• To the consumer eBay is offered as a great online place to find anything - cheap

• Consumers are also told what a "safe" and easy place eBay is to shop.

All well and good, in most cases, except for the fact that eBay does not have to stand behind the promises they make to the consumer, eBay leaves that bit of dirty business to the individual seller and they use PayPal as the big stick of enforcement to make sure that the sellers keep the buyers happy, no matter the cost or situation.  (more on that later)

• To the Individual Seller eBay is offered as the easy and fast way to sell the junk that accumulates in the garage or attic

eBay has been promoted as the place for anyone to start a business (selling junk from your garage) for years.  (More recently eBay went courting the corporate world, offering enticements and sweetheart deals to big sellers like Buy.com and others).  For awhile it looked as though eBay would turn its back on the small individual sellers in lieu of the huge volume possibilities offered by the Buy.coms of the world.

Some eBay Kool Aid?

Thankfully, eBay has not completely forgotten the little guy, they are happy to take his/her money and they have taken some minor steps to entice the small seller back. To be honest, I still don't understand the "selling junk from the garage" business plan "drink the kool aid" approach, but that must just be me...

2008

2008 was a long year in eBay-land, the changes and turmoil wrought by the eBay executives decisions (right or wrong) made an impression on the rank and file. The effect of these constant changes on eBay's core audience of sellers (the little guys and gals) became more than an annoyance. For some of these smaller sellers the constant state of flux of 2008 - early 2009 ended a long term love affair.

I will admit that my own love affair with eBay ended in 2008.

It was just too frustrating at times, not only dealing with the changes in my own eBay selling business, but also fielding questions from my clients regarding unexplainable and sometimes indefensible new rules or policies and outrageous games with fee structures.  I pretty much shut down all operations on eBay myself and quietly told my good clients that they might want to take a fresh look at eBay, it was time to evaluate whether the price in terms of time, frustration and costs, had possibly become too high for some to do business on eBay.

This was a tough thing for someone like myself to do, I had earned a living as an "eBay Guy".

For years I was an eBay evangelist, promoting the benefits, offering training, offering business setups, designing eBay stores... I was writing this "Trading Assistant Journal" which started as an eBay based blog about being a "Trading Assistant or Trading Post" in 2007, (Then, due to changes in policies, I was neither a Trading Assistant or Trading Post by the middle of 2008). In effect, I had been helping to offer the "Kool Aid" in my own way,  I did not feel as if it were kool aid at the time and I was proud of my designations as an eBay Stores designer, eBay consultant and eBay education specialist.

I was an eBay person to the core and I believed, truly believed, that eBay was the way to make money and have fun in business.

But some major changes had come about and not only was my eBay business no longer fun, it was not profitable either.  I lost a lot of money in my eBay business, I know I am not the first person to publicly admit that fact but the reality does not change. You can lose more money as a seller on eBay than you make... Keep that in mind. If it happened to me, with my training and experience, it could happen to anyone. The Kool Aide is not always so sweet.

But We Always Want To Go Back Home...

I had a large office and warehouse for my eBay business. at the end of 2007 when the Trading Assistant and Trading Post rules changes took effect, I shut down all consignment operations.  Therefore I no longer needed a warehouse and I did not need a 2000 sq ft office.  During the course of 2008 I consolidated into a smaller office and now in 2009, since I had been working mostly from my Beach Condo anyway, I moved my office to the Beach.  This move, of course, precipitated some purging of office related "stuff".  In effect I needed to clean out my garage or attic.

Why not try eBay?

How many times have you heard that line?

I heard it inside my own head, in fact I was thinking that I really needed an article about eBay for this Journal and that I should go through the steps of listing an item on eBay without using fancy listing software etc.  I should take a fresh look at the process, start to finish, of listing an item on eBay with the "sell your item" form.

What is it like selling on eBay in 2009?

I must admit that the process of listing items for sale using the eBay sell your item form is much easier than I ever remember it being.  I listed about 10 items in the span of an hour late one evening in my old office before the move. Not a lot of stuff, just books and software and other things I did not need any longer.

Since I had kept up with the growing eBay vs Bonanzle debate (insert your favorite selling venue here, I prefer Bonanzle myself), I wanted to see just how fast these eBay listed items would sell using no special tactics or traffic generation, just by listing on eBay as any other person would do.  This is not a comparison review, because I did not list the same items on Bonanzle, I simply wanted to see if the bad taste of sour Kool Aid from 2008 was still stuck in my mouth for a reason.

Bad Kool Aid?

• 7 of my ten items listed did not get a bid, these 7 items were various technical and business or software related books and did not cost that much to list, but they were started at a price of less than half of retail and way below any competing products. All of the books were in like new condition.
• 3 of my items sold = 30% STR - Not Bad, but not great and really not a true Sell through rate as these were all different items.
• I shipped all 3 items within 2 days
• One of the items that did actually sell was an opened retail box with a (un-named) software disk within. This item sold for over $150 which pleased me because I had described exactly what the item was and it was not new. This item was an open retail box, included a certificate of authenticity and the complete manual.  The return policy was set at 3 days.

That last item has replaced the bad eBay Kool Aid taste in my mouth.  Not because the buyer wanted a refund due to not reading the item description or my responses to several other bidders questions about the item or its condition. Nope, not even due to the fact that the buyer had convinced themselves that the item was something it never had been listed as, or because the buyer wanted a refund after the 3 days return period... The bad taste is back because PayPal immediately granted the buyers wish, removed the money from my account and issued a decree that I would accept the return if the item was shipped back to me.

I called PayPal to ask why?

In my call as well as in my response to the PayPal dispute, I explained that the item was described correctly, I offered proof that the item had been signed for upon delivery at a date and time that was in excess of the 3 day return policy. I submitted screen shots of the listing of the shipping delivery information and of the full questions and answers to bidders about the item condition etc.

I also explained to the PayPal representative on the phone (who may not realize that since this was a piece of software that it had most likely been copied) and that since the buyer was in the software selling business on eBay, that they had more than the average amount of knowledge when it pertains to the buying and selling of software, the buyer obviously did not read the listing, or they are running a scam.

Not one part of my honest contribution to the "PayPal investigation" made a bit of difference.

Why?  because the buyer claimed within the PayPal dispute form that the item was significantly different than what was sold. That is all the information the buyer submitted, no proof, no screenshots, no images of the imaginary or supposedly different product they received.  Guess what, PayPal did not ask for any kind of proof either.

Apparently if a buyer keeps the PayPal dispute form short and sweet, it matters not what the seller submits as proof to the contrary.  It does not matter that the images of the box are exactly the same as what was displayed on eBay, it does not matter that the 3 day return period had expired, it does not matter that the product sold and its certificate or authenticity have been compromised, it does not matter that the seller has 100% feedback going back over 13 years on eBay.  None of that matters, the only thing that matters, and the investigation of any claim by a buyer ends when PayPal read these words.

"Significantly Not As Described"

No amount of proof to the contrary will make a difference, the buyer is granted free reign to buy software, copy it, claim it was significantly not as described, and then own it for the price of shipping the item back by eBay and PayPal.  In effect the words "Not as Described" throws up a roadblock to further investigation by PayPal.  This little loophole in PayPal policy makes for interesting opportunities for the unscrupulous among us, does it not?  How many other non tangible goods categories could be exploited in this way?

Obviously not all buyers are unscrupulous, and I have dealt with more than my share of sellers who are not pillars of honesty, but for PayPal to proceed in this manner, while they hold my funds in thier own interest bearing accounts - well, I will say that this somewhat unpleasant reminder places the very real and very bad taste of some very old "Reverend Jim Jones style Kool Aid" in my mouth.

Sellers beware, the PayPal dispute is not just slanted toward the buyer, it is a deck of cards with too many one eyed jacks, and that deck is stacked against you.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

I was surprised after a presentation I gave at the Product Sellers Seminar with a question from an eBay seller who did not know anything about the new fixed price 30 day format on eBay. The persons question was not a surprise, the fact that anyone who has an eBay account and did not get a notice or a phone call about the FP30 program was my quandary. 

Here I thought everyone knew...

OK - for those of you who did not know about this change ( I know, another change at eBay - groan in unison), here is eBay's explanation of the program.

Fixed Price - 30 Days

Starting September 16, we are lowering the listing fee for all items sold via the fixed price format to only 35 cents, and a special rate of only 5 cents through the end of the year for Buy It Now™ fixed price listings in the Media categories (Books, Video Games, Music and DVDs/Movies) using pre-filled item information. (See our new Fixed Price fee structure here.)

Accordingly, we are shifting the majority of our costs for most categories to the back end (final value fees), which you only pay if you're successful in selling an item. In extremely competitive e-commerce categories such as Consumer Electronics, Cameras and Computers, we're decreasing final value fees. This means we're giving you an even bigger incentive to list these types of items on eBay.

In addition to the pricing change, we're extending the listing duration of all Buy It Now™ fixed price listings to 30 days, up from seven with an option for automatic renewal. For sellers whose items that may take longer to sell, this change will be a huge cost reduction and time saver. Taken together, these two big changes – 35 cents for up to 30 days - represent a 70 percent reduction in listing fees on fixed price items

My original take on Fixed price 30 days is that its a good thing but as with all things eBay - it depends...

Depends upon:

• The quantity and value of the items listed
• Sell Through Rate
• Best Match Metrics and if you know how to make them work for your products
• If you're successful listing in Stores format already (i.e. No need if the eBay Store is working for you)
• What Category your listing in - FP30 works different - almost everywhere on eBay
• The cost differential charged on the "back end" - Final Value Fees have risen here (in some categories)
• Other - as yet undetermined variables
• If eBay makes it work as it was intended or drops the ball

Developers Overtaxed?

I put that last bullet point in there not to dig at eBay, I know they have a lot of talented engineers working on these initiatives but it seems to me, and a lot of other people that the eBay IT department can not keep up with the managements desire to implement sweeping changes.

There are many reasons to point out how the IT people at eBay have been slammed with an enormous workload over the last year or so... And this Fixed Price 30 day listing program is just the icing on the cake.

It is no secret that third party solutions providers offer eBay listing management platforms all over the world. Yet to eBay (with this latest major listing option implementation) its a mystery. eBay seemed to forget the fact that thousands of approved third party eBay solutions developers needed to know the plan of action.

eBay did not share with third party developers the nuts & bolts of Fixed Price 30 day until the same day it was to be live Worldwide.  No beta, no sandbox trial, no developer conference or even a conference call... eBay did not even coordinate with its own Turbo-lister tool developers, it is estimated that FP30 will not be available on Turbo lister for another 2 - 4 weeks. 

In a previous article I wrote about eBay losing talent . Is this problem deeper than it appears from the outside? When I mentioned to Scot Wingo at Channel Adviser that Matt Carey, chief technology officer of eBay had left for Home Depot, Scot seemed to be very surprised.  When Scot Wingo does not know the moves being made within the eBay IT departments there is serious cause for concern for everyone on the outside looking in.

There have been major problems with Best Match, Finding 2.0, and now FP30 displaying duplicate listings on the same page of the same item - see Red Ink Diary: Pump up listing totals. 

Has eBay lost whatever IT talent they did have -already?

Is the management team forcing new and untested technical challenges down the throats of the engineers just to make changes in a panic? 

Time will tell, but I for one want to send a shout out to the engineers and developers at eBay - We feel for ya! 

Fixed Price 30 Days has some caveats and it will take some time for it all to be figured out but for now just keep in mind a few things.

• FP30 is still sorted as Best Match and this Best Match sort now calculates something eBay calls velocity. - Velocity is the sell through rate per item listed in FP30 and the continuation of the listing month to month.  Change the title or re-list through any means besides "Good Till Canceled" and lose the velocity quotient for Best Match standings. (That's not complicated or anything, is it?)
• FP30 Subtitles are now $1.50 - a fact not readily published by eBay. Keep it in mind if you plan on changing 100's of items from Stores format and they happen to have subtitles.
• FP30 Could be indexed by the search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc) just as Stores format is. This will increase traffic and exposure both from within and outside of eBay compared to Stores or Auctions listings.
• To some, the best news in this recent change involves auction listings. Auction listing will now display as they should have all along - Sorted by ending soonest.

For more thoughts on Fixed Price 30 Day listings and their impact or lack thereof check out the following blogs:

• Scot Wingo - eBay Strategies: Here FP30 is Born
• Randy Smythe - My Blog Utopia: Here and Here
• Henrietta or Red Ink Diary here: Pump up listing totals
• And a new eBay Blog - Tiphut: Here

We all know eBay has been testing a new look and feel for the view item page. I agree the format should be changed a bit to freshen up the entire eBay site. But take a look at the changed design and then read the rest of the story....

New View Item Page in Sandbox

Posted by Laurel Kline in Product News & Sandbox
Wednesday, Sep.10.2008, 5:43 PM PT

 

Want to see how your listing will look in the new View Item page? Head on over to http://sandbox.ebay.com!

The new View Item page is now live in the Sandbox for all listings. This lets you test your listing templates to make sure they'll look good in the new page.

The domain split for the item description is also live. We suggest that all developers and template creators list in the Sandbox so you can test how your template works. You'll be able to catch any unexpected interactions with the iFrame.

The new View Item is being displayed to a small number of users now, but is scheduled to roll to the entire site before the holiday season.

You heard it direct from eBay - this switch is going to occur site wide prior to the Holiday Season!

I know many merchants are already in holiday season mode, my clients have been getting ready for months, so what exactly do the eBay developers mean by "before the holiday season"?

By December 10th?

Seriously eBay - why do you insist on making major changes in the middle of peak selling season?  We agree it is the best time to look good to consumers, but if the new view item page is not ready now - in Mid September, it should wait for implementation until after December 25th...  We are in the Holiday Season right now... just get out of your developer chair and drive down to Walmart, where you will see Christmas decorations overpowering Halloween decorations on every aisle.    

Merchants do not have the time to implement new listing templates to accommodate a change by eBay in the 4th quarter. As a result, many will have hundreds if not thousands of listings which could or will have display problems. 

Placing a small notice on the eBay developer blog to check your listings on the eBay Sandbox may be effective for those who read the eBay developer blog... But many real time merchants don't even know what the eBay Developer Blog is, or have time to look for it.

Please eBay - Re-evaluate your timing for major changes like this... Speaking from the perspective of a Certified eBay Stores Designer, I am asking in the name of my clients for some sense that you know what the stress and pressure of peak season is all about.

Give your merchants a break, move this back to January, please....

UPDATE: From eBay

Clarification on New View Item Page Rollout

Posted by Laurel Kline in Business News
Friday, Sep.12.2008, 5:37 PM PT

 

There were some questions about the rollout plan I mentioned for the new View Item page, and I wanted to answer them.

We're very excited about the new View Item page, and think it's really going to improve the shopping experience.

We're starting by showing the new page to only a limited number of buyers. If the results are positive, we'll gradually increase the number of buyers who see it.

It would be great to roll it out completely in time for the holidays, but we're committed to not releasing it until it's ready.

Meanwhile, to make sure that  your listings look their best, follow these best practices:
Developer Impact: View Item
Developer Impact: Domain Split

Starting September 17th eBay will charge 35 cents to list any number of the same types of fixed-price items each fixed price item listing will now run for 30 days just as store listings and continue to be included in core search. 

UPDATE: eBay special web page explaining changes here: eBay

Is this move an indicator of the death of auctions on eBay?

Lorrie Norrington, eBay's president of global marketplaces says no, but ....

The fixed price listing fee reduction was not the only announcement worth mentioning from eBay today... 

"A revamped search engine, which is now being tested and will be introduced in September, will give buyers looking for a specific item options to buy at a fixed price or via auction" (Source: Reuters).

With this additional announcement, eBay is ringing the bell that tolls a change in the way consumers will search the site. This new or revamped search engine (can you say Best Match on steroids?) will offer fixed price listings side by side with auction listings (tests leaked on this system last February).   Will this new search "disadvantage" auctions so much that they become irrelevant and eventually through market pressure simply cease to exist?

This seems to indicate a fatal blow for auctions on eBay.

This change may not be a bad thing for new inventory sellers. 

What about eBay Auction Consignment?

For our eBay consignment store readers, these announcements signal a serious change on the horizon. 

Actually if your business model still offers consignment services, selling on eBay, you are already aware of the serious problems with the auction format.  This recent eBay announcement is just the final nail in the coffin for eBay drop off stores offering consignment. 

The time has come for trading assistant or drop off stores to abandon the consignment model. If selling on eBay is part of your business model I would suggest looking at offering outright purchase of goods that come through your retail door.  Only investing in merchandise you know will sell at a fixed price you can make a profit on.  In essence drop store operations need to look at the pawn shop model and scavenge bits and pieces to suit Internet sales of used merchandise. 

Auctions may be suitable for items with little or no cost for acquisition but fixed price is where merchandise will move on eBay now and in the future.  Until the numbers at other auction venues come up to a decent sell through rate, fixed price on eBay will be the best game in town.

eBay has become the venue for mass inventory and fixed price listings.  The previous management tried to stick with the roots of eBay and hold on to the auction format but it seems the new regime holds no such nostalgia for Pierre Omidiyar's vision of a selling and buying venue using the auction format.  eBay will never be what it was, the future has come to eBay.  Time to join in the new fixed price revolution or go elsewhere.

Personally, I saw this coming some time ago and have abandoned all consignment "Trading Assistant" operations in my business (except for long time customers) late last year.  The margins were just too small and the work load too high for me to justify the offering of consignment to new customers.  Listing bulk inventory that moves is the future of ecommerce.

Change is not always a bad thing, eBay must make changes because what they are doing now is not working.  They know it and we know it... I commend eBay for being bold enough to try and stimulate sales by lowering fixed price listing fees by what some say is nearly 70%  (Of course we have yet to hear how much the final value fee will be raised to accommodate this new strategy).  Auctions simply do not hold the mass consumer attention as they once did. 

Eventually eBay may look at spinning off the auction marketplace to a new site or even selling it outright, which may have been a good move about a year ago when the value seemed limitless.  Now that they have damaged the reputation of the auction format beyond repair and it might be difficult to find a buyer. It seems the plan is to slowly let auctions die on eBay and morph into a new Amazon like persona.

I guess we now know what "it" is....

"it" was Amazon, all along

I know this is a shock,  just breathe deep - Take a moment to comprehend the full meaning of the statement above...

Everyone knows how much and how fervent our opposition was to the "new links policy" from eBay, announced last May.  Here are a few of our articles regarding the links policy changes proposed...

• Announcement Kills eBay as a Business Venue! eBay Me Page Dead! Oh What a Wicked Web
• OK, so I was a bit rash… Big Business - I hear Ya…
• Wake Up eBay - Sharing Links, Social Marketing Good - Closed Networks Fail

It seems the Trading Assistant Journal was not the only voice making vehement objections to the removal of links from our eBay listings and "me" pages.  And eBay has listened!  The announcement from John McDonald yesterday is a significant victory for eBay sellers and believers in social media marketing everywhere. 

Thank You eBay! and Thanks Mr. McDonald!

***A Message from John McDonald – Links Policy News for Sellers***July 31, 2008 | 10:40AM PST/PT

Hello everyone…Back in May, I announced a number of important policy changes for sellers. One of the policies I mentioned was an update to our Links Policy which governs the types of links that can be included in a listing. Our Links Policy is intended to increase safety and preserve the buying experience.

After my announcement, we received questions and concerns from sellers about this change. At eBay Live!, our staff made it clear we would be going back to reconsider some aspects of the policy around how third-party links would be treated.

As promised, we’ve been reviewing all the different types of situations that our sellers have brought to our attention, and we’ve been meeting with additional stakeholders to understand how our policy update would impact them. After this additional research and discussion, we’ve decided to leave our Links Policy as is. There will be no Links Policy updates at this time.
I want to thank our sellers for your support and patience around this matter.

Wow, eBay Wins in court, must be a happy day in San Jose!  Today, eBay won a critical ruling in the case of Tiffany & Co. vs eBay Inc. The Court ruled eBay was not responsible for the sale of fake Tiffany on the site.

I tend to agree, eBay is thousands of sellers and each seller is responsible for the items they offer. While eBay should do more to prevent the fraudulent sale of counterfeit goods and knock offs, it can not be ultimately responsible.  The real responsibility falls upon the seller who offered the merchandise on the site should bear the legal responsibility for same.

Congrats - eBay!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - EBay Inc scored a major legal victory on Monday, when a federal judge ruled that Tiffany & Co failed to prove the online auctioneer was responsible for the sale of fake on its website.

The ruling in the 2004 lawsuit brought by Tiffany in U.S. District Court in New York could play a key role in deciding the ground rules for doing business over the Web and further refines trademark and copyright protections in cyberspace.

Tiffany alleged that turned a blind eye to the sale of fake Tiffany silver jewelry on its site. EBay said the high-end jeweler chose not to participate in eBay programs that help brand owners prevent fraud.

"The Court concludes that Tiffany has failed to meet its burden in proving its claims," wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in his opinion.

"Given Tiffany's choice to sue eBay, rather than individual sellers, and this Court's conclusion that eBay does not continue to supply its services to those whom it knows or has reason to know are infringing Tiffany's trademarks, Tiffany's claims against eBay must fail," wrote the court.

Ebay, which has been trying to increase trust between buyers and sellers in its main auction business, has increased spending on technology and people to stem the sale of fake goods on its site.

San Jose, California-based eBay says it takes down more than 90 percent of fraudulent goods on its site within four hours of their posting.

Shares of eBay were down 2.2 percent to $27.39 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage and Martha Graybow; editing by John Wallace/Jeffrey Benkoe)

No Perfume on eBay (Photo Courtesy LVMH Lowe)

EBay Inc. lost an appeals court bid to halt a ruling that ordered it to stop online sales of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton perfumes. This ruling prevents eBay, or anyone selling on eBay Worldwide from listing any perfume from these manufacturers unless they are an authorized dealer. 

This ruling even goes so far as to prevent consumers from selling perfume received as gifts.

A Paris appeals court upheld a 50,000-euro ($80,000) fine for each day that EBay allowed the sales to continue, LVMH said.

The order was part of a 40-million-euro verdict last week over claims that San Jose-based EBay didn't do enough to block the sale of fake goods

My opinion on this....

The ruling shows the World that eBay is not the only entity to make a few bad decisions.  Preventing knock offs and couterfit products from flooding the market is not eBay's job.  eBay does not sell anything listed on their venue. All these things have been argued in court before...

The point I am so confused about is how does a single sale from an end user/consumer effect the bottom line of any of these brands?

In my book, if a perfume or purse or anything is valuable enough for someone to sell on eBay, or to even think they should sell it on eBay if they did not want it as a gift, then this perceived value really increases the brand value.  It would be a simple matter for eBay to restrict the quantity sold for a single seller ID to X amount of units per year. 

Why in the World would French legal officials see it as piracy to sell a gift purchase of a single bottle of perfume?

The din of complaints about the new, yet vague and undefined linking policy seems to have caused eBay to re-adjust the timetable on implementation and enforcement of the no links edict.

Of course I do not agree with limiting the links from the me pages on eBay. Even though I do not agree, I have removed same from my me page and listings, just to be safe.

Now eBay has decided we need more time to accomplish the task of stripping any traffic generation capabilities from our eBay investment.

And what's up with removing email addresses? Does eBay really think the eBay "my messages" system is adequate or even passable as a sales or customer service communications interface?  Are they really losing that much money to sellers selling off site to justify these restrictions? Or is eBay just blaming the stagnant growth numbers and flat stock price on this mythical problem, in an attempt to convince wall street they are doing something about these sellers stealing fees by talking to buyers outside of eBay? 

Personally, I will not buy anything on the Internet from a company I can not communicate with - oops, I pay eBay every month, better revise that statement.

For more of my thoughts on these policies read this

I wonder what the car dealers think of these new policies?  Is there really any reason to be on eBay motors if you can not develop leads from the calls dealers get on eBay listings?

Well, thanks eBay, we appreciate the extra time...

Maybe you could take this extra time to also define or address the rumor which intimates... sellers also will not be allowed to include customer service telephone numbers or physical addresses in listings or on the me page? I don't agree with this idea any more than the links removal and understand it even less.  Let buyers communicate with sellers, let sellers sell. Small business needs to tell buyers they are a real business with a real store, on a real street, with a real phone number.

July 11, 2008 | 03:03PM PST/PT

Dinesh Lathi

Hi everyone. In addition to the news that Lorrie shared in her announcement yesterday, I have a couple of updates that I’d like to share with our sellers.We've recently introduced several new policies that may require some sellers to update their listings – I provided a quick checklist in my announcement at eBay Live!. While we believe that these policies are needed for the marketplace, we also want to make it as easy as possible for sellers to comply. Based on feedback we've received, we're going to adjust the timelines for several of the policies.

More Comprehensive Links Policy on Its Way
We originally announced that we would start enforcing our new Links policy this month. However, we're continuing to review the policy and plan to provide you with a comprehensive update around mid-August. This means we will not change our enforcement of the existing policy at this time. Once the new policy is introduced, you'll have a four week "grace period" to give you time to adjust your listings.

Specified Shipping Not Required Until August – Improved Tools Coming
Similarly, we've previously told you that starting this month, sellers will need to specify their shipping costs to make sure buyers have a clear idea of what an item's total cost will be. However, we've been working on improving our bulk editing tools to make it easy to update the shipping information within your listings all at once. These will be available in August, so we're going to delay the enforcement of this policy as well until these are available. Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to launch.

The other requirements I mentioned in my previous announcement will still be coming in the fall. This includes the removal of email addresses from listing descriptions, and the requirement of a return policy and your handling time.

Sincerely,

Dinesh Lathi
VP, Seller Experience

And "finding" had some news today - nothing earth shattering here...
July 11, 2008 | 10:58AM PST/PT

Jeff King

Hello...This is Jeff King, Senior Director of Finding. 2008 is flying by, and we're making great progress with our new search experience. About 10% of our members have been using it for some time now, and we've also made much of the functionality available to anyone who wants to try it out on the eBay Playground.Since the experience was first released, members have given us some great feedback, much of which we've acted on. For example, user preferences now are "sticky" – basically, the system remembers them – and we've added more features to the advanced search page. We have also added an Auto Complete feature, which provides search suggestions in real time right from the search box! We'll continue to incorporate members’ suggestions and feedback whenever possible into the experience.

Defaulting more people to the new search experience
Starting next week, we're going to start directing more members to the new search experience by default. A small percentage will also see a new merchandising placement highlighting auctions that we're testing for a limited time.

If you're using the new search experience, I'd like to thank you in advance for taking the time to let us know your thoughts. And if you'd rather not use the new search experience, you can simply opt out near the top of the search results page.

And as I mentioned before, if you're not already using them, you can still try the latest Finding features on the eBay Playground – new additions are made all the time. You can also stop by and leave your feedback on the Search discussion board, which my team regularly monitors.

Sincerely,

Jeff King
Senior Director, Finding

Certainly I am pleased that our Trading Assistant Journal has had a great deal of helpful comments and interest expressed in my recent article about Cornerstone Commercial Supply.

Find the Article Here: Live Help - Communication at eBay

The last comment in that thread was posted by a regular and valued contributor to our comments, Henrietta of the Red Ink Diary.

Henrietta is adding to the conversation here at the Trading Assistant Journal with helpful suggestions regarding reasons why Cornerstone may have been blocked from listing any new items on eBay. I appreciate Henrietta's suggestions as well as John's (who suggested a link to a free video editing software suite seen in a you Tube video displayed on the item pages could be the problem - great suggestion, but why? and how will we know if eBay does not tell us?)

12 Henrietta

Is there any possibility that this is related to the telephone number and email address on each listing and his About Me page? Soon to be prohibited.

I know we do not have an actual implementation date beyond the ‘July’ mentioned in the May 19th announcement. Typical of the eBay way, however, you will recall TnS started removing digital delivery sales 8 days before the stated cut-off date of March 31st.

It will be July in 4 days.

I started to reply to the comment, with a new comment under the same article, but as is often in my case, a quick reply morphed into a long article of its own...

@ Henrietta & @ John

Both of you have offered good observations and we have had the same ideas...

Yet without hearing from eBay Trust & Safety to know exactly what the problem is, it is difficult to go changing things within live listings and not know what it is we should be altering to get the listing block lifted. Any changes we make will be in the dark, and we are unable to test individual changes because all listings have been blocked. Yet eBay told us it was not a serious violation of policy... Now over 72 hours later we feel they are incorrect in their classification of this incident.

I would also like to address the point of removing telephone numbers from eBay listings and eBay stores.

Let me please go on record with the view that this ban on telephone numbers and address information is ridiculous protectionism.

If this policy actually goes into effect, I think it will irrevocably harm eBays standing with brick and mortar business sellers.

Think about the customer of a business like Cornerstone Supply...

Most carpet and Janitorial service owners are not extremely Internet savvy. They all would rather speak with a human voice when they have a question concern or just simply want to know which product to purchase for a certain application.

There is no possible way to cover all the frequently asked questions for the line of carpet cleaning agents, chemicals, parts, pressure hoses, machines, engines, blowers, wands, extractors and other items a business like Cornerstone Commercial Supply sells.

Sometimes the merchant just must speak to the customer on the phone!

These types of brick and mortar merchants are very good on the phone. Customers build confidence in these types of companies when they call and speak with a staff member like they have at Cornerstone.

The Internet is a wonderful and amazing way to shop and sell, but person to person communications can not be replaced with a short text message.

Why on earth would eBay consider a telephone number meant for CUSTOMER SERVICE a violation of linking policy?

Why is it, an established business with a retail location would be prevented from telling the world that they are a real entity with a business location by displaying an address? Has eBay ever heard of Google maps? Pretty popular with the public, one reason people shop online today in convenience. Restricting information as basic as an address or telephone number just increases distrust among the buying public.

What is eBay afraid of?

eBay is a place to advertise goods and services.

eBay has always been, in their own words, a "Venue".

If the venue restricts the capability of a business to advertise its location and customer service telephone number, what good is the advertising expenditure on that venue?

And another point - How are the buyers going to differentiate between real brick and mortar businesses with dozens of years of history and experience... from drop shippers and fly by night scammers with no experience at all? Especially if they offer the same goods and there is no way to contact the seller, look up an address or to ask a question of a live person?

ebay's message service is protecting eBay and no one else.

Sure, buyers do not want to be spammed with email if the ask a question, but buyers also want to receive full answers to their questions.

Currently the eBay "My Messages" service only allows one reply to a question and both parties must be familiar with the limitations of the eBay "My Messages" console. Limitations as to length of message, limitation on content of message and what if the customer wants an image sent to them of a very valuable item? What if the customer needs to see a contract or service agreement? How is the merchant going to send this information via the "My Messages" console?

I have personally had inbound messages sent to my company through the eBay "My Messages" service delayed for as long as a week... Suddenly appearing in our inbox on My eBay with a follow up question from the same customer, asking us why we do not reply?

COMMUNICATION should be open - Not restricted!

eBay - if your reading this - please do not make these mistakes by limiting the ability of established businesses to communicate with THEIR customers.

Protecting the buyer is all well and good, but that can be accomplished by processing and following up on the actual claims of abuse of the email policies submitted by buyers rather than restricting each and every merchant paying for your "services".

When these services become so restricted and controlled as to prevent commerce from actually occurring, eBay will no longer be a relevant "venue" for merchants.

Open your eyes and ears, and listen to your sellers (customers) eBay - Please...

Just as all merchants need to listen to their (buyer) customers...

Are we not on the same page about communications - at all?

The crux of the situation is communications at eBay, how eBay strives to inspire the customers of eBay, (the sellers) to provide excellent customer service and communications. And why it is difficult for the customer (sellers) of eBay to take this request seriously when eBay itself can not seem to provide even basic communications to its customers.

As many of you know I run an eBay and blog/website design and consulting company - iBusinessLogic.com... In the course of events we work with many clients on eBay related issues, our clients look to us for answers, especially in the current state of ever present flux for eBay sellers.

Yesterday one of our clients, Cornerstone Commercial Supply, called to ask me why they could not list anything on eBay?

The rest of this story will be detailing my efforts to find an answer as to why they had been blocked from listing...

To tell the truth we still do not know, so first let me give you some background.

iBusinessLogic designed an eBay Store powered by Frooition for this established brick and mortar commercial flooring and hard surface care distributor. The are very pleased with our work. The folks at Cornerstone love the design and they really like the exposure this eBay store powered by Frooition and designed here in the USA has brought them from within the commercial carpet cleaning industry.

Cornerstone's primary business is selling and servicing large truck mount carpet cleaning machines meant for commercial applications. In addition, they offer all of the cleaning agents, tools, fittings, hoses, mops and janitorial supplies needed for any independent or franchise carpet cleaning or janitorial service in Florida. Cornerstone services clients like Serv-Pro, Carpet Master and the like.

This is no mom & pop working out of a garage...

Cornerstone is exactly the kind of new seller eBay wants to attract. Cornerstone Supply sells branded merchandise from the finest suppliers in the industry and they have their own line of cleaning agents and supplies sold under the Cornerstone name.

The biggest drawback for them has been in trying to understand all of eBay's road blocks in relation to bringing a new business into eBay. One of the biggest pain points for Cornerstone has been the limitations placed on their account due to feedback. Not poor feedback, but as a new seller, no feedback.

Without feedback an eBay Stores owner like Cornerstone Commercial Supply is limited to only offering Stores listings or auction listings, even though they have a confirmed PayPal account, they have a verified business address and they have been doing business in the same location for over 20 years. This company has financial references and supplier accounts all over the country, the owner and founder of Cornerstone Commercial Supply, Richard Carpenter is one of the leading figures in the commercial carpet cleaning industry and has been known for his expertise in the field for over 35 years.

It is difficult for Richard and his daughter Connie Carpenter (who runs the eBay business side) to understand why they must be limited by feedback, when Cornerstone Supply has given all buyers on and off eBay great service. They do not understand why they have not received many feedback to reflect that service even though they always leave positive feedback upon payment.

The system as it stands is a barrier to further sales for the company and when a company has invested in branding themselves with the eBay system by custom designing an eBay Store and filling it with good products that sell. Why should they be limited by feedback when the system for feedback is so controversial and when buyers simply just are hesitant to bother with the whole feedback concept?

In any case, lets get to the heart of the reason why Connie Carpenter first called me and then came to my office yesterday....

In addition to our eBay Store design, Connie and Richard decided to use our Auction-Logic.com branded web based eBay listing management software to manage the eBay listings, re-listings and all of the online inventory for Cornerstone Commercial Supply.

Connie was attempting to list a few items and the software was returning an error code:

eBay Error: The item cannot be listed or modified. The title and/or description may contain improper words, or the listing or seller may be in violation of eBay policy.

Our first call was to my software developer, and while being very helpful, they had no indication as to why the Cornerstone eBay listings would return such an error. The best suggestion was to contact eBay to find out if a block had been placed on the account. We tried to reach eBay...

If Cornerstone had become a Powerseller by now we could have picked up the phone, but in this case we were left with eBay "Live Help", the chat based help service. While "Live Help" is convenient and the people who man it are exceedingly polite, I have never gotten any meaningful help from the service.

This experience was no different.

A couple of tips... The Skype link on the contact us page leads back to a page selling Skype and has no visible way to contact anyone at eBay via Skype, either by chat or voice.

The online answers and email will be discussed later but lets just say it is a maze of inaccurate and out of date information, some of which will never relate to any question you may pose.

Forget the phone number unless you are a PowerSeller. Our only choice was to try "Live Chat".

Excerpt from our "Live Chat":

14:18:22 AgentVirginia W.
Hello, thanks for waiting and welcome to eBay Live Help! My name is Virginia. How may I help you?
14:18:37 AgentVirginia W.
Hi there. How may I help you today?
14:18:41 Customercornerstoneclean
We need to know if this account is blocked for selling and why?
14:19:08 Customercornerstoneclean
The selling account is cornerstoneclean
14:19:39 AgentVirginia W.
I can understand your concern in this situation. Let me check your account.
14:19:43 Customercornerstoneclean
We use a third party listing solutions provider - Auction Logic
14:20:11 Customercornerstoneclean
and are getting this error on our attempts to list items since yesterday:
14:20:13 Customercornerstoneclean
eBay Error: The item cannot be listed or modified. The title and/or description may contain improper words, or the listing or seller may be in violation of eBay policy.
14:20:29 Customercornerstoneclean
There is no keyword spam
14:20:40 Customercornerstoneclean
No linking in the listing
14:20:49 Customercornerstoneclean
No VERO issues
14:22:59 AgentVirginia W.
Thanks for waiting. I appreciate your patience in this matter.
14:23:14 AgentVirginia W.

I've checked your account and found that there is a restriction placed on your account by our Trust and Safety department.

14:23:24 AgentVirginia W.
I won't be able to explain the details of the restriction on your account but I'm sure our Trust and Safety team can address your concern. In this situation, what you can do is, please contact our Trust and Safety team. I'd be glad to provide you the link to contact them.
14:23:41 Customercornerstoneclean
Your kidding
14:24:12 Customercornerstoneclean

You cant tell us what we can do to resolve the problem?

14:25:59 AgentVirginia W.
I would love you, however we won't able to check into this as currently such issues are handled by our Trust & Safety team.
14:26:19 AgentVirginia W.
I apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you.
14:26:31 Customercornerstoneclean
And how long will it take for T&S to respond?
14:26:34 AgentVirginia W.
Would you like the link to contact them?
14:26:51 Customercornerstoneclean
and why did they not notify this eBay member directly of any concerns?
14:27:03 Customercornerstoneclean
Yes
14:27:24 AgentVirginia W.
Usually it takes 24 -72 hrs to respond.
14:27:29 AgentVirginia W.
Sure.
14:28:01 AgentVirginia W.
To contact Trust and Safety department, please visit the link below and Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the "Email us" link:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/policies.html

Now, I have been around the block a few times, so I wisely checked the link provided by our friendly "Live Chat" representative Virginia... if anyone would like to follow it, you will clearly find there is no "Email Us" link at the bottom of the page. A "contact us" link simply leads back to the "Live Help" (image above) or standard email links which have nothing to do with Trust & Safety.

More Chat:

14:31:05 Customercornerstoneclean
Can you at least tell us if this is a serious violation?
14:31:28 Customercornerstoneclean
What can I tell my client to make them feel better about eBay now?
14:31:34 AgentVirginia W.
I know how you're feeling right now.

14:32:34 AgentVirginia W.
No this is not serious violation. As once you contact the Trust & Safety team they will help you lift the restriction.
14:32:50 Customercornerstoneclean
That is helpful

Not a Serious violation - Yet they shut down the seller account without notifying the seller or offering any assistance as to how to get the restriction lifted.

14:33:24 AgentVirginia W.
I mean they will direct you to lift the restriction, be rest assured about the same.
14:34:04 AgentVirginia W.
Please do not worry, as this is important for us as well as member's like you are an asset to eBay and we do not want to lose you.
14:34:05 Customercornerstoneclean
OK, they should allow you to tell us what it is, we could save 24 - 72 hours and make money on eBay in the process

14:34:53 Customercornerstonecleanom
We need the link again
14:35:03 AgentVirginia W.
I know however, we have different department to handle different types of issues.
14:35:04 Customercornerstonecleanom
the contact form only leads to live chat again
14:35:29 AgentVirginia W.
I'll give the link again.
14:35:44 Customercornerstonecleanom

Here's the link:
14:37:19 AgentVirginia W.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/policies.html
14:37:49 AgentVirginia W.
Please click on the Email Us link to email them.
14:38:27 Customercornerstonecleanom
Virginia, this link does not lead to trust & safety
14:39:20 AgentVirginia W.
All you need to do is click on "Email Us" link to email them.
14:39:44 Customercornerstonecleanom
The title of the page "Knowing the Rules for sellers?
14:40:28 Customercornerstonecleanom
Contact Us? not email us
14:40:54 Customercornerstonecleanom
Contact us, leads back to Skype, Chat Online, or online answers
14:41:10 Customercornerstonecleanom
Click start here for online answers or email
14:41:30 AgentVirginia W.
Yes. The Email path will lead to Trust & Safety. You need to click on Email Us at the bottom of the page.
14:41:35 Customercornerstonecleanom
and you get a email form for PayPal
14:42:20 AgentVirginia W.
In the above link please click on "Email Us" link at the bottom of the page.
14:42:45 AgentVirginia W.
I suggest you to visit the link from start. Please do not get confused.
14:42:49 Customercornerstonecleanom
Con
14:43:07 Customercornerstonecleanom
How can anyone avoid gettying confused?
14:43:24 Customercornerstonecleanom
I have been dealing with eBay for over 10 years and I am constantly confused
14:43:35 Customercornerstonecleanom
And I am considered an expert in the field
14:44:15 Customercornerstonecleanom
There is no link at the bottom of the page which reads email us
14:44:25 AgentVirginia W.
I am resending the link please on Email Us link only at the bottom of the page.
14:44:45 AgentVirginia W.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/contact_us/_base/result_1_1_2.html
14:45:20 AgentVirginia W.
The link is under the heading Contact Customer Support heading...
14:45:30 AgentVirginia W.
at the bottom of the page.
14:45:46 Customercornerstonecleanom

entirely different link, but thanks

14:46:05 AgentVirginia W.
You're welcome.
14:46:25 AgentVirginia W.
Is there anything else I can help you with today?
14:47:23 Customercornerstonecleanom
Yes, tell someone what a silly deal this is, but hey, you guys know that

This is the page we needed to find the infamous link:

OK... is this good customer service?

It took us over 28 minutes and several attempts to get the proper link from "Live Help" to then simply have an opportunity to formulate and process an email to Trust & Safety. Why not automate an email to the seller from Trust and Safety when a seller is blocked from selling and speed up the entire communications process?

I have experience dealing with eBay since 1998, I am an Education Specialist, a multiple account PowerSeller, and eBay blogger. I can only imagine what would have happened if my client, or any other non-experienced seller were presented with this confusing, frustrating and confounding experience.

Now we wait and it has been over 24 hours without a reply, my client and eBay's business customer is stuck without the ability to list any new items on eBay. The client and eBay's customer can not serve their customers while we wait.

I can't tell my client why, and eBay does not seem concerned...

• What kind of DSR rating would Cornerstone Commercial Supply's leave communication in this case if they were filing DSR's on the eBay customer experience?
• How can eBay criticize sellers across the board about communications when in fact eBay has no working communication system to serve it's customers?
• What does eBay suggest new sellers do to increase the feedback rate, so they will qualify to list items in fixed price? This client has been active on eBay for several months and only has 9 feedback. I know they treat each customer with very high quality customer service, what can eBay do to educate the buyers about the importance of feedback for sellers?
• Would this seller have done better in the old system? i.e. are they disadvantaged in search because they have not yet attained PowerSeller status?
• When a new customer of eBay works hard to do everything right, provide a branded store, provide great products and reasonable shipping, in a niche market which is not over crowded... How does eBay suggest they compete with eBay's own rules?

I am aware this is a very long post, but the point bears repeating... eBay must do more to accommodate sellers and communicate with them. In business, when a supplier just shuts you off without cause or notice your natural choice is to find a new supplier. If eBay is the supplier, and they have shut down sellers (customers) with no cause or explanation...

What does eBay expect these customer to do?