Comments on: Meg Whitman bids farewell to eBay

By: Mark, CO Spgs CO

Mark, CO Spgs CO — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:19:50 +0000

Dumped my six-year-old eBay account totally this date. Wasn’t the fees that finally drove me off, although it was a factor. It was their incredible arrogance of disallowing bank check or money order as payment methods UNLESS the seller also offers the loathsome Paypal (which eBay owns), or Propay, credit card, etc. I generally react to “You do it this way or else” with, “Okay, or else.” I expect eBay is handling a few account closures about now…

By: Grant, Sunbury, Middlesex.

Grant, Sunbury, Middlesex. — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:22:05 +0000

Ebay needs to look to itself and remember how it all started. Fees should be reduced and the pricing structure made simpler.
Paypal is a law unto itself with absolutely no transparency or reasons given for its actions.
It can take money from your account with no reasons given and does not respond to emails. The only way to resolve the issue is to sue them which is timeconsuming, expensive and often finacially impractical for the small amounts that may be involved.

By: Jolie Harrison, TX

Jolie Harrison, TX — Sat, 24 May 2008 15:34:36 +0000

Well Donahoe managed to make ebay WORSE. Not only did he fail to lower seller fees…he went ahead and took away all seller say. Not only is he not luring back sellers, he is driving them away in DROVES.

By: Paul, San Diego, CA

Paul, San Diego, CA — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:07:53 +0000

what do you mean by local auction house?

By: Previousseller, Bridgewater, MA.

Previousseller, Bridgewater, MA. — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:34:47 +0000

I’m glad Ebay is aware of the disinterest their fee structures have generated. I sold on Ebay for years, and after taking a look at my profit margins, after Ebay has taken all fees and with Paypal, it just isn’t worth it anymore. They have “nickeled and dimed” people to death, and I have found their are fewer buyers on, which lends to lower sales. Also, it is very difficult to compete with the commercial businesses on there, under the guise of individual sellers. That has run rampant and knowledge of that has made many participants exasperated with Ebay. Here is hoping that Ebay can get their act together.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:00:56 +0000

I am 100% with Charles…

I am doing much better:)

By: Stephanie Cooper, San Fransico CA

Stephanie Cooper, San Fransico CA — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 06:12:32 +0000

As another powerseller who deals in high-end women’s clothing and bags ebay is making a fortune off of everything I sell. I have limited the number of items to sell online as the percentage that ebay/paypal takes, plus the time of having to ship items has caused me to rather sell in my traditional brick-n-mortar store. Meg Whitman did a great job but she should have left 2-3 years ago as Amazon and Google entered the market and starting pulling sellers away from ebay. No seller will ever match the amount of money Whitman pulled in the last 2 years while pushing inadequate goods. She earned her gold star but it luster has been lost.

By: Kelsey Tucson Arizona

Kelsey Tucson Arizona — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:44:31 +0000

I’VE WAITED FOR THIS DAY Let’s get back to ebay basics. Having home sellers selling their used items in the mix of the new ones is the foundation of why I signed onto ebay 10 years ago.
I have bought and sold on ebay for 10 years, and it feels like ebay is always trying to be something else, when the foundation of ebay stands alone because of it’s simplicity and greatness. Over the years we have lost the ability to sell our RV’s, list ad’s with ease, and list cheap items without being nickled and dimed like we are a Mc Donald’s drive thru. Omidyar made ebay, a simple platform to sell, Meg inflated it into a money spending, sweepstakes generating giant. Let’s get back to basics. If ebay forgot those basics, go check craigslist again. It’s still hot, and it’s still simple. I can’t wait until that lesson is learned. Make the auctions cheap to list and simple. Quit professionalzing smoothing all of the lines. It has changed ebay, obviously looking at the stock I would never buy, not for the better in that aspect.

By: Alex, Long Beach, CA

Alex, Long Beach, CA — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:33:41 +0000

I’ve been using eBay for about 4 years now and think that it’s an amazing tool. One thing they need to work on, however, is combating the scammers. I get at least one scam e-mail a month saying I bought something and did not pay for it. I also get a lot of fake buyers trying to pull money wiring scams. These e-mails are beginning to look very legitimate and to the untrained eye, could fool one easily. All it takes is one time to lose loyal customers.

By: Robert Puget Sound, WA

Robert Puget Sound, WA — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:53:24 +0000

Too old, too tired, too rich = NO FIRE in her belly. Got all the homes she needs; got a private jet too? What has she done in past 3-5 years that ADDED VALUE FOR SHAREHOLDERS? She’s got hers! Lets hope the guys got BETTER IDEAS and SOLID EXECUTION…no, not meg, but OPERATIONS!

By: Mike, Anchorage AK

Mike, Anchorage AK — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:36:46 +0000

The statement about fee’s is right on. The fee’s are outrageous for simple itmes. By the time you print a Paypal shipping label you have given eBay.Paypal 3 sets of fee’s. Not enough special listing reduction in fee’s openings. As eBay grew large, it became slugish and will in time lose it’s dominance.

By: Kris Jacksonville,FL

Kris Jacksonville,FL — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:15:54 +0000

ebays customer service is horrible. Their paypal service is about as good. It’s one thing to use the site normally but when you don’t agree on something. They don’t care. you do it their way or hit the highway. As someone who did $1300 a month between paypal and ebay. They lost my business over a $30 dispute in billing.

By: Bill Smith, El CInque, TX

Bill Smith, El CInque, TX — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:44:26 +0000

How do you spell Botox ?

By: Venu Tirumalai, Edison, NJ

Venu Tirumalai, Edison, NJ — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:02:18 +0000

I hate paypal. They charge a lot. The default method of payment is through my bank. They hate when people pay by card. I have brought it to their attention several times, but no use.

By: Mark, madison, wi

Mark, madison, wi — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:30:02 +0000

eBay has lost its way. The reason it’s facing a continuing slide to oblivion is because it has an archaic internal structure that is based on individual sellers instead of corporate sellers. Their feedback system is highly buyer-slanted and a real business cannot possibly operate successfully in that atmosphere. Their time is over. They need to take their toys and go home.

By: James, GPF

James, GPF — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:09:01 +0000

I’ve been selling on Ebay for 2 years. My sales have increased to $10K/mth. Ebay gets a FULL 22% of that with listing fees, final value fees and Paypal fees. They have FORCED me to open my own online store and encourage customers to shop there. I appreciate the powerful marketing engine Ebay is but like the article says, Ebays fees don’t scale well. As I list more and more items, 450 presently (I actually manufacture the products), they fee’s have become a larger part of my costs. Power sellers should be encouraged to list more items not penalized! I’m not greedy or ungrateful but it should be the more I make they more they make. Kinda like how the Ebay stores work – inexpensive to list but with a higher final value fee. Only problem is the majority of buyers don’t understand the Ebay store concept. 80% of my items are bought in the auction part of Ebay even though I list everything with a fixed price.

By: Harvey,Melbourne,Fla.

Harvey,Melbourne,Fla. — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:05:13 +0000

Whitman’s heralded “feedback” system
has become “blackmail” to the buyer,
who feels they cannot honestly evaluate the seller without receiving retribution. The auction house favores the seller (Ebay’s bottom line). The entire site has gone unchecked, and needs to be revamped into a true and honest auction house again.

By: Larry Hollingsworth , Joplin , Mo

Larry Hollingsworth , Joplin , Mo — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:52:01 +0000

As an ebay powerseller I feel they could do more to help the seller. Paypal is a big problem. I have had money removed from my account and not recieved my merchandise back from the buyer and paypal is of no help.

By: Charles, allentown, pa

Charles, allentown, pa — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:32:27 +0000

I have been doing better at the local auction houses than ebay. I dont have to put up with ebay annoying pulling of questionable items like toy cap guns that do not look like real guns and the raising of rates all the time. Also I dont have to deal with paypal with buyers lying to paypal about packages not being received even when delivery confirmation states it was delivered. I hope ebay goes away. I took my business elsewhere and did better than what ebay could ever do. I do not regret it one bit.

By: Jon, Saint Bonifacius, MN

Jon, Saint Bonifacius, MN — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:45:58 +0000

As an ebay powerseller, I was wondering how long it would take for ebay to restructure their fees. As I sell more, they make even more money off of me on both the front and back end, as well as through paypal. Amazon is starting to look pretty good…