eBay Boycott Begins Tomorrow: Will It Work?

Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:58PM EST

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In response to eBay's recent announcement that it would no longer allow sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, the uproar has been deafening. How deafening? So loud that a boycott has been planned, set to begin tomorrow on February 18, 2008 and run for (at least) a week.

Will it stick? As I noted in my original post, eBayers who want to auction things have little alternative to the auction giant unless they want to open their storefronts or sell at fixed-price merchants like Amazon.com.

However, a recent poll of eBay sellers showed that a full 90 percent were unhappy with the policy change (though AuctionBytes notes that no one was really happy with the feedback system before the change, either). Though, as the above story notes, "What I'm hearing from a sellers is not, can we afford to boycott eBay for a week, but rather, can we afford to continue selling on eBay once these changes roll out?"

eBay boycotts are nearly as old as eBay itself, and none of those have been effective at getting the company to change its policies. But things may be different now, as sellers appear to be weighing whether to even bother selling merchandise online at all, turning instead to flea markets and enthusiast fairs instead of wading through what many now see as a bureaucratic and expensive nightmare.

Still, eBay may be taking the threat seriously. To mitigate any ill will, eBay is offering a listing promo until the 20th (per AuctionBytes), and its new discounts for media sellers take effect on that day, too. Will people be drawn to a deal enough to overlook a few policy changes? We shall see.

Comments on eBay Boycott Begins Tomorrow: Will It Work?

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  • 6 Posted by noluck15 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:40PM EDT Report Abuse

    how will we know if it is a fair & honest dealer without feedback.?

  • 7 Posted by cltd718 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:27PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am a buyer and support this boycott! With the feedback changes buyers will be able to leave seller's negs for any reason at all! How as a buyer will I know who is safe to buy from when even excellent sellers have low feedback ratings? The sellers will have to increase the starting prices of the items to make up the for the increase in fees. Sellers will leave and there will be less quality items to choose from, which will drive up the bidding price. The great estate sale items that the sellers go out and find for us buyers will be gone because those sellers are being pushed out. These changes are not good for buyers or sellers! I will not be buying anything the week of the boycott to show support of the all the great sellers I've bought from!

  • 8 Posted by beloth on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:05PM EDT Report Abuse

    I speack as a buyer and a seller both, and I say: Support the boycott - this will do nothing good for BUYERS or SELLERS, the only one who might benefit is eBay, and that remain to be seen - not much benifit if all your sellers jump ship. There has to be a better way to fix feedback then allowing buyers to walk all over sellers, with no possible repercussion. No matter what anyone thinks - there are BAD buyers, just like BAD sellers, and this facilitates those bad buyers. Lets just hope eBay can figure out a better way, that will protect both buyers and sellers. That would be ideal. SUPPORT THE BOYCOTT

  • 9 Posted by maryronapa on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    Many people have asked me over the last few days if I really think our boycott will be successful. They wonder if it is possible for EBAY sellers to really have an effect on such a large company. I have a few thoughts about that, and I would like to share them with you. First of all, I completely believe that ebay sellers can have an effect on the company. We did 10 years ago when, without us, EBAY would never have reached its first birthday. We did a few years back, when another much smaller boycott was shortly followed by a fee reduction. We will on Feb 18th when tens of thousands of sellers, OR MORE, stop listing, selling and buying during the boycott. Never before has the average seller on Ebay come together so quickly and forcefully with their fellow sellers to make a statement against an Ebay policy decision. Why is this time different??? Because the policy changes that have been announced are so outrageous! First, we were told that there was a fee reduction. WOW, GREAT! That was a short lived smile on the face of the average seller. A few sentences later we read in the Ebay announcement that listing fees were going down by as little as a nickel while Final Value Fees were going up by as much as 67%. Fee hikes are bad enough without being lied to about them. Then we learned that while buyers were still allowed to leave positive, negative or neutral feedback sellers were only allowed to leave Positives. Ebay is going to tell me what my opinion of a transaction is going to be? What if it wasn't positive? Oh, then I can leave nothing. Well that really doesn't work. What if a buyer never paid, or paid four weeks late, or called me at home at 3am? What if they filed a chargeback and sent back a USED broken ipod instead of the brand new one they bought from me? Positive feedback or nothing really doesnt work now does it? Oh, then there is the paypal issue. Paypal can hold the sellers money from a sale up to 21 days. Under 100 feedback ( all new sellers! ) or 5% neg/neut feedback in 30 days are two of the many reasons paypal may do this. Oh, and you have to pay for shipping out of your own pocket and hope you eventually get paid? OH, and paypal will just keep the interest they earn on your money for all their trouble! Problems with BEST MATCH and other ebay functions are issues too. THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT THIS TIME EBAY HAS GONE TOO FAR JOIN US FEB 18-25 EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO JOINS US MAKES US STRONGER WE MUST STAY THE COURSE

  • 10 Posted by slangster04 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm afraid this is the beginning of the end for small sellers on eBay and fewer fabulous estate finds. Please read these the "Honest opinion on Ebay's new policies from a powerseller..." and other comments on eBay forums: What Ebay wants to do: Ebay wants to catch up with that large river in south america in that it eventually wants to get fees down to nothing and get FVFs up to a combined 15% (i.e., combined with Paypal). The large river is winning in revenue, so Ebay will follow that model as the current management follow what the analysts at big financial firms say they must do - i.e., compete with the other guy's business model. What ebay is actually doing: They are losing sight of what made Ebay unique. Ebay used to be the "world's flea market" - but they now see this as a dirty word - they want to be a "marketplace". However, this automatically disenfranchises a large majority of their members. Remember when Ebay was fun? Not any more. What they appear to be saying is that if you want to sell here, you've got to be a merchant - no more mom and pop operations. This is a shame as they seem to forget the original ethos of Ebay that got them to where they are today. Talking of which, ebay's share price was at $60 just 3 years ago...and then what happened? They started raising fees - and today? Share price below $30 - surely someone has to see that their business plan is not working? What Ebay fee hikes mean for sellers Nothing. Sellers will raise their prices to compensate for the fee increases. Those who used to sell by auction will convert to BIN, or will be hurt. What Ebay fee hikes mean for buyers Less choice and higher prices. What Ebay fee hikes mean for Ebay revenues Less choice, higher prices = lower overall sales = lower revenues. http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000519361&tstart=0&mod=1203296830876

  • 11 Posted by patty013 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    For the first time in 10 years I will have no listings on ebay. In a couple of hours my last two auctions will end. I closed my store weeks ago and I've contacted all my buyers and given them free shipping from my website. Its been doing a brisk business. The part that ebay fails to realize is that a year ago I listed on ebay and paid for their store and once in awhile I'd try out a new online site but came back because I was relatively happy with my business. Now, I'm listing on Overstock, Etsy, ePier, eCrater, Art by Us - and on and on. I've taken my ebay store money and invested it in Google adwords to direct traffic to my website. Of course, after the boycott I'll go back to ebay...but it won't be the same and the bulk of my listings will be elsewhere! My situation is not unusual. If they don't want to lose the small seller then they'd best take notice because this is what most sellers are doing....and they are running into the open arms of Amazon and the other online sites! We've always said we wished there was a viable alternative to ebay....now we may be seeing the birth of many of them!

  • 12 Posted by auctionglider on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    The feedback changes are the dumbest thing they could have done. Anyone making money on eBay can get past fee increases but to have you reputation destroyed by unreasonable buyers that have no reason for restraint and to put the cherry on top those morons decide if you get FVF discounts, lowered in the searches, money witheld by Paypal & how much buyers will pay for your item if your feedback looks low to them. I have not found anything in the way of a viable alternative to make my living online so I searched for something that might bring some balance back. I FOUND IT!!! There is a site called http://WWW.AFTERTHEGAVEL.COM. They let sellers & only sellers leave neutral and negative feedback for buyers. If enough of us sellers participate we can recreate the balance. Buyers never cared what ebay thought of their feedback only what sellers thought. They are afraid of being found out that some of them are the biggest pains and sometimes crookedest. If sellers can still find out who is bad in the buyers pool then we can block them before they have a chance to soil our reputation. We will be able to quickly draw a big arrow to those buyers that will try to use feedback extortion to get their way and maybe even eliminate the problem altogether eventually. I urge all sellers to check it out!!

  • 13 Posted by mindseyejewelry on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    This whole thing is insane. Can't ebay just let us sellers make some money. They certainly are.

  • 14 Posted by mindseyejewelry on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    WOW! I just checked out WW.AFTERTHEGAVEL.COM. What a big help to us sellers that want to protect our reputation. If you are a seller and you have not seen it you better look now!!

  • 15 Posted by recycletoreuse on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thanks auctionglider! afterthegavel is a great site. I think it will help me.

  • 16 Posted by toounfazed on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:17PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm supporting the boycott by never again buying, never again selling on FeeBay. All significant accounts are now closed. I'm currently bidding on this excellent item on Ebay: AMAZING Boycott Ebay Feb 18th - 25th TOAST --Must See ! Item # 250217152780. I have never laughed so hard in my life. This toast is a must see item, already over $50,000! I'm now laughing all the way to my own website and to Amazon.com for exposure.

  • 17 Posted by slangster04 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    From money central msns website a list of insider stock trades for ebay execs. Date Name Transaction Num Shares Price(s) Value 12/28/07 COBB WILLIAM C Sold 5,000 $33.74 168,695.00 12/14/07 COBB WILLIAM C Sold 5,000 $33.06 165,284.50 12/14/07 JACOBSON MICHAEL RICHARD Sold 70,000 $33.29 2.33 Mil 12/06/07 WHITMAN MARGARET C Sold 640,000 $33.62 21.52 Mil 11/29/07 COBB WILLIAM C Sold 5,000 $33.64 168,192.00 11/16/07 WHITMAN MARGARET C Sold 640,000 $32.43 20.76 Mil 11/15/07 COBB WILLIAM C Sold 5,000 $32.40 161,982.50 11/08/07 DUTTA RAJIV Sold 62,500 $32.86 2.05 Mil 11/08/07 WHITMAN MARGARET C Sold 640,000 $33.20 21.25 Mil 10/30/07 COBB WILLIAM C Sold 15,000 $36.52 547,846.50 10/25/07 DUTTA RAJIV Sold 125,000 $35.75 4.47 Mil 10/22/07 COOK SCOTT D Sold 18,100 $36.39 658,659.00 10/22/07 COOK SCOTT D Sold 44,937 $36.05 1.62 Mil 10/22/07 COOK SCOTT D Sold 33,100 $35.90 1.19 Mil 10/22/07 COOK SCOTT D Sold 3,600 $35.80 128,880.00 09/28/07 COBB WILLIAM C Sold 40,000 $39.14 1.57 Mil 09/21/07 WHITMAN MARGARET C Sold 640,000 $38.75 24.80 Mil 09/17/07 JACOBSON MICHAEL RICHARD Sold 70,000 $37.20 2.60 Mil 09/14/07 COBB WILLIAM C Sold 15,000 $37.88 568,198.50 Insider filings are updated daily and are based on forms filed monthly with the SEC. Just Margaret Whitman's aggregate stock sales 88.33 million dollars. And they still aren't satisfied, they want more fees from us??? Huh??? They will never be satisfied until they squeeze out the last drop. How can we continue to feed this machine, considering how we are treated? Didn't that revenue come from sellers?????????

  • 18 Posted by puterdude66 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:22PM EDT Report Abuse

    As a long time user of ebay, predominantly as a buyer, although I have sold, I have a 100% positive rating on over 250 transactions. There have been a few times that I feel negative feedback should have been left for the seller. With the knowledge that the feedback would probably result in negative feedback being left for me by the seller, I have resisted the temptation to do so. I have left negative feedback at least once, and maybe neutral a couple of times. I am slective about taking sever action and try to wait until I have "cooled down" and given thought to the circumstances that may have caused a problem. Often, feedback which is less than sunny positive and upbeat could be left with an explanation if ebay allowed a few more characters for a short explanation or constructive criticism. Unfortunately, I do not have enough money, room and time in the day to spend a lot of time on ebay, but it is one of my favorite places to shop.

  • 19 Posted by bayoudianne on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    Ebay: AMAZING Boycott Ebay Feb 18th - 25th TOAST --Must See ! Item # 250217152780. Was up to $150,100.00.. BEFORE EBAY SHUT IT DOWN. They said she was breaking the rule of No Item to sell. She WAS selling something. She did nothing wrong and Ebay shut her down. That's the kind of thing this Boycott is about. Not just feedback changes. It is about Ebay doing whatever they want without regard to what is best for the Sellers and Buyers. How can PayPal hold our money for 21 days? That can't be legal. I suggest that the MEDIA get involved more. Ebay has been hiding long enough. Take a minute to write to your Attorney General of your state and ask if this is legal? Also, the Drudge Report has links to all the media. You can send messages to all of them. This will help give Ebay Sellers a louder voice. (longtime seller)

  • 20 Posted by freebirdtim on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    "If a buyer pays he is done". Incorrect. You ARE oversimplifying it. Sellers do not leave positives first for many valid reasons. Any seller who accepts eBay's shady Paypal payment service knows not to leave feedback for a buyer first. Many buyers take advantage of Paypal's "the buyer is always right" mentality and pull chargeback claims MONTHS after they receive their item. The only recourse for the seller is to warn other sellers that the buyer is scamming with Paypal's blessing. THAT's why eBay wants to stop letting sellers neg buyers. It's bad PR and it cuts into Paypal profits. But let's look at the most obvious reason sellers wait for feedback from a buyer. When a buyer leaves feedback, it lets the seller know the item has been received and the buyer is happy with the deal. It's called common courtesy, which many buyers sorely lack. And the last reason sellers do not leave feedback first is that almost 1/4 of all buyers are too lazy or ignorant to leave ANY feedback for a seller, even after a seller leaves them feedback. I have left over 1,000 feedbacks as a seller and received less than 750 in return. That is the biggest reason I no longer leave feedback first. So, as you can see, your post about the buyer being done as soon as he pays is completely wrong.

  • 21 Posted by happy2354430 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    Ebay is a monopolists, this is always bad, sellers rely upon this site to make a living, and nonheless they can lose their accounts without any warning - just because ebay so wants, I wish I could find some fellow sellers so we can combined our efforts and make some anti-e-bay website that will provide the same service at the reasonable fee. People, let's do it, let's stop this dictate by monopolsit!

  • 22 Posted by slsonich on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    Closed my store with them, and off to greener pastures! It would be business suicide for anyone to sell with them at this point... It is not profitable anymore and the risk of plotted feedback is real... Feel sorry for those who are co-dependant and afraid to get themselves out of that greedy system... BOYCOTT EBAY FOREVER!!

  • 23 Posted by slsonich on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm finished with them... They are deceiptful in their dealings with everyone, including buyers and take advantage of the small seller... Do some research, find out for yourself!! Yes, it will make a difference!!

  • 24 Posted by justvaness1961 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    OUR CASE 1. Ebay said they were reducing fees. They lied. They reduced insertion fees by as little as a nickel and raised FVF by up to 67%. They raised the reserve fee from 1 to 2 dollars AND made it non-refundable. 2. Sellers can no longer leave negative or neutral feedback for any buyer for any reason. Buyers can still rate the transaction how they see fit. ( pos, neg, neut ) 3. Paypal will hold some sellers money up to 21 days, keeping the interest earned and the seller has to ship out with his/her own money and hope to get paid later. 4. Best Match - default search-if you get a few negs or low dsr's your listings will be hidden at the bottom of the search and never seen. WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT THESE CHANGES? EBAY BOYCOTT FEB 18-25.

  • 25 Posted by mikeh4101 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    I quit using ebay quite a while ago. With Oodle, craigslist and others I am usually able to sell quicker and get the amount I ask. Plus selling local allows me to sell all cash, no messing with paypay, etc.

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