eBay gets an earful from sellers

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about the fees and said they are keeping an eye on eBay rivals.

"If there had been a viable alternative to eBay, we would have focused on it after the fee increase. We were immediately looking for another site," said Dylan Collett, who sells trade show products such as booths and lighting on eBay out of Toronto. "eBay pays lip service and does glossy things, putting on shows and dinners, but I don't feel that community voices are being paid attention to."

Doug Cornell, Collett's partner, said, "We're hoping to see what Overstock.com is going to do."

Gary Neubert, whose Tampa, Fla.-based Gatorpack sells shipping supplies on eBay, said the fees were the last straw in a year that saw other business costs rise.

Neubert said his costs have risen 60 percent to 75 percent in the last 18 months as fuel price hikes made his petroleum-based bubble wrap, packing peanuts and tape more expensive.

However, he said there was no truly viable alternative to eBay. "I've tested the water with paid search, and Yahoo and Amazon.com don't yield the results," he said.

Some of the same items on eBay sell more quickly--and for higher prices--on Overstock.com, said an attendee who works for a wholesaler that sells apparel to eBay sellers to resell.

"People are trying to set up their own Web sites in addition to eBay so they can do their own branding" and instill confidence in buyers, said the attendee, who asked to remain anonymous. "Many people have challenges now selling on eBay because of the fees and because there are so many sellers, but eBay is still the largest marketplace to sell."

eBay denizens handed out logo-laden pins, buttons and trading card-like collectible memorabilia at the show. Asked by a reporter what people are supposed to do with a trading card that contained a fact about the company's history, the attendee said: "I don't know. Sell it on eBay."

Intense eBay loyalty was still evident in the scores of attendees wearing eBay swag, some with so many merit ribbons attached to their badges that the badges hung down to their knees.

The power seller who complained about auction time limits in the executive panel embodied the spirit of the eBay seller who complains about eBay features that might limit the amount of money he can make but still feels lucky to be cashing in. "Thanks eBay," he said, "for letting me live a dream I had a long time ago."

[roberts2424]

Ebay has a black eye

It is so sad to see a great company eaten up by Wall Street. Ebay
has forsaken its core and continues to pretend to listen to the
sellers. There was a time when I admired this darling but no longer.
Ebay brings a terrible image to my mind. It's tarnished, greedy, and
out of touch.

[wazzledoozle]

Ebay is a hassle

I looked into setting up a sellers account, and it was so complicated that I gave up quickly. They are cutting out the small people so these "power sellers" can get their product out 20 times in a row on a search results page.

[saleen351]

I agree

I use to buy one thing a month on ebay, but lately I never buy anything. I find their site to be slow and the searches show the same product 20 times from the same seller.. I know you can filter results but thats a pain and not sure if you can filter out the same seller's 20 same auctions for the exact same thing..

Also Adam Smith should have taught these clowns that if there are too many sellers, prices will fall, they need to adjust to the market conditions just like brick and mortar stores do. I suggest they all read the Invisable Hand...

[Sam Papelbon]

cut off the power sellers

tell them to get a real job and go back to the days when real people were selling real things. by allowing power sellers to prosper, ebay has become 90% spam. i'm surprised people still go there, they are basically asking to be spammed. plus there are people who jack up the shipping price to unrealistic amounts as if they expect the buyer to want their order hand-delivered by a man with a suitcase handcuffed to his arm driving a maybach. unfortunately, any auction site that overtakes ebay is going to end up with the same problem as the power-selling maggots switch over so they can continue to spam under a veil of legitimacy.

easier way

This is why I like the NON auction classified sites such
as sell.com. www.gorage.com has a cool concept of of
paying a flat rate for selling space (not per item), but
they are brand new and need more sellers so buyers
have something of interest.

[Earl Benser]

Who cares???

Ebay, and the snipers, screw the small bidder. I don't use Ebay, so
in most ways, I don't care what happens to them. I won't cheer if
Ebay crashes and burns, but I can't help but think that that would
be a fitting end.

Now, if we could just get Ebay to take Amazon with them. But that's
another story.

[PCCRomeo]

Overstock sucks too...

You can search for "Xbox" on there and EVERYTHING pertaining to a BOX is in the search results. If eBay would stop screwing with their site they wouldn't have to raise prices.

Ebay is Arrogant & Poor Auction Site

All the problems that plague Ebay today plauge all monopolies totally void of competition, with no incentive to improve service, address consumer concerns, or be price sensitive.