Have you claimed your complimentary gift from eBay?
publication date: May 21, 2008
eBay Confidential eZine
14th May 2008
***
- Editorial
- Suspended eBay Account - Discover The Four
Main Reasons Why Your eBay Account May Get
Suspended
- What Is eBay Best Match And How To Improve
eBay Search Results
***
Hi,
Is eBay being plain old nice or just trying to force sellers
to remain loyal after a spate of seller-unfriendly changes
in recent months?
I'm personally not sure and, given the new feedback
rules come into play tomorrow, 15th May, I reckon they
could be attempting to thwart a mass walk out when
those new feedback rules hit the fan.
But still, despite eBay being less caring for sellers than
buyers, it is nice to know they are offering the gallery
picture option free of charge across the entire UK site
from May 19th to 30th September, 2008. The gallery
picture option is that which allows illustrations of your
products to appear alongside listings on eBay search
pages. Without the gallery picture you'll see just a
camera icon and potential buyers must actively click on
your listing to see what the product looks like.
That's actually a very great deal for us, despite the fact
the gallery picture option costs just 15p, the same as the
listing fee for most items with starting price £4.99 (a
popular choice for many sellers, myself included). This
means for most people cost of listing will be halved
during those long summer months.
REMEMBER to actually tick the gallery picture option at
the listing stage or you'll miss out on this great offer.
And when the promotion ends, check whether your
profits increased or stayed the same with the picture
compared to not using the gallery option.
REMEMBER ALSO to untick the gallery picture box at
the end of the free period if there is no appreciable
increase in your profits with the gallery picture,
compared to without the picture, or you'll be charged that
extra 15p on everything listed from October onwards.
***
eBay's Feedback changes
***
Now onto the dreaded feedback changes and a bit of a
u-turn by eBay, who seem to care just a tad that sellers
are upset at having no comeback to warn other sellers
about dishonest buyers and who also don't like the
highly subjective nature of feedback.
eBay now says:
----------------
"Before feedback is left...
- We'll remind all buyers about to leave negative or
neutral feedback for a seller to get in touch with the
seller first, and to allow plenty of time for their item to
arrive (we'll also include a specific reminder for cross-
border purchases). (Editor: Do you think this will make
any difference considering eBay has been giving this
warning for the entire five years I've been selling at their
site with little effect?)
- Sellers will have more control over who they allow to
bid on and buy their items thanks to an enhanced Buyer
Requirements tool. For the first time, they'll be able to
block bidders who have been reported for policy
breaches and non-payment. We'll launch these
enhancements at the end of May. (Editor: Why leave
this to the end of May when all Hell breaks out on 15th
May?)
- Buyers will be able to leave feedback for 60 days after
a transaction (down from 90 days).
- If a seller is a PowerSeller and has been on the site for
at least a year, buyers will not be able to leave negative
or neutral feedback for 7 days after their transaction.
(Editor: Believe me that seven days will do nothing at all
to deter some of eBay's more dishonest buyers and, one
has to wonder why is this change is for PowerSellers
only instead of new sellers on eBay who may not enjoy
being called names without chance to retaliate?)
After feedback is left...
- We'll remove negative or neutral ratings if a seller
opens an Unpaid Item claim and the buyer either doesn't
respond or doesn't specifically say the seller is at fault.
- We'll remove negative or neutral ratings left by a buyer
if they're subsequently permanently suspended from the
site.
- We'll base Feedback percentage scores on the last 12
months' activity (rather than on lifetime activity) so that
negative feedback doesn't permanently affect a seller's
reputation.
- We'll be launching a dedicated hub for sellers to report
malicious or unfair feedback from buyers. (Editor:
Whereupon eBay will do what?)"
-------------
Another big change coming to a screen near you very
soon: shortly all listings will need to offer PayPal as a
Safe Payment method!
Nice one!
Happy eBaying!
Avril
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***
Suspended eBay Account - Discover The Four Main
Reasons Why Your eBay Account May Get
Suspended
by Alexander Bowne
***
eBay tracks all sellers and according to statistics
published by many websites there are four main reasons
why someone can get their eBay account suspended.
They include:
- Selling products that may be fraudulent, counterfeit,
stolen or providing a misleading title or description.
- Failing to pay eBay fees.
- Repeated Copyright or infringement violations.
- Mistake on the part of eBay.
This article should provide some insight on the main
reasons for eBay account suspension policies.
By selling any type of counterfeit, fraudulent, stolen or
illegal items eBay has the power to instantly suspend
your account. If members or sellers complain to eBay
about your product, the investigation will begin. Without
any warning you will receive an email indicating that your
eBay account has been suspended.
Many sellers fail to pay their fees on time. Once this
occurs eBay will notify the seller and request payment. If
the seller fails to make payment within a reasonable
amount of time eBay once again will suspend your
account. One solution to resolve this is to provide
automatic withdraws by using your credit card or PayPal.
Another major form of eBay account suspension is for
repeated copyright or and infringement violations. By
using other people's copyrightsworks including images,
text and sometimes by copying someone else's entire
listing will surely guarantee a suspension if it is noticed
and reported to eBay by either the author or and other
sellers. eBay is very strict on these violations because if
they do not suspend or ban the seller they will be held
responsible for allowing and authorizing this behaviour. If
they fail to act they can be held liable.
The final type of eBay account suspension that seems to
be a bit unfair is when a seller is suspended do to a
mistake or error on the part of eBay. There are many
situations where an overzealous eBay employee
receives a complaint from another seller or competitor
who then fabricates a violation.
However, eBay does not have the manpower or time to
verify every complaint. Therefore, you are suspended
without notice or warning and you must rectify this by
contacting eBay and plead your case.
In conclusion, there are other causes why your eBay
account may be suspended. However, the above-
mentioned ones are the most common. If you feel that
eBay may have suspended you unfairly try contacting
them and explain your situations. In most cases it may
take a few days but eBay will contact you.
If you need more information, please visit:
***
What Is eBay Best Match And How To Improve eBay
Search Results
***
by Jenny How
Best Match is the system according to which listings are
returned in response to searches to ensure a better
experience for eBay buyers. eBay introduced the Best
Match search method in 2006 testing it in regional
markets and finally making it site-wide in 2007.
While there was initial seller resistance to the system it
has proved to be a workable and fair system.
The first thing to note is that Best Match is not the same
as Google Search, which is entirely based on matching
words and phrases, uniqueness, arrangements of words
and paragraphs, internal website links and external links.
eBay Best Match draws on word matches to a much
lesser extent and instead brings other criteria into play.
eBay gives advantages to sellers whose deliver a high
level of customer satisfaction according the Detailed
Seller Ratings, so that sellers with high seller ratings
(calculated over the previous 30 days) receive more
exposure in the listing. Usually about half of all sellers
meet this criterion.
The flip side of this arrangement is that
1. Sellers with more than 5% dissatisfied buyers in the
30 days preceding the search and;
2. Sellers who have low ratings according to the
Shipping & Handling Charge Detailed Seller Ratings;
get lesser exposure on eBay best match search result.
Decreased seller ratings will mean decreased visibility.
Everything else being equal, including price, and time
ending, the seller rated lower in either or both of these
ratings will be sorted lower than another seller. Buyer
satisfaction is not the only feature of eBay Best Match.
Keyword relevance is important (although not as
important as it is for Google Search). Historical buyer
behavior on eBay for similar searches may also affect
your search result ranking.
If your listings are not ranking high in eBay search
results, you should address all the following factors and
try to improve them through competitive pricing and
better service. The factors to address are:
* Keywords
* Item specifics
* Price and shipping costs
* Feedback
* Detailed seller ratings
* Shipping & handling
* Return policies
Also make sure that the form of listing, the auction end
time and the all-round presentation of the listing is user-
friendly and logical. Bear in mind that the philosophy
underlying Best Match is "relevance". Make each and
every piece of information you key in regarding your
product entirely relevant. Do away with superfluity.
Nobody knows exactly how eBay Best Match works. If
your listing is not 'working', i.e. not attracting buyers,
then before blaming Best Search you should 'rethink'
details, descriptions and photos in listings.
If a product is searched for, found and bought then this
will reflect in the rankings. If a product is rarely searched,
sometimes found and rarely bought then this will be
factored into relevance calculations and therefore might
display higher on the page in subsequent searches.
Jenny How is a full time eBay Powerseller. She has
been earning a living from eBay since 3 years ago after
a surgery which left her with facial paralysis. More in
depth articles and tips posted at her site
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