Recent Changes - Helpful Links

[miriam@ebay.com]

Hello folks,

Here are some links for information on the changes that were announced on 1/29.

Bill Cobb's announcement:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/ca/200801.shtml#2008-01-29085842

Jim Ambach's announcement:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/ca/200801.shtml#2008-01-29092134

Overview of Changes:
http://pages.ebay.ca/sell/update08/overview/index.html

Fees Changes:
http://pages.ebay.ca/sell/update08/basic/index.html

Fees FAQs:
http://pages.ebay.ca/sell/update08/feefaq/index.html

Rewards & Standards:
http://pages.ebay.ca/sell/update08/rewards/index.html

Rewards & Standards FAQs:
http://pages.ebay.ca/sell/update08/rewardsfaq/index.html

eBay eCommerce Forum Keynote Archive:
http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/pmtv001/25201/

eBay eCommerce Forum Q&A Session Archive:
http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/pmtv001/25431/

eBay Seller Webinar Archive:
https://www110.livemeeting.com/cc/vcc-ic03/view?id=ic03-rewards1&role=attend&pw=view

PowerSeller Changes:
http://pages.ebay.ca/services/buyandsell/powersellers.html

PowerSeller Fee Discounts:
http://pages.ebay.ca/services/buyandsell/powerseller/benefits/discounts.html

PowerSeller Fee Discounts FAQ:
http://pages.ebay.ca/services/buyandsell/powerseller/benefits/discounts_faq.html

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Miriam

[palms_and_pdas]

Actually that's not entirely true. eBay bids on almost every keyword in eBay listing titles on Google Adwords and there was the IT campaign that cought my attention (whatever IT is find IT on eBay).

Sorry but you statement is flawed.

Not everyone is on their computer searching the internet for items 24 / 7 or has even bought online due to the trust factor or experience.

There has been little or no media advertising to promote the site in TV, Radio, Newspaper or Magazines.

Google adwords is a pay as you go service for keywords bought and they only bump certain keywords up in a search engine when they are bought.

This applys to any other similar service on the internet.

If you dont pay then you dont play.

The keyword process is to draw you from the search engines to ebay only attracting or drawing in existings internet users to the site.

Ebay does not buy keywords every day and it shows on site traffic and sales.

Al
Fitzheuen

[palms_and_pdas]

Hi dipmicro

You have seen yourself the process is not working so I am not sure why the above statements.

The numbers are really simple and are taken from your sales that I have attached below

So why come to the defence of EBay by yourself ???

The math is very easy to understand the keywords process is one of the things that is not working (ADVERTISING $$$$)

You have 537 multiple item auctions listed or $85,000.00 usd worth of product unsold in 90 days with 143 singles items sold or $1066.00 usd worth of sales in the last 90 days.

The sales and traffic that you are stating that is being draw in with keywords is one factor and I think that you are missing the real point of my posting

Many sellers are not paying the costs of products or ebay fees and this is an internal problem with EBAY's corporate plan.

You cannot just try and retain customers you have to bring in new customers or find other markets.

HOW MANY COMPUTER CHIPS, IPODS or PIECES OF JEWELRY can one person buy ???

Al
Fitzheuen

[dipmicro]

The numbers are really simple and are taken from your sales that I have attached below.

Those numbers are irrelevant because I have been off eBay entire December-January. In the rush of reopening the store I uploaded plenty duplicate or even triplicate listings, normally I don't have more than 20k retail value on eBay and around 300 listings.

So why come to the defence of EBay by yourself ???

Don't get me wrong, I am not an eBay monkey. Even though generally the traffic of eBay has been diminishing, I am a late adopter and there is still a lot to gain by being here.

Recently I started AdWords campaing and noticed that eBay bids on MY keywords 🙂 I click on it and it took me to MY eBay store. So I am competing against myself in AdWords campaign 🙂

I responded to that portion of your post, because I read it just a moment after I did a competition analysis for my Adwords campaign.

Take it easy. eBay still works for us. There is a lot of purchasing power on this site, much much more than on any of our sites. Even Monique's ... 🙂

[futuretech_liquidations]

Miriam:

One suggestion I would like to make that might help with better educating USA BUYERS shopping outside of the WORLD (AKA everyone else not living in the USA) would be for a pop-up screen advising them that SHIPPING AN DELIVERY TIMEFRAMES COULD BE GREATER THAN 2WKS OR MORE IF THEY CHOOSE TO CONTINUE AND ACCPET THIS THEN PRESS HERE.

Now if this sellers leaves a negative feedback and the SELLER is able to effectively prove to eBaY that they shipped within accpetable timeframe as set by EBAY that this negative would be REMOVED!

If the seller was NOT able to show that they shipped in reasonable timeframe then negative would stand.

I think that this type of setup, is fair for everyone involved and would not take away from eBaY's ultimate goal of buyer retention. It is NOT FAIR to assume that ALL buyers will use their BEST JUDGEMENT to determine what is acceptable shipping time and costs - If eBaY is not aware the USA by far has more maniacs in one state then most countries have citizens -- just turn on CNN and judge for yourself.

Even better, tell Mr. Donohoe to leave his front door unlocked when you heads of to work in the morning I am sure someone will stop by and lock it for him and leave him a pleasant reminder note that he forgot to lock his front door.

Seriously, my suggestion about the POP-UP SHIPPING TIME NOTICE for USA buyers shopping outside of the USA would be a real good work around solution that I think SELLERS outside the USA would gladly welcome instead of this CART BLANCE that eBaY is givining buyers by taking away feedback privileges from all eBaY sellers just because a few stupid sellers abused the system.

Regards,

Tim @ FTL

[futuretech_liquidations]

In addition, eBaY could setup the notice similiar to the way the ebay messaging system works whereby the BUYER would have to enter a PASSCODE that would validate their acceptance and therefore be their signoff to eBaY that they have read the notice and are aware of the shipping times associated with ordering items outside of the USA.

I would like to know your thoughts on my suggestion - through communication I am sure we can come up with a system that is acceptable and all parties.

Regards,

Tim @ FTL

[palms_and_pdas]

Hi Miriam

Is it true that they are removing the mutual feedback withdrawl process from ebay's feedback system. ????

Al
Fitzheuen

[palms_and_pdas]

Hey Tim

Do you feel like you are banging your head against the wall with the new changes and trying to get someone to listen or do anything ???

Al
Fitzheuen

[ciderantiques]

Hi Fitzheuen:

See Post 26 left by Miriam:

Mutual Feedback Withdrawal is scheduled to be phased out in the second half of 2008. This means a negative will remain for 12 months, unless the user who left it is suspended.

No need for this provision anymore, because we sellers can't leave a negative. Nothing mutual about it !

Karen

[ciderantiques]

Hi Fitz . . . since you are up so late . . go check out the US power sellers discussion board. It is a very interesting read. Some very discruntled comments. Karen.

[ciderantiques]

disgruntled ]:)

[tea_past_times]

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000506625&tstart=0&mod=1203388073639

[canadianclearances]

Hi everyone im pretty new to E-Bay i've had an E-Bay store for about 6 months now i have been reading about all the changes and my biggest concern are the newbies they really do not understand the value of feedback and the impact it may have good or bad i really feel more thought should have been put into this process and something should have been done regarding 10 feeback or less they should not be allowed to post negative unless it has been reviewed first or something to that nature another concern i have is extortion i really think allot of buyers will try to extort sellers to get what they want or sellers will leave negative feedback i'm really concerned for my future here at E-bay as on average i am forking out between $900.00 and $1400.00 a month in sellers fees and really do not believe E-bay is giving me the protection i need as a seller lets be honest i am a store i depend on my feedback if i leave a newbie negative he just pulls out another credit card and opens a new account with a fresh slate while i'm stuck with a negative because i live in Canada he lives in Alabama and he purchased an item Thursday and now it is tuesady and his package did not arrive....there is alot of buzz about alot of the bigger stores jumping ship and i really hope the outcome of this is going to be better then what it seems Thanks

[canadianclearances]

where else can we go to sell?

[miriam@ebay.com]

Hi futuretech_liquidations,

Hope you had a good weekend. In regards to your suggestion, I agree that improving buyer education (especially US facing) is important. We are considering several options on how best to do this - we're not far enough along to talk specifics yet.

Placing a roadblock (such as requiring buyers to click and agree to sellers' shipping terms) in the middle of the buying flow is highly unlikely to happen. (I'm also not sure it would be enforceable, but that's outside my area of expertise.) As a buyer, I would not be willing to agree to this - I would just go to another site where I could get a better buyer experience. This is precisely the problem we are attempting to fix on our site.

I appreciate your concerns and the concerns of other sellers who have posted here, but I want to be as transparent as possible. eBay is seeking to rebalance a feedback system that has been become significantly skewed in favour of the seller over the last few years through the use of retaliatory feedback. We're very aware that some sellers don't agree with these changes, but eBay believes these changes will improve the health of the entire marketplace.

Miriam

[ciderantiques]

Hello Miriam,

This was forwarded to me today by one of my customers. Is this an example of what is to come? See auction link:

http://ngvi.ebay.com/vi?ngvi&backto … QwpVHQs%3D

On this seller's listing page, it is highlighted in red "this seller has low ratings for shipping time", even though the seller has over 4/5 stars (at the time of this posting). So, The buyer doesn't even know that giving a score of 4/5 is so harmful. The terminology is all messed up.

I think there are a lot of wrinkles that need to be worked out, to say the least.

When the buyer is leaving feedback and also filling out the star rankings they are told the 4th star is "Very Good" as the selection. Doesn't the 5th star say "Outstanding"? or something like that. Most people are reluctant to be that happy with their shipping costs, so they pick 4 or lower.

eBay should at least make the implications of the star ratings consistent with the definitions that the buyers are using.

Karen.

[ciderantiques]

Sorry the link didn't work . . . it is auction #330211950026 in completed.

[katiusciav]

i'm sorry...did i miss something in the new 'changes'? when did this come out that ebay puts a big red line in the middle of the seller's page showing that they're low in a certain dsr score???

what the heck? i'm not an expert or anything, but isn't that sort of bad for business? why would you 'point it out'? doesn't that discourage the buyer from bidding? am i missing something here? and can't the buyer just look for themselves instead of having it right in the middle of the auction page like a big bad red warning?

**oh lord...sigh..*

[ciderantiques]

I have tried to post the link again. Is the page layout on this auction a sample layout? Not every auction page looks like this.

Listing 330211950026

[tea_past_times]

The pleasant surprises just keep on coming and coming. Don't they?!

[tea_past_times]

Is it Ok if we put a couple of paragraphs in red about what Ebay doesn't do well,in our listings? Oh wait, make that a couple of pages of red ink for Ebay!!