more ebay changes coming

oddball · July 24th, 2012, 05:02:25 PM

i noticed that the buyer MUST contact the seller first before filing a dispute or claim. also, it seems ebay frowns upon ending auction style listings early, so much so the seller will now be charged a fee to do so. was it al that argued that the practice of ending an item early was OK if the seller may not get what he wanted for an item? that's what reserves are for.

here's the entire update from an ebay email:

Over the past few years, you've gone above and beyond to provide the products and services buyers expect—and your efforts are paying off. With this, the second update of 2012, the focus is squarely on you. These updates will help you reach more of the fast-growing legions of ecommerce buyers drawn to eBay—this holiday season and beyond—and make your selling easier and more profitable.

New protections and rewards

New safeguards to keep a fair marketplace for sellers. Updates coming to eBay protection programs will benefit and protect you.
- Buyers must contact you first through My Messages in My eBay before opening a Buyer Protection case starting in February to make sure you have the opportunity to resolve issues before eBay gets involved. Buyers will be required to wait three business days for you to respond and resolve the issue before they have the option of opening a case.
- Open cases will no longer count. Also starting in February, having a case opened by a buyer will not be counted toward your performance rating—only those cases that are not found in your favor will be counted.
- Reporting buyers who misuse the system is now faster and easier. Starting in October, a more accessible and enhanced reporting hub will make it easy for you to contact eBay directly to report buyers who violate eBay policies.

New Top Rated Plus seal highlights top services. The percentage of all eBay purchases that are from Top Rated sellers with tracking uploaded on at least 90% of their US transactions—and include 1-day handling and a 14-day or longer money-back return policy—is growing rapidly.
- To help these listings stand out even more, starting in September, they will be highlighted with a new Top Rated Plus seal.
- The current Top Rated seller badge will be retired.

New ways to showcase your items, boost sales

Maximize the power of eBay Fast 'N Free. When the eBay Fast 'N Free logo shows up for a buyer on listings, it delivers a solid boost in sales. For the logo to appear, you have to offer free shipping and the item must be estimated to arrive within 4 business days based on your item location, your buyer's location, your track record, and your carrier's track record for those locations. Starting the week of September 24, you'll be able to check your seller dashboard to see how many of your listings are qualifying for the eBay Fast 'N Free logo and how it's helping your sales.

More selling power for your listings
- Sell more with more pictures! As of October 31, all listings will be required to include a picture. Other picture quality requirements originally announced in February will take effect in 2013 to give you more time to adopt: minimum 500 pixels on the longest side, no added text or borders, and no stock photos as the main image for used items.
- Item condition notes set the right expectations. Starting the week of October 22, you'll have an optional new field to put details about the condition of your used items and have them displayed near the top of the item page where buyers are more likely to read them. This will help reduce both buyer questions and issues with buyer claims that an item is not as described.
- Show your item location. Seeing a valid location in a listing inspires buyer confidence. Also starting the week of October 22, when you enter your valid zip code, your city and state will be automatically added to your listing.

Ending Auction-style listings early. Ending an Auction-style listing once it has a bid leads to disappointed shoppers who may be less inclined to bid on auctions the next time around. Starting October 1, a fee will be charged for ending an Auction-style listing early.

Boost sales with multi-variation listings. Selling different variations of an item in one multi-variation Fixed Price listing saves you money on fees, makes listing faster and easier, and encourages buyers to buy more.
- Starting in October, you'll have more listing options—for example, easily add pictures for different variations and add a new variation to active listings, even those with sales.
- Later this year, you'll have a new feature to identify your existing single variation listings and convert them to one multi-variation listing.

More communication power in My eBay Messages. Now you can attach up to five pictures through My Messages to help close the sale.

Category, item specifics, and catalog updates are now consolidated with other updates that may affect your selling. For many sellers these changes will mean reduced fees. Some categories are also being eliminated.

More information

Get details on the 2012 Fall Seller Update.
Use the Seller Checklist to stay on top of important dates.
Find out how you can update your listings quickly and efficiently with bulk editing tools.
For additional insight, you're also invited on July 24 to talk with members of my staff via a special discussion board we've set up for this purpose. Griff will also be discussing this announcement on eBay Radio on July 24, 11:00AM to 2:00PM PT. Join me and other leaders from eBay in a Town Hall meeting on July 25, 3:30PM to 5:00PM PT.

As always, thank you for selling on eBay.

Sincerely,
Michael Jones
Vice President
Merchant Development

**averone** · July 24th, 2012, 05:57:37 PM

A fee for ending auctions early? What?
Even if you change your mind and there are no buyers? If you withdraw your item you get charged? Thats a little nuts!

Dan_Lebou · July 24th, 2012, 06:25:35 PM

It states that ending an auction early once it has bids results in a fee.

I'm all for this. I've bid on no end of items and been looking forward to getting a bargain, only to have the seller end the auction for what I can only assume is because they weren't happy with how the bidding was going. If a buyer wants a minimum amount for the item then they need to apply a reserve.

Starting an auction at £0.99 and then pulling it because the bids haven't reached the £100 minimum that you were prepared to accept is exactly the same as knowingly avoiding the fee to set a reserve or a starting price of £100. Ebay are recouping these avoided fees by charging it when the listing is pulled instead.

northpole2 · July 24th, 2012, 06:50:06 PM

So, do you feel these are better? I know some of the stuff you posted earlier was pretty anti-seller.