posted on October 23, 2000 07:44:36 PM
Change! Some time back, Geocities merged with Yahoo, and the TOS was changed. In this change, they stated that they now OWNED all original materials, photos, etc. on every website in Geocities, and could do with it what they liked. Sell it and make money on it if they wanted to and the originators of the material could do nothing about it. This is what happened! Someone set up a boycotte page, discussing all of the problems with this, and the fact that Geocities/Yahoo had no right to intilectual content of individuals. The wire services picked it up, all of them! We who had websites grayed them out and moved them elsewhere. It took the news media by storm and Geocities/Yahoo buckled and revised their TOS. I was a part of this Boycott, and it was amazing, when people spelled out what was needed, how fast things were changed. They fear the bad press. We need someone who has the know-how to set up a boycott page, and state factually, and with calmness just what is going on with EBAY. Then we have to see changed and the issues that are affecting everyone in an adverse way. Who is up to the challenge? It is not going to get any better unless we unite and make EBAY realize that we are their bread and butter. With EBAY being so big, this will spread like wildfire, and I will wager a bet, things will change for the better. We must pull together for the good of all. Suggestions? Look....like this we are losing money, and alot of it anyway. We are paying for services that we are not getting. We list for 7 days and are lucky if we get 4 good complete days of activity. And in the process we are lining Ebays pockets for free, thus we are paying the freight.
posted on October 24, 2000 06:51:31 AM
I for one would be glad to go along with you on this one. However I dont think we'd have a lot of support. Seems the others have become placid, I really feel we should do something about it, I just feel it will have little or no effect, except on us!
I have really loss the $$ over the last week or so. I dont know how much more I can take, guess it's back to brick and mortar venues for me. There have been numerous contacts wanting to buy things for opening bid or less, and with the watch feature buyers have been programed to wait and not bid. They see no bids on items and feel they can get them for a song.
posted on October 24, 2000 07:07:47 AM
I'm still doing alright by having my auctions end during the day instead of primetime and Sundays when they seem to go down.
Nevertheless, I finally practiced what I have been preaching and got myself registered for selling on Yahoo and Amazon.
Yahoo is the perfect venue for me for my higher priced antique furniture. I don't expect it will sell, it's more like free advertising for me to get people from the surrounding areas to come over and look at it.
So now, I am officially a member of the Million Auction March!
The problem with a boycott as I see it, is getting enough people contacted. If it should happen then I'm in. I expect if these problems are going to last another 10 days there will be a big increase in listing and buying on Yahoo.
posted on October 24, 2000 07:23:18 AM
I can say that I am doing alright as well on EBAY but the fact remains that we are not getting what we pay for. We pay for a 7, or 10 day auction, and when the tally of time is in, we receive 1/2 of that time if we are lucky. Would you go to the market and get a pound of ground beef and walk out with 1/2# smiling like an idiot because you felt lucky you paid full price and got only half of what you paid for? I really think alot of people are afraid to say too much for fear Ebay will stop them from selling at all if they voice their dissaproval. I understand about upgrades to handle increased traffic. That is a given. But.... *Why in the world can't they do the upgrading from 1-5 A.M. instead of during peak bidding and listing hours?* Ebay says that they are losing money from FVF like we are losing on our bids in the closing hour of our auctions, but in reality they are not. They have the listing and features fees in full up front, and are only giving minimal services, so just in the bulk of listings that they receive, they are not in reality losing any money at all. They have the up-front money in the pocket and what they lose on FVF they are making up on the dreaded *paypal float* type thing. Interest on the money already in the bank, ya know??
posted on October 24, 2000 09:13:47 AM
I wonder, next time we have an auction at local auction house this winter. If we have a blizzard that day and I don't get as much as I want from my items, I will just sue the auction house. After all every little thing I don't like is someone's fault. WRONGGGGG!!!! This is the internet people!!! When I open too many explorer windows at the same time my system sometimes crashes on me. That's life!
Everyone likes to launch and end auctions on Sunday night. Why? Because that is the busiest time. So, (use common sense here), when will the system possibly crash? Duhhh!, sunday nights.
If people don't like paying fees to sell items, quit selling. If people do not like system going down when their auctions are ending, end them at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.
The whining and carrying on about every little problem gets old in a hurry!!!!
posted on October 24, 2000 09:20:39 AM
Rarrifle, your analalogy of a blizzard (an "act of God" i.e. the weather) to a web site maintained by a company worth 11 figures crashing continuously (and now we are told purposely) is very faulty. Bad weather happens. Multi billion dollar companies can easily keep their sites running if they care to do so. Yahoo handles a much larger amount of daily traffic than ebay yet it does not crash constantly. "This is the internet, people" (so expect crashes) is very outdated thinking. It's not 1995 anymore. We pay money for a service that is not being provided. If no one complains then there is no hope for improvement.
edited to add an errant "
[ edited by jamesoblivion on Oct 24, 2000 09:22 AM ]
posted on October 24, 2000 10:07:22 AM
rarriffle: You might have a point if Ebay didn't always try to micromanage our businesses. Ebay uses that "We're a venue" line to wash its hands of protecting the sellers, and then turns around and dictates to use how big our payment service logos can be, etc. etc.
If you leased a space at a mall, and if that mall had a power failure every day from 6-8pm, and that mall allowed people to disrupt your business, threaten you, and slander you, and if that mall gave out your personal info on demand to any company that asked for it (check that privacy policy), and it told you how to display your goods, how you can advertise, what kind of promotions you can run, et al you probably want a refund also.
Ebay retains way to much editorial control to keep up this "venue" excuse.
posted on October 24, 2000 10:44:37 AM
Unfortunately, there are differences between the geocities situation and the ebay situation. Success in one venture doesn't, by a long shot, mean much for the other.
First, the change by geocities was a policy - something that could be "fixed" by the stroke of a pen (so to speak). Plus, it may have been illegal, and it also captured the imagination of the press. Also, boycotting geocities didn't cost sellers a dime, they just moved their images to another free site. So, lots of pressure, no cost to sellers, easy to fix by geocities => success.
Compare that to the current situation. Will the press care about this? hmmm..maybe not. Is what ebay doing illegal? hmmm..maybe not. Can it be easily fixed by ebay? definitely not. Will sellers make the same amount of money by moving to other auctions? hmm..maybe not.
