Follow up from open questions raised on webinar...

During our 'eBay changes' webinar three interesting questions came up that had Max and I stumped.  Since the webinar we've gotten answers from eBay.

Question1: Once eBay starts counting repeat buyers in feedback, will this also count in DSRs?

Answer: Yes.  Just like feedback, where you can get a maximum of 1 entry per week per buyer, repeat buyers (max 1 per week) can now impact your DSRs.

If the buyer leaves multiple DSRs during the week long period, what eBay will do is average them and record the average for that buyer.

Example:

• week 1 - buyer buys 3 items, leaves avg 4.8 on S+H cost DSR
• week 2 - buyer buys 1 item, leaves 5.0
• week 3 - buyer buys 2 item, leaves average 4.9

This example would count in your DSR rating as one 4.8 then one 5.0 and then one 4.9?

**I view this as an unexpected positive.  I assumed (incorrectly) that repeats wouldn't count against DSRs.  Now that eBay has confirmed they do, my guess is repeat buyers should rate you higher than new buyers (because they are coming back they must be happy right?) and if you have a high repeat buyer rate like many eBay sellers do, you should enjoy a lift in your DSRs from this.

Question 2: What happens to Mutual Feedback Withdrawal (MFW) once sellers can't leave a negative for buyers?

eBay pointed out this page which states that:

The current Mutual Feedback Withdrawal system will remain in place until the second half of 2008. The Feedback system will continue to evolve as community makeup and the online marketplace dynamics evolve.

eBay has confirmed that the MFW will be end-of-lifed an appropriate time after the 'no negs' policy goes into effect.

Question 3: This is kind of a two-parter, but both parts involve cross border trade (CBT). 

3A: If I'm a seller in the UK that qualifies for the 40% FVF off, and sell an item to a US buyer.  Do I get the UK discount on that item or the US discount?

3B: Assume it is post March and BestMatch is live in the UK and the USA.  I'm an UK seller and list my item such that it shows up on the USA site.  When viewed by a USA buyer, will my UK-listed item have the US bestmatch algorithm applied or the UK (assuming they are different)?

Answer 3A: the fee discount follows the seller.  In the 3A example, the seller would get the UK discounts even if purchased by a USA buyer.

Answer 3B: A UK site showing on the US site will have the US BestMatch algo applied.  Your DSRs are global and will be applied globally.  However, some sites may choose to have different weights for the 'seller performance factors' that could impact your item differently  For example, currently the UK is testing a disadvantage for sellers with a s+H DSR <=4.2, whcih the US is not doing.

Special thanks to the folks at eBay for taking time out of their schedules to answer these questions.

Comments

[Rob G]

I am really just sick of paying for fake bidders or no bidders at all. I sell sports autographs on ebay and through my site www.rksportstars.com They have the nerve to wipe out my store because I listed 1 I bought from another memnber and now they tell me its fake. Try http://www.slbayauctions.com Does anyone know any other good auctions, somethings got to give.

Rob NJ

[John]

Hi Scot,

Just got around to sitting through the playback of the webinar. Very good stuff, and we appreciate the time spent on the details. My question is about the rolling off of international sales to another ID.

Currently international can make up to 30% of daily sales across several of our selling categories. Right now, we get exposure on eBay worldwide for the same price as a US listing just by saying we will ship worldwide. My question...?

1) Would having 2 ID's make me have to list the same item 2x and then increase my fees?

2) IF we were to do this, should we consider a UK eBay ID for the worldwide stuff? or stay with a US ID?

3) Would this be considered some crazy "fee circumvention" and used as a tool to shut down a seller by the eBay TnS Police?

Thanks for your time!

[WandaLou McInturff]

Hi Scott,

I know this may sound "morbid" but what would be stopping those "disadvantaged sellers" from creating a new e-bay buyer name, going to a like store where the dsr is in the acceptable range and then posting a negative.

While I understand the current need to "clean things up" a bit, I also see that there has been and is very little e-bay seller support from e-bay & paypal. i.e. http://www.jeancosta.com/news/scammed-by-an-ebay-member.html

Of course, Jean Costa is just one, but if you go to google.com > news > alerts > e-bay so that you will be updated on all the verbage roaming the internet, you will find countless numbers of where Sellers are simply ripped off and then left with a negative.

Our store will take a vast hit with the FVF as a fabric dealer (and fabrics are listed amongst the top ten sellers on e-bay) we sell by the yard or bolt, our shipping fee's are accurate and we have no handling fee. Our DSR's are 4.9 across the board. Is there a way to find out what our actual final value fee is going to be?

[BILLSTUFF]

Thank you for the excellent webinar. Just like in your book, you provided some thoughtful insights into the new eBay changes and recommended some worthwhile tactics. I am still mulling over your advice to sellers to leave positive feedback immediately upon payment, and I will probably try it temporarily. However, I think you breezed over a couple of potential problems. First, even if a seller can no longer leave negative feedback, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the seller should leave positive feedback before the customer receives the goods and acknowledges his satisfaction. By just about any definition, the transaction isn’t over until the buyer is satisfied, and to leave positive feedback prior to that point may be premature. However, I understand the tactical reasons that went into your recommendation. It will be interesting to see how buyers will respond.

Finally, although I believe the feedback policy changes have been covered ad infinitum, there is one point I have not seen addressed at all. eBay claims the policy change was prompted in part by the fact that sellers are several times more likely to leave retaliatory negative feedback than buyers. Has anyone asked why? I don’t think there is any question the primary reason was because eBay set up the Mutual Withdrawal system that by its very definition implied a seller could not have a negative removed unless he also left a negative for the buyer. So, of course the seller is going to leave a negative in order to negotiate the removal. If eBay had allowed sellers to make things right with the buyer without leaving a negative and still have the negative removed with buyer approval I believe you would have had considerably less retaliatory feedback.

[TekGems]

Hi Scott - thank you for the excellent webinar.

I have a question about Best Match and stemmed words (plurals specifically). Do you know if Best Match scores related keywords (e.g. painting and paintings) in one group, or are they individually scored? The eBay keyword research tool you posted in the webinar seems to score them separately.

[Tim]

Scot,

I always appreciate your work and insights, but one of us is still confused about this DSR thing. How can this happen, to use your example, a buyer "buys 3 items, leaves avg 4.8 on S+H cost DSR". A buyer who leaves three DSR scores can not average 4.8. Or to use your other example, a buyer "buys 2 item, leaves average 4.9". Again, I don't think this is mathematically possible since eBay only allows a choice of leaving whole numbers. In the first example, even if the buyer left a 5, 5 and 4 on the S+H DSR - that average is 4.66. And in the other example, if they left a 4 and a 5 - that average is 4.5.

This is part of the problem with the DSRs. While eBay encourages buyers to leave a "4" with mouse-over instructions saying a 4 is "reasonable" - a 4 will get you disadvantaged in the UK right now. Buyers can not leave a 4.5... or a 4.7... they must leave whole numbers and so in your examples whatever the buyer left - the average is lower than you show. For a single buyer to leave an average of 4.8 in a week's buying time - they would have to leave 4 "5"s and 1 "4". For one buyer's DSRs to average a 4.9 in a week, they would have to leave 9 "5"s and 1 "4".

While I agree with you that this counting of DSRs as well as feedback from repeat buyers is good news... I don't think it is as good as your math would seem to show. eBay has stacked the DSR deck against us.

Am I confused?

As I explained it to one non-eBay person: Imagine if your boss told you that you would get a raise if your co-workers gave you an average of 4.8 on your evaluation... and then the boss passed out the evaluation sheets with a note attached saying that a 4 is a good (reasonable and accurate) score.

The deck is stacked against us.

[tj]

After listening to the web-seminar all I can say is that it is just not worth the hassle or the increased overheads to keep inside eBays over-the-top guidelines…they are sticking their noses too far into My business & at any whim they may totally wipeout any exposure to best match that I may have (and adjust/cancel My powerseller status).

Keeping within ALL the 4.8’s for max powerseller discounts is going to be almost impossible for the vast majority of high flying powersellers of now (small-mid will be virtually impossible & International sellers can forget it)

One must seriously ask Why should I bother to continue & pay eBay even more from little profits…for the privilege of selling items already massively discounted (in many cases) just for many more headaches from dumb buyers…will eBay actually make a rule that buyers MUST read the listings of items bought?

Buyers will soon be a rare commodity as many will not find what they are looking for (Cheap Deals)..as most switched on sellers have gone or are in the process of moving away from eBay

Very few small-mid-or high volume sellers have the time, resources or staff to even cover a few of the best practices listed….and to be brutal the inclination; discount items with top notch quality service I don’t think so

Not all buyers are looking for DVD’S , Games’ or Books

eBay is basically turning into eBay Express for Media multi-nationals & it ‘aint gonna work