eBay

surplusdealdude · ‎07-20-2009

A lot of this looks good, if it's true.

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2009/7/1248058245.html

eBay will change its PowerSeller program in the United States later this year by adding a top-rated seller designation. (We wrote in April about a survey eBay had conducted to gather feedback on a proposed "certified seller" program.) DSR requirements for PowerSeller eligibility would be raised from 4.5 to 4.6. While not all of the details have been confirmed, it seems certain eBay will be rolling out the new program as part of its September release, to be announced later this month.

eBay will remove the PowerSeller branding from buyer-facing pages, but the program would continue to set seller standards by which eBay rewards or punishes sellers through monetary discounts and exposure in search results. Only top-rated sellers would have a badge appear in listings and public pages.

According to sources, eBay may be planning to give PowerSellers a 5% Final Value fee discount and a 10% free-shipping discount, and giving top-rated PowerSellers a 20% Final Value fee discount and a 20% free-shipping discount.

The minimum average DSR criteria would be evaluated on a trailing 12-month period but would remain a 3-month period for high-volume sellers. It's uncertain whether eBay would keep dedicated customer support for PowerSellers.

A new DSR rate calculation based on the percentage of low DSR ratings (1 and 2's) would be a factor in distinguishing seller classification. However, only DSRs from US buyers would factor in that calculation.

Exposure in Search
eBay top-rated sellers would receive increased exposure in eBay search results, while PowerSellers and casual sellers would receive "neutral" exposure. Under-performing sellers would be demoted in Best Match search. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. Carl Sagan

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan

pierrelebel · ‎07-20-2009

"PowerSeller program in the United States "

Will this affect Canadian sellers registered on eBay.com?

Canadian sellers listing/selling on eBay.com?

Will eBay.ca duplicate the eBay.com changes?

surplusdealdude · ‎07-20-2009

Well, we can hope.

It'll be like having that "double the FVF" promotion made permanent. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. Carl Sagan

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan

whoscloset · ‎07-21-2009

Truth of the matter is that eBay is "massaging" ratings for those PSer's that are paying them to do so. The program you are outlining is yet another camouflaged way of providing preferred service to those who eBay sees as a "cash cow".

Trust me...over time this will have zero benefit to you and me. The fact that eBay has blatantly abandoned the "everyone is equal" policy with regard to listing has already impacted the FB policy as well. It has been revealed that their new Diamond PSers are not only getting listing rates you and I only dream of...they are getting FB removal and massaging upon request.

The days of equality and fair-play on eBay are long gone. This is just another statement which has been carefully worded to throw us off while paving the way to provide elite sellers with more exposure and power.

Expand to other selling avenues...particularly your own site...while you still have the ability to drive traffic to it from your ebay sales.

Monique

surplusdealdude · ‎07-21-2009

Well, Monique, I saw a chart on SellerDome that would suggest that you're wrong.

The higher the number of feedback, the lower the average rating seerms to be the rule of the day.

It's marginal, of course, but it's definitely there. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. Carl Sagan

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan

surplusdealdude · ‎07-21-2009

I agree about establishing your own website, though and I'm in the process of doing that.

But I'm moving forward according to my own plan, not running away from ebay.

Not to infer that you are, of course. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. Carl Sagan

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan

pierrelebel · ‎07-21-2009

"The fact that eBay has blatantly abandoned the "everyone is equal" policy"

There never was such policy.

The official word was "level playing field" - where everyone has the same opportunity, the same possibilities.

I find no problem with eBay offering better incentives or lower rates to larger sellers - as long as all sellers have the same opportunity to achieve those sales levels.

PayPal already offers lower fees to most of us (receiving over $3,000 month) and I do not read any complaints from PowerSellers on the subject. With higher volume, we also get better conversion rates (better in fact than most Canadian banks) and, once again, I do not read too many complaints about that!

We live in a world of "free enterprise" or capitalism (rewarding the winners) - not communism (protecting the losers). Let's celebrate our environment and applaud those who achieve success.