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Sellers Revolt As Ebay Changes

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  • Sellers Revolt As Ebay Changes

    The auction website eBay says it is not worried by the prospect of a global boycott by sellers and thinks their complaints are 'unfair'.

    Hundreds of sellers are expected to stage a strike starting on May 1, over changes they say are crippling their online businesses.

    From mid-May they will no longer be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for their buyers.
    They are also angry about the increase in eBay's final value fees - the amount paid as a percentage of an item's final sales price.
    Guy Bell from Plymouth used to be a Power Seller on eBay. He had a positive feedback rating of almost 100% based on nearly 4,000 feedback comments.
    He says the increasing fees caused his online collectables business to fold.
    "They keep raising the fees and we keep giving back to them a massive percentage of what we earn. The sellers do all the hard work and pay the fees but eBay couldn't care less.
    "We have gone from a large online store to a carboot sale scenario. There are lots of buyers that don't pay. It is a lot of hassle and we need good protection and to be able to give feedback.

    "There are lots of alternative auction websites with cheaper fees but they don't have enough traffic. If there was a viable alternative, loads of sellers would leave eBay like a shot," he said.
    But an eBay spokeswoman told Sky News good sellers have nothing to fear from the changes.
    "We have increased the final value fee, but we have also reduced the insertion fee by a third, so it is cheaper and less risky to list an item.
    "If the seller was trading enough he would have been getting good discounts. It is often postage and packing costs that are too high and let people down.
    "All the changes are unashamedly focused on protecting buyers and great sellers will be rewarded with incentives, discounts, and more buyers."
    "We don't want to be dismissive of the boycott, but a similar one in February only involved a small number of sellers.. It is a vocal minority." she said.

    Disgruntled sellers have set up sites on MySpace and Facebook to unite members who share their concerns.
    They are calling for no selling or buying from May 1 and claim that eBay is trying to push out smaller traders.
    But other sellers support the changes. Chris Dawson sells full-time on eBay and has a blog about the company.
    "Ebay is the only business where you can leave negative feedback for your customers. You can't do that in a hotel or a shop.
    "If the sellers going on strike were serious about their eBay business they wouldn't be able to afford to boycott.
    "There is still protection for sellers. They can report the buyer to eBay and eBay can terminate their ability to buy.
    "They have also introduced discounts for business sellers on final value fees.
    "To get a 20% reduction on the final value fee you only need to be making £750 a month as long as your customer satisfaction rates are high enough. I don't think the strike will make any difference," he said.

  • #2
    Re: Sellers Revolt As Ebay Changes

    ebays attack dogs 'In just a minute' kept chasing for £16 payment of an already paid bill

    I repeatedly told both ebay & their dogs that the payment had been made & the date.

    Ebay kept saying I should contact their dogs (on a premium rate no) which I refused to do

    No matter what I threatened trying to get any sense out of them via email was/is a complete waste of effort

    They eventually made the mistake of passing the 'debt' to their Manchester solicitors who I contacted immediately by phone. I had the great satisfaction of threatening their clients with everything I could think of.

    I then wrote to the firms senior partner pointing out their clients ineptitude & I haven't heard a thing since

    Anyway I'm on the side of the sellers

    Comment

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