UK's CORE calls for 4-day boycott of eBay, mass reporting of 'scam' listings

[mandy]

eBay sellers that staged a listings strike against the auction site last month have called on all eBay customers to take part in further protest action.

The UK-based group, dubbed CORE (Campaign Of Rebuffed Ebayers), plans to hold a four-day protest event against eBay later this month.

Its 'Clean Up Ebay' protest, scheduled for Thursday 14 September at 9pm until the same time Monday 18 September 2006, involves eBayers boycotting all buying and selling activity during that period and reporting as many 'bad listings' as they can.

According to CORE, its members are angry with scam listings, poor customer services, increased fees being passed on to buyers, the flooding of the site by users in the Far East who they believe are granted fee free access to eBay and shop listings not being found by searches...

full article: http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/news.php?id=94254

EDIT   Press release just arrived:

CORE, the UK based Campaign Of Rebuffed Ebayers, has announced plans for its next
protest action against the leading auction website. Campaign organizers are calling
for a four day ‘Clean Up Ebay’ protest (CUE) from 21.00 GMT on Thursday 14th
September until the same time Monday 18th September 2006.

A spokesman for the group said; “This is more than just a listing strike as we are
now asking all eBayers to get involved. We are calling for both buyers and sellers
to stop trading during this four day period and donate some of the time saved to
report as many of the obvious bad listings on eBay as they can. We are also asking
all remaining eBay shop sellers to put their shop ‘on holiday’ for the duration the
protest”.

Derived from the original Fee Protest Group which organized the high profile listing
strike in August, due to Ebay\'s sudden and extreme fee increase, CORE has now
attracted over 1,160 signatures to a petition in Ebay’s discussion forums.

Their spokesman continued; “The number signing the petition in the UK has more than
doubled since our last one day action in August. This suggests customers attitude
toward eBay is still hardening. It appears the latest round of fee hikes of up to
100% recently imposed by eBay served as a ‘tipping point’ for many site customers’
to cry foul for a variety of reasons.”

Complaints received by CORE have significantly broadened from the original fee hike
issue. Failings to police the site adequately for, so called, scam listings, poor
customer services, increased fees being passed on to buyers, the flooding of the
site by users in the far east who are granted fee free access to eBay and shop
listings not being found by searches are just some of the issues that have been
highlighted.

“This is why we are looking to bring all eBay users together by asking everyone to
boycott all buying and selling activity for these four days and report as many bad
listings as they can. Many users believe eBay fail to take timely action against
rule breaking listings when they are reported. We therefore trust publicity
surrounding this next phase of our protest will give eBay sufficient time to gear up
resources to deal with the increased number of listing reports they will be
getting.”

To date eBay management in the UK and US has remained tight lipped about the effects
of user protests and many critics believe they are risking long term damage to their
business by appearing out of touch with their customers. Protests are continuing in
other European countries, the US, Canada and Australia and international cooperation
between various protest groups is understood to be growing.

Alternative web based auction sites, while in eBays shadow at the moment, have
reported increases in their auction listings of up to 35% in the past month, a fact
which shouldn’t have gone unnoticed by the market leader’s management.

Notes for Editors:
1. CORE spokespeople can be contacted via: ebayprotestgroup@googlemail.com

[BellisimaJ.]

9/7/06 - CORE PRESS RELEASE - RESPONSE TO BILL COBB

CORE, the Campaign Of Rebuffed Ebayers, has responded to yesterdays comments by Bill Cobb, President eBay North America, who indicated recent changes which have so infuriated eBay users globally would stand.

A spokesman for CORE said; “He [Bill Cobb] repeated the same company justification that has been offered since July which, in many peoples view, is looking increasingly out of touch with reality. He failed to adequately acknowledge the depth of international user opposition to recent policy changes and this, in many commentators opinion, is a mistake. In our view he came across as insincere and insulting to the smaller community members that claim they can no longer afford to trade on eBay. He referred to their plight as simply ‘unfortunate’. H

is Q&A session was basically of little interest to the fee paying user he was addressing.” 

CORE is calling for an international four day ‘Clean Up Ebay’ protest (CUE) from 21.00 GMT on Thursday 14th September until the same time Monday 18th September 2006

http://www.ebayauctionmasters.com/home_p...L_COBB.htm

[amy]

both buyers and sellers
to stop trading during this four day period

I do that everyday so I can definitely do it next week too.   ;D

eBay management in the UK and US has remained tight lipped about the effects of user protests and many critics believe they are risking long term damage to their business by appearing out of touch with their customers.

If you ignore customer complaints eventually it will come back and bite you in the ass. 

[BellisimaJ.]

I do that everyday so I can definitely do it next week too.  Grin 

Me too, tg.

If you ignore customer complaints eventually it will come back and bite you in the ass.       

I agree, but have to add that they (ebay) don't just ignore customer complaints----they RETALIATE, the aspholes!!! And, they don't care how many people they affect with their lack  of concern.

PS// For some reason, I am more angry at ebay now than I have been in weeks. It is such s frickin     company!

:nbiteme:        ebay!!!!!!

[cranky_hippie]

For some reason, I am more angry at ebay now than I have been in weeks.

Just stay completely away from there. The negative energy is overwhelming.

[stardust]

The negative energy is overwhelming.

This is true. 

[mandy]

Press coverage of the planned CORE strike:

In less than a week’s time, eBay faces another boycott from its customers and store partners over fee hikes, changes to search listings and a growing number of rogue sellers.

But even before the protest kicks off, its organisers have serious doubts about whether their demands will be met.

“I don’t think eBay will back down,” says a spokesperson for the Campaign Of Rebuffed eBayers (CORE), a UK-based group which is promoting the strike. “They are a monopoly, and they know it.”

Starting on Thursday next week, CORE’s ‘Clean Up eBay’ protests centre around fee increases introduced by the auction giant in August, which impact its store partners’ cost of sales. They are also annoyed by the influx of Far Eastern ‘scam listings’ onto the site, reducing their visibility when buyers perform searches...

full article: http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/3...trike.html

[BellisimaJ.]

“I don’t think eBay will back down,” says a spokesperson for the Campaign Of Rebuffed eBayers (CORE), a UK-based group which is promoting the strike. “They are a monopoly, and they know it.”

Ebay won't back down.Management is too egotistical to try and effect a compromise. It is apparently their way or the highway.  :     

BUT, momentum is building against ebay in the financial press,
and stockholders CAN and WILL take        down and maybe (one can hope) Billy Boy Cobb too.

[mandy]

Press coverage of the CORE boycott:

... a press release regarding the four-day strike called - 4 Day Clean Up Ebay campaign announced in UK. The gist: A four-day campaign starting from 21.00 GMT on Thursday 14th September until the same time Monday 18th September 2006. They ask sellers to put their stores on holidays during that time and to put their time to good use to report bad listings. Claiming the numbers of those signing the petition in the UK has more than doubled since their last strike day, they hope for a wide support.

The group organizing the campaign calls themselves CORE - Campaign Of Rebuffed Ebayers, which is cute since this exactly what eBay is trying to do with the fee hikes - wants to shift the listing mix back in favor of core listings rather than store. The group also hopes to get management rattled enough to at least speak of the effects of the different merchants' protests. Quite frankly, I would like to hear what management has to say about that too...

full article: http://sirius-satellite-radio-siri.blogg...ay-strike/

Today, 14th September 2006, marks the start of a four day protest action against eBay. I’ve discussed the issues behind seller unrest on eBay in a previous AC article HERE .

The protest in the UK is being led by a group calling themselves CORE, standing for Campaign Of Rebuffed Ebayers. Few members are willing to identify themselves fully to the media as they suspect their eBay account listings are being targeted for malicious reports and their postings in the eBay forums censored...

John sells collectables from his home in Cleveland in north east England and has been an eBay Store owner for over a year. I began by asking him what effect the eBay fee increases will have on him. He replied; “Obviously I will have to pay more of my revenue to eBay now and, to counter this, I will have no choice but pass these costs, at least in part, on to buyers. Ultimately it is always buyers on eBay that will bear the cost of increased fees.”

While obviously not happy at this prospect, John became more animated when I asked if the fees were more important than the decision to remove Store items from most searches done on the site; “Let me put it this way, if you had a high street shop and your landlord put the rent up you’d be upset, yes? But what if he also boarded up your windows so nobody knows you are open or what you are selling?” ...

full article: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...issue.html

[sliique]

Whether iy works or not, my Sore is on vacation, in support of this strike, just like the last one.

Maybe a small contribution, nonetheless, it's on Vacation.