For those who have not read the details yet, a story has developed over the last few days which pits the huge conglomerate of eBay against the established standard bearer of the media (covering the ecommerce industry) Auctionbytes.
Randy Smythe over at My Blog Utopia gives the timeline...
- Earlier this week, Auctionbytes posted the following post on their blog: eBay's Operation Catalog Flies Under the Radar
- eBay Employee Jim "Griff" Griffith responded on the eBay Ink Blog: Some Needed Clarification
- Now AuctionBytes has responded to Griff's post: eBay's Non-Denial Denial
Randy also adds to the discussion with sage advise and the perspective of a former multi-million dollar media seller on eBay, in his article: AuctionBytes Responds to eBay about Diamond Power Sellers. I suggest reading Randy's 15% as it is usually not to be discounted.
I won't re-hash the events or the back and forth between Auctionbytes Ina Steiner and eBay's Jim Griff Griffith. The damage has already been done to and by both sides of this verbal exchange.
My observation: This simply is a symptom of a greater problem.
Both eBay and Auctionbytes (who has fed from the eBay trough for many years) are showing signs of frustration. The vibe from eBay, since early this year, has been predicting a split from feeding Auctionbytes the scraps and juicy tidbits they so readily had in the past. As a result, Auctionbytes has become more and more critical of eBay and the relationship has cooled.
Many conclude... there are good reasons behind both positions...
