eBay just keeps on having problems
In an excellently researched and responsible series of articles in the NY Times, the problems with eBay just keep on growing, without an end in sight. From angry buyers to angry sellers, if you piss off everyone, there is little that anyone can do to save your company. The question is, where is eBay’s PR department, or are they all on holiday?
I wrote a post Friday with the thought that Amazon should buy eBay, and readers nearly revolted at the idea. The outpouring of rage at eBay was of the sort we don’t see here for anything other than cellphone companies. The company is clearly getting hit by both buyers and sellers. I’ll write a post shortly on the frustrations of merchants on eBay.(UPDATE: That post is here.) Below is a sampling of the complaints from Bits readers. Source: NY Times
You can catch part one of the series here, and part two of the series here.
It makes for an fascinating viewpoint into the underside of eBay, one that rarely gets seen. We know of many people selling on Amazon, and when we did the interview with one book seller, the worry was working out the entire fee structure of eBay. They still have not opened an eBay store, preferring to go to other places that are easier to figure out.
If the customers are revolting against the whole company, it is time to stop and take a look at what is happening, why it is happening, and what possible ways that issue can be fixed. It would be great to see eBay have a town hall, or some other collection of people who can intelligently discuss the issues raised in the NY Times series.
Without some kind of feedback, eBay starts looking like they are living in an ivory tower. The more they distance themselves from their sellers and buyers, the more of out touch they look. If the perception of eBay is “fraud city”, then they need to seriously examine their business, and work out ways to become more trustworthy.
In E-commerce, trust is the only thing that keeps customers coming back. If the company looses trust, customers will stop coming, nothing will get sold, and others will step in that understand this kind of trust relationship.
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