Did a 7-Year-Old Lemonade Stand Operator Write This Letter or What?

[mandy]

Randy Smythe reprinted a copy of a letter that was sent to him by a group of eBay sellers who are trying to mount a boycott of IR 500 retailers.  The letter is being sent by the group to IR 500 merchants who no doubt snicker and dismiss the letter sender as a loon after reading the opening paragraph:

Topic: Why we’re not buying at buy.com

Nobody likes a bully. They push and shove to get their way and don’t care about others. Pretty selfish behavior.

Usually they get away with it too. If they are bigger and stronger, who is to stop them?

Well we can’t speak for patrolling the school corridors, but when it comes to companies like buy.com bulling their way onto the eBay marketplace we believe it’s time to take stand. Together...

read the rest here: http://www.myblogutopia.com/2008/10/on-e...ymore.html

my comments:
1. eBay is not an island. eBay sellers' items have always had to compete with buy.com and other IR500 merchants' items for online buyers regardless of whether Buy's items were listed directly on the eBay site or not.  The increasing importance of both organic and paid search, Google Product Search, and CSEs means going forward eBay sellers will see increased competition from IR500 merchants even if those merchants aren't listing their items on eBay.

Every business, whether online or offline, must deal with larger competitors. The successful smaller businesses learn how to differentiate themselves from their larger competitors and attract customers by providing something their larger competitors don't - whether that 'something' is better customer service or a different product mix.  Only on eBay do smaller businesses stamp their feet and demand that their larger competitors shut down their operations.

2.  Every business attempts to negotiate the best prices with its vendors and suppliers.  When you buy merchandise from a supplier you no doubt also try to negotiate the best price or receive volume discounts. Buy.com didn't do anything wrong - it merely did what any business does in its normal interaction with vendors and tried to negotiate the best deal.

3. If the letter hadn't sounded like it was written by a 7 year old lemonade stand operator rather than an adult business owner I wouldn't have bothered to start this thread. 

[bargainbloodhound]

Only on eBay do smaller businesses stamp their feet and demand that their larger competitors shut down their operations.

That letter inspired me to fire off letters to Amazon and NewEgg threatening a boycott if they didn't accede to my demands to stop submitting their product feeds to Google Product Search, Pronto, and TheFind.  I'm still waiting for a reply from them.

arcasm1:

Buy.com didn't do anything wrong - it merely did what any business does in its normal interaction with vendors and tried to negotiate the best deal.

We were part of the group that listed on Overstock for almost 15 months for free (and received increased search exposure, better customer service, perks like a free year of Constant Contact, opportunities to be featured in special promos) while smaller sellers were paying insertion fees and receiving less than what we were being given for free.  Do I think we did anything wrong by accepting the free listings...No I don't.

[sneakymagenta]

That letter inspired me to fire off letters to Amazon and NewEgg threatening a boycott if they didn't accede to my demands to stop submitting their product feeds to Google Product Search, Pronto, and TheFind.  I'm still waiting for a reply from them.

I threatened bullies Ebay and Amazon with a boycott if they don't pull all of their selfish AdWords campaigns.  tolensmiley:


EDIT:

p.s. morons: the site you're organizing a boycott of gives every seller free insertion fees.

There are no fees for listing your items on Buy.com.

http://www.buy.com/toc/marketplace_selle...65546.html

[regic]

I threatened bullies Ebay and Amazon with a boycott if they don't pull all of their selfish AdWords campaigns.

I threatened to hold my breath until my face turns blue if GoDaddy didn't stop running domain registration related AdWords.

[amy]

I threatened bullies Ebay and Amazon with a boycott if they don't pull all of their selfish AdWords campaigns.

Why stop at a removal of their paid search results?  I want their organic search results removed too.  It would make my life a lot easier. ;D

1. eBay is not an island. eBay sellers' items have always had to compete with buy.com and other IR500 merchants' items for online buyers regardless of whether Buy's items were listed directly on the eBay site or not.  The increasing importance of both organic and paid search, Google Product Search, and CSEs means going forward eBay sellers will see increased competition from IR500 merchants even if those merchants aren't listing their items on eBay.

Every business, whether online or offline, must deal with larger competitors. The successful smaller businesses learn how to differentiate themselves from their larger competitors and attract customers by providing something their larger competitors don't - whether that 'something' is better customer service or a different product mix.  Only on eBay do smaller businesses stamp their feet and demand that their larger competitors shut down their operations.

2.  Every business attempts to negotiate the best prices with its vendors and suppliers.  When you buy merchandise from a supplier you no doubt also try to negotiate the best price or receive volume discounts. Buy.com didn't do anything wrong - it merely did what any business does in its normal interaction with vendors and tried to negotiate the best deal.

:ditto: :ditto:

[valleygirl]

My goal is to be an IR 500 merchant within 3 years.

[amy]

[quote author=valleygirl link=topic=18581.msg73016#msg73016 date=1224400145]
My goal is to be an IR 500 merchant within 3 years.
[/quote]

I'll alert the boycotters to put you on their hit list.  ;D

[mandy]

Randy Smythe warns IR 500 retailers that an eBay presence  may deliver less than expected

Of the top Internet retailers, only a small number would even consider selling on eBay and once on the platform they would quickly understand what long-time eBayers are saying. There is not enough demand on the marketplace for the existing group of sellers plus Buy.com, what makes eBay management think adding another 20 large retailers will do to the marketplace.

I hope these companies are not signing any long-term deals with eBay, because they will find out after about 6 months, this is not what they thought it would be...

full article: http://www.myblogutopia.com/2008/10/diam...s-101.html

[mandy]

In talking to Mercent CEO Eric Best, it's clear there's a very different philosophy at play between these mega-retailers and long-time eBay sellers. For Mercent's clients, it's about visibility, branding and customer acquisition. I believe large retailers view eBay simply as another channel to which to send their product feeds, similar to comparison-shopping sites such as Shopping.com and PriceGrabber. That's quite different from the traditional eBay seller who viewed eBay as a major venue on which they sold, not as a way to acquire new customers for their own sites.

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blo...45122.html

The mega-retailers' eBay philosophy mirrors the message we've been pushing here for the past 3 1/2 years...