http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com

Dear Sir or Madam

It is with regret that I have to inform you that I will no longer
purchase merchandise from your web store, physical store and most
assuredly from your Ebay listings.

I am opposed on principal that a large company should deliberately
(either by ignorance or greed) undermine the incomes of the
housebound, the mothers and fathers, the infirm, and the elderly who
do not have the economic equity to affect direct competition.

The existence of large non-fee paying diamond sellers on the Ebay
platform has had a detrimental effect on the financial position of the
small independent Ebay seller.
Further, that the Ebay platform should be so skewed enabling a large
corporation to exploit the advantages of free listing and free
advertising subsidised by the listings of the small independent Ebay
seller.

“Ebay Stockholders and Sellers Calling For Immediate Termination of John Donohoe CEO”

at petitiononline.com

I said, “I don’t have a problem with a volume discount in theory, but in practice.”

To me this is similar to the examples I posted:

Do the people w/the letter also want to personally pay the same tax rate as the CEOs of these co.’s they rail against
Or maybe it’s not fair for a wholesale rate card to exist when the little guy is paying full retail?

Buy.com has a lot more listings than your or I, so what I’m asking is would you have a problem with your customer cutting out the middle man and buying the goods you sell directly from your wholesaler at the same rate?

I don’t see anything morally wrong with Buy accepting this deal. You wouldn’t turn it down and I wouldn’t turn it down. This is how life works.

Would you expect to pay the same rate for a tiny classified ad in a magazine as you would a full-page four color ad? Is the bigger company wrong for paying for that extra exposure?

That said, I don’t even find anything morally wrong with eBay extending the offer. I see it as a volume discount.

Now here’s where I make this confusing. Despite those feelings, personally I realize that the eBay/Buy deal is bad for eBay buyers, sellers and in the end eBay. But the fault lies with eBay for not understanding their own platform and extending the offer in the first place, not Buy for accepting it.

Further complicating my feelings is that I don’t have a problem with the letter itself. Do I think it will make a difference? Personally, no. But the tactic worked with eBay Australia and Nextel, so it’s a natural step to take and well worth a try. I also don’t put much validity in it being an anonymous letter–that will hopefully change. I mean, hell, who’s to say someone w/Google or Amazon didn’t pen this thing out of spite?

I think what’s going to have to happen here, as mentioned in John’s interview with Randy above, is that Buy.com is going to have to find out that any deal with eBay is not worth it financially. I don’t think individuals are going to be able to make much of a difference here, I think the eBay market will naturally take care of.

That’s all just this one man’s opinion. I say best of luck to the letter campaign, while at the same time I don’t agree with much of it’s content.

Thanks,Cliff