posted on January 6, 2004 02:44:22 PM new
This is for all the two-bit activists out there:
You're kidding yourself if you think eBay cares.
The only reason to stage a boycott is to grab media attention, and the only way to do that is to have a PHYSICAL DEMONSTRATION for the cameras.
No news outlet gives a rodent's heiny about some widely-scattered people who are just refraining from doing something they usually do...for one day.
You've got to get large groups of sellers together. You've gotta make signs with catchy slogans. You've got to do something legal but attention-getting.
posted on January 6, 2004 02:50:08 PM new
Cheryl - just out of curiosity - how often is a business allowed to raise it's rates? Ebay has not done an actual rate increase since 2001. It seems to me that every business in this country has raised its rates at least once between then and now. Sure they have added additional features that cost and they have increased the cost of a couple of those features but in terms of an actual across the board rate increase - we are talking a couple years here. Additionally, the increases are not that dramatic.
If I compare the time and effort I would put forth to sell without ebay cost really become nominal. Time invested in design, hosting, keyword bids (which I would pay for whether they resulted in a sale or not). Ebay can have their extra dime here and quarter there - it's still a bargain when you compare it to the alternative and quite frankly I don't begrudge a business an ooccasional price increase. It happens in every other aspect of life, why should ebay be different.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on January 6, 2004 02:52:56 PM new
Perhaps I compare this to running a business in RL. Lease increases, triple net, insurance costs, merchant accounts, rising utility costs, community by-laws, other back-stabbing merchants ........ you name it and it's hit me in the face daily. As well as face to face contact with annoying customers year after year.
You could spend your day and your life protesting everything but you still have to survive the best you can. I think that energy is better spent on improving your own business.
No, I don't like the fee increases from ebay but it's a fact of life when you run a business. I don't see anyone ranting here about having to make a living, they are just telling it like it is.
posted on January 6, 2004 03:07:42 PM new
Triple net? Voluntarily? Never, never again.
My role models are the folks who ran a Chinese restaurant in the town next door. Had a big restaurant with a dining room that was usually two-thirds empty. Figured out that most of their business was take-out, so when their lease was up, they moved into a place 1/4 the size. There's no room to swing a chicken in the kitchen (which you can see from any of the four tables they have now), much less a cat. They probably lost some dine-in trade, but their expenses have gone way down.
I don't care much for the "you have to be more efficient because your costs are increasing" motivation for improving one's business, as it is painful, but it can be quite effective.
posted on January 6, 2004 03:07:59 PM new
The fact of the matter is that unfortunately, there are a LOT of people who either don't give a damn, or don't have the same consciousness for their fellow man/woman community.
After 9/11, as tragic as it all was...the one uplifting thing that came out of the disaster was the humanity that rose from the ashes of terror. That sense of humanity needs to be practiced on a daily basis, globally as well as locally. And think back a week or so ago how everyone was so "filled with the Christmas spirit" and nice to each other etc....
Depsite our freedoms and right to do as we choose...sometimes when given the opportunity to make a difference...too many choose to do nothing.
Just something to ponder......
*And for those who "crossed the grocery store lines" because it was too "inconvenient" etc...sometimes we have to face a little inconvenience out of compassion for our other human beings...(been to the airport lately?)
posted on January 6, 2004 03:15:10 PM new
Don't you dare try to say that if you have business acumen, then you can not have compassion. I care about others a lot - I volunteer, I donate, I mentor, I get involved. My latest project is to match up people with soldiers in Iraq who really aren't getting much mail from home...I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I just wanted to point out that you can care about others who aren't as blessed, and be competitive in business. I look at it this way, if my business was not as good as it is (and it is good, thankfully) then I would not be in a position to do as much as I want to do...
posted on January 6, 2004 03:21:12 PM new
I'm just a small seller but I'm willing to make the statement by not listing on Feb.2. The message boards are great, but another little nudge like shaking the bottom line for a day would make a greater statement than a thousand messages on this message board, I think. I like your proposal howardform, wish I thought of it!
