eBay Users And Shareholders Clash Over Management
from the on-the-(chopping)-block dept
It's no surprise that as the chorus of complaints about eBay has grown louder, the company is in the midst of a major slump in its stock price. These things are bound to go together as the company's financial health is based on that of its buyers and sellers. And many of the sellers' complaints go right at the core issues facing the company. Multiple sellers have noticed, for example, that they must list items many more times to get them to sell than they needed to a year ago. In turn, sale prices are on the decline as well. And while it's usually shareholders that agitate for management changes, in this case, the company's merchants are calling for changes at the top. This puts the company in a unique quandary. Most companies don't have the same classes of stakeholders. Yes, companies have customers to satisfy in addition to shareholders, but customers rarely care about management. And if customers stop liking a product, they can go elsewhere. That's not (yet) the case with eBay users. Obviously, shareholders are frustrated by the company's performance of late, but in a time of difficulty, changing top brass might only add to the uncertainty. Considering that a growing number of internet companies are predicated on handing control over to the user, a la eBay, how the company handles this dilemma will be an important case study for others to watch.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Why do they succeed?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why do you pay a realtor?
You're not comparing like with like - Craigslist is great for selling items locally. eBay is pretty much international, and has fairly decent tools to automate the process of selling and searching.
Personally, I use both. While eBay costs (too much, IMO) and Craigslist doesn't, eBay stuff sells far more often. In a nutshell, you pay for the service.
Craigslist's "free-ness" actually works against it - there is far more spammage, which means that good stuff drops off the front page more quickly, which encourages multi-posting.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Why do they succeed?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Serious Fraud on ebay
Please contact me a.s.a.p.
Thanks
Tony
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A middleman...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: A middleman...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: A middleman...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: A middleman...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Serious Fraud on ebay
Contact m Urgently please
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I agree...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Serious Fraud on ebay
Please contact me a.s.a.p.
Thanks
Tony
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Whats wrong with paying a fee?
But chances are you are going to spend a lot more money and have a lot more headaches, and probably get a lot less traffic then if you stuck your item up at Ebay.
I am not an Ebay power user by any means, but the items I have sold have always done a lot better then what I would have done on my own.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Whats wrong with paying a fee?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Serious Fraud on ebay
Please contact me a.s.a.p.
Thanks
Tony
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What they've done; is kill off their core businnes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Depends on the product.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nothing at all wrong with ebay...
Ebay has long taken advantage of a natural tendency on the internet that the #1 occupant in any given niche tends to dominate it to the point that the next 10 players together are less than 10% of the market. That appears to be changing, since according to the auction watch at http://www.powersellersunite.com the next 10 players are approaching aggregate market share in the neighborhood of 20%.
One reason ebay is losing its luster is that it has attracted a large number of listings that aren't really well-suited for the auction format -- which is a niche in which some other marketplace sites are gaining market share (my favorite is http://www.blujay.com). With the staggering number of commodity listings, the prices have suffered, and the buyers have become less excited.
Ebay also does not have any effective way of dealing with fraud, and have become a magnet for that sort of activity.
Oh, they do have "police" -- but only for PR purposes. It takes them *weeks* to find the obviously fraudulent listings (by which time the fraudulent listing is completed), but less than 24 hours to find and de-list *any* auction that mentions that they have some competition. Put "wagglepop" or "fee-hike protest" anywhere in your listing, and it won't last an hour.
For information on several alternatives to ebay, see http://www.powersellersunite.com
Meanwhile, another storm is forming on the horizon: Google. Already, the combination of GoogleBase, Froogle, and Google Checkout is a viable alternative for many sellers -- and can be far more cost-effective than ebay. With a few minor improvements, Google could easily render ebay to a small footnote in internet history.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Policing Ebay
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Policing Ebay
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Nothing at all wrong with ebay...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
eBay fills the niche
If you are a buyer looking for easy-to-find, non-niche items, chances are you will go to your local or favorite online retailer. After all, why would you choose "Dave's TVs" on Ebay over Circuit City for the same item at the same price?
If you are selling easy-to-find, non-niche items on Ebay, then your dilemma is the same - you are competing with the Walmarts and the Circuit Citys for most of your prospective buyers. So, what do you offer to differentiate yourself?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Fees
Those are a barrier of entry for new sellers. You need to seel hundreds of items in order to offset the fees. And selling hundreds requires you to invest a ton of time on ebay. Who can afford that lately?
Amzon marketplace is right now the spot allowing to list an item fee-free. But the selling fees are outrageous.
A good mix between No insertion fee, decent sale fee and google checkout can be a winner.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Three Hit Combo (Paypal included)
One, sellers have to deal with the listing fee; .30 cents isn't much for someone who uses it off and on, but I can see why it's a problem for powersellers. Two, if you were successful in selling, eBay wants a percent of it; which isn't bad if you're selling used electronics... Three, if the customer opt for Paypal, which I no longer perfer, they take a percent of the money transfered... They may be small hits, but at the end of the day they'll do a number on you...
This doesn't even take into account the sudden influx of products sold, and a seller must entice buyers with Free Shipping and/or NR... Talk about the meat grinder....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: A middleman...
At least you have some peace of mind when dealing with unknown peole on the net...who can be a fraud too
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: A middleman...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fraud on ebay
Ebay doesn't give a Damn about Scammers.
If any of you guys are intersted in joining
our ebay fraudbusting team please contact
Dave on exposed.fraud.on.ebay@gmail.com
All new members welcome free..............
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
can ebay survive as a public company?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: can ebay survive as a public company?
A customer should never own a piece of the company it is buying services from.
(Although I will concede that this seems to work very well for the credit unions...)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Serious Fraud on ebay
Please contact me a.s.a.p.
Thanks
Tony
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
eBay pricing themselves out of the game
Many of us have experienced gradual errosion of sales on eBay, as listing fees grow and sales lag. We have 9 years of historical data to reinforce this point...
It's our belief that eBay is approaching a saturation point and that they will not have the ability, in the future, to continue with aggressive fee increases. They are simply becoming too expensive and cumbersome to continue selling on their site.
The addition of many fruitless sales tools is also getting comical and aggrevating. Why should eBay nickel and dime sellers for sales tools, templates, bold highlighting, etc. when they should be provided free of charge? Our merchant platforms on our own website improve tools regularly and do not charge extra fees for these improvements...eBay provides themselves with the self appointed right to charge their sellers for every single minimal tool they wish to provide us and ignore the fact that these fees errode sellers margins and profiability.
eBay now has competition and its in the form of individual websites. They know this, as this is the reason behind aquiring ProStores earlier in the year. They are aware of the struggles they are facing and will hopefully take steps to help their sellers, in turn, helping themselves in the long run.
If you need a pair of nice sunglasses, feel free to drop by our website and buy them from us direct. You'll save us $6.00 in fees and we'll get to have a real transaction together where names and email addresses can be exchanged without unfair obstruction. The days of being a third party, with a wall of separation, are gradually starting to fade. We're not alone in this sediment, as it is echoing accross the internet as we speak.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who actually owns blujay.com?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ebay deserves to be in a slump!
There are two "classes" on Ebay--the Super Sellers and Stores are the Upper class, and the rest of us are the second. Even though we provide the necessary market, we are definitely treated as second-class citizens by Ebay. For me, the final straw was when a Super Seller didn't want to honor a sale to me, for which I had already paid, and told Ebay that we had mutually agreed to cancel the transaction. I answered "Not ture", and Ebay allowed the transaction to be cancelled anyway. I posted a complaint on an Ebay Forum, and I got a reprimand from Ebay, saying that posting a negative comment was inappropriate! Hello, Ebay Management, are you listening?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ebay deserves to be in a slump!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]