eBay Sellers Wanted: CWA & The Responsible Online Commerce Coalition Seek Unfair Practices, Market Dominance Insights
The Responsible Online Commerce Coalition is looking to connect with eBay sellers willing to share their experiences on the platform in new survey in partnership with Communications Workers of America.
ROCC is building a broad coalition of businesses who rely on online platforms to reach their customers, aiming to ensure a level playing field on which ecommerce businesses can prosper with consumers easily able to find and buy the best genuine products for the best price.
While their efforts initially focused mainly on Amazon, ROCC has recently taken an active role in supporting its members who sell on eBay-owned collectible trading card marketplace, TCGplayer - helping them to submit a petition and public comments to the Federal Trade Commission and advocating for the company to stop anticompetitive practices, unfair seller suspensions and charging excessive junk fees.
Liz Morton
TCGPlayer sellers represented by ROCC raised several important concerns in their FTC petition, including the allegation that they experienced retaliatory actions against their accounts due to their public support and solidarity with the historic first union in eBay's history established by TCGPlayer authentication workers last year.
The workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America, have been locked in a year long fight to bargain their first contract, with multiple unfair labor practice claims filed with the National Labor Relations Board along the way.
Liz Morton
Now ROCC and CWA want to expand their outreach efforts to the wider eBay seller community, launching a new survey aimed at connecting with sellers and learning more about how they're treated on the platform.
Similar to eBay’s anticompetitive and unfair treatment of sellers, when workers at the TCGplayer authentication center in Syracuse, New York formed a union with the Communications Workers of America in 2023, eBay launched an anti-union campaign aimed at stymying the bargaining process.
The NLRB has found that eBay violated labor law by delaying bargaining, refusing to provide relevant information, withholding benefits to punish union workers, unlawfully terminating workers, and more.
Labor protections and market competition are not optional: eBay is not above the law, and should not use its position in the market to abuse the people whose livelihoods depend on it.
The survey requests information about how much of a seller's business is done through eBay, if there are viable alternative platforms that offer comparable fees and user experience or the market is dominated by eBay, biggest concerns and complaints about selling on the marketplace and eBay's response to those concerns.
And don't worry if you don't sell in one of eBay's main focus verticals like sneakers, handbags, trading cards, jewelry, or car parts - ROCC and CWA still want to hear from you, just select the "other" option if none of the rest apply.
I look forward to seeing the results of this survey and ROCC's ongoing ecommerce seller advocacy efforts - and wholeheartedly agree that eBay is not above the law.
Share the survey link with other eBay sellers in your network and I'd love to hear your thoughts as well - leave a comment or contact VAR!
