AuctionBytes: Big Changes Being Announced On Monday

[pjcdn2005]

I'll post this on the Selling on Ebay board too so that more people see it.


[url http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y209/m07/abu0243/s02]eBay Sellers Should Brace for Monday's Major Announcement[/url]


eBay is making a major announcement on Monday, CEO John Donahoe told Wall Street. This the second of two announcements this year that eBay is making that affect sellers - the first announcement was made in April and those changes rolled out in June. The second set of changes, called "SR2," will roll out in about 60 days, prior to the holiday shopping season.

Donahoe gave an inkling to Wall Street analysts about two of the upcoming changes during Wednesday's conference call on second-quarter earnings, and the Wall Street Journal published an article on Saturday outlining a number of changes its sources say are on the way.

AuctionBytes also heard from sources about what changes eBay has been considering, much of which we've reported in AuctionBytes over the past week. Today, we try to put it all together in a "cheat sheet" of what may be coming in Monday's announcement.

Changes to the PowerSeller program are significant and are likely to be the most controversial. The Wall Street Journal described Monday's announcement as "designed to help large vendors sell new goods in greater volumes," and longtime eBay sellers will likely feel that some of those changes disadvantage them. Indeed, eBay may restrict access to Featured First to Top Rated sellers only, and may even do away with other optional features that draw attention to a seller's listing.

The changes to the PowerSeller program appear to be, in effect, a fee increase, given that eBay is reducing discounts for many sellers. In addition, some may perceive certain policies as being unfair to sellers and also possibly requiring them to edit their listings yet again, a process that can be time-intensive.

There are lingering suspicions that eBay ignores or perhaps even manipulates low DSRs and negative feedback ratings for favored sellers and Diamond PowerSellers, resulting in lower fees and better exposure on the site to the detriment of smaller, long-time sellers. Monday's announcement may help fuel those suspicions among some users.

Some sellers will welcome the expansion of multi-variation listings and having more data in the new Search Visibility Report. Other policies may get mixed reviews, such as the new Unpaid Item Process.

Keep in mind that nothing is official until eBay announces it on Monday. The company will be hold a Town Hall meeting on July 29 at 3:30 pm PST to discuss the changes.

[pierrelebel]

[pierrelebel]

Here is the official announcement. Check this http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200907270812462.html

[pierrelebel]

I am:

[fenian]

From my reading, it would appear that only sales to US residents will count towards achieving and maintaining "Top Seller Status", for those of us who live in Canada but sell on the dot com eBay site. In other words, we must sell at least 100 items per 12 month period to US residents, and only those DSR ratings received from US residents will count towards seller discounts and any other seller status related benefits. Like Pierre, I'm showing the "ribbon", for now at least. ............Michael

[ricarmic]

WHEW, I was worried abit about this round of changes.

Overall it is ok.

I'm sad to see featured plus go, it is very difficult to compete with the "big guys" with featured firsts since they tend to flood the category with them. (someone sinking $25K a week into featured firsts is hard to compete with!)

Once again I'll have to review and adjust my "draw new buyers" strategy to maximize draw and minimize $$$ out the door!

The way they're doing the 1s and 2s will help me. So far as I know, 90% of my 1s and 2s have been given to me in ERROR by overseas people either by accident, either meant for another seller or for things like haven't received item yet (ooops but I haven't paid yet either) situations. Fortunately I haven't had very many overall yet, hopefully it stays that way.

I believe I'll be a TRS too.

[fatdane]

Well as far as I can decipher Ebay speak and after checking my sellers console i will be a top rated seller. I think I'm glad, however, that I operate in a niche market -stamps for collectors. Most large companies that have gotten involved in selling stamps pack up after a few years. There are very few wholesalers of stamps that can sell to a dealer at a price where the dealer can in turn sell the stamp on Ebay. In earlier stamps the challenge can be finding a stamp or set, not selling it. Pierre - how many VF NH $5 Jubilees do you have in stock? And how many could you sell quickly if you could find one or two?

[pierrelebel]

"how many VF NH $5 Jubilees do you have in stock?"

None

"And how many could you sell quickly if you could find one or two?"

I could sell at least ten, with ten phone calls, at full retail price, without having to list them on eBay.

I wish 🙂