How to improve eBay.au for sellers

I wanted to start a thread where members could suggest things that would improve the selling experience for sellers.  I want this to be a constructive thread and not one that disintegrates into posters having a go at eachother or denigrating suggestions.

 

We have all seen the multitude of "negs for buyers" threads and I don't want this thread to get into a to-and-fro between those that are for and against negs for buyers and same old arguments repeated all over again.

 

Most of the suggestions that get posted have probably been posted before, but probably not on a single thread.  If really good proactive suggestions are made then next time eBay send any of us a survey asking "How can we improve?" then we can list the best ideas that are posted here.

 

I'll kick it off with the next two posts as I would like each post to contain a single concise suggestion without having to be explained too much. After all . . . . . if it has to be explained in detail then it isn't really a simple idea for improving eBay selling.

 

Readers can give Kudos to those suggestions that they agree with.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

The expression "Free Postage" should be replaced with "No additional charges" or "Postage included" on listings.

 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Provide sellers with a warning of percieved infringements, before restricting accounts and a genuine, effective means of appealling account restrictions.  lack of account security erodes sellers confidence in building their businesses. One poor ebay decision and it can all be gone in an instant 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Replace "best match" as the default search system with "time ending soonest". This gives all sellers equal and fair exposure in buyer searches.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Have searchs show items in Australia first where there is an abundance of choice for buyers.

 

 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

If we are to retain the function for buyers to confirm a purchase without paying, I would like eBay to elimate the extra 4 days to pay for a UPI. My personal opinion is that a seller should be able to set a payment time-frame if immediate payment is not required, and if payment is not received or a longer time frame not negotiated, they should be able to cancel the transaction immediately due to non-payment.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Cross-referencing between buyer accounts to restrict members who try to circumvent blocks by opening new accounts.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Signficantly improved account ID verification requirements.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

FVF credits if a seller can prove they refunded excess postage.

 

FVF charged on the lowest domestic postage option.

 

Smiley Very Happy

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

I would like a non-payment = non-buying option.

 

Most of my items are one-offs for me. So a NPB puts my stuff out of circulation for at least 8 days. More really, but that's the OCD.

 

I don't think the current system is adequate as it only allows Paypal as the payment method. Not every buyer uses Paypal, and it should be simple enough to set the cart up so no-pay = no-buy.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

First time buyers should have to complete a short online tutorial before they can buy their first item. Covering topics like :Feedback - pos, neut & neg explained. Contact seller first if problem with item received. Also not to buy an item unless they are 100% sure they want it and can pay for it

One for first time sellers as well... Too many sellers still put ' I am not responsible for the parcel once it is posted' or similar, which contravenes eBays rules,.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

I'd like to see more threads in the spirit of the OP, where posters could just brainstorm high level concepts, ideas and opportunities without getting bogged down in details, they can be discussed in other threads if desired.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Standardised eBay feedback comment for non payers ie non payment was recorded for this transaction and strike issued

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Feedback tally of non-payment shows on buyer feedback page, the same or similar to how bid retractions do now

 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Sellers with stores get an option to trade-in their free buy-it-nows for free auction listings - based on $$ value of same.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

eBay customer service staff are trained in basic eBay policy.

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Message 39 of 152
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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Australian eBay staff participate in the discussion board by posting a discussion topic for a defined time ( an hour or so) on aspects of eBay on a regular basis as they do in the US.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Australia Post and other key company courier/delivery reps are invited to host ongoing threads in buying and selling to post on changes, follow up issues etc

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

bidder/buyer block for non-payers with more than 1 UnPaid Item strike in last 12 months being a default setting on the Sell-an-Item page with sellers being able to opt-out of the setting if they wish.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

eBay reviews the "site map" informed by intelligence from general enquiries, discussion boards and answer centre and develops world class web based Help centre that ncludes a phenomenal question and answer database that is accurate and is the envy of other global entities. 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

eBay renames the "defect" system and introduces ground breaking performance and seller loyality incentives, the likes that have never been seen before

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

A visual indication next to transactions if someone is a repeat buyer, and as a related feature, the ability to generate store and customer exclusive coupons.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Thanks this is a great topic.

 

One thing we would LOVE is the ability to see repeat customers/shoppers automatically!

 

So, perhaps if they have already bought say once in the last 12 months this information would be either able to be viewed with the click of a key, or their id would automatically pop up when checkout is happening. This could then lead to some questions being viewed by the seller, say " would you like to make a special offer to this repeat customer?" If yes it then could have some options for the seller to choose from, or they could set up their own parameters, like free post, (we don't currently use free post) special reduced post offer, discount on items, or add a voucher for next purchases. There are probably many different permetations that could be put together and used.

 

This might help with getting and keeping return customers, and save "de leetle grey memory cells".  

Just a thought to throw into the mix, and is a particular bugbear of ours.  

 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers


@am*3 wrote:
First time buyers should have to complete a short online tutorial before they can buy their first item. Covering topics like :Feedback - pos, neut & neg explained. Contact seller first if problem with item received. Also not to buy an item unless they are 100% sure they want it and can pay for it

One for first time sellers as well... Too many sellers still put ' I am not responsible for the parcel once it is posted' or similar, which contravenes eBays rules,.

I'd also like buyers to be made to contact a seller before grey or red dotting - I sell clothing and always quote the manufacturer's sizing, supply copious measurements, amd implore people to check the measurements before buying. To cop a feedback saying that the sizing was wrong because someone can't be bothered reading or measuring, or doesn't own a tape measure or know how to use one (why are they buying clothes on line?),  is very upsetting to say the least.

 

If I bought something from Myer, wasn't happy and stood on their footpath with a sign saying "Myer sell rubbish", I'd be arrested and sued!

 

Here endeth the rant.

Marina.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Buyer restrictions on bidding and buying, when they have unpaid disputes currently open

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Trust and safety reporting process is signficantly improved,

 

including making it easier to report bulk listings that a single seller has that appear to breach policy

 

AND

 

making it easier to report bulk listings that appear to be breaching the same policy ie. rainbow rose seeds

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Bring back Hijack-Hunters thread.

 

Although this helps buyers, sellers benefit from buyers not getting ripped off and leaving eBay for good.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

The ability to deactivate an individual listing without ending it, so that it cannot be seen in search results or purchased from, but when reactivated, all sales history, rankings etc is not lost, plus an option to automatically put a listing in 'deactivate' mode if stock sells out, rather than ending it.

 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers


@am*3 wrote:
First time buyers should have to complete a short online tutorial before they can buy their first item. Covering topics like :Feedback - pos, neut & neg explained. Contact seller first if problem with item received. Also not to buy an item unless they are 100% sure they want it and can pay for it

following on from this great suggestion . . . . . eBay could give new members a discount on their first purchase if they complete the short online tutorial . . . . . after all, they have run Big Sundays, why not do something to encourage new members to buy on eBay. 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Hey slr, sorry about the rant,

 

My bit is make T & S somehow accountable.

 

 

Stop the scammers, stop the non-payers and stop the highjackers................

 

 

Nuff said................ 

______________________________________________________

"Start me up I'll never stop......"

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Since the subject of combined postage has come up in several posts, make the RECALCULATE button on the invoice when combining postage cost actually recalculate, rather than default to the original.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers


@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

The expression "Free Postage" should be replaced with "No additional charges" or "Postage included" on listings.

 


and I feel it should just be a very basic "Postage included" or "Postage paid"

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

I agree with most of the suggestions above.

 

Business Policies should be made available to all users. They were announced in May 2012 but they have still not been rolled out to all sellers.

 

 

 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers


@thecatspjs wrote:

Trust and safety reporting process is signficantly improved,

 

making it easier to report bulk listings that appear to be breaching the same policy ie. rainbow rose seeds

They need to bring back the brief description box so that the new lot would know why the listing was reported,

 

(when reporting a scammer the last selection is You suspect that a listing is fraudulent with this bit attached

 

to it:   The listing has items being sold without the owner's authorisation. You didn't bid).

 

This is only the case for hijacked accounts and it's not the case when reporting scam listings,(hence why T & S

 

agents will have no idea why it's being reported).

 

The report section needs an overhaul and more appropriate reasons stated.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

best thing ebay can do to help sellers is stop with all the changes.

why they seem to always mess with things that are not broke.  

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Not all users are aware that Friday is maintenance day in AU, so regular announcements of maintenance times - prominently displayed at log in, so users are aware that the platform may be glitchy at that time.  

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

thumbs down to eBay for removing a valuable function to implement the carpier new follow seller function.

 

Please eBay return the ability to leave (private) notes on a saved (or followed) seller !!!!!!!!!!

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

a feature that should be available to sellers when listing is the ability to exclude buyers from certain Australian postcode ranges.  This is because some items can not legally be sent to those regions for quarantine reasons e.g. plant materials to WA or TAS

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Definitely an Australian Call Centre, where staff are well versed on eBay policy/rules/etc, and you could speak to two different people and get the same answer from both.  Bliss!!

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

eBay should either not charge the FVF on international postage OR cap the FVF on international postage at a nominal figure of say $2

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

This one is probably a minor issue - but on occasion I have had buyers saying they haven't received their invoice (stalling for time?? I don't know). 

 

I would like to see the date of issue on the original invoice, so when another has to be sent, the buyer can see the date the invoice was first sent.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

The expression "Free Postage" should be replaced with "No additional charges" or "Postage included" on listings.

 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

For Buy-It-Now items, an item should remain available to other buyers until a buyer completes checkout, as it is on some other eBay sites.  Thus eliminating change-of-mind non-payers for Buy-Now items as the item is not considered sold until it is paid for.

 

Like this:

checkout.JPG

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers


@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

The expression "Free Postage" should be replaced with "No additional charges" or "Postage included" on listings.

 


ssig_yeahthat_100-100.gif

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Provide sellers with a warning of percieved infringements, before restricting accounts and a genuine, effective means of appealling account restrictions.  lack of account security erodes sellers confidence in building their businesses. One poor ebay decision and it can all be gone in an instant 

Message 5 of 152
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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Replace "best match" as the default search system with "time ending soonest". This gives all sellers equal and fair exposure in buyer searches.

Message 6 of 152
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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

For Buy-It-Now items, an item should remain available to other buyers until a buyer completes checkout, as it is on some other eBay sites.  Thus eliminating change-of-mind non-payers for Buy-Now items as the item is not considered sold until it is paid for.

 

Sellers already have the option of doing this by choosing immediate payment required.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

Have searchs show items in Australia first where there is an abundance of choice for buyers.

 

 

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers

If we are to retain the function for buyers to confirm a purchase without paying, I would like eBay to elimate the extra 4 days to pay for a UPI. My personal opinion is that a seller should be able to set a payment time-frame if immediate payment is not required, and if payment is not received or a longer time frame not negotiated, they should be able to cancel the transaction immediately due to non-payment.

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How to improve eBay.au for sellers


@digital*ghost wrote:

If we are to retain the function for buyers to confirm a purchase without paying, I would like eBay to elimate the extra 4 days to pay for a UPI. My personal opinion is that a seller should be able to set a payment time-frame if immediate payment is not required, and if payment is not received or a longer time frame not negotiated, they should be able to cancel the transaction immediately due to non-payment.


HeartHeartHeart

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