The introduction of targeted banner ads on the Internet's busiest auction site is not sitting well with some of its users.
Earlier this year, eBay began posting banners that advertised products many sellers felt were in direct competition with their own auction items. This recent addition to eBay-which until this year accepted no advertising on its search pages-has veteran sellers worried about the direction that the online auction giant is headed.
"eBay has always been a level surface for users," says Bobby B., a 3-1/2 year veteran of eBay. "There was no opportunity for a Fortune 500 company to have a more prominent exposure of their product than a soccer mom. Large corporations can now buy their way into more and more markets, pushing out smaller individual sellers."
Here is what the controversy is about:
Suppose you are in the market for a toaster and decide to see if there are any up for auction on eBay. You type the word "toaster" in the eBay search engine, and several pages of auctions pop up containing your criteria. What you may also see is a banner ad located at the top of the page with a link to a retailer selling toasters. And that's what has sellers burning.
Many sellers feel that the banner ads reflect a changing attitude on the part of eBay toward its sellers.
"[EBay made] a commitment to users to make eBay a true person-to-person trading platform without the introduction of B2C or B2B trading in any form on the main site. They are going back on their stated purpose and mission," says Bobby B. "How many current Mom & Pop sellers can both pay for this kind of advertising AND keep their prices lower than the big boys?"
However, eBay is not planning on abandoning their ad banners anytime soon.
According to eBay spokesperson Kevin Pursglove, "It's altogether possible that an ad may present a potential problem for one user, but turns out a very huge benefit for the [eBay] community."
According to Pursglove, eBay is being responsive to its sellers. "We're talking to the users on a fairly frequent basis, trying to gauge their reaction. In fact, a lot of the feedback you're currently hearing about is communication that we initiated for our users, trying to get a sense of how we can proceed down this path."
But many sellers feel that eBay is being less than genuine in their efforts to rectify the situation. The Online Auction Users Association (OAUA) says that the banners may be less specific than they had been, but the ads still advertise retailers that carry the same products that sellers are trying to auction off.
The OAUA recently mounted an email campaign for sellers to let eBay know of their dissatisfaction with the banner ads (http://www.auctionusers.org/bannercampaign.shtml), and eBay responded with some concessions, including modify or canceling certain advertising agreements deemed too competitive by the auction site.
Sellers continue to take a wait and see approach but, in the meantime, have organized initiatives such as the Million Auction March (http://www.millionauctionmarch.com) that are encouraging a shift to other auction venues.
All this points to one hot summer.
