Derek Lam Prostitutes Himself For Ebay

DAHLINGS -

Ebay has been desperately searching for a way to salvage its diminished reputation. From being known as "America's flea market" to "America's junk dump" has taken years of hard work. To earn a reputation as bad as Ebay's is now, requires devotion.

Devotion to letting Chinese sellers rip off Ebay customers with fake designer merchandise. Devotion to shutting down the small sellers that made Ebay so popular when it began. Devotion to progressly stripping sellers of their rights, including the inability to realistically be rated by buyers, unable to leave feedback about bad buyers, unable to respond to unrealistic expectations by buyers. Unless it's Express Mail, no package can be counted on to be reliably delivered within two days of payment.

Devotion to further undermining the smaller sellers by running ads by large companies for similar merchandise on the same pages as the listings. By making the search engine virtually impossible to use. By giving preferential treatment to sellers who list in the thousands rather than the dozens.

Devotion to letting Paypal, its subsidiary, arbitrarily withhold the sellers' money under a series of rules that grow increasing more Byzantine by the year. Which included banning cash and money orders and setting up as competition payment systems that both cost more and were harder to use.

Despite a phony claim to being "just a venue," Ebay treated the sellers, its CUSTOMERS, as if they had no right to be there. Ebay started as a democracy and gradually became a dictatorship, first under the leadership of the vicious Meg Whitman, and later under the unconscionable rule of John Donahoe.

As an Ebay seller from 2002 until 2010, I am in a position to know all too well what I am writing about. A major problem is that no venue has been able to compete for Ebay's visibility in the larger marketplace. For years sellers have hoped that Google would set up a competing site. But that apparently is not in the cards.

And now, major designers are selling their collections on Ebay. This is a foul thing to do. Derek Lam is merely the latest designer to spread his legs for Ebay.

His collection will be "voted on" in the same way that American Idol votes on its contestants. Previous prostitutes for Ebay have been Norma Kamali and Narciso Rodriguez.

http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/10/derek_lam_is_launching_a_colle.html

If you want to bring "affordable fashion" to Americans, sell your collections at Target, which has the honesty to call itself a commercial retailer.

Shame on you, Ebay, for helping to further destroy what was once a viable source of income for so many ordinary Americans. All the while baying that you believe that "people are essentially good."

People, perhaps, but certainly not your management.

Ebay is a disgrace to the values you pretend to promote, and you are a disgrace to America.

Ciao,

Elisa & Bucky the Wonderdog

Ebay News From All Over...Meg Makes Out

DAHLINGS -

First of all, congratulations to former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman for cashing in her Ebay stock before the new feedback changes were implemented this past Monday. According to my sources, she made a $6 million dollar profit:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080519/ebay_insider_transactions.html?.v=1

This is in direct proportion to the money that will be lost by sellers on Ebay as their feedback numbers and percentages drop. New changes too dreary to go into detail about mean that companies such as Buy.com can list on Ebay in unlimited quantities alongside the smaller sellers. Many Powersellers have seen their 100% feedback badly dented by the new changes. Yours truly must confess that my percentage dropped from 99.6 to 99.3 because of 1 negative received in the last twelve months.

However, yours truly is fighting the good fight. Ending in two days, this exquisite peach crepe 30s/40s "cusper" glamour girl gown, XXL (it is not sheer, the effect is due to the camera flash):



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230252651159

And I shall be listing quite a bit of smaller-size vintage wholesale lots on Ebay in the next few days, so keep an eye out!

Sellers will also no longer be allowed to have outside links on their "About Me" pages, including links to their own stores. However, so many sellers are leaving in droves, that change may not mean much in coming months.

Meanwhile, browse at my Specialist Auctions shop, for some lovely vintage jewelry:



And so much more!

Ciao,
Elisa & Bucky the Wonderdog

Has Ebay Finally Gone Too Far?

DAHLINGS –

This past week has been simply filled with drama! And not the sham reality show kind, either. Real, gripping, human drama…at least if you happen to sell on (ugh) Ebay.

Let me see if I can explain this in layperson’s language. It is so terribly complicated, even your faithful correspondent cannot understand it all.

You see, first Meg Whitman, head of Ebay, stepped down, and in her place came a gentleman I can assure you knows nothing about buying and selling on the Internet (or anywhere else, for that matter). I name no names; that is for Fortune and CNN to do.

This week, the-powers-that-be introduced “fee reductions” that turned out to be Orwellian fee INCREASES! That is, you would pay less up front to list your item, but suddenly the fee extracted from the sale would rocket upwards. And some of the fees that are refunded upon selling your item are no longer refundable.

But what turned most sellers’s hair white overnight was the announcement of an outrageous, unbelievable change to one of the fundamental principles of Ebay: the feedback system.

If you have ever used Ebay at all (and who at some time hasn’t decided to buy a used Gameboy?) then you know that sellers and buyers are rated by feedback. The more positive feedback, the higher the rating. Following me so far? Good. The more negative feedback, the lower the rating. This was true for both sellers and buyers. As a seller, I can tell you that more than once I have checked a buyer’s feedback and been appalled at what I’ve found…no details, this discussion is cluttered enough.

WELL. Ebay, in its wisdom, decided to REMOVE the right of sellers to leave negative or even neutral feedback for buyers! The thought makes one’s head spin.

Last year yours truly was the victim of buyer fraud. Again, I name no names. The buyer left me a negative. I was able to leave negative feedback that explained my side of the story. What is to happen now? One seller suggested that since we can now only leave positive feedback, perhaps we should say, “I am positive that this buyer sucks.”

Forgive the common language. I am merely quoting.

And to add insult to injury, apparently they will require us to ship our merchandise before it is paid for! This might be the only retail environment on the planet with such a requirement: somehow I do not envision Saks Fifth Avenue being so broadminded should you try to leave with a sable coat. They can hold the money in your Paypal account for up to 21 days if you do not meet their incredibly complicated requirements (why do I suspect it accrues interest for Paypal while it does so?). There are other changes, but I am too dispirited to list them, and this entry is already far too long.

I am in despair, dear readers. Not even a stiff shot of Kahlua in my evening espresso would cheer me up. What is one to do? What is one to do?

Ciao,
Elisa & Bucky The Wonderdog