eBay Buyer and Seller Strike February 18-25th, 2008

If you're signing this petition after the initial boycott Feb. 18-25th, please state in the Comments section when/how long you will be boycotting eBay. 

On January 29, 2008, eBay Inc. announced a set of sweeping policy and fee changes that would negatively affect large numbers of sellers and buyers. Chief among these changes are increased final value fees, the dismantling of a mutual feedback system, and undefined Paypal hold periods.

The final value fee of the first $25 of any purchase has increased from 5.25% to 8.75%. The final value fee of eBay store items has increased from 10% to 12%. While eBay has reduced the insertion fees, the savings is wiped out by a disproportionately higher final value fee. We believe this change will hurt all sellers and hinder their ability to be competitive in the marketplace.

In May 2008, the mutual feedback system will be drastically altered. Buyers will continue to be able to leave positive or negative feedback on transactions; sellers will be restricted to leaving only positive feedback for their buyers, regardless of the outcome of the transaction. The role of feedback has consistently been to protect buyers and sellers. We do not believe this will protect sellers. We believe this new policy will increase fraud and feedback extortion on eBay. It will increase non-paying bidders and lead to an overall unwarranted increase in negative feedback for sellers, which will in turn make more buyers reticent about buying on eBay.

Starting February 20, 2008, if eBay has a reason to think that a transaction might result in the buyer being unsatisfied, Paypal will withhold the transaction funds from the seller for 21 days. The criteria for determining which transactions will end in buyer dissatisfaction has not been clearly defined. Sellers have no way of knowing if their transactions will fall into that category.

Sellers have been the cornerstone of eBay since it was founded 13 years ago. We feel that eBay is taking advantage of us. These newest changes have proven to us that we are not a prime concern to eBay and we have no reason to believe that we will be in the future.

We, the sellers and buyers of eBay, agree to refrain from buying and selling on eBay the week of February 18-25th, 2008.

Please contact your local news stations about these changes and the ongoing resistance from eBay users. And take a minute to explore the other auction and classifieds sites that are out there. Consider boycotting eBay longer than one week if possible.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world . Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead