eBay's Bill Cobb Gets Booed During eBay Live Keynote Address

[Anita]

[quote author=maryrussel link=topic=4101.msg16154#msg16154 date=1150331962]

As Meg pointed out – if the eBay Community were a nation, we’d be the fifth largest in the world. Wow.

According to Wikipedia:

The 5 largest nation in the world in both area and population is Brazil 8,514,877 km which includes Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha, Atol das Rocas, Ilha da Trindade, Ilhas Martim Vaz, and Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo

Serious problems involving poor infrastructure, income concentration, low quality public services, widespread corruption, government bureaucracy among others persist and threaten the potential economic growth of Brazil.

I can definitely see some similarities between Brazil and eBay.

[/quote]

;D ;D ;D

[landofsmiles]

Now, that's just too funny!!

[bargainbloodhound]

eBay Excessive Shipping Policy update:

***Trust & Safety: Excessive Shipping Policy Update*** 

June 27, 2006 | 09:27AM PST/PT


Hi. This is Sarah Brubacher from eBay's Global Policy team in Trust & Safety. At eBay Live! Bill Cobb announced that, as of June 19th, eBay is taking a much stronger stand against excessive Shipping & Handling charges. (Read Bill's original AB post from the event.)

In addition to stepping up enforcement against egregious violations, we have made some clarifications to our Excessive Shipping & Handling policy. The changes outline the types of charges sellers may pass on to the buyer in the form of shipping and handling. They also provide guidelines that sellers can use to make sure their listings are in compliance with the policy. Simply stated, sellers can feel confident they are in compliance by charging actual shipping fees plus actual costs for packaging materials.

As Bill mentioned, our Community has told us – and our research confirms -- excessive shipping prices drive buyers from our site. This hurts the entire marketplace. These unfair charges also un-level the playing field, allowing some sellers to hide their costs in the shipping charges to manipulate their priority in search. In the coming months, we will be proactively looking for listings that are in violation of our policy, and we'll be following up on member reports. Please know that it will take some time to clean up the marketplace, but your help and cooperation, we can regain buyer trust and re-level the playing field for the vast majority of honest sellers.

Thank you to those of you who have been reporting examples of excessive shipping that you see on our site. It is only through working together that we will make an impact on this issue.

If you would like to read further about this policy, please visit the Excessive Shipping Charges Policy page.

Excessive Shipping Charges Policy

Sellers may charge reasonable shipping and handling fees to cover the costs for mailing, packaging, and handling the items they are selling. While eBay will not prescribe exactly what a seller may or may not charge, eBay will rely on member reports and its own discretion to determine whether or not a seller’s shipping, handling, packaging, and/or insurance charges are excessive. Shipping and handling fees may not be listed as a percentage of the final sale price.

Sellers who want to be sure they are in compliance with this policy may charge actual shipping costs plus actual packaging materials cost (or less).

In addition to the final listing price, sellers are permitted to charge:

Actual Shipping cost: This is the actual cost (i.e. postage) for shipping the item.

Handling Fee: Actual packaging materials costs may be charged. A handling fee in addition to actual shipping cost may be charged if it is not excessive.

Insurance: Sellers offering insurance may only charge the actual fee for insurance. No additional amount may be added, such as “self-insurance”. Sellers who do not use a licensed 3rd party insurance company may not require buyers to purchase insurance. This is a violation of state law.

Tax: Only actual applicable federal, state, country, city, VAT, and equivalent taxes may be charged.

For cross border transactions, sellers may not collect tariffs and duties. However, buyers maybe responsible for actual, applicable tariffs, and duties as requested by respective country laws.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

    *

      Listing cancellation
    *

      Limits on account privileges
    *

      Account suspension
    *

      Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
    *

      Loss of PowerSeller status

Examples of violating listings:

    *

      Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2001, DVD)

      BIN: US $1

      Shipping: US $11 First Class USPS

      Explanation: The actual cost to ship this DVD would be less than $3 using First Class Mail stated in the listing. This seller is charging all costs for this item in the shipping price thus hiding the “true” cost for this item from buyers.

    *

      New Pink Motorola L6 L 6 Unlocked Slvr GSM World Phone

      BIN: US $98.95

      Shipping: US $64.84 UPS 2nd day air

      Explanation: The seller has clearly stated that UPS 2nd Day Air will be used to ship this item, thus overall shipping charges are inflated.

    *

      Sony 2 GB Memory Stick Pro Card

      BIN: US $37.35

      Shipping: US $26.99 Standard Shipping Service

      Explanation: The seller states that the item will be shipped “Standard Shipping Service” and not an Overnight service. Given the small size/weight of this item, overall shipping charges are inflated.

Examples of Listings in Compliance:

    *

      NEW SONY ERICSSON T237 GSM UNLOCKED COLOR PHONE * FEDEX

      BIN: US $36.95

      Shipping: US $18.95 Standard Flat Rate Shipping Service

      Explanation: The seller is shipping this item via Fed Ex and states the actual flat rate cost in the listing.

    *

      Creative Labs Zen Micro Photo 8GB Pink MP3 Player

      BIN: US $195

      Shipping US $11.99 UPS ground

      Explanation: The seller is sending the item via UPS ground and is charging actual shipping prices plus a reasonable fee.

    *

      SOLID STATE Abstract Art Painting Taylor HUGE

      Painting measures 36” x 24” / canvas supported by panel

      Starting bid: US $20

      Shipping: US $40 USPS ground

      Explanation: The shipping charge is greater due to the size/bulk of the item being shipped and custom crating.

[DecorativeDishes]

Please know that it will take some time to clean up the marketplace

Oh, they are admitting it needs to be cleaned up?!?! Who let that slip through.

Too little too late. I believe eBay's reputation of having a messy marketplace has taken it's toll in lots of lost disgusted customers already  . Plus, I don't believe they will enforce it. Kim                                               

[bargainbloodhound]

I believe eBay's reputation of having a messy marketplace has taken it's toll in lots of lost disgusted customers already 

115 million lost disgusted customers and counting have departed according to thei Q1 earnings report.

[bargainbloodhound]

Plus, I don't believe they will enforce it.

Hmmm,

The top feedback getter (everydays--rce) at any one time always has upwards of 7000-8000 listings with BIN prices of $0.01-$0.02...and let's not forget their star poster seller Adam H. (he of the 3000+ mutual withdrawals) who lists posters at $0.01-$0.99 and then charges $8..95 to ship an item first class (actual postage about $1.50 according to several comments left by buyers).  I don't see eBay taking action against either of them.

[Anita]

This is just more fluff to pacify those still hanging onto the idea that eBay gives a rat's asp.

[DecorativeDishes]

[quote author=Anita link=topic=4101.msg16823#msg16823 date=1151545210]
This is just more fluff to pacify those still hanging onto the idea that eBay gives a rat's asp.
[/quote]

Totally. (why isn't there a pacifier smilie???  mileycow

Hmmm,

The top feedback getter (everydays--rce) at any one time always has upwards of 7000-8000 listings with BIN prices of $0.01-$0.02...and let's not forget their star poster seller Adam H. (he of the 3000+ mutual withdrawals) who lists posters at $0.01-$0.99 and then charges $8..95 to ship an item first class (actual postage about $1.50 according to several comments left by buyers).  I don't see eBay taking action against either of them.

As long as they pander to this aberrant selling behavior which it totally counterintuitive to providing a happy buyer experience they are doomed. It doesn't matter that the net cost is the same, the buyer feels cheated. They will have a worse than messy marketplace--it will be empty.  Kim

[sneakymagenta]

always has upwards of 7000-8000 listings with BIN prices of $0.01-$0.02

4,666 with $0.01 BIN
3,997 with $0.02 BIN
4,552 with $0.03-$0.99 BIN

[bargainbloodhound]

As long as they pander to this aberrant selling behavior

They were largely responsible for creating the behavior with their fee structure, and they encouraged widespread adoption of the behavior with their 2 consecutive fee cuts on the under $1 pricing range.

When eBay cut fees the first time in 2005 on the under $1 bracket I was realllly reallly against it (and got slammed by many rah rah types on the eBay Stores board for complaining about a fee cut ) because I thought it would lead to 2 things: a. widespread shipping overcharges and b. lower average selling prices across the board as buyers came to expect ALL sellers to offer low low prices.  Unfortunately both of the things I thought would happen did, and now eBay gets to live with the effects of the mess it created.