eBay is the worldwide flea market where buyers and sellers can come together to exchange goods. Unfortunately, some new rules are changing the site into a more profitable endeavor for the owners of eBay, and the changes are hurting "power sellers."
Power sellers are usually small business owners who make a large portion of their income, if not all of their yearly income, by selling items on eBay. New rules (that became effective in the beginning of March, 2008) have increased the amount of fees sellers have to give to eBay, have affected how shipping and handling (S&H) is handled, PayPal is reserving the right to withhold profits from sellers, and sellers can no longer leave feedback on buyers.
So what do all of these changes mean?
It means that eBay has decided to take a larger cut of the profit. The change is being described as a move to "protect buyers" but really what is happening is that eBay and PayPal no longer want to get "screwed over" by bad buyers/sellers, so it leaves the middle man (power sellers) taking a large hit. Sellers can no longer see who they are selling to, which allows more room for scams.
Why does this matter?
It matters because our government, our world is run by a few select companies who are money hungry. It leaves no room for people to live the supposed "American Dream"--it is very difficult to start a company to make a profit when your competitors are so big. eBay was seen by many as an opportunity for small business owners to take back a part of the market share. But with the new fee increases, "greedBay" is now making even more money, and many small business owners are being pushed out of one of the only remaining markets for them to make a profit.
A boycott was organized for buyers and sellers to avoid eBay activity from February 18-25, 2008. However, eBay has responded that the boycott was merely "noise" and that the uproar will die down soon. There was little impact from the boycott, eBay has increased fees and allowed for sellers not to know how positive/negative their buyers are, and nobody is doing anything because, at this point, it is old news.
Should we do anything?
There's not much we can do. We could write letters, we could try to petition, we could try a lot of things. But at the end of the day, the people in charge are connected with big money, and they're not too opposed to the idea of eBay turning a bigger profit. So until major changes happen to our government, our capitalist society, our world, we will continue to be bossed around by the large companies we rely on.
Power sellers are usually small business owners who make a large portion of their income, if not all of their yearly income, by selling items on eBay. New rules (that became effective in the beginning of March, 2008) have increased the amount of fees sellers have to give to eBay, have affected how shipping and handling (S&H) is handled, PayPal is reserving the right to withhold profits from sellers, and sellers can no longer leave feedback on buyers.
So what do all of these changes mean?
It means that eBay has decided to take a larger cut of the profit. The change is being described as a move to "protect buyers" but really what is happening is that eBay and PayPal no longer want to get "screwed over" by bad buyers/sellers, so it leaves the middle man (power sellers) taking a large hit. Sellers can no longer see who they are selling to, which allows more room for scams.
Why does this matter?
It matters because our government, our world is run by a few select companies who are money hungry. It leaves no room for people to live the supposed "American Dream"--it is very difficult to start a company to make a profit when your competitors are so big. eBay was seen by many as an opportunity for small business owners to take back a part of the market share. But with the new fee increases, "greedBay" is now making even more money, and many small business owners are being pushed out of one of the only remaining markets for them to make a profit.
A boycott was organized for buyers and sellers to avoid eBay activity from February 18-25, 2008. However, eBay has responded that the boycott was merely "noise" and that the uproar will die down soon. There was little impact from the boycott, eBay has increased fees and allowed for sellers not to know how positive/negative their buyers are, and nobody is doing anything because, at this point, it is old news.
Should we do anything?
There's not much we can do. We could write letters, we could try to petition, we could try a lot of things. But at the end of the day, the people in charge are connected with big money, and they're not too opposed to the idea of eBay turning a bigger profit. So until major changes happen to our government, our capitalist society, our world, we will continue to be bossed around by the large companies we rely on.
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