eBay Watch: Fighting with Craigslist, Shipping News By Vangie Beal
April 23, 2008
EBay and Craigslist — off to court we go, Australian sellers irate with eBay forcing PayPal, motors boasts huge sales, new business seller requirements on international sites, free shipping gets added to Markdown Manager. Plus, an eBay affiliate program migration reminder.
eBay Fights Craigslist in Court In company news this week, eBay filed a corporate governance suit against Craigslist. Details of the complaint are sketchy at best since the complaint, which was filed yesterday in a Delaware court, is sealed. According to eBay, some of the information about Craigslist contained in the complaint is governed by confidentiality restrictions. What eBay does reveal about this lawsuit is that it is challenging recent transactions made by Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist's board of directors.
Back in 2004, after negotiating the transaction with Craigslist's board, eBay acquired a minority ownership interest of 28.4 percent. EBay's lawsuit alleges that, specifically, in January 2008, Newmark and Buckmaster adopted measures that, among other things, unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest in Craigslist by more than 10 percent.
Earlier this month, the Silicon Alley Insider reported that the 2008 estimated revenue for the free ad site was in the region of $81 million, leading some industry analysts to wonder why Craigslist would need more money. One speculation is that Craigslist might have been looking at another possible investor, while the more popular belief is that the company isn't too happy about the eBay-owned Kijiji classifieds site, which, in a matter of months, has raked in as much as 10 percent of the traffic that Craigslist sees.
eBay Australia Sellers Set to Strike While sellers in both the UK and US have been known to stir up strike plans when eBay comes down heavy-handed on operational matters, this week it is Australian sellers who are planning the move. Earlier this month, eBay announced changes to its Australian auction site that would see its subsidiary, PayPal Australia Pty Ltd., become the only payment clearing system for users on this auction site starting in mid-June.
In its message to members, eBay said that as of May 21, 2008 all sellers on eBay.com.au must offer PayPal as one of the payment methods, and starting June 18, the only acceptable payment methods for items purchased on eBay.com.au will be PayPal, Visa or MasterCard — with transactions processed by PayPal.
The discussion forums on the Australian eBay site are full of messages posted by sellers who do not agree with the new Papal-only policy. Some of the issues raised by concerned sellers include the extra fees they will have to pay to use only PayPal, as well as the fact that buyers may be turned off by a lack of payment options.
Several industry reports say that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACC) wants to require eBay to prove that there is a public benefit to the measure before moving forward with the proposed plan. The ACC Web site lists this issue under Notification - N93365 and provides information for interested parties wanting to file a submission in relation to the notification.
New Requirements for Ireland and UK Sites In other international eBay site news, the company recently announced changes on the ebay.ie (Ireland) and ebay.co.uk (UK) sites that will help ensure that business sellers on eBay meet certain legal requirements. Starting in May, business sellers on these two auction sites will have to accept returns for fixed-price items that are returned by the buyer within 14 days of receipt.
E-commerce legislations also require business sellers operating on the auction sites to clearly display their business name and geographic address on any one of the following locations: the View Item page in the Business seller section, in the About Me page, or on a custom eBay Shop page that is no more than one click from the main Shop page.
Free Shipping Sale Added to Markdown Manager Taking a cue from online sale and promotion trends, eBay says it will add a "Free Shipping" sale to Markdown Manager this week. EBay Store sellers will be able to use this sale on any listing and it can be applied to individual listings or in bulk.
Andy Feierfeil, from eBay Stores management, says that once the free shipping sale option is available and used by sellers on listings, buyers will see a "Free Shipping" icon right on the item page. EBay is also introducing a new "Free Shipping" icon that can be used by all sellers that will automatically appear when you select "standard free shipping" in your listing.
Deadline Looms for eBay Partner Network With the end of April now in sight, the eBay Partner Network is reminding all eBay affiliates to complete their migration to eBay's new in-house affiliate network by the last day of this month. Those who do make the switch are eligible to earn an extra five-percent bonus for all traffic tracked through the eBay Partner Network in April that's sent to Half.com and US, UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, India and Spain eBay sites.
For a complete overview on what the eBay Partner Network has to offer, read our most recent coverage here in "Clicking with eBay's New Affiliate Program." EBay also posted a migration guide to help Commission Junction eBay affiliates make the switch.
eBay Motors Boasts Big Sales In a testament to the success of the eBay Motors site, Rob Chesney, vice president of eBay Motors, recently revealed that a passenger vehicle sells every 56 seconds on eBay Motors and sales have surpassed the 3 million mark.
This eBay landmark sale was a 2002 Ford F-250 pickup that was purchased by Patricia Weidler of Otego, NY. Weidler says that the purchase was made to help her husband Dan start his own construction business. Ebay sweetened the deal by reimbursing the Weidlers' for the cost of the pickup, and also included $3,000 in parts and accessories.
Vangie Beal is a seasoned eBay seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and managing editor of Webopedia.com.
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