Comments on: What's It Going to Take to Fix eBay?

By: eBay’s Turnaround Is in Jeopardy — What Now? – GigaOM

eBay’s Turnaround Is in Jeopardy — What Now? – GigaOM — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:01:23 +0000

[...] the last three months of 2009, which includes the holiday season. The results aren’t likely to be as bad as a year ago — when Donahoe had to apologize to investors for a disappointing performance – but also [...]

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:44:06 +0000

I have launched WanderBy.com

Goals:
Low fees to help sellers but not free: I don’t want to be like Craigslist
To make it safer for sellers and buyers i created the auction site around a community.
Ebay/facebook = WanderBy.com
I will have no ads or pop ups it will be a clean site.
I have a lot to do to the site but I am trying to reach out to sellers I can get feedback on what they think and want.
Thank you
see you at Wanderby.com the next Ebay in about a year or two

By: William UK

William UK — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:37:37 +0000

Am an ebay buyer/seller from the UK and just found this discussion and agree with nearly all the gripes above. Like many, have been in Ebay since early days, and have a 100% feedback, but the effort and worries of buying and selling are too time consuming and cost-ineffective. From 1999 to 2004 things went fairly smoothly but since then it seemed to change and I have noticed the following.
1) Increase in non-payers/timewasters/”thought listing was in dollars etc “-type excuses
2) Changes to listings costs made it not really feasible to list hundreds of 99p items as I used to – ironically they are now trying to lure back the 99p sellers, but I now have another outlet
3) Ebay slow/invisible in dealing with complaints – eg when another seller copied and pasted my listings descriptions and photos for their own advertisements
4) Failure to crack down on scammers/criminals – they seemed to show no interest in getting involved in, for example, cracking down on fake/pirate sports memorabilia such as dubious “autographs” and cheaply-made copies of authentic sportswear
4) Yet while treating old and loyal sellers/buyers like crap has been quick to play the shallow/cynical media game by allowing “zany” items for auction
5) Paypal – three reasons – a) forced to offer it as a payment method, b) the way they gouge more fees of you, and c) the almost impossibility to deal with them over problems. Had a sizeable payment to me frozen because i was not in some category or other of paypal, and dealing with them across Atlantic was a long and tortuous nightmare
There are many other things which posters have mentioned, but finally to say I know many book dealers who have already been deserting Ebay in droves for Abe etc, and I am actually going back to using small ads in trade digests/mags etc for sales (yes they still exist in the UK!).

By: NYM Arts

NYM Arts — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:01:55 +0000

I used to sell my invention on Ebay.
I found this page (Blog) by punching in “Donahoe Ruining Ebay”.
I can’t imagine it getting any worse.
The Good Ole Days on Ebay……..a Very Fond Memory……We had Good Times…..Met alot of Wonderful people.
I just can’t believe it’s All Gone.
How could they have let this happen ?

By: eBay’s Frail Recovery Shows How Far It’s Fallen

eBay’s Frail Recovery Shows How Far It’s Fallen — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:56:15 +0000

[...] just set lower expectations. Earlier this year, analysts and investors, noticing that eBay was floundering in the recession while Amazon thrived, feared CEO John Donahoe’s efforts to turn the company [...]

By: TennesseeTime

TennesseeTime — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:54:41 +0000

To Vaguely Disturbed:
You say there are hundreds or thousands like you- I’d say it’s more like hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions worldwide that are like you.
Ebay earnings would be far worse if it weren’t for Paypal, which as another poster mentioned before is subject to Federal action in the near future since it operates as a bank yet doesn’t follow banking regulations. It’s just a matter of time on that.
So if Paypal is sanctioned by the feds, what will Ebay be left with? No community, no core business, no Paypal to bail it out, and just a bunch of mega-sellers pawning off surplus crap from China they can’t sell anywhere else.
The Ebay board of directors as well as analysts and anyone considering a major investment in Ebay need to heed the words from the ‘little people’ on this and other message boards. It’s where the rubber meets the road. Only misguidance and deceit flow from the CEO right now.
Does anybody wonder why just about every single blog found on the internet about ebay is negative in theme? Yet somehow people are paying a premium for Ebay stock??? I’d say if it weren’t for $5 billion in stock buybacks, Ebay stock would be trading at or below the $5 mark. It already hit the $9 range just a couple of months ago, and that was with the buybacks in place.

By: vaguely disturbed

vaguely disturbed — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:05:58 +0000

I have been a small seller on eBay since 1999. I have a 100% positive feedback record and have always been scrupulously honest in dealings with buyers. Yet now eBay doesn’t seem to value my business, choosing instead to favor big sellers of discount merchandise. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of small sellers like me, and our auctions generate money for eBay. It doesn’t cost eBay anything extra to post these auctions or take the sales commission. Yet by constantly raising selling fees, they gobble up an ever-increasing percentage of my profits. What galls me most is the policy resticting payment methods sellers can accept. Without a merchant credit card account…something that most small sellers can’t afford…the only option is to take all payments by PayPal. Since eBay owns PayPal, they’re double-dipping. They get the final value fee on the sale and another fee to clear the payment. Sheer greed.

By: RC

RC — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:20:42 +0000

Is there anything New here? Ebay is Crap and Paypal is a money float system about to faill when the Feds hit them and Donahoe is dumb as a stump!

By: Is John Donahoe Finally Turning eBay Around?

Is John Donahoe Finally Turning eBay Around? — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:01:42 +0000

[...] while just a few months ago, Donahoe seemed destined to steer the e-commerce giant into irrelevance, a consensus is now starting to emerge that he may instead be turning it around. Investors have [...]

By: The Wise Bard

The Wise Bard — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:40:43 +0000

Learn to spell “its” when used as a possessive!