I am a long time seller on E-bay. I have had an anchor store in the stamp category for the past 5 years, and for nearly three of those years I have operated my business full time. Like nearly every seller who signs up with E-bay, I thought that the possibilities were endless. I have come to discover, though like most sellers that far from having endless possibilities, most of us struggle to operate within a system that makes it impossible for us to grow and succeed, all while bilking us for more and more money.
Online forums are replete with thousands, if not tens of thousands of stories from angry sellers who feel frustrated, duped, cheated and betrayed. They cannot understand why a company like E-bay would treat its true customers this way.
The problem with all this is nothing gets done about it. E-bay's business practices are indeed both unethical and illegal, because they are stifling competition in the marketplace and interfering with the natural workings of the capitalist markets. The law has simply not kept up with the advent of the internet. But even this being the case, they are still in violation of the clearly expressed spirit of the competition laws in Canada, and I suspect the anti-combines legislation in the US. There just isn't anybody yet who has been able to gather enough evidence and show the appropriate regulatory bodies that the laws have been violated.
Their business practices are not a fluke. The things that are happening are not "glitches" or unintended consequences of policy changes. They are part and parcel of a long-term market domination strategy that has been in place for a very long time. E-bay's highest executives are fully aware of what they are doing and therefore they are involved in a criminal conspiracy.
So the purpose of this blog is threefold:
1. To help sellers understand the ways in which they have been defrauded by e-bay and to help them understand what kind of evidence needs to be gathered to hold E-bay accountable once and for all. This is serious stuff: violations of the competition laws in Canada can carry fines of 25 million per violation and prison terms of up to 14 years. Suing E-bay and otherwise trying to hold them accountable through the legal system is a non-starter, and has never been successful. The key to holding them accountable is to have them investigated and charged with breaking the law. This will require patience and a methodical gathering of the evidence, which is everywhere.
2. To help buyers understand how their privacy rights are being violated and how E-bay's market domination will ultimately limit their choices as consumers, in the long run. It will also show how you can continue to shop on E-bay, but do so in a manner that frustrates E-bay's attempts to dominate and control the market.
3. To help sellers break free of E-bay's control once and for all and become the free and independent business people that they had always intended to be.
My first posts on this blog may not appear for the next few weeks and may be sporadic, as I myself am in the process of trying to get my own website finished so that I can leave E-bay. However, my first one will address the first question on every reader's mind: who do I think I am? and why should anyone care what I think? I am fairly confident that once I explain my background, how I became an e-bay seller and what is at stake for all of us, that most of you will see that I am not some nutjob, but rather a well educated, intelligent man who is concerned about what is happening, and wants to help make a difference.
It is my hope that eventually readers will come forward and share stories of how E-bay's anti-competitive practices have harmed them. I hope to gather as much evidence as I can, which will become the basis of formal complaints that I will file with the appropriate regulatory bodies in Canada and the US.
Thanks for reading and welcome.
A quick disclaimer: the conclusions expressed in my blog are my informed OPINION, as someone who has dealt with E-bay on a daily basis for the past 3 years of the 10 years that I have been dealing with them. The question of their ultimate guilt is up to the governments to decide and so what I say here should be interpreted in that light. I am also not attempting to harm the E-bay brand. I am simply attempting to relay my experience, find some common ground with other sellers and hopefully set in motion a chain of events that will result in the leadership team at E-bay being held accountable.
Online forums are replete with thousands, if not tens of thousands of stories from angry sellers who feel frustrated, duped, cheated and betrayed. They cannot understand why a company like E-bay would treat its true customers this way.
The problem with all this is nothing gets done about it. E-bay's business practices are indeed both unethical and illegal, because they are stifling competition in the marketplace and interfering with the natural workings of the capitalist markets. The law has simply not kept up with the advent of the internet. But even this being the case, they are still in violation of the clearly expressed spirit of the competition laws in Canada, and I suspect the anti-combines legislation in the US. There just isn't anybody yet who has been able to gather enough evidence and show the appropriate regulatory bodies that the laws have been violated.
Their business practices are not a fluke. The things that are happening are not "glitches" or unintended consequences of policy changes. They are part and parcel of a long-term market domination strategy that has been in place for a very long time. E-bay's highest executives are fully aware of what they are doing and therefore they are involved in a criminal conspiracy.
So the purpose of this blog is threefold:
1. To help sellers understand the ways in which they have been defrauded by e-bay and to help them understand what kind of evidence needs to be gathered to hold E-bay accountable once and for all. This is serious stuff: violations of the competition laws in Canada can carry fines of 25 million per violation and prison terms of up to 14 years. Suing E-bay and otherwise trying to hold them accountable through the legal system is a non-starter, and has never been successful. The key to holding them accountable is to have them investigated and charged with breaking the law. This will require patience and a methodical gathering of the evidence, which is everywhere.
2. To help buyers understand how their privacy rights are being violated and how E-bay's market domination will ultimately limit their choices as consumers, in the long run. It will also show how you can continue to shop on E-bay, but do so in a manner that frustrates E-bay's attempts to dominate and control the market.
3. To help sellers break free of E-bay's control once and for all and become the free and independent business people that they had always intended to be.
My first posts on this blog may not appear for the next few weeks and may be sporadic, as I myself am in the process of trying to get my own website finished so that I can leave E-bay. However, my first one will address the first question on every reader's mind: who do I think I am? and why should anyone care what I think? I am fairly confident that once I explain my background, how I became an e-bay seller and what is at stake for all of us, that most of you will see that I am not some nutjob, but rather a well educated, intelligent man who is concerned about what is happening, and wants to help make a difference.
It is my hope that eventually readers will come forward and share stories of how E-bay's anti-competitive practices have harmed them. I hope to gather as much evidence as I can, which will become the basis of formal complaints that I will file with the appropriate regulatory bodies in Canada and the US.
Thanks for reading and welcome.
A quick disclaimer: the conclusions expressed in my blog are my informed OPINION, as someone who has dealt with E-bay on a daily basis for the past 3 years of the 10 years that I have been dealing with them. The question of their ultimate guilt is up to the governments to decide and so what I say here should be interpreted in that light. I am also not attempting to harm the E-bay brand. I am simply attempting to relay my experience, find some common ground with other sellers and hopefully set in motion a chain of events that will result in the leadership team at E-bay being held accountable.
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