eBay Sellers to Strike. Give Us a Break!
February 4, 2008
There is a movement afoot from certain people who sell on eBay to have a listing strike for the week of 18-25 February in protest of the eBay changes that are coming about later this year. This is one of the most ridiculous things that we have heard of in a while. And believe us, we have heard some doozies!
The eBay Discussion Group thread discussing this topic has 2848 replies as of this writing. Um, don’t these sellers have something better to be doing, like concentrating on how to sell on eBay?
The funniest part is that the eBay sellers who are pledging to sign up for this boycott really think that they can make a difference. What percentage of people making money on eBay are going to take part in this strike? We have a feeling that it will be a very, very small percentage of eBay sellers and it will be the sellers that don’t push any sort of volume on the site. It is the vocal minority who really like to complain in the eBay Discussion Boards. Give us a break! 
If you are going to sell on eBay, then you darn well better be ready to accept the terms that eBay requires you to comply with to sell on their site. Yes, it is their site, not yours. It is their rules, not yours. If you don’t like it, then take your merchandise and go play somewhere else!
To those that are planning on going on strike later this month, we say good luck. Now, if you think that this will make eBay reconsider their position, then we have some oceanfront property in Arizona we would like to sell you.
Our advice to would-be strikers is to quit spending so much time on the eBay Discussion Boards and instead concentrate on learning how to sell on eBay so that you will be a success, instead of a wannabe. 
P.S. You will only be hurting yourself by striking, not eBay.
Image: FreeFoto.com
Related Posts:
Possible Solution to eBay Nonpaying Bidders
If you are making money on eBay, then chances are that you will eventually have a buyer who doesn’t pay for the item that they purchased from you. These nonpaying bidders can be very aggravating, to say the least. About
2008 eBay Changes - Seller Dashboard
Today, we are wrapping up our series on the 2008 eBay changes and how they affect your ability to make money on eBay. The last topic we are going to cover is that of the upcoming eBay Seller Dashboard.
We have
Suggested Reading for 15 February 2008
Happy belated Valentine’s Day to everybody! Did anybody have any success cashing in on this holiday while making money on eBay?
The weather here in the Valley of the Sun is overcast and 60 degrees. A nice change from the normally
Suggested Reading for 22 February 2008
It is February 22nd already. Wow! Time flies when you are making money on eBay.
As we gaze out the windows of our corporate headquarters here in the Valley of the Sun, it is gray and overcast again and it’s certainly
2008 eBay Changes - Feedback
It has been just over a week since the big eBay announcement that has gotten almost everyone who is making money on eBay in an uproar. We have been sitting back digesting all of the hubbub in the blogosphere, waiting
2008 eBay Changes - Expanded PayPal Seller Protection Policy
Among the many changes that eBay is rolling out in 2008 is the expanded PayPal Seller Protection Policy for the top-tier of those making money on eBay. We say top-tier because this is how eBay defines PowerSellers. However, we have
Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) – What is it?
The pricing of some products that you sell will be strictly controlled by the manufacturer. This is done by setting what is called a Minimum Advertised Price, or MAP. The manufacturer of the product is the one that sets MAP
Some Bad Holiday eBay News for Two Companies
People involved with eBay are supposed to be living the high life in the month of December. After all, with the greatly increased sales due to the holiday season, what could possibly go wrong? Plenty, if you are involved with
2008 eBay Changes - Safer Payments
Today, we continue our discussion of the 2008 eBay changes and how they affect those that sell on eBay. We are going to talk about the upcoming changes to the eBay safe payment policy.
January 2007 saw changes to the eBay
New eBay Detailed Seller Rating Comparison Tool
In early 2007, eBay introduced Feedback 2.0 which allows buyers to rate sellers on four categories (Detailed Seller Ratings) when they are leaving feedback. These categories are as follows:
Item as described
Communication
Shipping time
Shipping and handling charges
Buyers are able to rank sellers,
Very well said!
By the way, you’ve gotten me to do something I haven’t done in years - visit one of eBay’s discussion groups. In my opinion, they are a total waste of time. But, I had to follow you link.
The first post that appeared on the screen was by someone who currently has 1 item listed. They said:
“I only list a few items a week, but I promise not to list any item, or have any auctions whatsoever running the no listing week of Feb 18-25th.”
No doubt they are going to do a lot to hurt eBay’s bottom line.
The user ID is MrsKillion. My guess she’s married to either a doctor or a lawyer and sells on eBay so she can brag about it to the other women in her bridge club. Now she will have even more to brag about - she’s taking part in a revolution.
Sssshhhhsssss….
Hi Gary,
We are so happy that we persuaded you to go look at the eBay Discussion Boards!
We failed to mention in the above post that it does seem like most of the people involved in the great eBay boycott are low feedback number people. And a lot of them are admitting that they don’t sell much on eBay, so they know they won’t make a hill of beans worth of difference.
Not that we actually read all 2848+ replies. Heavens no! We have much better things to do with our time.
Someday these sellers will wake up to the realities of selling on eBay and realize they can’t fight the great eBay machine. If they want to sell on eBay, then they will have to follow all of eBay’s rules and fee changes.
Thanks, as always, for stopping by!
Well, I picked up my marbles and went home last year. I knew more changes that would be negative to small volume hobby/craft sellers like me were on their way so it was time to cash in my chips. I eventually left the online sales marketplace entirely last year, opting for Internet Marketing and niche blogging instead.
I do think that the no negatives/neutrals for buyers effectively guts the feedback system that has been the basis for commerce on eBay for 10 years. They’re going more toward an Amazon.com model that favors large volume sellers of mass produced consumer goods rather than the person selling a few personal items from time to time or someone selling to a small volume of hard to find hobby goods.
As I mentioned on a post on my blog, I think these changes will run many of these small timers off of eBay and this could have a negative impact on certain niches. I also thinks it opens up some opportunities for eBay competitors, provided they can attract buyers as well as sellers.
You’re right, bitching and moaning about it or ’striking’ won’t do any good. If you want to sell small volume, sell on places like BluJay or Etsy or setup your own ecommerce site. Bring/buy your own traffic though.
Hi Frank,
Nice to see you back here commenting. Always good to see a familiar face, so to speak!
We are still digesting the changes from last week. Haven’t had a great deal of time since we are incredibly busy working on new projects.
It is going to be interesting how the eBay changes play out in the coming months. Hard to believe that eBay’s intention is to drive away the little guy, since that is the majority of the sellers. But who really know what is going on in that “great” eBay mind…
I’ve been busy lately too. I’m in the middle of moving to a new house we just closed on. Moving is harder than buying the thing! My wife is annoyed that I still have about 100 5×5x5 shipping boxes and 100 eBay labeled priority mail boxes that I’m dragging along. My remaining merchandise only filled one small box though.
Congrats on the new house!
We know what you mean about shipping boxes. We have boxes upon boxes of boxes! Our garage and shipping room is a highly flammable area.
I stopped selling on ebay a long time ago because I could not make enough money at it. I love how you put this, though, they are only hurting themselves and they need to take the time to find out how to sell on ebay and they will make money with it.
Thanks for stopping by Lizard Wisdom and commenting!
Selling on eBay is a lot of work and you have to have the right products to be successful. We make no bones about this.
It is amazing how many people think that selling on eBay is a walk in the park. This may be the case if you are the occasional, hobby seller. But if you want to run a serious online business, it takes time, time, time.
I think you misunderstand the e-bay place in the online community. It used to bring unique items from sellers, because of low fees and friendly atmosphere. Now they want to squeeze more in fees, which is fine, but then they should not be lying about the fee increase. And about the friendliness I have one word to say: Paypal. That and a feedback system will drive the rest of small sellers out, and make it another Walmart online. I am sure Google will be out showing greedy ebay CEO what Internet marketplace is all about.
This sounds like sour grapes. I’m a buyer with hundreds of transactions and tens of thousands of dollars of parts bought under my belt. Three words: checks and balances. Remove recourse on either buyer or seller side and you tip the balance. Increased fees AND what appears to be a dramatic shift in buyer/seller politic appears to be a move that will affect more than the niche seller. Sure, a volume seller has more resources to deal with deadbeat and dishonest buyers yet the specter of public bad feedback seems to be the best tool for controlling the less positive urges of buyer and seller alike.
Hi Stevie,
Thanks for your comment!
The changes that eBay is in the process of making sure has struck a nerve with a lot of sellers. Time will only tell if they were the right move.
The point of this post is to say that while you have a right to get as pissed off at eBay as you want, it is still eBay’s website, eBay’s business and eBay has every right to make whatever changes they want.
If sellers don’t like what is happening, then they have every right to leave. However, if they want to continue to do business with eBay, then they need to expend their energy on improving their business and adapting to the changes, rather than complaining and going on strike.
That is just how we feel about this whole situation. Obviously there are a lot of people who feel differently, and that is fine.