One of those Ebay drop-off places

One of those Ebay drop-off places (Photo credit: Steve Bowbrick)

eBay announced that it was cancelling its official Trading Assistance program on August 13th, 2013. I got the news when I returned home from… no kidding… picking up a huge shipment of items from a brand new eBay Trading Assistant client. It was surreal. There was eBay telling me that Trading Assistance wasn’t worth their time while my TA business was booming as much as ever.

The program has been pronounced dead for a full year. It’s had zero effect on my flow of clients. If anything, it’s opening my service up to new opportunities and sales channels all because I’m no longer tied to one platform. When I started offering Selling Assistance services, there wasn’t any official program to join anyway so, in a way, I’ve come full circle.

Of course, it would have been nice to not have to rewrite my book but that’s a problem unique to me, I know, and even that is done with now.

But I wonder what the effect has been on others. I’ve never really been close with another TA but I’ve met several successful ones throughout the years and I can’t help but but be curious if they too have discovered that their business is doing just fine without eBay or whether they are struggling without the directory.

What rumors have you heard? Better yet, if you sell on consignment, I’d love to hear about how the end of the TA program effected your Selling Assistant business (or not)?