eBay Seller Release to Include Changes to Fees, Feedback

[pierrelebel]

By Ina Steiner
EcommerceBytes.com
February 28, 2012

eBay will announce the first Seller Release of 2012 today, and fees and feedback are on the table. Some of the forthcoming policy changes are designed to encourage sellers to send items quickly and reward sellers for having no communication with buyers, and eBay is raising the bar for Top Rated Sellers who wish to receive the 20% Final Value Fee discount.

Beginning July 2nd, eBay will offer sellers free image hosting, and beginning in the fall, all listings will be required to have at least one picture - additional quality standards for pictures will also be in effect.

eBay will also raise the maximum Final Value Fee for auction listings to $250 for non-Store owners, which impacts auctions that close at $1,111 and above.

for more:  http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m02/i28/s00 

[tobyshitzu]

Is that right?"

No, its explained in the update they put out, plus plies of thread on the .com special forum for this

[zoomrr69]

Finally....after years of crap..finally the company has woken up ..Thank You.....

Is it wrong to list things in a wrong category...can these big stores be reported for listing in wrong sections....?

[pocomocomputing]

Kalvin, Vincenzo - Will eBay be providing a tool to flag all listings with photos that are under the 500 pixels on the longest side?

I have no issues with the 500 pixel minimum but upon checking some others sellers listings (some with 1,000+) listings, the photos when enlarged are so close to the 500 pixel mark (just under and just over).

So how is a seller to know the size of a photo in the eBay photo gallery without manually checking each listing using the Enlarge and checking browser properties on the photo?

Some sellers crop their photos to various sizes and have no "standard" size they use when uploading.

[pjcdn2005]

I just got back from a holiday and read this whole thread but it is a lot to absorb so I apologize if I repeat or misunderstand something.

Its not me mentioned being concerned that the updates will force more U.S. sellers refuse to send to a Canadian buyer using first class international.

But is that really the case?....I'm a bit confused.

According to the updates, U.S. sellers will need to have tracking on 90% of their transactions to U.S. buyers in order to be a TRS.

That makes me wonder if in order for a U.S. seller to receive the absolute "best" placement in search, they will have to offer tracking to ALL buyers or just to U.S. buyers. ??

Also, the way that I understand it,.they only have to include a shipping  option with tracking in order to qualify. So even if the search placement applies international shipping, wouldn't that mean that they could offer 1 shipping option with tracking  and 1 without  tracking?

If that is the case, a U.S. seller wouldn't be penalized in search if they offered first class international AND priority with delivery confirmation.

http://announcements.ebay.com/

Starting June 1, those listings from Top-rated sellers that include 1-day handling and a 14-day or longer return policy with a money-back option will get the greatest average boost in exposure and 20% final value fee discounts. Listings that don’t include these services will continue to get some boost in Best Match and the Top-rated seller badge, but not the 20% discount or greatest average boost.

[tobyshitzu]

it doesnt affect Americans shipping outside the USA. Though Rodney says they'd like more USA>Canada items to be shipped tracked.

The best hope for Can sellers is many of them fail to understand it and raise shipping cost to Canada or cut it off altogether.  there are lots of posts on .com where people don't understand the tracking thing is USA only

[pjcdn2005]

It seems that Rodney is contradicting what Vincenzo said...or I'm just misunderstanding something?. I understood Vincenzo to say that using a paypal shipping invoice number as the "tracking" information" (such as one that is downloaded with small packet air) would help to qualify a Canadian seller for the better search placement. (assuming that they had invoice numbers for 90% of their U.S. buyers)

Rodney seems to contradict this and said that it has to be an actual tracking number, not an invoice number.

Which one is correct?

I've been awake all night as my flight was an overnight one so that's my excuse if I'm totally wrong about all of this. lol

[golfing_in_style]

There is absolutely zero chance I will not communicate with my customers during the shipping process.The reason I am able to maintain 5s or close to in all DSRs is because I communicate.I receive 100s of respones like: "Thanks for the update I really appreciate it." The heart and soul of an organization is through the use of respectful and meaningful communication.I doubt very much if this new rule will negatively effect anyone of us who really care about providing excellent service.It really is a non issue.

play well & play often!!

[it*s-not-me]

According to the updates, U.S. sellers will need to have tracking on 90% of their transactions to U.S. buyers in order to be a TRS.

Maybe I misunderstood and it does not include Americans shipping to Canada.

In any event, we could be 10% that is shipped without tracking but US sellers probably won't be thinking that way.

Either way I'm just going to forget about it and see what happens.

Probably nothing.

[it*s-not-me]

There is absolutely zero chance I will not communicate with my customers during the shipping process.The reason I am able to maintain 5s or close to in all DSRs is because I communicate.

Yes, this part is very confusing.

I'm starting to understand the rest......... and can see that I made mistakes about shipping from US to Canada.

I'm still not sure if we can't communicate at all or if we just can't communicate until the item has been shipped.

You're right on:  Communicating with our buyers has saved our shipping time DSRs to get the automatic "5."

[cumos55]

Two things...

(1) Registered mail... Canada Post

Regular lettermail has no insurance associated with it.

Add a registered component...and you get insurance  plus tracking... just like a parcel..

Insurance subject to considerations can go as high as $5000

delivery confirmation guaranteed

(2) DSR... When DSR first came out  many sellers looked to make big dramatic changes...

From personal experience...  some very small changes  made a big difference in how buyers rate a seller.

and am still making those small changes... 

[pierrelebel]

Good morning Rodney

You wrote " I worked to ensure Canadian sellers were exempt from the 90% tracking requirement for the US Top-rated designation."

That's great and most apprciated.

However, I have concerns.  I am a strong believer in the "law of unintended consequences" when policy changes are made and exceptions are made to those new policies.

Considering comments made yesterday at the Town Hall Meeting on eBay.com, many sellers (stamps, trading cards, coupons, etc...) using low cost USPS First Class Mail in the USA were complaining about the much higher cost for them to use a shipping method offering "tracking" as required by the new policy to maintain the TRS status on eBay.com.  The alternative of course is to raise prices to make up for the extra cost. 

The staff at eBay seemed to suggest that although they would lose their TRS status, everyone would remain competitive if they all kept using the low cost first class mail.

However, and that is my question, since Canadian sellers are exempted from the requirement to provide tracking, would that not leave Canadian sellers at a huge competitive advantage against American sellers on eBay.com?  Our TRS status would earn lower fees allowing us to keep lower prices while the TRS designation would give us preferential visibility in Best Match.

Is that what eBay really wants?  Does that make sense to you? Or is it an unintended consequence?

[it*s-not-me]

Potential ""Unintended Consequences"" of these upcoming changes are many.

When I try to understand any one of the changes it's not hard to predict a half dozen off-shoots from each alteration which were never intended.


I've decided to watch and see what happens, but..........

I'm pretty sure there will be numerous outcomes which were never foreseen when the changes were made.

(Just as one small example: It's stated above that Canadian sellers are exempt from the 90% tracking requirement......... but I'm pretty sure that all the Asian sellers are as well........

Try to understand the consequences of that!)

[tobyshitzu]

". but I'm pretty sure that all the Asian sellers are as well."

They aren't, so they will hev no chance at the fee discount.

But 20% of 9% of mostly very low price items doesnt add up to much.  And msot of them had enoguh low time dsrs to not have it anyway.

[it*s-not-me]

They aren't, so they will hev no chance at the fee discount.

I read elsewhere that they are exempt, but you're probably right.  You seem to be pretty good with stuff like that.

One obvious problem is trying to piece the whole puzzle together.

Way to complicated.

[oldbazaar]

If we are to be rewarded for having no communication with buyers, why is one of the DSR questions about communication, and why does one of eBay's default feedback comments on Selling Manager include "Good communication"?

Franchement, I am totally confused.

[recyclemikey]

so feedback is back on the table?

as in sellers can leave NEGATIVE FEEDBACK?

I'd like to think that since I'm a Top-Rated Power Seller, that eBay would show some love but all it means is that I'm a sucker and enjoy getting bent over a barrel and treated like a jailhouse dog..

I give about 5% of my business to eBay.  If they ever started taking care of their sellers like they USED to then perhaps eBay would get a bit more.

[recyclemikey]

and what's even funnier is that I tried to post that comment several times but I guess my language was too 'strong' even though I never swore and the only bad word I used was slang for prostitute.

[tunexs]

I have not been on ebay for a while, but it really seems to have changed(unfortunately) I am sure there are those out there that will find loopholes in any system. Perhaps listing items for 1 penny and charging $50 for shipping. I guess the days of ebay being a place where you can actually sell a couple of items for a few bucks and communicate with people from other countries are gone? Is ebay now the one who set the prices? Based on the policies it would appear that is what is wanted.

[bb_cool_stuff]

The days of a penny listing & a high shipping price are in most cases over since FVFs were implemented for shipping prices. Still a few sellers with outrageous shipping prices.

Unfortunately eBay sometimes has set the market, in some instances, regarding the price of mainstream mass marketed items. The Sport Card sellers could probably offer a far better market assessment in their category.

Rare, Hard to Find & Scarce items still do very well & can usually command high prices.

[tactical-innovations]

I too have not sold on Ebay for six months or so after  a bad experience. When ebay/paypal started holding my funds for 21 days AFTER I had successfull sales around the world  and together with 3 members did not leave feedback of any kind I called it quits.

 Ebays rules at that time applyed to new sellers untill 90 days after their first feedback/sale and that did not happen then. Now it apply's for sellers untill 10 feedback are recorded. WELL I WANT my three feedback I rightfully  earned.

 What are you going to do about this. Automatic 5 star after a certain time?