by Tim Knox
Copyright © 2010
Last week I told you that eBay had decided to ban the sale of digital downloads via its traditional auction system.
This means that digital media sellers will have to deliver their goods via CDs or DVDs, or post them for sale on the eBay Classified system.
This week I'm hearing from lots of folks who have tried to post sales to the eBay Classifieds only to be denied the privilege of doing so or having the ad cancelled by eBay for policy violations that no one - not even eBay staffers - seem to understand.
Once again eBay has everyone confused and upset. Same stuff, different day.
eBay claims to have made this change to curtail the high volume of what it calls "feedback manipulation" on the part of digital download sellers.
Feedback manipulation refers to buying or selling lots of cheap items (like .99 cent ebooks) in order to quickly drive up one's feedback rating.
I'm not sure why this is a problem with eBay if each transaction is legitimate and not someone shill bidding their own products.
Wasn't eBay built on the concept of a free market where buyers and sellers transact business quickly and inexpensively?
Many of the eBay experts that I have spoken to think that eBay just doesn't make enough money off the sale of cheap items and forcing them over to Classifieds will put more money in eBay's pocket.
I can't entirely disagree with that opinion. eBay has always been about adding to the bottomline, quite often at the expense of the very people who helped them build the company one auction at a time.
To be perfectly honest I have no idea what eBay is thinking at this point. It hasn't been that long since eBay gave its blessings to the sale of digital downloads and now this reversal has everyone wondering what eBay is thinking.
Here's the real bottomline, folks. eBay is an arbitrary monopoly.
They can do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want and it doesn't seem to matter whether you're a first time seller or a platinum Powerseller. You're always at the mercy of eBay whims.
I've seen first timer sellers chased off eBay as if they had the plague and million dollar Powersellers shut down for violating an eBay policy that could be interpretted in a variety of ways.
It doesn't matter if you feel that you've done nothing wrong; eBay's word is law. You are given no platform for argument and have no recourse once their decision is final, period. Policy is policy, even when policy makes no sense.
And that's one of the things that bugs me about trying to build a business on eBay.
Their policies change with the wind and are about as clear as mud.
And quite often - if you're lucky enough to get an eBay staffer on the phone or engage a human by email, eBay's staff doesn't even know how to interpret the rules they say you are violating.
They read the policy to you verbatim and when you ask them what the heck it means they'll say something to the effect of, "Sir, I don't have to understand the policies, I just read them off to people who call."
It's a heckuva way to run a business, but when you're the 900 pound gorilla you can do whatever you want, even if it makes no sense to the rest of the world.
I personally think if people were happy buying .99 ebooks and the sellers were doing nothing wrong, eBay had no reason to change the policy, but reason and logic are rarely reflected in eBay's decision making process.
That said, I'm still a big proponent of eBay (even though they are making it very difficult to be a fan these days) and believe there are fortunes to be made there if you can learn to navigate the waters.
I'm hoping that eBay will get its head out of its backside soon and make it easier for you to use the Classifieds - or at least clarify the rules so we know what is and is not allowed.
For now, if you are attempting to sell digital downloads via eBay Classifieds be aware that you're shooting craps.
And don't be surprised if you lose.
The only thing you can do at this point is to arm yourself with knowledge. Here's the link to the eBay Classified FAQ.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/f-ad.html
Good luck.
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