The Great eBay Boycott Is Officially On, Will Anyone Notice?
Here we are a few days into a week-long eBay boycott over policy and fee changes and no one is sure if it is having any effect. It appears that listings are down 3%, but no one is sure if the drop is the result of the boycott.
eBay's spokesperson told CNNMoney that the boycott "hasn't had an impact on our listings."
Some boycott supporters are hopeful, however:
"If [eBay's listings total] falls below 12 million we've made a pretty good impact," said Nancy Baughman, an eBay PowerSeller who deals antiques and co-authored Buy It, Sell It, Make Money, a guide to doing business on eBay. "I'm hoping that it goes down below 10 million. If that happens, we will have made a huge impact."eBay says that it's sticking with its changes — including a hotly contested decision to prevent sellers from leaving negative or neutral feedback about buyers.
EBay boycott begins, to uncertain effect [CNNMoney]
This is a test using rich text formatting and html links. It's the generic "company" ad that should appear on all posts with the Company category if they don't have an ad attached to a specific company.
Post a comment
Comments:
/shrug - Over the years, I have purchased maybe 2 or 3 things from ebay totalling around $20-$30. I guess this is a big deal because of how many people use it but if ebay closed up shop tomorrow, my life won't miss a beat.
Damn it! Had I known about this, I wouldn't have bought those sweet $23 half-chaps last night.
Though the boycott technically started today...
@trickonion: "Are you kidding? I'll buy more there!"
That would be silly. With less competition among sellers prices should normally be higher than they would otherwise be.
during x-mas time i called it wiibay. seriously anything i find on there is a rip-off. and it seems if you have a life and don't watch your auction down to the last second, you always get out bid. damn snipers!
Huh? Ebay still exists?
I guess I've been "boycotting" it for years now, then, because I was so sick of all the scammers on it I stopped using it.
...I've never used eBay. I've looked through it, but I've never had an account. I'm either behind the times or waaaay ahead of he trend with this boycott.
I'm boycotting the boycott by selling everything I have. No competition this week = great!
the* trend.
I haven't used eBay in almost 2 years. I got banned for trying to sell a video game system pre-order following specific instructions from eBay customer service. Even with the help from CS my listing was pulled for being 'possibly fraudulent'. It's not worth the time anymore, Amazon is just as cheap.
Didn't even know there was a boycot. I don't search the site for stuff. I have only bought one thing, and it was a projector that I found from this site.
@clevershark
Yeah, but I would feel more comfortable, so if prices are higher... for better service.. almost sounds like a store... Guess you're right, silly! :)
Im surprised nothing has been said about the revelation that Ebay is giving Scientology full access to their databases to purge them of anything related to them like the e-meters.
Crap, there's an auction I'm interested in ending on Sunday. Is the auction over by then? Oh well, I'll never win it. I'm pretty sure my bid will be too low. There are too many idiots willing to grossly overpay for things.
...er, is the boycott over by then?...
@snoop-blog: As a sniper myself (I actually sit in front of the computer, I don't have no fancy program), I feel it's the same as in a real auction. There's always a guy who throws a highish bid at the end, and doesn't give the guy before a chance to think if he can go higher. That said, I too have been sniped by people. I don't know if they are using programs. I also didn't know there was a boycott. Darn, because I just bought 2 vintage adjustable razors on Lifehackers Advice on wet shaving, amongst other things.
@Falconfire: C'mon. You drop a bomb like this, what is your source? I am accusing I just want a link.
Odd. Every acts like eBay is some sort of scam. I have since its inception, I have purchased / sold over 500 items and have had only 1 problem. It is a great way to obtain that freaky item you just have to give for Christmas. Also, kudos to Ebay for doing away with seller to buyer feedback. There is a troublesome practice where the seller does not leave feedback until the buyer does, thus holding them hostage. I was nailed by this 2 weeks ago when I mentioned that the guy sent the item COD and would not correc the error. He left me bad feedback saying it was the post offices fault. Way to work with the customer.
The boycott isn't stopping me from bidding on a few things ending today, thats for sure.
I canceled my account with them after hearing about the changes. But I have been frustrated for some time regarding fake bidders, who never pay and over bid then being charged three times on selling my notebook that was never really sold. I can sell my items faster elsewhere.
Everybody! The boycott has to do with sellers not buyers. One participates by not listing any items.
.·:*¨"*:·.A+·:*¨¨*:·.FIVE.·:*¨"*:·.STAR·:*¨¨*:·.BUYER·:*¨"**·!!
I have not bought or sold anything on eBay in years. Frankly, I went to craigslist to find things I was looking for.
I buy from ebay occasionally--but if people are boycotting I think I'll go look for deals.
Is half.com affected? I buy a lot of used books off that site.
@Falconfire: Meanwhile, at E-bay headquarters, a surge in searches for E-meters and Scientology related items soars after 11:00am PST, and has E-Bayman stumped.
A++++++ great company would eBay again
@Javert: Well from a seller's side, negative feedback is much more damaging. Its very easy for scam buyers to claim non-existent damage, not-as described, etc and then blackmail sellers into issuing refunds etc. At least having the option to return feedback for scam buyers gave you some small leverage. I'm expecting a sharp upturn in negative feedback from buyers over petty things.
I love eBay - I buy and sell all the time and have only been burned once. Even then, they made it right with a PayPal chargeback at the fraudulent seller and I was only out the return shipping.
@snoop-blog: I am a sniper, if I see something I really want I pick the max price I want to pay then I enter that amt, and it bid me above the highest bider if my highest amt is the highest, I do this at the last 3-5 sec of the auction.
Yes I know I suck. But I am 80% evil too.
I consider sniping a form of entertainment; I find it highly amusing, especially when I try to picture in my mind the poor sap I just sniped.
It all boils down to multiple windows and a DSL line.
FUN-----FUN-----FUN
Please help me with my ignorance. What would eBay's purpose be for disallowing a seller to leave neutral or negative feedback about a buyer? What purpose does this serve? Thanks.
A+++++++++++++++++++ AWESOME BIDDER!!!!!!!!
I have my own "boycott" going, except I like to call it "I don't want to buy stuff I don't need just because it's marginally cheaper than the same stuff in stores".
I would hope that it'll catch on, eventually...
Or you could just use AuctionStealer like I do. It's automated and free. Definitely won a few things that way!
As a seller and a buyer I don't see what anyone's problem is with sniping. If you were willing to pay that much, you could have put in that bid earlier. Or sniped it like I did.
@Javert: as a seller as well as buyer I always exaust all avenues before negative feedback, as a seller I have never had to leave negative feedback. Customer service is very important to me But I do not leave feedback until the buyer does.
Why do I do this? Because I have sold many items and recieved no feedback when I left feedback right after I recieved payment.
By not leaving feedback for the buyer until they leave me feedback it makes sure that it is a mutual thing.
I am not holding them hostage. I just want to make sure I am getting feedback once the customer is satisfied with thier purchase.
as a seller Feedback is very important I have 100% feedback and plan on keeping it which is why I always communicate with my customers to make sure if any problems arise that they are addressed.
I prefer the personal snipe, I get much more satisfaction out of doing it myself
eBay's arrogance reminds me of AOL in their golden era of the dialup modem. I'm moving my shop to Amazon and not coming back. I'm even giving discounts to people who pay me through Google Checkout instead of PayPal. Goodbye eBay!
NO! Without Ebay, what will my mom do all day? She lives for Ebay where she constantly buys and sells.
They have always nickeled and dimed their customers and even their sellers, but where else are you going to sell that ugly pillow set thats been in the attic for the past 25 years??
They say they are removing it since some sellers were abusing it, leaving retaliatory negative feedback. I just wish that buyers were obligated to contact the seller and give reasonable time to come to a resolution before being able to leave negative feedback. Right now you get negatives from a buyer with no warning, no contact, no chance to fix what went wrong.
Ebay died when it went from a regular people selling their old crap to crappy retailers selling their crap.
@friendlynerd: @Geekybiker: That is a lazy persons way. Besides, what if your clock is off, your cpu freezes, etc. You're like those people who have their butler phone in the bid to the auction.
@MDSasquatch: @shadow735: I'm with you. Except that I use the Casio Wristwatch I wear which syncs up 4 times a day to place my bid in about the last ~1 sec of the auction. I have many auctions where I get an email telling me I won BEFORE I get one saying my bid was confirmed. Honestly, I get kind of a rush when I sit there with my finger on the mouse with my (hopefully) high bid entered, and the pointer on "confirm bid".
EXACTLY, the rush is better than the snipe and I get some weird satisfaction from knowing that someone got sniped and is slightly disappointed.
I too have been sniped, so I am entitled!
@Javert: It isn't really as crazy as it sounds, although the slashdot article I first saw it in made a big thing about it. Essentially any compny can sign up to Ebay's Vero program and gets the same access.
There was a boycott?
I saw an article about this else where earlier today and it showed me the website eCrater.com where it has ZERO SELLER FEES. I have some xbox 360 games that need sold and eBay and Amazon.com want to jack like $10 of my sale of a $50 item, robbery. I know where I'll be selling my items now, if any1 needs halo 3 or bioshock in retail sealed packaging feel free to drop me a pm.
I used to do the multiple windows thing too...until I found Baygenie.
I plan on not listing anything for sale on ebay this week as well. I will be buying though since I already have snipes set up for tomorrow.
@MDSasquatch: I have an auction ending in ten minutes that I'm already getting worked up towards the end. I made sure my watch matches Ebay's time, and can almost taste the tire inflater/wrench tool.
@MDSasquatch: @Git Em SteveDave:
Oh yeah the heart starts pounden and you get the shakes its just like playing the game Hot pursuit with a Cop chasing you. heh heh what a rush!!
Are you kidding? I'll buy more there! But I guess this is a sellers thing, best of luck guys!