Is Ebay in trouble? All indicators are that they are. It has been reported that their traffic has reached a five year low. One of the reasons that traffic has been so low is simply due to Ebay starting their Ebay Partner Network or EPN as many marketers know it by. Because of low traffic many dealers are packing their wares and leaving. They blame high fees and the change in the in their feedback policy along with not enough visitors.
From an internet marketer standpoint I believe that Ebay leaving Commission Junction and starting their Ebay Partner Network was the worst idea they have come up with. Before, you just had to sign up with Commission Junction and start routing customers to Ebay. Now you have to get through the hallowed walls of Ebay Partner Network to start making money through Ebay. They have become very particular about who they allow to enter the hallowed doors of EPN and because of that they are leaving a lot of money on the table. They are so strict they won't even give someone that has been an Ebay dealer for years and with good standing the ability to sell through their EPN program. How absurd is that?
It only makes sense that the more people you drive to your site the more sales you'll be able to make. Why try and stop traffic? I honestly don't understand EBay's reasoning. It is to make sure that the person applying are honest in their dealings? But Ebay has more security sources available to the then most online companies. They have the resources of all of Ebay and PayPal to use and because of that fraud has dropped dramatically on Ebay. Other companies like Amazon have an Associate Program in place but they are much more lenient when approving associates to drive traffic to them. And because of that Amazon is doing very well in the marketplace.
So what should Ebay do differently? First and foremost get rid of EPN or change it to where you allow reputable Ebay sellers participate in it. They should also restructure their fees and become more competitive. The more you charge the more people you are going to be running away. Lower your fees and bring more dealers in to sell. Then they should also change their feedback system. Let the seller have some say. I personally have had several people over the years buy something but not pay for it. Sure Ebay will give me back my "final fees" but what about my listing fees? That money is gone forever. If a buyer has the possibility of negative feedback hanging over their head they might think twice about bidding. The ironic thing is that Ebay changed the feedback program to make the bidders feel more secure and hopefully bring more traffic to them. But then on the other hand they change their associate program and severely stop a lot of traffic from coming to Ebay. Sorry, it doesn't make much sense.
Hopefully Ebay will start changing their ways and make it better for both the buyers and sellers.