Bright Side of Life

When putting together this third blog post in the eBay Changes series I drew inspiration from Eric Idle’s famous song; “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. I feel that with the changes eBay continue to make, and all the bad press they continue to receive, it won’t be long before the small Amazon-Conversion numbers rise to a large army of disgruntled ex-eBayers.

However, as I mentioned in the first two lines  I have indeed looked on the bright side of life and don’t get me wrong, there definitely is one – eBay has introduced a number of changes that WILL benefit the buyer and seller, and that’s what this blog post will discuss.

Vacation Time!

One of the most popular changes on eBay has been the Vacation setting. What’s this? Basically, if you ever feel like you need to take a break (or you are actually going on vacation) you can now put all of your eBay Store listings on vacation! Have you ever wanted to take a break, or a last minute family issue has come up but you’ve got too many items on eBay and you don’t want to remove them all?  Using this tool will enable you to keep on top of everything your selling, and not return home with a long list of emails and orders you need to ship out. It also helps eliminate any communication problems or gripes, letting the seller inform viewers/buyers that the seller is on a well-deserved vacation (a custom message is available).

Whilst this sounds like a seller-only pro, it is actually very helpful for buyers too, as you don’t want to buy an item as an immediate present only to find out that the seller has gone on vacation!

Smaller Changes

Some smaller changes that will benefit the seller include:

• Automated Reminder Messages - eBay will be sending out automated messages 48 and 96 hours after a purchase to the buyer, reminding he or she to pay. Whilst it’s true this may seem pushy to some people, in most cases it’s a helpful reminder.

• Unique - I’m sure you would be annoyed if you were bidding on a rare and unique item on eBay, only for it to be taken off with 13 hours left. eBay has introduced a new rule where you cannot list a unique (one of a kind) item anywhere else whilst it’s listed on eBay.

I know I promised to be all positive, but one particular issue has really struck a nerve – if you didn’t opt out by 31st August, you have given eBay the right to use your photos in their product catalogue. Fine, it may not seem like a big deal, but the fact you took so long creating them AND the fact your rival sellers can use your photos (okay, you might receive a photo credit from eBay if they do use it – but is that worth it?) at any time, will definitely aggravate a number of regular sellers!

Next week I’ll discuss the changes even further, let me know of any issues you have faced recently with eBay!

Wishing you rippling success

Svenja

Before I start, I’ll keep the consistency of the series and give you another quote that I feel directly concerns this topic; “If it ain’t broke…don’t fix it!” (various authors!).

PowerSeller

One of the biggest changes eBay has rolled out is in relation to the PowerSeller program. It seems quite complicated when you first look at it, so I’ve tried to explain the changes below and how they will effect regular eBay sellers and anyone looking to make a regular income on eBay in the near future;

>> The major change centers on how eBay measures the quality of its sellers (you!). The ‘Detailed Seller Ratings’ (DSR) are staying (where a buyer anonymously leaves the seller a star rating out of 5 for things such as communication and the accuracy of the description), but it will now concentrate heavily on a new ‘low-score metric’; basically the percentage of all the low DSR scores you get (such as 1’s and 2’s).

What’s the issue?

The problem with this is there are a large number of buyers who simply don’t care about the sellers feedback and find it hilarious to leave low-score feedback because it’s really anonymous! And when the new rules come in to play this fall, if you don’t meet the standards set then not only will you receive lower placement in searches, you may even be restricted from selling! All because of a potential few jokers who think it’s funny to anonymously rate you as a 1 or 2. I don’t believe in conspiracy, really, but I do think since sellers are no longer allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers, the burden of proof now rests totally on the shoulders of the sellers.

To mention or not to mention?

You have to question whether it’s worth mentioning this problem in your listings … should you let your prospective buyers know about the new rules, in the hope that they will contact you to resolve any issue before giving you a low DSR? Or by doing this are you possibly informing them that if they are not entirely satisfied they can ruin your reputation and indeed selling capacity anonymously with a few easy clicks? Granted, I never had  communication issues going on with my buyers, yet, I know of many sellers who are running more into DSR related problems. Often, buyers do leave poor feedback ‘just because’.

I feel that eBay should be helping sellers out more, and with some of the new incentives they have released (we will touch on that in the next blog) they are clearly trying to, but at the same time they have opened a huge can of worms by potentially alienating a lot of honest sellers. I understand that eBay is attempting to provide the same top-notch customer service like Amazon, for example, but if that’s the case on all levels, then why are flocking so many eBay sellers to Amazon? I do wonder …

What do you think?

Wishing you rippling success,

Svenja

…with this in mind, I feel the changes that eBay continues to make deserve discussion – and hopefully through the course of the next few weeks you will be able to comment and discuss the positive and negative effects of some of the changes, along with achieving a higher level of understanding when it comes to using eBay (something we have probably done at some point or another!).

Although eBay has gone through its trials and tribulations, the eBay phenomenon has shown no serious sign of slowing down, with people from every corner of the globe getting rid of unwanted items on a daily basis – even setting up  ‘eBay Shop’s’ where they try to lay the foundations of a new work-from-home business – eBay is still THE main auction based place to shop in a time of global recession.

Recently, eBay has rolled out a number of changes that have caused controversy, and the question is; are these changes improving eBay, if so, how? If they aren’t improving eBay; why not and what can we do?

As I mentioned earlier, I will be posting several blogs regarding the positive and negative effects of the changes, if you use eBay and you’re not quite sure what the changes will do then I highly recommend you  stop by on a regular basis or sign up for my free updates if you not have already done so!

One particular change I will touch on next week is something that I’m sure will worry all you PowerSellers!  eBay has announced an overhaul of its PowerSeller program with the controversial introduction of the Top Rate Seller badge and designation, which will come into affect this fall/autumn. If you’re a regular seller on eBay, or perhaps you’re looking to make a few extra dollars or pounds by selling a lot of stuff on eBay, then this will definitely affect you.

Check back next week and see what changes have been made that might affect you sellers in a negative way!

Get discussing now and let me know if you have any gripes with some of the new changes! I am looking forward to hear from you!

Wishing you rippling online success,
Svenja