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rkr4cds Jun 19, 2006

Hi all,

I was sure we'd had this referred to this past winter/spring - about sellers who get around paying listing fees by using a very low opening bid - and then charging an arm & a leg for shipping. I've run into several like this - and I REALLY wanted the goods!!
But I refused to bid on principle, and sent in a note to eBay.
It may be working...

Does anyone use read the Messages posted on eBay?

Cobb also touches on an important feature - reporting abuses in the Safety & Trust Dept - aka - VeRO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***A Message from Bill Cobb from eBay Live! in Las Vegas***

June 14, 2006 | 09:07AM PST/PT

Bill Cobb

Hello from Las Vegas! Over 720 employees from eBay, PayPal and Skype are here with me along with more than 15,000 registered attendees – a new record! The energy is incredible, the interactions that are happening between staff and buyers and sellers are invaluable...and the $5 buffets are fantastic.
Last night, I delivered the keynote address with Meg, where we shared some reflections of the last year, plus some news we have about the eBay marketplace. For those who couldn't join us here in person, I invite you to listen to an audio file of the keynote speech.

Meg announced an important milestone for the eBay Community. Last Saturday, the 200 millionth member of the global eBay Community registered on the site. As Meg pointed out – if the eBay Community were a nation, we’d be the fifth largest in the world. Wow.

Meg also announced a Skype test on eBay.com. We'll provide more details on this separately – but eBay.com sellers in certain categories will be able to opt in to this test and add "Skype Me" buttons to their listings. This will be a great way to see how Skype can improve communications between buyers and sellers -- particularly in categories with complex transactions, or where people want to connect with others who share their interests and passions.

There will be follow-up announcements with more details in the next few days, but here are some of the highlights:

New Community Products – eBay Blogs and the eBay Wiki
The "social web" is a hot topic these days, but here at eBay, we've been pioneering online communities for over a decade. Every day, millions of people around the globe connect and share their expertise via eBay discussion boards, the Answer Center, eBay Groups, Reviews & Guides, and other forums. Now we’re pleased to introduce eBay Blogs and the eBay Wiki – they're on the site now. Rachel Makool, Senior Director of Community Development, will be sharing more details about how these technologies offer new ways to connect on eBay.

We also announced the introduction of MyCollectibles, a great new destination for eBay’s collectibles categories where members can organize their treasures and share them with the eBay Community.

Update on New Trust & Safety Policy Enforcement
A few months ago, Matt Halprin's global policy management team began revamping how we enforce our policies, so that we’re more effective and consistent in cleaning up the site and fairer to the vast majority of our sellers who want to comply. Sellers told us that the old system of warning after warning -- followed by a long suspension -- created confusion and fear. Matt’s team has made our policies clearer, created more education and improved communications, and developed guidelines that allow us to slow down and penalize repeat violators. Overall the number of actual suspensions has gone down, replaced by brief selling restrictions intended to be less disruptive.

We’re making good progress, although we realize it hasn’t always seemed like it. Our goal has been to minimize the unnecessary disruption to our sellers’ businesses and create a safer, fairer marketplace. But in some cases, we realize, we’ve actually caused our sellers more concern. I told our live audience last night that we realize that this has not been smooth for some sellers, and we are listening and working with the Community to fine-tune our processes. For example, a seller who runs thousands of listings a week may take a bit longer to revise all their listings to be in compliance. We will keep working on this until we get it right.

Excessive Shipping
As many of you who listen to my monthly audio Town Halls know, I have personally committed to making sure the problem of some sellers charging excessive shipping costs gets addressed. You’ve told us and we agree -- excessive shipping has become a serious issue that needs a solution. It sets up unfair competition through fee avoidance and search manipulation, and, most importantly, it is eroding buyer trust in the eBay marketplace. In fact, we completed research that found this is the number one reason that buyers leave eBay.

That said, this is an open marketplace, and we’ve been very reluctant about telling our sellers what they can charge for shipping and handling. Our sellers sell everything from pianos to t-shirts.

Over the last few months, the best talent in the company has been looking at solutions to this issue. We’ll continue to look at site changes and other solutions, but I’m pleased to announce that one major change we are instituting – starting Monday, June 19th - is new aggressive enforcement against Excessive Shipping & Handling.

Now, before sellers become unnecessarily concerned, let me make it clear – this policy is geared for those egregious cases that are clearly taking advantage of the system and our buyers. You all know the listings that I mean – the .01 BIN listings with $25.00 shipping & handling for an item that weighs less than a pound to ship.

We’re going to clean up the site and stop this type of listing -- which does a disservice to the whole Community. We are going to proactively search for the worst offenders -- those whose business model is predicated on a low Buy It Now cost offset by outrageous shipping charges. Last night I gave these sellers a clear message: stop this practice, or you’re no longer welcome on eBay.

Now please understand -- if you’re charging simply to cover your actual shipping, packaging and overhead costs, you have no reason to be concerned. If you’ll be charging for custom crating, or other services, just say so in your listings.

Cross-Border Trade – A Privilege, Not a Right
Last night, I also told eBay Live! attendees that later this year, we’re going to introduce more stringent requirements for sellers who wish to sell across borders on eBay. In the U.S., we’ll require non-U.S. sellers to be PayPal verified, or to have a credit card merchant account. Other eBay sites will similarly raise the bar for international sellers in their markets – but we’ve concluded that around the world, selling internationally on eBay should be a privilege, not a right. You’ll hear more about this initiative before any changes are made that affect you.

Grand Opening for eBay Express
And, finally, last night, I had the pleasure of announcing the Grand Opening of eBay Express! During the last several weeks that eBay Express has been available as a preview, our sellers and buyers have been using the site and giving us all kinds of good input and suggestions. The Express team has been hard at work fine-tuning and adding enhancements based on your needs, and we are delighted by the results so far. In fact, it’s living up to its name – so far, the record for filling a cart and checking out is 7 seconds! Stay tuned for a letter from Lara Bridges that will offer more details about new features.

I also gave a preview of the eBay Express marketing campaign, which will be hitting the airwaves soon. To properly launch eBay Express, we wanted to break the pattern and create some intrigue. We’ve developed an out-of-the-ordinary campaign that includes 30 different TV commercials, each with the same simple message: "Get It New, Buy It Now, on eBay Express." We’ll provide more details on the eBay Express marketing campaign soon.

That’s it for now. I encourage you to watch the General Announcement board for more news on these and other topics. I hope you’ll tune into my Town Hall that we’ll be audio streaming from eBay Live! this Thursday at 11:00 a.m. PT. And for daily updates on eBay Live! don’t forget to read our eBay Chatter blog at www.ebaychatter.com.

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President, eBay North America

thumperantiques Jun 19, 2006

Hi Bobbie,
     Wow, thanks for posting Bill Cobb's message -I don't have enough time in a day now, so I don't use Ebay's messaga boards.  It's good that they are going to address unscrupulous sellers that abuse the system.  It's about time!

                                                          hugs,

                                                          Brenda

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorJun 19, 2006

Thanks, Bobbie.  It's great to hear that kind of thing "from the horse's mouth" directly.  Good on eBay!

psichick78 Jun 19, 2006

That's great Bobbie! Thank you

I have also not bid on something I've really wanted bec. of the crazy shipping amount.........

K Pawz GuestJun 19, 2006

I agree but disagree as well....I posted on this very subject earlier.....Here in Canada we pay an exorbant amount for shipping.....I won't go into details, but I am lucky if I am able to send a bear who weighs less than a pound out of Canada with 10 day delivery time for less than $20.00....I am a little confused with the above, is this only if you have a low starting bid, because I usually start my at a fair price range and go from there.....Advice from anyone please, or do I just add some of the shipping into the price of the bear, thus causing a higher starting price????

Hugs,
Krista

Helena Jun 19, 2006

Krista, since you're pricing your shipping honestly than I really don't think you have cause to worry. I would keep on doing whatever it is you do - by cutting your shipping you run the risk of eating considerably into any profit when it comes to sending out your bear. And that really hurts. I know, I've done it! I recently sent a whole load of music magazines out, and shot myself in the foot by making the P&P a bit too competitive....ouch!

Hopefully eBay will police this sensibly. It's pretty obvious to most eBay regulars when the shipping has been inflated.

Thanks for the info Bobbie!

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorJun 19, 2006

Krista, I'm with Helena.  First, that you shouldn't bundle s/i into your bear pricing, and second, that you probably don't really have anything to worry about.

eBay isn't remotely concerned with honest Canadians who are struggling with pricey postage costs as set by the government/private shipping companies.  Rather, they're trying to target scam artists who charge EXCESSIVE postage... well above and beyond what shipping a given item would normally cost.  These people are using trickery to fool bidders into believing they've gotten a real "bargain" on something; then, they tell people that yes, the item was $1.50... but shipping will cost them $55.00!  For a trading card!  Or something like that. 

Some bidders forget, or don't know, to read between the lines when bidding, and will only look at the BID AMOUNT when deciding whether to get in on the action.  So, after the fact, after they've won their auction item, those people get a really nasty surprise, being told it will cost them $55 to ship a trading card, and that "your bid is a contract and I WILL leave negative feedback" by the seller.  They feel ripped off not by the unscrupulous seller,who is the real perpetrator of this wrong... but by eBay proper, the company.  Which is why eBay, the business, wants this to stop.  People LEAVE eBay because of this, even though eBay, the entity, has nothing to do with it at all.  It's entirely about the seller, acting with massive greed and using unethical business practices to do so.  People don't always cross all their i's and dot all their t's and these sellers count on that to keep the money flowing!  Sad, if you ask me.

If you're worried about being a Canadian during this crackdown, first realize that eBay probably well knows already that shipping from your country feels pricey even to Canadians!

Regarding your customers... I might advise you to just outright state something in your auctions like, "Unfortunately for my international customers, even the least expensive shipping options for items coming from Canada can be expensive.  Please know that I charge exact shipping and insurance fees, and never charge a handling fee, or pad my shipping costs in any way.  I encourage you to check out Canada's postal website www.whateverthatmightbeforcanada.com if you'd like to view our global shipping costs for yourself."

K Pawz GuestJun 19, 2006

Thanks guys, and Shelli thank you so much as well, your post made everything much clearer....I have actually sent refunds to people when they paid more than the shipping was, and these people have actually been suprised....I like the little disclaimer that you made up there, can I use a variation of it????? I don't charge any handling, and I always tell people that it is a quote....based on box size and approx weight, and of course the location, not only have I given refunds for shipping, but have eaten it at times as well when the shipping is over what is quoted....So I guess what I am trying to say is thank you for showing me that I have nothing to worry about where this crackdown is concerned....

THANK YOU!!!!! :hug:

Hugs,
Krista

rkr4cds Jun 19, 2006

It's entirely about the seller, acting with massive greed and using unethical business practices to do so.

Greedy, yes indeedy! The basic amount that you pay for a Listing Fee depends largely upon your opening bid price. A $.01 bid that gets $30+ shipping on mailing something weighing a few ounces, gets off almost free. My NFed bears start at $100, due to the time & expertise involved. I pay a pretty hefty Listing fee, plus all of the add-ons. After creation expenses are subtracted, this knocks the net profit down :o(

In my mind I go back and forth about  listing for much lower to pay less fees and hope I get my minimum, list low and put a reserve, list higher with no reserve. In the end I'm just more comfortable with starting higher.

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorJun 20, 2006

I like the little disclaimer that you made up there, can I use a variation of it?????

Honey, if you found something I wrote worth restating, I'm honored.  It's all yours.

K Pawz GuestJun 20, 2006

Thanks Shelli, your the best!!!

Hugs,
Krista

Cleathero Creations Jun 20, 2006

I got nabbed when I first started using eBay by the high postage price. I learned quick from it that's for sure.
The thing was the piece ended up rubbish too and if I had left negative feedback I was told they would simply do the same to me even thoguh I had done nothing wrong.  Made me very aware and I tend to refuse to deal with those from that area now on principle.
Good to see eBay responding