Not for the first time, some sellers on eBay are planning to stage a
worldwide walkout over controversial changes to how the auction site
wants them to do business.
On the first of May, the month the new rules take effect, a seller-led
boycott of the virtual marketplace is due to begin for 24 hours, the
Sunday Times understands.
Their protest is that under the changes, only buyers will be able to
post comments about the goods they receive, whereas sellers will be
stripped of this feedback option.
In practice, this will make it impossible for sellers to respond to
complaints about their conduct which, regardless of being true, could
damage their reputations.
They believe the site risks losing its ‘community’ element - largely
seen as making eBay a success – because the founding system of trader’s
rating each other will go.
The move aims to encourage buyers to be more open about their
experience – something eBay fears doesn’t happen once buyers are
rebuffed by sellers they complain about.
Publicly, eBay has only alluded to the move, saying an “update” of the
feedback system will inspire “healthy, vibrant trading and keep
bringing buyers back.”
The grass-roots uprising is also seen as a reaction to eBay imposing a
new system of fees – a move the company says has helped its profit leap
by more than 20%.
Although sellers' ‘insertion’ or listing fees are down by a third – as
will be the time it takes to list – final completion fees have leapt
from 5.25% to7.25%.
In January, the site also vowed to make the bare minimum standards for
sellers more rigorous, “primarily to discourage behavior [sic] that
causes buyer dissatisfaction”.
The site has also begun decreasing search exposure for the listings of
sellers who have a high number of customer complaints, while requiring
PayPal for sellers who have such low feedback ratings.
“Put simply, we will make more of our money when sellers are
successful,” said John Donahoe, who took over as eBay’s chief executive
last month.
He said feedback from sellers shows that incentives to list are not
aligned; that insertion fees are too risky; that they want to sell at
higher volumes, and that they want an indicator of their sales
performance.
“The seller dashboard that we’re rolling out in May is in direct
response to that,” Mr Donahoe said of the feedback, speaking to the
eBay Ink blog.
“We’re making improvements to our tools for casual sellers. For
example, we instituted a process that has cut down the listing time by
a third. And for larger sellers, we’re doing a number of things that
will make their experience on eBay much easier. We’re determined to be
the healthiest and most vibrant marketplace today for both buyers and
sellers.”
Apr 22, 2008
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