Okay….I’ll be brave. What you and a LOT of other writers like you don’t understand is that many people out there built their businesses BECAUSE of ebay – their businesses evolved thru the years along with Ebay . Now you tell them to shape up or ship out…hmmm….where did I hear that before? The sad fact is that many sellers still depend on ebay – they are the retired, the disabled, the stay at home mom’s, the out of work dads – ALL have come to depend on ebay. Now, all of a sudden in January of this year some high muckety muck announces with a smirk that things are changing and he pulls the rug out from all those people! He comes down like an iron fist to throw obstacles in the face of small sellers again and again. Instead of having the GUTS to come out and be downright honest with small sellers… “hey, we thank you for your years here but in 12 months you’re all going to have to be gone because we’re changing our business”…..NO! He cowardly comes out with measures that will let buyers do his dirty work for him. I don’t think many sellers have ANY love for ebay these days – from Donahoe on down! I think a hatred is growing for this company – one they won’t shake for many years to come AND its spreading to their buyers as well as sellers! All because they never had the guts to be honest and level with their sellers. Sellers have that same feeling like when the boss calls you in at 5pm on friday and blatantly tells you he’s letting you go! No prep – not advance notice – nothing. So, don’t go around saying take it or move on – because then I’d have to put you in the same classification as I do ebay suits and I really don’t want to do that to any human being!

http://www.aceoart.net

Patricia,
If everything is so bad, then why are MY sales up on eBay? ADAPT AND GROW! that’s what I did. Now it’s cheaper for me to list my items and I’m selling more.

Randy – it depends on what you’re selling. I’ve heard a few other sellers say they are doing well – but the majority are complaining. I list in the arts categories and they are kind of different from widgets yet I can tell you that best match has it so messed up that hits and bids are down to almost nothing except for the highest sellers who are using feature plus. Before best match I hovered just below powerseller – the 30 days after best match only brought me 139 in sales – quite a drop. My status as a seller was “elevated” so there was no excuse that my feedback record or DSR’s caused it. Now, here’s the kicker. I informed all my former buyers and they are buying directly from my website plus I really dug in on other sites. Ebay….no…its stagnant for some of us sellers….we just are NOT being seen. Now…you tell me how I can adapt and grow when I have elevated status but mostly cannot find my own items in search? There’s something wrong and I don’t think its a problem of adapting OR growing!

http://www.ACEOart.net

While I agree with some of this article (eBay users should vote with their actions and – if dissatisfied with eBay – could and possible should take their business elsewhere), I think this article misses an important aspect:

eBay became what it is because of its “community members”.
However, eBay often acts like it does not care about its “community members”.
When disregard for its consumers becomes the most apparent attitude of a company, it is only a matter of time before that company learns the same lessons of many a previous “800 pound gorilla”.
Do I need to compile a list of “industry leading” companies whose disregard and ill treatment of their consumers resulted in that company being a mere shadow of what they once were – or to not being around at all?

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ”

If eBay is unwilling to learn from the mistakes of other so-called ‘invincible’ companies, then eBay is destined to repeat those mistakes and, like the Titanic, may become nothing but a sunken memory.

DonMoody