Ebay policy changes

Posts: 581 · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:54 am

I'm literally in the middle of an EBay questionaire and they have advised in there the following up coming additonal changes (Some others have already been covered before)

Feedback more than 12-months old won't count towards your Feedback percentage.

When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.

Buyers must wait 3 days before leaving negative or neutral Feedback for sellers with an established track record, to encourage communication.

Posts: 101 · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:16 pm

AdderMcOne wrote:

Buyers must wait 3 days before leaving negative or neutral Feedback for sellers with an established track record, to encourage communication.

LOL, I have never received a package in less than 3 days, so this policy is kind of silly.

Posts: 36 · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:28 pm

Actually it makes sense for sales of digital objects like MTGO cards.

Posts: 1439 · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:48 pm

AdderMcOne wrote:

When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.

So exactly what difference does that make?

Does it mean that they can simply open a new account so as to be free of negative feedback?

Posts: 508 · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:22 pm

Aneoth wrote:

Does it mean that they can simply open a new account so as to be free of negative feedback?

I think it means feedback they've left for others, rather than what they've received.

Posts: 2616 · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:05 pm

Yes, that's the whole idea. It's not the idiot that has been suspended who is important, it's the people who he/she has blasted with possibly undeserved feedback. Those people will see their scores and percentages go up once the feedback in question is erased.

(Not a completely new policy, BTW. In the '90s, if a user went NARU for any reason, all of that person's feedback left were changed to neutrals. It was not a popular policy, seeing as quite a few users chose to not use eBay any longer for reasons of their own, not necessarily because eBay had booted them off the site. I think the policy lasted less than 18 months or so.)

Posts: 976 · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 3:34 am

So does this mean Paypal is now the only option for eBay in Australia Shocked

http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/ebay-to-accept-cash-and-paypal-only/ 2008/04/09/1207420470674.html

Posts: 406 · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:29 am

Looks that way! Wonder how they'll go about outlawing cash? There'll be a tipping point where eBay's evidently insatiable greed will see them fall off a cliff.

I've been buying bits and pieces on eBay over the past week or so. All these policy changes and nothing has changed. Still the outrageous postage charges, still the claims of next day delivery for items posted several days later, second class. Still the dodgy item descriptions. If anything the handling scams seem to have INCREASED! Possibly because most sellers feel they have no chance of getting the phantom bonuses so will make up the difference by skinning the buyer. eBay is a marvelous novelty when you first encounter it. But once you get to know it, it's so much less appealing.

Posts: 1007 · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:40 pm

I've said it before and I'll say it again.. the ACCC will take ebay.au to court if paypal is the only method of payment that they allow due to third line forcing laws in Australia...

"Third line forcing occurs when a supplier places a condition on the supply of its goods or services that the customer must acquire goods or services of a particular type from a third person nominated by the supplier. This practice is a form of exclusive dealing that is prohibited outright by section 47 of the TPA. This means that it will be illegal regardless of the supplier's purpose or its effect on competition. "

the fact that they have "allowed" COD payemnts to be accepted as well is their out I suppose... while paypal does not allow "other" methods you can still use them... I prefer to do D/D in Australia just to cut out paypals cut of the transaction.. lets face it, I don't think I have even seen any sellers offer COD on their auctions, everyone wants to get paid before they ship...

oh and megnelwil is right, nothing has really changed, ebay/paypal are just trying to take a bigger cut of the money that all...

Brett:)

Posts: 4716 · Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:09 pm

Mark my words, the death knell has sounded.

Posts: 976 · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:50 am

Deadlord39 wrote:

Mark my words, the death knell has sounded.

Frank, I don't believe that will happen. Cool

I would much rather see some decent competition which forces eBay / Paypal to be more competitive.

So when is RPGMarketplace.com starting it own version of paypal? Laughing

Posts: 4543 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:58 pm

Another unasked for and annoying change: Ebay wants your cell phone number, or you won't be able to list anything when away from your computer:

Quote:

Hello…I’m John Canfield, Senior Director for Trust & Safety policy management. My team specializes in working to keep the site safe and protected against fraud. Much of the company’s work around safety happens behind the scenes, but some of our efforts are also public-facing. Masking and protecting our Community’s identities on all bidder IDs on auction-style listings, the PayPal Security Key, our work with Yahoo and other domains to block email from unauthenticated addresses, and encouraging safer payments – each of these address a particular aspect of security and is making a dramatic difference in the overall security and safety of the marketplace and consumers’ confidence in shopping online. Our technologies – those that exist today, as well as those that we are designing for tomorrow – are helping to make the internet safer every day.
I’d like to tell you about a new safety initiative that launches on April 14th.

Trusted Selling with Identity Confirmation
One of the ways criminals attempt to defraud people on eBay is by gaining access to member accounts with well-established reputations which they then use to set up listings in that person’s name. They gain this access often through a phishing email that convinces an unsuspecting member to click a link and enter their User ID and password.

To protect the Community against this type of fraud, beginning today, eBay will start noting which computers members typically use to conduct their buying and selling activity. After our data collection phase, sometime in June eBay will begin verifying our sellers when they list an item to ensure they are logging in from the same machines they have successfully used previously – usually a home or business computer.

If you are a seller, and you attempt to list an item from a different computer – for example, from a PC you are borrowing in a hotel or library – eBay will make an automated call to the phone number you have registered with us to confirm it is really you. We may also prompt you to verify your identity in other ways.

Initially, this identity confirmation process will only be applied to selling, although we may be extending this to other high-visibility activity in the future.

Sellers, please update your registered phone numbers
Now more than ever, having a current phone number on file with eBay is vital to the safety of the Community and to your business. A wrong or outdated phone number may delay your ability to list items or respond to your customers, if eBay cannot verify your identity.

Have a cell phone? Registering it could save you time and money
If you carry a mobile phone, we encourage you to add this number as a secondary phone number in your registration details, so that we can reach you when you are away from your business or residence where you normally use your trusted computer. Your secondary number will not be shared with other members and will be treated in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Please take a minute to update your contact information. Update eBay Registration Information

Big problems if you sometimes list items while away from your main computer, and either don't have a cellphone, or don't want the scumbags at Ebay to have your cellphone number. Another ebay goodie no one asked for Rolling Eyes

Mike B.

Posts: 1117 · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:59 am

Badmike wrote:

Another unasked for and annoying change: Ebay wants your cell phone number, or you won't be able to list anything when away from your computer:

Big problems if you sometimes list items while away from your main computer, and either don't have a cellphone, or don't want the scumbags at Ebay to have your cellphone number. Another ebay goodie no one asked for Rolling Eyes

Mike B.

It seems to be becoming standard practice for any site where there's the potential for considerable sums of money being transfered. I know my bank has started keeping track of what computers are used to login, for example.

Can't say I'm terribly pleased about eBay automatically phoning though. Besides, if you already have access to someone else's account why not just change the phone number?

Posts: 4543 · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:27 am

g026r wrote:

Can't say I'm terribly pleased about eBay automatically phoning though. Besides, if you already have access to someone else's account why not just change the phone number?

Bingo. Particularly since they want your "cell phone". They never heard of throwaways? Rolling Eyes

Like many other lame "innovations", this actually does nothing to protect the consumer, but it looks pretty.....

Mike B.

Posts: 4716 · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:32 am

They quite possibly want the information for resale. Supermarkets do it.

Posts: 406 · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:38 pm

Deadlord39 wrote:

They quite possibly want the information for resale. Supermarkets do it.

Count on it. These days personal information is the key currency on the Internet. And if anyone thinks a Privacy Policy is worth the bytes chucked out to the screen, think again. There are a thousand ways around the Data Protection laws, here in the UK at least. It's always a dilemma when I'm designing systems. I tell the customer, "Respect your users, protect their data, it will pay dividends for you in the long run." They ALWAYS respond, "Thanks, now can you please produce something that allows us to sell this data to all-comers?" Every time. The argument goes along the lines of, we provide a free service therefore the user must expect us to make our money elsewhere. The same argument ended up flooding the Internet with ridiculous levels of poxy advertising. There is no notion of moderation with these greedy bastards. What they never mention is they are already saving a fortune by being online and doing away with all the bricks and mortar. Of course eBay doesn't even provide a free service. I now use eBay as a synonym for pure, undiluted greed.

Posts: 976 · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:54 pm

beasterbrook wrote:

I've said it before and I'll say it again.. the ACCC will take ebay.au to court if paypal is the only method of payment that they allow due to third line forcing laws in Australia...

Perhaps they will ....

http://www.theage.com.au/news/general/ebay-paypal-probe/2008/04/16/120 8025245331.html

But I don't hold high hopes.... It will probably end up like the petrol pricing investigation. Lots of hot air with no real change to the average consumer except the price going up.

Posts: 976 · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:52 am

improvstone wrote:

Perhaps they will ....

http://www.theage.com.au/news/general/ebay-paypal-probe/2008/04/16/120 8025245331.html

But I don't hold high hopes.... It will probably end up like the petrol pricing investigation. Lots of hot air with no real change to the average consumer except the price going up.

I was just skimming through ebays application to the ACCC and just noticed this ....

Quote:

eBay will also soon implement a "holds" policy whereby, when eBay considers that a
transaction on eBay is high risk for the buyer, it will notify PayPal that it should hold
the payment for the transaction. PayPal will then exercise its discretion as to whether
to hold the funds and wait until if either receives confirmation from the buyer that he
or she has received the item and has no cause to raise a dispute, or 21 days have
passed without the buyer having raised a dispute.

Posts: 4716 · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:08 am

They really are digging that hole.....

Posts: 2523 · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:02 pm

It looks to me like eBay are trying to increase commerce by removing restrictions and lowering the penalties for fraud. If they remove the frequency with which people see negative feedback, it increases the general belief that buyers and sellers are safe, and 'cleans up' their site. Also, fraudulent activity of any sort on eBay is a big generator of cash for the company and shouldn't be stamped out. As a company you don't turn your back on good regular sources of income, and ignorant and poor performing buyers and sellers constitute a large income source who have been sadly neglected in the past, and need their position in the market place strengthened and backed by the company they pay for the service.