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Unsubstantiated rumors - eBay to ban 3rd Party Listing services ?
 

In J Donnaho’s latest round of craziness…..scheduled to start Aug-Oct 08

Take particular attention to Number’s 4 & 7.. Auctive is going to be a no no..!!!

In an effort to improve the buying experience on ebay, we are making changes to the Item Page. We've listened to the needs of both buyers and sellers and are gradually rolling out a page that resembles the one you see below. This newer design helps drive inspiration, transparency of information, and helps improve overall ease and navigation. We hope that you'll like this change. Our goal is to ramp to a point where globally all Item Pages reflect this new design by end of 2008 or early next year.

Apparently, John Donahoe, eBay CEO has made another attempt to amazonize eBay by discontinuing the only thing that actually works on eBay – the "sell your item" form. Soon it will be replaced by a new selling form that will limit seller content and automatically insert advertising in all listings worldwide.

How will this impact sellers? Sellers with customized listings will bear the brunt of John’s newest disruptive innovation as all listings will require revision. We’re talking about millions of listings, and most sellers I spoke with said they’d rather hit the delete button than deal with this catastrophe because:

1. eBay fees are at an all time high;

2. The sell thru rate has dropped like a rock because Best Match doesn’t work despite John’s spin - there are hundreds of thousands of complaints over the last year;

3. Paypal’s 21 day hold on seller funds has put many sellers on the verge of bankruptcy & refunds are now being issued despite seller “no refund” policies;

4. Third party listing services are now prohibited;

5. eBay now controls all communication between buyers & sellers. Sellers are prohibited from adding their confirmed email address to their listings so buyers can ask questions before they purchase;

6. Shipping calculator, eBay checkout, markdown manager, and countdown have never worked from day one and most sellers doubt they never will; and

7. eBay now demands IP addresses from all sellers before they can list to “confirm their identity” when in fact the IP addresses will be used to manipulate searches.

Where is this from? This is the first I read about it. Sure, some of the above are facts, like PayPal holds. But eBay is not demanding the IPs from any sellers. Auctiva still works and they've even said that you would need to phone verify before you can re-link Auctiva or link again from a computer that is already verified (ie. flash cookied).

Seems a bit like BS to me.

I see the above is from a blog entry here:
New Selling Form Sinks eBay Sellers - Seeking Alpha

That blogger apparently has no idea what he's talking about. It's his opinion. It's not a fact.

That would be the final nail in the coffin if eBay decided to do all that...

Too much too fast, it doesn't make sense. I say neg...

That would be awesome. I don't really care cuz I don't sell on ebay anymore. Lets all go to ioffer lol.

Actually, a lot of it is from eBay. The "Third party listing services are now prohibited;" is purely on the blogger's page. I wonder what auctiva would do if they were told of this.


"We've listened to the needs of both buyers and sellers"

Translation: We ignored them and went with what we wanted.


"This newer design helps drive inspiration, transparency of information, and helps improve overall ease and navigation."

Translation: see Dilbert.com - The Official Dilbert Website with Scott Adams' color strips, Dilbert animation, mashups and more! and you get the idea


"We hope that you'll like this change."

Translation: Bwahahahah



Also, #5 how they are organizing stuff by putting it in tabs so it's slower and a pain to search through shows ebay knows nothing about web design. But they are still better than most companies whose designers like to make each of their pages 10 megs in size and have no HTML or XHTML and run purely on javascript, but those are not as bad as every automaker's website that is 100% flash. Or just run ebay's pages through The W3C Markup Validation Service

Well Auctiva has updated their new page to several randomly generated new layouts that are very nice, albeit some are very slow to load on dialup, but still very nice looking. Sometimes it shows the old layout still and I suspect it's a time-based rotation.

If ebay did do that they gonna shoot themselves in the foot sooner then they know it. However the other day ebay did contact me about not to use Auctiva in the auction (it was a new account though).

Quote from same site thought everyone should read


"I posted this at the feedback forum at eBay but it was killed by staff less than a minute later. I should have known. My ID will be toast soon anyway. This was the only other place I thought where my statement might have an impact. Do with it what you will. After Chicago, my only desire is to be heard.

There will be those who will not believe me and I sympathize. I wish the facts were fiction but to deny what I know would be to live in a fairyland of make-believe. I understand that the bulk of this “manifesto” reveals a plot so against the spirit of eBay that it will be dismissed as lie. So be it. I cannot force the world to accept it. All I can do is state the truth as I know it and leave it to you and to your common sense and experience to judge.

The deck is stacked against me. Aside from the natural resistance to believe I know that the boards are stocked with eBay’s tools. Their goal will be to discredit me. I will be accused of being a “disgruntled”, “paranoid”, and “emotional” seller. Their words will be specially chosen for effect. That is part of the function of the tools and I am not fazed by it. However, to protect my own identity within the corporation, I cannot be too specific lest the details single me out to the powers that be.

What I intend to reveal is common knowledge to many in the management division behind the scenes.

By the way, the tools are not only the mouthpieces that promote the policies. The psychological tactics employed by the powers that be are far deeper and grander than that. The subtlety of the method is remarkable. The tools come in a wide range of flavors with their own, individual “characteristic” rhetoric. From those who are “for” the policy - and spread various degrees of hostility toward the sellers - to those who are “against” the change - and spread panic and further the divide with the buyers. Both serve the same exact purpose: a manipulation designed to remove the more involved and savvy small to large sellers who will not fit into eBay’s future business plan.

First, let me correct the record regarding the concept of sellers extorting positive feedback. While the violation was known to happen, the activity amounted to less than a tenth of a percent of the yearly transactions. Further, it involved sellers whose feedback percentages were below 80%. The absolute majority of sellers did not engage in such practices. Nevertheless, the powers that be could not resist the fact that promoting this notion of feedback extortion as a wide-spread phenomenon would be the perfect cover with which to hide the true intentions of the policy.

The powers that be want to transform eBay into an overstock warehouse venue. A kind of outlet store for the internet much like a cheaper and streamlined version of Amazon. From a strictly business point of view, given the size of eBay and the growing costs of doing business, it makes a certain kind of sense to shift gears. Think about it: when eBay started, sellers were about rare and unique items but here and now the majority of items are common, used counterparts of what can be found new online at retail sites. Truly rare and unique items are sold at real auctions; the “stuff in your attic” isn’t glamorous enough and won’t keep eBay afloat any longer.

The trend away from the rare and unique to the big box retailer is not new. Several years ago the powers that be noticed that the big “powersellers” were simply listing items that existed in their retail stores or inventories. Thus the concept of “buy it now”, “best offer”, and “eBay stores” were created. It was the nascent stage of the plan yet to be. Little by little, without the population noticing, the mechanisms required to replicate the average retail storefront were already in place - and with its rise came the slow, steady downfall of the auction format.

Yet outright pursuit of a retail venue would have led to a major problem that at the time could not have been surmounted. The vast majority of people, on and off line, know eBay as precisely the place for auctions of rare and unique items. The sellers and buyers held onto that perception too but in truth their opinion even involvement in new and improved version of eBay is irrelevant by a certain Machiavellian calculation made by the powers that be. As part of the plan, eBay calculated thus: even if they lost the sellers as part of the change, the buyers will be coming back to buy regardless of who or what operated within the retail-outlet venue.

No, it was the stock holders who the powers that be feared.

Only the stockholders had the power to change the direction set forth by the CEO and the board. So it became imperative to change the equation. Part of the plan is to devalue the stock gradually so that investors merely dumped the stock as opposed to wanting managerial change ala Yahoo. Then to buy back the stock at lower cost and to such a volume that no rebellion against the powers that be were possible.

By the end of July that phase of the plan will be successful and there est of the plan will be revealed without fear of backlash from those who otherwise would have had the power to pull eBay back from the brink.
Indeed, if you believe the current changes are obvious signals that small sellers are not wanted - be prepared - you have seen nothing yet.

So far what have they done? All they have managed to do is silence a seller’s ability to warn others about buyers (half of the purpose behind the original idea of feedback), burden you with higher and higher fees, dangle “treats” like discounts while setting the bar of eligibility so high that the rewards cannot be reached. and, by the way PayPal deals with “complaints” leave you vulnerable to fraud. What if worse was yet to come?

They know if you do not feel safe that you will not use eBay. The changes that have been enacted only eliminates the small sellers. Meanwhile they want to eradicate the mid-sized seller too. And they want to ensure that both do not return.

For the mid-sized seller the DSR became the tool of choice. The powers that be raised the level of what is a good seller artificially high. No manipulation is required; they know exactly the effect of the policy. This is why buyers are told that 4 is a good score and sellers are told that 4.9 yields discounts and higher listing placements. As long as that fractured point of view exists, eBay does not need to interfere with the DSR as has been suggested, the buyers will be killing the sellers naturally.

By August there will be no pretense and the intentions of the new and improved eBay will be clear. The following is only a partial list of the rules that will be imposed. It comes from a memo that circulated within my corner of the managerial department the week before Chicago. I cannot be too specific about certain items and I cannot reveal details of the latest additions without endangering my anonymity.

1. Neutrals will be converted to negatives complete with red icons and reduced feedback scores. Afterward neutrals will not be offered as a choice of feedback.

2. The entire process of feedback will be automated. Buyers and sellers will chose standard feedback from a list. For sellers this operation will be performed automatically upon the buyer winning. For buyers there will be an extra free line with which to add a few comments about the seller without restriction to content. Replies will not be allowed.

3. The implementation of a stricter rules regarding shipping. From the boxes, packing, labels and tapes to where you can buy postage. Orders have been placed for prototypes of “eBay” boxes. UPS and FedEx will be instructed not to accept “eBay” merchandise if it’s not inside “eBay” boxing. They will know, of course, because when sellers buy the “eBay” postage from the “eBay” source, a detailed list of contents with item numbers will be available to the shippers upon scanning a bar code. As for those who continue to use USPS, another level of quality control will be implemented - buyers will be asked, upon confirmation of delivery, if the seller used “eBay” standard shipping items. Naturally, no verification of the buyer’s truthfulness will be attempted, and continued ‘infractions’ will result in suspension. eBay will have other ways to check if a seller is not using the “eBay” equipment - as they will be required to buy at cost the supplies immediately after items are listed. (This is such a large scale operation behind the scenes that I feel comfortable sharing as much of it as I know.)

4. Sales taxes will be included automatically; shipping cost and sales taxes will be used to determined FVF."

CONTINUED


"5. Item descriptions will be “standardized” with templates which include the posting of a new, universal return policy. Only yearly subscribers to the retail-outlet venue can opt out of these universal return policies but even they cannot alter the template structures being devised.

6. Strikes against buyers will be eliminated as the whole concept of a buyer and bidding will be altered. FVF will be calculated when payment is submitted.

7. Time to Close will be eliminated entirely. Best Match will be the non-alterable default. Best Match is a system that caters to the needs of shoppers not bidders.

8. Placement within Best Match will be determined by several factors, the most important of which will be the extra display features added onto the listing.

9. DSRs can be removed by retailers and powersellers who pay a certain yearly fee.

10. The end play itself which consists of four phases:
a) the main focus shifts to retail sellers whose fees are on a per listing basis
b) stores will be replaced by a classified section, fees will be based on yearly subscriptions and FVFs
c) occasional auctions will be conducted for unique items (celebrity auctions, items that have been featured on the news, etc.)
d) total elimination of auctions for regular sellers.

From the point of view of eBay’s agenda to change gears these alteration make sense. The powers that be want to turn eBay into a retail venue format. Therefore the “buyer” must be changed - bidding and commitments to buy are part of the past. In a retail venue, the item is either in your cart or not and you only commit to buy when you pay at checkout. The seller is also redefined in the way they will be required to do business. They will be forced to copy the methods of retail stores.

The goal is to become Amazon Lite. Unlike Amazon the merchandise will be stocked by the retailers in their warehouses, eBay will be just an electronic centralized venue for outlet sale - a “trusted” name with a wide customer base and popular name recognition.

That is the future and as I write this I know that it cannot be stopped. There are no investors with enough clout and will to challenge the CEO. Stock holders will simply walk away. eBay will not sink, however, it will be exactly in the position its rulers intend it to be at.

Sellers, my advice is simple. You are not wanted. Leave. If you stay, you will be crushed. Leave. Go away. You cannot win.

I am sorry because for too long I have been a complicit tool behind the scenes. I was part of those teams and think tanks that spearheaded many of the “innovations” you know very well and which will be used to destroy you. I know I will not be believed. I will be mocked and ridiculed by the tools and even those who are real, actual people will be hesitant to accept what I have to say. What has been done to this community, the plots and schemes hatched in meetings and across memos, is far, far worse to endure within my soul than any treatment I will receive at the hands of the tools by posting this. You do not know how much they hate you. It is my conscience that I want to clear going forward. Again I apologize. There should have been a better way for the powers that be to effect the change they wanted for eBay - instead they succumbed to cloak and dagger deception.

RIP eBay "

ebay is over. Boy this plan if true, will put thousands of people out of business.

eBay may do stupid decisions, but they know what their core assets are. They're an auction website. It's like McDonald's trying to sell used cars. Its a temporary fart but it will go away. Same with eBay. They implement stupid things but they will never go away from auctions, believe me. It's making them money, so why change it?

To me, the above posts seem nothing but crying of "the sky is falling".

Its a bit melodramatic if you ask me. Ebay isnt the end of the world and now more than ever sellers are learning not to put all their eggs into one basket anyways. Im pretty sure they wont change the entire concept of their company. It would be like stepping down and letting someone else take over because online auctioning will never go away and if they do change ill tell my greatgrand kids about ebay because trust me, they wouldnt last. Mainly because this would actually entail hiring intelligent people with proper customer service and if they do set up business like liquidation.com they will be held more accountable for losses, something im sure they are not willing to do.

3rd Party
 

The main reason why Auctiva etc will no longer be allowed is because the NEW SYI form is being developed to a standard format with no possibility of offsite links…if any of you have seen the new SYI form layout you can see that there is NO place given for additional pic’s etc as the Auctiva layout provides ..there is just a boring text only block

The seeking Alfa article is mostly around the eBay press release of last week…..over the next couple of month Auctiva will start to be refused ..think otherwise if you like but this is the plan.

Also anyone been hit by the NEW 30 day no listing period for certain high risk items (VeRo)..started yesterday. (Once you hit a certain listing limit..warning comes up “do not attempt to list this item for 30 days”!!!!)

Auctiva has too close of a relationship with eBay to be disabled. eBay already today doesn't allow outside links, so why is Auctiva still up and running? Very simple, because Auctiva is an authorized 3rd party partner.

Take a look at this for example:
Will the scrolling window conform to new policy... - Topic Powered by eve community

The Auctiva CEO has already confirmed they're working with eBay to fit into the new policies.

When did ebay start putting a hold on Paypal funds? I never heard of this. Do you mean just if you use a third party listing service or is this for all auctions. And when did this go into effect.

7. eBay now demands IP addresses from all sellers before they can list to “confirm their identity” when in fact the IP addresses will be used to manipulate searches.

If this isn't the stupidest thing I ever read! Demand ip addresses???? THEY ALREADY TRACK THEM. Not to mention the millions of people who got dynamic ip's!!!!!!! This doesn't even make since.

Why should ebay care about auctiva? Its not like auctiva is paying ebay for the privilege.

Auctiva
 

Spot on; what do ebay gain from ANY Auctiva listings>>>> NOTHING, only loose the extra fees on additional photos.

If you believe eBay has any thoughts for THIRD PARTY’s then I don’t know where you’ve been the past 2 1/2 years …it ain’t been eBay as countless 3rd Party API applications have been destroyed by eBay changes.

I posted this as a warning for people to be aware and look for problems in the next couple of months; some people already say eBay are not allowing new members to use Auctiva, so it can’t be coming can it…..but guess some are far too smart and know it all :rolleyes:

Another FACT that may not be known eBay are now using 6 (yes SIX) flash cookies & Paypal using 2

IP tracking will be used for location setting for search.. example Japanese IP address will get little if any exposure in UK search results :eek:

Sorry forgot to say It is all down to the new SYI (sell your item )form they want it watertight..and any 3rd Party listing app can't make it watertight...you just have to look at the form to see that

Pure rumors. Actually Ebay is opening its doors to 3rd party developers

eBay Announces Plan to Open Site to Third Party Developers

Move Designed to Give Developers and Sellers Stronger Opportunity to Make Money through eBay

eBay Inc. - eBay Announces Plan to Open Site to Third Party Developers

ebay news
eBay Inc. - Press Releases

No, it was the stock holders who the powers that be feared.

Only the stockholders had the power to change the direction set forth by the CEO and the board. So it became imperative to change the equation. Part of the plan is to devalue the stock gradually so that investors merely dumped the stock as opposed to wanting managerial change ala Yahoo. Then to buy back the stock at lower cost and to such a volume that no rebellion against the powers that be were possible.

By the end of July that phase of the plan will be successful and there est of the plan will be revealed without fear of backlash from those who otherwise would have had the power to pull eBay back from the brink.


Actually i believe that. i have been telling a lot of people about that. They are hurting Ebay on purpose . No company in the world can be that stupid to make the decision sand changes Ebay has without it being on purpose.

They want to change the whole theme of Ebay, cut employees and basically just chill out the company..