POLL: Will you be taking part in the eBay boycott?

Aethelred · February 17, 2008 11:04AM

I am not telling anyone else what they should do, but I think the new eBay rules are absurd. I have decided to join in the boycott. I will not be using eBay from Feb. 18 until Feb. 25.

TwoKopeiki · February 17, 2008 11:10AM

Not listing anything this week, but if something intriguing comes-up - I'll probably bid.

FilamCoins · February 17, 2008 11:11AM

Didn't even know about it. What new rules?

Aethelred · February 17, 2008 11:14AM

<< <i>Didn't even know about it. What new rules? >>

There are a lot of changes, among them:

-Final Value fees are up (not shocking).
-Paypal, which is owned by eBay, can now hold a seller's money for 21 days.
-Sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers.

Aethelred · February 17, 2008 11:19AM

A few links:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000636290&start=0

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/07/smbusiness/ebay_boycott.fsb/

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/2/1203209274.html

farthing · February 17, 2008 11:39AM

Hard to say. Not purposely going to be avoiding eBay next week, however I am heading over to Europe next weekend for 3 weeks (again - I just got back from Budapest yesterday) and I rarely do any transactions in the week leading up to my trips.

MrEureka · February 17, 2008 11:55AM

As a buyer, none of this matters to me.

As a seller, I just accelerated some listings to avoid the higher fees, and in the future will not list marginal items at the new rates. Other sellers will do the same.

If the new rules and rates work out for Ebay, they'll stick. If not, they'll roll them back. It's not my problem. It's theirs.

woodardcoin · February 17, 2008 2:31PM

Why would paypal want to hold the seller's money? Mafia ties?

IstilllikeZARcoins · February 17, 2008 4:42PM

I didn't realise that there was a boycott.

Stork · February 17, 2008 8:37PM

I also read (can't find the link right now so maybe I'm repeating a mere rumor) that there will also be a feature where the auctions of high volume sellers will be more prominent in searches, and the auctions of smaller sellers will be bumped down to a lower priority. I usually do my searches and re-order by listing date (newly listed), so I'm not sure how this will work, but maybe the default will be by this new 'favored seller' order.

I don't particularly sell on ebay, but I always had in the back of my mind that I like being able to once in awhile--gives me SOME justification for some of my purchases ("hey I can always sell it later"). These rules are bothersome..less the feedback ones (still a ridiculous response though somewhat akin to the Amazon seller stars...) but more the issues with Paypal getting forced down peoples throats. I (of course) love it as a buyer, but I'm an honest person. As a seller it is SCARY. I THINK I would fall under the 'grandfather clause' and not have to use it--unless my ratings go down of course. How on earth does Ebay justify holding funds for 21 days from a legal standpoint? I know that doesn't apply to all the sellers, but still.

I've mentioned it before, but this is a definite shift away from the mom-and-pops and the small guy venue to a small business friendly model. EBAY was even quoted as saying that they are the best 'business partner' for the sellers they are cultivating. So if they are now 'business partners' I suppose they can't hide behind the 'we are just a venue' line they've been using???

Wow, you'd think I sell alot by the way I am carrying on. Oh well. And no, for the record I am not selling this week (no big change for me), but I'm not really planning on buying either. I think there should be a poll option for 'no buying' either

.

Cathy

ormandh · February 17, 2008 11:08PM

Paypal has a hold on $475 from an auction last week where I sold a 1/2 ounce proof. I guess the buyer from Israel is questionable. I told them if they are trying to protect me to let me know and I will not accept payment and relist, otherwise get out of my business and give me my darn money. I will probably get away from Paypal for this reason. -Dan

wybrit · February 17, 2008 11:26PM

This 21-day hold policy is the most disturbing development. Unless I am missing something here, it is a even more of an opportunity for overseas scammers to buy items from you, wait until said items arrive and then claim that they were never received. PayPal has your money, the scammer has your item, you can't leave negative feedback for the ripoff artist and you have no way to use the legal systems in foreign lands to recover the stolen merchandise.

Totally unacceptable. I guess the Heritage/Goldberg option is becoming even more attractive now.

spinaker2000 · February 17, 2008 11:49PM

I voted for the boycott before I voted against it!!

covers · February 18, 2008 12:05AM

As I posted in the stamps forum:

coinpictures - I am a "silver" powerseller right now although I try not to use the logo (I sold a collection for $32,000 a couple months ago and tend to sell bigger things). I don't use ebay very often, mostly to sell things I don't want to keep in inventory. I buy very little - mostly when somebody tells me there is something I should look at - or for model train items ...

The ebay feedback system has always been a sham aimed at giving buyers a "warm and fuzzy" feeling about dealing with unknown, and often unknowable, sellers. As a result, as a seller who knows what I am selling, I have to compete against crooks and idiots who sell the similar in the same field. The lack of consumer confidence usually relates to lower price realized for me unless bidders happen to do their homework. The new feedback system may provide a better reflection of the competition. However, with many of the sellers in the stamp category, it is ignorance of the subject (for example, not being able to tell if a stamp is creased) and the buyers may well not know either until he/she goes to sell.

If the pricing system weeds out the sellers of material under $20 value, I would be overjoyed - decreases the noise when searching. I use ebay more as an advertising tool rather than to make sales. I view the exposure, and associated costs, more from a marketing perspective and it is a lot cheaper, and effective, than print ads. I use "featured item" frequently, etc.

In short, I am willing to see what happens before passing judgement.

MacCrimmon · February 18, 2008 1:53AM

<< <i>I voted for the boycott before I voted against it!!

>>

What elective office are you running for?

21 days???

Sounds like, CASH or NO DEAL!! I go back to Oct 1997 on eBay, so for now I can say sayonara to paypal.

I may also have to look into Heritage's Virtual Bourse.....that might be the ticket.

WillieBoyd2 · February 18, 2008 1:57AM

I sold a lot of miscellaneous items on Ebay from 2003 to the middle of 2007 but haven't sold anything since.

Not a political protest, just ran out of stuff to sell.

coinkat · February 18, 2008 2:04AM

Collectors of the the World unite... Power to the people! Boycott!

yeah, thats teachin' em'

sumnom · February 18, 2008 8:39AM

I haven't bought anything on ebay since 2004 or 2005. I can't remember.

mrpotatoheadd · February 18, 2008 9:01AM

<< <i>If the pricing system weeds out the sellers of material under $20 value, I would be overjoyed - decreases the noise when searching. >>

I would be sorry to see this happen. Since you can put a price range into your searches, there's no harm caused by keeping the cheaper listings- you don't have to see them if you don't want to see them.

A lot of that inexpensive stuff is the kind of material that's not practical for full-time dealers to focus on but part-time collector/sellers can, and there *are* people who are interested in it. I started a set of coins from every country which issued them the year I was born and have all the pieces that sell for $20 or more. The ones I'm having trouble finding are those which catalog for just a couple of bucks- the ones that are getting weeded out.

coinkat · February 18, 2008 9:16AM

I am serious... Boycott.

Doogy · February 18, 2008 1:15PM

yes, and no........

I am bidding on a coin that ends the morning of the 19th, that i "need" for my collection (to finish a type run). After that though, that is it. I'll hold off selling anything on eprey for a couple weeks, and don't plan on bidding.

MSD61 · February 19, 2008 10:21PM

I will not be buying nor selling on "Greedbay" indefinitely until things change. A week long boycott is not long enough and not to be mean but if people think a week
of not buying or selling is going to bring "Greedbay" to its knees they are sadly mistaken. Ebay knows this and will just wait it out as they know there will be plenty
of those that will not boycott, Ebay store owners that will not boycott and new accounts signing up each day. I know I am only one user of ebay but as far as I am
concerned my relationship with ebay is terminated until further notice. I do feel very badly for my friends here that use ebay as I know all of the folks here are
honest and I apologize for not taking part in your auctions.

danglen · February 19, 2008 11:16PM

Two years ago I was running over 1,000 listings a week on eBay when they did one of their "benefit" packages for sellers, which after in-depth examination turned out to be a "benefit" that was just going to increase my fees. It was at that time I realized that an alternative strategy was needed and got serious about developing my own website. We started by decreasing the number of listings on eBay. I am currently running about 175 listings a week, but just cancelled the re-listing option on about 165 of them, bringing my active total within the next thirty days down to about ten listings. In the meantime, we have listed over 5,700 items on our website and am doing twice as much business on a monthly basis as I ever did on eBay. For those of you that might be considering the same option, I can tell you that if you do it right, it is definitely worth the pain that it will take to make the move. THERE IS LIFE AFTER EBAY!!!!!

SYRACUSIAN · February 25, 2008 8:57AM

I'd like to add an opinion on the boycott ending today.

It could theoretically work, and cause real concern to ebay, if only it was going to last for an undetermined period of time, until the demands of the participants are partly or fully met. The writer's strike was a good example on how to shake the power house up, but it takes time and real determination, otherwise the move is plainly symbolic (not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not the way to get results). I'd be curious to see a statistic showing how this boycott affected ebay,if at all, because I can assure you that the majority of ebayers do not frequent chat rooms or online forums, and are therefore still unaware of it and unlikely to learn that it ever happened.

StrikeOutXXX · February 25, 2008 9:19AM

<< <i> I'd be curious to see a statistic showing how this boycott affected ebay,if at all, because I can assure you that the majority of ebayers do not frequent chat rooms or online forums, and are therefore still unaware of it and unlikely to learn that it ever happened. >>

There are a few threads on the liteside, USA Today said listings were down 13% during boycott, yet this chart is circulating as well.

That spike was the 20 cent listing day, it does look like it dipped a little bit in the period, but I think eBay countered it effectively with the 20cent promotion. The only bad thing about a week-long boycott, is more than likely, 95% of the people will just list them the week after, so in the long run, it just moved numbers around, but didn't really effect them.

ormandh · February 25, 2008 10:18AM

Here is the bottom line on the boycott. The worst will probably be seen in a couple of months when their new policies take effect. Unless there is a new venue for coins, or you are a powerseller you are screwed if you want to sell your coins on the cheap. I think that coinpictures already said this. Here is the latest.

cnn/money report on the boycott

SYRACUSIAN · March 4, 2008 10:41AM

Strikeout, thanks for the graph.

I just saw this on Toolhaus.org: False Positives.

eBay has indicated that in May, 2008, sellers will no longer be able to leave negative or neutral Feedback for buyers. The merits of this will probably be debated for a very, very long time, but in the meantime, some sellers have suggested that they would leave "false positive" (FP) feedback. Specifically, they would leave positive feedback containing the word "negative" or "neg", as an indication of the type of feedback they wanted to leave.

Toolhaus will endeavor to remain neutral on the merits of that tactic, but we've added a new option to the Negs tool: A checkbox to enable searching for "false positive" feedback, and reporting the total number of those items found. The report is at the end of the Negs tool's output, with the counts of Negative, Neutral, and Withdrawn feedback items.

Note that if FP feedback items are printed, Toolhaus will not use any cached feedback data, so it will take longer to get the results. Also, FP items are counted in the total output, which could cause the results to terminate earlier than you expected if there are many of them!
» Yes, you can also click "Allow over 1000 items" - please consider carefully before doing so!

This feature is likely to evolve, based on comments from Toolhaus users. You could be one of them - send us a comment!

If there's a will, there's a way......

Stork · March 4, 2008 7:01PM

Never one to not listen to a good conspiracy theory...about the graph though Linkage. Apparently ebay has finally come out and said that there were alot of shopping.com auctions that appeared on ebay during the boycott (another thread).

POLL: Will you be taking part in the eBay boycott?

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