More press coverage of angry eBay sellers...

[maryrussel]

[quote author=cranky_hippie link=topic=4859.msg21398#msg21398 date=1156381274]
"It is fascinating to me what other sellers are thinking. I hope that others will also post their impressions on this."

I'm thinking that Ebay stinks.
[/quote]

;D

[stardust]

You won't get any argument there, cranky.

[thentavius]

Great insight, Stardust. I'm certain that's one of the main reasons they raised the fees. It's slowly starting to make sense (but I feel we're still missing part of the puzzle).

[Kristijntje]

It seems a number of eBay sellers have improved their public-relations skills over the years, and reporters are listening. As fallout continues from the fee increase and accompanying decreased exposure of eBay Store listings, sellers around the globe are getting their point of view across in articles...

Others are using "Web 2.0" techniques to bring their message to the masses. A group calling itself CORE - the "Campaign Of Rebuffed Ebayers" - has produced a protest video, which it posted to Google Video in the UK (http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?doci...4273716185). The video calls for a 4-day "Clean Up Ebay" protest from September 14 - 18, requesting that viewers refrain from buying or selling on eBay on those dates. CORE issued a press release in which it revealed little about its membership other than it is "Derived from the original Fee Protest Group which organized the high profile listing strike in August,..."

full article: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m09/i06/s04

[thentavius]

The fee hike is finally making sense to me. At first, I couldn't figure out why on earth they would try to kill stores after having pushed so danged hard to get them out there, and to get us subscribing to them.

It is all making sense now.

1.) They want eBay Express to be the main focus. In doing this, auctions and fixed price must be core. It isn't working, so they have to do something to make people opt-in.

2.) They are trying to please the investors.

3.) They've changed their focus from a cheap "warehouse" to wanting to be a glossy Sears Catalog (the eBay "Catalog", as an email I received today touts). They want to kill stores to do this.

Here's a quote pulled from a stores board discussion, quoting a pink:

EBAY PINKS response to question at BBL.... It "appears" that you want stores to go away.

Not at all. What we want is for some slow moving or non-selling Store Inventory listings - not eBay Stores - to leave eBay.com... This doesn't mean we want all Store Inventory listings off of the site, just the non-productive one.

Original thread: http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?t...2000214847&tstart=0&mod=1157652505142

Color me no longer confused.

[jolee]

Bloggingstocks is calling ebay sellers 'pit bulls,  then offering a space for comments...I say go for it.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2006/09/06...1#comments

[BellisimaJ.]

A post from Sheldon, yesterday. He is calling eBay, " in trouble".

14. Everyone so far has made some very valid points. Most of you know I have given your issues and concerns many hours of thought, research, writing, follow-up comments and more. One thing that seems abundantly clear is that Ebay created new opportunities for people that did not exist before. They have reduced those opportunities, contradicted themselves, and also responded poorly to the pleas for understanding and cooperation from people that they should consider their business associates. I do not know why this is so, but I do know that it is very damming evidence that something is wrong. I have written on many different subjects for bloggingstocks and my editors have given me great latitude. In one diversion I chose to share my thoughts about Merck (which I own) with our readers and how I was not overly concerned about their potential liability of ten's of billions of dollars. As an investor I am actually more worried about Ebay. Merck is addressing their problems head on and Ebay is not. But as an investor my concerns go deeper than any discussed here. I do not like their options program, executive compensation, management shuffling, circumvention of issues, and I hate the Skype deal. If my trust in management had not been weakened I would have no problem giving them some leap of faith based on their track record with Half.com, PayPal,Ebay Motors, Shopping.com etc. Now I cant. It is becoming a convoluted mess and the ill will just makes me say to myself there are better, less complex, safer places to invest my money. As I will do with my investment dollars, I think sellers should do with their time and energy -- move on. Introducing a concept from the real estate world. If they fail because of their short sightedness, then someone else will build a better company/building using their tombstone as a foundation for a new company -- it's time to move on. Respect and Peace to all in your journey's

Posted at 2:09AM on Sep 7th 2006 by Sheldon

[BellisimaJ.]

Comments such as this from persons such as Sheldon, will if nothing else, cost ebay dearly.

Indeed, I see Meg's resignation on the horizon in the not too far off future. Momentum is building.