There were a lot of announcements in the recent Seller Announcement with different dates when projects would be implemented. Thankfully most of the changes are completed by the end of October with the remainder in January – If sellers get their listings updated in good time it will leave them free to concentrate on the main Christmas selling season.
Here are the main dates sellers need to be aware of:
April 2009
New eBay Resolutions rolled out to small number of users. Expected to roll out to all users before the Christmas selling season starts.
July 2009
DSR tracking of 1 & 2 stars starts. New Seller Dashboard will enable you to track the incidence of low rating DSRs
August 2009
Ratio of Auction and Fixed Price listings shown in search results for the Women’s Clothing category revised to show more fixed price items in search results
20 August 2009 to 30 September 2009
20% FVF discount for sellers offering free P&P in any Media (including DVD) category, CSA and Tech
September 2009
Changes to Best Match roll out (Introduction of performance score based on the listing’s recent sales in relation to the number of recent impressions)
Buyer communications upgraded. Selling Manager email templates carried over but Selling Manager Pro email templates will be lost
My Messages will be upgraded to support threaded emails – Best advice is to start using My Messages instead of your email client to respond to buyers
22nd September
Featured Plus, Highlight and Bold will no longer be available. Featured First only available to Top Sellers. Features will be removed from live listings with fee credits if applicable.
Tickets category on eBay will require the date of the event to be included as a custom item specific
eBay listing bulk editing function introduced. Edit up to 200 listings even if they have already had sales
Optional/Compulsory postage insurance option removed from listing flow
Category changes to Books, Comics & Magazines, Home & Garden, Tickets & Travel, Property
1st October 2009
All eBay sellers will need to keep their number of transactions with DSRs of 1 and 2 for item description below 3%. For communication, dispatch time, and P&P charges no more than 4% of transactions with DSRs of 1 and 2.
Top Rated Seller status introduced
Selling Practices Policy applies to Top Sellers
19th October 2009
Final date to remove optional insurance from live listings (including from item descriptions)
Free P&P mandated for additional media categories
31st October 2009
Make sure all listing including Good til canceled specify your dispatch time
2010
Selling Practices Policy applies to all sellers
January 2010
Above Standard PowerSeller status introduced
15th January 2010
Old PowerSeller program discount structure ends
16th January 2010
New PowerSeller discount structure kicks in
Implementation date not yet known
Improved unpaid item process with new emails and shorter resolution times.
38 Responses
Thanks for taking the time to do that Chris,it might come in handy so I will print this off, to much to remember all at once.
Now taking bets on what’s implemented late… 😀
We already know the answer – we were promised the dashboard for low DSRs today and it’s two minutes off midnight so it’s late.
What did I win?
The only thing eBay deliver on time is an invoice.
Improved unpaid item process with new emails and shorter resolution times
Which includes automated eBay payment reminder emails sent 48 hours after transaction completion, and another 96 hours after transaction completion – there is NO opt out form this !
This was confirmed by eBays Kristina Klausen at the recent Town Hall discussing the latest announcements.
I don’t like the sound of that Eddie, or see the point, I am automatically invoiced by eBay at the point of sale, why on earth do they want to start hassling my customers 2 days later.
Unless its just another way to encourage you to go instant paypal only because you are so scared of loosing your discounts/search standings/status.
#5 I have purchased a couple of the DOTD items, 24 hours after delivery you get bombarded with feedback reminders, so I don’t leave any.
I imagine I would feel fairly similar about payment reminders so soon after purchase and that might get reflected in the stars I leave.?
Same here Whirly – bombarded with emails from Daily Deal purchases, and was very tempted to leave one seller feedback he didn’t want because I was ‘reminded’ so often to leave them 5 star feedback!
The archive for last night’s .com Town Hall can be found by following:
https://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200907.shtml#2009-07-29104334
#5 No opt out ! A customer paying by cheque will get 3 or 4 before cheque clears !! Crass.
You know so long as it’s eBay sending the emails I don’t care. While I hate being chased for feedback (especially when the seller is rude enough to chase me for feedback when they haven’t left me anyway) chasing for money is just basic credit control.
More buyers reminded to pay = less unpaid items = more profit 😀
And if the cheque is awaiting clearance the buyer wont read who it’s from, dammit he bought the item from eBay anyway.
1* for communication.
John if the cheque is awaiting clerence mark the item as payment received & send an automated message, 5* for communication
#12 I normally send the item!! 20*.
I really want the opt out to put me in control. I don’t have a problem with non-payment, I do have peeps who pay once a month and build orders over the preceeding weeks. They could get 10 reminders from ebay.
#10 put the flag away Chris 😆
If ebay had a checkout there would be no need for all this complication.
I’m not too worried about cheques – they’re pretty much banned in the US anyway and I reckon the only reason they’re not banned in the UK is because hardly anyone uses them anyway and it’d cause more trouble to ban them than benefit gained.
I think I’ve had about 3 cheques so far this year – wouldn’t mind cutting that to nil, but some people managed to screw up their PayPal account and ask how else they can pay instead.
Be interested to know if anyone gets a greater incidence of cheques? Like a significant proportion of your business 50%? even 25%? 10%? 5%?
Thank you for this Chris, I too have printed it off.
I can’t get my head around the emails eBay will be sending. Can I change their content, can I even see what they are going to look like?
It seems I can’t opt out of them but am now terrified that I am going to bombard my buyers with too much communication, most of which I don’t want sent in the first place.
#15 cheques depend on what I am selling and to be honest the age of the customer. Certain categories I can guarantee there will some people sending a cheque.
@15 We still get cheques on a daily basis, but significantly less than we used to. Not surprising really, since eBay push Paypal so hard, and try to scare sellers into not paying by any other means.
Choice is a good thing, so the more ways a buyer can pay the better.
Sorry, should say buyers, not sellers.
@ katakitty can I even see what they are going to look like?
Yes, buy something and don’t pay for it for a few days 😉
@ Lino Choice is a good thing… but not when it involves me going to town to pass a bit of paper over the counter. Honestly people can’t even pay with petrol by cheque any more (at least not at the petrol stations around here), so why pay online with cheque? If you’re online you should be online 😉
#20 brilliant idea, I can do a BIN from husband
Don’t do it from your husband – eBay might do you for shilling 😯
Just pick a laid back seller and don’t pay for a couple of days – but wait til the new emails kick in or it’ll be a waste of time 😉
@20 There’s nothing wrong with a short trip to town Chris. I generally agree that if you shop online, you should pay online, but eBay only give online payers the option of Paypal. How many potential buyers aren’t buying on eBay because they either dont trust/like Paypal, or simply can’t remember their password?
I don’t care how they pay or when (with agreement) they pay.
It’s all about the service isn’t it?
We work on the simple principle that an item is not sold until its paid for.
“You’ve sold your eBay item:24 Jet Whirlpool Jacuzzi Offset Corner Bath 1500×1000”
No eBay I haven’t, someone has not bought it because we don’t have a checkout, they buy it when they pay, until that time they are just showing an interest.
#25 + #26 ermmm…. why not use the Immediate payments required when using it Buy It Now? option? Basically the same as forcing the buyer to checkout isn’t it? Of course, it doesn’t work for auctions, but it’s a start…!
We still get cheques AND postal orders, and I’m grateful for it – saves valuable money in paypal fees!
#27 Because I like to give my customers choice, not force them to use paypal.
I can see #27’s point. if eBay ever do have a checkout process with basket etc then they are sure to only offer Paypal as the payment option.
So immediate payment is basically the same. In fact, it may even encourage more of your buyers to call you up and offer to pay via cheque etc, at which point you have avoided paying eBay fees etc.
29 as far as I am aware they are intergrating credit card payments into the checkout flow in the states? maybe I read that wrong.
But what gateway will be used, can you use your own supplier?
I will find out.
IIRC (and I may not…) you don’t have a choice of gateway: someone has been nominated. I’m buggered if I can remember or find out who, but I will keep looking 😀
Pretty sure it was Pro-Pay, I remember reading about them and something to do with the speeded up UPI process, payments made via propay or paypal qualified.
btw I still can’t see my 1&2’s report…whats the latest, did James mean July 2010?
#15 – bit late replying to this, Chris, just totted up my cheques / postal order payments for July and they came to just over 11% of total turnover, an amount not to be sniffed at, anyway.
Probably much to do with the sector I sell in and the age of some of my customers.
Hey Gill, that’s quite a lot! Certainly not to be dismissed lightly
Indeed, and no fees to pay either (my bank doesn’t charge for paying them in) 😉