Apparently, eBay’s policy changes are having desirable effects, despite the massive public outcry the company received. While the company cut its listing fees, it more than made up for it by significantly raising its commissions on successful sales, particularly on low-priced items such as video games and CDs. The higher rates along with the elimination of negative seller feedback to the buyer created outcry among many loyal eBay sellers.

Some sellers tried to boycott eBay. Initial metrics seemed to show the boycott to be working — listings were decreasing and sales were down, by most official counts, although eBay insisted they weren’t.

However eBay soon rebounded and resumed largely business as usual, despite having lost a few loyal sellers. As DailyTech’s Shane McGlaun wrote in a blog, sellers really had few choices — Amazon.com only allows resale of select items such as CDs or books, and Craigslist.com is avoided by many, due to its unseemly reputation as a hotbed for illegal activity. Most sellers were stuck with eBay, whether they loved it or hated it.

On Wednesday, eBay CEO John Donahoe announced a stronger than expected earnings report, with the company reporting $2.19B USD in revenue, a 24 percent increase over Q1 2007. The performance significantly beat analyst expectations. Net income also rose 22 percent to $562M USD.

Source: DailyTech

Tags: , , ,