Homepage Letter from eBay CEO Kicks off Holiday Marketing

by: Rick1313

To Kathleen 58519 post above...

Did the buyer from Israel opened a claim on eBay.com after two months had past?

Did see open it on PayPal?

Did PayPal use a charge back as buyer went outside of any eBay,inc. site to be refunded?

If it is either of the first two, then eBay,inc. is committing fraud on your account as buyer should not have been able to file on any eBay,inc. site after such a long period of time. If they wanted to refund buyer from their pockets, fine, that's their choice.

Keep any and all email communications and hard copy them. You never know when they might come in handy against eBay,inc.

If it is the third reason, then did the package have delivery confirmation and/or insurance?

I am basing my inquiries on the long time lag you state in your post.

by: permacrisis

On the bright side, I'm sure the Romanians will have a blast with that signature on the bottom!

by: summer in the city

@beenthere -- another vote for your blog! Go for it!

Re: Mr. Trust Me's whitebread mug on Ebay's home page: this might be an attempt to re-americanize Ebay's image in response to shoppers seeing China, China, and more China.

Ebay already has the reputation as chinesegarbage.com created by Genius Johnny's endless overlapping Five Year Plans. Let's hope that California voters remember that Meg Whitman appointed this loser.

by: TAlexa

John, wake up.  No one likes you.  Get this the F#$% out of my face!

by: 125749

For your viewing pleasure:
ebay turns 15 on abc news nightline

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/ebay-turns-15-1
1838158

by: Philip Cohen

If you want to see another of "Turkey" Donahoe's disingenuous performances see the ABC report on eBay's 15th birthday party. Ugh!

http://3rdpoblogs.com/colderice/author/colderice/

e
Bay/PayPal/Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

by: Bye Bye Ebay

To the Poster who wrote,

What ELSE could possibly make this place worse now?  What else?

Please don't tempt the gods!

Traffic is at a standstill.
Buyers have sellers by their pixel balls.
Fees are insane given the number of hits a listing MAY get

(The only hits I see these days are the few auto hits eBay gives you a second after listing - do they think we're blind deaf AND dumb? What a joke!)

Really, the only thing predicables on Ebay now other than declining sales, rolling blackouts, and mismatched best match, is this on-going disruptive change!

This new entry page new is just terrible publicity for the many, many hardworking honest sellers, something akin to saying, “Hey we’re not all bad,  just some of us, and just some of the time!”

Imagine going to a restaurant and opening the menu and being told that last year, less than one percent of patrons ended up with food poisoning! Wouldn’t that encourage you to order?  Amazon management must be laughing their socks off at Ebay this week!

Further to this new “message” a number of sellers I know have just decided to close their Ebay doors for the month of December. I may follow suit and just focus on Amazon and private website sales.  

Xmas always brings out the worst in buyers anyway, and the worst buyers too! Like the ones who want packages delivered in 24 hours but place the order Dec 23 (and wrap it nicely for free too please!).

If you don’t comply, they neg you. If you attempt to meet their demands but can’t, they neg you.  And as usual in these no win situations, eBay always manages to win! They take your money, your time, and eventually your reputation - away from you!

Buyer has the goods, Ebay has the listing and final value fees, Pay Pal has a percentage of the payment.

You’ve lost the goods, shipping & packaging costs, eBay and Pay Pal fees, and your TRS discount . You can bet those stressed our Christmas shoppers aren’t giving out many fives!

Oh ya, come on down and sell on Ebay this Christmas!

Ya.... right!


And the interview with Taglio or whatever her name was? She didn’t even address half of Ina’s questions - skirting around, I could just see a coach beside her, frantically writing out notes saying, “get this in, get this in”..... Does everyone from JD down lack public speaking skills, or what?  Am I the only one that thinks any handful of seasoned eBay sellers would do a better job running this company?

by: PAUL

The 1 Cent listing do not apply to everyone. This is another Ebay SCAM... For me to have to look at DONHOE'S face on the home page makes me sick..This man is disgusting and does not know how to tell the truth.
Donahoe will be the downfall of Ebay...Ten years selling at Ebay..
My sales are down 90%...Thanks Donahoe for taking food and shelter from my family...You're nothing but a poor excuse for a human being. STOP the lies.
Remove your face from the homepage, you are a turn off to what few customers I have left...
The 1 cent listings do not apply to everyone...

by: robert

WARNING TO SELLERS____Ebays buyer seller protection is a Rip Off To Sellers...

I sent a parcel to France, buyer files a not recieved with Ebay after 12 days. Ebay took $80.00 for my paypal account and refunded it to the buyer. On the 14th day the package arrived to the buyer in France. I got a email form the buyer telling me the pagkage did arrive but wanted me to send more money so he could send it back to me. He did not want the items. I spoke with Ebay customer service (A JOKE) I was told they could do nothing about getting my money back, it was the buyer protection that was being enforced. I am out $80.00 and can do nothing about it. This is wrong, Ebay has gone too far with this buyer protection crap...The jerk in France has my product and $80.00...Ebay has the fees I paid...I GOT SCREWED...>>>>DONAHOE IS A TOTAL DISHONEST ....... I hope this does not happen to others...I can't afford Ebay anylonger..Highest Fees ever...and not one care about the seller except for taking money from all of us....BE WARNED THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ALL SELLERS...Buyer Protection is nothing but a way to steal from the sellers... Shame on you Donahoe...Take Your Ugly Pic Off The Home Page with this buyer protection..It's a Buyers rip off tool...Ebay gets the FEES the buyer Gets the refund and product..The seller gets SCREWED..

by: Be Careful

Be careful complaining to eBay too many times. A number of sellers in my selling group have noted that when they complain too much to ebay (become a pain in the butt!) their listings get buried even more than usual. It's like eBay has a code they attach to the seller's account  so the listings don't show up. All we need is for someone on the inside that works in IT to blow the whistle. Ebay has been really lucky that hasn't happened yet and they haven't gone to the press with some of the shenanigans.  But I think that day is coming! Watch your listings. Call a friend and have them do a search for your item, see if they can even find it. I had  a friend go through over 600  listings in my category and of that, they found 9 of my 45 listings. Where were the other 34? Off the map completely? I guess I'm just noise ebay doesn't wanna SEE or hear anymore! So be  careful, vent here if you must, and keep a low profile or they'll target you. This company is that unethical, from the top to the bottom.

by: Gilbert

I work for a major software firm that is a certified soultion provider for ebay - we work with merchants providing software technology to run and manage their online auction and ecommerce/store front businesses - we deal with mid size and top seller ebayers that are doing anywhere in the region of $50k - $500k plus in gross sales every month on ebay and other auction sites  - I hear the same thing over and over again from these Top Sellers and propective clients - eBay is becoming more of a challenge to work with and harder each day to profit from - eBay seems to be digging their own grave by implementing these new rules and regs under which sellers have to operate - especially at the rate they are pursuing these changes - I know its important to accommodate buyers becasue without buyers merchants wouldn't exist - but I also believe that eBay needs to create more of a level playing field - a balance between the seller and the buyer and seller - giving the seller more of the same considerations that they do the buyer - with new marketplaces evolving and other companies  that are coming up from the sidelines with new and less expensive ways of doing business -even the largest of sales marketplace companies should stay alert - we have seen in the past the demise of many large and/or larger corporations go under merely becasue they forgot what made them a success in the first place - THE CUSTOMER.

by:

"...Imagine going to a restaurant and opening the menu and being told that last year, less than one percent of patrons ended up with food poisoning! ...

You left out the part about victims being wheeled past you as you're told they ate 'isolated incidents' and indeed, the fault of the patrons. Then finding out the chef never washed his hands, nor did the restaurant have a sink.

I think that scenario just played out with the revelation that ebay employees have been falling for phishing emails.

by: Rick1313

To Robert's post....

eBay's site literature ''BUYER PROTECTION POLICY'' (BPP) is in contradiction to what eBay.com says in the liability section of the site literature with the title ''YOUR USER AGREEMENT'' (UA).

eBay.com (eBay,inc.) says that they do not take part in the transaction process. The BPP has eBay.com refunding buyer their payment at the expense of the seller. Ergo, they ARE taking part in the transaction process.

Side Note: The ACCEPTED PAYMENTS POLICY (which contradicts the SELLING PRACTICES POLICY), enforced maximum shipping costs in some categories, the new fraudulent eBay generated estimated delivery times (and stating that it is seller's EDT) are just some more of eBay,inc.'s interference in a transaction.

I would suggest that you (or any affected seller) strongly tell eBay,inc. that they can refund buyer from their own pockets if they wish to do so (such no-fault clauses are on all the various eBay,inc. sites).

eBay.com should restore the funds to your account. If not, then it is up to you to pursue the matter in a small claims court case. Just complaining in cyberspace will have 0% affect on eBay,inc.

Let eBay,inc. try and explain their UA (and the fact that they refunded buyer too quickly and against the liability section on the UA) in the real world, and not hiding behind the ''cyberspace'' walls of San Jose.

I currently have two small claims court case against eBay,inc.

One, is for account mismanagement (various improper actions), which is kind of what has happened to you.

My other one involves PayPal CA Ltd and the bad faith policy change to section 11.5 of their UA site literature (re: buyer redirecting mail).

It will take a while for them to be heard, but one must protect one's business interest (honorably of course), just like eBay,inc. will try and (dishonorably and fraudulently) protect theirs.

by: Rick1313

To Be Careful's post...

About a year ago (before I was fraudulently barred from posting on eBay's discussion forum), when posting about how the TRS badge on a seller's listing was deliberately misleading potential buyers as to which non-TRS sellers were performing better than TRS sellers, I used one of my listings and posted the item number.

I was not TRS, but I was at the top of the page (only one page result, with 14 items, for the specific search that I did) because my 30-day DSR's were extremely high (they were the important ones back then).

The next day, doing the exact same search, my item was now at the bottom of the search results.

It was to be a subject matter on one of my MAGIC OF EBAY series of postings, but, as I said, eBay and Mr. Griffith saw the embarrassment my postings were causing them/him and took matters into their own hands back in February.

Of course eBay can control a single account activity if they so choose.

The opposite can also happen. Before my incident, a fellow seller (making more for eBay than I was) called and asked how come sales have all but stopped, along with questions from buyers. The usual poor responses were given.

The next day, an avalanche of questions starting showing up and sales were back to hopping.

Such a coincidence.

by: Be Careful

Rick1313

I believe everything you have written, implicitly. One of these days, someone is going to step forward and make the right kind of noise! Then all the disgruntled and abused members will tell their side of the story. A story no amount of spin will silence. How the hardworking independent small seller spent thousands of dollars (that could have fed, clothed and sheltered their children!) on listings that were never even visible!

All the buyer protection in the world won’t help a company that manipulates search, creates black outs and plays these type of power games with their clients. It is fraud, it is theft and the primary reason so many other sites are attracting ebay sellers. Everyone wants to get off ebay. What does that say?

by: Chris

'On behalf of our employees and 25 million sellers...' the message concludes. What makes JD think that he speaks in the name of the sellers? Were we ever asked to have any input on this message? he speaks of sellers as they work for him. Another show of arrogance and presumption. I will be leaving Ebay after Christmas after 11 years so I won't have to put up with it much longer. I put up with all the new policies for the last 2 1/2 years but I've had enough now. Being self-employed is about having freedom but increasingly I feel as if Ebay employs me. I have to worry all the time if a buyer leaves negative feedback or low DSRs instead of focusing on selling the items. And when a bad feedback is left and it is obvious the buyer is at fault they say is an 'opinion' and they can't remove it. But if I voice my opinion for the buyer then my comment will be removed immediately.  Ebay is doomed unless it changes its ways. It will live a bit longer but the foundations are already eroded.

by: Changes we CAN'T believe in

BE CAREFUL SAID:
"Be careful complaining to eBay too many times. A number of sellers in my selling group have noted that when they complain too much to ebay (become a pain in the butt!) their listings get buried even more than usual. It's like eBay has a code they attach to the seller's account  so the listings don't show up."

YOUR CORRECT I BELIEVE ! I have complained like mad, and as soon as I did, an item I sold for almost $200 all summer, has now dropped to 1/4th and ever since my last serious complaint ! I have suspected for years they have a way to punish people with legitimate complaints when they get tired of hearing them. I am glad others experience the same issues I do. ( Not glad overall we lose profits and you other sellers do also ) Just glad big bad ebay is not just picking on me. I hate what ebay has become with all my heart, and pray someday I can find a new way to provide, BUT when I find another alternative, not when eBay decides to eliminate my accounts from legitimate complaints

by: permacrisis

The 'buckets' ( a perfect term as it describes their attitude and intent to DUMP ) of changes are so abrupt and frequent, that whenever I enter the Post Office with a bunch of packages, the mail clerk asks me "What did they do now?" without missing a beat.

by: Lost in Space

he anger & outrage from sellers is tangible now. Everyone hates what ebay has become. What a switch from 10 yrs ago! Doubt current management even knew what ebay was back then or the sense of community sellers had. Ebay grew & prospered without all this constant meddling & tampering. There were issues but not this "hate-on" like now. Wow!  Even buyers seem aware sellers can't stand ebay anymore. Once a wk some buyer unprompted will ask if we are planning to leave ebay & if we do, to make sure we forward our new address! Its like they are getting used to their fav sellers going up sticks & away. Buyers more frequently ask about others ites now. Do we sell on Amazon, Ruby Lane etc and what those sites are like. They’re looking around just like the sellers.

I find this buyer protection thing quite interesting because from what I see & hear, it isn’t the buyers that need protection (they’ve always had pay pal!) its the sellers. The sellers need protection from the buyers now! We had a table at a jewelry fare this summer & a couple of the other sellers there seemed amazed we were still on ebay. Again without any prompting we heard all kinds of horror stories . How friends that sold on the site had been ripped off by ebay buyers. How ebay never backed the sellers.  They kept asking was ebay really that bad? This shocked me. That people who never sold on the site knew so much about it. Ebay has a really bad reputation now & its not just about buyers getting ripped off anymore but the sellers! People are afraid to list on the site now. Who wants to list, wait three weeks in the hopes that you just might get paid? Maybe next Xmas ebay’s entry page will be some seller protection policy announcement. If there are any sellers left!

by: Rick1313

To Chris' post....

eBay,inc. likes to keep on calling it ''buyers' opinions'' and distance themselves from what buyers leave for sellers. However...........

eBay,inc. takes these ''buyers' opinions'' and use them as STATISTICAL FACTS in evaluating a seller's performance.

From there, eBay,inc. uses the performance record to dictate the functionality and billing of a seller's account.

With how the Feedback/DSR system is now set up, they CANNOT distance themselves any longer.

As seller is the user that is PAYING eBay,inc. for their services, eBay,inc. is liable if they allow a buyer to ''incorrectly'' change the dynamics of the business relation between seller and eBay,inc.

Seller must have all incidents properly documented (hard copied) and submitted to eBay,inc.

If eBay,inc. refuses to remove the inaccurate rating, them a court of law must be used (small claims or federal, depending on the severity of eBay's ''punishment'') to show eBay,inc. the error of their ways.

They can only hide in San Jose for so long before they have to start answering for their actions and having it on public records, which no corporations is too keen on doing.

The only defense they have is to have claim tossed out on a technicality. Barring that, they will settle out of court if need be. These type of payments are already figured out by actuaries (if they know their stuff) and are incorporated in operational costs that eBay,inc. charges to sellers, advertisers, etc.

Why do you think eBay.com's (by far, the largest eBay selling site) did a MASSIVE increasing of fees earlier this year?

They even removed the 15% FVF Power Seller discount in April.

It was not just about falling revenues and the economy.

In my opinion, they ended up paying more out of court settlements than was anticipated (since the massive changes started in 2008) and see a potential increase in sellers' claims (merited or not).