eBay will give special deal to PowerSellers

Ever since its founding, eBay has emphasized its "level playing field." That meant small sellers were treated exactly the same as the megasellers, and nobody had a special advantage.

Now, with longtime CEO Meg Whitman on her way out the door and with eBay trying to revive its growth, it's offering a sweetheart deal for PowerSellers who maintain certain feedback ratings. Check out the comments at the bottom of this New York Times blog post, the first one calls for a Feb. 18 boycott:

Specifically, the discount applies to PowerSellers, those who sell more than $1,000 a month on eBay and meet other criteria. They will get a discount of 5 percent or 15 percent off the final value fee—the percentage of the sale price eBay takes—depending on their feedback ratings.

The discounts are tied to eBay’s new “detailed seller rating” system that asks buyers to rank sellers on a one to five point scale four categories: item description, communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges.