posted on September 6, 2008 12:21:25 AM new
buyers and sellers? To me it would logically seem to be the next link in the current chain of changes. The electronic payment requirement about to go into effect on ebay is the same as used on ebays half.com where you are not allowed to contact the buyer except through the half.com messaging system and I believe you are not allowed to put your email address or website info in the shipments either.
What ebay is attempting to do is to prevent sellers from developing their own brand equity as they see this as a potential threat to the all encompassing eBay brand equity. By reducing the sellers to fungible non-entities eBay hopes to capture all the economic profit in the long run. The shift to lower listing fees coupled with higher final value fees plus pseudo-mandatory paypal fees allows ebay to capture a bigger and growing share of the total profit pie.
posted on September 6, 2008 05:18:23 AM new
I don't think there will be a ban, but they will effectively stop all communication between buyers & sellers. The move to ban checks & money orders moves dispute resolution between the two parties into PayPal / eBays camp. They will tell us what we must do to make the customer happy.
I have a lot empathy for sellers who do this full time for all or part of their income, their adjustment is huge. The biggy being they no longer have much say in how they run their business.
I figure lots of part-timers, hobby sellers if you wish (like me) will just hang it up and take their for sale treasures some place else. This would be a great time for Yahoo to flip the switch!
posted on September 6, 2008 05:20:27 AM new
I agree - they are going to make sure no seller can 'brand' themselves to ensure we can never go off on our own. If you've shopped Amazon before, it is unusual to remember any single seller, unless it's the really large retailer.
It will be just another slap to the 'smaller' sellers - I pay Ebay nearly $10,000/year in fees yet I am nothing to them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on September 6, 2008 06:10:55 AM new
I do this full time and it's really beginning to stink! I got a call from eBay yesterday informing me of all the "great" changes taking place. I love how they're urging you to offer free shipping on all items. Here's the real clinker: They're going to cap what you can charge for shipping!!! Like they know what it costs exactly for you to ship an item they've never seen let alone weighed. The person who called me was a little old lady. How do you tell off someone who sounds like they could be your grandmother?
Grrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheryl
Whitman said she and McCain share a philosophy of scaling back the role of government. a point of view partly shaped by her EBay experience. "The EBay model is very Republican in its essence -- it's about making a small number of rules and getting out of the way while not overtaxing the community," she said.
posted on September 14, 2008 11:36:21 AM new
Ebay sellers will have a law suit if they try that. Over the last year it has come to my attention that not all messages through the Ebay system is getting through. It started withing shipping notices that I was sending. I'd get an email from the buyer anywhere from hours to days after it was sent asking where their tracking info was. Later I was to find out that it was ending up in their spam boxes if they had one.If they didn't then their email server was filtering what they thought was spam.Later I found out i was also happening with payment reminders. Ebay's CS claims they can't control what ends up as spam. Nice huh? I have kept track of this and all those messages to prove it.The only way I trust contacting a buyer after a sale is through the email address otherwise it can severly affect sales and my dsr's. I don't think legally they can stop buyers and sellers from giving each other their email addresses. If they do try this,it will hurt my business because I always have potential buyers who want additional photos sent to them including those who have asked me to find certain items for them Ebay benefits from this since once found and photos are sent and the buyer wants to buy,I do a quick store listing and sell it to them.
posted on September 16, 2008 03:25:09 AM new
Ebay has been on this path since they started the message center years ago. They know the less contact buyers and sellers have - the more control they have.
posted on September 16, 2008 05:17:00 AM new
headed the same way Amazon is right now...all messages through their system. Amazon wants you to send feedback requests, but you can only do it through their system which you have no clue if it goes or not. They also want you to ship within TWO DAYS, well if there is a problem with address, only contact is through the delayed message system.
Same 'ol - same 'ol...welcome to corporate. Bottom line is the profit for the CEOs...everyone else is just a NUMBER. These sites are no different then most companies...make the ones that DON'T KISS BUTT...quit & leave. 30 years ago, I would have argued that point, but for the past 10-15 years, that is a common way of life in "retail"
30¢ more and eBay will be at their 52 week low
at $77.34 Amazon has a little more to drop to hit their low of $61.20
Cramer singled out Richard Fuld, Lehman's CEO, who, he said, passed up opportunity after opportunity to save his company. He said Fuld hurt his company by being so "self-absorbed," "self-interested" and "so sure of his company's future."
I am absolutely convinced that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward, even in the hands of the most devoted worker in this cause. The example of great and pure characters is the only thing that can produce fine ideas and noble deeds. Money only appeals to selfishness and always tempts its owners irresistibly to abuse it ---AL
Caroline 
I am absolutely convinced that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward, even in the hands of the most devoted worker in this cause. The example of great and pure characters is the only thing that can produce fine ideas and noble deeds. Money only appeals to selfishness and always tempts its owners irresistibly to abuse it ---AL