Reader voices: Angry at eBay

As we saw a few weeks ago, many eBay sellers are quite upset over changes the online auction giant recently made to its buyer/seller feedback system. Indeed, it sounds like the anger over this issue led to some very testy exchanges at eBay’s annual meeting last week. But the comments I’ve been getting from readers suggest that eBay’s problems go way beyond seller anger over the feedback changes.

As much as many sellers hate the new feedback system, many buyers say they were very frustrated by the old one. “I appreciate the point of view many sellers have regarding the changes eBay has made to its user feedback system – they worry that they will be at the mercy of dishonest, unscrupulous buyers,” wrote one reader. “As an honest buyer, however, I think some change to eBay’s feedback policy has been long overdue. EBay is entirely correct that the mutual feedback system wasn’t working well because buyers were afraid to leave honest feedback. I have seen sellers who plainly post in their eBay listings statements like ‘feedback will be given after it is received — if we receive negative feedback, we will give negative feedback.’ The seller has the obligation to describe an item accurately and to deliver the item in a timely fashion. If he fails either of these obligations, the buyer ought to be able to give appropriate feedback without fear of retaliation. With its revised feedback policy eBay has probably tilted the playing too much in favor of unscrupulous buyers. But after so many years of having the playing field favoring bad sellers, giving buyers an unfettered opportunity to report on bad sellers will feel like a breath of fresh air.”

Another buyer felt that eBay has failed to fix the real problem. “Something was needed, but I think eBay went WAY too far. I think that sellers must be able to rate buyers, and vice versa, but that eBay needed to monitor the process better. I had a run-in with a seller a few years ago after I gave him a neutral rating to the transaction. He went ballistic. His response wasn’t quite actionable but it was just on the edge. What really frosted me was that he kept e-mailing me and eBay wouldn’t shut him up. EBay has always made a big deal about being a platform/marketplace and not a party to transaction, but these changes would seem to move them from an impartial entity to an interested party to the commerce.”

Many feel that the feedback issue is just one symptom of eBay’s struggle to reinvent itself. “Look at their announcements about more fraud protection for PayPal and new incentives for Powersellers” another reader wrote. “It’s like eBay is bashing sellers over the head with one hand while offering them goodies with the other. The real problem is eBay has been generally indifferent to fraud – seller fraud and buyer fraud — for too long, and it’s a little late in the game for them to be trying to fix it now.”

Be they buyers, sellers or both, a number of eBay customers seem to be thinking hard about alternatives. “EBay no longer cares about the small seller, the seller of one-of-a-kind, collectible, or just used stuff — the kinds of items that made eBay what it is, or was,” wrote another reader. “I buy and sell occasionally, so my 12-month feedback history can be easily dinged by one disgruntled/lunatic buyer (and there are PLENTY of those — just read the eBay discussion forums!) But the high-volume Powerseller, the one selling cheap new junk from China, couldn’t care less about a few dissatisfied buyers, because it won’t have that big an effect on their feedback. I rarely buy new items from eBay. There are much better places for that — Amazon, Newegg, even WalMart are way better choices for most things. EBay’s only appeal for me — and a lot of others, apparently — is as a venue for finding stuff that would be impossible to find otherwise. It sure would be nice if another auction site would fill that niche again, but I haven’t seen one yet.”

There is life after eBay, some reported. “I was banished from eBay back in 2006,” wrote a reader whose experience was the subject of a GripeLog story at that time. “Which worked out fine for us — we’ve been selling on Amazon. You can’t sell unusual items as easily, you have to set your price (it’s not an auction) and you can’t see how well items are selling. But there’s no listing fee (only a closing fee) and customer service there seems much more responsive and responsible than eBay. If you don’t like eBay’s tactics, sell elsewhere. Eventually, market forces will cause eBay to change or fold. I’d like to see the latter.”

Many readers wondered why eBay waited so long to try to address its problems. “EBay should have gotten serious about that small percentage of bad sellers who have such a negative impact on the whole experience,” wrote a long-time seller. “Instead, they devised a way to appear that they are cracking down on bad sellers, but in reality are only increasing their fees. Their fees had already risen too high, and like many sellers I was listing items on eBay at prices higher than those on my real web site. It was not to make profit, but to avoid a loss while using eBay as a source of advertising for my real online store. I don’t mean to be critical when I say that the complexity of the new system exceeds the average buyer’s understanding. Until one has put the ridiculous amount of effort and hours into developing an eBay business, one can’t possibly understand the pain of watching powerlessly as eBay’s actions wipe out the effort we have dedicated. I am removing my listings and saving them to inventory so that I can return if eBay somehow sees the err of their ways, but I’m not holding my breath. Google gets the extra money I was paying eBay as I increase my effort to drive traffic to my website through Adwords. I am much more sad than mad. EBay used to be fun. Now it is absurd, exhausting and over-priced.”

What do you think — can eBay fix itself, or is the writing on the wall? Post your comments below or write Ed Foster at Foster@gripe2ed.com.