Ebay PowerSeller

The mighty online auction house only needs to look in the mirror to figure out why sales are slipping, customers are leaving and listings are shrinking. Solution providers that once called eBay “friend” are rejecting its hostile policies. Here’s why.

eBay was once king when it came to selling and buying used and overstocked products. Many solution providers and end users would turn first to eBay to locate bargain items, hard-to-find products and low-cost supplies. Just as important was the horde of sellers that saw the giant auction house as a way to unload goods and perhaps even create new business relationships.

For the purveyors of technology, eBay was once thought of as a godsend. But, eBay seems to have lost its appeal and solution providers are turning to Craigslist and other free services to sell and buy technology items.

One would think in a tight economy, those looking to unload items quickly and those looking for bargains would flock to eBay, but the reality is very different. eBay is shedding customers, sales are slipping and shares are hovering around $12, down some 56 percent in the past 12 months.

eBay blames the weak economy for its woes, but the company’s problems go much deeper than that. eBay is compounding its problems with antagonistic policy changes that only harm sellers. It seems that eBay has forgotten who its customers really are—the sellers! It’s those sellers that pay the insertion fees, final value fees and the fees associated with eBay’s PayPal service.

Over the last year, eBay has made changes to policies, which has resulted in sellers finding it increasingly difficult to sell items, as well as making the whole auction process a much bigger hassle than it has to be.