implog / April 5th, 2008 at 2:06 am

@ Usher Lieberman

Thanks for getting back to us with a translation of your earlier post.

I was hoping to get your/eBay’s definition of “value proposition” but since you posted a link to Wikipedia, let’s go with that.

Wikipedia defines “value proposition” as:

“In the field of marketing, a customer value proposition consists of the sum total of benefits which a vendor promises that a customer will receive in return for the customer’s associated payment (or other value-transfer).

In simple words: value proposition = what the customer gets for what the customer pays.”

So far so good.

The Wikipedia definition offers a link to the definition of the word “customer”.

“A customer refers to individuals or households that purchase goods and services generated within the economy.”

Both definitions identify the person who pays in a transaction as the customer. eBay sellers pay eBay fees to sell items. eBay buyers pay eBay nothing. Accordingly, in the case of eBay, sellers are eBay’s customers and eBay buyers are sellers’ customers.

You wrote “…the overarching goal is to improve the overall customer experience…”.

Great news! We sellers, eBay’s customers, look forward to it. When does it start?

And about that “false dichotomy”, you wrote:

“The false dichotomy is that we made it seem that by focusing our energy on improving the buyer experience it was necessarily at the expense of sellers.”

There is no “seem” to it. Sellers, all sellers, are being penalized by the one sided Feedback system coming in May along with the DSR system that tells buyers a “4″ is good and tells sellers a “4″ is bad. The reduction in sellers feedback and DSR is, quite literally in some cases, at the expense of sellers.

Now that you/eBay recognize your “false dichotomy”, what is eBay going to do to fix it?

HMNNNNNNNNNNNNNN / April 5th, 2008 at 6:07 am

DSR’s are the bain to a sellers’ existence. Very inaccurate. And discounts are based on them?

I offer(ed) FREE USPS Priority Mail shipping and ship(ped) daily. If the item was not shipped FREE, it was shipped for LESS THAN ITS ACTUAL SHIPPING COST with a mere flat-rate figure, much like Richard (RBH) has in his ads.

My shipping costs and shipping time stars are not 5′s. Not 4.9′s either.

eBay should run a TEST account with auctions and will see this is the norm. You just CANNOT maintain even a 5 no matter how seductive your shipping is to get the sale.

oakteak / April 5th, 2008 at 7:58 am

I think we are forgetting the point that the sellers with less than stellar DSRs are paying the same exact fees as the sellers who have stellar DSRs.

Therefore, common sense and ethics tells me that if they are being charged the same, they should also get the same services.

This is very clearly stated as something that is not going to happen.

It is, of course eBay’s site to do with as they wish, ethical or not.

Is it right? No, it is not right to give them substandard service for the same fees.

Perhaps, if you are not going to give them adequate service for the fees they are paying, you should lower their fees and tell them you are going to give them substandard service.

postcards2go / April 5th, 2008 at 11:04 am

@OP

Stephanie Tilenius, General Manager of eBay North America, delivered the keynote address at ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst Conference earlier today. Although I was unable to attend in person (someone had to stay back at the ranch and actually turn this blog thing on!) I did get a chance to peak at her presentation ahead of time.

In it, Stephanie promised even bolder and faster changes at eBay, stating that *****eBay’s goal is to deliver a more retail-like experience.*****

~~

So, bye-bye auctions.
Bye-bye that one-of-a-kind items.
Bye-bye collectibles.
Bye-bye me.

{Yes, that’s my seller ID… haven’t sold on eBay since February, and no amount of promotions will entice me back.}

As for the DSRs ~~ I have talked to several buyers that thought that 3 indicated an average transaction, and that most were as to be expected, and therefore.. AVERAGE. Many buyers are just not aware that a 4 (or gosh forbid, a 3!!!) are NOT acceptible.

Buyers give 5s for outstanding. Very few transactions fall into that category. Not because the seller is at fault, but because NOTHING in life is “outstanding” ALL the time.

Davey / April 5th, 2008 at 10:29 pm

@Usher

While you may have dropped off, let me respond to a couple things you said. You mention failing to bring across the dichotomy of buyers and sellers, etc., etc.

What I see, as a medium-sized seller (100% FB, 3000+ sales, great DSRs except shipping cost as I deal internationally) of a unique item that I sell for the best price anywhere online, is that ebay flat out didn’t consult a wide cross-section of sellers when trying to formulate how to improve the buyer experience. Yes, we want that too, but not by being punished and bled to get it! Yes, I’m a buyer as well and hated items selling for one cent with $25 shipping. But, there are some no-brainer solutions to that problem. Many of us sellers do NOT want to see ebay go into decline, and we want more buyers too, so why is our pain left out in the cold? You don’t have to explain that dichotomy to me at all! The policies did it for you, and speak louder than words. I used to feel part of a community here, loyalty and all. I felt at community with my buyers. That feeling, like Elvis, has left the building when Pierre’s original Community Values statement was left in the dust. You guys need to characterize what it was and get it back! Meanwhile, I’m looking earnestly for other venues and trying them out, as I see no place for me here anymore and the welcome mat has been removed from the door. Never did that before January 20th.

Not one thing that has occurred in the last year has said to me as a seller that I was valued as a customer. Nothing. OK, maybe free Gallery, but that was miniscule and easily negated by the 67 percent FVF increase I experienced (my auctions are priced to sell through).

My biggest issue overall is ebay’s tear-jerkingly bad customer service. If I was a new buyer, the first time I would get one of those off-topic automated responses, I’d never come back again! I left buy.com for that same reason. The customer service is the biggest issue on the site (try waiting 72 hours or more, if you get one, to get a response from T&S when a electronic terrorist tries to shut down your auctions with bogus listing complaints under multiple IDs). The available customer service reps are not empowered to do anything except apologize for “my inconvenience.”

While you will hear this a lot, my second biggest issue is the loss of negative feedback as a seller. Why would this be an issue, as I’ve only given out 3 negs in 3000+ transactions? Because it was my only semblance of fraud protection and bad buyer research left, save the swiss cheezy SPP at Paypal, which doesn’t do a thing for my international sales. Now, I’m flying completely blind. The assurances that ebay will somehow weed out the bad buyers before they get to me brings back memories of ebay’s “Customer Service” as mentioned above. Until CS is to improve, I can’t believe any of ebay’s assurances that involve an interaction with them. But, back to the feedback change. I could have seen many alternate ways to discourage retaliatory negatives but leave the option intact. It appears, though, that ebay took the easy way out and are ready to let the sellers take on another burden–increased fraud losses. I can’t spot trouble buyers anymore, especially international scammers who know all they need to do is file INR to get free goods until ebay shuts them down and they take a new ID to continue.

DSR’s? What can I say when ebay tells buyers that a 4 is satisfactory, but nails sellers for the same 4′s. Double standard? Duh! Very obvious slap at sellers, especially cross-border sellers. What if Customs holds a package to an overseas buyer? I take the hit although I can’t do anything about it. Why am I left to educate (and in fact was told to during a Seller OnRamp) my buyers to this “dichotomy” so I can survive the punishments meted out at 4.5? I feel very helpless. Ebay’s new policies have put me there. Explanation of some dichotomy not required…

Why can’t ebay management see what to us sellers is obvious? Probably because ebay management doesn’t have enough experience selling here as a significant part of income. If I made what you guys are getting in salary and options, I probably would move to hobby selling too… Any openings?

Davey / April 5th, 2008 at 10:44 pm

One last thought to carry through to the organization–do you know what having Griff demeaning those of us with high feedback did? Backfired…! Being that many of us, especially the smaller guys, have worked hard for years on our feedback, this act immediately caused Griff to lose his integrity as being the roly poly good guy of Ebay in our eyes. His “brand” went to zero on the spot. That’s fitting, as my feedback and reputation is MY integrity, and fighting for that “lily whiteness” was of great importance to me and has caused me to work hard for my customers. I would have thought this was also important to Ebay, but it was quickly deflated by Griff’s careless comment. Shame!

Scott Pooler / April 6th, 2008 at 11:04 am

Comments are part of every successful blog. They promote and feed the exchange of ideas between readers and publishers. While not all readers will agree with all publishers and not all publishers will enjoy all comments, I think we should all take a moment and appreciate the facility of this exchange.

Usher Lieberman came here to post what he felt was a valid perspective. His first post on this thread talks about how he sought out a genuine conversation with me at Catalyst 2008.

Usher did this in an effort to understand other viewpoints on different issues relating to eBay. (Digital Download policy changes in my case).

I can confirm that Usher was genuine in his desire to hear what I and other sellers had to say. I wrote about that very subject in my blog here: http://tradingassistantjournal.com

IMPLOG has valid points in his remarks and we all have felt similar frustration of late. But to discourage the exchange with eBay’s lead spokesperson is counter productive. I personally applaud Usher’s attempts to join the conversation here, and anywhere else he can add to the understanding of eBay policies.

While I do not always agree with those policies, I am free to submit my views here as well as within my own publications. Usher Lieberman will certainly have a view and goal to promote eBay, but who here would say that is a bad thing? Do you expect the man to do anything else?

I have discussed and sometimes promoted eBay for over 9 years and I am not an employee. I think all sellers would be wise to remember that bad press or a lack of promotion will not help their sales.

If I have a right to say what I think on this blog or my own, why should eBay’s official spokesman have that same right?

IMPLOG – Please find a moment to retract your earlier statement concerning your disdain for Usher’s joining this conversation. I think we all want the conversation to continue and there must be an exchange for that to happen.

If you simply tell eBay representative to disengage, they will… And this will become yet another place for sellers to post concerns where no one seems to listen. We all want eBay to listen, and I think they are trying to listen… You can’t ask someone to listen to your views, without allowing them to share their own.

Usher – my vote is for you to continue to add your perspective. We are aware you work for eBay… Not that there is anything wrong with that. (Seinfeld reference)

Respectfully,
Scott Pooler
All Business Auctions
Trading Assistant Journal

implog / April 6th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

@ Scott Pooler

Scott:

I think you have me confused with another poser, Egnatz1.

I never made a statement concerning disdain for Usher’s joining this conversation. Please review the 4/4 PM post by Egnatz1 and my posts.

I welcome Usher’s participation.

I made an earlier post on a different thread asking Richard Brewer-Hay to see what he could do about the automatic corporate speak used by eBay reps in public forums meant to inform the community. Usher did us a service with his “false dichotomy” post. He graphically illustrated the unintelligble language that is spoken freely at San Jose HQ but is babble to most eBay community members.

As I said, the corporate speak seems set on auto-spew. Usher is an eBay Communications exec. One would think he (and other eBay execs) would adjust their presentations for their audience. This isn’t Catalyst 2008, Dev-Con or even an eBay off prem. This is a public forum for ALL eBay members. Poll random eBay members, the kind who might show up to read this blog or listen in on an eBay “Town Hall”. Ask them to define “false dichotomy” and “value proposition” — without Wikipedia access ;)

If you’ve ever worked in a large corporation with top execs who attend business guru seminars or have set loose Bain or Kinsey, you will know the corporate speak language “virus” well.

Scott Pooler / April 6th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

Correction Part Deaux:

EGNATZ1 Should have been the name I used in my previous post. All apologies due to IMPLOG, please excuse my faux Pax.

Scott

Lurch / April 6th, 2008 at 5:23 pm

I’ve been around since the second week of eBay (then AuctionWeb), so I’ve seen all of the changes. I have seen a steady progression to get to the point that things are at now, and honestly, I did predict to a certain extent things would go the way they have. No one wanted to listen over the years as things began to devolve and unravel a sense of involvement, community, and engagement of buyers in small little ways. For example: the pull-back of eBay interacting with folks on a daily basis; the decline of customer service’s usefulness; dramatic shifts within the site such as the push towards search-only rather than including a more robust search along with emphasis of the importance of browsing, particularly for numerous categories – fyi, browsing not only led to engaging buyers to spend more time on the site, but also would allow them to find things they wouldn’t have even thought about searching for, etc. I have more — lots more — examples of things that have happened over the years that have helped to create a less than appealing atmosphere for all involved. There was plenty of advice I could have offered, and frankly, tried to — but no one ever cared to hear it. Things that could possibly have made eBay continue to be a more inviting and pleasant (ie, less antagonistic) place to be, which may well have helped to alleviate many of the problems happening now that eBay needs to deal with – but unfortunately, is doing in a way that even further estranges customers.

Also, I, too, think the DSR thing is ridiculous. Only today did I notice that since I have 4.8 on “item as described,” that is considered to be in the middle 50% (and apparently viewed as poor by eBay). First off – it’s a 4.8 based on people’s opinions. And secondly, we sell vintage stuff. There will always be some disparity no matter how many photos and words are used between what’s in a potential buyer’s mind and what they see when they open up the item. No matter that I might detail out a dozen minor imperfections with an item (such as “1/8 litho tear to front right corner of top box flap”). Yet this rating is lumped in with people selling brand new sealed DVD’s (for example) – where if they are in fact, new, undamaged, sealed and the correct title – yep, that really should get a 5. I put in work to knock out these descriptions, as it is needed and never hear of dissatisfaction from anyone. And it’s a 4.8 for criminy’s sake! This is kind of bad in eBay’s eyes? Yeah, way to encourage me to feel good about eBay, particularly after all of these years. And again, this is just one example of how eBay has been systematically creating a more hostile environment, frankly over many years.

However – finally getting around to one of the main points I wanted to make in this post – in response to Usher’s statement, “Sellers come to eBay because we bring the buyers.” I firmly disagree with this. eBay may do branding and advertise, but what brings the buyers? Sellers’ goods. Bottom line. It’s been like that since day one. Or at least week 2. What kept me around? Sellers’ goods. And the atmosphere. It was very conducive to hanging around the site for at least a few years. Interaction with the staff existed, there was a constant fostering and reinforcement of community, etc. It was fun. Steady changes have been made to make it *not* fun over the last 7-8 years. And it didn’t have to be this way.

EGNATZ1 / April 6th, 2008 at 6:56 pm

As IMPLOG has so eloquently posted that was one of my main problems with Mr Liebermans posting on this Blog.

Instead of posting in standard English which is spoken by the majority of Ebay members Ebay employees are well versed in corporate speak. His postings on this blog sounded exactly like an Ebay Press release or blurb to Wall Street.

Unless you have worked in the corporate world as IMPLOG seems to have and in which I definitely did as a hazardous waste water plant operator in a large enviromental waste remediation firm. You have no idea what he even meant .

People will come to this blog seeking answers to problems that Ebay has created that are effecting their business in a negative way.

If they come here and see the standard nonsense that gets thrown to them on the boards and in site announcements they will never believe this blog is anymore than another Ebay attempt to silence the roar of their dissatisfied customers, you know the sellers who they seem to care less and less about every day.

Patricia 1 / April 7th, 2008 at 9:58 am

“She also made it clear that the concept of an annual price change no longer existed at eBay and that further pricing adjustments could come at any time.

At the same time, Stephanie –a long time eBay Top Buyer herself – also committed to keeping the things people love about eBay intact, namely its value and selection, noting that the fun comes in finding exactly what you want – pretty much no matter what it is – when you want it.”

There is no fun in ebay these days. Witness the listings which are dropping like a rock since the end of the penny listing special. I believe ebay has come to the end of the road in simply squeezing revenue out of sellers to make the site look successful number-wise. Without a gimmick like the penny listings, the listings will continue to fall. I cannot even list another item until something sells and right now I can’t even get hits let alone bids. Strange, up till now I was hovering right under powerseller status each month – this past 30 days had been extremely dismal, especially after best match went into effect – yet another change that ebay says is good and just about every user says is bad! Ebay has been killing all that made their site fun and exciting. Long about April, 2004, they did away with Going, Going, Gone…one of the most exciting features they had. Since then its been downhill for excitement and fun – all gone! For what purpose? Nobody knows. Nobody knows what the purpose was for most of their changes. I really believe that ebay still believes they bring in the buyers. Perhaps its just that they can’t see the truth!

I have a feeling the price changes mentioned above are going to be on a downward trend for small sellers at least. I bump into way too many of them on other selling sites which leads me to believe they are leaving ebay in large numbers. Let’s face it, we can’t list if we can’t sell – that’s only common sense. The day is long gone when we list with only the hope of selling and then relist to give it another chance. So, Mr. Leiberman, I respectfully ask where is ebay’s part of this bargain? Where are the promised buyers? What are we receiving for the pain of losing the right to give a buyer a negative; paying 66 percent more in FVF’s; suffering loss of placement in listings; possibly having our Paypal payments held for up to 21 days? Is it any wonder sellers are leaving and buying is falling? Heck, they can do THIS poorly on any other site and do it for free!

I do hope ebay is paying at least “some” attention to ALL the comments on their discussion boards, on articles and in blogs all pointing to a firm “NO” on their present policies. Right now, sellers care about ebay still – or they wouldn’t be here wasting their time trying to get thru to ebay’s management. Soon…they’ll give up and I hope that’s what ebay wants because that’s what’s happening!

Brenda / April 7th, 2008 at 2:27 pm

Egnatz,

He at least came down!

Mr.Lieberman,

I think that you should continue your dialogue with the above. Fight it out and purge the bile.

You might both feel better.

AND ….. HONEST, truly honest dialogue, can get a little heated.

RUN WITH IT !

It seems like everybody is just pussy footin’ around. If it gets too out of hand Ebay may in our sole discretion….

HMNNNNNNNNNNNNNN / April 7th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

When a BUYER leaves any FEEDBACK, it’s for the SELLER. It belongs to the SELLER and is held accountable in a court of law TO THE SELLER from the BUYER.

The day a BUYER can leave feedback and it belongs to EBAY will be the day the BUYER belongs to eBay.

On a POSITIVE note, I received an e-mail today from a repeat buyer of mine that wanted to make sure that “if I move from eBay, please let her know where I am going”. I have to wonder if she as well as other buyers are getting prepared for May 1st.

HMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN……….

permacrisis / April 7th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

Sellers were ebay’s ORIGINAL investor community.

DissedOff / April 7th, 2008 at 7:58 pm

IMPLOG You are awesome, thank you for the input here.
DSR for well worded comments is 5.0
Looks like Usher has handed the ball to Brewer-Hay and has left the building. Ushered out!

Mechelle / April 8th, 2008 at 3:30 am

First let me express my feelings concerning the eBay terminology of eBay subscribers “eBay’s Buyers” and “eBay’s Sellers”. The use of this terminology is significantly demonstrative of eBay’s delusions of the role eBay plays relative to individuals who subscribe to participate in the eBay marketplace. The terminology suggests possession and ownership as though we are all here to serve the interest of eBay and should be honored for their allowance of our presence. Someone should make a case study highlighting eBay’s corporate cultural psychopathy.

So let us be clear- I am not eBay’s salesman, I’m not eBay’s employee, and I am not partnered with eBay in any fantastical imaginings. Nor am I eBay’s “buyer”, I am a customer (at least for now) of choice. They don’t own the rights to where I choose to spend my money in any capacity. In essence, I am not eBay’s, though they would like me to believe I am beholden to them, I am nothing without them, and it is eBay that determines my existence.

The delusions appear to have had a contagious effect and many long time eBay participants appear to have come to believe that eBay does for them. Reading forum and blog posts both within eBay and elsewhere there are always those comments “eBay has paid my bills for the last ten years”, “eBay has been my partner”, or “we are eBay‘s busy worker bees“… where does this mentality derive from? From the terminology that has effectively created a marketplace comprised of individuals who express learned helplessness. In other words eBay has created an idealogical perception that people who rent space and services from eBay are incapable of finding success without renting the space from eBay.

Of course – as is clear and many times over mentioned- us space renters are the customers of the other space renters therefore eBay is not only slapping the people renting space they are also slapping the customers of the people who rent space- undeniable stupidity. The lack of business we are all experiencing isn’t solely do to the best match – ha ha ha- it is a result of those sellers taking with them – in their exit – not only the eBay fees eBay has ruthlessly and without consideration not only for their customers but themselves, but the money the customers of other vendors who rent space and to do business in the eBay marketplace. Marketplace is a term that is dependent on commerce how does eBay expect to maintain the eBay marketplace when – as is becoming clearer daily – commerce is rapidly decreasing to the extent that even those who want to stay will no longer have anything to stay for? As much as I love to watch the action in my store I am certainly not going to pay to stare at an inactive web site – as previously stated we can do that for free elsewhere.

eBay brings the buyers- are you kidding me? EBay doesn’t even provide the basic service of auto submission to google or the other major search engines. eBay doesn’t stock the businesses with products that produce the keywords the search crawlers use to find our sites – our merchandise. What exactly is the role eBay imagines it plays in bringing customers to us? You provide the band width- well now provide is deceptive isn’t it? you don’t provide us anything- you give us nothing- free gallery no- nothing is free you multiplied the cost of gallery exponentially in your FVF increase. Services and LOL “seller tools” again not free and worse we pay for unreliability that often results in a loss for those of us who rent space to contribute to the actuality of there being an eBay marketplace. Store subscribers pay to be cloaked so you can choke more fees out of us by forcing the listings of mass auctions so we can get a customer to view our store offerings. EBay doesn’t provide us our customers- doesn’t give us a damn thing, only forces us to purchase mediocre – in the highest possible leniency of the term- services. Inflict additional costs on us by forcing the use of PayPal as the only “safe payment option”- that alone costs me depending on the location of my customers as much as an additional 4% over what I would have to pay using Google Checkout. eBay deems Google checkout unsafe- translation google is worldwide known and if given the option those of us who rent space on eBay currently forced to use PayPal as the only payment method- would jump ship in a second to use Google Checkout, because it is a trusted name and we wouldn’t have to worry about our customers being weary of its use .

Yep! Can’t let even one dime out of eBay’s tight fist- well you know the saying the tighter you squeeze the sand in your hand the faster it falls away- well eBay better loosen its grip, because not only are they loosing the sand they are heading for a class action lawsuit due to its monopolistic behavior- all its tie in scams and games are going to bite eBay in the A** and draw blood. Not to mention the consumers privacy rights that will be violated as soon as eBay begins to pass information about a customers renting space to paypal, the libel lawsuits for not only allowing, but in fact encouraging and participating in defaming the character of the customers renting space. Yes, eBay/PayPal have a lot of people duped into believing that user agreements are without question binding contracts- well guess what everyone it is not possible to sign away your rights . EBay/PayPal have been sued, but they always settle out to avoid any judicial mandates that would curtail their criminal activity. Yes eBay knows this is true- don’t you?

I am very interested in eBay’s idea of customer service- where did the idea of superior customer service is achieved by publicly calling your customers trash, frauds, and cons? Insinuating that those of us who rent space from eBay don’t have the slightest inclination as to how to provide good honest quality service. Really, who in the hell do you people think you are? How dare eBay question and pass judgment on my character and professionalism – eBay doesn’t know who I am, what I do and go through to provide good customer service for my customers, and I don’t do it to please eBay, feedback, or DSRs. I do it because it is basic commonsense, and I know and appreciate who make my store viable, and I make sure they know I do.

EBay has the audacity to act as though they have the secret to success and authority to give me lessons on customer service- that is the most laugh out loud joke I have heard in my life. How many 48 to 72 hour stretches has a single eBay employee/executive done to please me? How many apologies has eBay given me when I am not satisfied with something in our transaction regarding the space I rent from eBay? How prompt is eBay to respond to my questions? How many deserved refunds have I received from eBay? Answer – never, none, none, none!! EBay’s demonstration of hypocrisy is stunning- truly eBay magnifies – in fact creates an entire new dimension to the definition of hypocrisy.

Well, Usher it didn’t take much for you to decide we are not worth your time, now did it?

Scott Pooler / April 8th, 2008 at 7:08 am

I must say I am finding the comments posted here to be very well thought out and “on point”. We are all attempting to find our way through these changing times… as is, I think – eBay itself.

I found myself writing a comment here this morning but felt it was too long winded for this forum so I posted it on my own blog. The Trading Assistant Journal

It seems to me that eBay has a vast array of data collection capabilities. They must know something is changing the landscape of online marketing and sales. I think they are trying to find a way to keep ahead of the curve, but they do not want to share their reasons or methods. (Not uncommon in big business).

Search is easier and more often used by casual buyers. Destination portals are not as important as they once were. Competition is more prevalent than ever and eBay knows they are at a crossroads.

Lets all hope eBay chooses the best path ahead for all concerned.

JJH / April 8th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Scott…

But is anyone listening? Do they care? Is this just a front?

I already commented the other day on this. I don’t know what Richard’s duties are, but it seems that too few comments get any kind of answers. The comment section just starts to look like another spleen venting area again, like the eBay discussion boards. The thing is, I agree with many of the comments left. I see and feel the anger and frustration, because as a seller, I feel some of it myself.

Not only that, my guess is there has been perhaps 30 unique names of commenters here, many of them repeat commenters. Not exactly a quorum of eBay users. Not that his blog could support an influx of thousands of users either, such as you see on the discussion boards… Besides, nothing that’s being said here isn’t also being said on those same discussion boards, so why didn’t they listen to that?

Scott, you said “Lets all hope eBay chooses the best path ahead for all concerned.” Well, I’m fairly sure they think they already have. After all, they run the company, make the decisions, they’ve analyzed the data, so they must feel that the changes being made are for the good of all. It’s funny though why the masses don’t see it that way. Are 2,000,000 users wrong, and an executive board of 10 right? Think about that for a second.

Over the years I’ve seen eBay back peddle when they’ve made a mistake, but it takes months or years before they do it. My guess is Best Match is going to be one of those things that slowly goes away as a mistake in poor judgment, but it’s going to take some time for that to happen. I think another mistake, is not so much the DSR system, but only giving “elitists” a discount. What about the small guys who have excellent ratings and have been working hard here for years? Why shouldn’t they get some benefits for their hard work and excellent customer service? That’s also a slap in the face.

Next month is going to prove very interesting, with the new feedback changes and the threatened boycott.

Time will tell if eBay has “choosen the best path ahead for all concerned.”

Scott Pooler / April 8th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

@Patricia 1

Please don’t apologize for your “rant” (i.e. expression of frustration). eBay management needs to hear these thoughts and real world opinions. You expressed them accurately and without prejudice.

eBay management should read your comments and every comment here. Don’t think that they are not, just because they do not respond.

@JJH – is anyone listening?

I think they are, but when the only official eBay spokesperson who has entered the fray here, was told to butt out…

My only point was then and is now… if we do not enter into polite discourse with the only eBay official rep here, (besides Richard Brewer-Hay) then we have no chance of being heard.

I am not defending eBay, or DSR’s or any of the odd decisions of the last 9 months. I am simply stating they need to hear from us and if we tell them not to listen, how can we complain if they do not?

I agree with everyone, the impression is clear that eBay no longer wants the small sellers involved with the process. Funny thing though, some of the very large powersellers tell me they feel the same way.

I was on the phone today with a Powerseller who has over a million dollars worth of inventory he could place on eBay tomorrow. He asked me why he should do that if eBay does not appreciate him and if no one can find his products if they are on eBay?

That question came from a very high level Powerseller.

Please do not feel as though it is an “us against them” situation – small seller versus Powerseller, because from what I am hearing, the discontent is coming from both ends of the spectrum.

@Davey I agree

None of us really understands what eBay is doing, I just hope they have an idea about what they are doing, because if they are not darn sure, we are all in big trouble.

Davey / April 8th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

@Scott Pooler

Interesting. Being a 1/2 Powerseller (I’m at about half of bronze sales levels most of the time), I never get the picture from the other side of the aisle. Other than Chinese carp sellers, though, I can see where Powersellers are getting burned too. At least they get SPP worldwide, though, where I only get Canada and the UK although I treat my buyers with individual respect that a Powerseller can’t offer.

I agree with you completely that we will lose this new channel of communication if we don’t suppress our deep anger and disillusionment with the current state of our “community,” and do our best to keep steam from coming out of our ears when conversing with official eBay folks. I hope other commenters will be civil too and see this as a life raft. I hope Usher will in fact come back.

I am trying to empathize with eBay employees that have to say what they do because of their jobs, but who may feel deeply internally conflicted about what they say being right. I had such a job once too.

At the same time, I hope the eBay team members can discount the anger talking at them when entering the ink blogs. We are civil people too, who are seeing a family member (our community) being tortured. I hope if they’ve never tried their own Customer Service posing as an outside customer, that they get the chance and see how it feels to orbit another planet while being bombarded with off-topic replies.

Patricia 1 / April 9th, 2008 at 10:20 am

Thanks Scott – I really don’t want to be a nuisance but I have always spoken up for ebay users and this time both buyers and sellers are being severely wronged.

I started on ebay one day when I found a large wooden decorative spoon & fork in our laundry room. People put things on a table there that they no longer wanted. Just on a whim I put them on ebay for sale and was amazed to get $12.00 for them. Since then, I have been so utterly in love with Ebay but they are sorely trying our relationship. I’m retired and they were such a Godsend to supplementing social security and my tiny pension. I know this type of thing falls on deaf ears with ebay but so many of us really need the extra money we make online. I’m begging them not to make it impossible for us to conduct our business on ebay any more. I think by ridding the site of small sellers they are doing ALL their buyers a huge disservice!

Now I list exclusively in the arts category. Since I started with them almost 10 years ago I’ve sold over 2,000 paintings, both large and small, on ebay. That’s almost impossible to do outside of the ebay platform. Right now they have the largest gathering of artists anywhere in the world and, for the most part, they ignore them. When I started selling my art on ebay, there were less than 200 paintings listed – now there are probably around 200,000 listings in the arts categories (near as I can make out with best match in the way). The advent of feature plus auctions caused most artists to pay over 20.00 per listing on a regular basis just to be seen. Now, with the new policies our burden is even heavier. Many artists who are really talented cannot be seen due to best match and due to the feature plus auctions that sandwich the regular auctions both front and back. Right now, in the sub-category Direct from Artist, there are over 90 pages of feature plus auctions in front and behind the regular auctions. They should be working on untangling and streamlining this mess so that more things can be seen by buyers….instead of hiding them one way or another. Many artists are now writing to Amazon and trying to interest them into installing an arts category. Ebay artists even went so far as to start a new site dedicated to arts…and its doing well for a two-month old site. Again, you see the pattern of sellers trying to get out and away from ebay because doing business there is becoming unprofitable and even worse, intolerable. I, too, have no idea what they’re doing but it sure looks like they are intent on destroying the old ebay. If they want the small sellers gone…admit it and let us find our own way…please!

Randy Smythe / April 9th, 2008 at 11:49 am

@Scott Pooler,

Scott, you are answering more questions than RBH or Usher. You may need to be added to the payroll soon.

Keep it up!

RKS

Patricia 1 / April 9th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Have we scared off Brian and usher? I hope not.

Patricia 1 / April 9th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

Wow Lurch – that’s awfully telling…isn’t it? Maybe we’re all just spinning our wheels here :-(