TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:***An eBay Live! 2008 Message from Dinesh Lathi – More Updates for Sellers***


Hi everyone...I'm Dinesh Lathi, and I'm here in Chicago for my first eBay Live! event representing eBay's Seller Experience team. Those of you who listened to our May Town Hall event learned that I now have the honor of leading eBay's seller-focused initiatives, as my colleague and friend Jim Ambach is moving on to new challenges. Many of our sellers have known and appreciated Jim, and we all wish him the very best.

In addition to the news that Lorrie has shared, I'd like to share some more details and other news of interest to sellers that attendees have heard from us during the conference classes and discussions this week.

All sellers – now only 3 DSR ratings needed in 30 days for promotion in Best Match search results
We're elevating listings in Best Match for sellers with a 4.7 or higher across all four DSRs. To qualify for this boost in exposure, sellers have needed at least 10 DSRs left by buyers in the previous 30 days. (Without this minimum number, a seller's listings would receive normal exposure.)

We've heard from some of our sellers – especially lower-volume sellers - that this bar was set too high, and we agree. Now, sellers with DSRs of 4.7 or more will only need 3 DSRs left in the past 30 days to have their listings promoted. Check your Seller Dashboard to learn if your items are getting extra exposure in search.

Safer member-to-member email via anonymous email forwarding
To protect buyers, starting in September eBay will "anonymize" email addresses sent through the member-to-member communication system (Ask Seller a Question, Reply to Question). eBay will replace the sender's email address in the "From" field with a temporary anonymous address, and replies will be routed through eBay for processing prior to delivery. In turn, when recipients hit the "reply" button, their email address is also replaced with a temporary email address, which will then be routed through eBay before being sent to the original sender.

As further protection, starting in September email addresses will no longer be allowed in listing descriptions.

Making emails anonymous is becoming an industry standard that adds an additional level of safety. On eBay, we are limiting access to email addresses to people who are in a transaction together - and who have established a level of trust with each other – as another important step in improving the overall safety of the marketplace.

Required soon – Specified shipping, return policy, item condition, & handling time
As Kristina Klausen from our shipping team shared earlier (read her previous announcement), starting in July sellers will be required to specify their shipping cost and services.

Then later this fall, sellers will also be required to specify other key pieces of information in their listings: item condition (whether the item is new or used), your handling time (how long it will take you to put the item in the mail), and whether or not you offer a return policy, and if so, what the terms are.

More rewards for PowerSellers
As Lorrie mentioned, we're adding some new PowerSeller rewards to further encourage and reward our best sellers:

    * PowerSellers with 4.9 or higher across all four DSRs will receive a 20% discount on their final value fees.

    * PowerSellers may now receive savings of up to 23% of UPS Ground Daily Rates in addition to the current UPS Special Savings Program for eBay sellers.

In addition, we are launching a new Diamond level for PowerSellers with $500,000 or 50,000 items in sales a month, who also maintain 4.8s or above across all their DSRs. Diamond PowerSellers get the same baseline benefits as Titanium PowerSellers. In addition, eBay may consider alternative fee structures for Diamond PowerSellers. Consideration for alternative fee structures will be made on a case by case basis.

For Sellers – A quick "listing update" checklist
We realize that any time sellers need to change their listings or templates, it costs you time and energy. To minimize the effort it takes for our sellers to accommodate our changes, I'd like to give you a quick checklist of changes you may need to make in the coming weeks, based on the changes we’ve announced:

  1. Remove any links to 3rd-party sites to stay in compliance with recent updates to eBay’s Links Policy (Read our previous announcement).
  2. Specify shipping, return policy, item condition & handing time in the specified fields. This information will be required soon so now’s the perfect time to get started.
  3. Remove any email addresses from your listing descriptions by September.

I invite you to read more details on these changes. To stay abreast of your standings, check your Seller Dashboard often.

Let me close by saying that attending Chicago at eBay Live! 2008 with much of my team has been an inspiring way to round out my on-the-job education. The sellers here and at home are not hesitant to voice concerns, and we appreciate that. Your energy and optimism about your businesses and the eBay marketplace are inspiring, and I look forward to serving you.