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Disgruntled eBay users, check out CNN


kathi17

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There is going to be a big boycott of eBay. It is apparently on U Tube, and also on CNN as well as on eBay's forums.

Check out the CNN forums:

http://fsbfeatures.blogs.fsb.cnn.com/2008/...ller-rebellion/

There are tons of posts, too many to read.

What I didn't realize was that Paypal is also going to be holding our payments for 21 days in certain circumstances. I stopped listing last June, so none of this affects me, but you may not want to list during the boycott, since even many buyers are going to observe it.

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Kathi, I have been reading those posts for over a hour now, Boy, those people are HOT. I don't think this is just a flash in the pan. Tracy posted and said she was closeing her E Bay store after the change was put ot last week.

I have a e bay account but I don't buy or sell anything at the moment.

Are you planning on joining the boycot?

If Greg joins the boycott, it OVER for e bay--LOL

Kevin

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I'll be closing my store there on the 9th after just one month because the final value fee in a store is going to be 12% of the first $25 and an additional 8% over that! Since I keep my prices so low that I'm barely breaking even on the materials used in a bed or wall hanging already, I'd either have to raise my prices or take a loss on selling there. <shaking head> I don't think I want to do either one of those things.

Deb

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I'll be closing my store there on the 9th after just one month because the final value fee in a store is going to be 12% of the first $25 and an additional 8% over that! Since I keep my prices so low that I'm barely breaking even on the materials used in a bed or wall hanging already, I'd either have to raise my prices or take a loss on selling there. <shaking head> I don't think I want to do either one of those things.

Deb

I can't blame you Deb! First of all it is VERY hard to get anything LIKE what a mini is actully worth in time and effort!! I have noticed peoples reaction to the money I spend (and I am NOT a big spender) is suprise that I would spend money like that on a "toy".

I have been to your store and I think you are MORE than reasonable (The same goes for Tracy's store). Anyone who has actully built (or in my case, tried to build) a mini anything KNOWS the time and craftmanship involved. If you do raise your prices, it shoud be for YOUR benifit not some corp. who is trying to make there bottom line look better!!

My daughter has just started selling some suff on e bay. She just called and said when the auctions she has going now ends she will back off and wait and se what happens. It looks to me like the changes really hurt the small seller.

We will see if the mighty E Bay will eat crow and take a step back. Meanwhile I have been watching the internet for the last 15 years and one thing for sure, A site that was NOBODY yesterday can become the hottest thing going TODAY and I am guessing that would work in reverse as well! E Bay will soon find out if something is not done to quell the unrest!

Kevin

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I will join in too..right after this bench I bid on is over.

No more ebay. No more ebay. No more ebay.

I think this monkey is going to be harder to break then ciggys for some people.

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:tomato: :ill: :p

No more ebay? I don't think I can do it. I've got sellers who even e-mail me to let me know that they're listing items. They know what I'm interested in and what I'm collecting. I'd feel like I was letting them down. I know Ebay has its flaws, but I'm not seeing any competition out there. I've checked out Etsy, and I wasn't that impressed. Ebay has the selection, and there are numerous miniature artisans that I've come to know through Ebay. I do go to CDHM's website and contact some of the artisans directly, but I still do like Ebay. There are many new-talents out there, and I think Ebay is still a good way for them to start out.

-Susanne

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I'm joining the boycott too! These changes are asinine! NEVER would I send out an item without receiving payment first, and as a buyer I wouldn't expect a seller to either!! That's not the way it works on most other online shops, why should FeeBay think they're SPECIAL? There's just too many people out there who will take full advantage of this (thankfully I think MOST are good..but there IS a few....) and the sellers have even less protection than they did before.. which wasn't much. The feedback section has always been a bit of a joke, even moreso with the last round of changes (seller ratings? I thought that's what the FB was FOR?...people will complain about anything). Now the sellers will have no recourse with a bad buyer, OR be able to warn others. What's the point then? I've had some fantastic dealings both as a seller and a buyer, but methinks those days will soon be over.

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:tomato: :ill: :ill:

No more ebay? I don't think I can do it. I've got sellers who even e-mail me to let me know that they're listing items. They know what I'm interested in and what I'm collecting. I'd feel like I was letting them down. I know Ebay has its flaws, but I'm not seeing any competition out there. I've checked out Etsy, and I wasn't that impressed. Ebay has the selection, and there are numerous miniature artisans that I've come to know through Ebay. I do go to CDHM's website and contact some of the artisans directly, but I still do like Ebay. There are many new-talents out there, and I think Ebay is still a good way for them to start out.

-Susanne

I absolutely agree! I utterly adore eBay and wouldn't think of boycotting it! As far as I'm concerned, it's the best venue on the planet for both buyers and sellers! :p

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I closed my store over a year ago because I was losing so much money in fees. I stopped listing last June when there was also a mini boycott. I have bought a few things, because none of this is the seller's fault. Mostly I haven't been buying much lately because money is so tight. I probably won't buy during the boycott, and I doubt very much that I will ever sell there again. I barely break even on anything I sell, and I don't want to raise my prices. I lost money when I had a store for a year and a half.

I have a perfect feedback rating of 1245, and I worked very hard to keep it. Now Feebay is going to only use feedback from the last year or something? And if buyers do the extra feedback thingy you can actually lose stars through no fault of your own!

How can a seller know whether or not to trust a buyer who says they have a family emergency or something if they can't check their feedback. I've had it happen. I sold something to someone who said they were contacting me from the hospital. I checked their perfect feedback, and gave them time to get out of the hospital. They actually paypalled me extra money when they paid because I trusted them. I only trusted them because of all the great feedback they had, and it paid off.

I also have had most buyers not wait the 10 days for my check to clear when it was a personal check only thing because they checked my feedback. That was a very good thing for me. Now we will all lose out on things like this because sellers won't know what our true feedback should be.

I like Paypal because I can't always get to the PO or bank, so it's easy. I also don't have to worry about the wrong person cashing my check or getting my account and routing numbers. It happened to me twice, once I lost out, and the second time the wrong person tried to cash my check, the bank they were at caught it and sent it to my bank. You lose out with money orders if the wrong person gets them too. But now, many sellers, especially the small ones, won't get their money for 21 days with Paypal!!!

There are so many things wrong. Most people on certain of the Feebay forums are beginning to feel like Feebay doesn't want to be an auction site any more, and sometimes I think they are right. It feels like Feebay is driving all the little guys away.

I hope the boycott wakes the shareholders and Feebay up so they will go back to being what they were. If not, I'm afraid they will sink, and someone else will become the top auction site. It's very sad.

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If not Ebay, then who? I've not come across any viable alternatives.

I don't sell, but am an avid collector of miniatures. Ebay is a fabulous place for me to find new miniature artists.

For all their faults, they still seem to be the only real game in town.

-Susanne

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I feel bad about it Susanne. If eBay really abandons their smaller sellers, which it seems like they are trying to do, then those sellers will have to go elsewhere, because they will have no choice. Thousands of small sellers have already had to lave because they aren't making any money any more. The problems have been mounting for several years now, and eBay seems to be more interested in buying out non related companies, than maintaining eBay. They are actively promoting the big guys, and leaving the little ones out in their new searches.

I don't know what the best alternative will turn out to be. So far, the ones who have been driven out are in different places. There is a large group who believes that we need to do research and all find the best compromise for both buyers and sellers, then let our buyers know where we are going.

Whoever the most sellers agree on will be the next eBay. I really and truly hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does, it will be eBay's own fault. They are completely ignoring us all. We had a representative at a big eBay meeting last spring, but they didn't pay any attention to him. They just didn't care. :tomato:

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Well, I was ready to open my new website (Full of paypal buttons) until I found out about the stupid 21 day hold on the money.....Yeah right. I send my stuff right away and can only use fed-ex & USPS (which charge more than DHL). This is just too much change too soon without even asking the sellers what we think. We pay the fees to them not the buyers so they may end up with a lot of buyers without sellers to sell to them :tomato:

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Tracy, from what I've read, that Paypal 21 day thing is only pertaining to sales from eBay. I may be wrong, but it seems that's something eBay is insisting on to "make it easier to handle disputes". I've been looking all over paypal's site and can't find anything about the time frame to transfer funds except for it saying "depending on the source" and it's always said that, so I think the 21 day hold is ebay only.

I'm over on Etsy now setting up a store there. I have three beaded wall hangings that are probably my very best work in *any* medium and was planning on putting them on eBay today, but I think I'll put them on Etsy instead.

Deb

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Sounds like some great changes. Why no DHL, I'd take them over UPS ANY day of the week. My Dolphin was shipped DHL, arrived in perfect condition, even the packaging. If the only shipping option would have been UPS I'd have passed on it. There's no way I'd drop $2000 on a bass that HAD to be delivered by OOPS.

I'm not sure I understand the PayPal hold. I'm guessing the idea is that the buyer can't transfer the money back to their bank account once it goes to the seller. Helps with disputes? Sounds like Ebay's trying to look like they're doing something without actually having to expend any energy.

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What really disappoints me about this whole eBay thing is that, while I have a few mini stores I go to again and again, I really use eBay to get used/old/discontinued items. I love finding the seller with an old collection of minis inherited from a grandmother or mother, and I've used it in the past to cull some of my childhood minis. The little sellers are just getting hurt by all of this...I don't want to be punished because I rarely sell anything, and certainly don't want other occasional sellers (some of my favorite minis have come from them) to be punished, either.

I've also worked very hard to get almost perfect feedback, and it's nice to know that it means something. I'm usually a buyer, and if all I'm going to be allowed to get is positive feedback from now on, then what's the point? It will be absolutely meaningless, and my 99.9% positive score will be just like every deadbeat bidder's score. There needs to be some other viable means of having a giant yard sale (which is what I generally consider eBay to be) out there. Most people on craigslist won't ship anywhere, and I love UK minis...I don't think I can give up eBay totally (although I'm willing to participate in the boycott), but I'm saddened to think of what it's going to become.

Melissa

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Melissa, I feel the way you do. Let's hope that this boycott makes the shareholders holler. They are the only ones eBay is going to listen to. It's about time the shareholders knew what is wrong with eBay so they can demand changes. If it doesn't work, then hopefully someone will have an auction site which will be just like eBay was when it started out.

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I'm with Susanne, I'm a collector and Ebay is about the only place I can find what I'm looking for. This past weekend I explored several different auction sites and did not find a single collectable that I was looking for. I hope Ebay doesn't drive the small seller away because it will also lose us, the small time buyers and collectors.

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I think this monkey is going to be harder to break then ciggys for some people.

I have to agree - that darn Ebay is like crack for bargain hunters! I've got about 6 things on my watch list and found a few things over the weekend at my house that I was thinking of putting on...must rethink now!

To quote Muttley: Razzle frazzle fricken fracken EBAY!

post-2369-1202156460.jpg

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IMO, Ebay is still a Great venue for both buyers and sellers. The selection for buyers is unparalleled, and for sellers, the exposure to sell their goods to potential customers is Enormous. Before eBay came along, what options did people have to sell their goods? They could obtain a storefront, rent space at a show or in an antiques mall, sell at flea markets, run ads in trade magazines or have a garage sale, etc. All of these previous options came with associated fees also. I'm personally grateful to be a longtime member of the eBay community and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

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Most of us are really upset about the whole issue with eaby, andf I for one will miss it terribly.

Apathy however, is not the way to get things taken care of the way we want in this country.

Although I will miss it much, I am not going to stand by and watch them make one of the biggest mistakes they could, by raising fees, and not allowing sellers to leave neg feedback. This is really not OK!!

I am tired of the apathy and the lack of the peoples voices speaking up for what they want so what that means is ~I~ will stand up and speak, and not lay down and let it happen.

Now for the rest of you who do NOT have a problem with the changes, more power to ya. Keep on shopping.

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