Boycott Update Feb 21 My take

Well,

After the eBay announcement; I received my email January 29, listings did in fact stay stagnant in the 12.5 million range for half the month of February due to everyone freaking out, including me. The length of time the listings stayed in the same realm is a true indicter of how upset many people were. If you look at any other month, the market fluctuates weekly..up and down 12 mil to 16.5 mil on average.

The mid January range listings were fluctuating like this which is normal based on many factors. Holidays, the news, the perceived economy, eBay messing with things on the site, all play factors in the listing range...but they usually float between 12-16 million listings.

Now mind you, I feel the need to point out; in nine years, I have never freaked out over a change in fees or announcement in different paths eBay decided to take for the sake of eBay as a business.....this is quite different and I sincerely urge everyone to do as much reading as possible on all the aspects of all the issues to plan accordingly.

The sell through rate dropped into the 30% range during parts of early February as well...lower than the normal fluctuation of 40% or so. Percentage wise, that is a large drop.

When eBay snuck in their 20¢ listing fee; I believe it was Feb 14th; listings jumped by four million. They did not raise until this day and then the continued to nose dive everyday after that. Many people took advantage of that day trying to make as much money as they could to still feed their family and show support by boycotting. -More on my take on how horrible listings days can be on your success rate later.-


Those auctions kept the list rate around 14.5 to 16 million....until the boycott started on the 18th.......and then the numbers kept dropping with no upward curves until today. Today's numbers are under the 12 million mark. Many people used seven day listings so a true boycott success rate indicator cannot be told within the first seven days.

Fact is though, the start of the new lower fees yesterday, February 20th, made no impact on the amount of listings in a positive way. Listings kept dropping back down, leveling into the mid 12 million range. This morning, after all of those seven day auctions need relisting; they are slightly going up, but not enough to match the amount of listings that went up on the secret 20¢ day last week...no where near it...... and certainly not adding up as fast as that day..which is indicator people are seriously boycotting.


Will the boycott work?

Let's face it, if you look at any eBay email or announcement page; eBay public relations does a fine job of purposely hiding the true details and ramifications of their latest changes. Go ahead, look at the pages. Don't take my word for it. This in no doubt leaves millions thinking the fees are the worst of it..when frankly, if you are selling the right things, the fees should be the least of your worries. But the fact is, only a small percentage of people truly know what is going on. It is just like the eBay boards. I believe it is said on average only 1% of eBay members even go to the boards, much less even know they exist and only sniff them out when faced with a serious eBay related situation or looking for things to sell. So we cannot expect eBay to completely die in a week and we cannot expect the listings to drop beyond a certain point. People simply do not know.


My answer to will a simple one week boycott work....no. I one week boycott which ends up with everyone going back listing as normal will do absolutely nothing but show eBay we are all a bunch of needy sheep. All of us need to think ...longterm....

It will take weeks of stagnant listings and sales to show eBay who the true worker bees are and that they mean business.


However;

I am supporting the boycott in full to show my respect and support to the millions of hard working Americans that eBay drew in with their advertising. eBay used the blood sweat and tears of hard working people to make eBay what it is and now eBay is kicking those same people in the teeth. The boycott time needs to be used in a constructive way and if used properly, can have a very large effect on the pompous minds who think up these "improvements" for eBay.

Plant other seeds, search out other venues. Help build up other venues. We want eBay to no longer be the monopoly? Then shop and sell elsewhere! It really isn't that hard...eBay just wants you to believe it is. Meet new people who have been there, done that. Rethink our own business models and resources. Learn new marketing tips. We all need to ween ourselves into independence.

To rely solely on eBay is flat out foolish. It was foolish for us to do it, it is foolish to do it period. To rely on anyone's services that have to have their own personal agenda and stockholders to please..is bad business.

I have decided for me, to not wait around for eBay to change their mind, cause by golly, eBay is a good guy.....even though they have proven over the last nine years, they are not the good guy....

I have decided for me, that I cannot any longer support a company who cannot think clearly through their plans before scaring the pants off millions of people.

Will it take a lot of work? Yes. Will it be scary? Yes. Will I possibly take a loss in income? Possibly...most likely yes.

Can I afford the losses? No. I have 11 mouths to feed...well 5 are cat mouths, but still.

Can I make adjustments for the greater good, I will have to. I believe in this.

Do I like how eBay treats good sellers? No.

Do I have confidence in eBay's ability to be honest or not have hidden agendas? No.

Do I think I get what I pay for in fees on eBay, no.

Do I feel safe selling on eBay? No.

Do I worry daily what kind of nutbar eBay will throw into my lap each day? Yes.

Do I find I enjoy eBay less and less with each year and horrible buyer experience? Yes

Do I long to be more in control of what happens to my fate? Yes.

have I seen a dramatic increase of problem buyers over the last years? Definitely yes.

Do I want to enjoy passing on fab widgets again, that we work hard to find, clean, test and pack so the buyer will love it as much as we do?? Yes.

Which is why we are weening off eBay. There are too many arrows pointing to that being the smart business and sanity move.

So, boycotters, I certainly hope you are honest with yourselves and you have though about your long term goals. One week will not work...you need to do more..for you.