Comments on: How eBay Stopped Being Recession-proof

By: eBay’s Crossroads: Turn Around or Break Up

eBay’s Crossroads: Turn Around or Break Up — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:02:07 +0000

[...] first, the makeover seemed to hurt eBay’s growth. But last summer, after reporting second-quarter earnings, investors began to [...]

By: philipcohen

philipcohen — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:26:10 +0000

Did someone mention eBay/PayPal?

eBay SEC Form 10-K, 31 December 2009
http://www.sec.gov./Archives/edgar/data/1065088/000119312510033324/d10k.htm

“Negative publicity and user sentiment generated as a result of fraudulent or deceptive conduct by users of our Marketplaces and Payments services could damage our reputation, reduce our ability to attract new users or retain our current users, and diminish the value of our brand names. We believe that negative user experiences are one of the primary reasons users stop using our services.”

What? “Fraudulent or deceptive conduct by USERS.” No mention of eBay’s own deliberate criminal facilitation of shill bidding fraud by unscrupulous sellers on its buyers!

Regardless, they’ve got one bit right, “negative user experiences” are THE primary reason users—both buyers and sellers—stop using eBay’s and PayPal’s services. And the great majority of those “negative user experiences” are caused directly or indirectly by eBay itself due to the devious mechanics of the auction process on the eBay Marketplace and its ugly daughter, PayPal. Shill bidding fraud has always been a serious problem on the eBay marketplace but since “Devious” Donahoe has taken the helm, even more, outrageous, criminal fraud-facilitating mechanisms have been introduced to the auction process.

The Banks, via their partners Visa and Mastercard, prepare to put PayPal back into its eBay coffin box

Draft Media Release—Confidential

It is with very great sadness that John Donahoe (aka Peter Principle—among many other things), eBay’s Chief Headless Turkey, announced the probable demise of eBay’s most ugly daughter, PayPal. PayPal is about to be stricken by particularly virulent strains of Visa+CyberSource and the Mastercard open platform, along with insurmountable financial institutions complications and much PayPal user/merchant dissatisfaction. PayPal’s health may therefore be expected to deteriorate and, if ultimately not completely incapacitated, will most likely be eventually confined to what little there is by then left of the Donahoe-devastated eBay Marketplaces. There is no cure for this condition, and the “eBafia Don” is particularly saddened by the inevitable presumption that it is unlikely that PayPal will be able to continue to underpin eBay’s bottom line in the future.

A detailed examination of and prognosis for PayPal (including the “PayPal Nightmare Tour”) at
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6504554

PayPal: Dead Man Walking

And, for anyone seriously interested in the utter stupidity and deviousness of eBay’s executive management generally, and in particular eBay’s demonstrable and deliberate criminal facilitation of the rampant shill bidding fraud being perpetrated, by a great many unscrupulous professional sellers, on buyers, on nominal-start auctions, an introduction thereto (along with some PayPal horror stories thrown in for good measure) can be found at
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6502877

eBay: Dead Man Walking

A practical observation on the risks of stupidity was made by the German General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord in “Truppenführung”, 1933: “I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!”

Clearly, the Stanford-trained and Bain & Co-matured sociopath, “Noise” Donahoe, and his gaggle of gobbling, apparently sycophantic, fellow headless turkeys at eBay fall into this last group, and should be “removed immediately”, before these incompetent, delusional, fools can complete the total destruction of the eBay Marketplace—although I suspect that by now the patient has been well and truly mortally wounded by this lobotomized head quack’s clearly stupid and criminal policies and totally incompetent case management.

Donahoe & Gaggle: Dead Men Walking

By: Gerry

Gerry — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:34:23 +0000

Please read my blog on recent experiences I had on ebay. You'd be surprised. I think ebay will fall to this economy soon due to the failing economy and also to unhappy customers/members.

By: Gerry

Gerry — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:32:52 +0000

Ebay Un-American? You Speaka De English?

I can’t get an American on the phone whenever I call ebay and I’m just lost for words. This online auction company has gone through more changes than Joan Rivers face.. hit the drum smitty! But seriously, I’m an ebayer for over 5 years I have over 550 Feedbacks and I just got a bogus negative feedback and rightly so I was peeved over it! I tried and tried to fight the feedback but ebay told me “hey if a buyer isn’t happy with a transaction they can express that”. End of story!

Wow, so this one crazy buyer didn’t have a perfect transaction with me and decided to call me a “SCAMMER” complete with all caps!! Well, before being called a SCAMMER funny thing I had 100% positive feedback! Since the outrageous name calling event in my feedback I have noticed that people aren’t bidding up my items anymore? I also notice that now others are leaving me more ‘nuetral feedbacks’ for perfect transactions other than that “shipping took a long time”? Hey buddy I’m not the post office I’m just a 1 guy-selling machine.. and my sale items are old stuff sitting in my attic? I’m being held to some very strict guid-lines- LOL!! I just sold a really nice pair of leather boots for a big $1.04- Hey thanks ebay! What’s wrong ebay? No one buying things anymore? ( http://gigaom.com/2008/12/10/how-ebay-stopped-being-recession-proof/ ) I guess that’s why ebay takes a nice listing fee from everyone.. hey, ebay gets paid no matter what.. and on both ends.. Yep ebay takes fees when you list and then again at the door when you sell! Gosh how money do need from us, ebay? I feel like I’m a money machine for you. No wonder people aren’t using your site that much anymore I mean after all Craigslist is free! FREE!!!

Ebay is Un-American! No one speaks english in customer service- most of them now sound like they’re form the Phillipines.. I don’t mind speaking to forienger’s but these people just don’t care about American’s having problems with an American company (ebay)- There is just no empathy, or passion and it shows. Sometimes these ebay csr people hang up on you or pass you around like a hockey puck from department to department where they ask you to repeat your entire story over and over again.. I bet that gets some good laughs. Disgusting, I’m so disgusted. I pay so much fees to ebay on average $60/month and sometimes I pay this amount and didn’t sell 1 thing. Now, I just don’t use ebay so much, I’ve been using CL and getting many things around the home sold that way and I do recommend Craigslist as a wonderful alternative to ebay and as a bonus Craiglist doen’s require packing and shipping and returns because people buying items from Craigslist are almost 100% of the time local to your area.

What’s with all the policy changes? ebay is changing policies all the time and it’s just impossible to get a company like this, where people sell junk from their homes, perfect. The downside is that policies change so often that you might find you lose a dispute for a certain reason and then later on when the tables are turned and you should win a dispute.. hey the rules changed and now you lose the same dispute that someone else won against you not long ago. This has happened to me. Here’s a quickie example- A few years ago I said a seller was a ‘Fraud’- ebay removed my feedback saying ‘feedback should not include personal attacks against a buyer or seller”. Now I was just called a ‘SCAMMER’ I thought okay no problem that’s a personal attack I can get that removed, right? WRONG! Now, apparently, it’s okay to say things like this.. lol it’s so funny I have to cry.

By: Gerard

Gerard — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:35:04 +0000

Recently I put a cellphone of mine up on ebay.. the cellphone right now sells for $199.00 unlocked on several sites.. I listed my cellphone on ebay with a very, very low starting price of just 99 cents (of course to save on listings fees) and relied on market value to push the price up to at least a reasonable value of one hundred dollars since the phone was rarely used but out of box.. I had very good photos of the phone up with an 8MP Sony cam.. they were crystal clear.. I also included a 2GB Internal storage card.. After 7 long days.. my phone ended at $17.00????????? I mean there was no way on this planet was I giving this phone to anyone for $17.00 I asked the buyer to cancel the item through an ebay link where no one would be out any money.. of course the winning bidder cancelled my request to cancel the win and he told me “you have to sell it now, that’s what ebay’s about” I told him to jump off a cliff and that ‘if ebay isn’t getting any buyers anymore that that wasn’t my problem.. I also added that I will recognize this ‘lack of generation’ and move away from the ebay option at least for now.. I am also noticing that ebay now is hosting sales from ‘Power Sellers’ who basically are selling things from the insides of corporations.. sellouts, overstocks, etc.. might as well just go to Overstock.com or Amazon if I want that.. Ebay’s problem is their fees and the fact that regular everyday people are judged by every single purchase or sell through their ‘feedback’ system.. this might have been an okay idea in the beginning but if you do the feedback thing long enough you just run away from it.. ebay is the only venue where you’re rated everytime u do a transaction.. imagine if real life was like that and you had your feedback posted on your forehead for everyone to see? Who would ever leave home?

Ebay’s fees are not reasonable.. ie., when you list an item ebay charges you at the entrance.. and if you sell an item.. ebay charges you at the exit.. what is this.. ebay fees, ebay fees, and more ebay fees.. if you want your text to be bold you have to pay for it, if you want your ebay window to have a border you pay for it.. it’s just rediculous.. it’s just money, money, money!! It insults people.. and over time yes.. ebay will kill itself.. Craigslist is the same thing as ebay.. you list an item with photos.. and people buy and sell.. Craigslist has ‘ZERO’ fees and ‘ZERO’ feedbacks.. You do the math.. Ebay is just another greedy corporation heading towards it’s own greedy demise.. and ya know what as a former ebay lover.. I wouldn’t even care if it shut down tomorrow for good!!! We can all just go back to throwing our junk out and not have to go to the dang post office so much..

By: What’s It Going to Take to Fix eBay?

What’s It Going to Take to Fix eBay? — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:01:19 +0000

[...] auction bazaar to focus it more on an Amazon.com-ish fixed-price model and on its top sellers. The result was slower revenues and legions of angry, smaller sellers. Now, eBay is favoring an [...]

By: Jim J.

Jim J. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:33:37 +0000

THE PROBLEMS WITH EBAY ARE : EXCESSIVE POLICIES: DSR’S ARE KILLING SELLERS AND THERE EXPOSURE BY DESIGN; EBAY KNOW THE EFFECT. . AND IS DOING NOTHING!FEEDBACK FOR BUYERS(WE KNOW THEY ARE 100% HONEST, RIGHT!) YEAH!! RIGHT!!. . SLAP THE SELLERS AGAIN, EBAY. . YOU HAVE ABOUT 3-6 MONTHS LIFE YET. . WHY. . MOST SELLERS WILL BE GONE BY AUGUST, 2009 (ALL I KNOW. . AND I AM A TITANIUM PWR SELLER) THE EBAY STOCK PRICE WITH THE DONOHOE LED POLICIES WILL BE IN THE $5 TO $6 RANGE. . IF HE STAYS IN THE $3 ZONE; GET READY TO LOSE , IN OTHER WORDS WITH ANOTHER YEAR OF DONOHOE AND HIS ENTIRE TEAM, DISTRUST DEPT. . THE BOB BURKE FEEDBACK STOPPAGE TEAM!! WILL CONTINUE TO ASSIST IN THE DECLINE. . THEY MUST GO!! EBAY IS ALREADY 23/” IN THE HOLE TO NOW BUSINESS; AS IT CONTINUES TO SLAP SELLERS WITH : DSR’S SYSTEM AND THE NO SPEECH FOR SELLERS POLICY OF NO FEEDBACK EXCEPT POSITIVES. . WITH NO SELLERS EBAY. . YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY BUYERS. . PLUMMETT DOWN THE TUBES AS YOU CONTINUED ON YOUR TOWN HALL TO SLAP THE CALL-IN SELLERS WITH YOUR RHETORIC!!! WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IS LISTEN TO THE WATER AND SWAMP SWIRLING AROUND YOU . . JUST AS YOU GO IN THE DUMP . . . WHERE YOU AND YOUR POLICIES, PEOPLE AND MANAGEMENT BELONG!!!!!!!

By: quenouille

quenouille — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:33:24 +0000

E-bay might have been recession proof but this is not a recession. It’s a depression.

By: Why eBay Should Consider Breaking Itself Up

Why eBay Should Consider Breaking Itself Up — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:01:02 +0000

[...] where has it all left eBay? In a blur. eBay is an auction site painfully morphing into a direct sales site, with an online payment system that supports the e-commerce sites if you [...]

By: NYM Arts

NYM Arts — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:18:45 +0000

@ Kevin Kelleher,
You Could NOT be more WRONG.
REQUIRED READING : The Petition to Remove John Donahoe.
Ebay is NOT SAFER
Ebay is COMPLETELY VERMIN RIDDEN
Ebay is SO UNSAFE is defies all logic why anyone, Seller OR Buyer, would Gamble on a Transaction there.
I am a Good, Clean, Honest Person with STELLAR Feedback, and I won’t sell my Invention there anymore because
Ebay is so TAINTED.
In Real Life (not Virtual) I make it a Point to avoid “Ebays” (definition for dishonest people and businesses) like THE PLAGUE !
I cannot, and will Not be Tainted. Ebay has no place in my life, and should NOT have a place in ANY decent, honest person’s life.
BONANZLE is the way to go.
nymartsDOTcom

By: Ludlow Palmer

Ludlow Palmer — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:58:14 +0000

I can see why Ebay wanted to expand into fixed-price big-box territory, but I will NEVER understand why they insulted & alienated the small & medium sized sellers who made up the very fabric of their success. Ebay has driven these sellers off & Donohoe even made derogatory comments about the “flea market” sellers. I’ve been on there as a buyer AND seller for years, and some of the coolest & most interesting stuff can come from someone’s basement, garage or attic. If I want to shop at Buy.com, I’ll go to THEIR site – NOT Ebay. Now, thanks to the oppressive policies instituted by Donohoe & his management team, I rarely buy on Ebay & have stopped selling there altogether. I feel bad for the employees who had to support this madness & then got laid off because of it, and I’m sure there will be more layoffs, too. In a time when people are looking for bargains & also trying to raise extra cash to make ends meet, Ebay should be doing GREAT business, and they WOULD be if the old policies were still in effect. Let’s hope that 2009 ushers in a return to sanity on Ebay – or the emergence of a clear alternative in the on-line auction arena.
Best wishes, all!

By: baconsdozen

baconsdozen — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:38:22 +0000

Ebay can’t simply blame the recession for their shrinking share of the market.Auction sites like ebid are showing a steady rise in listings and more importantly sales as more and more people look for alternatives.
It simply beggars belief that ebay are still hell bent on a this path of self destruction surely no one can have doubts anymore that their policy of punishing their small sellers whilst welcoming big business with open arms and reduced fees is killing them off.
Ebay is turning into just another shopping mall,and like most of the others an empty one that does little trade.
My last ebay invoice was less than 3% of what they used to be,but my sales on ebid and my own web site are growing.
I’m showing ebay the same loyalty they showed me,none.

By: Some eBay Links… Christmas 2008, 2009 Predictions : Dan Wilson : eBay expert, social networking, online community, ecommerce, stuff

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:02:14 +0000

[...] it must have hoped for. But we shan’t know for sure until the results are published in 20009. Gigaom analysed traffic earlier in the month and suggested that eBay was no longer recession proof. [...]

By: Cubanitatb

Cubanitatb — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:11:53 +0000

The more I read about Ebay hitting the bottom of the toilet the more I laugh. Ebay WAS a megaKING at one time. Now it has become the ghetto of shopping for those that have no idea that there are more avenues of selling. It is a cut throat place. Worst than that, the people that run it are rude, self-serving, money hungry, non-caring people that think they are too good to deal with the public, those that ironically put them on top to beging with. They like to play with you the CAT and mouse game. Well Ebay YOU are not the only place where people can sell. There are many places giving you competition. I said it a long time ago that I had lost respect for all of you and my feelings remain the same. Trust and Safety all of you are a JOKE. Dressed with a power shirt that stinks because at the end of the day, there are so many ways to go around you. It’s only the honest people you hurt and it’s only EBAY you hurt. Look how many have left. Atomic Mall is the place to go. Ecrater, Bidzinger. Those places is what selling is about and you have one thing Ebay does not give you. They let you run your business YOUR way, they are courteous, and they dont nickle and dime you to death! FEEBay, you are a HASbeen.

By: formerebaypowerseller

formerebaypowerseller — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:17:37 +0000

The protest which eBay initially dismissed as ‘noise’ continues to grow, as more and more sellers fall victim to the potholes and pitfalls which eBay has laid in their path.

But rather than address the members’ concerns, eBay continues to try to silence its critics, particularly those posters to the eBay discussion boards who are both consistent and articulate.

Posts, and entire threads, are being moved from Seller Central to Soapbox, or removed completely. Posters are being suspended without the usual ‘violation’ warnings. I received notice of indefinite suspension yesterday. Ebay clearly does not want the truth to be revealed. The fact that one voice on a members’ forum could be considered a threat would tend to suggest that the eBay edifice has developed some major structural problems.

Until now, I had entertained some hope that those in charge of eBay would come to their senses, reverse their destructive decisions, and restore eBay to the way it was. Sadly, it would appear that my optimism was misplaced.

By: Dan Wilson Links 16/12/2008 : Dan Wilson : eBay expert, social networking, online community, ecommerce, stuff

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:38:29 +0000

[...] – Gigaom make a plausible case for how eBay stopped being recession proof. [...]