eBay sellers launch boycott, nobody notices

by Brad Linder Feb 20th 2008

What if you held a protest and nobody noticed? Unfortunately it happens all the time. And while a group of eBay sellers who are protesting eBay's new fees are getting some media attention for their week-long boycott, the truth is that it's hard to findy any real impact on the auction site.

The boycott launched on Monday, and according to Fortune Small Business, eBay listings are down just 3%. That might sound like a substantial figure until you realize that it means there are 14 million items listed for auction, down from 14.5 million a few days earlier.

Those figures come from third party services, while eBay officials tell Fortune that there's been no noticeable impact at all. And even if there was an impact, would it make any real difference? eBay is still the biggest name in online auctions, and even if the site isn't the seller's paradise it once was, it's still the go-to spot for buyers. So while sellers may be able to stage a one week protest, we're guessing they're going to wind up returning to the service soon with no choice but to put up with higher fees.

While eBay isn't the only online auction site around, it doesn't face very serious competition from any other service, so while there's pressure to increase revenue, there's little pressure to stay competitive with Amazon Marketplace or other rival services.

[via Silicon Alley Insider]

Tags: amazon-marketplace, auctions, boycott, ebay, fees, protest, sales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mechelle said 9:34PM on 2-20-2008

http://www.google.com/base/a/3414735/D7546635244195790935

Melody said 12:38PM on 2-25-2008

Many angry eBayers launched a boycott against eBay or feebay as they would call it. You can view full details on the boycott here at WebPro News Long term eBay users are just plain fed up with eBay's greed. Since eBay started many people have been loyal customers but now eBay wants to get greedy and give their LOYAL customers less bang for their buck! The constant raising of fees and the limitations they are putting on feedback is a big slap in the face for everyone. They tend to forget who made them what they are! They are trying to run off the little people and only keep the customers who are "power sellers" who spend a fortune with them. This is wrong on so many levels! Ebay will crumble and in time just become a faint Internet memory!

So many people are turning to Craigs List. But, what most don't know is that Craigs List is owned by eBay. Sure you can list certain thing for free, but you have to list it city by city. There isn't a store option or any other options for that matter. Lets face it how long do you think it will take for eBay to make Craigs List completely overpriced as well?

There are alternatives. We at USAuctionsLive.com have seen this coming for a long time. And like many of you we too were tired of being ripped off by eBay! We decided to take it to the next level and create an auction site that allowed live auction to be enjoyable once again. The sheer thought of having to pay out a percentage of your hard earned sale is sickening! And what you want your own store but you have to pay a monthly fee PLUS pay for every listing? It's obsurd; you should be encouraged to do so by receiving a huge price break! And that is exactly what we have done. If you take a look at our store prices you will see you only pay a SMALL flat monthly fee and you can list UNLIMITED items in your store. We don't charge additional listing fees, and close of auction fees. We believe it should be affordable and our customers should actually make a profit, not give it all to us.

We want encourage people not to give up on live auctions. So, for all of you former eBayers we want to let you try our sit for free for a month a test drive if you will. List what ever you want for free and utilize all of our features and see that the auction world can still be enjoyable. just go to USAuctionsLive and insert this voucher code: 8A156D26C5D4 for all of your listings. Then sit back and see it is possible to get back in the game

Melody said 2:30PM on 2-25-2008

http://www.usauctionslive.com

james said 7:43AM on 3-03-2008

I had used ebay since the beginning and it has just gotten too greedy and big for it's own britches, I can no longer just list stuff to sell unless it makes $15 or more between the fees and then paypal fees on top of that it doesnt pay so I started a no listing fees ever swap meet type of website www.i-swap-meet.com to show my protest. Heck I am even starting an affiliate/referral system for profit sharing with hopes that I can Start a new Online auctioning and classifieds business model.http://i-swap-meet.com

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