EBay Evolution
Posted on July 7th, 2009
Professional eBay Sellers Alliance claims that eBay itself is a chief cause of worsening market conditions in the auction space because of its poor execution of changes to things such as fee structure and the measurement of the performance of a seller. This is just one of the earful feedbacks that Jim Griffith, senior manager of seller advocacy of eBay, receives everyday. Yet, Griffith is urging eBay members to keep sending feedback as long as it is constructive.
Griffith joined the eBay way back in 1996 when users are just thousands not millions. When he became part of it, the corporate hasn’t launched yet its corporate empire which now includes PayPal, an online payment processing system and Skype, its own communication company. He said that he doesn’t want the company’s member to remain silent in voicing out their opinions because the vitality of conversation within eBay and its members is significant to a vibrant marketplace.
Recently, the company had changes to the format of auction and related processes which brought about an impact to many sellers. These sellers’ livelihoods depend on different degrees on auctions on eBay. With this, Griffith together with his colleagues is realizing how loud it affects about 86 million active members.
Griffith said that the changes made were a balancing act for the company and they know that not every seller will be pleased with the changes.
PeSA Executive Director and CEO of Gotham City Online, Jonathan Garris said that the gross merchandise sales on eBay and the number of buyers are declining. It is either the sellers are going out of business or are leaving the marketplace. There are hundreds of thousand of small community sellers who are getting hurt that we don’t hear about and even the top sellers are getting hurt as well. On the other had, Garris said that he finds it encouraging that eBay is doing its part in trying to address the issues although sometimes, it is in a clumsy manner.
Garris said that for the past 18 months or more, it feels like that eBay is trying to refocus on the core market place though increasing numbers of merchants are branching out to other channels such as Buy.com, Amazon.com and the likes. He noted that others are beginning their own websites and stores.
Despite this fact, Garris also said that unquestionably, eBay still remains as the ruler of the online auction world. Entrepreneurs of every imaginable type still prefer the use of eBay as their primary sales channel.
A long- time eBay seller, Garry Hendrickson of Grand Forks said that even though the changes on eBay haven’t made their lives easier, he still believes that the site is a positive and vital force for the growth of a business. An eight-year user of the auction site, Colleen Allison of Chester Country claimed that she had sold more of her antiques and curios on eBay in the last four months than she did if you will combine the last three years.
Heightened competition is to where both Hendrickson and Allison attribute the tougher selling on eBay. Hendrickson added that he don’t think it is because of the changes the company has made.
Still Griffith acknowledges that some sellers might blame eBay for the changes made to the auction marketplace resulting to others to find it complex. He said that their mission nowadays is to simplify things through consolidation and streamlining.
Broader access to eBay for big-box retailer is one subject that Griffith is trying to address. Griffith denied rumors of the company’s doing away with auction and said that the company has no intention of fostering a bias towards fixed-priced sales.
To address disagreement on the previous system which deter buyers from using eBay by allowing seller to negatively rate buyers, the company has continuously considering ways to improve a feedback system.
