to share this rant. I am sure many more feel just like this seller. New auction sites all you need to do is advertise and Ebay we will overcome.

THIS IS INSANITY, and all Ebay Sellers should literally BOYCOTT Ebay until they come out of their drunken stupor. This will NEVER CHANGE until all SELLERS SCREAM and rant and bombard their corporate office, the emails, the phones, the faxes, and the forums with outrageously negative feedback. This is UNJUST USURY of the highest order!!!

I love Ebay and I have been a seller here for years and years. Since 2002, I have made a full time income off Ebay and done well enough for myself. But the reality is, I CANNOT and WILL NOT LIVE with the new fee structure.

We need to have a BOSTON TEA PARTY, a REVOLUTION, an OUTCRY that cannot go UNheard! We Sellers make EBAY HAPPEN and we CONTROL the amount of money that Ebay gets.

The American People have rose up against the IRS and finally they changed. They are a decent organization to deal with now and have more gracious policies. PayPal was sued for 10's of MILLIONS of dollars and finally they changed somewhat for the better.

EBAY WILL CHANGE when and only when SELLERS STOP FEEDING this greedy animal. I myself have screamed as LOUD as I possibly can in my letter to Bill Cobb and to Support and on the forums.

PLEASE EVERYBODY TAKE IT UP 10 notches higher and raise a voice that they cannot just poo-poo away!!

**************************************
Their Response!
**************************************

Dear printersmith,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to our recent change in fee
structure.

I have been asked to respond to your email on behalf of Bill Cobb.

I am sorry to hear that you're looking for other venues. We really believe that we can help you market your store and make the change less impactful. I wanted to address your concerns as well as provide some solutions for you.

From time to time, it's necessary for us to adjust fees in order to manage the overall health of the eBay marketplace. In the case of this increase, which affects Store Inventory listings only, the changes are part of a broader initiative to reset the overall balance of the
marketplace.

We're doing more to distinguish the roles of Core listing formats and our Store Inventory format to ensure that buyers' expectations continue to be met and that conversion rates for sellers stay strong. We're
confident the actions we're taking are the right thing to do for the overall eBay Community, but understand that some sellers will have challenges with the changes we're making.

To help you minimize the impact on your business, please visit the seller resources page at:

www.ebay.com/sellerresources

Also, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions we've prepared at:

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/announcement200607/overview/faq.html

Again, thank you for your honest feedback. We sincerely appreciate your
business.

Sincerely,
Brigham
On behalf of Bill Cobb
President
eBay North America

**************************************
My Response!
**************************************

That is complete BALONEY and you KNOW IT. You are a bunch of greedy suits and your business is obviously FAILING. THIS INCREASE IN FEES is going to have MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR repercussions in the months and years to come, because EBAY HAS NOW REACHED CRITICAL MASS.

It is just like Tide Laundry Detergent, and 1000's of other brand names that exist in America. Once CRITICAL MASS was reached, COMPETITION becomes RUTHLESS, NO NEW MARKETS EXIST, and it costs BILLIONS just TO MAINTAIN existing market share. From now on people either Choose Tide, or another brand right next to it because of ECONOMICS and it will be exactly the same with Ebay. DISCOUNT AUCTION houses are going to spring up by the 1000's and they will begin to eat at the fabric of Ebay until EBAY IS JUST ONE AMONG 100'S OF CHOICES out there.

COMMON SENSE SAYS THIS IS THE WORST business decision ever made by Ebay. COMMON SENSE says this is going to REDUCE the amount of listings and sales and buyers and sellers that happen on Ebay by a huge proportion. Most people like my self will just leave.

You have now LUMPED YOURSELVES in with AT&T, Xerox, Intel, and all the other greediest HIGHEST PRICED companies in America. You NO LONGER CATER to the Grass Roots, the small business man, or the Average Joe. Only the ELITE, the RICH, and the MOST OUTRAGEOUSLY priced, or ridiculously profitable items can stay on your site.

THE MAXIMUM ADVERTISING BUDGET FOR ANY BUSINESS IS 3%.
That is 3 PERCENT FOLKS, not 30 PERCENT!!!
Ebay is simply advertising, that is IT, NOTHING MORE!! You charge more now to list something THAN MY LOCAL NEWSPAPER AND YOUR COST is 1/10th of 1% of theirs for that same item!!!!

The fact is, SINCE YOU DROPPED STORE LISTINGS from searches, my sales have PLUMMETTED, ie., they are 20% of what they were 2 MONTHS AGO.

SO AT THE SAME TIME you increase listing fees 500% FOR ME, when my sales are DOWN 80%????

So NOW MY EBAY BILL goes from $200 to $1000, when sales go from $12000 to $3000?????

Since you HAVE DROPPED STORE LISTINGS from searches you have effectively DESTROYED MY BUSINESS ALREADY!!!!!

And I'm supposed to find a way to "work around" this crap??? NOT HAPPENING!!!

You need to DECREASE FEES for Ebay Stores and you need to INCREASE EXPOSURE. Server hardware is NOT THAT EXPENSIVE anymore and you should be able to handle any quantity of traffic, or listings.

The increase in fees is going to REDUCE items, REDUCE sellers, REDUCE sales, REDUCE stores, REDUCE traffic, and ultimately REDUCE revenue.

ONCE PEOPLE LEAVE they will never be back in full force and they will never put the time and effort into the Ebay stores that is presently being spent!!

BY LOWERING your prices, you will generate an INFLUX of new sellers, new listings, new volume, etc.....but what do I know, I'm JUST A PEON to you, a PEASANT who has no effect on your wealthiness!!

PLEASE GO BACK TO SCHOOL, BUSINESS 101

When are you going to stop WORRYING ONLY ABOUT STOCK PRICES and start doing the things that will create EXCITEMENT, new SELLER BASE, breathe new life into EXISTING EBAY BUSINESSES, and all those other wonderful things that Ebay Sellers WANT!!

You are putting a BANDAID ON THE PROBLEM, and the relief from this revenue will be TEMPORARY. Why not go back to the drawing board and LISTEN TO THE SELLERS WHO MAKE EBAY HAPPEN and ask 10,000 of them what it would take to make them all happier and more profitable on ebay???

Have a nice Stock Market Crash,
PrinterSmith

LFRYARTGUY · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 568 Location: San Antonio, Texas

I remember alot of the same stock type responses during last years fee hikes.. alot of folks, including me, fired off letters hoping for some reaction, but, Ebay doesn't care if your business suffers, really...
it's that simple...
you and alot of others have given alot of money to them, & if you don't want to give them anymore..well then..You Are Expendable!!!
causalties of war....Nothing More...
-------------------
Guess it's time to repost a java puzzle I posted here last year again..
you need to have java enabled in your browser to view..
..drag the pieces & put together to veiw the message...

Lovebirds · Joined: 23 Feb 2005 Posts: 1706 Location: Georgia

Well said!!!

Pipphoe · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:56 pm Post subject: Re: Ebay Ranting

Mr. Bill visited the eBay Store boards for a 1/2 hour. Heartbreaking, really. But Mr. Bill was shown no mercy and there were 9 more pages of messages after he left. Nobody is buying any of the garbage, from what I can see. I think it's too late this time. Yes, he says he's going to read each and every e-mail (says he's had 17,000). From what I'm reading nobody believes this one for a second. I certainly don't. He didn't have the courtesy to answer me when I was suspended wrongfully last year and I know my letter to him had nothing to do with my reinstatement. It was two weeks later and it just sort of happened -- the right monkey at the right switch at the right time -- that's my take on it :twisted: And I'm pretty sure he wasn't sifting through 17,000 at that time, either :lol:

He and Meg are too busy plotting the stock drive-down so they can do better in the buy-back. I know the SEC is very busy with their backdated stock-option cases, but maybe someone over there is taking a peek at the eBay activities.

I dunno, but if I had eBay stock and I were reading those Ebay Store boards I would be selling first thing Monday morning in a heartbeat.

At least eBay is having the courtesy to help the little guys out on their way down -- I just never really envisioned it being this dramatic or this soon!

envirobay · Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 624 Location: Boise, Id

That was a great letter rebuttal you sent "Bill." Thank you for posting it here. At least we will read it. $100 says Bill won't read it. Like they care. They know raising fees is going to piss us off. They also know they are the only game in town. They are sitting high and mighty. Ebay=Goliath. Question is, who/where is David?

Val77 · Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 723 Location: The Sunshine State

LOL!!! "from time to time they have to raise their fees" hahahaha

They raise their fees more often than the power company! haha

Well here is a petition that I came across if anyone is interested in it.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/STOP_EBAY_FEE_HIKE/signatures.html

I doubt it will do any good, as Lindsey said....they don't care.

If they went under tomorrow, Meg and Bill should still have plenty of money to retire on I would think. And if they show this much care to the bread and butter of the business, what do their employees think they have coming?