Ebay/Paypay's monopoly - how can we complain?

Clare99

I've been ebaying for years, but as a seller I'm really fed up with all the changes that have been made recently and Ebay's monopoly over online auctions.

Does anyone know if/how we can complain about Ebay's monopoly over online auctions in the UK? - There are no viable alternative auction companies to use instead, so they seem to be able to do and charge whatever they like, which is bad for consumers.

And surely the new regulations that sellers must offer payment by paypal is anti-competitive because ebay owns paypal? Why can't sellers use alternative online payments companies?

StaffsSW

eBay is not a monopoly as it is entirely voluntary whether users decide to buy or sell through it, and have the choice to try other avenues.

Just because nobody can compete with the scale, does not make it a monopoly.

Likewise with Paypal, it has to be offered, but buyers still have the choice whether to use it or not. Selling on Amazon requires you to receive payments via their own payment portal, with no alternatives at all, likewise with Playtrade using Playfunds as the sole merchant service.

As it happens, there are two very lengthy threads on the eBay PS boards about a submission request for the OFT to investigate eBay's operating practices. http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1100173422 & http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1100177011 , but any outcome, if they do indeed investigate, is a long way off.

RFW

Ebay is so many things but has a monopoly of none.

As an online marketplace it is one among many.

As an auction 'house' it is one amongst thousands in the UK alone.

As an online auction site it is one amongst several.

As a place for people to sell goods it is one amongst a myriad of other places to sell, online and off.

People want to use Ebay because it is good, good things cost money.

I personally think Bentley have a monopoly of the prestige car market and should reduce their prices so I can afford to buy one, until then I'll have to make do with my Vauxhall;)

ANGSTDATA

you could " nuke " the site - open an a throwaway Ebay account and bid £10000 or similar on as many items as you can during the course of a day - invite friends round and make a party of it - doing 30 mins each of ridiculas bids ( oh my spelling )

StaffsSW

ANGSTDATA wrote: »

you could " nuke " the site - open an a throwaway Ebay account and bid £10000 or similar on as many items as you can during the course of a day - invite friends round and make a party of it - doing 30 mins each of ridiculas bids ( oh my spelling )

Which does little to impact eBay themsleves, but instead riles the thousands of genuine sellers who then have to mop up chasing unpaid items and final value fees, then relisting at their own cost, and to eBay's joy as more revenue comes in for them.

Good plan... :rolleyes:

ANGSTDATA

not if it was done on a regular basis - everyone -buyers and sellers alike would lose faith in it and not bother with it anymore -it would bring it down and disable it ( smug smiley face goes here )

baby_fuzz

vote with your feet! (virtual ones anyway!) there are other sites out there - just move to one of them!

wigglebeena

(to the tune of Roll Out the Barrel)
I'm off to Ebid,
Ebid's a whole lot of fun
I'm leee-ving Ebay
Let's get Ebay on the run...


Oh, sorry, turned into Dad's Army there. Who do you think you are kidding Mr Donahoe?

Premier_2

Clare99 wrote: »

I've been ebaying for years, but as a seller I'm really fed up with all the changes that have been made recently and Ebay's monopoly over online auctions.

Does anyone know if/how we can complain about Ebay's monopoly over online auctions in the UK? - There are no viable alternative auction companies to use instead, so they seem to be able to do and charge whatever they like, which is bad for consumers.

And surely the new regulations that sellers must offer payment by paypal is anti-competitive because ebay owns paypal? Why can't sellers use alternative online payments companies?

Feel free to set up your own site in direct competion to ebay and you can make up your own rules to.

I'm sure you'll have lots of users based on the numerous posts in a similar vain made on this site alone.

Brooker_Dave

RFW wrote: »

People want to use Ebay because it is good

LOL!............

soolin

I think it more likely that people will give up entirely. I've been with ebid for 3 years with absolutely no success and I've recently tried Tazbar again with no success. For both those sites as tried selling items that were fast and good sellers on ebay.

My decision has been to actually give up several lines of stock and actually settle back down to a few smaller areas on ebay and basically just tick over on around 50 or so items a month. Then with the free time I now have I found an off line job to replace my lost ebay income.

Several other sellers I know have given up on online sales entirely, one of them was a powerseller with several hundred pounds of turnover a month and took an extra few hours at work. We have others on here who have started their own web shops, but again have not migrated to other online auction stores.