Powersellers banned from free listing promo

October 14, 2008

There’s a free listing weekend on the 18th - 19th October, but not for PowerSellers or Business registered users.

Items listed with a start price of 99p or under can be listed for free by domestic users of the site. The promotion only applies to the auction format, fixed price listings and certain categories are excluded from the promotion.

To be honest it’s no surprise to see professional sellers barred from the promotion, the new fixed price listings with multiple quantities are the way forward for most sellers. It’s not such good news for the pro-sellers who exclusively list in the auction format as they’ve seen final value fees rise and a free listing weekend would have been a nice bonus.

It is good to see eBay encouraging casual sellers and buyers listing on the site, it’ll be very interesting to see just how many new auctions are listed over the weekend period. I suspect the site won’t be flooded with new listings to the extent it has been of previous listing promotions, although doubtless a few sellers may use buying accounts to launch auctions and save a few pennies.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under CLD | 7 Comments 

eBay France holds CLD this Thursday

July 8, 2008

This Thursday, 10th July, sees yet another CLD, this time on eBay France, but only if you offer PayPal: if you’re a PowerSeller, insertion fees are just 10c, and ordinary mortals have their IFs capped at 25c.

The Motors, Boats and Media categories which have their own price structures are not included, and all other normal fees are still applicable.

And if this seems like another eBay site running with the same CLD over again, you’re right.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under CLD | Comments Off 

UK PowerSellers must register as businesses by 20th July

July 3, 2008

Back in January, eBay announced that it would become compulsory for PowerSellers to be registered as businesses on the site. Pink Olly has now posted on the PowerSeller Board that as of 20th July, anyone who is not registered as a business seller will lose their PS status.

Olly has also reiterated what eBay told me a month or so ago, that there is a level at which sellers are required to register as businesses, or they are prevented from selling on the site. For those unsure why they need to register, representing yourself as a private seller when you are in fact a trader is a breach of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, and can lead to criminal prosecution.

Anyone who needs to change to business seller status should go to My eBay > My Account > Personal Information, and change their account type to “business”.

Updated to add: as noted on the Business Selling Board, “business seller not displaying proper information” has now been added to the “report this item” form.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Site Changes, eBay.co.uk | 11 Comments 

Just two sellers qualify as Diamond PSs

June 27, 2008

Diamond Age
Creative Commons License photo credit: jurvetson

eBay market researchers Sellerdome have revealed the qualifiers for eBay’s new Diamond PowerSeller status: just two companies will make the grade: buy and sporting goods retailer poor_fish. Diamond PowerSellers have to have 98% feedback with 4.8+ on all DSRs, and will need to turn over more than $500,000 a month on eBay.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 13 Comments 

eBay: past and future feedback changes

June 20, 2008

Following Lorrie Norrington’s announcement that buyers will be able to withdraw feedback in the future, Brian Burke hosted a session on “evolving the eBay feedback system to enhance the marketplace”.

Unsurprisingly the room was too small for everyone to get in and before the doors were closed, at least a dozen attendees were turned away from what was one of the most eBay controversial sessions I’ve attended.

Brian recapped the changes that are already in place, with some statics thrown in:

  • 10% of sellers were negatively impacted by the feedback recalculation, or as Brian chose to express it 90% saw no change in their feedback percentage.
  • Of PowerSellers 10% saw their feedback percentage drop and 11% dropped below 98%
  • The average drop in feedback percentage was 0.5%
  • The rate of low DSR ratings left by buyers (1 or 2 stars) has increased very slightly but not significantly
  • 85% of positive feedback gets 5 star DSR ratings
  • The overall percentage of non-positive feedback left by buyers hasn’t changed, but more negatives and fewer neutrals are being left by buyers.

Brian expained that on the whole the changes have had the intended effect, that buyers are less scared to leave a negative as there is no danger of retaliatory feedback, and that those sellers who with 100% rating weren’t being advantaged compared to those who previously received a larger proportion of neutrals but had also had a 100% rating. The changes are highlighting those sellers who truly give stellar service.

The Q&A produced lively questions, and at one point the audience were politely asked not to heckle to allow responses to be heard.

An interesting future possibilty thrown out by eBay was to ask how sellers would view eBay automatically debiting a buyers PayPal account then an auction closes. That would at a stroke wipe out non-paying bidders if PayPal was offered as the only payment option and would be welcomed by the sellers present.

When asked why not scrap neutral feedback, it was explained that although a neutral impacts your feedback percentage, it doesn’t affect your total score in the way a negative does. The audience voted unanimously when polled that they’d still prefer neutrals to be discontinued.

Several questions related to buyer communications, with the general consensus that eBay My Messages and the Dispute Console need a revamp. Feedback extortion is taken seriously, but if via email rather than My Messages is difficult to prove. Also it was agreed that a process to force communication prior to leaving non-positive feedback makes sense giving the seller an opportunity to assist the buyer.

The most telling comment came from the IMA, which was that a buyer who thought your description was accurate, was satisfied with your communications, thought you shipped quickly and that your post and packaging charges were reasonable would be leaving you 4 stars for all DSRs. This would disqualify you from PowerSeller status and you wouldn’t qualify for volume discounts on final value fees.

eBay said that for years feedback was considered to be untouchable, but now that changes have been made it’s not the end. They are still looking at it closely and will be fine tuning it and evolving the feedback system in the months and years to come.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 3 Comments 

Diamond PowerSellers, feedback withdrawal and DSRs

June 19, 2008

Diamond PowerSeller level

There is a new Diamond PowerSeller level in the US. This new level is for sellers with a $500k/mth and 4.8 minimum of all four DSRs.

Diamond PowerSellers will benefit from packages which will include pricing tailored for their business model. Specific requirements will also be included which could include criteria such as free shipping, despatch time or other service levels appropriate to the category.

Feedback withdrawal

eBay are emphasising that sellers should provide products accurately described with great service up front so that non-positive feedback isn’t left. However they recognise that buyers may occasionally leave feedback too early. Lorrie Norrington is expected to announce a limited capability for buyers to withdraw feedback left for sellers in her keynote speech at eBay Live! tomorrow.

DSR requirement lowered for Best Match

It’s expected that the minimum requirement for DSRs received from buyers will be lowered from 10 to 3 ratings. This will benefit high value, low volume sellers who would otherwise be advantaged in search under Best Match, but currently don’t receive enough ratings in a 30 day period to qualify.

API calls for DSR consoles

Brian Burke told us that eBay are planning to introduce API (Application Programming Interface) calls to enable developers to build 3rd party DSR consoles. These API calls will enable more granular information to be provided than is currently available. The type of information could include the percentage of buyers leaving 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 star ratings, and the average star rating for each seperate category the seller trades in.

Better DSR data would enable sellers to target the products or categories where they’re under performing and highlight the areas they excel in. This information is key to assisting sellers to improve their business for the future.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 28 Comments 

PowerSeller minimum DSR standards coming in July

June 9, 2008

Many eBay PowerSellers have noticed in their Seller Dashboard a note that from July 2008 a new criteria to determine PowerSeller eligibilty will be DSR scores.

Currently there is no indication of what minimum DSR score levels will be used to qualify as a PowerSeller in the UK but sharp eyed TameBay reader Suz, from designer_clothing_4_u might have found a clue - the US PowerSeller Portal sets a level of 4.5 minimum for all four DSR criteria. The scores are based on the last 12 months, not the trailing 30 days, so eBay are aiming for longstanding good service, not a short term improvement in standards.

To be honest I’m impressed that eBay have taken up the gauntlet to improve PowerSeller requirements and for introducing benefits that make the badge more meaningful than simply indicating a seller with a high turnover. Whilst there will probably be a few sellers that no longer qualify for PowerSeller status in the short term, when they regain their status it will be a signal that they really are an elite seller.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Site Changes, eBay.co.uk, eBay.com | 28 Comments 

eBay UK business sellers must accept returned goods

April 11, 2008

This post was written in April 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Creative Commons License photo credit: visualdensity

eBay UK have just announced that from 1st May, business sellers must accept returned goods for fixed price items that are returned within 14 days of receipt. As eBay acknowledge, this goes beyond the legal minimum period of 7 working days after receipt, “so that the buyer has enough time to let the seller know about the cancellation and post the item back.”

It’s fantastic news that eBay are starting to enforce buyers’ legal rights and to stop sellers over-riding them, and should be welcomed as such by all legitimate sellers. In fact, by making sellers state a returns period, eBay do business sellers a favour: under the Distance Selling Regulations, sales which have not specified a different returns period default to giving buyers three months to change their mind.

But there’s still wiggle-room for the unscrupulous: eBay haven’t specified how a returns policy is to be communicated to buyers. Hiding it away in small print on a terms and conditions page is very different to having it advertised in the “returns policy” box on each listing, and eBay should have specified an expectation (if not a standardisation) of how sellers communicate this information.

The real bad news is that this applies to SIF listings as well as BIN, and so SIF listings which have made sales will need to be ended and relisted if they state a 7 day returns period. This is one time when eBay really should make it possible for all sellers to edit all their listings at the touch of a button.

As previously announced, from 1st May UK sellers will also need to provide their business name and geographic address on at least one of the view item page, about me page or a custom shop page no more than one click from the front of their shop.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Featured | 21 Comments