Why the eBay Scream?
I wrote the blog post below about a week and half ago. I finally felt like posting it after responding to a blog post over at Senseless Sellers.
Here’s my response to that post on Senseless Seller’s blog.
Can you believe there are “successful” eBay sellers with attitudes like this one? What a complete disgrace to the reputation of what a seller, whether on eBay or anywhere else, should be! Could you imagine walking into Walmart or any other “successful” retailer and having them treat you this way. “Get your facts straight or get out”. What a joke!
It is my belief that those in authority over at eBay AREN’T AS STUPID as 98% of the eBay sellers who recently took a survey posted on the Auctions Bytes newsletter think they are.
I believe eBay is WELL AWARE of eBay sellers like this one and ENGINEERED these new feedback changes to modify seller behavior on their platform and to EXPOSE the frauds masquerading as sellers who won’t change.
Sellers like the one you quote here are going to have an EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TIME with the new eBay feedback changes!
The attitude they currently harbor toward buyers as revealed in your quote will not die easy. It is ingrained in their belief system and eBay business model and they will be cursing under their breath for a long time.
eBay is shining a light on these sellers and if they don’t LEARN TO LIKE these changes, they will be running like cockroaches for other rocks (selling platforms) to crawl under.
=========My Blog Post====================
The eBay sellers scream-heard-round-the-world is continuing to build to a high pitched whine against new eBay decisions concerning fees and feedback.There is a growing number of anti-eBay comments bemoaning eBay’s right to run it’s business the way they see fit. And here is a petition ON eBay to boycott them in an attempt to “wake eBay decision-makers up” to their evil and haphazardly thrown together fee and feedback decisions specifically designed to run their own company into the ground.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of people there are, who with little or no information, have no problem believing themselves to be in the best position to accurately judge the decisions of those with all the information at their fingertips, and whose job depends on successfully leading a company into the future.
I can’t help but think if any one of the eBay sellers now attacking eBay’s latest fee and feedback decisions was SUDDENLY MORPHED INTO the CEO of eBay, paid a $10,000,000 annual salary and given every last bit and byte of eBay marketing data along with the responsibility to perpetuate future eBay growth, otherwise they don’t continue to collect their 10,000,000 salary,
They would make the exact same decision eBay just made.
A snapshot taken in time five years ago of eBay buyer/seller demographics, marketing data and future trends would look completely different from a snapshot taken of eBay today. Why eBay sellers believe eBay should make decisions impacting the future success of their company based upon WHO THEY WERE and what they looked like FIVE YEARS AGO is absolutely beyond me. I wouldn’t be so stupid as to take that approach when making decisions for me and my family.
And let me get this straight. Does eBay’s primary competitor AMAZON, who many online pundits declare is kicking eBay’s butt, have lower seller fees than eBay? They might, I’m not going to do exact comparison “calcs” right now but a quick glance at both company’s fee schedules leads me to believe otherwise.
And does Amazon allow it’s sellers to dole out negatives against the buyers on their platform? Not that I can see. Amazon does permit buyers to write product reviews and rate their satisfaction with sellers…same as eBay.
Then exactly where does this anti eBay scream from sellers emanate from? It emanates from the immediate pain eBay sellers feel from changes they see, from their limited point of view, as negative. An eBay executive could park their butt inside one of these eBay seller’s home for an entire day, lay out all the data and passionately explain why these new fee and feedback decisions will be in the best future interest of the majority of eBay sellers providing superior customer service, but it wouldn’t matter.
All that eBay seller is going to understand is the pain felt from the immediate affect of those decisions and “that is the center” their initial scream will emanate from. The style of their communication will change when their pain subsides.
Like our American judicial system, I make it a practice to give my eBay customers the “benefit of the doubt” when serving them. When, not if, a customer acts in a way I don’t immediately understand I don’t rush to the conclusion they are guilty and out to harm me. I treat eBay that same way and choose to believe the decisions they are paid to make are in my best long term interest even when I don’t immediately understand how or why.
One last thought for those eBay sellers choosing to spend their valuable time, energy and resources getting eBay to “see the light” in what they believe are misguided fee and feedback decisions. This chart showing the internet traffic comparison of eBay verses some other online auction choices I hear eBay sellers saying they are going to give a try is very revealing.
You see that flat line on the bottom of the chart showing the “daily internet traffic reach” these eBay rivals currently have compared to eBay?
That flat line may also soon represent your online business income if you choose to show your auctions on a auction platform with that amount of daily internet traffic to view them.
Just a thought.
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Comments
Again…right on the money.
I stay away from the ebay discussion boards because they are just too negative. I am subscribed to a couple of ebay groups at Yahoo because, occasionally, I’ll learn something from a post.
Over the past week both groups have been over run by the “Let’s boycott…that’ll show ‘em” people who, for the most part, are spewing out misinformation and outright lies about the ebay changes.
One poster this morning (a Powerseller no less) got all excited because PayPal was going to withhold a payment for 21 days! Turns out the buyer paid her by echeck that normally takes 3-4 days to clear. Ya’d think a PS would know that…but I guess not.
I used to think ebay should have a little quiz for buyers to take before they made the plunge. Now I believe sellers probably should have a test to take to show they actually understand the very basics.
eBay Seller testing…hmmm..not a bad idea.
I get a real kick out of sellers who talk like it’s their natural born “right” to sell on eBay. What a hoot!
Like eBay was some government entitlement program created solely for their private enrichment.
Actually Steve I think eBay sellers need to go back to school and take a course in Capitalism 101. The same people who would have no problem believing in Darwin’s theory of evolution and “the survival of the fittest” when it comes to the origin of their own place in the universe can’t seem to wrap their minds around “survival of the fittest” when it comes to this same basic premise of Capitalism. Weenies 
How did we get to this national “victimhood mentality” that first looks outside instead of inside for answers? Actually I could write reams on that subject but I’m saving that for another blog in the distant future.
Mark,
I share your frustration with these sellers, and I think you make excellent points.
What you’ve said about giving customers the benefit of the doubt makes so much sense. I’m tired of the Henny Penny sellers running around worried about buyers intentionally sabotaging them with negative feedback. Why sell on eBay if you have no faith in the customer base? Why sell on eBay if you have no faith in the company and their decisions? Why waste your time whining on the seller boards or signing petitions, when you could be structuring your business to adapt to the changes? It all comes down to professionalism, and I believe that the most vocal and negative sellers are also the least professional sellers.
-eBayMinx