Ebay Sellers Union?

[jamey]

i would be in,maybe we could build a good store with treasurenet,honest sellers would make it a big hit

 

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[mkulltra]

I went back and was reading some opinions earlier in this thread. I don't think the political route is the way to go. I think keeping it a grassroots effort is the way to go. Whether or not you get enough members to stop selling for a day or a week to make a statement, the real goal to me would be to get publicity exposure from news agencies. If you can get enough press about it, ebay will be forced respond and address the issue which could potentially lead to changes in the policies regarding sellers.

 

[Oregon Viking]

I went back and was reading some opinions earlier in this thread. I don't think the political route is the way to go. I think keeping it a grassroots effort is the way to go. Whether or not you get enough members to stop selling for a day or a week to make a statement, the real goal to me would be to get publicity exposure from news agencies. If you can get enough press about it, ebay will be forced respond and address the issue which could potentially lead to changes in the policies regarding sellers.

Problem is , ebay being a big company might say...don't sell..leave, we do not care! Big companies are arrogant, make stupid decisions all the time. ebay is all ready screwing sellers. I still like the union idea, and would support it.

 

[mkulltra]

I agree there are several challenges with standing up to a big company. I too believe ebay doesnt care about losing some sellers. I also think there will be some in the public that say if you don't like the policies then sell somewhere else. But I don't think those things should stop sellers from standing up for themselves. Like they say, nothing changes, nothing changes. It's worth taking a shot and hopefully the exposure gets people talking about the problems sellers face and maybe something changes.

 

[Tallone]

If you check my first post in this thread, I weighed in as an opponent to this union idea. My primary objection was because the proposal called for sending huge amounts of money to some unknown person at the head of this "union" who would then spend this money on buying influence with politicians who would, presumably, push legislation to force eBay to change their policies to be more favorable to sellers. That concept, in my opinion, is deeply flawed as it provides multiple opportunities for fraud and is unlikely to produce much of value to the people (namely, eBay sellers) funding the effort.

That being said, the notion of a large number of small sellers banding together (without paying dues to a union) makes a lot more sense. It seems to me the only way this idea has any chance of success is if this includes two elements:

1. A list of very specific complaints; and

2. A list of a VERY large number of eBay members who support the idea

Item #1 would be relatively easy to accomplish. Item #2 is more problematic. To be effective, there would need to be enough eBay members supporting this idea to seriously affect eBay's bottom line. What dollar amount of lost sales would it take to accomplish that? I have no idea and any suggestions as to what that number might be would be speculative at best as a long list of variables come into play. The other potential problem is that, by joining such a movement (whether this takes the form of a simple petition drive and/or an actual "work" stoppage), individual eBay members are painting a target on their back. If, as many here believe, eBay is actively moving to drive out small sellers, identifying oneself as being part of this movement increases the chances of more maltreatment from eBay.

Just some food for thought.

 

[mkulltra]

Hey Tallone,

I definitely see your points. I think having a clear message of the problems that sellers have with certain policies makes total sense. (My biggest compliant is the lack of seller protection against scammers. Ebay knows about the scamming issues with buyers and has yet to take serious action against it. I dont feel like ebay is a fair marketplace anymore and believe sellers should have equal rights as buyers. Like why give me an option for no returns but force me to give returns.)

You're second point of getting enough members together is a good point and I believe I have solutions that also includes your concern about protecting your account against retaliation. I dont want to share it here on an open forum or at this time until certain things are put in place but would be happy to share it with early joiners at an appropriate time and place.

I believe there is enough support out there from the forum and other online sellers to build something. I don't think a union or one that holds large amounts of money is the answer. I think just a large enough voice should do. I should be able to put something together fairly quickly for those that would like to be involved.

More to come soon...

 

[GibH]

It would be a trade association, not a union.

 

[Indian Steve]

mkulltra, I am much more in favor of your approach than the slight insanity that I spouted in my first post. Like you, my main problem with ebay is that they give so much to the buyers that ebay actually encourages them to scam or take advantage of the sellers. If we could form some sort of a group { note I didn't say union} that could represent the sellers point of view and reserve the right to do nasty things {strike}, I am all for it and would gladly pay dues to support this group. The biggest problem that I see is the fact that we are scattered all over the world.

 

[JohnnyFlake]

Hey Tallone,

I definitely see your points. I think having a clear message of the problems that sellers have with certain policies makes total sense. (My biggest compliant is the lack of seller protection against scammers. Ebay knows about the scamming issues with buyers and has yet to take serious action against it. I dont feel like ebay is a fair marketplace anymore and believe sellers should have equal rights as buyers. Like why give me an option for no returns but force me to give returns.)

You're second point of getting enough members together is a good point and I believe I have solutions that also includes your concern about protecting your account against retaliation. I dont want to share it here on an open forum or at this time until certain things are put in place but would be happy to share it with early joiners at an appropriate time and place.

I believe there is enough support out there from the forum and other online sellers to build something. I don't think a union or one that holds large amounts of money is the answer. I think just a large enough voice should do. I should be able to put something together fairly quickly for those that would like to be involved.

More to come soon...

If you truly believe you have a solution to the issue stated above why not start a private group on Yahoo and invite people you want to join and further discuss and work on it!

Once you have a core group of 8, 10, maybe 12 Charter Members, future members would have to be introduce, by a Charter Member, before they could join the group. That will help to keep things more private.

 

[mkulltra]

One step ahead of you...I have setup a G+ community for those that would like to be part of the group to take this conversation further and discuss next step for taking action. Please go to the following community page and request to join.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/102140107672114019533

 

[mkulltra]

Also, if you are part of any other forums or groups with other ebay sellers, please feel free to extend an invitation to those you feel would benefit the community.

 

[Paleo_joe]

I'm in. I sent a request to join the google group.

 

[JohnnyFlake]

One step ahead of you...I have setup a G+ community for those that would like to be part of the group to take this conversation further and discuss next step for taking action. Please go to the following community page and request to join.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/102140107672114019533

I went there my friend but had to change my old password, as I did not remember it.

Afterward, when I tried to sign in, I got a message that says I need to be invited in order to enter the group site.

I like this a lot!

 

[billn1956]

It would make more since to start up another company like e-bay to sell our stuff on. The same dues money your talking about would take care of doing it. with sellers being part owners.If set up so that it treats sellers and buyers fairly it would put e-bay out of busness or they would be throwing money at us to buy us out.

 

[JohnnyFlake]

It would make more since to start up another company like e-bay to sell our stuff on. The same dues money your talking about would take care of doing it. with sellers being part owners.If set up so that it treats sellers and buyers fairly it would put e-bay out of busness or they would be throwing money at us to buy us out.

This does make a lot of sense!!!

 

[Indian Steve]

I just tried the link and it said that I need an invitation. How do I get in? Thanks Steve

 

[mkulltra]

When you go to community page, just request to join and I will give you access as a member.

Building a platform to buy and sell can be ridiculously complicated. Others have tried to do it with little success hence eBay's hold on the market, other than Amazon which has a different model. You would need a lot of startup capital to hire programmers and designers to build something halfway decent. Plus having to market it to get part of the market and build brand loyalty and trust.

If eBay made some concessions to sellers, I think there would be zero need to build a new platform. We are not taking about major changes, just more policies that give sellers a sense of backing by eBay and that protect them against crooked or p.i.t.a. buyers. The problem is the one we are talking about and that is that sellers don't have a voice in a platform most of us use on a daily basis. As sellers, we are paying for a service and we deserve a spot at the table.

I believe eBay's pricing structure and PayPal services are pretty dang good. They have amazing organic presence on the search engines, giving you more exposure to your listings. I think they could do more in incentives for buyers by sacrificing a percent in fees. Like promotions for $5 off $100 or more BIN. $10 off $150 BIN. How many more watchers would turn into buyers after recieving a coupon like that in their inbox?

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

This is actually why I created Feedbink, #1 reason was not being able to leave negative feedback for buyers. People need to know about possible scammers and then make up their own minds if they want to buy from or sell to them.

Once it gets a good database of feedback going I think it would be a good resource to check there before every sale. I've created a place to leave feedback for eBay users and also to leave feedback for online auctioneers on sites like auctionzip and liveauctioneers.

The problem is for me I'M NOT a marketing guru, I can build the site, but I can't make people use it and until they do its pretty useless .

 

[mkulltra]

That's nice looking site. Needs some database management through instead of almost blog entry like system. I also think this idea would work much better as an app than a website. I go to the app, enter seller/buyers username and see what feedback has been left for them. Also, how do you prevent said buyer/seller from entering in positive feedbacks to offset any negative feedback. If someone put a negative about me on your site, I would just create ten fake posting with all positive experiences.

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

Oh we have ways to spot fakers, I can't make that public though. But even without the technology 10 fakes all saying a buyer/seller is good and one well written bad feedback I think the public will have enough to make an informed decision.

The posting is designed to be easy to use, post stuff and search stuff...no fancy bells and whistles, easy if you're 9 or 90.

The website is ready to have a mobile version as well once the database gets a bit heftier. Then when you're on the train you can search a seller before you put that bid in on the scrap gold they are selling. When that buyer with 2 feedback that is trying to buy your CTX3030 you can check them and make sure they don't show up there and if so you can remove their bid.