Disconnect at eBay as It Moves toward Amazonification

There's a disconnect between what I'm hearing from eBay executives, and what I'm hearing from sellers and vendors, here at the eBay Live show. Booing during a keynote has happened before - when Bill Cobb mentioned the rollback of Stores in Search back in 2006. This year the booing was about the feedback changes eBay rolled out on May 12, 2008.

But I've never before seen sellers upset to the point they regularly erupted in loud disagreement to eBay presenters, as they did in the Feedback session yesterday. (Author and freelance writer Greg Holden, who is our AuctionBytes blogger this week, live-blogged the event.) There's also a YouTube video showing a man going ballistic at one of the sessions. 

The feedback changes rolled out one month ago, and a number of sellers have been talking about an increase in UPIs (non-paying buyers), and an attitude from buyers that they now have all the time in the world to pay for items. eBay's Stephanie Tilenius told me the UPI rate has not increased. That's surprising to hear, though it's still a bit early. 

Just like many sellers, vendors fear retribution from eBay, and of course, they don't want to scare off customers by being too negative. I've come to learn that larger vendors are realists, so they will either adapt or adjust their business models (BuySafe is rather a good example of this). It's not so clear whether small vendors will weather the changes.

Meanwhile, if I hadn't spoken with sellers and vendors, I'd have a very positive impression of eBay. The managers I've spoken with at DevCon and eBay Live seem focused and determined, and believe in the projects they are working on. I was very impressed with Jamie Iannone's belief in his vision of search (though I'm not sure eBay as a catalog is better than eBay the way it is now, though it may only be rolled out in certain categories where it makes sense). It's certainly a very different way of shopping - I believe the new concept may be similar to the Wigix site I wrote about.

As far as execs, I have a feeling they either don't get it, or get it and won't admit it. And what I mean by don't get it is that they don't recognize sellers' are upset to the point of leaving. The official spin on unrest is "change is hard," which is a big part of it, but the (sometimes nasty) desperation I'm seeing is from sellers who feel they don't have control of their businesses, don't know what eBay might throw at them next, and some of whom are pulling out their hair stuck between poor customer service from eBay and abusive buyers, others who fear encountering bad buyers and how it will affect their businesses.

During the keynote session, Lorrie Norrington spoke about cherishing small sellers like Denise from good-dog-jack, and relayed her experience of buying a pair of shoes on eBay and then selling them to a buyer in France. It would appear they still want those eBay-like experiences, but on an Amazon-like platform.

Where eBay Is Headed
It's no surprise to industry observers that eBay is moving toward a more Amazon-like system - and all the signs are here at the show. eBay is becoming a site in which listings are more generic and the site is more of a catalog than an eclectic bazaar, and in which the buyer has the most consistent experience with search and with Checkout, and of course, a system where eBay processes most of the transactions via PayPal.

Skype, one of the companies composing "the Power of Three" from a few years back, was not mentioned much, if at all. While it was listed as an exhibitor in a list I had printed out on June 2 from the eBay website (booth 950), it is not in the guide being handed out to attendees. I have yet to check the exhibit hall, but someone told me eBay cancelled Skype at the last minute.

The Town Hall meeting is set for 11 am, and I'm expecting a lively debate.