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.
You can also read the AuctionBytes blog, which has a place for reader comments under every posting (http://blog.auctionbytes.com).
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Ina,
We have not listed on eBay since May 18, 2008 because of the "neutrals count as negative" policy, which enabled several buyers to ruin our perfect feedback score of 100% and enabled a few of our last buyers to give us neutrals without fear of retaliation. Well, we noticed today that our Seller Dashboard Summary and DSRs have dipped as a result of our inactivity.
Search standing from RAISED to STANDARD
Buyer satisfaction from GOOD to NEEDS WORK
We are currently still Platinum PowerSellers in good standing with 15% discounts, but as a result of our inactivity we'll lose all status gained for years of hard work.
Of interest for your column is that eBay has not accounted for sellers who decide to go on vacation and shut their stores, or for seasonal sellers. Our scores are an excellent example of the equation. You may like to report on this.
Regards,
M.C.
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Dear Ina,
We are Power Sellers with almost 7000 feedback. The biggest problem that has arisen since the feedback changes is that our UPI's are suddenly quadruple what they used to be. We are doing nothing differently than we did before - the only thing different is apparently buyers are no longer concerned about getting negative feedback if they don't pay. We used to average 1 or 2 UPI's per month. Now we have to deal with 2 or 3 per week.
I spoke with my eBay Account Rep, and his spin was that wasn't it great that we were weeding out the bad buyers - I told him I felt that eBay should be doing that, not us.
Just wondering if others were reporting the same problem.
We enjoy your site!
Cordially,
Jim
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Hello Ina:
Just discovered, that ebay has done away with Trust & Safety phone support for Powersellers. I have a problem with a Blocked Bidder using a New User Id, bidding on my items. All ebay phone numbers dead end into recorded responses. NO direct link to Trust and Safety. No Prioritized support at all from ebay. I just spoke with them 10 days ago.
Wasn't that one of the main benefits of being a Powerseller, that you could get someone on the phone. Meg really sold that feature to us. Now, it's just disappeared.
Thanks for the great site.
Jeffrey
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Dear Ms. Steiner;
(Referencing the eBay policy announced in May: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200805191328272.html)
"Non-permitted links include, but are not limited to:
- Links to websites or pages that offer to trade, sell or purchase goods or services outside of eBay. This applies whether it is a static URL or an active link.
- Links or other connections to live chat systems"
Pardon my language, but in my opinion, these two restrictions bite!
As I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong), If I have merchandise to offer that is not allowed on eBay, but otherwise is legal, legitimate, popular, etc. it used to be that as long as I stayed within eBay's policies (linking out from My About Me Page only), I would have had the opportunity to be able to direct any potential buyers to my own web site, thus offering them an expanded selection of goods to select from.
Secondly, if I wanted to be able to announce my availability for live chat to answer questions, I would have been able to state that I was using AOL Instant Messenger as my chat client. Which is free to everyone. The only cost would be the time to download the software, install it, and set up a chat name.
I'm encouraged to offer upscale customer service and selection of merchandise, but only on eBay's terms, right?
Or am I missing something here?
If I'm on the wrong track, please let me know. I'm willing to listen and learn.
Have a great weekend!
Gregory
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Ina
I have one question about this postage that ebay is making us do. How can one tell what the item cost when it is not packed. They are making it very difficult for the person that does not know that much about the computer to sell on ebay It used to be so simple now it is very difficult.
I believe they are becoming dictorial and telling a small seller like myself how to run your business.
I give my customers a choice of postage after it is packed Post Office, Priority, Parcel Post, Fed ex and UPS. UPS is a lot higher then any of the others what is ebay taking for using UPS and not Fed Ex as Fed ex is a lot cheaper then UPS. And making one use priority boxes instead of a other boxes so the cost of postage is less.
I use the box that fits my item. I believe ebay could care less about the small seller like myself and only listens to the large sellers that really screw the customer when it comes to postage. Chargeing 6 dollar for an item that only cost 2 to 3 dollers to send.
I hear a lot about how dissatisfied sellers have become with ebay. Not only in the US but in Europe also. I would change to another auction house but have no idea how to do it and ebay has you in a disadvantage as they are very popular so they can dictate to you even though the ideas are stupid.
If I could afford to go to the convention I would go the stock holders meeting and complain as I am a stock holder I doubt if they ever hear of the real problems.
Al
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Ina,
This may be old news, but I just learned that if you have an eBay auction or BIN listing, and an eBay store listing for the identical item, that the store listing will no longer be displayed in an eBay search of that item even if you are the only other seller. The search result will include the store item in "X items found for (item) in eBay stores", but the store listing won't be displayed unless the looker clicks on the item link.
Most of my good sellers are always on auction with a BIN plus in my store listings for multiple purchases. PS support tells me it's "to improve the buyer experience." How in the world is reducing listing exposure improving the buyer experience, when there are only 2 store listings on the whole eBay for the item?
Supposedly this started a couple of weeks ago but I just noticed it today. Is eBay purposely trying to force store sellers off eBay???
Jim
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Hi Ina,
Apparently if you pay the extra money for increased exposure on the UK site, you get less exposure on the US site. You pay for MORE exposure, but actually get less!!!
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000578505
KR
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Ina,
I am an eBay seller which buys clothing apparel from department store closeouts, discount stores and outlet centers. I have been selling in EBay since 2003 and never had an issue until now.
I have been buying Tommy Hilfiger items at its outlet store and have been selling it in eBay for the past 2 years. All of a sudden, EBay took down my auction citing trademark violation.
I found out the reason it was taken down was because of bogus "Parallel Import Clause" that prohibits the sale of products in different countries. Needless to say, I was shocked and dismayed.
I then contacted my EBay Rep and asked why my auctions were taken down. Apparently, Tommy Hilfiger Europe has hired SIPI, (Cyber cop operating in India) to track down and cancel auctions of US Sellers in the US EBay site selling Tommy Hilfiger when it is available worldwide.
I inquired to SIPI as to what I have violated to get a clearer picture of what they think I am infringing on. This is what I got from them.
Dear Sir/Madam,
The reason why we removed your auctions is because importing US goods into Europe is prohibited. We as the intellectual property right owner of Tommy Hilfiger have the right to prevent such parallel imports that are both illegal in Europe and the US.
I trust to have informed you sufficiently.
Kind regards,
On behalf of Tommy Hilfiger Europe BV, Legal Department
If you can see, the reasoning they gave me are both vague and wrong. Further, they refuse to answer anymore questions besides the one above.
- Importing US goods to Europe is never illegal.
- Parallel imports are not illegal in both US and Europe.- Each country has its own interpretation of such laws and most are governed by the "First Sale Doctrine" or the" EU exhaustion rights".
I believe that this is a bogus take down because of the following reasons.
- - My items are authentic and purchased from the company itself with no preconditions Thus the "First Sale Doctrine" applies to me.
- - Since the complaining party ( Tommy Hilfiger Europe) is a subsidiary of Tommy Hilfiger USA ( who owns the stores I purchased my products from), then I am also protected by the common control exception. Excerpts of these are cited below.
In the United States, parallel importation is prohibited, and the United States Trade Representative lobbies other governments to prevent parallel importation in their respective jurisdictions. The US also maintains a "common-control exception" for parallel imports in trademarked goods. This principle permits trademark owners to block parallel imports except when both the foreign and US trademarks are owned by the same entity or when the foreign and US trademark owners are in a parent-subsidiary relationship.
- - Since I am selling and residing in the California, United States, the law of my state and country should apply to me and I should not be subject to law of every country and territory by simply putting " Will Ship Worldwide". Please bear in mind that I am a small retailer, and not a wholesaler.
- - For argument sake, lets look at EU's version in regards to parallel import and First Sale Doctrine ( which they call Exhaustion Rights).
Exhaustion rights or doctrine of exhaustion clearly states that the intellectual property holder will lose its trademark rights once they have sold the product. Thus, by this simple fact alone, I should be able to sell in Europe .
Exhaustion of rights, or the doctrine of exhaustion, is a concept in intellectual property law whereby an intellectual property owner will lose or "exhaust" certain rights after the first use of the subject matter which is the subject of intellectual property rights. For example, the ability of a trademark owner to control further sales of a product bearing its mark are generally "exhausted" following the sale of that product.
This has been explained by the European Commission in a February 2002 press release as follows:
performers, producers of films and phonograms and broadcasters have the exclusive right to allow the objects protected by their rights to be made available to the public, or to forbid their being made available. This "distribution right" is not exhausted except where the first sale in the Community of that object is made by the rightholder or with his consent.
The concept typically arises in the context of parallel imports, and may therefore be relevant nationally, regionally or internationally, such that if a right becomes "exhausted" in one area or jurisdiction, an intellectual property owner may not be able to enforce its rights in another area or jurisdiction.
Different countries regulate the applicability of the doctrine of exhaustion in relation to different products in different ways.
I have consulted a lawyer and they charge 420 dollars an hour. If I hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit, it will bankrupt my business. Can you help me find an alternative way to fight this? This is a very dangerous precedent that they are setting. Imagine if all manufacturers start using this as an excuse to take down all the auctions.. This could potentially close down all small businesses in Ebay and in the auction community.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Raymund
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Hi, Ina,
I was wondering if you were aware, had been previously asked or, in general, could shed any light on the problem of eBay pages getting delayed on the "include.ebaystatic.com" through-page and taking 15 seconds or more to load.
I have researched the problem and have found that many users are experiencing this problem but no one has come up with a definitive reason or solution for it. eBay has apparently told their users to clear their cache and reboot. Doesn't work. I have read all kinds of solutions through my research at Google, some of which are claimed to have cleared the problem for the specific user who offered the solution but which have not worked for the majority of the other posters and/or readers, myself included.
Can you offer any advice, help, suggestions, dare I say "solution"?
As always, thanks for all you do for the eBay community.
Best regards,
Cindy
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Ina, something is up again with Paypal and the Email notices they send the seller when a payment is made. I have not received emails for the last two payments I've received. Naturally this is an issue because it means I must constantly check my activity log to see if something is new there. In fact, one of the payments arrived as a dreaded eCheck, so if you don't look closely in the log you may not see the word "uncleared" in the status.
I have not tried to contact Paypal - I wouldn't get an answer for days anyway. Do they have a announcement or status page that users can check for system issues?
Note from Editor: eBay posted an announcement on June 12th:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200806121609011.html
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Ina,
I read your article re Ben Bishop, one of a number of folk building tools to get around EBAY's new rules.
EBAY quashed seller negatives because they frequently had no meaning other than the buyer had already left a negative. Buyers were afraid to post their real experiences because they would be ruining their own rating. A buyer with 30 buys takes a big hit with one negative; the seller who screwed him takes a tiny hit against their 2,000 transactions. I know I've avoided fully justified negative feedback to protect my own rating.
The result was unacceptable, and EBAY is trying another way, with different downsides.
But the potential for hidden blacklisting, retaliation, and actual defamation in these third party efforts is huge. At least buyers used to know if they were getting fair or unfair feedback, and had a chance to respond and sometimes reverse it. Now with distributed independent seller blacklist exchanges, the buyers may not even know they are being defamed... in multiple places, without notice or recourse.
Is this better? I think not.
On another issue... you said:
"It's incredible to me that eBay would prevent people from linking to their websites on their About Me page. For shoppers wanting to know more about sellers, what better way than to check out their websites."
You might find it less incredible if you were to visit some of the previously allowed links and found, as I have, web stores offering the same merchandise as listed on EBAY, at a discount from the EBAY prices. Even if posted at the SAME as the buy-it-now on EBAY, such links move transactions away from ebay's income stream. They also move them away from the buyer protections that come with an ebay transactions.
EBAY appears to have recognized that such links can amount to free ads for non-ebay transactions, and so are limiting them.
Undoubtedly, another part of the reasoning is to try to reduce ID HACKERS who regularly offer links to "buy it now" within fraudulent ads on hijacked accounts. These are specifically to vector buyers to off-ebay transactions with Western Union or credit card scams.
FYI I'm not in any way affiliated with ebay, and never have been. Just a casual user who has seen and narrowly avoided a lot of fraud online.
John
PS, I noted in reviewing an earlier article that a feedback review site had revised their search to look for negative comments in positive feedback items. Apparently there are plenty like this to find. And why would this be? Because buyers knew a NEGATIVE buyer feedback would result in an automatic negative seller feedback. So they checked POSITIVE, then said what they really thought in the text. Good proof of a broken system.
I recently made the mistake of buying an item. That was my whole mistake. It was promised in working order, and I paid immediately for it and insurance. 30 days later, it arrived, smashed internally because of no padding, and not insured. The seller said it was my fault. She PROMISED to leave me negative feedback if I complained or disputed. For better or worse, this can't happen now.
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Dear Ina,
It's been a while since I've written to you. I've been browsing your site and reading the many angry letters from former ebay sellers, some of them power sellers, who have been shafted by ebay's new policies. You may recall that several years ago I predicted ebay and paypal would become the dictators of the online auction/payment services, operating with impugnity and treating their good customers with total contempt. I advised people to use them only as a means to an end and not an end in itself. Post on ebay to build up a business and attract customers, who you then introduce to your own website. Accept paypal in addition to other payment methods and offer discounts to encourage your customers to pay you by other means.
Over the past few years, I have become ebay-free. I do shop there, but the only things I sell there are the oddball item for which that is the only venue (about $200 a year). My regular sales are all conducted on my own site where I don't have to abide by silly rules (like being prohibited from offering discounts or accepting Google payments), and don't have to give away over 8% of my gross receipts to a "partner" who assists scammers in ripping me off. To my chagrin, I still have to accept paypal, but by offering discounts for using other methods, I don't get it that often. I also reject transactions where the address is not confirmed. I prefer to be safe than sorry.
There is a new scam (or maybe it isn't new) going around and I wonder how the payment services will handle it. I'm pretty sure paypal will just tell the sellers "tough luck," but I wonder if any seller has actually challenged a buyer on it. Buyers used to claim they never received the merchandise. Now with delivery confirmation, it has become harder to do that. So now they claim they received an empty box. Now I have an even more creative buyer. He claims he received a sealed box, but instead of ink cartridges, it contained computer forms. He tried to imply that I made the mistake in packaging his order. I know this isn't the case. I have never sold or used computer forms. The only things I sell are ink cartridges and batteries. Had he claimed it contained the wrong cartridges, it could have been my error. Now why did he choose computer forms? Probably because the name of my company, Complete Computer Services, led him to believe it could be an item I actually sell.
When I insisted it could not have happened in my office, he blamed the post office. He wants me to believe that someone in the post office opened the box, removed my cartridges and then replaced them with computer forms!
The P.O. does not get involved, though a clerk told me this is becoming fairly common. Actually no one gets involved in cases of credit card or mail fraud. I have called the credit card companies and the police when stolen credit cards were used on my site and no one cared. You can commit robbery from the comfort of your living room with no fear of punishment. Since he paid by credit card and threatened a charge back, I am forced to replace it. If he does this ten times a week, at $50 a pop, it adds up. I am wondering how vendors such as Buy.com or Staples would handle a claim like this. How would Google or Paypal handle it? What measures could a seller take to prevent this sort of thing?
I have started wrapping tape completely around my packages. The next time I get a claim of an empty box or the wrong contents, I'll know for a fact the customer is a liar and find out what happens when I refuse to replace it.
izzy
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You guys rock. Hope to run into you next week.
There are three questions I think every eBay Seller can ask, and therefore backwards engineer why eBay is doing what they are doing:
1) How will this latest decision positively affect current and future Buy.com style relationships
2) How will institutional investors (the kind that sit in on conference calls) react to a press release of this change
3) How can eBay extract more fees from a declining revenue base from this policy change
My feeling is eBay has seen the writing on the wall and rather than wait for competition to erode its core over time, it has decided to re-invent itself before that happens. Kind of like breaking up with someone because you know they are about to break up with you. Sad but inevitable.
The truly sad part is all the people who have come to rely on eBay to make ends meet who are being shoved to the side so eBay's management can answer the demands of the institutional investors. It really is meek and full of hubris, not the bold innovation that made eBay so great for a good decade.
That's okay, Google and eBay are in a pissing match and perhaps google will launch an eBay style site to compete, if just out of spite. Or perhaps they will do it because they know they can do it better. Even more telling would be if they do not do it all - that would mean they know the eBay model is on the way out.
For all their metrics and focus groups, eBay's management comes across as simply dishonest. Why not just say why and what they are doing, now. This rolling out of change after change smells bad and looks sophomoric. Break up with us already, we can take it!
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Hello Ms. Steiner,
I was told you may be interested in hearing about the ebay glitch I am currently suffering with. Since I already have started 2 threads about it on the boards, here are the links;
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?messageID=2010699225�
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?messageID=2010699344�
If those peak you interest please feel free to contact me.
Mike
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Hi Ina,
Be sure to NOTE that this is NOT a done deal, especially if there is a "Pre-Decision Conference". Assuming it happens, which I bet it will, eBay/PayPal will be given one last chance to change the ACCC's mind, so while this is a MAJOR step in the right direction, it is NOT a done deal yet.
As a result, another flood of emails in FAVOR of the ACCC's decision would go a LONG way toward sealing the deal. Perhaps with the added qualification that it would be even better if Google Checkout was also added as an ACCEPTABLE payment solution to promote healthy competition!!!
Thanks again
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Hi, Ina,
I am still waiting to hear back from eBay Ops Support as to whether or not they have been able to pinpoint the cause of the "include.ebaystatic.com" hang time problem and hopefully, the solution.
In the meantime, it occurred to me that with all the negative stuff we hear nowadays about eBay from so many disgruntled users, it might be nice to hear about some of the nice or amusing things which have happened to sellers and buyers.
For instance, a lady ordered a beautiful wood and leather belt from me earlier this year. Looking for the perfect size and shape box in which to mail it, I came across a long narrow one which, in a former life, had held 2 pounds of cooked pork back ribs in barbecue sauce (yum!). It truly was the perfect size and shape in which to ship the belt. When my customer had received it, she wrote me a lovely note telling me how surprised her neighbors were to see her pull from her mailbox a package purportedly containing pork ribs when, in fact, she was the neighborhood vegetarian, the one everyone came to for vegetarian recipes and ideas! A good laugh was had by all and it's instances like this that reaffirm for me how much fun eBay can be to sell on.
I know there are issues and concerns and change can sometimes be difficult. I have read so much negative opinion about eBay that reading alone sometimes gives me pause to question whether or not I want to continue using eBay but then I get an email with a cute story like the one above and that makes me want to keep on with my selling.
I think a lot of your readers, dare I say, the majority of your readers, would love to hear about the upside of selling on eBay especially when we are so inundated with all the gripes and put-downs and frustrations, etc. and I think a section in your newsletter, along the line of First Item Sold, would make a nice balance to all the negative stuff we read about eBay these days.
What do you think?
Thanks for listening!
Cindy
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A colleague just showed me your article, and one paragraph popped out to me.
Sellers seemed confused about the seeming contradiction that eBay would allow sellers to list an unlimited number of identical listings, but would limit the display of duplicates from the same seller:
Some sellers may be confused, but there is really no contradiction here.
Suppose a seller wants to offer a charger for a cell phone. That charger will have a part number, but nobody will know that part number. All they will know is that they want a charger for a Blackberry Curve, so the seller must put this in the title. But the same charger also fits many other phones, so a seller needs to list it in many different ways - but eBay's rule was that you were limited to 15 listings for the same ITEM (not just identical listings) The key is that a seller has legitimate reasons to do multiple listings of the same item, so that a buyer can find his item, no matter what search terms the buyer uses - and some buyers use really strange search terms !
This is why the fifteen item rule restricts buyers choices.
The other issue is that with different titles eBay really has no comprehensive way to enforce the rule, so enforcement has been arbitrary and capricious, leading to suspension of some perfectly legitimate sellers, at the same time that real spamming has been going on by others. If you also take into account the fact that some sellers have multiple user names you can see that consistent enforcement is really impossible. What happened was that a lot of eBay resource was tied up trying to manually chase down multiple listings without any hope of success - and restricting buyers choices at the same time ! How much better for eBay if they automated the real problem (preventing spamming of search results) and got on with chasing down issues that really affected buyers confidence in eBay.
Removing the 15 item rule helps buyers. Limiting the display of duplicates prevents spamming, and this also helps buyers.
Regards,
Robert
