Blog Post 3

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