Question
The above is a thread title posted on the eBay Store Board by a user from Spain.
The following is a link to the entire thread and below that is my post made to the discussion. (I expect the tread will eventually be modified or removed by Pinks, so the link may go dead)
Store Thread Link
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While I applaud their spirit I believe effective action by customers will require organizing into some form of a Trade Assoc. for sellers.
We are clearly not employees but there are parallels between ourselves dealing with a virtual worldwide monopoly and the early days of workers who could not get fair treatment from large powerful employers and eventually formed Unions.
The second avenue of relief will come when eBay is forced to compete for customers because other viable venues exists for a substantial percentage of sellers.
My present hopes for alternative venues that would appeal to a broad range of sellers rest with Google and/or MSN adding a for fee marketplace to their mix of services as they compete in the search engine market.
Google already recognizes the potential for appealing to consumers by developing Froggle and I believe the next step of offering a fee based marketplace is reasonable. I would expect any offering would be in some form of fixed price classifieds and Stores.
While I don't believe "Strikes" will have any measured effect on the customer/service provider relationship that exists between sellers and eBay, they do have value by reminding us that our concerns are universal and when viable solutions present themselves our ranks will be counted in the millions.
Alone we can do little but we are not alone.
Thank you Spain.
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It is nice to know that we are not alone.
Larry
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I just visited the Board on eBay Spain where this is being discussed.
Not being able to read Spanish I'm at a loss to follow the discussion.
What I can see is the interest, spirit and posts from around the world made in support of their effort.
Link to eBay Spain
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Interesting. Thanks for posting this Ray.
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Reston_Ray try sticking the eBay Spain link in here.
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Thanks Dove.
I considered using a translating site until I realized the thread was 8 pages long and growing quickly.
Below is a recent post from a Spanish seller that gives recognition to the breather of unity being given to their efforts.
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Hi from Spain!!!!!!
*Quiero dar las gracias a toda la gente de otros paises que nos está apoyando. Todo es posible si trabajamos juntos!!!
*I want to give them thanks to the whole people of other countries who is leaning us. Everything is possible if we work together!!!
*Je veux leur donner des remerciements aux gens entiers d'autres pays qui penchent nous. Tout est possible si nous travaillons ensemble!!!
*Desidero dare loro i ringraziamenti alla gente intera di altri paesi che sta appoggiandoci. Tutto è possibile se lavoriamo insieme!!!
*Ich will ihnen dank der ganzen Leute anderer Länder geben, der uns neigt. Alles ist möglich, wenn wir zusammenarbeiten!!!
HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!!!!
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Unfortunately, even if the strike is widespread amongst Spanish sellers, I don't think the number of listings on eBay Spain will drop very much because listings from other eBay sites appear on it.
A couple of days ago I had a customer who bought several items while browsing eBay Italy. This morning I had another customer who bought several items while browsing eBay France. I could tell where they were browsing from because they both sent an eBay Request for Invoice and the dollar amounts in the e-mails were shown in non-English comma format instead of period format and because when I sent out an eBay generated English invoice from a link in the e-mails, they both received the e-mail invoice in their respective native languages (I was copied on the invoices).
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If you put the first page URL in the Translate Web Page area on Babelfish, it will continue to translate the full page as you click on the next page.
They certainly are a passionate group! Very interesting reading.
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A companion discusion is taking place on the eBay International Trading Board.
Link