redbaron
Loading...
Symbols:
Loading...
Symbols:
Hedge Fund Jobs
Job Seekers: Search jobs by category, get job alerts by email or live feed, apply online See full list of jobs »
Employers: See all recruitment options, get applications online or by email Post a job »
Trading Center
- Free E-Newsletters
- About Seeking Alpha
- About Us
- Contact Us
- What's New
- Readers Feedback
- Advertise With Us
- Contributors
- Contribute an Article
- Feature Your Book
- Our Contributors
- Anonymous Contributions
- Dispute an Article?
- Legal
- Terms of Use
- Privacy
- Copyright
Latest Comments155 Comments
eBay's Donahoe Has Crow for Thanksgiving
Sellers are the real customers here, not buyers. Sellers are the only ones paying eBay fees. Buyers don't pay for anything except the merchandise.
Aid for the Automakers? You Decide!
To not do anything, is to risk something dark and deep, and I don't want to go there.
The Future of Ethanol
I worked in the feed industry for several decades, and if I don't understand the terminology, there must be many others in the same category.
Paypal Holds Sellers' Funds Hostage
We have been an eBay seller since the beginning, and we had some of our funds recently held as 'unclaimed' in what PayPal claimed was a 'glitch'. Dinah has it right, and it seems to me that holding these funds is close to illegal, if not outright illegal. It will likely take a court case challenge to get them to change their policies, and not many sellers will bother with that, as it is easier to just move to something else. Amazon is not the only challenge, however, as traditional bricks and mortar stores are also an option for sellers.
Ebay continues to offer nothing but dis-incentives to sellers, and it seems to me that without sellers, Ebay is going to be toast. They can import big-volume corporate sellers, but buying new commercial merchandise on eBay, is not what made them great. It was the thrill of finding something that could not be found anywhere else, that made eBay work, and John Donohue just doesn't understand that concept. Without the 'thrill of the hunt', eBay is just another big-box volume discounter.
Who comes after Donohue, is the question I think must be asked, as to continue to leave it in this guys hands is corporate suicide.
I posted here when the stock was in the mid 20's, 'Sell the stock if you own it, and short it if you don't', and that advice stands today. Donohue will not go back to the core values that made eBay work in the beginning, and that flaw will be fatal.
Archer Daniels Midland Crushes Estimates
eBay Q3: What it Means for Sellers
The problem involves a bug or software issue, within PayPal, on echeck payments to sellers accounts, and I first became aware of it on Sunday 10/26/08. Premier Account holders were incorrectly sent emails that should have been reserved for Business Account holders, which told them that they would have to claim echeck payment funds before these same funds could be credited to their account. My first such email came directly from PayPal on Sunday 10/26, and I thought it strange, so forwarded the email to PayPal Spoof to see if it was genuine. I also called PayPal, and both the email response, and the verbal communication in the phone call, told me that the email was a spoof, and that I should dis-regard it. However, that related echeck transaction in my paypal account, showed (incorrectly) that the funds were still 'unclaimed'.
To make a long story short, it is now 8 days later, and 5 more phone calls later, and I still have not received credit for those funds. I was told to go ahead and ship the item (2nd or 3rd phone call) because this was a PayPal bug; I did that, and my customer now has the merchandise, but I still do not have the funds in my account. PayPal continues to apolgize, but still no funds. Most of the PP agents I have spoken to have been very courteous, and they always apologize, but I still do not have the funds. I have been told twice that I would be granted a provisional credit to my account, and on the most recent call just this morning (call #5, 11/2), I was told that my credit was be prioritized, whatever that means. PayPal is holding millions of dollars of sellers funds, and charging us fees for these transactions, and in the process, earning huge amounts in interest off our funds.
The PayPal agents all seem to be out of this country, and it is quite obvious that this customer service function has been outsourced, likely to somewhere in India. The problem is not one of lack of courtesy, but one of no action on a very serious problem.
How would you grade Ebay on this situation, were you an eBay seller? This is how eBay deals with sellers in this current enviornment, and it is clearly why eBay is losing sellers at such a fast rate. As an investor, you need to be more aware of situations like this, as it will ultimately affect your holdings. Taking over a week to solve such a problem, is just not acceptable, when a credit could have been granted with one phone call. This is not an isolated problem, and the eBay power sellers boards are full of complaints on this issue. Clearly, millions of dollars are being held by PayPal, currently, due to this issue, and all we have to show for the problem is courtesy and apologies. At some point, that just is not enough.
eBay Buyer Incentives Are Not a Good Bargain
Has anyone else noticed how few buyers are bothering to post feedback, now that only they can post negatives (and sellers only positives). My total feedbacks posted, as a percentage of total items sold, is now about 1/2-1/3 of what it was previously; for instance, only about 20-30 per month, where before it was 60-90 per month. Buyers just aren't bothering to post FB any more. Those changes killed FB, IMHO. Previously, feedback had some problems, and it was some times used improperly, but it did work. Now, it just doesn't work at all, and is totally meaningless.
Chart of the Day: Various Stages of a Bear Market
Nine Energy Storage Stocks for the Recession
Whither Canada's Tar Sands?
Ethanol projects were canceled here in the midwest, in the last year, due to not being able to contract for enough natural gas, and those projects were in the middle of a corn field, right on the Mississippi River, where corn was readily available, and transportation in the form or barge and rails, right on-site.
It takes huge amounts of energy, mostly in the form of natural gas to distill off ethanol.
Was 'Peak Oil' a Multi-Billion Dollar Hoax?
Have we learned nothing, with the events of the last year? 'Apparently not.'
No Christmas for eBay Sellers
They had it all! They drove all the small shops out of business, and it resulted in even large antique malls being closed all over the country. We could have continued selling there for a long time, but no.....they had to change it again with new ideas and inovations. You used to be able to drive across the country and find small shops all over to stop and shop. That is no longer the case, and eBay is largely the reason.
I would have stayed to sell, if they had just left it alone and stopped 'fixing problems' that didn't need to be fixed, but why pay someone to list your stuff, if the search tools don't allow buyers to find it?
I've found an antique mall, and am going to try that again. At least customers can see your stuff, and find it if they are looking for it.
All I want for Christmas, is a new eBay CEO!
eBay in the Basement - But Not for Long
Now I am going to ask you, in this current environment, 1) what sort of a PE do you put on this half of eBay that is showing this growth?, and what sort of a PE do you put on the other half, the half that is the traditional auction based business that is showing negative growth? And third, can one average those two PE numbers and use that for a rational price basis?
I'll await your response, as I see that glass as half empty.
eBay: Bottom Is a Few Months Away
eBay: A glimmer of Hope for Feedback
Not so in all cases. If the seller uses a different tool for printing the label than PayPal, or hand writes the label, how will eBay know when the item ships? Ebay would have no record of the Priority DC (or UPS label), so would have no way to know when shipped, as far as I can see. Your assumption may apply in some cases, but not all. IMHO
I admire your efforts, Scott, but until eBay cares enough about sellers to do some of these things on it's own, things will not change, IMHO. They created this mess, and now it's either fix it, or forget it.