I applaud eBay management for taking steps to “fix” feedback on the site. The changes are in the right direction, but there are still some things that could be fixed to make feedback more fair for both buyers and sellers. After much thought, I agree with the proposal that sellers should not be able to leave negative feedback for buyers, IF the following changes are also implemented.

First, I propose that eBay do away with “neutral” feedback as it doesn’t do anyone any good. It is unfair to call something “neutral” that really doesn’t have a neutral effect. I understand that eBay feedback percentage is “Positive Percentage” which is why neutrals now effect the score. However, many neutrals are left as a form of communication rather than showing dissatisfaction on the part of the buyer, and therefore should not be used to penalize the seller.

Second, I propose that non-paying buyers be banned from leaving feedback at all. Isn’t feedback supposed to be only for members involved in a transaction? If an item is not paid for, that is NOT a transaction and therefore that buyer has no right to leave feedback. I understand that eBay cannot tell if a buyer has paid unless that buyer pays via Paypal. However, I propose that sellers be on the honor system to mark an item Paid in their My eBay when a buyer pays with a payment form other than Paypal. If an item is not marked as paid, the buyer would be unable to leave feedback. Should a buyer choose to pay with a method other than paypal, they will risk not being able to leave feedback if the seller does not mark the item paid. However, this would just be another risk a buyer takes when paying with other methods. In addition, it would encourage more buyers to use Paypal - and isn’t that what eBay wants anyway?

Third, I propose that for purposes of Seller Performance, feedback be based on all SALES rather than on all feedback left. This is how Amazon uses feedback. For Seller Performance, Amazon uses a negative feedback percentage that is based on ALL ORDERS. So a seller may show 96% on their feedback profile on the site, but for Seller Performance purposes, their negative feedback percentage may only be .08%. Amazon does not include neutrals at all in their Seller Performance figures.

Many happy buyers do not leave feedback at all and a seller should not be penalized because of this choice.

Fourth, a buyer should be given the ability to remove negative feedback. Amazon allows this and makes it very easy for the buyer to do so. When I receive a negative feedback on Amazon, I contact the buyer and work it out with them. Once the buyer is satisfied they then remove their negative feedback. Most buyers who leave negative feedback never contact me first. This gives me a way to resolve an issue and make the buyer happy. The way eBay has now implemented the feedback process leaves me with no incentive to help a customer who leaves a negative with no contact.

eBay - Great start - Now finish the job!

Cyn

You may have noticed that recently eBay has been making up definitions for words that have been in the English language for hundreds of years.  Only eBay’s new definitions only apply to Sellers, the traditional definitions still apply for buyers.

For example, the word Satisfied in DSR ratings means satisfied to buyers, or at least eBay doesn’t tell them otherwise.  However, if an eBay seller has all “Satisfied” ratings, versus “Very Satisfied” ratings, eBay is not satisfied.  No, if your buyers are only satisfied, you will lose Powerseller status and be downgraded in search.

The other word is “neutral”.  A buyer can rate a transaction as Positive, Neutral, or Negative.  The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines the word “Neutral” as “ not decided or pronounced as to characteristics”, which would mean the buyer has no opinion either way.  However, eBay, in their dictionary, has decided that “Neutral” means a buyer had a negative experience.  When eBay figures a sellers perfomance rating they figure any neutrals as negatives.  However, once again, eBay does not tell the buyer about their new definition of Neutral.

Feel free to contribute more new definitions from eBay!

Cyn

I logged into my Vendio account today to find a message from Vendio alerting sellers that this Monday eBay will be expanding support for Paypal Payment Reviews on eBay transactions. Vendio states that now more eBay payments made through Paypal will be reviewed to determine if they are high risk (Vendio is estimating the total will be well under 10%). If Paypal determines a payment is high risk they will place a hold on the funds and notify the seller not to ship while they review the payment.

Reading the Paypal link containing the information, Paypal states that the seller will be notified “within minutes” of payment via email, as well as flags put in your Account Overview and History Pages. I would recommend not relying on email and check your Paypal account throughout the day for these “flags” or even delaying shipment by a day on high value items.

Click here to read the Paypal information on Payment Review.

Cyn

Yesterday Kristina Klausen from eBay’s Shipping Team announced that starting this week eBay will begin requiring all new sellers who are listing for the first time to specify their shipping costs using the Shipping Details section. By the time eBay Live arrives specified shipping costs will be required in most listings on eBay. Click here to read the full announcement.

What does this mean for me as a seller?

If you use USPS or UPS then you can take advantage of the eBay Shipping Calculator, if you prefer FedEx or DHL then you will have to enter a flat rate when listing.

Flat rate shipping doesn’t have to be as bad as it sounds. You do not have to charge shipping to zone 8 for all orders no matter how close they are. What you want to do is determine what shipping amount will cover most of your shipments. The best way to arrive at this number is to pull a list of all your orders from the previous month, quarter or even the last year. The more data the better.

With this data you should be able to determine what your average shipping cost was as well as other interesting metrics like what percentage of your orders are only traveling a short distance and which ones are traveling further. Your goal should be to at least cover shipping on all orders and maybe have a little profit built in should the rates or surcharges increase.

Probably the best benefit of Flat Rate S&H that I can think of is while all the other sellers are scrambling to change their S&H on thousands of listings, your S&H doesn’t have to be changed. We experienced this back in 2006 when the USPS changed their rates. While many sellers were frantically changing the S&H in their listings, we continued to list and sell additional product.

As a seller I believe it creates a good buying experience if we provide the potential buyer with a shipping quote upfront and in the actual search if possible. This change will not affect our business because we already do this. However, I am concerned for other sellers because the eBay shipping calculator can be buggy at times and doesn’t support all the carriers. It would be easier for everyone to swallow if eBay would have added the functionality for all major carriers to the shipping calculator.

Chuck

eBay announced today a new checkout flow for Paypal payments.  The response from the community has not been positive as it apparently leaves their Paypal account open at the end, among other glitches.  There are also reports of the order showing the shipping for each item, rather than one shipping charge for the entire order.

 You can read the official eBay announcement here.

Reviewing the screenshots posted by Paypal on the Checkout Forum I am happy to see on the checkout page an explanation of what an echeck is, with an estimated clearing date, and a note that it may delay shipping.  However, there have been problems reported with trying to use other funding methods and being automatically moved to an echeck instead.

This is interesting since I have received an unusual number of echecks today.  I wonder if the new checkout has anything to do with it?  Has Paypal found another way to force buyers to use their bank accounts rather than credit cards, thereby saving Paypal money?

Some buyers are unhappy with the new automatic default to Pay Multiple Sellers.  This may delay payment from buyers as they wait for other auctions to end so they can pay all sellers at once.

Other buyers are reporting changing their funding method to credit card and not being able to proceed with payment.

Another change eBay is rolling out full of bugs.

Click here to read the eBay Checkout board and Paypal’s explanation.

Cyn

Today eBay announced more exposure for Stores in Search. It’s not the infamous “Stores in Search” but it is definitely better than the small amount of exposure Stores currently receive in search:

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803121000132.html

Raj Patel
Hi everyone…I’m Raj Patel with the eBay Stores team. As many of our Store sellers know, last November we began testing several new ways to display Store Inventory listings in the expansion area below search results. (As a reminder, this area appears when a search returns 30 or fewer auction-style and fixed price items.) For example, some of our tests included the display of Gallery images for Store Inventory listings when available. We also experimented with different quantities of Store Inventory listings in this area.
The purpose of all these tests was to determine what presentation makes the optimal experience for buyers. Based on our results, I’m pleased to let you know we’ll be making two important changes:

Store Inventory Gallery Images Will be Displayed
Gallery images (when available) will now be shown in the Store Inventory expansion area when a search returns 30 or fewer core listings (auction-style and fixed price items).

Up to 50 Listings Displayed
We will now show up to 50 Store Inventory listings in this expansion area, a significant increase from our previous maximum of 30.

To learn more about eBay Stores, check out our information page.

Sincerely,

Raj Patel
eBay Stores

What do you think of this latest bone eBay is throwing to Store owners? Post your comments below.

Cyn