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.

[lina-mallows]

boneshakerscards- you wrote...."This is the end for Ebay.ca..."

While this is ONLY part of what you wrote...WHY is this a bad thing?

In situations EXACTLY like this- eBAY.CA IS PROVIDING, NO SUPPORT, AND NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE REALITIES of selling & shipping in Canada.
If ebay.COM is listening, that's wonderful. However, at the end of the day, and before ANY announcement...NO ONE at eBay.COM appears to be listening.

With support like this......why bother?

[dagr8_renaud]

ste11arse11er

You my friend see it exacty as it is , one thing I cant get out of my head is : surely eBay sees it too so what is behind all this masquerade ? btw I only ship using EMS because I got burned on paypal once too many ( twice actually for a total of almost 600$ ) it is refreshing to read it and I thank you for posting , will it have any effect ? I hope ....

lina-mallows

boneshakerscards- you wrote...."This is the end for Ebay.ca..."

While this is ONLY part of what you wrote...WHY is this a bad thing?

In situations EXACTLY like this- eBAY.CA IS PROVIDING, NO SUPPORT, AND NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE REALITIES of selling & shipping in Canada.
If ebay.COM is listening, that's wonderful. However, at the end of the day, and before ANY announcement...NO ONE at eBay.COM appears to be listening.

With support like this......why bother?

I totally agree , I do NOT bother , but I wonder where does that leave us ? as someone else posted earlier ' surfing the wave until it is not possible anymore ? well this is surely how it feels for me, one thing for sure I will adapt but will it still be worth it or will it end up eBay and paypal combined making more money out of MY products then me ?

[bits-n-pieces]

Here is a very well hidden discussion board about the virtual Paypal only that will be forced on .com.....12 pages of anger, angst, disgust, disappointment and dismay. More sellers are saying they will leave - ebay never cares about that, but they should wake up when they see the number of buyers who are unhappy.

Any good business knows it is much more profitable to keep an existing good customer than it is to chase down a new one......

http://workshops.ebay.com/thread.jspa?threadID=13000000045&start=360

I have been selling on ebay for over 10 years and in all that time I have never had a bogus money order or a bad cheque that I didn't eventually get paid for. I have had several bogus chargebacks by scamming buyers who used Paypal.

I stuck to cheques and mo for years until I was bullied into taking Paypal as well. The additional fees on top of ebay's ever increasing percentage have almost reached a point that negates making an acceptable profit here. With all the other restrictions on sellers, best match search idiocy, feedback changes, dsr's and total lack of cs it is time to more on. This Paypal only will be the end for me. Time to list everything in inventory, hope a lot sells before this place crashes and burns then move what is left elsewhere.

[ampurtle]

Drats... none of these people that are leaving are my competitors. Screwed again :^O

[craftycatsattic]

Lol...I just checked and none of them are mine either 😞

I must say, anxiety and anger aside, I am bewildered at this new eBay that will undoubtedly be a newer eBay..next week? next month? whatever? And then once it's new...will they decide to reverse any of their new policies?

They are like chickens running around with their heads cut-off.

[lina-mallows]

craftycatsattic- regarding your comment about "like chickens running around with their heads cut-off." How timely.....

From the MONTREAL GAZETTE
DON MACPHERSON, The Gazette
Published: Thursday, August 21:
"Fun in rural Quebec: cutting off the heads of chickens
In a sick game, people bet on where the headless bird will land

"For the past eight years, a highlight of late summer on the shore of Grand Lac Saint-François in the Appalachian foothills near the American border south of Quebec City has been the "Thetford Chicken Massacre."

(Actually, the private event is held on the grounds of a summer cottage in the municipality of St. Joseph de Coleraine, which is south of the town of Thetford Mines for which the event is named.)

In what the Quebec City daily Le Soleil described as "a party atmosphere," a live chicken or turkey is brought out before as many as 125 invited guests, most of them young people, gathered around a grid traced on the ground.

For each square in the grid, a ticket has been sold to a spectator, the wagers going into a pot. The bird's head is then chopped off and its jerking body tossed into the air above the grid. After about 20 seconds, the body stops flopping, and the holder of the ticket for the square on which it comes to rest wins the pot."

How BIG of a grid do you think we'll need?