I received an interesting email last night from an eBay PowerSeller which brought up a very interesting point, one which I must admit I had not thought of.

As I have reported previously, there seems to be a rising number of sellers on the eBay site putting their support behind a boycott or strike if you will, protesting the changes eBay announced 2 weeks ago at their Ecommerce Forum. Memebers have been posting their concerns and displeasure regarding these changes on the eBay discussion boards and many other blogs and forums.

The PowerSeller that wrote me pointed out (I did not see the connection myself) that the 20 cent listing fee day comes at a time when 7 day listings on the eBay site will end smack dab in the middle of the proposed boycott period. The supporters of the strike/boycott are suggesting that sellers do not list items for sale between February 18-25, 2008. (See my earlier blog regarding my feelings on a strike or boycott). Couple this with the announced further fee reductions in the Books, Music, Movies and Video Game software categories (These categories are some of if not the LARGEST on eBay) and it appears clear there is concern at eBay that the changes are not going over very well at all. 

This carrot dangled in front of sellers will enable eBay to say, "Look, we had great numbers during the week of the boycott".

Certainly this may just be a coincidence (NOT!). eBay rarely does anything by coincidence. Is eBay concerned about the threat of a strike or boycott? According to John Donahoe in an interview with Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com, the complaints of eBay users are "noise". But are they really concerned? In my opinion yes. Will the strike significantly effect the bottom line? Probably not, there will be enough sellers that continue to list and sell on the site to take up the slack of those participating in the boycott. Will a strike or boycott bring attention to the news media about the concerns of users? I think it will. Will Wall Street be watching this? You bet your bippy they will! So will the other marketing venues.

There are petitions being circulated on line regarding the changes, and sites like PowerSellersUnite.com that hope to show eBay the solidarity sellers have. Even though I personally do not feel that striking is the way to express our concerns, certainly those that do support this action are vocal and determined.

Let us know what you think! Post a comment, join our Discussion Forum, and listen to us live on the internet every Saturday from 10 AM to Noon ET at www.basicstobusiness.com. I look forward to hearing what you have to say!