I have adopted eBay critic Patricia Maurino’s apt term “Dead Man Walking” because, regrettably, I suspect that that is now the reality of the matter.
The shame of it is that eBay’s management simply does not listen to their customer base. The auction system, which is what I believe eBay is all about, is broken (always has been, actually), and many actions taken by eBay in recent years have only made it worse—criminally so, I believe, in the case of their deliberate facilitating of sophisticated shill bidding fraud on buyers—and more particularly so in the UK.
Regrettably, in the publicly listed “for profit” world, managing executives are only interested in themselves in the short term (and it appears eBay’s directors must be only likewise motivated). Only the fact that their remuneration is usually based upon the perceived profit of the organisation causes them to consider their customer base at all. All those millions of customers appear to be little more than some sort of irritation to the people in control of eBay.
Whether the original eBay business model was faltering or not I cannot say but it is clear that the fools in control of eBay had some idea that they could effectively ignore the existing customer base and, using eBay’s phenomenal brand recognition, convert eBay into another business model that they reckoned would be even more profitable for them—not simply add a new model, but eventually replace the existing model, apparently.
Well, the result of that policy is this slow ongoing slide into the abyss—or has no one noticed? That slide is not being caused by me or any other of the ever-growing tsunami chorus of eBay critics—we are simply onlookers forced to watch this slow motion train wreck event in real time. It is caused by the “old” buyers and sellers leaving eBay and the resulting revenue loss is not being compensated for by Donahoe’s “new” model. And even if the continuing reductions in revenue were the only effect, the lot of the remaining small sellers has been severely damaged by eBay’s actions which have caused a reduction in the number of buyers.
You have to get it into your head that this incompetent eBay management could not care less about eBay buyers or sellers; all they are interested in is themselves; they are apparently not smart enough to understand that their welfare depends of the welfare of their buyers and sellers. They apparently believed that the eBay brand would carry the day, no matter what they decided to do. Obviously, they were mistaken.
I think that we can safely predict that this slide is not going to be slowed (let alone stopped completely) until the existing management is removed and new policies, to rebuild eBay as it used to be, are put into place. I am not even sure that a reversal of course can effectively resuscitate eBay now—much damage has been done. Regardless, I suspect there is a lot more heartache ahead for both eBay sellers and stockholders alike.
I for one will not stop criticizing eBay until they stop their
deliberate facilitating of shill bidding fraud on buyers. eBay (aka “the eBafia”) is an amoral, unethical, disingenuous, unscrupulous, criminal organisation. How can such an organisation possibly continue to thrive? Of course it cannot. Even the real Mafia eventually met its match.
If you want a laugh or a cry (whatever moves you), have a look at this latest video interview of this arrogant, clumsy, inarticulate, flip-flopping, buffoon, Donahoe (the hand language tells it all) at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgmBYHOvb8Q&feature=player_embeddedHow this buffoon ever got to be CEO of a listed public company is incomprehensible to me. He is undoubtedly going to go down in US corporate history as the man who really did “kill the golden goose”.
20 January (21 our date) will undoubtedly see the announcement of a further quarterly reduction (YoY) in eBay revenues and profits. My only interest is in watching the pathetic song and dance routine that the ever-spinning, giddy, Donahoe will attempt to put on this ongoing “disaster of his own making”.
Regrettably, if you are a small seller relying wholly on eBay for your livelihood then you have a problem that I suspect is only going to get worse.
