Saturday, February 16, 2008

Ebay!

I am one of the sellers who will boycott Ebay from Feb 18 to Feb 25th. I am hoping that all who read this will boycott along with me - be you buyer or seller...BOYCOTT EBAY!

I picked this up on another blog and it said it all so I'm hoping whoever posted it won't mind if I post it here:

Worldwide eBay Boycott February 18th through February 25th, 2008.

We the concerned buyers and sellers on eBay are protesting eBays announced new fee increases and feedback policy changes. We do not believe that these changes will have any positive affect for buyers or sellers and will result in increased prices, less choices and disharmony within the eBay community.

We also are in complete agreement that eBay's policy of allowing dogs and cats to be sold on eBay in China for slaughter purposes is both cruel and inhumane and must be stopped immediately.

We urge all people's to not shop or sell on eBay during this worldwide boycott.

Please spread the word.

Thank you.

I checked into it, and the post is 100% valid. And yes, the part about Ebay allowing dogs and cats to be sold as food is shockingly TRUE. It's amazing to see Ebay kowtow for the almighty Yen.

In the past there's been talk of Ebay boycotts and they didn't pan out well. Some sellers said it would only hurt them and impact Ebay little to nothing at all. However, that's assuming that there aren't going to be enough pissed-off sellers to make it effective.

This time, I'm betting there are.

Yes, the boycott will hurt sellers for a week. But it's only a week! How many of us have taken vacation or had an illness that prevented us from listing for a week? And yet we survived it! We can do this.

And during that time, perhaps we will start selling on Amazon.com or Ebid.net and we'll do ourselves a favor by working with an ethical company who charges considerably less! After all, if the buyers know the sellers are elsewhere, they will surely follow.

I learned something new yesterday. Ebay's claim that they're dropping fees is deceptive. They'll actually be increasing their final charges, which will more than make up for the fee drop they're trumpeting. That means that not only will sellers be treated as garbage, but they'll also be charged more for the privilege.

Thanks, but no thanks, Ebay. I'm joining the boycott.