In every issue, readers soundoff about issues important to them. From feedback to payment services, from increased fees to posting policies, AuctionBytes Soundoff gives you a chance to air your views.

Re: "eBay's Feedback 2.0 Revealed"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m01/i23/s03

Hello Ina -
As usual, I enjoy reading your newsletters. You just reviewed the new feedback system. While I feel it is a good step in the right direction, I am quite surprised that they are not including a rating for packaging quality. Poor packaging is one of the biggest problems in a transaction. I am primarily a seller, but I do buy sometimes, and can speak from experience on this, having several items damaged due to poor packaging.

I am sending this complaint to you, rather than eBay, because I know you pay attention to what your readers say. I don't have confidence that eBay will listen to what I have to say, but they might pay attention to you.
Thank you,
Carol

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Re: "eBay's Feedback 2.0 Revealed"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m01/i23/s03

Ina,
I had look last night at the "new feedback " system.

I thought there is a bunch of idiots working at Ebay: Who came up with the "clever idea" a NEW feedback service which allows buyers to give feedback about delivery time? Don't Ebay realize its a 3rd party service over which sellers has got no control? Absolutely nuts! They are going to get a lot of flack for this one. Regardless if sellers post next day delivery time abroad is a lottery and dependent on 3rd party.
Nice thread for you
Seller on ebay

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Re: "Questions about eBay's Ban on Auction Extenders" http://digbig.com/4qwhd

Hi Ina,
Just read that eBay is now banning auction extenders. I'm trying to figure out how it's "fee avoidance" if the price for 1-7 day auctions is the same, and if you extend to 10 days, eBay bills you for that.

Keep up the good work on Auctionbytes. It's the ONLY eNewsletter I read top to bottom!
Regards,
Greg

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Re: "Questions about eBay's Ban on Auction Extenders" http://digbig.com/4qwhd

I would love to hear an explanation from eBay on how revising the duration is fee avoidance? If anything, if you revise to 10 days, you incur an additional fee. There is no fee avoidance. The only way you can come up with a fee avoidance by using an extender is if eBay is saying that by using an extender you are increasing your success rate (sellthrough) and therefore having to relist less often and therefore depriving eBay of fees. But even that greed-based concept is flawed since increased sellthrough means more FVF fees for eBay. Again, I hope you can get eBay to clearly explain how an extender constitutes fee avoidance.

Also, on the revise page there is the option to revise the duration. If revising the duration is not allowed then why is the option present on the revise page?

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Re: From the Editor http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y207/m01/abu0183/s01

Dear Ina,
Your latest AuctionBytes prompts the following comment and questions:

In this issue you said "Protecting buyers from fraud should be job one on ecommerce sites, so it's good eBay is focusing on the problem." I totally agree. That said, I'm wondering how this new feedback configuration is going to do that. I was one of the eBay discussion boards this morning where a couple of sellers were eagerly looking forward to this change because it is going to restore their feedback to 100%. Personally, I think eBay should be able to archive past feedback but the totals and percentage should remain the same. The percentage should not be calculated from the last two year feedback transactions only.

By itself that would not be bad but coupling this with the new SMI policy, it really does not encourage a feeling of safety.

Speaking of the new SMI policy, you wrote: "If you are bidding on items under $200, the SMI policy won't affect you."

But it does affect everyone, if not now, it will in the future. What I'm afraid this policy will do is drive away alot of the high end bidders who have up to this point chosen to bid publicly and not on private auctions. As those bids dry up and the sellers do not get what they rightfully know they can (and not because the market wouldn't bear the price) they will leave eBay and go on to greener pastures (either other sites or their own website). This in turn is I believe going to really cause a problem with eBay's bottom line. eBay, will have to recoup these losses somewhere and will have to raise the fees on the smaller sellers causing many of them to throw in the towel on the dream.

Not to mention the effect this will have on the diversity that is eBay. No seller=no bidders.

I love eBay and have for years and I don't mind change and growth, heck I even like it! This time though, I feel like I don't understand the plan behind the actions. It feels like eBay is being killed (ok killed is a little drastic), totally revamped without telling us what the ultimate plan is.

Maybe you could see a copy of eBay's long range business plan?
Thanks for listening. I love to read your articles.
Warm regards,
kimbers

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Hi,
First I wanted to tell you how much I love your newsletters and how much knowledge and info I get out of them. Next, I wanted to reiterate the need for an inexpensive, easy-to-use solution for creating ecommerce websites that can mirror our eBay stores. I see alot more nowadays than usual but they are still very complex sites that cost at least $2500 or more and you just about have to be a PowerSeller to justify the costs of setting up a site. For those of us just under that PowerSeller rating but still do quite well in eBay sales, there is a great need. If a solution for under $100 for a complete Ecommerce site with a shopping cart and payment gateway and very little monthly fees can be made someone would do very well with it.

I've spent the last several weeks researching everything needed to set up a complete ecommerce site and its well over $1000 not including the extraordinary amount of time it would take a novice web designer to implement it.

I look forward to hearing more on this subject.
Thanks,
Joey

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Hello
I'm sending to you a report about situation of eBay.pl on polish market internet auctions. If you will interested this report you can relase it. http://www.aukcje.cogdziekupic.pl/ebay_pl_still_stagnation

Yaro
CoGdzieKupic.pl Team http://www.cogdziekupic.pl/en/

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Hello, Ina. This article has enough links to assist eBay sellers embed invisible proof of ownership messages inside their .jpg auction photos:

http://digbig.com/4rede

The advantage is that there is nothing to distract the auction viewer, and nothing to tip off the photo thief, and nothing he can edit out. Despite the publicity over the spooky and sometimes questionable uses for steganography, there are some legitimate uses for the good guys, whether Mac, PC or Linux users.
Wishing you well,
Dee