Boycott eBay gathers some headway

A proposed boycott of eBay on the week of February 18th through the 25th. While it is unlikely that the boycott will be completely in effect, what is interesting is that this is coming from a group of people that use eBay. This is not just some random noise on the wire, these are people who use the system to in some cases, make a living from buying and selling stuff on eBay.

The video says it all.

It is also good to know the there are other options to eBay that are available out there for sellers who just want to move someplace else, or otherwise call it a day. Like Amazon’s competition, the traffic is not there yet (check out amazon, abe books and alibris stats at compete). Selling in a low traffic environment can be difficult, but can also work if what is being carried is something that someone wants.

Other sites that directly compete with eBay are Ioffer, Online Auction, and eCrater (we do not recommend them, we just note that they compete in the same space, your success in this is based on what you are selling). You can see how all three of them stack up for traffic at compete here as well.

The coolest part, is that while the eBay boycott might not work, the up tick in amazon, ioffer, ecrater and others means that there might be more competition in the space. An exodus from one of the more venerable of Internet institutions like eBay to competitors means they got the business wrong. eBay has been around for a very long time, and while it is sad to see them going down hill the way that they are going, when a grass roots system begins to form around an idea that the company is being unfair in how they do things, they have to listen.

eBay can ignore this, but only at their peril. While the war over feedback is just beginning (along with the fee structure), companies have been driven out of business for less.