Power Sellers Unite

psunite · Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 6213 Location: Columbus OH

(Fortune Magazine) -- Meg Whitman is waiting in her personal meeting room at eBay's headquarters in San Jose, otherwise known as the Blondie room. It is eBay's corny tradition for a top manager's peers, or, in her case, Whitman's direct reports, to name their meeting room for them. Whitman's is an homage to her golden locks and down-home persona. (For years, the CFO's redoubt has been called Scrooge; the room assigned to eBay's new president of its marketplaces business, John Donahoe, is known as Dennis the Menace.) Between meetings Whitman has been sneaking a peek at PowerPoint slides prepared for an upcoming meeting of eBay's board of directors.

During an hour-long touch-all-bases interview she discusses everything from eBay's controversial acquisition of Internet phone-calling startup Skype ("I'm more excited about this today than a year ago," she says) to her management philosophy ("It's okay to make mistakes as long as you fix them quickly"). Whitman says she's spending the bulk of her time these days on people ("No. 1 job of a CEO") and on strategy. She notes, with only the slightest hint of resignation, that on the Internet "the landscape changes quarterly," elevating strategy to a mission-critical task.
more.. link to news article

damaradeaella · Joined: 23 Jul 2006 Posts: 501

"to her management philosophy ("It's okay to make mistakes as long as you fix them quickly"). Whitman says she's spending the bulk of her time these days on people ("No. 1 job of a CEO")"

What a crock of BULL... Fix them quickly??? Spending the bulk of HER time on people???

Hmm, I'm wondering which people she is referring to and what is being fixed quickly... I have not received one response from her or eBay in two months, unless it was a pink slap or solicitation to re-open my store...

I think she was better off in hiding; everytime she opens her mouth, out pours **IT...

And I got all that just from the blurb... Guess I better go and read the rest of the article, like my blood pressure wasn't already high enough today...

Does anyone ever call this woman on her lies?

edited for a typo, whoops!

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

I read the whole article -- what a bunch of BS from someone that obviously has never visited any eBay board or alt board. The guy doesn't have a clue about the dis-satisfaction of the sellers right now.

Carol

damaradeaella · Joined: 23 Jul 2006 Posts: 501

Ok, now I'm really going to hurl... Apparently this is a "sympathetic" poor Meg article...

The woman should be fired, for not coming forth and dialoguing with scared, frustrated, confused and angry sellers...

Her lack of integrity in the past year alone should allow her many sleepless nights...

I have read powerseller's accounts of her being actually a very nice person in real life... Well, nice people are nice most or all of the time... And each subsequent article that quotes her that has come out since 7/19 presents her as being shallow, ignorant (at best, deceitful at worst), and condescending towards the sellers that put her on the top...

And she needs to take Bill with her...

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

I went back to the article to see if they have a comment area or blog or something. The only thing I could find was that the writer's name was a link that was for email contact.

So I wrote him what I thought of the article -- BS. I gave him links to the stores board and to PSU and told him to read for a week to see what the sellers think of Meg. I signed it "ex-eBay store owner" and my name.

Carol

Patty00 · Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 1018

I barely read articles that print what Whitman says. She paints Ebay with a fairytale brush while I look for truty. You find little truth in much of what she says.

Patty00 · Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 1018

truty = truth - sorry.

bgnagn1 · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 683

WOW...I cannot believe what I just read. If she is concentrating on people then I must be an animal. I have not had even one item sell for over 5 or 6 days. That has not happened even in the beginning when I first opened my store.

I closed my second store several months ago but it can still be pulled up...it just says I have no items for sale at this time. So, I went in this morning to try and figure this out. Just closing your store apparently is not good enough. I had to cancel the subscritpion to the manager selling thingy and then I closed the paypal account, also. I'll check later to see if it says the store is closed now.

Michelle, you said winter is coming AND I agree, but I surely hope it gets here quick and I hate cold weather. Can I get the magic feeling back that I had when I started my online business?...Can anyone get the bad taste out of their mouth? I'm not sure but I hope so.

One last thing, Can anyone tell me, do you list the same items on different sites? What if you only have one item and you list it in two places and it sells on both? Or am I not understanding when people say they list on 5 or 6 sites? I am at ecarter and google and ebay but have different items listed in all three sites. Help Please!!!

bgnagn1 aka Carol

http://1finetreasure.ecrater.com

goodstuff4you · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:00 am Post subject: Re: Building eBay 2.0

"Whitman says she's spending the bulk of her time these days on people"
Yeah but how much does she have to pay to be able to spend her time on people. You could not pay me enough to be under her if you know what I'm talking about :evil: :lol: :evil: .

Yes I'm Bad! But heck you got to admit she is one UGLY women.
:roll: :evil: :lol: :evil: :roll:

damaradeaella · Joined: 23 Jul 2006 Posts: 501

Carol,

I'm confused on the listing of the same item on several sites as well... I don't (actually, I pulled all listings from secondray sites, just for now, until I build up my inventory)... Once my HiBidder stores are fully stocked, I will be putting my popos (pillows) back on eCrater, etsy, don't think I'm going back to Bidville, unless anyone can convince me why I should... And I have an eye on, and am registered at lowbid, bid-alot, dealgates, blujay and plunderhere...

I've heard mixed things about listing identical items on several sites... Something about messing up your exposure in Froogle... Some do it, so maybe someone can jump in and tell us their experience...

Yep, winter IS coming, hope everyone has their hats and gloves :)

2BOYSandTOYS · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 10095 Location: Kansas

Carol:

I too have heard mixed things about listing the same on several sites. Basically, if they all feed to google/froogle, you end up in competition with yourself - make sense?

I do it, especially when I have more than one. I've seen listings on alternative sites that clearly state - this is an item listed on mulitple locations. If you want it, buy it now - as it will be sold to the first buyer, no matter which site it's purchased from.

I'd say - do what your comfort level is. Test and retest what is getting seen/looked at and 'purchased' at a variety of sites. I do know that different items do better at different sites, as do different sellers.

Hope this helps! :D

bgnagn1 · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 683

Thanks for the quick answer. I think my comfort level is one item at a time per site. I take them off ebay and then do a paste and copy and then list in my ecrater store or google base. I have more listed on ecrater now than I have on ebay. Just that much easier to close when the time comes.

I went back and looked at a website you (Michelle) had included in a forum "Silverling"?? or something and the count of store closings and items removed is astronomical and seems to be growing. I have taken about 500 items off personally, someone else I've talked to has taken 5000 items off and my cousin has taken about 2000 items off.

On the other hand, I've spent a lot of time and money at auctions over the past summer in preparation for the Christmas season, which was fantastic last year. So I have a lot of collectibles and space used up in my house, in his garage, and our huge van is full, too. LOL

Oh Well, I choose to do better elsewhere and I choose to be bigger elsewhere but I also choose to give the same customer service I've given the buyers from the beginning of my adventure.

Thanks again, gotta go help my husband, we live in the country and are having some problems with water pressure, the tank needs replaced. Thanks goodness he is the one going under the house, I just get to be the gopher...

Carol

http://1finetreasure.ecrater.com

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

Someone posted that when they do list at several sites, they make a simple spreadsheet to keep track of what is where. That way when it sells, you just look at the sheet to see where else you have it listed and quickly close those other listings.

The spreadsheet could be as simple as having all the places you sell on in the columns B thru ?. Column A would be for the Item. The rows would be the item in the first column followed by X in each column where it is listed.

It would be unusual, but I don't think things are selling all THAT fast on the alt sites that you would need to really worry about selling the item twice -- unless it's something really hot or really collectable and rare.

Carol

Patty00 · Joined: 13 Dec 2005 Posts: 1018

Carol - I'm guilty of listing the same item on several sites. Up till now when an item sells I've been able to get right into the other accounts and delete it. Also, if its on ebay and I get a bid I just go and delete it everywhere else. On the store thing - do you think its not really closed because they just want to keep counting even the closed stores?

sewbest · Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 62

Back to that article about Meg.

somebody must be living in a fairytale world!!!

She doesn't have a clue!!
Or,perhaps is dumb,deaf and blind not to knowwhat utter
havoc she and the team are creating for PEOPLE,Sellers are
People!

for months now,sellers have been holloring HELP!!!

What? meg hasn't heard???
Oh yea,she's only received,what was it, 14 emails??? R.i.g.h.t......If
that is the truth, I'll eat IT :cry: