Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

October 26, 2009

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

By: Ina Steiner

Mon Oct 26 2009 23:02:51

Jim "Uncle Griff" Griffith announced today on his Facebook that changes were coming to eBay Radio next month. Listeners will only have access to the live show through a private eBay group, he said. Griff is eBay's Dean of Education, author of the Official eBay Bible, and one of eBay's earliest employees. He hosts eBay Radio, which is billed as "eBays' official talk show with expert guests, news direct from eBay and of course your call ins produced by wsRadio.com."

According to Griff's announcement, "We'll be announcing more during the week but one of the biggest changes will be access to the live show. Starting Nov 3rd, the link to all eBay Radio shows will only be available from the eBay Radio Group."

Currently eBay promotes the show on its announcement board. In addition, WSRadio, which broadcasts the show, also promotes the show on its website, but Griff does not say why those two entities will stop linking to the program.

However, in the comments, he writes, "We funnel listener traffic through eBay Radio's Group so we can measure the audience participation by user id... or we kill eBay Radio. Those were my choices. What would YOU have chosen?"

eBay has been trimming costs in many areas and has eliminated its "Pinks" forum moderators, as well as ceasing publication of its longtime eBay Chatter newsletter blog. Could it be more cost-cutting by eBay? Or do they simply want to control who listens to the show by forcing them to access it through the eBay Group? (Why would they want to measure audience participation by user id?)

PayPal also has a radio program on WSRadio, hosted by Jason Miner, and billed as "The official show of PayPal. Supporting PayPal users while covering the latest news and developments from "The Global Leader of Online Payment Solutions." (Link) No word on whether any changes are pending to PayPal Radio, or to the eBay Town Hall meetings that are also hosted on WSRadio.

Comments (71) | Permalink

Readers Comments

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Howard Stern fan

Mon Oct 26 23:20:38 2009

They don't want Unkie Guff to be taken by surprise, because he's about as fast on his feet as an Elephant. They need to block the truth about Ebay from getting out anyway they can. Just another symptom of "bunker mentality".
It's the end game now folks, keep the heat on!!!!

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: joe

Mon Oct 26 23:40:51 2009

Yeah Griff, sorry to see your lousy LYING A$$ GO...

It's about time Donahoe did something right, kicking you out the door is a start.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: 1999

Mon Oct 26 23:44:35 2009

I agree that it has the appearance of "bunker mentality".

Some might view it as keeping ebay radio in the closet. LOL

No big loss.
They won't allow any real questions concerns or criticisms there anyway.

If anyone has seen the feedback video on youtbe, Griff is very rude to the listeners/questioners anyway.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Pete

Mon Oct 26 23:48:56 2009

Who actually cares?
It take a massive amount of effort to sell on eBay without garbage like this getting in the way
There is no ebay community anymore so better to get ride of this & get back to business of selling

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Bye Griff

Mon Oct 26 23:51:51 2009

SHA NA NA NA, NA NA NA NA, HEY HEY HEY, GOODBYE!

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: McFly

Tue Oct 27 00:03:03 2009

Here's the scoop: eBay is bringing their production in-house, which is too bad, because WS Radio does a pretty good job producing, but eBay is cutting peripheral costs associated with community - and won't pay for production. As others have said, this is essentially Griff's last stand.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Buck Efay

Tue Oct 27 00:07:59 2009

But Ebay's seller advocate loves all you unwashed smellers! As the Ramones would say: Glad Ta See Ya Go Go Go Go Goodbye! Hey Guff, let's see how long you last on Feebay selling your Unwashed indian rugs & Tobacco stink perfume! After all, you're already an A.S.S.(Above Standard Seller) Fa Fa Fooey!

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Leroy

Tue Oct 27 00:48:23 2009

Griff has outlived his usefullness. The show has ceased to be anything but a cheer party. Same old callers each week. Same dreary promotions promoting advertisers. Used to have a lot of respect for Griff but he has "sold" out.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Tim

Tue Oct 27 02:26:49 2009

Why would they want/need to measure the audience by *user ID*? I don't trust eBay enough to let them know I am listening. I would not doubt for one minute that they could, if they wanted to, use any information gained to hurt my sales. Now I am one among millions (mostly inactive accounts!), I just would rather they now know about me.

As for Griff. I think he does a good job while being in a bad situation. In fact, I wish there were more Griffs at eBay. At least he does try to give sellers some information and helps on a an individual basis - that is a lot more than I can say for the rest of the company!

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Ebay's Slow Death

Tue Oct 27 02:59:33 2009

More cost cutting!

What's next? Oh ya, raise Seller fees. JD is thinking, ''They can afford to pay a little more, with all the great service they are getting from Ebay.''

Maybe Griff will start to realize how the rest of us feel, being kicked to the curb, as JD walks by. Got to keep that Golden Parachute inflated!

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Henrietta - Red Ink Diary

Tue Oct 27 04:17:28 2009

Agree with Tim to some extent. Griff acts bipolar alternating between genuine kindness and absolute a**hole. This will simply make eBay radio even more irrelevant than it already is. So sad, too bad.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Griffs_Lisp

Tue Oct 27 04:56:02 2009

So long Gruffy bear

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Ming the Merciless

Tue Oct 27 05:03:51 2009

I must have been asleep for the last deade or so because I can't remember any Gruff the Magic seller Advocate "kindness," but I do remember of a lot of contempt and disrespect fpr those of us who work for living.

Ebafia kills four birds with one stone here. The can further control the message like any fascist corporation strives to do, intimidate noisy sellers from either not participating if they listen or, even better, not listen at all, cut productions costs, and give Gruff his resignation road map.

If no one listened to Gruff's self congratulatory love fest or bothered to blog on Brewer-Hay's propagnda rag, they could save even more labor costs and ever so slightly raise the level of truth coming out of San Hosed by omission.

DEATH to ebay corp. in 2009.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: SO SO SAD

Tue Oct 27 06:19:55 2009

You ain't my Uncle ! And nothing you have ever said or done helped me gain a sale in any way shape or form !

John Donahoe is the ADVERSARY to my business, the man has ruined my sales, ruined my confidence in eBay, slowly easing my way away from this company forever !

eBay is no longer fun, profitable or working for me, it never will as long as John Donhoe is in command, and I am no longer worried about if he will be reomoved from eBay, I am slowly removing myself from this sick site !

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Rob

Tue Oct 27 07:39:55 2009

Ebay Radio is a joke! Griff's a joke! Week in and week out, the only radio call-ins taken are from the same very small group of ebay cheerleaders most of whom have "I love ebay" blogs and make money promoting ebay.

If and when a seller actually has a legit concern (usually shared/questioned by the masses) about ANY issue which cast doubt on Ebay's business ethics, Griff ALWAYS finds a way to end the phone call abruptly to avoid having to address the the issues on live radio, YET a select TINY group of ebay cheerleaders that call every single radio show get 10-15 minutes air time (extended through commercials) to just chit chat about why they love ebay.

Now, Ebay will hand pick the "I love Ebay" groupies to avoid having to deal addressing REAL issues about Ebay's ongoing unscrupulous business practices.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Mercy the Mingless

Tue Oct 27 07:44:09 2009

Ever wonder why ebay and paypal seem to take the buyer's side in all disputes and I'm not exagerrating, I mean, every single case?

Quote below from a Seller Central Discussion Forum post by the ''Seller Advocate''.

''I've reviewed thousands of disputes between buyers and sellers for the last 12 years and in every single case, the ''rude'' behavior on the part of a buyer was always precipitated by unprofessional conduct on the part of the seller who assumed intent on the basis of an initial buyer email and responded accordingly. And I am not exaggerating. I mean, every single case.''

Jim ''Uncle Griff'' Griffith
Ebay Seller Central Discussion Forum
8-2008

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: 1997 eBayer

Tue Oct 27 07:52:41 2009

I have mixed feelings regarding Griff's minimized role at eBay. If you've ever listened to eBay Radio, Griff knew more about the site than most of his employee executive guests. I think that's changed over the past several year, and it's clear that Griff is having as much difficulty keeping up with the policy changes as sellers are. So his role as a seller advocate has been pretty much neutered. Since those are circumstances beyond his control (he didn't hire Donahoe) I feel a bit sorry for him.

But he has become a lot more bitter lately, probably because of all the heat he's taken from the community for choosing to be an eBay apologist. For instance, when he said, after all the changes Donahoe began implementing, that eBay wouldn't exist in 2 years if they hadn't made all the changes - that was a light switch going on for me. Clearly, Griff was towing the company line and protecting his stock options. After that, his own stock dropped in the community's estimation.

It's a shame that when Griff leaves, there aren't going to be many sellers that will remember the truly helpful, funny person Griff used to be. All they'll remember is a condescending corporate toadie.

RIP Griff

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Jeff Stannard

Tue Oct 27 08:29:55 2009

Griff needs to go rogue.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Daisy

Tue Oct 27 08:39:52 2009

I agree. Griff has a real split personality. Sometimes really helpful and fun, other times condescending and rude. It's the latter that turned me away from listening to him.

Griff Says Changes Coming to eBay Radio

by: Ebay_Fail_Radio

Tue Oct 27 08:57:27 2009

Have to sign in and be ID'ed individually by your user ID?

Sorry but there is something very wrong with that picture.

What do they have to hide? What could they possibly learn from scrutinizing listeners?

I don't trust ebay. No one should. Lord only knows what they are really up to?
They will probably be embedding some malware or spyware into the audio stream or something.
Maybe an automatic bidding/surfing bot or something to help their lagging sales and traffic

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