Not happy with Top Seller de-badging

[2013mellie2013]

I am not impressed with not being able to see who is and is not a top ebay seller on ebay anymore.

The top seller badge gave me as the consumer a sense of confidence when purchasing items on ebay.

Why can we the consumers no longer see these badges?

Did someone at ebay have a thought bubble and think ommiting this might be a good thing?

Let me know how a decline in consumer confidence works out for you guys.

I'll start purchasing again when I can see those nice shiny gold badges.

[lyndal1838]

I'm afraid you will be waiting a long time....it has been discontinued.

[harley_babes_hoard]

Unfotunately ebay don't read these boards. Us sellers are none too impressed about it either but perhaps telling ebay what you think might help if enough people did the same.

There should be a "tell us what you think" link on your my ebay page, directly under the blue search button.

[2013mellie2013]

I think declining consumer confidence and fewer ebayers might persuade them to think it over.

It's about restoring consumer confidence, and when I saw ebay had de-badged their top sellers, the first thing that sprung to my mind was that ebay have decided to make selling on ebay more desirable to those who dont have a good seller rating.

Their buyers lack-of-confidence will cost ebay in the long run, and jacking up seller fees wont cover their losses.

[book-of-hezekiah]

The tell us what you think button is a great idea.

One of the members here, kopenhagen5, has set up a thread welcoming ideas to present to eBay to make the experience better for everyong.  You can find the thread here: http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/New-Community-Experience/Anyone-want-to-meet-ebay-with-me/td-p/13450...

I'll share your ideas there just in case you can't get there [EDIT] to that thread to share your ideas.

[trulyspecialgoodies]

You can still see whether a seller is Top-Rated on their feedback page.  I guess we should be grateful for small mercies - at least it hasn't disappeared completely - it's just a bit harder for buyers to find.

[auction_arc]

I agree! Plus, the eBay Premium badging requirements are too high for Austraila compared with US & UK!

In Australia, eBay requires that sellers offer 30 day money back plus express postage to get a Premium badge! while in the UK & the US, it's only 14 days return, AND, in the US you can get a "Top Rated Plus" badge with only 14 days money back and NO EXPRESS POST!

30 days money back is too long and over the top!
Another case of  Australian sellers being treated unfairly by eBay! Very unhappy!

[babylonfuture]

auction_arc,

I think you misunderstand the express post part - it does not have to be the primary postage.

On my listings for ebay premium listings.. all items get free STANDARD regular shipping.. with a PAID express postage option.

Also as for 30 days returns, in the listing I state that returns are only accepted if item has been unopened (unless faulty etc).

Also should be noted...that under Australian Consumer Law - there are no time limit to return broken/faulty items. (uses the word 'reasonable'). So even if you had a 7 or 14 day return policy and an item breaks, then the customer is (maybe) covered by the ACL (this of course if you are running as a business, and the sale was not a private/personal sale).

In reference to your other post in the other thread.. "products that naturally break during use such as guitar strings," - depending on the price paid and expected quality a customer could be entitled to a refund...

Not just that, if customer has paid with paypal - they have 45 days to dispute a transaction as well...

For those who want to learn more about the ACL - see http://www.consumerlaw.gov.au/

[auction_arc]

babylonfuture,

1) I haven't misunderstood the express post requirements. I do understand that only the primary postage needs to be free, but an express posted option does need to be offered to acquire the badge where as in the US they still get a premium seller plus badge without this, so it's another requirement to get a badge here as  oposed to the US and here it's on a per listing basis only.

2) With regards to the ACL, I went through the exercise of calling them this morning and discussing various scenarios and basically, from my understanding, the process would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis with the expected life of a product taken into consideration. An example might be, one would not expect a set of AA batteries to run a torch light for more than a few hours.

Being that this would be decided on a case-by-case basis, and would be a similar situation with PayPal, why tie a return policy timeframe to a badge. Why not let sellers decide what's reasonable in accordance with the types of products that they sell.

3) Until just very recently we had a top seller badge based on a seller's performance, like it continues to be in the US, without having to offer 30 day returns, this has been my point all along. In the US, you can still get your badge with 14 days return policy, and I've even seen some listings with no mention of return timeframe at all, yet the seller still has a top seller plus badge!

4) With regards to PayPal, it's the same in the US, a buyer can make a claim within 45 days, of course the outcome is determined on a case-by-case basis once PayPal has reviewed the claim. Nothing different there, YET sellers still get to decide their return timeframe and policy without it affecting their eligibility for a top seller plus badge their.

5) Basically , more is asked of Australian sellers then our counterparts in the US making it easier for them to look better to a buyer. Why?

6) Why is eBay debadging a significant number of Australian sellers just before the Christmas season?  Am I supposed to feel happy about that? For all those who have lost their badge just before Christmas, should we all rejoice? Sorry guys, I'm not happy!

I hope that others who have been affected by this share the views.