Blogger Brewer-Hay to eBay’s rescue?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how eBay’s small sellers are angry and frustrated by recent fee changes initiated by new CEO John Donahoe that favour the power sellers. I predicted that a revolution seemed imminent. eBay seems to agree with me, going by their recent decision to set up a blog written by blogger Richard Brewer-Hay, designed to repair the damaged relationship between eBay and its users, recently crystallized by the seller’s strike. Brewer-Hay was recruited due to his experience in social media and involvement in new media company Podshow.

Although Brewer-Hay denies that the blog was set up in response to the seller’s strike, I remain unconvinced. Faced with the prospect of a planned exodus of sellers, I believe eBay Ink represents an attempt at damage control. However, if it is indeed true that the blog is intended to enhance communications with users, does give one hope that eBay is not beyond redemption.

Some issues to consider:

1. Will the content of eBay Ink truly be unfiltered? Given that Brewer-Hay was hired by eBay to blog about eBay, will he report the truth even when it reflects negatively on the company? Will Brewer-Hay ever do a Robert Scoble and say that “eBay sucks”? Will eBay allow it?
2. Will users be able to relate to Brewer-Hay since he has admitted that he is not a seller on eBay? Will users consider him a “person like me”? Does this undermine his credibility as the official eBay blogger? See this excerpt from the interview with Fortune Small Business:

FSB: Based on your experience with the company these past two months or so, what do you think about our readers’ claims that eBay does not listen to small sellers?

RBH: I don’t get that sense. I just don’t think they’ve had a real place to talk directly with the company. Sure, there’s the Chatter blog, and the community can talk, but this is first time they will have the opportunity to talk directly to us. I’ve read things out there in the blogosphere. They are one-way dialogues right now, and I’m looking forward to making them two-way conversations.

More importantly, will people start to trust eBay/feebay again? Or will this be an exercise of futility? If the response at AuctionByte is anything to go by, it appears that Brewer-Hay has his work cut out for him.

eBay, don’t bite the hands that feed you.

I’m a bit slow on the uptake, but I’ve only just got wind of the recently ended eBay seller’s strike.

Personally, I think that the emphasis on the strike having had minimal impact is rather irrelevant. eBay seems to have lost the plot somewhere. WebProNews writes:

We think they may see the protesting sellers as a less-profitable nuisance eBay would not mind seeing depart, especially if they plan to be more friendly to higher volume sellers.

Here’s what some people are saying about the company (taken from Youtube):

“Boycott greedbay - Feb 18 - Forever!”

“eBay is Big Brother”

“..they don’t seem appreciative of their customer”

“eBay is the biggest screw job on the planet lately”

“It’s about time people see FeeBay as what they really are”

“FIRE DONAHOE!”

Some might argue that these protesters are by and large made up of small sellers, and as such won’t affect eBay’s bottomline (at the end of the strike, 3rd party statistics indicated that eBay’s listings were down 13% to 13 million items, although eBay has denied the dip)

Although eBay seems unfazed by the strike, here’s why I think it should care:

1) It is not the first strike against eBay, but it has been the biggest, mostly thanks to the use of social media like youtube, myspace, Delphi Forums (about 1300 messages posted) and Facebook (although the Facebook group was considerably less successful).

Can eBay afford to have another, bigger strike? Already protesters appear to be continuing the strike till March 9th. Josh Catone at ReadWriteWeb thinks that the power of social networks cannot be underestimated. Can eBay afford to ignore the power of the people?

2) Ignoring the long tail is just not a smart strategy, especially when the success of your business depends on it. Sure, these strikers may be small, but what happens if (and when) they all jump ship? Isn’t it much smarter to make these individual, small sellers happy and keep them as customers? And when eBay’s latest policy changes seem to favour its powersellers, doesn’t it necessarily mean that buyers’ needs are ignored as well? There’s an imbalance in the equation somewhere, and I doubt even a mega corporation like eBay can sustain such an imbalance.

3) eBay competitors (such as Amazon) only stand to gain as unhappy customers look out for better alternatives, and in some cases disgruntled sellers and buyers are considering striking out on their own.

What does eBay think about this? According to this USAToday report, eBay does not plan to alter or revise the unpopular policies, nor does it seem willing to address the concerns of protesters.

In this Web 2.0 age, this kind of response just won’t cut it anymore. No company has immunity from the collective voice of the people anymore. Judging from the comments that I cited above, I do believe that eBay has lost the people’s trust.

Valerie Lennert, unofficial spokesperson for the strike has this to say (taken from Fortune Small Business):

“There are a lot of people who are really upset, and if we choose to go somewhere else as a group, there won’t be an eBay anymore. We don’t think eBay understands that. They think they’re invincible, and they don’t seem to listen to what we need. Even if listings don’t go down, we’re reached the main goal: to let them know how upset we are. I’m pretty sure they know that at this point.”

This might just be the start of a revolution.