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Not for the first time, some sellers on eBay are planning to stage a worldwide walkout over controversial changes to how the auction site wants them to do business. On the first of May, the month the new rules take effect, a seller-led boycott of the virtual marketplace is due to begin for 24 hours, the Sunday Times understands. Their protest is that under the changes, only buyers will be able to post comments about the goods they receive, whereas sellers will be stripped of this feedback option. In practice, this will make it impossible for sellers to respond to complaints about their conduct which, regardless of being true, could damage their reputations. They believe the site risks losing its ‘community’ element - largely seen as making eBay a success – because the founding system of trader’s rating each other will go. The move aims to encourage buyers to be more open about their experience – something eBay fears doesn’t happen once buyers are rebuffed by sellers they complain about. Publicly, eBay has only alluded to the move, saying an “update” of the feedback system will inspire “healthy, vibrant trading and keep bringing buyers back.” The grass-roots uprising is also seen as a reaction to eBay imposing a new system of fees – a move the company says has helped its profit leap by more than 20%. Although sellers' ‘insertion’ or listing fees are down by a third – as will be the time it takes to list – final completion fees have leapt from 5.25% to7.25%. In January, the site also vowed to make the bare minimum standards for sellers more rigorous, “primarily to discourage behavior [sic] that causes buyer dissatisfaction”. The site has also begun decreasing search exposure for the listings of sellers who have a high number of customer complaints, while requiring PayPal for sellers who have such low feedback ratings. “Put simply, we will make more of our money when sellers are successful,” said John Donahoe, who took over as eBay’s chief executive last month. He said feedback from sellers shows that incentives to list are not aligned; that insertion fees are too risky; that they want to sell at higher volumes, and that they want an indicator of their sales performance. “The seller dashboard that we’re rolling out in May is in direct response to that,” Mr Donahoe said of the feedback, speaking to the eBay Ink blog. “We’re making improvements to our tools for casual sellers. For example, we instituted a process that has cut down the listing time by a third. And for larger sellers, we’re doing a number of things that will make their experience on eBay much easier. We’re determined to be the healthiest and most vibrant marketplace today for both buyers and sellers.” Apr 21, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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