Consumer frustration with eBay and the disillusionment of its sellers

[mandy]

Consumer frustration with eBay:

I wrote a post Friday with the thought that Amazon should buy eBay, and readers nearly revolted at the idea. The outpouring of rage at eBay was of the sort we don’t see here for anything other than cellphone companies. The company is clearly getting hit by both buyers and sellers...

Below is a sampling of the complaints from Bits readers.
Unhelpful customer service

    As a former middle manager at eBay, I can attest to the company’s ghastly approach to customer support…. If it’s a matter of managing expectations, then eBay should rename their customer support something more appropriate like, “Endless obstacle course of red tape and runaround where you rarely if ever get to talk to a human.” ...

full article: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/17...ed-buyers/

Angry sellers:

Here’s another angle on what’s wrong at eBay: Sellers increasingly find eBay’s fees to be too expensive and are becoming successful at finding buyers on Amazon.com or on their own sites...

“EBay’s relations with sellers over the last few years have deteriorated and are, at best, poor right now,” Mr. Wingo said.

There has always been griping about eBay, of course. But now, Ms. Steiner said, sellers are just not making as much money there. The biggest problem is that eBay charges a fee simply to list an item, and then it charges a second final value fee if the item actually sells. Ms. Steiner said that the percentage of items that do sell is going down, so sellers feel they are wasting money on listings...

full article: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/17...y-sellers/

Related:

For years it was impossible to even suggest that Amazon buy eBay because eBay’s market value was three or four times that of Amazon. And there was good reason for that: EBay’s margins have been far higher because it simply moves bits around, while Amazon has to move boxes (and take the risk of owning inventory it can’t sell).

Now the tables are turning. Amazon is in favor on Wall Street. Its shares are up 150 percent over the last year, giving it a market value of $38 billion. EBay’s stock has been flat for a year, and it is now worth only a little more than Amazon at $45 billion.

Amazon has been improving its margins, in part because it is increasingly acting as a broker for goods sold by other merchants (and doing a better job for new merchandise than eBay stores or eBay’s Shopping.com)...

full article: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/14...-buy-ebay/

A related article:

eBay's stock is dead in the water, and its two key constituencies--buyers and sellers--are pissed. Here's our Four Plan Plan to fix the place:

2. Cut prices. Sellers are up in arms about two things: A) eBay's high upfront listing fees, which create a risk that sellers will lose money on products that don't sell, and B) eBay's overall pricing. eBay should take a page out of Amazon's book and cut prices significantly. This will force competitors out of the market and create a better value proposition for sellers. Yes, it will also result in a major short-term hit to profit margins and the stock. But it would be the smart move long term.

full article: http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/12/how-...-plan.html

Mashable disagrees with the above articles:

Still, as even the anecdotal experiences might be bad, the numbers don’t reflect this, as even Bits is forced to admit, experiencing only seasonal shifts:

    The total number of listings fell by 5 percent in the third quarter, according to research from Citigroup, and is on track to be up 5 percent, year over year, in the fourth quarter.

    But under those stable numbers are some big shifts. EBay’s listings are growing for autos in the United States and in the United Kingdom, South Korea and many other countries. But in October and November, the number of listings in the United States, other than autos, fell by 8.3 percent. (Germany, eBay’s second-biggest market is mixed. Listings fell 14.3 percent in the third quarter but jumped 13 percent in the last two months, Citigroup wrote.)

Certainly, eBay needs to (and is indeed) address these issues of concern to sustain growth.  I think it is a bit early to be calling for the demise of the company, though...

full article: http://mashable.com/2007/12/18/rumors-of...aggerated/