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Re: "eBay Top Sellers in PESA Complain of Rules Crackdown"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m04/i03/s02

The PESA Board of Directors did not consult with us (PESA membership) before publishing that ridiculous press release. The vast majority of us are 100% behind the eBay crackdown, including the suspensions of the handful of PESA members that the Board members are trying to protect. There has been considerable consternation internally to PESA after being blindsided with the news that we're all concerned about the new policy enforcement.

Let me put it bluntly. The press release doesn't represent the PESA seller members. It represents a handful of Board Members (some of whom are more than a little shady themselves) and a few drop-shippers who fake their way through high-volume sales, outsourcing practically everything to eek out a 1% margin and thus having neither the competance nor inclination to keep their listings in compliance.

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Regarding the Rules Crackdown at eBay story - eBay says: "We don't think large sellers should be given a pass". That is such a load of c**p! We all know that the big sellers very seldom are penalized. It is obvious when they continue to list their items wrongly, we report them continuously, and no auctions are ever pulled. It's especially irritating when the power sellers continue with fee avoidance by listing items for $1.00 but charge $50 and up for delivery of a less than one pound item. When reported, nothing ever happens. When questioned as to why, they say that that fee is not considered fee avoidance. I'm sick of the way the large sellers get special treatment, and if eBay is starting to crack down, than more power to them. It's about time.
Katie

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The only real improvements that are going to happen in "ebay policy" is when they stop writing in legalese, and write in a manner that the average person will understand. There will be less violations of the rules when people actually are able to UNDERSTAND them. No one reads the "terms and conditions" because they know it will be 12 pages of things that use generalizations that mean nothing to the average user. Similarly, all these online courses to "educate" members isn't going to help if they are the same style.

A real improvement is being able to COMMUNICATE directly with ebay, and the people who write their canned responses to questions. These people need to provide a FULL NAME and phone number WITH extension, or THEY should be reported. It doesn't help when all mail from ebay is "Dear Member, thank you for your concern. We assure you we will investigate this thoroughly. We appreciate your concern". You write back, "How does this affect my listing being cancelled?" their reply: "Dear Member, thank you for your concern. We assure you we will investigate this thoroughly. We appreciate your concern". See how much help that is?

In a nutshell: more rules aren't going to help. CLEAR and CONCISE rules, STANDARD rules (no favoritism based on Powerseller, etc), and the ability to communicate with real people (no computers), who will actually read your mail, rather than give standard, boilerplate responses that are irrelevant to the question being asked is the only way sellers and buyers will stop being frustrated. Ebay only shows concern if it affects their bottom line, and shows little (if any) concern for their "community", which they claim is so valuable. I'll believe the value of the community when things improve, instead of becoming more difficult. Ebay is expanding and expanding, but as they do so, they become more and more out of control.

********

Hi.
I think there is a story coming about eBlack - replacement for SABasic and SAPro.

eBlack is just awful.....slow, full of errors messages and glitches....and a huge space hog. About a month ago when eBay rolled out the 300 category function for stores they (nastily) said that access to that function would not be available on the soon to be discontinued SAB/SAP that it would only be available on eBlack....

A few days ago that changed.....without announcement apparently....and I just updated by SA Basic through an upgrade link on the eBlack discussion board and it worked.....so eBay had to give up their position/threat.

I started checking how many listings are up on eBay from either SAB/P or Blackthorne and ration has not change for about 9 weeks - still 2 million for SA and 1 million for eBlack.....interestingly, the eBlack numbers have never gone up much but the SA has dropped about 300,000...which tells me people are just leaving SA.

John Slocum had a great product before he sold to eBay and SA was OK after the first six months or so.....but its roll out of never as bad as eBlack....it is just wretched.....their solution for most complaints is for eBayers to upgrade for more space or buy new systems. It's ghastly all around.

http://digbig.com/4hdsx

*******

.15 April won't just be IRS day. It's also 6 months since eBay announced the Safe Payments policy (http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200510.shtml#2005-10-14174500) and three months since enforcement supposedly began.

But if you do obvious searches for offending payment processor names, and links(!) in current eBay listings, you'll be amazed. Here's what I found, as posted to news:alt.marketing.online.ebay (http://snipurl.com/okbl).

You might ask your eBay contacts about this.
Regards,
Bob

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Re: "eBay Fights Regulation of eBay Sellers in Louisiana"
http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m04/i12/s01

Ina,
eBay sent the same notice to registered sellers in Tennessee - our state is considering legislation to require all eBay sellers to be trained and licensed as auctioneers. As if learning voice control and how to scan a room for bid signals has anything to do with selling online. And what if we don't use the auction format but list completely as fixed price and Store items?

There's an amendment being circulated to exempt sites like eBay, where the seller does not conduct a live auction, but when entrenched, scared, mis-informed PACs get involved, the "little guy" usually gets trampled.
Bob

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Re the story below about Louisiana requiring auctioneer's licenses.... They did that last year where I live, in Illinois. I had been planning on opening up my services as a trading assistant as well, since I cannot physically work outside the home much anymore. The state if Illinois (admittedly a litte greedy on the tax side) saw a missed income opportunity, and started requiring anyone selling something for someone else on eBay, or any other auction website, to go through required training on auctioneering, and obtain a state of Illinois auctioneer's license.

Now, what the heck I would do with that, I do not know! Of course, the courses, and the license would cost a nice chunk of change. The state of Illinois has also been working on legislation to try to find a way to collect state sales tax on purchases made from out of state online. Of course, right now, it is not taxable when I buy from someone in another state, so they are hoping to dip further into the resident's pockets and tax those purchases too. Good luck with that one - I don't see how they could legally pass a state law that would bypass a federal one.

Illinois is not a small-business-friendly state, in my opinion. While we are dealing ourselves with living in an area with virtually no employment (farming community - everything stays within families), ever-escalating cost of living, outrageous housing costs for the area demographics, etc etc, this goes on all over the state. Sure, there are some areas that differ, but they are the big cities like Chicago. For example, our current measly income qualifies us for state insurance coverage (medicaid), but we don't get it.

Why? Because we live outside the Chicago area. They claim we can't get it in our county, despite being well within the income guidelines. So, we usually go without needed medical care, simply because we cannot afford to go. (I had to take my daughter to the dr last month for her allergy shot - a no-choice item. I was charged $90 for the stop by to get the shot. I had to break that into payments!) While you would think the governor would better know the state of the average citizen, he often looks the other way in so many items.

Starting a small business is one of those areas. We used to sell when we lived in Texas too, so I know the differences we deal with. Here, I have to file a report every month with the state, and send them a check for any sales tax collected that totals at least a dollar. Even if my taxable sales for that month are so low, I owe them nothing, I still cannot file online either - I have to mail in a report! Doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you are just starting out. It is just one more thing to babysit for the state.

Well, I am digressing, so I will hush now. But, know that Lousiana is by no means alone. I am sure they are seeing the same thing - the opportunity for more tax dollars that are not being shaken out of the consumer yet! ; )

Thanks for allowing the min-vent.
Beth

*******

Ina,
This is a link to a thread on the Ebay Stores Board. If you check it out, there are a number of other links on the same board that can contribute to your knowledge.

Ebay store sellers are in revolt with all seriousness. Ebay runs its org as a monopoly and needs a wakeup call - very poor management. They literally cheat sellers blatantly and boldly.

Check it out, consider a story. We sellers trust you.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000258914

I will remain Anonymous

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About the author:

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

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