Within the eBay community of online auctioneers reputation is everything, whether deserved or not.
Customers dissatisfied with their purchases can leave feedback on the seller, a feature that ideally allows other potential buyers to avoid fraudulent transactions.
In turn, sellers have historically been able to leave feedback on buyers, providing those who feel they have been unfairly criticized a public forum to defend themselves.
Starting in May, sellers will no longer be able to comment on their customers, leading to concerns by some people who make a living on the auction site that the success of their business will be left to the whims of strangers on the Internet.
Tina Dunham, 52, of Vidor, became a full-time eBay seller after damage from Hurricane Rita prompted the closure of a barbecue restaurant she owned in Winnie.
"I had looked for a way to make a living that wasn't as hard on my body, like the catering and all that," she said.
Dunham decided to open an eBay store to sell handmade perfume oils - alcohol-free fragrances mixed to smell like brand name perfumes- lotions, bath salts and other scented products.
Competition is fierce on the site, Dunham said, but she keeps an eye on new perfume and fragrance sellers and has noticed that many give up after a few months, perhaps having overestimated the amount of work required to operate a successful online store.
Lately, in an effort to improve her reputation and her bottom line, Dunham has been offering free shipping. The promotion is a break-even proposition, but one she hopes will pay off in the long run.
EBay earns its income from sellers in two ways. A flat fee is charged for listing items for auction or for sale through online stores and a commission is taken from the final sales price.
The company recently announced a change in its fee structure that lowers the initial fee for listing an item - an "insertion" fee - but raises its commission. Both charges vary depending on the initial asking price and final sales price of merchandise.
In the past, eBay would receive $3.70 from the sale of a $25 product, but under the new system would receive $4. However, sellers with a sterling reputation can receive discounts of up to 15 percent off of eBay's commission, which would lower the company's share to $3.55.
Dunham said she recently shipped enough merchandise to fill a duffel bag, but made no money off that sales because she is hoping that offering free shipping will garner positive feedback, allowing her to take advantage of lower commission fees.
Dunham, like many others, is dependent upon the feedback buyers leave to maximize her profits and to ensure that her items receive a higher priority listing when people search the site.
The changes place too much power in the hands of buyers, she said, and some might decide to take advantage of the power disparity to harass sellers.
"What's about to happen is there will be people who are about to extort sellers," she said.
"Someone is going to order something, use it and write the seller back and say 'this is no good, it's broken or it's not what you said it was and I want a full refund or I'm going to leave a negative rating.' You're going to have to more or less kiss butt."
Anger over the fee increase and the elimination of the ability to respond to negative comments prompted some eBay sellers to launch a weeklong boycott that started on Feb. 18.
Michael Mathews, owner of the Antique Mall of Beaumont on College Street, said he usually sells around five items on eBay a week.
The Web site has been a good marketplace for the items he usually acquires from estate sales and garage sales, at times earning him an extra $500 to $1,000 a month, but if they do not reverse their policy on posting buyer feedback they might lose his account.
"I don't think there's any polite word for it," Mathews said, referring to his opinion of eBay's decision to alter its feedback policy.
Multiple attempts to reach eBay officials about the policy changes and the boycott's impact were unsuccessful.
While the changes impact full-time sellers like Dunham the most even people who use eBay less frequently expressed irritation.
"The fees have continued to rise. They say they're cutting fees, but they're cutting the fees on the front end and not on the back end," said Brian McClane, owner of Vacuum City, said.
Scott Wallace, owner of Seemingly New, a consignment shop in Beaumont that occasionally sells clothing through eBay, said he does not object to the fee increases.
"That's fine, they haven't raised rates in three years, everyone has to raise rates," he said. "In order to stay in business you have to.
