Filed under: Consumer experience, eBay (EBAY)

When changes happen at eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), it’s usually sellers who become angry at, well, anything. From fee changes to feedback changes to anything that affects their business, eBay sellers can be a finicky lot. And, that discontent doesn’t stew — that “vocal majority” definitely lets those opinions be heard.

Again, many eBay sellers are becoming hostile in the wake of recent selling fee changes implemented just as new CEO John Donahoe steps into his role. Donahoe surprised sellers when he cut some seller fees, but then raised others. While Donahoe argued that the deletion of “flat fees” for sold items with a “minimal fee” will lower the risk to eBay sellers, many disputed this argument, and some even threatened to “strike.” Seeing as though eBay sellers aren’t employees, that made me laugh a little. “Taking a week off” would be more appropriate, but you get the picture.

But, if some angry sellers do “strike” for a week, eBay’s coffers will notice the revenue difference. This is a prime opportunity for a company like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to really punch up its auction business and really begin to recruit former eBay sellers to an alternative auction platform in the wake of so many disappointments in the last 18 months. That, or just go ahead and buy eBay already.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Stocks Money News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.