Last Monday, eBay's Senior VP of Auctions Philipp Justus posted a message on the announcement boards explaining eBay's new approach to its Seller Non Performance Policy - over 2 months after a crackdown of the policy had already begun.
Many sellers have been surprised to discover their selling accounts suspended without warning, and there has been confusion about how eBay actually measures "non-performance."
AuctionBytes has an exclusive audio interview with eBay Vice President of Trust & Safety Matt Halprin about the new enforcement around the Seller Non-Performance policy. The podcast covers a lot of ground. I asked Matt about the new way eBay looks at Neutral feedback ratings, why eBay waited so long to communicate with users about the seller crackdown, how eBay Detailed Seller Ratings will be used in the future in enforcement decisions, and many other questions. You can listen on the Ecommerce Industry SoundBytes podcast at http://podcast.auctionbytes.com
If you're wondering if you are at risk, but are confused about how eBay calculates feedback in this new environment, check out a tool featured in today's This & That column (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y207/m08/abu0197/s05).
In other news, Williams-Sonoma's Pottery Barn Outlet stores have banned eBay sellers. The AuctionBytes Newsflash article about the ban generated buzz on the AuctionBytes Blog (http://tinyurl.com/2z4tzv). There are allegations that the stores have not consistently applied the policy, and those who have been banned have already consulted with attorneys to consider legal action against the retailer.
The latest industry rumor is that eBay may spin off its PayPal subsidiary. So far, such rumors (like those about possible mergers between eBay, Yahoo and/or Microsoft) have not borne fruit. Speaking of PayPal, the company launched an official blog at http://www.thepaypalblog.com.
Amazon.com came out with a web service that opened up its online payment service, but it did so in a unique manner that downplayed the significance for merchants. I asked several auction/ecommerce-management service providers whether they will be jumping on board to integrate Amazon Payments in their services, you can read their responses in today's issue. (eBay has yet to respond to inquiries about whether it will allow Amazon Payments on its site.)
Also in today's issue, freelance writer Cathy Harned, who sells vintage postcards online, writes about two online auction sites that are picking up steam with postcard dealers, and I review a useful book about Web Analytics.
I'm enjoying blogging about industry issues, and there are some interesting discussions happening in the blog through the comments feature (http://blog.auctionbytes.com). I invite you to read regularly and add a comment when inspired. I also invite you to subscribe to the AuctionBytes Blog RSS feed to keep up to date.
An example of how the blog can be useful as well as interesting is the post on Email Marketing (http://tinyurl.com/37lqbm). We asked how you were using email marketing, and there was some useful, actionable feedback from readers.
Thanks for reading.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
