[fireman15]

I have been using Ebay for many years. I have both bought and sold items. The changes that they made have been maddening in many cases. Most of the changes seemed to have been designed to maximize profit to Ebay rather than to help buyers and sellers. This is similar to the government raising taxes. I am glad to hear that their profits actually went down because of their meddling.

[PackerBoy]

I have been a buyer and seller on eBay for many years, too. I have eBay seller clients who have been screwed by eBay’s new policies, and have ceased to use eBay. Over time, the marketplace will respond to eBay’s moves. For every MySpace, there is a FaceBook that can come along later and do them one better.

[khnyny]

A lot of new outlets are spinning the news of EBAY’s uptick on their stock price...

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100121-709865.html?mod=WSJ_earnings_MIDDLETopHeadlines

The only problem is this increase in their stock price is not reflective, imho, of what is really going on. If you read closely and dig a little, it’s quite obvious this company has problems.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Agreed. Before the changes I was both an active buyer and seller, but afterward, the Ebay fees became so crushing that I could not make a profit on anything I sold, and often took losses, before I finally quit.

Also, I got sick and tired of the mass marketing of cheap Made in Asia goods that all but defeated any dearch attempts for decent quality items.

[browardchad]

I have been using Ebay for many years. I have both bought and sold items. The changes that they made have been maddening in many cases. Most of the changes seemed to have been designed to maximize profit to Ebay rather than to help buyers and sellers. This is similar to the government raising taxes. I am glad to hear that their profits actually went down because of their meddling.

Me too. And Amazon has reaped the fallout:

A changing market: The strategy didn't play out as Donahoe envisioned. EBay is struggling to keep pace with its competitors, especially Amazon.com,

Amazon's network of sites overtook eBay in monthly unique viewers for the first time in October, according Web traffic research firm ComScore. By eBay's own count, its active user base has grown 8% over the past two years, to 90.1 million.

More worryingly, eBay's reputation with sellers is suffering. JPMorgan Chase recently surveyed a handful of "PowerSellers," eBay's designation for its most active merchants. More than half of those polled had a negative opinion of eBay. While a majority called Amazon an "excellent" channel to drive sales, only 23% felt the same way about eBay.

It's sad what has happened. I've been a eBay member since it began, and always operated under the "caveat emptor" principle when purchasing -- and 99% of the time, my purchases were satisfactory. I never bothered to slam that 1% that screwed up. Under the new rules for sellers, though, you might get a low rating from customers, not for failure of prompt delivery, or value for price paid, but for such nonsense as "I smelled a dog on this merchandise, and my cat objected."