eBay Live: No Walk in the Park for CEO Donahoe

I must say something. I love Ebay but, as mostly a buyer, I have a problem withing paying for my transaction within minutes of the auction ending and having to wait until after I receive the item and leave feedback first. I think sellers should only have a window of a day or two to leave feedback (Negative or positive). In my mind my part of the transaction was completed as soon as I paid for the item and therefore, deserve feedback before leaving it.

I must say something. I love Ebay but, as mostly a buyer, I have a problem withing paying for my transaction within minutes of the auction ending and having to wait until after I receive the item and leave feedback first. I think sellers should only have a window of a day or two to leave feedback (Negative or positive). In my mind my part of the transaction was completed as soon as I paid for the item and therefore, deserve feedback before leaving it.

Most ebay sellers are whining fools. Ebay feedback has been a logical farce for years as sellers retaliated against buyers that left legitimate negative feedback. Complaints on ebay forums from buyers victimized by this rampant seller behavior were ridiculed by sellers on the forums. Buyers could no longer trust ebay to distinguish good seller, yet sellers scoffed at any changes. Ebay changes may not be optimal, but they are categorically better than the farce they had before the recent 'no negative' feedback for buyers policy.

I'm a seller and a buyer on ebay. I don't care who flames me, here comes the truth: The sellers complain about losing their "protection" when they lost the ability to leave a neg FB. If by "protection" they mean retaliatory FB, then screw them. If a buyer pays for the item in a timely manner, they NEVER deserve a neg or a UPI filed against them. How many of you sellers waited for the buyer to leave FB first? You should have been leaving a positive as soon as they paid and before you shipped. If the buyer doesn't pay you can report it, get your fees back, and ban them from future bids on your items. Buyers complain about retailers all the time (Wal-Mart, Sears, Best Buy, Macy's etc.), but how often do you see the retailers bashing their customers? Never. This is how it is in the real world: the buyer has the right to tell anyone and everyone how their experience with a seller is. It's not so much that a neutral=negative, it's that it ISN'T a positive. As a buyer if you receive mediocre service you aren't happy. ebay wants their buyers to be happy, not buyers that are wishing for a little more. Sellers are finally seeing their true customer service and product values exposed, and aren't happy with it because they got used to years of 99-100% FB when maybe it wasn't fully deserved. Boo-hoo. And honestly, for every seller that leaves there are 10 more with the thirst to earn money that will gladly step into their place, and they will probably do better because their customers are happier. So go to Amazon where you have to compete with the very company whose site you are listing on. Go to the little no-name auction sites with no traffic. You think you have problems with buyers on ebay? Wait until they start hitting you on the other sites where you really have no protection.

I have been an ebay patron since inception, 90% buyer, 10% seller and have to say I am sadly disappointed. I got ripped off by three sellers in a row, from a PS3 to a snowmobile part. It is utterly deplorable how ebay is more interested in serving an advertisement than making a sale nowadays. I'll gladly take my business elsewhere as ebay is a scam more on the side of predatory sellers and fraud. Goodbye to a dot com legend and the welcome to an outright failure as a leader in online commerce.

I have been selling on eBay for over 2 years with no problem (I am powerseller with 98% + feedback), recently my account has been restricted for no reason at all. I bet this company will lose revenue in the coming months if they don't change their recent feedback policy and other issues. SELL EBAY SHARES ASAP !!!!!!!!!!

I'm a seller and a buyer on ebay. I don't care who flames me, here comes the truth: The sellers complain about losing their "protection" when they lost the ability to leave a neg FB. If by "protection" they mean retaliatory FB, then screw them. If a buyer pays for the item in a timely manner, they NEVER deserve a neg or a UPI filed against them. How many of you sellers waited for the buyer to leave FB first? You should have been leaving a positive as soon as they paid and before you shipped. If the buyer doesn't pay you can report it, get your fees back, and ban them from future bids on your items. Buyers complain about retailers all the time (Wal-Mart, Sears, Best Buy, Macy's etc.), but how often do you see the retailers bashing their customers? Never. This is how it is in the real world: the buyer has the right to tell anyone and everyone how their experience with a seller is. It's not so much that a neutral=negative, it's that it ISN'T a positive. As a buyer if you receive mediocre service you aren't happy. ebay wants their buyers to be happy, not buyers that are wishing for a little more. Sellers are finally seeing their true customer service and product values exposed, and aren't happy with it because they got used to years of 99-100% FB when maybe it wasn't fully deserved. Boo-hoo. And honestly, for every seller that leaves there are 10 more with the thirst to earn money that will gladly step into their place, and they will probably do better because their customers are happier. So go to Amazon where you have to compete with the very company whose site you are listing on. Go to the little no-name auction sites with no traffic. You think you have problems with buyers on ebay? Wait until they start hitting you on the other sites where you really have no protection.

I don't like ebay and think that their corporate greed has reached offensive levels. However, I must say that the things I'm looking for (e.g. vintage sports cards) are just not available anywhere else online. If there was a legitimate alternative I'd switch in a heartbeat!

Have been a Powerseller on EBAY since 2003. 100% positive feedback, even no neutrals, used to do $50K+ a year in sales on EBAY, left Ebay in early 2007, have not sold a $'s worth of merchandise on EBAY for lasy one year. Most crooked, high handed company, exhorbitant fees, bordering on the side of extortion, Mafia style. I used to buy on EBAY but pretty much stopped that too after they screwed me and the seller by cancelling the listing after I had paid for the merchandise. The seller was very honest and nice and we two worked it out without a problem. I hope EBAY goes down becuase it is a big dishonest American corporation.

Ebay has lost their minds!!!!!!! They absolutely have forgotten who feeds them - It's the Sellers. I can't believe that they have made it impossible to post negative remarks about a whimp that decided not to pay or was slow to pay. If I was to go to the local Walmart and put a big sign on the front of their store and list anything false or untrue about them I would be arrested. EBAY thinks it's just fine. I have been selling on their site for 5 years with two different accounts. I am seriously thinking of leaving for good because selling on there anymore in NO GOOD! The people running that company are impossible to communicate with!!! The fees they charge are way to high. What can I say but these days EBAY sucks!!!

I teach International Marketing Stratgies at an Ivy League business school and the biggest joke in Economic I have ever heard is for someone to declare that "NOT allowing the supply side (sellers) the opportunity to do or say anything would increase demand (bringing more buyers)". I wonder where did he learn this economic theory; I mean which school did he go?

Hummmm a difficult one. I purchased something on Ebay a couple of years ago - and after promptly paying, and enduring a long wait, I got an email advising me the item had been damaged in the mail. I said ok, please send it again and I'll have a look at it. Despite the damage I accepted the article. I left NEUTRAL feedback. After all it was not a perfect transaction. In return the Seller retaliated and left Negative feedback on my report and promptly banned me from bidding on his auctions. I did absolutely nothing wrong to warrant getting the negative feedback. I had 100% before, and have 100% again now for the last 12 months, yet one vindictive clown could get away with ruining my score for 12 months. Ebay needed to do something to address this practice of not leaving feedback before the Seller. Maybe this was not the way, but at least it is something. The real issue is fees. I used to buy and sell occasionally on Ebay, but so often the fees from Ebay and Paypal cut into any profit made (and profit was slim enough to start with) it was no fun. I'd rather sell something directly for a fixed fee in future.

Buyers are leaving EBay in droves because of the massive amounts of fraudulent transactions. If you get ripped off for hundreds of dollars as I did, and neither EBay nor PayPal will do anything about it, in spite of all their buyer protection policies, you have no desire to buy there again. Personally, after getting no satisfaction, I just cancelled my membership. It's such a large problem that academics are even studying it. See for example "A typology of complaints about eBay sellers" in the April 2008 issue of Communications of the ACM. (http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1330311.1330326)

I am with John C. Ebay fees and Paypal fees in 2007 totalled about 11% of my revenue. I ask you this question, Where can you get millions of potential buyers looking at your items for any less? Ever looked into the cost of opening a retail shop? And the other auction sites barely have the customers. I think patience is the key here. Ebay has made some drastic changes and that always feels more painful than it really is. Truth is, with feedback, if you follow all the procedures that ebay has in place, if you are an honest fair seller you will generally be OK. I agree that the feedback feels a little harsh but as it settles out over time, it will have a zero effect on business as a seller. Be patient ebay sellers-- you wont get the customers or prices elsewhere-- in the end what they are really trying to get rid of is the crappy and uneven sellers to get the buyers to be more loyal because of the remaining consistent strong quality sellers. In the end, going towards quality is always better than quantity.

I could not agree MORE with the prior comment. I've been ripped off numerous times, most notably in the last year. Do you think that ebay, or Paypal came to bail me out? NOPE! Thank goodness I paid with a competitors credit card which protected me. To offer something constructive, I urge management to listen to BOTH their sellers and buyers as the transaction process is obviously broken. 1. Sellers cannot leave negative feedback after item is purchased unless buyer approves it, and feedback needs to be "limited" with generic messages, such as "Buyer did not pay" and not leave the door open to roast. 2. Ebay needs to curtail the amount of knock-offs and cheap Chinese merchandise that seems to generate a lot of frustration for buyers. 3. Sellers need only be assessed a fee when an item sells, or have a reduced rate on auctions that don't complete. Having failed to sell some items (because I was out to lunch on a reserve price) I recall the bad taste I've had in my mouth afterword. 4. Buyers and sellers should BOTH be responsible for some of the fee schedule... this will take some innovation however it spreads the risk of fraudulent transactions to both the buyers and sellers. It might even be a sales pitch for their horrible line of credit. 5. PayPal shouldn't restrict the payment methods to solely bank accounts on some transactions. This has left me in the red and is unacceptable as a buyer. Anyway, there are many more, and these are just a few suggestions off the top of my head.

I agree with ya'll. I have been selling on ebay for 5 years and I now hate it so much that I am leaving. I have buyers who threaten me saying they will post neutal/ negative feedback if I do not take refunds on software et all. They demand refunds because they find it cheaper elsewhere and threated to post negative f/b. Ebay now and then restricts my account ( for no fault of mine) , removed listings, favors the buyers only....and charges a truckload of fees. SCr#w ebay. There should be a massive seller boycott and agitation like it happened a few years back and ebay should be mad eo tmend its ways. I would not short the stock now but I would not buy it either. To add...paypal sucks further. Ebay dumps claims on paypal and paypal closes them saying we hav eto negotiate with buyer....why are they doing that?:? I think I have lost more money on ebay than how much I have made.

I was an eBay seller (even had silver powerseller status for a year or two, and was a bronze powerseller for most of the remainder) on eBay for about six years. I am moving on. EBay has turned its "business model" into a bad comedy. The completely screwy feedback system (the screwiness goes far beyond the one-way negatives), the insanely steep rate of fee increases, the constant toying with every little detail to keep both buyers and sellers disoriented, and the overall decline in sell-through rates, are all reason enough to move on; the writing is on the wall for eBay. The buyers and so-called "sellers" posting here trying to make a case about how eBay's changes are "a great thing" are shills, plants, or abject ignoramuses. Those buyers will be singing a different tune out the other side of their mouth, when all that remains are mostly fixed-price commonplace items that you can pick up at Amazon or Wal-mart. The heart of eBay was the smaller sellers who offered fantastic deals and unusual items, many of whom bent over backwards to treat each customer with personalized and superior service from start to finish. The "fascination factor" of eBay has been irrevocably compromised, and buyers will soon follow the sellers right out the door.

John, "I am primarily a Buyer on Ebay and to me it is a Godsend. I am not sympathetic with Sellers who complain about Fees" Wait until you are no longer able to buy anything on ebay! There where are you going to go? I find it monopolistic that you cannot use Google Checkout on ebay. And frankly I will be selling on Google exclusively shortly here. I will put up an article for sale that directs buyers to my Google store on ebay. Let us see how long it it before they catch me. Probably never!

Sorry you folks are ranting so hard. How about the negative feedback I got from a gentleman that bid an item up to the reserve "just so no one else would get it" but then wanted to pay 10% less because that was the next lower bid? I had a running fight with this jerk for 30 days because he refused to pay! I basically had to sit an item on the shelf for the duration and then cancel the sale because some idiot with a rating of 110 did not want to live by the rules? And I was not able to leave a negative feedback?

I was a Gold powerseller for years. eBay's insistence on allowing their own customers (the sellers) to be trampled by criminal bidders is not excusable. To date it has cost ebay in excess of $50,000.00 in revenue to not have me as a seller. The good news is I have that 50k on my side of the ledger. It is very sad. I had 100% positive feedback with a handful of neutrals in many thousands of transactions over 7 years of selling there. I was quite comfortable handing over 2K a month. My margins were high. Life was good. Then came March 1, 2005. Sales from 5 figures a month to 3 figures overnight. Huge powersellers on eBay vanished in months. And eBay really thinks they can convince everyone it was nothing to do with them, their system, management etc..... My sales are back to 5 figures without eBay or PayPal or even Craigslist. eBay properties are not allowed in my finances. My customers have very good buyer experiences, they express that with repeat sales and many kind words. They tend to have kind words about eBay too. I hear comments like, "remember when ebay was a fun place to shop etc" Always past tense. Very sad... My love to Meg (Ha)