eBay at ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst Conference

implogOn 04.02.2008 at 7:34 pm Said:

You can’t explain and rationalize the eBay changes.

CEO Donahoe is an advocate of Clay “disruptive innovation” Christensen. Donahoe has passed the Christensen message on to those below him. This is what Donahoe wants, “disruptive innovation” in the guise of an “excellent buyer experience”.

The marching orders have been received. Top and mid level execs are frantically trying to show their bosses that they are on the “disruptive innovation” “excellent buyer train”. Logic and common sense have been abandoned. All that is important now is for eBay employees to be on that train if they want a promotion or bonus. Witness the recent Announcement Board posts and Town Hall appearances — it’s all about “excellent buyer experience”.

This train will run on it’s own inertia for a while just as have the past corporate culture change mandate trains. Then it will run out of steam or derail. The next corporate culture mandate train will be waiting at the station. All aboard!

AmberOn 04.03.2008 at 10:24 am Said:

“further pricing adjustments could come at any time.”

This is the death knell for any responsible business owner. Adjustments mean UP as well as down. How can ebay expect sellers to make a business plan around a constantly shifting fee structure?

Why would anyone continue to invest time, inventory and energy to grow their business when a single “adjustment” could make selling here unprofitable?

This is what ebay did with their massive store increase–many excellent sellers fled for more expensive, but more STABLE, venues.

The instability of the pricing here will just force the professional sellers elsewhere, leading to an increase in buyer dissatisfaction as newer, inexperienced sellers take their place. The exact opposite of ebay’s purported goal.

LindaOn 04.03.2008 at 10:25 am Said:

I realize ebay is concerned (and rightfully so) about alienating the sellers with too much change at one time.

But, many of us are frozen in time waiting for the next shoe to fall.

If you would present us with a list of the upcoming changes and estimated time frames we could start adapting (or move on if our product is to be exluded as in DD last week).

It is becoming a daily event to sign-on to the boards and see what horror ebay will inflict on the seller today.

One thing that seems to be forgotten is the fact WE THE SELLERS ARE EBAYS CUSTOMERS. The buyers are OUR customers. And, 90% of the sellers are the major buyers as well.

Open communication between your customer (seller) and Ebay would be a welcome change.

At this point many of us are in a state of panic. Not over the changes that have been announced, but over those that we fear will be announced tomorrow or the next day.

IsaOn 04.03.2008 at 11:10 am Said:

We don’t have time for all these changes!!! Every time eBay makes a change, it mucks up all of my operations! I am most concerned with site changes that mess up the software I use to post hundreds of auctions a week. I am NEVER warned about those changes. How about telling us about site changes and actually allowing us enough time to adjust BEFORE we find out there’s a problem and don’t have any time to fix it?!? Yeah, I know. That’s never going to happen, because ebay doesn’t give a pfft about sellers.

Mark ClassicOn 04.03.2008 at 12:24 pm Said:

Stability is good too Richard, can we pin that on some board room meeting cork boards?

And how about Consistency?

What about Simplicity?

For example:

The current FVF and DSR discount could have been SOOOOO simple.

You get good DSR’s you get a FVF credit, no matter which Ebay site you are on and where in the world you are.

Now that sounds great doesn’t it

But what have we got

This is the current situation for myself and doubtless many many others that are “outside” the UK and USA, and/or listing on different sites to their home location.

Are you ready for this?

This is going to get complicated…

I am a UK seller that lists on .com.

That is my market and I buy Antiques specifically to sell into THAT .com market.

Now we have very good DSR’s and 100% feedback.

But because I do not list on my “home” site, I am not eligible, (please consider how I can maintain a 100% and good DSR’s by listing on .com - that tells you our credentials).

Not to get the FVF discount I have to do the following.

List on the UK.
Pay an extra £0.15 per item on average to get visibility on .com.
Pay an extra £0.15 per item for gallery.
Pay an extra £0.15 per each shop item for it to appear on .com (as my Business Account Manager advised - who is very good by the way…).
Then I can get a 30% FVF credit on each succesful sale (which probably does not balance out the fee hike at the front end).
If the US buyers now want to buy my listings which have strange GBP Pound signs next to them now (which they do not like).

So to get the FVF discount for good DSR’s I have to pay very high front end fees that wipe out any discount and risk losing customers who like their own currency displayed to them.

Of course, none of this I am going to do, so….

Why not just have a simple DSR FVF system worldwide for all sellers anywhere…

Simplicity <- that word again…

Consistency <- that word again…

Stability <- that word again…

Or we could have bolt on after bolt on of complicated change and policy that benefits no one and encourages every seller not listing on their own site or not based in the USA completely outside the FVF DSR “scheme” to ignore the DSR system or wistfully look at it in admiration?

Or is Ebay a UK/German/USA based world view we have at Ebay?

Now do you think it could get even more complicated?

I am pretty confident it will, when all the other sites decide on “THEIR” particular FVF/DSR scheme…

C’mon management folks…

Lets have SIMPLICITY and STABILITY with the change…

PLEASE!

Big changes, make the site wide, not country wide and keep the consistent for EVERYBODY.

Mark

Mark ClassicOn 04.03.2008 at 12:28 pm Said:

Big changes, make the site wide, not country wide and keep the consistent for EVERYBODY.

Should have read:

Big changes, make them site wide, not country wide and keep them consistent for EVERYBODY.

Mark

JeffOn 04.03.2008 at 12:30 pm Said:

eBay wants to be Amazon.com.
eBay built an empire on the community of sellers and buyers and now they think they can do it better?
It is time for a wake up call or the Titanic is about to sink!!!
Oh yeah, eBay , you better take a closer look and figure out who YOUR customers are before you put the car and reverse and run them over again!!

dimesOn 04.03.2008 at 1:02 pm Said:

eBay will never be amazon. It doesn’t own anything except webspace leased to individuals and companies on a short-term basis for use as an advertising medium, and a declining brand value.

For every individual seller who is disenfranchised by eBay, it loses one buyer. Who tells two friends. Who tell two friends.

According to an interview Scot Wingo gave at this very same Catalyst conference,

“What’s historically been tough has not been getting big brands going but the policies eBay has.

One simple one is that on eBay you have to put your credit card details on file. If you’re a director at Motorola, you’re not authorised to do that. That can become a six month fiasco at a large company, while for a Mom and Pop seller it is a very simple decision.”

So if eBay is alienating the moms & pops, and the corporates won’t deal with eBay’s policies because they don’t have to, who’s going to be left in six months?

scottOn 04.03.2008 at 1:06 pm Said:

its sad the direction ebay is headed. it used to be fun here buying and selling but its not fun anymore

without sellers there is no ebay and ebay continues to make changes that hurts sellers and some of the biggest and best sellers on ebay have left and ebay does not care, a poster seller with over 300,000 feedback and 99 percent feedback just picked up and left last month, took his inventory and all his buyers with him

they only care about their numbers and satisfying their investors

ebay got too big and is too greedy now and I think it will hurt them soon

listings are way down,stores are down,buyers are down,traffic is down,amazon is posting record profits each month and record traffic and sellers are running there and taking their buyers with them while ebays continues to slide

you would think that ebay would make changes to help sellers come back and make it worth it to sellers to come back and get buyers back

but what do they do? raise fees,best match,no more feedback,they get rid of digital items which lost a lot of good sellers, they got rid of under $1 items for stores which lost a lot of good stamp and card sellers

I dont get it? if you were lagging the last couple of years while a company like amazon was thriving and catching up at a rapid pace wouldnt you make good changes?

take a poll on any of the ebay boards and ask how everyones march was. I will bet that at least 80-90 percent will say sales were off from january and february cause of best match

I had chinese sellers with 4.2 dsrs ahead of me in search when I am at 4.8’s and 4.9’s but best match is the best thing in the world? according to ebay?

KathyOn 04.03.2008 at 1:58 pm Said:

I know I’m not the only one who says this, but everytime I read the words “eBay’s customers”, my mind boggles.

In what scenario does eBay have any customers other than sellers?

One of the changes will have to be that they are surrendering their position as just a venue … they cannot be a venue that puts buyers and sellers together and then claim the buyers as their customers.

I’m just lost by this.

VickieOn 04.03.2008 at 2:10 pm Said:

Change is good. When change is done to improve something, to simplify something, to expand something or to enhance something.

eBay has not shown the users where all these changes are improving, simplifing, expanding or enhancing anything. The only good thing I’ve seen come out of the changes is free gallery and mainly because it helps the buyers, it simplifies, improves, expands and enhances their shopping experience. I don’t mind saving the fees, but the real benefit comes to the shoppers. Which is fine, we need to keep shoppers happy.

However, the shoppers are not happy when the system seems broke all the time, when sellers are apologizing all the time for eBay glitches and when shoppers can’t find what they are looking for in search because eBay decides to play games with it.

The bad thing is that there are so many changes already taking place and so many announced and even more that are unannounced. How are professional sellers supposed to build any true business model in this environment. Business people have to have some semblance of stability in their workplace, in their expenses and in their marketing campaigns. When all these business components are in a constant and unpredictable uproar, it makes for a hostile working environment.

It’s hard not knowing if next week you will be put out of business with no notice.

LindaOn 04.03.2008 at 7:44 pm Said:

Dear Mr. Brewer-Hay,
There has never been, nor will there ever be, a buyer say to themselves, “I’ll go to eBay for a great retail-like experience.” People on the eBay boards are flummoxed by this choice of words. Whatever did she mean?

I am an eBay Seller/Buyer. I already feel secure with payment and returns issues. I love to bid and snipe and win! I love to watch my watchers and bidders! I love to ship my sold paintings! I am not looking for a retail experience.

I am planning to invest in equipment to further my eBay sales. And Stephanie says I won’t even recognize the place in a year. Again, her choice of words is mind-boggling.

It might serve her well to realize that there are millions of eBayers listening to her pronouncements. I would like to see her talk to us rather than Wall Street and the AP.

LauraOn 04.03.2008 at 7:51 pm Said:

Why not post a calendar with all the up coming changes so I can at least adjust my business planning. All these changes are willy-nilly and make it impossible to keep to our business plan.

Seller pay the bills for all these changes so if you want the cash flow to continue a little consultation would go a long way.

PatriciaOn 04.03.2008 at 8:01 pm Said:

It would be SO refreshing if ebay once….just ONCE was honest enough to come forward and tell us sellers exactly what their plans are for their site and for the sellers. Nobody is asking for any more than that really. What’s the big hocus-pocus about? Kind of leads me to believe all of this is being made up as they go along and they have no solid plan!

SandraOn 04.03.2008 at 9:33 pm Said:

If Ebay is planning more major changes, why can’t they,at least, give us sellers some warning?
Let us know what is coming, so we can plan around it. How can we maintain our businesses in the way Ebay, and we, would like, if we are constantly trying to incorporate new changes, with little, or no notice?
Please Ebay…I have been a seller on here for 10 years, and wether Ebay wants to admit it or not, I feel I and many other sellers built Ebay. Now Ebay is tearing it all down.
Everytime I think I can breathe a bit easier, and concentrate on my business,Ebay throws another “surprise” at us.
Many sellers feel beaten down. Give us an answer, Ebay…do you want most of us out of here, or what? I sell antique linens,and I don’t want to wake up one day,like the DD sellers, and find that I am no longer wanted, after all of my work and money invested.
Unbelievable amounts of time and money are invested by sellers here! We deserve better treatment! Shame on you,Ebay,for treating your sellers the way you are. I am appalled at your callousness toward the very ones who made you!