Comments on: New CEO, uncertain future for eBay

By: turnebiz

turnebiz — Mon, 12 May 2008 02:42:52 +0000

I wrote an interesting post on my blog about my experience on this hot topic that has upset the whole ebay community… It is at the following url:

http://turnebiz.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/did-ebay-kill-your-online-business/

Thanks,
Matt Soares

By: STEVE MASSEY LAFAYETTE, INDIANA

STEVE MASSEY LAFAYETTE, INDIANA — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:06:53 +0000

Feb 20th will be the Start of the end of EBAY. The New changes will only Benefit other online auction’s especially ONLINEAUCTION.COM

By: David Yingling, O'fallon IL

David Yingling, O'fallon IL — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:48:16 +0000

Any business person who succeeds knows that you can’t build a business on quick sand. Donahoe says they will be tweaking the system this year? How do you sustain profit when you never know when the rules are going to change? Donahoe’s changes support sellers of low priced media items listed in mass. Those sellers account for 60% of Ebay revenue now. So expect a drop of revenue for 2008 of about %30 as other sellers jump ship.

By: Susan, Peoria, IL

Susan, Peoria, IL — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:27:03 +0000

Two things are immediately obvious with the announcement of changes John Donahoe will make effective 2/2/2008. Number 1 – John Donahoe hasn’t got a clue what drives sales on eBay and what made it the giant company it is today. Number 2 – He seems determined to destroy the quirky, unique item, world wide bazaar and turn eBay into an online Wal-Mart. This will be the death of eBay. As the sellers of new items, dropped shipped from some 3rd party warehouse that the eBay seller never sees increased, the vintage and unique items that were the charm and the draw for many buyers have decreased. John Donahoe wants to speed up that demise. I have been an eBay member (both buyer and occasional seller) for 9 years. I can no longer find the types of items that I purchased on eBay as the sellers have been pushed out. I collect vintage glass from the 1890s through the 1950s. The specific pieces that fit in that broad category that I am looking for are already no longer available on eBay. I gave up on eBay last Fall and I certainly will NOT be back to buy some widget I can get at the local big box store from eBay. That is NOT what the site is about. eBay RIP! Also, I am very happy that my stock portfolio does not contain eBay stock. If it did I would be selling as fast as I could before the stock becomes worthless!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:11:16 +0000

I think I speak for all sellers when I say, we are saturated with disgust for the way are business partner , U-Pay ( Ebay) has treated us for years, but most recently has been the worst. Thousands upon thousands of sellers are ripe and ready to jump Ebays Titantic liner ! Not only did they send us an email on 1-28-2008 disguised as a fee decrease, when in reality it was a huge fee increase , they notified sellers that we would no longer be able to post negative or netural feedback on a buyer as of 2-20-2008 !!!!! This insane ,kiss of death business move instantly breaks the bond, if there ever was one , between the seller and ebay ! The seller is the one who has helped put billions in ebays deep pockets for years . Without the seller Ebay would be nothing ! The feedback system at Ebay is the essence of what makes Ebay work on the internet across the world. Sellers and buyers alike are more inclined to be honest with a fair feedback system in place. The seller can moniter his high end auctions with the ability to weed out any bidders with very poor feedback. All sellers will tell you that this is a very valuable tool that gives us the ability to cancel a problem before it turns into a bigger problem and waste of time. As of 2-20-2008, under ebays new feedback system, buyers will no longer receive a Negative or Netural feedback from a seller even if the buyer deserves it. Sellers are only allowed to post Positive !!! This renders the buyers feedback score as utterly useless to any seller ! The new CEO, John Danahoe , a longtime management consultant is pulling all the wrong levers at the worst possible moment in time ! Mr Donahoe may be a business consultant but he has not proven to be a great online internet auction general. My guess is, he was never a power seller on Ebay for years like me and clearly does not understand the importance of a fair feedback system. I feel like my right to post any feedback I see fit on any buyer has been violated and squashed ! Before you invest , investigate !

By: Philip, Louisville, KY

Philip, Louisville, KY — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:03:41 +0000

Not to mention that the new feedback system totally takes away a sellers right to voice an opinion about a bad seller. The new feedback system will be set that so BUYERS can NOT receive bad feedback, ONLY positive. Here comes the scammers!

By: Richard McMurray,Crawfordsville,IN

Richard McMurray,Crawfordsville,IN — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:00:17 +0000

Yes it is hard to stay fresh but that is exactly what persons placed in charge of large companies must do. They have the responsibility to the public they serve to be good enough to accomplish success! Just showing a short term profit for a few quarters is failure if not accompanied by the molding of procompany attitudes in its employees. This with the generation of appreciation by its customers will guarantee future success.

If profit is obtained by short term tactics such as relying on user fee increases it may take a few months but it will be perceived by both employee and customer who will be angered and soon respond to that anger in a backlash of company distain. Profits will plummet sharply. This need not happen.