Dear DU: Please observe the eBay BOYCOTT Feb 18-25th

[Lorien]

The new CEO is changing eBay's policies in ways that will have a deeply negative impact on sellers, particularly sellers who aren't primarily dealing in big ticket items. For those of us who depend on eBay to make ends meet, this may be the breaking point that drives us to other auction sites. Most of us would like eBay to continue operating; after all, we've built great reputations and attracted loyal customers over the years, and starting from scratch on another site will be a tough road for everyone. To learn more, watch this YouTube Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23TomS5--nQ

Thanks everyone! :hi:

[babylonsister]

1. I'll rec'd that-good luck, Lorien! nt

[shireen]

2. thanks for the reminder!

Hopefully, it will also help me deal with my little ebay addiction problem! :D

[Angela Shelley]

64. honesty is always appreciated

:-)

[kurth]

3. They've gotten way too greedy

[shireen]

4. P.S. I LOVE your cats!!! nt

[Lorien]

38. Thanks shireen!

My dear kitties hope that you'll help keep them on the healthy foods by "BOYCOTTING VICTORIOUSLY"!

:hi:

[shireen]

42. LOL! i'm well aware of the natural order of nature ... cat's rule, we obey.

i will humbly follow their orders.


:silly:

[Lorien]

44. Oberon blesses you for obeying his divine feline will:

;-)

[Oceansaway]

5. .

what are some other auction sites?... anyone know ?

[ima_sinnic]

31. Here is a list

http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php

This forum post has a link to a downloadable Excel or Open Office spreadsheet of many more sites:
http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=16267#142837

[Oceansaway]

68. thanks...n/t

[hlthe2b]

6. Yup... I have the dates marked off on my calendar/pda

I'm a very intermittent seller, but I will absolutely honor the boycott.

[dogman]

7. Sorry, but I've been screwed by a seller.

As a consumer, I like this policy.

[Maddy McCall]

12. You like the policy of doing away with feedback??

Not me. As a consumer, I abhor this policy.

[dogman]

14. The seller used seller feedback to strongarm customers.

Buyer feedback is still allowed.

[girl gone mad]

62. They're only eliminating feedback from sellers.

As a buyer, I also like this policy. Every negative feedback I have is retaliatory, and wanting to avoid more of that has often kept me from leaving honest feedback when I had problems with sellers.

Edit: After thinking it over a bit more, I'd have to side with the sellers. Overall, I've been happy with the service I've gotten from sellers and I feel my 99.5% rating with thousands of positive feedbacks gives me a bit of clout when I buy.

I think it's good business sense to keep your merchants happy. Ebay has screwed this one up.

Why doesn't Craig's List start a free or low fee auction service?

[RoadRage]

16. And i've been screwed by a few buyers..

the current situation allows both sellers & buyers to notify each other of bad eggs on both sides. With the new policy, Buyers will now control the market. I've already been blackmailed (unsuccessfully) by a buyer who threatened to leave me negative feedback if I didn't give him free shipphing. Under the new policy, what prevents this?

Overall, many sellers are just leaving eBay all together, and starting up their own site, or going to new auction sites. There is a rumor that google may start its own auction site - and many sellers are planning on going there when it "opens".

At the end of the day, these new ebay policies are going to hurt buyers. Less sellers = less competition = higher prices. An equal policy works for both buyers and sellers, and this new policy doesn't make the marketplace fair.

[BuelahWitch]

19. You still have the option of non-paying bidder

[RoadRage]

21. Non paying bidders aren't my biggest problem..

It's the buyers who claim they didn't get the item after USPS deliver confirmation shows that they did, and Paypal automatically deducts the money to refund them from my account - without any sort of investigation. This happened to me with a buyer who had 4 other "buyer claims he didn't get item, but shows delivery" negs... (that was early in my eBay carrer before i checked feedback before sending an item).

It's the buyers who don't read the descriptions at all, and then get upset after they win the bid because "X" wasn't included.

I even had a guy last month who won a bid, recieved the item, and then left me a neutral because he "felt he overpaid for the item". He was in a bidding war with 2 other bidders who wanted the item - how in the world is that my fault?

[BuelahWitch]

24. Your buyers got lucky then

See my post #20. Mofo didn't even have my correct zip code and I got nothing.

And there are pain in the ass customers in any business. Most people have more positives than negs. If the buyer is a pain in the ass you put them on your "forbidden buyer list."

[aquart]

28. It isn't.

I know it's up to me not to be an idiot and let an item go if it goes too high. I lost pc after pc and pda after pda because my budget was strict. But I eventually got everything I wanted and then some. Bidding wars are for suckers.

[Lorien]

40. I've been screwed by both, but I maintain my own 100% approval rating

as a seller AND buyer.

Imagine that life gets hard enough that you have to sell most of your possessions. You'll get the biggest audience on eBay, but without having built a positive feedback score AS A BUYER you'll have virtually NO luck selling your goods. Buyers don't trust sellers who haven't built up a decent feedback score. It effects BOTH parties badly.

[D23MIURG23]

57. Self delete

[onehandle]

8. I sold a bunch of stuff just before this happened.

I'm on board with this. eBay is out of control and simply do not provide the service they used to.

I never buy anymore. Only sell once in a while.

[RoadRage]

9. As a fellow DU eBay Store Owner - I agree 1000%! PLEASE BOYCOTT eBAY!

The rate increases are insulting.. but the new feedback changes that prohibit sellers from identifying bad and fraudulent sellers is the worst possible policy, and leaves millions of sellers very vulnerable.

I have an eBay store, and we're closing down tonight at midnight.. for the next 7 days.

[tabasco]

10. I've been observing it since some asshole ripped me off and ebay

only paid me 50%.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. I will not observe the boycott. I am an eBay seller and if I boycott, I won't be able to pay my

bills.

I look at the fees as overhead that I'm not paying if I sold in a physical space.

[Lorien]

49. I'm cash strapped too, but I'll bite the bullet for a week

if it means that my fees won't go up by 66% and the feedback system won't change to screw me completely. In fact, i can't afford NOT to boycott!

If the policy changes stand, I'll have to go to another auction site. This after working hard for my 100% feedback rating. I'm sick of being screwed by greedy mega corporations hellbent on bleeding me dry!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

65. I think the boycott can also screw small sellers like myself who can't bite the bullet.

As to the feedback system, In the 8+ years I've been selling on eBay, I have never left negative feedback on a buyer. If there has been willful non-payment, I request a refund through eBay, and never had a problem.

[Lorien]

69. I've never left a negative or been given one

but I have been scammed by buyers twice. I suspect that slick operators will really get busy if the new rules take effect.

And if the new fees take effect it will kill my business completely. Most of my items go for under $30, so a 8.75% add on fee will ruin me. A little pain now or destitution later.

[shugah]

78. if you've never left a negative - even if it was warranted

why are you worried about not being able to leave one now?

the fee increase, of course, is absurd. i'm glad i don't sell anymore!

the sad thing is, there are no other auction site options. i tried most of them at one time or another. ebay is still the only site that attracts the volume of buyers to make it worthwhile to list. and well they know it.

[Maddy McCall]

13. I'll gladly observe this. I've got a whole lot of stuff I need to sell...

and I'm a regular buyer, too.

I'll abstain for the next week...and maybe permanently until this mess is straightened out.

[wellstone dem]

15. I too have worked really hard to build up a good reputation

I ship the same day or next day after payment, I leave feedback as soon as I receive payment. I don't sell alot, but I use my earnings to do things like donate to DU. I have a DVD to sell, and I will wait til after the boycott.

[shenmue]

17. I haven't heard of them getting rid of feedback. And they did just reduce a lot of fees.

:shrug:

[BuelahWitch]

20. The seller can no longer leave feedback on buyers

So many sellers were waitng till the buyer gave feedback, and then either give a pos, neg or neutral depending on what the buyer gave. Which means the seller can send you a piece of crap and jack up the price of the shipping, but if you neg him he can get back at you by giving a neg, even though you did nothing wrong.

I had a situation last Xmas where I never got an item, and the seller either shipped it to the wrong place or produced a bogus delivery confirmation (in my city, but NOT my post office). Paypal wouldn't reimburse me and the seller refused to do so also (and yes, I did get with the seller before I contacted Paypal). But I didn't neg him because I knew he'd neg me back for no reason other than I paid for something and never got it nor got my money back.

[RoadRage]

23. As a seller, I agree - this is unfair as well

I think there are really bad buyers and really bad sellers. They are about 1% of the people on eBay, but the account for 90% of the problems.

My issue is that eBay is punishing the other 99% of the GOOD sellers, by making it impossible to tell who the good & bad buyers are now. When I sell an item, I have no way of knowing if the guy i'm selling it to is a fraud, problem maker, etc. And there are sellers who do this, some even make a living off of it.

I think they need to tweak the system - but I don't think this is the best way to do it.

[BuelahWitch]

25. They need to streamline it, IMO

Not make it where people can put in stupid ass comments.

But I know buyers can be pains in the asses. A girl I sold a really nice skirt to wrote to me and said "the blacks don't match." I guess she had better eyes than I did, or maybe people look at her ass a little closer, but I had her send it back and gave her her money back. Then I resold it for more than what she paid.
;-)

[RoadRage]

26. No, they actually INCREASED fee's

They decreased the cost of insertion fee's, but then they increased the final value fee's by 66%. So, now every time I sell an item, eBay gets over 8% of whatever the cost was.. it used to be just over 5%.

Increasing fee's by 5% - 10% is somewhat expected. Increasing them by 66% in one year - that's an insult! Imagine if a corporate landlord increased the lease cost by 66% in one year.. just because they knew the tenants didn't have a comprable place to go.

[Egalitarian]

61. Thanks for the concise heads up...

8% is too much. I've been contemplating using e-bay to help liquidate excess inventory, but 8% plus the time investment is too much. I'd rather put my 8% into local advertising or increased discounts. Fortunately, our business has a retail location and three options for print advertising as well as our own website which will increasingly be used to help liquidate overstock.

[ima_sinnic]

66. It's actually 8.75% of the first $25, up from 5.25%

There are quite a few options for free listings around the Web--some also do not charge a final value fee, or charge a very small one.

[ima_sinnic]

33. they reduced the listing fee by $.40, but raised final value fee by 3.5%

the listing fee reduction is just a bone they're throwing to sellers to take the sting out of the much higher final value fees. Just about every other auction site is free to list, and some charge no final value fee either.

As a sporadic seller, I was almost ripped off recently for a fairly valuable antique typewriter by a ring operating out of Korea that does many chargebacks. I was alerted to them as scammers by their feedback and was able to cancel their bids in time and block them from bidding on my auctions in the future. I am even more upset about the stupid ending of buyer feedback than I am about the raised fees and will definitely be boycotting, maybe permanently. I have 100% perfect feedback in the triple digits and would like to keep it that way and not be dissed by some psycho buyer.

[Lorien]

36. Here, another video for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yFqnjMenfI&NR=1

[davidwparker]

18. ...

:kick:

[2008]

22. Prices should drop considerably between the 18th and 25th...

...if enough buyers boycott.

Good time to buy, especially since I wholeheartedly support at least two of eBay's changes.

:bounce::applause::headbang::toast:

[RoadRage]

27. I actually think prices might increase..

Less sellers = less items up for bid = more competition for fewer items.

If there were 100 Wii's up for bid last week, and there were 200 bidders, the avg. price was probably around $300.

But, if sellers boycott and there are only 40 Wii's up for bid this week, but still 200 bidders, then the prices should naturally go up a bit.

I've heard more about sellers boycott then buyers. Buyers are mostly happy with this new policy.. not sellers, so they are not as inclined to boycott.

Just speculation!

[D23MIURG23]

60. Looks like sound economics to me.

Here is some more economics. Fee increases on sellers will cause price increases on buyers, since fee increases will require sellers to gross more income for the same level of profit. Either buyers pay more, sellers make less, or eBay charges less in fees!

[Lorien]

47. Pray to whatever you believe in that you are never forced to sell your

possessions to survive. It'll be tough if you have to do it through eBay, because you won't have a feedback score to start with so buyers won't trust you for a nanosecond. Without ebay I may have lost my home because I have $31,000.00 in medical debt to pay off, and selling my valuables is the only way to do it as I'm already working 60 hours a week.


Selfishness and greed is, bit by bit, destroying what is left of this country. Is a bargain worth the loss of another human being's livelihood? Haven't we already seen enough workers hurt by the high cost of Wal-Mart's low prices?

[2008]

88. seller feedback isn't going away

just the ability of sleazy sellers to leave retributive feedback for buyers

[Yael]

29. K&R -- thanks for the heads up! nt

[ThatPoetGuy]

30. Regarding eBay....

I ordered a winch through eBay once. It cost 80 dollars. I paid for it right away.

A month later, it still hadn't arrived. I wrote to the seller. He had sent it to the wrong address. He refunded the price of the winch but kept the shipping fee (forty dollars). Then he reported me as a non-paying bidder. He wanted me to pay another 80 dollars, even after he kept the forty that he wasted by sending my winch to the wrong address.

I took this up with PayPal. I took it up with eBay. The seller launched a series of threatening, harassing emails and phone calls. Some of these calls came at 2 and three in the morning.

Paypal decided in my favor. eBay decided in my favor.

And then the seller left negative feedback for me. I left negative feedback for him. Then he wanted to do a mutual withdrawal of feedback. I refused.

This seller had tens of thousands of transactions. Mostly positive. Quite a few mutually withdrawn.

-----

eBay is a system ripe for abusive sellers. If a buyer fails to pay for three items, the buyer will get booted. What happens if a seller fails to deliver three items? They get some negative feedback and just continue.

eBay as it stands is ridiculously biased in favor of abusive sellers. Where was there a place to say that this guy had called me at three AM and said he would "get" me? In the 80 characters of feedback I'm allowed to leave?

I'm all in favor of removing a tool that abusive sellers have been using to game the system.

[InsultComicDog]

32. I hear ya

Since I use eBay primarily to buy things, I find it obnoxious that sellers won't leave me positive feedback once I have paid, instead waiting until I leave them positive feedback first.

[Laurier]

48. Ditto.

I am a buyer, not a seller, and I always pay for my items immediately upon the close of the auctions. Yet, there are sellers who have screwed me over, not sent the items as advertised, arbitrarily changed the terms of the auction after the fact, etc., and frankly, I'm sick of the site.

So, no, I won't be "boycotting" eBay. Rather, I'll ignore it as I have been for quite some time due to the unscrupulous sellers who use their *cough* stellar *cough* feedback as a tool to rip off honest buyers.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

34. I hate corporations, don't you? But I REALLY REALLY hate CEOs

I'm having trouble finding some sandals I was recommendd I buy by my podiatrist due to an achilles tendon problem I developed while working out too hard. I was going to look on EBAY. Thanks to Mr. Donahoe, I will not.

[AZBlue]

35. I totally understand and agree with the reasoning behind this...but...

the problem is that boycotts like this aren't effective. People are just going to buy and sell even more before and after the boycott and in the end ebay will wind up with just as much money. The only way to really affect ebay is to leave it permanently - which I'm sure many would do if there was just a viable alternative.

Sorry to be the "wet blanket" in this party, but I've seen this posted a couple of times and each time I wonder what effect it will really have?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

37. Boycotts are VERY effective.

My sister some years back before there was captioning for the deaf, staged a boycott of products that advertised on a certain station that was refusing to have things captioned. She also wrote them to let them konw she and others were boycotting. Guess what? They agreed to put captioning on certain programs.

Where did you get the idea that such things don't work? You hit them seriously where their pocketbook is and watch out. Look what happened when Oprah said she would not have another hamburger again. She was sued by the cattle industry. HIT THEM IN THEIR POCKETBOOK. It's the only thing CEOs and corporations respond to.

[AZBlue]

39. Yes, they are very effective - when permanent.

Did your sister say she was going to boycott them for only 7 days? Did Oprah say she was going off beef for a long weekend? Of course not.

Boycotting a company or product forever or until they change their policy is very different than one week or one month or three months. Putting a time limit on it negates the boycott.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

41. She never gave them a time limit. However, if this boycott of EBAY is successful

in their pocketbook even if it's only a tiny fragment, they'll think about it twice before ignoring that it could become a longer boycott. Longer boycotts are things people find out about, and before you know it, others have joined, Ebay stock goes down because of the horrible publicity, soon John Donahoe would be out of Ebay on his ass, and so on and so on. This is a test. Tests are good. :-) Look at me. I don't plan to buy my sandals on EBAY as I had planned.

[Lorien]

43. Seven days of boycotting eBay could cost them millions

because of the type of business it is. They'll notice.

[RoadRage]

55. I agree...

Many people are doing it.. and every little bit adds up.

What other solution is there? Do nothing and hope that eBay decides to start playing "nice". Very doubtful...

A strike is the beginning. Sellers leaving in droves is the next step. Buyers following the merchandise is the last step.

Yahoo once thought they were "king of the web" too... and then another company came by. What was the name of that website.. oh yea.. GOOGLE.

It doesn't pay to get cocky on the web.. it's not impossible to make the next best thing - especially when people are LOOKING for it!

[RoadRage]

51. I do see that point..

But, this is the first time that an eBay strike has gotten a lot of press - it's all over CNN, etc. So, hopefully that will have some effect.

And, i'm hearing rumours that google might be starting up its own auction site.. so when you type in "widget" in google - it kicks you to a google auction site long before an eBay auction site.

Something like THAT will have eBay BEGGING sellers to come back to them. I would love nothing more then to see two or three large auction sites that compete head to head.. when sellers have choices, these sites will have to play fair on both sides.

[AZBlue]

54. Oh, if just someone else would open up a site!

I'd be there in a heartbeat and never ever visit ebay again! :D

[ima_sinnic]

67. there are many others, but not with the traffic that eBay gets

--however, they are growing slowly but steadily and some sellers are reporting sales

see http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php

[iilana X]

45. K&R n/t

[Lorien]

46. TWO MORE VIDEOS: both also address the change to the feedback scores:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yFqnjMenfI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4MtVPuU9-Q&feature=related

This new rule not only harms established, honest sellers, but harms potential sellers who will no longer have any way to build a feedback score (as a buyer) , making it very difficult for them to make their initial sales.

[RoadRage]

50. Our Store is OFFICIALLY on Vacation!

http://stores.ebay.com/Clearance-Caboose

I'm now wondering if my note on the top of our store page will get us totally kicked off of eBay?? That wouldn't surprise me.. but we'll just open another one if we need too. If they kick off everyone who strikes, they'll sort of be kicking themselves in the ass IMO

[D23MIURG23]

52. K&R

[arikara]

53. I'm glad I saw this thread

I haven't been paying any attention to my ebay store for the past couple of months because I've been dealing with illness in the family. I've officially put it on vacation until next week, and maybe permanently once I research the other auction sites. Ebay has been really terrible for me the past year.

I started selling locally last summer through craiglist and a couple other used sites and did way better than ebay. They are all free to list too.

[Lorien]

58. My sales are way down so far this year too

but that's likely because the economy is in such rough shape. We're already struggling, now this. The mega corporations seem hellbent on crushing us. :-(

[Horse with no Name]

56. I started my boycott several months ago

But will gladly continue in solidarity!

[Raejeanowl]

59. I'm On Board

I've been buying my collectibles and miscellaneous other items for a couple of years, and I'd been hearing more from some sellers about how difficult it was becoming for them to make any money. So, okay-I only wish I could make MORE noise now that the boycott/moratorium is upon us...like telling Donahoe to go bite the big one. I'd be willing to stay away until he steps down if that's how he really feels.

[Cetacea]

63. Ebay is a rupug company

They are screwing the small sellers that built them up. The outgoing CEO was a Romney supporter.
The new policies only benefit the large companies.

Greedy pigs. Same for the people who support the new policies.

[Lorien]

70. Yeah, I'm shocked to see "Progressives" wanting to screw their fellow

Americans like this. eBay has effectively been a massive collection of "mom and pop" stores. Sure, there are bad apples there as in any town, but the majority of us are honest sellers who put the customer's needs first-something most mega corps have done away with long ago. If they drive small sellers off the internet then they've finally managed to completely conquer the little guy. It's class warfare at it's ugliest. First Wal-Mart, now eBay. The people on DU who smugly support this probably are also the ones saying "well, if a mom and pop can't give me the same sweet deal Wal-Mart does, then fuck 'em. They don't deserve to survive". They don't care if EVERY manufacturing job leaves the US and EVERY small business closes-they want to be the mega corporation's bitch so that they can get a discount on some cheap crap from China. How "progressive" is that??

[barbtries]

71. wow it's not going to be hard for me to boycott

after seeing that video. do away with the feedback? that is how i decide if i want to make a purchase. what do they plan to do instead? thanks for posting this, i was utterly oblivious.

[Ravy]

72. DAMN!!!! I finally got a piece of toast that said "Fuck McCain" on it!!!!

Wonder if it will keep...

[SidDithers]

73. No thanks...

I'm sick of sellers only posting feedback after I, as a buyer, have left mine. Once I've paid for the item, my part of the transaction is done. I've fulfilled my end, and should be rated on that action, and that action only.

Sid

[Lorien]

74. See reply #70

would you seriously want to fuck over millions of hardworking, honest Americans because you are pissed about WHEN we leave our feedback? I do my feedbacks 2-3 times per month, all at one time, regardless of when people pay. I like to put some thought into them, so I need to clear some time to do that. I work a 60 hour per week job and sell on eBay to pay my medical bills. This is survival for me, not something I do for fun, to get rich, or to feed my ego.

[usaftmo]

83. I'm stuck between your reply and reply #70

As a buyer I provide positive feedback within 24 hours of receiving the item, and it upsets me that about half of the sellers out there don't return the kindness of positive feedback.

If you (or another seller) has time constraints and provides positive feedback in bulk that's perfectly fine and acceptable; even so I can't see why it would take over a month for this to happen (excluding emergency circumstances).

Here's how I handle it and get great responses. After paying for the item I send the seller an email saying basically: I just made the payment for item # ____ . Please provide positive feedback upon receipt of payment, and I'll do the same for you when the item arrives.

It's very irritating to pay for an item within 24 hours of the auction ending...the item arrives quickly...I give positive feedback...then never get feedback from the seller. In that area I concur with reply #70.

Overall I've had very few bad experiences with sellers (less than 10 over a 7 year time span). Things could be a lot worse.

[RoadRage]

75. And i'm sick of buyers

who wait until I leave feedback, then neg me for charging $1 over the USPS shipping price, because they felt that shipping & handeling should have been included in the price of the item, when clearly it is not.

Look, my point is that there are bad eggs on both sides of this debate. eBay is favoring one side very heavily.. the side that they think brings the money. Well, money doesn't come in if there is nothing to purchase.

What they REALLY need to do is seriously lock down & investigate both buyers & sellers who have more then 1% negative feedback. Maybe they investigate before feedback is made public.. a guy who leaves 10 negs a month is probably not having that bad of luck. Also, a seller who gets 10 negs out of every 50 transactions is obviously not a good seller, and needs to be investigated.

What if no feedback appeared for EITHER the buyer or the seller until both had left it for each other. Buyers can't see what sellers say first, and sellers can't see what buyers say first. Frankly, I think that is the most honest way to go about this.

[SidDithers]

76. Double blind feedback would work for me too...

feedback from both the buyer and the seller should be completely independent of each other.

Sid

[Lorien]

77. First day of the boycott kick!

:kick:

[earth mom]

79. I'm all for boycotts, but I think the best idea is to go to ecrater or etsy or elsewhere en masse.

That will hit ebayer harder than a week long boycott. I just signed up for ecrater, and I'm impressed because it's FREE!!! It's also linked to googles "froogle" search engine. There is NO feedback for buyers there and that's why I think ebay is going with a similar idea. Ebay must know that ecrater is picking up steam and they are WORRIED! So they dangle the carrot of free gallery photos but then sock it to ya when the item sells! It's win win for them of course and they think they've covered their a$$es. NOT!!!

I recently started selling a fixed price niche product on ebay that also fits well on ecrater or etsy. I know it's going to take time to build up a clientele elsewhere, so I'm going to USE ebay to my full advantage and get my buyers to move on over. Ebay is not going to know what hit them if the momentum for ecrater and for etsy picks up like I'm thinking it will.

GOTCHA EBAY!!! :evilgrin:

[Dukkha]

80. I buy more often now from Amazon marketplace

no PayPal (hate those bastards!) no competing with sniper bidders, and S&H is fixed and disclosed up front.

[BuelahWitch]

82. I sell lots more on Amazon than eBay

But then I mostly have books. it's a great place to find textbooks for school.

[Lorien]

87. Yeah, Amazon isn't a great place to sell my original art. n/t

[Javaman]

81. Like I said, two weeks ago, ebay had jumped the shark years ago. nt

[IdaBriggs]

84. I'm okay with the change - I've had ONE negative in 8 years,

and it was a "retaliatory negative" from a crooked seller. She was clearly in violation of e-Bay policies, and CONTINUES to do it. I reported her six ways and *nothing* was done about her; she continues to rip people off.

[Lorien]

86. And you're OK with the final value fee being raised to 8.75%?

That's higher than most sakes taxes! We'll have to sell at higher prices to make listing on eBay at all profitable, so how is that any good for anyone except eBay stock holders?

[IdaBriggs]

89. To be honest, I haven't looked at everything; I can only comment

on the feedback thing, and since I had a Seller try to blackmail me into *not* giving her a negative feedback (she was crooked, unethical, and stealing with illegal fees and "10% Sales Tax" which is NOT legal in our state), who then gave *me* my first ever *negative feedback* in eight years in a BLATANT retaliatory way, I'm okay with them not being able to comment. If I hadn't paid, that's one thing; but using feedback on buyers to "retaliate" for getting called out for unethical practices isn't right; I also know I'm not the first buyer to question the merit. Also, it seems that most sellers I deal with won't even give a buyer feedback until they've received feedback so they can decide whether or not to be retaliatory. It seems to me the questions should be "did I pay promptly?" which may or may not have anything to do with whether the items I purchase arrive as described, in good condition, etc. The feedback system has been becoming completely worthless in my opinion, and needs a good overall.

But, be of good cheer -- you can always illegally increase your fees with outrageous shipping and handling charges (which is ANOTHER thing the seller was doing, and is *still* continuing to do -- once eBay told her she couldn't charge me for HER listing and PayPal fees, she jacked up her shipping to $9 per pair of shoes -- did I mention the actual cost to ship is under $2?).

:banghead:

Please note I'm being sarcastic when I imply that *you* would ever do such a thing! :)

[and-justice-for-all]

85. Craig's list. nt

[Le Taz Hot]

90. I gave up eBay almost entirely.

Reasons:

- My unique, handmade jewelry wouldn't fetch the prices I was asking.
- Too many retailers (if I wanted to pay retail, I'll support my local vendors and not have to pay shipping fees).
- I discovered my local Freecyle (not all Freecyles are alike) and I've hit the absolute jackpot! I gave away an old transcriber I hadn't used in years. I gave away Bergenias and Sword Ferns that I had dug out of my garden. In return I got a child's car seat for a family that had just taken in 3 foster children, probably $200.00 worth of canning rings and seals (I home can) and a brand new guitar case. For anyone interested, Yahoo's Freecycle is the best!

I do still get some of my center pieces and Swarovski Crystals from eBay -- but only in the weekend auctions.