eBay Changes in September

[allotment]

eBay have recently announced some changes which will roll out on the site in September. Many of the changes seem positive and sensible. There will always be winners and losers and this round of changes seems to be better balanced than some of their previous efforts. The old Powerseller program is being replaced with a new and very stringent 'Top Seller' program. Here in the UK many sellers are seeing this as a cloaked fee increase but, to be fair to eBay, it is also a move towards rewarding quality of service rather than just rewarding sales voilume. There are significant changes to DSR calculations. International sales are no longer included in the sellers performance status. Low value stars (1's and 2's) are being given a much elevated ranking. Low volume sellers are being protected from the impact of a small number of low ranking scores. These changes favour the high quality / smaller seller, a good thing. There are changes to required seller standards. Sellers must take responsibility for delivery. Phrases such as “I’m not responsible for items lost in the post” are barred. Insurance as an add on cost is no longer allowable. I wince every time I see the 'I am not responsible... ' phrase on seller listings, this is good change. For me there is just one negative which I suspect will hurt auction sales in the antique and collector market. eBay are going to issue automated payment reminders after 48hrs and then again at 96 hrs of auction end. There is no opt out for those sellers who have more lenient payment terms. International sellers who let buyers combine items to save on shipping will be hit. Your thoughts ? Linda About Postcards

[dmhcollectibles]

Hi Linda ebay is also going to let everyone use every seller's pictures in their listings unless those sellers opt out (which according to some people I know isn't all that easy to do). In other words, if I own (or owned) the same postcard as seller x, and I put that postcard up for sale with a picture, seller x could use MY picture in HIS item description, even though they are two different cards. That's not right. I've had it with ebay. DSRs are an absolute abomination when you can get dinged on "cost of shipping" even though your shipping is FREE. Duh, how could a seller make FREE shipping better? PAY the buyer??? ebay is going to require UK sellers to ship for FREE any item that's sold in certain categories, such as books. I used to sell books on ebay, there's no way I would now. Not allow sellers to charge for insurance? In fact, not allow me to determine how much I will charge for shipping? And don't get me started about how ebay lets non-paying buyers leave feedback for a "transaction" ebay lost my business more than a year ago because of its ridiculous policies. They'll never get my business back. And There are thousands of sellers (ex-sellers too) who feel the same way. --

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[allotment]

Hello Diane, You are in fine form as ever..... I suspect you're mistaken about "if I own (or owned) the same postcard as seller x, and I put that postcard up for sale with a picture, seller x could use MY picture in HIS item description, even though they are two different cards". From what I've read eBay are only capturing pictures for their "catalog pages" (things like consumer electronics etc), one of a kind items in the antique and collectable categories are not affected (& anyway sellers can opt out if they have concerns). Re the eBay 'optional' insurance change we'll have to differ. Here in Europe (& very many other countries) a business selling to a private individual is legally liable to replace or refund items lost or damaged in the post. So over here, insurance is deemed to be for the sellers benefit rather than the buyers. The eBay insurance change is just (for us here in Europe) eBay making a step toward forcing seller compliance with European law. Most sellers handle it by taking the risk into account when when pricing items/shipping. Re the DSR's I'm in two minds. I can see the sense of the system but I'd do think they have set a extremely high bar for the Top Seller program and it's a shame that eBay have excluded international sales from the calculation. The 'FREE' post changes seem a bad thing There is no such thing as free postage, someone has to pay. I suppose it does create a level field in the affected category but then the volume people who can get postage discounts will have an advantage. It's very very bad for buyers, sellers will inevitably include postage in the item cost which in turn increases the sellers ebay fees and therefor the item cost to the buyer. The only winner on 'free' postage seems to be eBay who will now collect a slice of the postage via seller fees..

[dmhcollectibles]

Linda, The image use thing was announced a couple of days ago and, as far as I can tell, applies to ANY image posted by an ebay seller - not just for new items. So if I was unethical I could use an image of a mint condition postcard in the description of my not-quite mint card. Yes, sellers can opt out. But have you tried the opt-out procedure? I and other sellers I know have, with somewhat mixed results. The opt-out "option" doesn't always display, so you can't do. Other times you can select it, but it doesn't "stick" and reverts back to the default (allowing your images to be used by anyone) the next time you check. I know some sellers who've tried - unsuccessfully - to opt out 20 or 25 times. You're right, for the most part insurance is for the benefit of sellers. I just disagree with being unable to charge anything for it, especially when ebay is giving huge search result benefits to those who offer free shipping. As you say, the price of insurance (and p & p) will have to be built into the item price. But just think: how many buyers will be willing to pay $6 for a $2 card after you take all that into account. Yes, I've had buyers insist on insurance for $2 items! Let me ask you this. If you sold record albums (as I do), books and other heavy objects (as I do) would you really want to pay for the shipping yourself instead of being able to charge the buyer a reasonable shipping charge? Because that's what's happening in the UK, where sellers are REQUIRED to offer "free shipping" for those types of items. I strongly suspect it will happen in the US eventually too. Big brother is watching. They tell me what I can sell, how much I can charge for shipping (if anything), what forms of payment I can accept and they preclude meaningful communications between buyers and sellers. I am SO glad I stopped selling on ebay more than a year ago. There are very few, if any, changes made by ebay in the last 3 years that in my opinion are for anyone's benefit other than ebay's, despite what they claim. I don't know if you sold on ebay during the "good old days" when buyers and sellers trusted each other, sometimes got to be friends, and transactions almost always went like clockwork. No more, my friends, those days are done. The Amazonification of ebay is getting closer and closer to completion, and then ebay won't have any collectibles up for sale because there won't be a way to do it. Ebay's main interest now is in big-box sellers of new items, not you and me selling postcards or other collectibles like it used to be. Linda, I wish you luck on ebay, because I think you're going to need it before too much more time passes by. I know I sound like I'm a ranting paranoid, but if you boil everything down to the nub, nothing here is favorable to sellers anymore. This entire post is just my opinion of course. Diane --

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[allotment]

Hello Diane, You never sound like a ranting paranoid. You've just got strong opinions and are entitled to have them. Yes, I can remember the early days of eBay, a member since 2000 on this id, earlier on another one I think. If I'm honest then I'd have to say that for me a lot of the good things you mention about the early days, "buyers and sellers trusted each other, sometimes got to be friends, and transactions almost always went like clockwork" are generally still there. I'm convinced you are mistaken about the image thing It has nothing to do with unique items. It's just for the catalog pages To exactly quote eBay "catalog photos will be available to other sellers of identical items to use in their listings, not similar, identical. Unique, one of a kind items do not have catalog data, are not catalogable, and those photos will NOT be made available to other sellers)." For insurance what most sellers will do is to simply add a very small (pennies) charge to each item to cover their anticipated overall annual postal loss/damage costs. It's certainly not going to require sellers to charge $6 for a $2 item. RE Free Shipping...... I'm in the UK. Over here 'free' shipping has been a reality in several categories for quite a long time. I really don't like it but.... All that happens is that the shipping costs get bundled up into the item price (& ebay add on a % fee). When the 'free' shipping change first hits a category many sellers struggle to adjust, some fail, some make the adjustment successfully and continue. Nothing is ever free & I'm opposed to 'free shipping' because it results in an increased buyer price. However, in the long term its neutral for the sellers as everyone is in the same situation. The only winner with 'free' shipping is ebay. So yes there are occasional problems, the site is constantly changing and it's an expensive place to operate in as a seller, it's not for everyone, but for me it remains the most credible option at the moment. As ever, the millisecond that situation changes for me I'll move on to pastures new. Kind regards from England Linda -- Edited by allotment at 08/10/2009 11:10 AM PDT

[dmhcollectibles]

Hi again Linda, Maybe you're right about the pictures, but that's not the message I got from ebay..... However, I'm willing to concede that point because it makes more sense than the other way (although, when one thinks about it, how much sense do ebay's decisions ever really make?) Just a FYI - in the United States I believe it's "illegal" for sellers to "self-insure" as you suggest. If they do that I believe they're considered to be unauthorized, unregulated insurance companies and they can get into big doo-doo (this is my vague recollection on the subject). The legal alternatives include a minimum $1.75 charge for postal insurance - even if the item is only worth 50 cents. Of course there's nothing to stop a seller from just padding their shipping charges by a certain amount, but technically if they do it with the purpose of self-insuring they're breaking the law (I think). My real concern with the insurance thing is that I can foresee the day when ebay will require sellers to only charge actual postage (not taking into account the cost of packing materials such as padded envelopes or tape) and insurance, or worse yet, requiring sellers to charge NOTHING for shipping. There's only so much that can be added to the minimum bid for an inexpensive card. It's easy to do it if you're selling items worth thousands or even hundreds of dollars, but not so easy when the items are only worth $2-10 or so. I guess I'm just tired of ebay telling sellers what they can and cannot do whilst claiming they are "only a venue" and not at all involved in the transactions themselves. I think that's a highly disingenuous position for them to take when each of their decisions intrudes more and more on how sellers run their businesses. Just curious: how do you still manage to make friends out of buyers when you cannot really communicate with them in any meaningful way because of the email address blocking and other limitations? Diane --

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[allotment]

re Just curious: how do you still manage to make friends out of buyers when you cannot really communicate with them in any meaningful way because of the email address blocking and other limitations? A significant percentage of my customers are repeat buyers and you get to know each other as time passes. The email addresses are only suppressed until end of auction, after that the buyer & seller each have the others email address and conversations inevitably start. It's a small minority of the total where a 'friendship' develops but it certainly does happen and its always nice when it does. Linda