More controversial changes at ebay - Auction Forum Chat

Enthusiast

eBay seem to be trying out various changes on different sites and presumably if they succeed, these changes will be brought into their other sites. But the if is a big IF.

In Australia they are trying to force sellers to accept PayPal only, except for personally collected items where cash is allowed. This has forced the Australian regulatory body to investigate and it has been discovered that one of the major objectors is Google. An attempt to force this change in the UK & the rest of the EU would probably fall foul of the anti-competition rules.

In Germany eBay have decided that many sellers there are charging excessive shipping charges. So eBay intends to lay down the maximum which can be charged in certain categories.

Meanwhile the recent feedback changes have led to major problems for some large sellers. These include outright extortion attempts by criminals who have acquired or control various eBay ID's. These have been used to bid on various items & demands are being made for financial payments or negatives will be left. Of course this is against eBay rules but part of the problem is that eBay are often lagardly in dealing with complaints. Other sellers have had their businesses wrecked by rivals buying low cost items (again using different ID's) & then leaving negative feedback.

The upshot of all this turmoil is that there is an increasing exodus of sellers in various countries, usually to the most viable local alternatives. Listings are dropping and it seems (and my own experience confirms it) that more buyers are realising that there are alternative sites to buy on and are prepared to visit those if they can get the item they want there. A further problem for eBay is that its share price is slipping and even its PayPal offshoot faces increasingly stiff competition from Google Checkout.

It's difficult to predict where all this is leading but this evolving situation is co-inciding with what appears to be the start of a recession and that is going to reduce people's spending power. In such a situation only the strongest will survive so now is not a good time to be opening a new site. Every week new ones are announced on this site but they will be lucky to still be here in a 12 month and even some of the bigger ones could go. As for eBay, my guess would be it will reduce in size and quite likely become a takeover candidate itself. Maybe an ideal target for Microsoft now that the Yahoo bid appears to be history?