eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

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

February 10, 2009

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

By: Ina Steiner

Tue Feb 10 2009 23:02:35

eBay is holding a Top Seller Summit in Long Beach on Thursday with about 50 of the top merchants from the West and Southwest, according to a source wishing to remain anonymous. This might be the "quality time" Lorrie Norrington had promised back in May 2008 when she announced the cancellation of the 2009 eBay Live conference.

"In 2009 we are focusing our energy on smaller venues to facilitate more face-to-face interactions with our customers and community," Norrington wrote. "While I can't yet name all of the places we’ll be visiting in 2009, I can say that we intend to spend more quality time with more of you in 2009 than we have in recent memory." (Seeing more than 10,000 users without an eBay Live conference sounds ambitious.)

Word is that everyone attending the event has to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) barring them from talking about the content of the meeting. (If true, that seems absurd to the extreme - what would eBay managers tell their top sellers that they couldn't tell the rest of the sellers? Besides, they obviously don't work.) eBay has also tentatively scheduled a second regional meeting in Florida for some time in March.

Some rumors already coming out are that eBay will be making images free for collectibles categories, eventually phasing out the Picture Manager subscription service. This may have to do with eBay's plans to include all the images in a hover mode in search results.

As I mentioned in my previous post, sellers are on tenterhooks waiting to see what eBay's big announcement will be this year. In a communications vacuum, rumors swirl. Share yours in the comments below.

Comments (70) | Permalink

Readers Comments

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Meg's Toy, A Hungry Boy

Tue Feb 10 23:31:13 2009

Big announcements? Hmm, fee increases, more useless site changes, more FireFox based crap, changes favoring bigger sellers, changes to bring the site more in line with Amazon, further demoralization of smaller sellers, more powerful Vero, eroding share price.

Just don't expect too much from the idiots who believed that a neutral feedback was negative!

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: eBuyer Feedback

Wed Feb 11 00:26:27 2009

Picture manager was always a huge rip-off. I used about 91% of my free 1MB the first day I found out about it. Then they conveniently make it difficult to find out that if you ever go over that 1MB they'll start charging you ridiculous fees. Fortunately I never did.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: pete

Wed Feb 11 00:50:33 2009

I heard from Chicken Little that like no more checks Money Orders, ebay will be shutting off access to Dailup Users.

Since they are too cheap to get on with DSL/Cable, our research shows all they have become are whiners and complainers. We don't need Bad Apples like this, an anonymous source was quoted. And the result was seen with the launch of the new discussion boards, when dialup users were complaining that they could not access the boards.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Bob

Wed Feb 11 01:51:15 2009

Bonanzle.com - WOO-HOO! I win.

Anyone who is serious about ecommerce as a career, and not just a hobby, and who is still using eBay should simply stop considering ecommerce as a career.

2 years of not having to simply "maintain" while selling online, just waiting on eBay's next move, has been wonderful to say the least.

btw - when is the next ecommercebytes newsletter coming out. All this crap about eBay, a dying entity, is really depressing and non-informative, to say the least.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Patricia

Wed Feb 11 02:13:05 2009

I can't wait to hear these announcements only because they will tell me if Ebay is coming to its senses or continuing down the path of insanity. Somehow I feel it will be more of the latter. This company is going to have to really hit bottom before anything will turn them around...and by then it will be too late. So...small sellers keep marketing those up and coming sites and opening your own websites as well. Keep contacting your past buyers and get them over to wherever you are selling now. Do this for your own business and just look at Ebay for the joke it has become.

Incidentally...Ebay really shouldn't be wasting their time having these top sellers sign non-disclosure statements. They just don't realize that fewer and fewer sellers give two cents about them anymore!

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Philip Cohen

Wed Feb 11 04:37:02 2009

Why does eBay bother having these meetings? They clearly don’t take any notice of users’ input. Why don't they simply have a clipping service collect and summarise all the overwhelmingly negative comments posted on various blogs; they might then get some idea of how to steer this once perfectly good ship away from those looming ice bergs.

And a detailed critique on my pet peeve, “hidden bidders”, at
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=23585>

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: unknown

Wed Feb 11 05:27:19 2009

Ina, any idea which hotel? I live in Long Beach. :)

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: e-DUDS

Wed Feb 11 06:21:45 2009

I'm very pleased eBay wants to meet their sellers, but why not just a mass email. More exclusivity and elitism! "We love ALL the Buyers. ALL sellers are equal, but some sellers are more equal than others!"
??
I'm very pleased to say that some eBay sellers have moved over to e-DUDS.com and hope that we will get plenty more.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: ebay = penny stock

Wed Feb 11 07:53:29 2009

Donna hole can have it both ways. He can get rid of the small sellers and when he loses enough money he can apply for TARP.

Think about it. Its a win win solution.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Kitty

Wed Feb 11 08:15:42 2009

Announce the cancellation of eBay Live 2009,
then meet with the TOP 50 sellers in the Western area.

Enforce a NDA,
Then claim "interaction with our customers and community".

Oh for crying out loud...

eBay double-speak, smoke and mirrors at its finest.

Come out from behind closed doors with the elite. I'd have more respect for eBay Execs if they just held a public conference and told the whole unvarnished truth.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Kitty

Wed Feb 11 08:26:21 2009

The future business model in the face of a major depression:

Malls are empty
High end electronic stores by me are shutting down

McDonalds posted record numbers

What does that tell eBay to do?

Hmmm
I'd say quality volume beats luxury items

Change gears now or die......

Lower fees (listing and FVF) = spike in listings

Cheap quality items = completed sales across the board

Use the money for advertising and hiring people to eliminate fraud listing by listing
seller by seller

Verify ALL users (buyers and sellers)
to eliminate multiple IDs used for scams and circumventing blocked bidder

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Ed Gadfly

Wed Feb 11 08:42:47 2009

You can't talk to anyone else (LIKE A LAWYER) when you sign a non-disclosure statement.

More lies and deception from the level playing field with the hidden bidder names.

What do you mean no eBay Live in 2009? Griff is planning an eBay "party" in Las Vagas. There are going to be speakers and everything. He talks about it on his "radio show" all the time. Yesterday the sycophants were picking out which color Speedos for Griff to wear in the hot tub. (Try to wash THAT mental image from your mind.)

Private meetings, Wow!

Maybe the beloved Power Sellers will get a post card. The rest of you unwashed masses ought to expect an upward addition to fees and worse search placement.

Now go grovel for your stars, Uncle Griff has a Vegas vacation to plan!

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Lisa

Wed Feb 11 08:48:28 2009

eBay Covert Ops. Oh the intrigue! What could they possibly be up to? Let's see.. they've lost a lot of their top sellers with outrageous fee increases, slapped all of their sellers by inviting companies like buy.com and others to list away with no fees, and given and taken away store exposure in searches how many times now? They can only be gauging the atmosphere for things they're anticipating doing but this time, instead of a huge, unruly, unmanageable forum, they're going to have smaller meetings. They'll be begging them to stay, promising to give them the same perks they're giving to buy.com and other big stores, and giving them all kinds of promises (that sellers have heard before and should have no reason to believe), and generally schmooze and hype and find out what the sellers want (like reversing the no neg policy among others) and promising to consider the requests. But eBay continues to wither and it's sales are going down (note increases in sales on etsy, bonanzle and some new sites) and sellers are giving those sites a try. eBay has made a series of bad moves that have irretrievably damaged their relationships with sellers who are tired of hearing promises, seeing things happen then get taken away. eBay must think sellers are still "noise" and sheep. Of course, factor in that Meg has thrown her cap into the race for Gov, it wouldn't be fitting for these sellers to say anything bad about Meg and her failed ventures (like Skype) right now, so what can eBay give them to get them to maybe throw a little support behind Meg and if not that, just not say anything? Haha to transparency and level playing fields. eBay has become everything it said it wasn't and then some. The only thing keeping eBay afloat are it's payment processing services. Unless ebay is offering promises in writing, it's not worth anybody's time to sit down and listen to them unless the meeting comes with a free weekend at a resort, all expenses paid.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: voodoo

Wed Feb 11 09:09:02 2009

@lisa

@Lisa

I'm sure what you had to say was important but have you ever heard of paragraphs.

Oh headaches.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Clay

Wed Feb 11 09:23:49 2009

The sad part about this is that these meetings with a chosen few will dictate what happens to the entire selling community. We don't sell anymore on eBay but when we did I never liked the fact that eBay would take advice from a chosen few sellers and implement it on the selling masses.

I am willing to bet that several diamond sellers will be present at that meeting or any others that eBay host. Ever see the neg feedbacks that 2 of these sellers have accumulated in just over a month. Scary that it is possible sellers like these will be deciding how sellers like you are to do business in the future on eBay.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: Ebay No More

Wed Feb 11 09:42:44 2009

Yawn! Am I supposed to be intrigued? Envious? I'll take the revenue from my Amazon and website sales and let Ebay hold their clandestine meetings for the anointed ones. Carry on Ebay.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: 977019

Wed Feb 11 10:36:15 2009

Secret meeting with non-disclosure statements?

What the HEll is eBay thinking? Is there anything MORE destructive to the Ebay image from a seller’s perspective then to have a meeting and share information with only 50 of its seller?

Hey eBay---do you only want to business with these 50?

Plus, if a non-disclosure has to be signed or EVEN if it’s just a rumor -how will the rest of sellers know what is true and what is false? I see many imaginations at work, telling sellers things that aren't true, and things that are and we won't know the difference.

As a seller, this is really bad news. All ebay is doing is forcing sellers and buyers to look elsewhere. Why would a seller list with a company it can't trust?

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: horsemama

Wed Feb 11 11:15:16 2009

Contracts signed under duress are rarely if ever enforceable.

How could a seller who has employees learn anything of use at this conference without the need to disclose it to their employees? Their accountant? Their tax preparer?

Whose going to force all those people to keep their mouths shut?

Bonanzle is a lovely place. Anyone who hasn't checked it out yet, should.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: horsemama

Wed Feb 11 11:16:29 2009

Who is, not "whose"..... too early in the morning here.

eBay Rumors - Top Seller Meeting, Free Pictures

by: former media seller

Wed Feb 11 11:26:12 2009

THIS is eBay's idea of transparency?

And yeah, I'm sure that we current and former peons are going to get a lot from the invitation-only 'quality time.'

Like even higher fees, expansion of the shipping caps, a reinstitution of the links policy changes, MORE changes to stores and SIF pricing, the elimination of FVF credits when you file a UID, anonymous email system, and Paypal fee hikes.

Did I leave anything out?

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