PowerSellers at eBay are not happy campers these days. No sellers are. The upcoming changes to eBay--including changes to the fee structure and feedback system--have sellers up in arms. No surprise there.
I buy on eBay myself. We buy on eBay. There are a lot of good things about buying on eBay. But just as sellers can't get along without buyers, buyers can't get along without sellers. And eBay is taking action to assure that there are fewer and fewer sellers out there. They claim their actions will benefit buyers (for whom they are generously tipping the scale, here), but their actions are shortsighted at best. Without the good sellers, or with fewer sellers, buyers will be paying more. That's just one thing. Sellers put up with a lot, and eBay isn't helping.
I still have the buyers' perspective at heart, as I'm still a buyer (oh yes, I do spend a ton of money buying all sorts of goodies on eBay). As a seller, though, one becomes exposed to the other side of the story. It's difficult enough to be a successful seller on eBay and, more than that, to be a successful PowerSeller. Difficult as it may be, it's going to become even more so this month when the new changes kick in. Several PowerSellers have left already in protest, and more sellers of all kinds will be leaving over the next days, weeks, and months. Many buyers don't realize (and some do) that both buyers and sellers need to be treated fairly in order for the eBay experience to be a positive one. As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. There are going to be an awful lot of dancers stepping on toes as well as would-be tango partners sitting out dance after dance on the sidelines.
eBay, though, isn't budging. Maybe this is what we get for wishing Meg would leave eBay. We got our wish, alright. And she's being replaced with an even more problematic CEO. What will it take for them to learn to do things differently? One would think the current problem they face with competition from Amazon and other marketplaces would have effected positive and proactive changes, rather than negative and reactive ones. Ah, but then that would be logical. Sigh.
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