New Consequences and Other Policy Management Progress

[amy]

***A Message from Matt Halprin – New Consequences and Other Policy Management Progress*** 

January 26, 2006 | 04:17PM PST/PT

Hello…This is Matt Halprin, I'm overpaid and I manage global policy management at eBay. Good policy management is about making the site a trustworthy and friendlier place to buy and sell, and we know we've had some work to do. Last summer I shared our plans to improve how we communicate and enforce our policies. As we start a new year, I want to give everyone a quick update of what we've achieved so far, as well as share some of our plans for 2006.

Let me jump straight into my team's five focus areas:

Making policies easy to understand
We now have over 150 policies designed to keep the eBay marketplace healthy and to maintain a safe place to buy and sell. We recognized that some of our policies were hard to understand, even for me. So last year, we spent several months rewriting our policy pages in straightforward language to make them easier to understand and follow. Now each page includes: a clear statement of the policy and why we have it; examples that illustrate what is and isn't allowed; and a list of the possible consequences of violating the policy. (To learn more, please visit our Policy Hub page.)

Educating members about policies
Understanding eBay's policies helps members have a more positive eBay experience. Last year we focused on creating educational materials on the site designed to help members understand and comply with our policies. We now have five online tutorials available for Intellectual Property & VeRO, Shill Bidding, Fee Circumvention, Feedback, and Search & Browse Manipulation.

These new tutorials only take a few minutes to complete. Each one steps members through the policy details they need to know in order to stay in compliance. In 2006, we will also be launching a new comprehensive Marketplace Policy tutorial that covers all our biggest policy areas, including Keyword Spamming, Fee Circumvention, Feedback, VeRO and more.

Enforcing policy violation consequences and mitigation
Last fall we changed our PowerSeller eligibility requirements to include new thresholds on policy compliance. As a result, we've removed some sellers who were repeat violators of eBay's policies from the program. We feel this has enhanced the reputation of the program overall. It's also made the marketplace more safe and fair for the vast majority of good sellers and PowerSellers who play by the rules.

We're also working on more consequences we can apply when sellers violate policies that will help change their problem listing behaviors in a positive way. Until recently, eBay could only warn or suspend accounts, so we've had to build more options that encourage education and rehabilitation. We'll be adding new consequences in 2006, which include:

    * Restricting repeat policy violators' ability to list items for a period of time – Depending on how often a seller has violated our policies in a 90-day period, they may be required to complete a 15-minute tutorial, or they could be restricted from listing new items for up to 3 days. We think of these consequences as "speed bumps" that can slow accounts down just long enough for them to be educated on the policy. Then they can get back on track.
    * Retaining eBay fees when cancelling a repeat violator's listings for List Practices violations – If a seller repeatedly violates policies in a 90-day period despite previously having taken a tutorial on those policies, we're going to keep their listing and feature fees on subsequent listing cancellations that violate policy. We feel it is important to instill a financial penalty to protect the level playing field when our other efforts to educate and change behavior have failed.

Making it easy to detect policy violations
One of the most important ways we learn about listings that violate our policies is through reports from other Community members. You've told us that the process for reporting suspicious activity has been too cumbersome. So to make it easier for members to send us these reports, in the spring of 2006, every item page will have a "Report this Item" link at the bottom of the page. This link will bypass the Contact Us flow and take you to a list of possible reasons why a listing needs to be brought to our attention. It will save you valuable time and help us review the listing quickly.

I want to add a note here to thank our members who report suspicious activity on the site to us. With more than 5 million active listings on any given day, we need – and truly appreciate – your help in keeping the marketplace safe.

These five key areas of focus address many of the concerns that we've heard from our Community over the years. Already these changes are having positive results. We've made good progress in the last 6 months, and we'll be taking this momentum with us into this year.

Sincerely,

Matt Halprin
Overpaid VP, Global Marketplace Policy Management

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200601261616502.html

[sneakymagenta]

Halprin-With more than 5 million active listings on any given day
Medved-around 14 million

POLL

A. Halprin is a dunce, Medved is right
B. Halprin is right, Medved inflates the numbers

[dnc_ont]

[quote author=sneakymagenta link=topic=2373.msg8418#msg8418 date=1138328373]
Halprin-With more than 5 million active listings on any given day
Medved-around 14 million

POLL

A. Halprin is a dunce, Medved is right
B. Halprin is right, Medved inflates the numbers
[/quote]

C.  Halprin is referring to the 5 million active listings that are actually LEGITIMATE

[Angel]

You've told us that the process for reporting suspicious activity has been too cumbersome. So to make it easier for members to send us these reports, in the spring of 2006, every item page will have a "Report this Item" link at the bottom of the page.

This is the part thats gonna be a diaster.  It will become a free-for-all and I can see listings being reported and pulled left and right.  They should police their own site and stop relying on the rats to do it for them.

Going to be a very interesting spring this year to watch

:popcorneaters:


Angel 

[dnc_ont]

This is the part thats gonna be a diaster.  It will become a free-for-all and I can see listings being reported and pulled left and right.  They should police their own site and stop relying on the rats to do it for them.

Well, obviously it's been a success on the low-traffic Australia site for the past 6 months or however long it's been on there now...  :

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=Angel link=topic=2373.msg8439#msg8439 date=1138360912]

You've told us that the process for reporting suspicious activity has been too cumbersome. So to make it easier for members to send us these reports, in the spring of 2006, every item page will have a "Report this Item" link at the bottom of the page.

This is the part thats gonna be a diaster.  It will become a free-for-all and I can see listings being reported and pulled left and right.  They should police their own site and stop relying on the rats to do it for them.

Going to be a very interesting spring this year to watch

:popcorneaters:


Angel 
[/quote]

Ditto.

We now have over 150 policies

If you ever wondered why 5 emails to 5 different ebay customer support reps result in 5 different interpretations of ebay policy...

[Nat]

Depending on how often a seller has violated our policies in a 90-day period, they may be required to complete a 15-minute tutorial

Ooooh, that's such a stiff penalty that I am so scared I'm shaking in my boots. 

[Powerbuyer]

Nat - well if you're on dialup........ that could be quite the nasty tutorial!  :o

[sneakymagenta]

This is the part thats gonna be a diaster.  It will become a free-for-all and I can see listings being reported and pulled left and right.

The button is a glitch-enhancement.  You'll get a page not found message when you click it. 

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=sneakymagenta link=topic=2373.msg8473#msg8473 date=1138416631]

The button is a glitch-enhancement.  You'll get a page not found message when you click it. 
[/quote]