Time to say goodbye forever?

I remember when Ebay used to be that friendly neighbor down the block with the huge yard that would let you rent some space for more exposure during his weekly sale. Compared to your little teeny yard, Ebay's yard gave you the opportunity to create a large, loyal customer base, all at a nice, inexpensive price. Sure, you'd give him a few bucks for the favor afterward, but since it wasn't much and you appreciated it, you didn't mind. That was the Ebay so many of us USED to love. To me as a seller AND a buyer, Ebay has become, dare I say it, not only overwhelming, but quite annoying as well. This once friendly, community-centered neighbor has turned into a big, stingy, profit-hungry, constantly-changing bully down the block.

The site is not at all what it used to be, and it's so sad. Thousands of past loyal ebay sellers are devastated by the changes that have occurred with their once favorite place to sell online. I am one of these sellers. The changes can be directly linked, apparently, to the new CEO of Ebay, John Donahoe, and as far as I can see from research, not many people are very happy with his decisions regarding the company. Just take a look at this online petition.


I occasionally still sell on Ebay but not at all very often and no longer in auction format. Because eBay is changing so much, auction format is slowly losing it's popularity, and initially that was the reason why Ebay was so fun in the first place. Remember those days? Due to the suffocating amount of new information and changes to nearly every aspect of the site, literally happening EVERY SINGLE WEEK it seems, I started thinking, "there has got to be some other venue out there that is going to keep it simple and not take so much of what I make." Within a few weeks, and I'll repeat this as how I tweeted it to a friend, I started cheating on my boyfriend EBAY and found myself falling in love with that sweet, simple fellow down the block called, ETSY. :) My friend had tweeted back regarding Ebay, "LOL Run away he is an abuser, takes ur money w/o a thank you, cuddles w/ the Big Box shops....Etsy will treat you right! ;D" I couldn't have said it better, and I certainly got a chuckle out of this one!

I feel myself slowly wanting to ween myself completely off of Ebay, but it is hard after having a 6 year relationship... However, I'm getting more and more comfortable with my new online shop and I think eventually I will completely part ways with Ebay. I would love to hear stories of others who have been in this same boat, so please feel free to comment on this post or email me. I would love to hear how it has gone with you!

Additionally, here are some sites I found that gave some helpful information about the current state of Ebay, and support on how to deal.

Power sellers unite!

Finding Ebay Alternatives


Articles regarding the Quarterly Sales Drop Beginning in 2009:
Article 1
Article 2

We small operation sellers who started long ago will never forget the days when we could leave honest feedback to buyers, those days without BEST MATCH, and DSRs. The days when it was nice to make a decent living doing what you loved without paying half of it back in fees. . . I'm not so sure we'll ever see those days again with Ebay, but I hope we find a better alternative so we can continue doing what we are passionate about. Best of luck to all my fellow vintage sellers, old Ebay friends, and otherwise!