FINALLY - I Think I Get The Message.

[cmcoins2000]

eBay do not want Sellers.

They only want Buyers.

[digital*ghost]

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@cmcoins2000 wrote:

eBay do not want Sellers.

They only want Buyers.

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I have personally concluded that eBay would prefer buyers to trust eBay over the sellers that populate the site. In a twisted way, this makes some sort of sense (but just to be clear, making sense doesn't mean it's a good idea).

They actively seek to minimise the number of sellers who qualify for eBay's stamp of approval. Now, you would think that their selling recommendations, their effort to get sellers to follow them all etc, would be geared towards giving as many sellers as possible the big eBay badge of approval, but they have admitted that the defect policy is specifically aimed at reducing the number of sellers who qualify for TRS and premium service badging.

Why? Most people have taken that to mean that they'll have less sellers who qualify for the TRS discounts availble, but that's exclusively in the US as far as I know and I'm sure there's at least one person at eBay who is smart enough to realise that if you're concerned about access to discounted fees, you just end the discounts, or implement other criteria for qualifying for them that doesn't compromise a seller's standing on eBay. 

So, what possible reason is there for reducing the percentage of sellers who get TRS when if they increased it instead (which could be done by positively and actively encouraging good selling practices), they could make claims like "home to the best sellers around the world - our buyers agree" etc etc.  But they don't, they introduce the money back guarantee and market it - in a nutshell - as "if/when something goes wrong, we'll cover you". 

Near as I can tell, they're not necessarily looking just for big sellers, but have accepted a big turnover of sellers, and in the face of that, are attempting to maintain buyer loyalty to eBay. 

[black*poppy]

Agree with all of the above.

Not usually a conspiracy theorist, but the conclusion I keep coming back to is Amazon.  eBay has long been trying to grab Amazon's market share overseas, and obviously want to protect its market here before Amazon fully launch.  They launched the Australian website amazon.com.au in March.  There are some reports that they are expected to open warehouses or "fulfillment centres" later this year or next.

Amazon's motto is to be “Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company” (matches our new level of buyer-centric policies from eBay).  

Maybe the purpose of the Spring release is to clean out the dodgy sellers that discourage buyers from coming back.  Fair enough.  But there is alot of collateral damage.  However, if eBay perceives that small sellers aren't the money-spinners compared to the big sellers, and perhaps even negatively impact the sales of big sellers through their untrustworthy customer service (!), eBay would be glad.  It  follows then that the system is perfectly designed and balanced.

Sadly, the garage sale type stuff we all love, usually from small sellers, isn't welcome in the future vision for eBay.  It will have morphed into something else.  

[sueken4812]

Why oh Why then are they encouraging these small sellers with their 150 free listing promotions.  And Clear Out the House promos?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

[chameleon54]

     I agree with black*poppys sentiments. I do wonder if ebay need to keep the general public around to wean them onto the new look ebay. Ebay may be encouraging the non store holding general public  to hang around, but they seem to be doing everything they can think of to drive the small store sellers away. Like others I have taken the hint and are spending a lot of time trying to get a new business venture up and running. It does take a lot of time and money to replace the income I am currently getting from ebay. ( it took several years of hard work to build my current ebay business ).  I just hope I can have something in place by the time the p00 really hits the fan for small store holders.

[springyzone]

I had a read of the new system, but now I am confused.

Let me get something straight.

Say a seller sold a second hand electrical appliance, a small one. It was working well, no damage, was posted off and received okay.

Then 180 days (or slightly less) down the track, it breaks down. Does this mean the buyer is entitled to a refund?

That seems a bit over the top to me.

Since when do most second hand goods come with a 6 month guarantee?

If I were a seller, I would not be satisfied to have an item returned 1 or 2 or 3 months down the track, broken from usage, where I was not only left with a useless product but out of pocket for postage.

I used to sell in a small way a decade ago. I came on here a while ago to sort of see how things worked but I am not being tempted, might look for a different venue, which is probably what ebay wants anyway.

[black*poppy]

The 180 day return thing is from eBay US - has not been introduced here and is not mentioned in the Spring Sellers' release.

I can only speculate about the 150 free listings, - there may not be anymore after November or some time in the future.  Ebay obviously has a long-term game.  At the moment the specials are probably making money and could be a good way to introduce people to selling that might continue in a larger scale long-term.

[Anonymous]

i dont know how they are making money at the moment

sales have virtually stopped over the last week and this has been my worst performing month for some time

[digital*ghost]

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@black*poppy wrote:

The 180 day return thing is from eBay US - has not been introduced here and is not mentioned in the Spring Sellers' release.

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It's actually an extension of the PayPal dispute timeframe, available to buyers in the UK and US so far, and anyone who sells to a UK / US buyer is bound by their buyer protection policies (The PayPal Australia user agreement was recently updated to include that clause).

A lot of the acceptable proof of postage / delivery is no longer available after around 2 months...

Interestingly, eBay's money back guarantee has a shorter timeframe than PayPal, in most circumstances (up to 30 days after eBay's ETA, which is usually well within 2 weeks of the sale date for domestic purchases). 

[black*poppy]

That needs clarifying.. I understood it was only for sellers that sold items on the UK/US websites, ie you are a registered seller on ebay.com. or ebay.co.uk.  

[character_parties_aus]

I've spoken to ebay on this item and given them the green / red thsirt example. The answer I got was that in a case like that it would result in a return ( unsure on defect position) which is the same as paypal except on ebay you only get 10-14 days to make a claim and paypal is much longer. its pointless marketing noise which wont affect any seller more than the paypal situation does now other than defect situation. And if you are generally doing a good job the odd defect from some little turd wont hurt you.