Ebay Introduces New Measures to Keep Buyers and Sellers Active
January 31, 2008
(Long Island, N.Y.) Ebay Inc. the premiere auction site on the Internet launched new features that enhance the current operation of the company to keep buyers active in their site as well as keep sellers busy. The announcement was made in front of the top 200 sellers of the site in Washington this week. These new measures will help the company upturn a fledgling outlook for the year in which they experienced tough competition from other sites that offer the same services such as Amazon.com and ubid.com.
In a move that caused a good deal of static among sellers on Ebay, the company announced that the feedback system which is an important basis for buyers to determine if a seller is of high standing in the community or not, will be changed so that sellers cannot give negative feedback to buyers while consumers can still voice out their frustration if an when a bad experience with a seller occurs. “Most of the sellers are having a gut wrench about the feedback changes. It’s a very abrupt change to something that has always been sacrosanct in the eBay world” said Bill Hamilton a seller from Georgia.
The Feedback system was made to incorporate trust within the Ebay society. It is a way of determining a good seller from a sour one and vice versa for the buyer. With this change, it has the sellers at an obvious disadvantage when entering a transaction. Industry experts meanwhile give credit to Ebay for making such change. Steve Grooseberg, president of Internet Merchants Association said, “When the seller leaves a negative feedback for a buyer, it drives them away from the site”
“As a buyer, I feel trapped into giving a seller a good feedback, even if my experience is less than desirable, because I do not want the seller to then apply a bad feedback on me. As a consumer, I feel this move is a positive change to Ebay, because if this issue goes unaddressed, it could undermine the entire feedback system. I’m really pleased to see Ebay putting a little more burdens on the seller, as they’re the one providing the item after payment has been received.” said an active buyer in the marketplace.
On another front, Ebay announced that it will cut listing fees for sellers in Ebay and will take effect by February 20th. Under the new proposal, seller fees which vary according to the final sale price and the starting price will be cut by as much as 50% of the current rate. Usher Lieberman, a company spokesman said, “A majority of sellers will see their fees go down, we are basing our success on their success and we want to encourage sellers to list more items with us.”
Posted by News LI Editor · Edited by Brianna - Filed Under Technology
Have a press release or local story you would like us to review? Let us know about it!
| You can easily bookmark this page by clicking here: |
|
News Comments
One Response to “Ebay Introduces New Measures to Keep Buyers and Sellers Active”
Got something to say?
Is this an eBay press release?
It sure reads like one.
eBay has discounted Insertion Fees by 2c - 5c per listing and raised Final Value Fees or commission by 3.5% on auctions and from 10% to 12% on Stores listings on items under $25.
Most sellers will NOT save because most sellers did not use the 35c Gallery feature on low priced listings. It used to be that having a gallery picture would increase viewing of your listing, that will no longer apply. I believe the free gallery feature is for buyers, to enhance their experience, and I approve, just don’t expect me to be happy about getting something for ‘free’ I never used.
Most Power Sellers will not save because their Detailed Seller Ratings are too low, it is not possible to get higher than 4.8 on shipping even when you are offering FREE SHIPPING and if you drop below 4.5 on ANY of the FOUR ANONYMOUS DSR’s buyers can leave, you are ineligible for discounted fees.
Let me summarize:
Here is 5c off on the IF. You sold your item for $24.99 now you owe eBay 88c MORE in FVF than you did before eBay lowered fees.
Result: I opened a website last year after eBay made it plain what it thought of the small seller. I opened an Amazon seller account and an Overstock.com seller account. I am already transitioned. Won’t take more than 5 minutes to close my eBay store February 14th and I am gone. Both as a buyer and a seller.
- Posted by: Henrietta