Ebay policy changes

Posts: 1346 · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:03 am

Quote:

Anyone else who is upset might want to go there and let them know how you feel.

Why not?

I can think of some good reasons --

1) They'll know who you are.

2) They'll know you can click a lot, and that is what they're looking for.

3) They'll put you in the no opt-out "feature."

So, I'll just sit here and not log in until I purchase something or make a bid. Even then, sometimes I only get half my search options.

Posts: 2616 · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:07 am

I got like 88 results from a search for "Traveller" last night ... seriously, that has to be wrong, doesn't it?

There were quite a few more results available in eBay stores, but still ... WTF?

Man, I can't believe how off the grid I am, eBay-wise. I used to have the announcements page tied into an RSS feed; now, I can't even remember the last item I sold.

Posts: 1007 · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:12 am

Xaxaxe wrote:

I got like 88 results from a search for "Traveller" last night ... seriously, that has to be wrong, doesn't it?

I just did the search now and I got 113 items.. did there used to be more on average? .. total number of items is 7500 wich is below the average it used to be a year or so ago usually right on 10,000 items.. I have noticed it dipps to 6000-6500 for a day and then jumps back to 7000-7500 for some reason (relisting of items automatically???)

Brette:)

Posts: 2616 · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:39 am

beasterbrook wrote:

... did there used to be more on average?

I couldn't say for sure; it was just sort of a random time-killer search. But it sure seems low ... Traveller, Megatraveller, TNE, GURPS Traveller ... the range of possible items seems pretty big. And the search resulted in fewer than 90 items altogether? I'm just not buying that that's everything that's available.

I don't know for sure. Maybe Traveller items are more on an eBay Stores type of thing? I just can't shake the feeling that the new eBay algorithm was jerking me around, though.

Posts: 12 · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:38 am

Sardan wrote:

Well I'm mostly a buyer but I have a sneaking suspicion that I like the feedback change. It should put paid to feedback retaliation and hopefully curb some of Cougar's antics.

Trouble is that now it has just swung the retaliation the other way against sellers. It now favors the dishonest and unscrupulous buyer, and is an even bigger joke when you get the thick ones a how don't know how to use the scoring properly. I don't think that allowing seller to give negative feedback to buyers would do any good. But eBay definitely need to give some guidance as to scoring, and provide some kind of appeal procedure for untrue, unfair, and inappropriate feedback.

I regularly get buyers mark me down for postage, when in reality, it is always posted the day after payment, unless the PO is closed, and the cost is nearly always LESS than I charge the buyer. Simply because the buyer is incapable, of reading that the item is posted from Spain, (UK is my main market), and I cannot control the inadequacies of the postal service. I don't have the facility at present to beam it to them like in Star Trek.

Posts: 4544 · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:41 pm

Badmike wrote:

American Ebayers...get ready....

I believe Ian (Mbassoc) was chosen to participate in the "no opt out" version of this, and it sucks. Maybe Ian could refresh us on how the hell to get out of this if you are so "lucky" you get chosen to participate against your will....

Mike B.

I got chosen as a "beta" tester today. Luckily I had the "opt out" button. God, what a mess the new look is. Maybe if I fiddled with it to give it a chance, but I already have everything the way I like it, and don't like to mess with stuff like that when I'm in the middle of a lot of internet work.

Mike B.

Posts: 3999 · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:17 pm

scabrat wrote:

Trouble is that now it has just swung the retaliation the other way against sellers. It now favors the dishonest and unscrupulous buyer, and is an even bigger joke when you get the thick ones a how don't know how to use the scoring properly. I don't think that allowing seller to give negative feedback to buyers would do any good. But eBay definitely need to give some guidance as to scoring, and provide some kind of appeal procedure for untrue, unfair, and inappropriate feedback.

I regularly get buyers mark me down for postage, when in reality, it is always posted the day after payment, unless the PO is closed, and the cost is nearly always LESS than I charge the buyer. Simply because the buyer is incapable, of reading that the item is posted from Spain, (UK is my main market), and I cannot control the inadequacies of the postal service. I don't have the facility at present to beam it to them like in Star Trek.

I can sympathize, scabrat.

It must suck to be defamed and treated unfairly.

A better dispute resolution service is what Ebay should be working on, rather than their current beta test fiasco.

Merchants and professionals in other settings are open to similar defamations. Stores and restaurants deal with it all the time.

As a teacher, I must often sit silently through parent behavior of the most childish and misguided sort...and school districts must regard butt backwards inaccuracies in the media as a standard malady to be endured. In many cases educators cannot answer even the most ludicrous statements due to laws about confidentiality.

The only difference with Ebay is that the customer is provided with a handy, easy, free and unanswerable international forum for whatever they want to say about the seller.

That is the aspect of Ebay feedback that must be fixed. A seller needs some way to remove the most unreasonable feedback. As a teacher, I have to rely upon my administrator's experience to filter what Idiot Parent X has to say. Ebay needs similar filtering.

Posts: 406 · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:46 pm

Is anyone else having problems with eBay's new, 'improved' checkout? I've noticed multiple purchases from the same seller are, in some cases, no longer combined and I've had reports from sellers they can't find a way to produce combined invoices. This sucks. Right now I am trying to pay a seller for 3 items, split across 2 invoices and the option to adjust the total is no longer available so I can't take advantage of the combined postage discount I've been offered. Neither can the seller find any way to group these purchases. Such a task used to be easy, not any more. My remedy is to mark the purchases as paid in eBay and then send a direct Paypal payment to the seller's email address. Is eBay deliberately trying to make life difficult? Don't they bother testing functionality before rolling out these 'enhancements?'

Posts: 995 · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:19 pm

megnelwil wrote:

Is anyone else having problems with eBay's new, 'improved' checkout? I've noticed multiple purchases from the same seller are, in some cases, no longer combined and I've had reports from sellers they can't find a way to produce combined invoices. This sucks. Right now I am trying to pay a seller for 3 items, split across 2 invoices and the option to adjust the total is no longer available so I can't take advantage of the combined postage discount I've been offered. Neither can the seller find any way to group these purchases. Such a task used to be easy, not any more. My remedy is to mark the purchases as paid in eBay and then send a direct Paypal payment to the seller's email address. Is eBay deliberately trying to make life difficult? Don't they bother testing functionality before rolling out these 'enhancements?'

Yes. I have noticed this. Recently, the only way I could resolve this problem with one Seller was to overpay him and get a refund - to the tune of $29. He refunded right away.

Posts: 109 · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:31 am

I had problems with the advanced search feature under the "new" format. It was doing all kinds of weird stuff and it sounds like eBay knew it was buggy even before the roll-out.

I've opted out and never want to see that POS again.

Posts: 12 · Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:14 pm

Not sure if this is the right place to put this, but eBay management truly sucks!
I just sold a D&D set though eBay, OK, everything OK
But,
I paid, over the top for tracked postage, which was OK in Spain, but crapped out in UK. (everything tracked in Spain, but nothing in UK) Customer gave me the nod it had arrived, nice chap, but post dont have a clue. Dopey bunch
I asked eBay about this, but they dont give a shit!
If this was a dodgy customer. I would be stuffed, cos eBay dont give a shit. Sorry, but they dont!

Anyway, rant over! Sorry!

Posts: 7612 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:29 am

youre not telling us anything that we don't already know Smile

Posts: 593 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:27 am

I see the French courts are hitting Ebay where it hurts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7481241.stm

Cheers,
Malc

Posts: 7612 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:16 am

lawrenson wrote:

I see the French courts are hitting Ebay where it hurts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7481241.stm

Cheers,
Malc

they are appealing it would seem.

i wish the other manufacturers would do that too. can only help the punter in the end, though the cost of it all will only be lumped on the seller, which will then in turn affect them even more.

Posts: 406 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:40 am

lawrenson wrote:

I see the French courts are hitting Ebay where it hurts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7481241.stm

Cheers,
Malc

Hmmm, fees set to rise again then?

Posts: 7612 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:43 am

megnelwil wrote:

Hmmm, fees set to rise again then?

they will indeed. i can only feel that they are going to go the way of TSR. numerous court cases....then no money etc...price themselves out of the market

Posts: 995 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:53 pm

I just got an advertsiement from Ebay stating. For four days only list in the UK for just 5 extra cents

-For eligibility choose Int'l Site Visibility listing upgrade
-Reach millions more UK shoppers looking for deals
-No more double listing. Available in most categories

I thought when you listed anyone could find your items simply by making a worldwide search. Does this mean they are planning to limit worldwide searches and make Sellers pay for people overseas to be able to find their items?

Posts: 4544 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:46 pm

lawrenson wrote:

I see the French courts are hitting Ebay where it hurts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7481241.stm

Cheers,
Malc

Ebay will stop selling in France rather than lose that case. If Ebay loses, the entire site could shut down there, and the French have no one to blame but rich French perfume makers...it's the equivalent of WOTC telling Ebay only WOTC can sell their products, or the NFL telling Ebay only they can sell football items, etc etc. It's a non-competetive clause that frankly I'm on Ebay's side about....screw the damn french anyway, if they want their culture to be "pure" then why let them on Ebay? Ebay should just shut down Ebay France and block all email registrations originating from France. That case is a crock.

Mike B.

Quote:

LVMH said eBay's French site had not done enough to stop the sale of counterfeit bags and perfumes.

The brands affected include Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy.

An eBay statement said LVMH was trying to "protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice" and added that it would appeal.

'Illicit'

The case against eBay in a commercial court in Paris was brought jointly by six brands belonging to the LVMH group.

Louis Vuitton Malletier, the group's handbag and luggage section, and clothing brand Christian Dior Couture accused eBay of "negligence" in allowing illegal copies of their goods to be sold in online auctions.

Four perfume brands - Dior, Guerlain, Kenzo and Givenchy - sued for what they called "illicit sales" of their products.

They alleged that even auctions involving their legitimate perfumes were illegal, because only specialist dealers were permitted to sell them.

The court barred eBay from selling the four perfumes in future.

LVMH spokesman Pierre Godet welcomed the decision, telling French news agency AFP that it "protected brands by considering them an important part of French heritage".

'Uncompetitive'

But Vanessa Canzini, an eBay spokeswoman, said: "If counterfeits appear on our sites, we take them down swiftly, but today’s ruling is not about our fight against counterfeit.

"Today’s ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers that eBay empowers everyday.

"We will fight this ruling on their behalf; we will be seeking leave to appeal.”

According to the judgement, eBay must pay 19.28m euros in damages to Luis Vuitton Malletier, 17.3m to Christian Dior Couture and 3.25m to the perfume brands.

The BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says the ruling is seen as a landmark, because it could oblige eBay to rethink its business model.

Until now, this has been built around the simple notion of bringing together buyers and sellers, with minimal supervision from the company.

The penalty is the second in a month imposed on eBay by French courts.

On 4 June, a court in the eastern French city of Troyes found the auction site directly responsible for the sale of fake Hermes bags.

It imposed a penalty of 20,000 euros jointly on eBay and the woman who offered the bags for sale.

Posts: 1346 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:51 pm

Big business. Where were these lawsuits 8 years ago? It takes 8 years to be "negligent?" I'd counter-sue and say that these perfumeries are negligent in allowing access to their product - if they truly wished to protect them, they should sell them directly themselves.

Posts: 343 · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:38 pm

HermitFromPluto wrote:

I thought when you listed anyone could find your items simply by making a worldwide search. Does this mean they are planning to limit worldwide searches and make Sellers pay for people overseas to be able to find their items?

I saw this today and wonder the same thing, Hermit. Can folks overseas see my auctions? It's odd, but more than half of my sales the past couple of months have been overseas - Singapore, Denmark, Finland, Italy, France and Japan in addition to the much beloved UK and Canada. But that stopped about three weeks ago, and now it's mainly US, with a couple of notable exceptions. With the weakness of the dollar one would think the opposite would be the case. Anyone else seeing a similar trend?