I noticed this post on AuctionBytes and was really quite alarmed after I started reading some of the complaints by sellers. There are alarming complaints in both the AuctionBytes replies and in the eBay forum thread.On one hand, I can understand the idea behind this robotic removal of non performing sellers. Non performing sellers undermine the marketplace and deteriorate the buying experience.

However, I cannot appreciate the way they are implementing this. There is no apparent appeals process. Ok eBay is not a democracy, but last time I checked it is a business. eBay forgets who pays their paychecks - the eBay sellers. While they do get revenues from other sources as I was reminded by Corey Kossack, let’s face it. The lion’s share of eBay’s revenue comes from its sellers.

As Ina pointed out in her blog post, eBay has “increased the demand for customer support, but ….. capacity has not increased.” Randy Smythe has long complained of the lack of scalability in eBay’s business model. ‘One size fits all’. This cookie cutter punishment is along those same lines. Problem is, one size doesn’t fit all and there is no perfect algorithm that can catch every wayward seller perfectly.

This ‘our way or the highway’ method of doing business is not unique to eBay. I see a similar pattern with the way Google does business. There are numerous complaints about Adsense accounts all over the web suddenly getting zapped with no apparent way for the account holder to inquire or appeal the decision.

What’s an eBay seller to do? Wow this comes out like a rant. Don’t get me wrong; I still think eBay is a super place to do business. But this underscores the idea that one should not rely completely on eBay. eBay sellers should have a plan a do business off eBay as well as on eBay.

Tags: , , ,