I always find this "belief" thing in regard to Ebays throttling / lights out controlling sales thing really bizarre. Its like someone saying "the grass is green", and the other person saying "hmmm i dont know, Im not sure I believe it". Umm.. ok.
Controlling sales is a normal part of any large retailer in the world. Sales of ALL lines of goods and brands are controlled in EVERY large supermarket or retail chain in the entire world.
Walk into any Coles, for example. Every single product, on every single shelf, if placed there to control the sales of that products. Eye level sells more. Those things at the end of the isles sell more. It doesnt end there. How many ROWS of each product on each shelf is controlled, how much space, how long the product is there, and when the placement is switched with something else.
Also, they dont want *everything* to sell like crazy. Its controlled. They have contracts, they have a huge business model thats nutted out to maximise profits. one or two products selling like crazy stuffs up the game. For example - Georges fish cakes. Removed from sale because they were outselling other products that made Coles more profit. Now customers are forced to chose the higher profit products. Even if actually sales dip slightly because Georges Fish cakes were removed, the overall profit is STILL higher. Ive seen soooo many ebay sellers here say things like "but why would you remove something that is selling like crazy - profit is profit!"... no. profit is not profit. The largest profit / maximising profit is what matters, and nothing else.
Supermarkets have contracts with their suppliers, and obviously, they dont all get the same treatment. Suppliers pay supermarkets to have their product placed in certain locations, to take up certain amounts of space, and/or for certain time periods. Payment can be as a lump sum, per item sold, marketing, kickbacks and a hundred other things not directly related to each sale. This benefits supermarkets because it maximises their profits - to the cent.
Why do people think that Ebay would be any different? Why would Ebay say - "Screw this, we're NOT going to maximise our profits - we're NOT going to control sales, we're NOT going to have a tier of contracts for different seller types like everyone else in the world, lets just make it a free for all and lose millions" ???
There was never a question of whether they have different contracts for different types of sellers (ma/pa vs. big retail) - they DO. There is no queston of whether they control sales in order to meet their obligations in these contracts. THEY DO. It isnt some scam or unethical thing. Its completely normal business practice in the world of retail.
For them not to have different levels of contract, and not be controlling sales - that would be an almost non existant anomoly. It just doesnt happen because its stupid, it would lose business millions / billions. And big retail are NOT stupid - that includes Ebay (for the most part!).
