Auction Bytes: eBay Changes Search, Bans Checks & Money Orders

[momoftwingles2]

eBay made major announcements overnight, including major fee changes to its Buy-It-Now Fixed Price listing format effective September 16, 2008 (see today's other news stories in AuctionBytes.com for details). eBay said it would also make changes to Finding (search), Shipping and Seller Standards. And in a move that was expected by many, it will move to an electronic checkout system, banning checks and money orders.

Finding
eBay is making two major changes to Finding (also called Search). First, it will change the mix of inventory on the site and will score fixed-price and auction listings separately in Best Match, but display them together on the search results pages. eBay's Jeff King of the Finding Team said this allows it to give greater weight to Time Ending Soonest to auction formats, which would be irrelevant to fixed-price listings.

In addition, eBay will expose auction or fixed-price listings more heavily in search results, depending on the category. For example, it would likely show more auction listings than fixed-price listings in collectibles categories. The changes are designed to ensure that auction listings are not buried underneath Fixed-Price listings.

eBay will also create a new factor for its Best Match search algorithm for fixed-price listings only, called "Recent Sales." This will reward multiple-quantity listings that have had recent sales over single- and multiple-quantity listings with fewer or no recent sales. eBay will continue to use factors such as DSRs (Detailed Seller Ratings) and shipping, in its Best Match algorithm. In addition, factors will be given different weights in different categories, as is done today. King said, "We let buyers tell us what's relevant," with eBay mining data based on buyer behavior.

Changes to finding will go into effect on September 16, 2008.

Seller Standards
Beginning November 1, 2008, eBay will require sellers to have a minimum DSR of 4.3 across the board. eBay's Dinesh Lathi said this will affect a very small percentage of sellers.

Payments
eBay is moving to an electronic Checkout system, banning checks, money orders and postal orders. Accepted payment methods will include merchant credit card accounts, ProPay, and PayPal, effective late October.

Shipping
Lathi said eBay is "actively looking to bring shipping costs into the realm of the reasonable," stating that shipping is important to buyers, who will go elsewhere if shipping is high, and will draw in buyers if shipping costs are reasonable. In the Media category only, eBay will put limits on Shipping & Handling charges, effective mid-October. It will vary by specific subcategories.

In certain "edge cases," Lathi said, such as an 80-pack DVD, there will be a safety valve: sellers will have the option of using the shipping calculator if the caps are not appropriate. The shipping caps will apply to the first shipping service. eBay did not have details about the caps available to reporters on Tuesday.

Where shipping caps apply only to the Media category, eBay will give incentives to sellers to offer free shipping in all categories. It will give items with free shipping more exposure in search, and will offer additional discounts on FVFs (Final Value Fees). The discount will apply to individual listings, so sellers can choose which listings, if any, on which to offer free shipping.

[autogrilles*]

4.3 across the board? Isn't this difficult for Canadian sellers to achieve shipping-time wise?? Canadian sellers get nailed on DSR's because most all sales are to the US. They need to fix this or not let this apply to cross-border sales.

[momoftwingles2]

Good Morning autogrilles*,

It's not just Canadians that are having trouble with shipping DSR's...both timelines & fees....American sellers are dealing with the same problems even if shipping within their own country.

If you ever read the US PS board...there are many complaints about shipping there just like here.

It's universal.
Susan
momoftwingles2

[craftycatsattic]

"Other Announcements for Canadian sellers. There are some key changes on the US site that may impact your listings:

Limits on shipping charges in some categories on eBay.com
Cheques and money orders no longer allowed on eBay.com
New seller standards: Minimum of 4.3 on all DSRs to list on eBay.com "

Grrr....after we've all revised our listings, we have to revise them yet again! I cannot beleive they are not allowing us to accept money orders. Didn't they lose a court battle in Australia for forcing sellers to accept paypal only? I don't receive a lot of money orders but the ones I do receive are from bidders who are not set up with paypal so to me it will mean less business. I wonder if there's a way to creatively reword the payment options section...hmmmm....other payment methods available to US and Canadian bidders. Please email for details.

And what about those DSR's? How are they going to manage that? I agree that we should all be above that threshold but what if by some cruel chance of fate you fall under? I can see how something like that could happen like if you were on vacation or are just starting out on eBay with only a handful of sales in the given period and you run into a nightmare situation with a disgruntled buyer who's feedback brought you under? Will they remove all your lisings? Remove your hundred's of store items? Will you ever get re-instated?

Anyhow, I bet you the next phase for Canadian sellers is to force us to list on .ca. Lol...but before they FORCE us to do it, they will COERCE us by offering the listing promotions on .com to US sellers only etc. etc.

It's obvious in any case as it has been for months now that eBay is trying to woo the larger retailers to the site and phase out the "noise".

I think we better all hold on for dear life and hope we can survive the turbulents.

[pepinski9]

We need a bulk tool to move our items in media to the .ca site from .com, otherwise what they will cancel thousands of listings on the .com site?, records maximum $4.00 shipping to the USA, CDs, DVDs, maximum shipping $3.00, that is insane!

[lina-mallows]

craftycatsattic- you can almost rest assured that your buyers won't even be remotely able to bid without having a PayPal account.
So- whatever bidders there still are out there that do not use electronic payments- they will likely be toast!

As for PayPal only- eBay has made it clear OTHER electronic payments will be allowed- E L E C T R O N I C only! So- again, to likely shield themselves from being accused of creating a monopoly eBay will inevitably shut out ANY form of non-electronic payment.

[momoftwingles2]

Hi lina,

Exactly. If there is a choice...then I do believe that eBay is avoiding getting themselves into another *Australia* fiasco. Right now the new wording is:

Accepted payment methods will include merchant credit card accounts, ProPay, and PayPal, effective late October.

Most certainly a lot of information was given today and will take time to digest.

Susan
momoftwingles2

[axe_n_gear_music]

Having a brain cramp here- can someone verify for me whether or not I will still be able to advertise that I accept Visa, Mastercard & American Express payments by calling our toll free 1-877-COOL-AXE number?

eBay is sure creating a monopoly for themselves aren't they? How can they tell us that we aren't allowed to accept a cheque or money order? I don't get it. Can anyone shed some light on this please?

AXE

[westernstargifts]

Hi Everyone,

I am wondering what will be the point of having an eBay store if Fixed Price listings run for 30 days and can be renewed automatically for another 30? I suppose it will depend a lot on what the final value fees will be for FP versus Store listings. Although with the new search algorithms taking into account things such as how well your multiple purchase listings do, I might get more exposure through my store listings. So complicated!

Judy

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Judy,

Final Value Fees for Fixed Priced listings (lasting 30 days) will be 12%...the same as they are for stores.

Benefit of maintaining a store....only 3 cents to list (with minimal exposure) vs. 35 cents to list in Fixed Priced Core listings.

And....sell through rate will play a roll in the Fixed Priced listings standings in Best Search.

Triple ughs! I am going to go and cut some more grass. It's a great way to relieve stress!

Susan

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Judy,

I think it also depends on how many items you have running in your store. I have more than 3000, actually closer to 4000. And, all of my sales from 2008 so far have been ONLY through my store as I've not run any auctions of any kind in core.

Based on 3000 listings...$90.00 plus store fee for the month in my store. If I took away my store and only used Fixed Price...my listings fees for a month would be $1050.

Big difference.

Susan

[westernstargifts]

Thanks Susan. If the FVF's are the same I will be keeping my Store. My products are not exactly "hot" items and the sell through rate is not that high so they would be disadvantaged in Search. Most do not sell well at FP anyway.

Lathi said eBay is "actively looking to bring shipping costs into the realm of the reasonable," stating that shipping is important to buyers, who will go elsewhere if shipping is high, and will draw in buyers if shipping costs are reasonable.

eBay is putting an even bigger push on to offer free shipping. In my opinion, free shipping is NOT reasonable. Prices will have to go up to absorb that cost and the buyers aren't that stupid that they don't realize what is happening. Perhaps many items on eBay will become just "too expensive" to buy and they will leave the site anyway. Even with the increase in discount for Power Sellers it is not worth it. Your DSR's can dip down too far once in a month and you miss the entire amount anyway.

[ste11arse11er]

I have not posted in any forums before but since I believe this could be the beginning of the end for eBay and I hope it isn’t, I‘d like to share my thoughts.
If this is not the appropriate forum for sharing my views, please direct me to the correct one.



It appears to me more and more, particularly as of late, that EBay/PayPal does not give any consideration or forethought to anyone outside of the USA.



In my opinion, it is unfortunate that what was once their building block of success has been pushed under the rug.



Instead of building on antiques and collectables that gave the company their success in the first place, eBay wants to compete with other online sites and outdo them. This might be eBay’s biggest downfall.



It is bad enough the Seller has to sustain the misuse of the new feedback system where any Buyer can, regardless of authenticity, stick the seller with a negative feedback without fear of repercussion, leaving subsequent sellers unaware of the buyer’s practices, good or bad.



Next month the Seller must list shipping rates. We know the Canada Post calculator is not accurate, and there are many variables when shipping from Canada. Not to mention that Canada Post has divided the USA as well as outside North America into 7 separate categories on items over 1 Kilo; a difficult if not impossible task to list in each auction; state by state, country by country.



Canadians cannot compete with the package pricing of the United States Post Office and this reflects on the Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) system, mostly in the “Shipping and Handling Charges” category.



Is it fair that as Power Sellers, the DSR system can penalize a good Seller for issues out of their control, so no matter how good they are, if cost of shipping and the length of time the Post Office takes to get a package to the Buyer, the Seller is unfairly penalized and they lose their Power Seller status.



The Seller is now being advised how much can be charged for shipping on certain items and these prices are far below the cost of Canada Post rates.



Canada Post does not have a media rate and yet, we will have to list and accept EBay’s suggested rate regardless of any loss to the Seller.

Other than a small packet flat rate option, Canada Post does not offer flat rate pricing. It is very hard not be at a financial loss with the new anticipated Ebay shipping rules.



We as Canadians have our hands tied when it comes to PayPal.

With any PayPal dispute, the first question asked is for a tracking number; without a number the Seller is out of luck. In Canada tracking numbers are not issued on packages under 1 kilo to the USA or 2 kilos outside North America. With no tracking number Canadians are dead in the water with claims through PayPal and even though the Seller has sent the package, the money will be returned via PayPal to the Seller if they claim their package never arrived. An additional $10.00 service fee will be charged to the Seller if the purchase was made with by PayPal/credit card.



Should Canadians ship only by expedite and express mail? Sellers already get complaints on the cost of shipping. Imagine giving the buyer a price double or triple the small packet rate.



Unfortunately Canada Post has not grown with the times, unlike the USA where tracking can be purchased on any package for an additional small fee. A simple bar code sticker and scan at the sending and receiving end would solve all small packet issues.



I believe the Buyer has caught onto reporting packages missing and combined with the fact that Sellers cannot leave negative feedback, the misuse is escalating.



With regards to paying with PayPal only, I compare it with Microsoft forcing the use of Internet Explorer only; we all know how that ended.



I can only conclude that eBay wants to do away with any commerce outside of one’s own country, and only sell items that go head to head with the other online sites regardless of the outcome or how many people get hurt along the way.



I have been eBay’ing for over 8 years, and have adapted to all changes in the past but I believe eBay needs to rethink some of the proposed changes. We are supposed to be a world global e-commerce marketplace, and I think we are being stifled.



This has been a big hit of reality and a very sad eBay day for me.

[tea_past_times]

Does anyone who didn't believe me in January, believe me now??

[tea_past_times]

There are other places to sell your stuff. Lots of other places. We all did something before Ebay and we'll find something else to do when they are done destroying the company.

[tea_past_times]

They've kicked 27% off the value of their own company since last October, this will help that figure along nicely....

[tea_past_times]

Ebay....who needs it....Not Me !!!!!!

[craftycatsattic]

ste11arse11er

I agree with your sentiment completely. Add to everything else that the US dollar and economy is hurting us too! The only thing that is not entirely accurate though is what you said about USA tracking. While the US is certainly ahead of us in terms of domestic tracking they are behind us in international tracking. At least Canada Post includes insurance in all their parcels (not so for the US) and tracking on Expedited Parcel. The USPS only offers International tracking on premium shipping services that start at a lot higher than our Expedited parcel.

Tea...yes the writing is on the wall as to where this is going. Some of us will adapt, some of us are just riding the wave until it runs out and some of us will have to leave. I think eventually something better will come along for all of us...a change of career, a change of venue or another auction site eager to pick up the business eBay has dumped on it's doorstep.

[boneshakerscards]

The biggest thing that I have seen, is that for all of Ebay's talk about working with Canadians is that they NEVER, NEVER check with Canada Post or Canadian businesses about the cost of doing business from Canada.

A PERFECT EXAMPLE
I may not sell these items, but I can imagine the head scratching that must be going on if you sell media across Ebay such as Video Games or DVD's. Ebay has now put a max limit on DVD's of $3 if I read the annoucement correctly. I'm sorry, but they didn't check with Canada Post about this since an actual DVD case just inside a kraft envelope as oversized lettermail will cost you more than that because of the weight alone. If you protect it by shipping it in a bubble envelope, than it must go as a light packet with will run you no less than $7+ and that's just for locl IN Canada, let alone more to the States.

Ebay truly put their head up their own... well you know on this one! If Ebay is so bloody sure that it only costs that much to send packages, then maybe Ebay should open their own postal service for those prices and allow us to ship through them instead of Canada Post, which they can't and won't. This is the end for Ebay.ca and Canadian Sellers if you ask me. A crying shame to, but they've got no one, NO ONE to blame but themselves!

[craftycatsattic]

boneshakerscards, if you read through the information eBay provides regarding the shipping maximums, they know full well that the costs are higher for Canadians. They even provide a list of suggestions for Canadian sellers like including the extra shipping into the price of the item or moving their listings to .ca. They are forcing the media sellers to match the US prices or ship out back to Canada....reminds me of being told to take the 401 if I didn't like the 101...lol...but that is another highly debatable subject!