Angry Sellers Boycotting Ebay

I’m always intrigued by the direction of online politics and how far activists are willing to go to support their cause.  eBay recently announced that it would do away with negative ratings for buyers.  Some sellers are up in arms over this act, but in a way it kind of makes sense.  In the “real world”, when do consumers get labeled with negative feedback from merchants or blacklisted for acting in bad faith?   Online, this can be a handy tool for Seller’s to know whether or not they should do business with your average consumer, but it can also be used to manipulate users into action or inaction by threat of negative feedback.

Here are a few links from Yahoo’s Tech section that could come in handy if you need to catch up on the drama:

In response to eBay’s recent announcement that it would no longer allow sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, the uproar has been deafening. How deafening? So loud that a boycott has been planned, set to begin tomorrow on February 18, 2008 and run for (at least) a week.

The article seems to suggest that the boycott won’t last because there are few other options available for merchants.  I’d tend to agree with the author and I think in the end this is the right thing to do for consumers.  If certain consumers act in bad faith, it’s easy to report them or even take legal action if necessary.   You can read more about this issue, here:  “eBay Boycott Begins Tomorrow: Will it work?“

Fred is an Attorney, Entrepreneur, and Blogger from the Silicon Valley.
Email this author | All posts by Fred