Link to the July 2009 Announcement The recently announced changes came as little surprise to us. I've been watching how eBay has been trending lately. Basically they welcome sellers of all sizes, but they expect a certain level of professionalism on the site. Recent changes prior to this announcement have clearly indicated that to me. This announcement confirms it. Ebay has been behind the curve lately in consumer online retail expectations, and was losing buyers for a while because of that. They are now catching up, and regaining buyers. Two years ago when I would discuss eBay with people I knew, terms such as 'scam' would often come up. Today that is reversing. This announcement came on an interesting day, the same day we held our quarterly business meeting. To prepare for the meeting, I spent a significant amount of time yesterday going over some of the details of the changes (that's part of my job). I'd like to share my thoughts on these changes, and how they affect friendlyplush. I would encourage others reading this thread to chime in with their thoughts and opinions about the changes as well. Rewards for sellers delivering great buyer experiences New way to look at DSRs Avoid getting low DSRs-1s and 2s. eBay will be shifting focus from average DSRs to the number of low DSRs as a more accurate measure of customer satisfaction. This is a welcome recalculation that I feel should provide more accurate data. This should discourage sellers from begging for 5 Stars during the transaction. As a buyer, I've grown to be annoyed when I get a message from a seller 'educating' me about DSRs. I know what they are, and how to use them. I don't mind a sentence mentioning stars. But anything more then that annoys me. While we do mention our service in our post-sale email to our great customers, we at friendlyplush have never mentioned feedback or 5 Stars anywhere in our communications. We want our great customers to rate us honestly, so that we have accurate data reflecting their opinion of our service, and where we can improve. We've always operated this way. Only domestic DSRs will count toward requirements for eBay.com. Cool. This is logical given that Customs clearance times are out of a seller's control. We still welcome and value our international great customers ratings and opinions of course. PowerSeller program update: rewarding quality over quantity Starting in October, a new eBay top-rated seller status will be added to the PowerSeller program to recognize and reward sellers providing great buyer experiences based on the new way to look at DSRs (very few 1s and 2s). More discounts and higher search placement for us. I'm not seeing a downside to this. All sellers with 100 or more annual transactions and at least $3,000 annual sales who meet the requirements for Top-rated seller status will be invited into the PowerSeller program and can start receiving Top-rated seller benefits in October. Check. We qualify. It's good to see the PowerSeller program moving to quality sellers, as opposed to mostly quantity sellers. This should increase buyer trust in the marketplace. It will also put a bit more pressure on those who qualify to keep up their service levels, which is good. Next April, the PowerSeller program will also include a requirement for sellers based on the new way to look at DSRs (very few 1s and 2s). Another good change based on my DSR opinion above. The percentages, while strict, are not unachievable. Meanwhile, the current PowerSeller discount structure will continue until April 1, 2010... Good to see that eBay is giving sellers plenty of time to change. New minimum standards for all sellers: Starting in October, there will be a new minimum standard for all eBay sellers based on the number of low DSRs (1s and 2s) received. The minimum standard will be stricter in April, 2010. Good and Check. See my opinions above. A new Selling Practices policy will define guidelines for professionalism and accuracy in all aspects of listings and transactions. I've read the policy. Link To us, it says: Keep doing what you are doing. Not a problem. We would provide excellent service whether it was policy or not. This is where eBay expects a certain level of service from sellers, and clearly spells it out. friendlyplush already exceeds the levels required in the policy. Optional buyer charges for shipping insurance will no longer be allowed. From what I've been reading, this is the part that many sellers have been objecting to the most. I favor this change, as it puts the responsibility of delivering the item as described squarely where it should be (and actually has been all along), on the sellers. No more "I'm not responsible once the item is mailed" statements. Cool. friendlyplush is ahead of the curve on this. We've been covering our shipments at no extra charge since 2005. Most eBay contracts are destination contracts. Updates to the Seller Dashboard: You can now see a snapshot of your low DSRs (1s and 2s)... More data available to sellers regarding performance is good. Enhanced search presents more relevant listings Best Match, eBay's default sort order, will look at listing's recent sales in relation to the number of recent impressions it received as a key factor for Fixed Price listings. More accurate delivery of results that are relevant to buyers based on keyword searches. Cool. Our listings are usually on the first page. This should not affect our business. In addition, single quantity and newly listed Fixed Price items will be given exposure in Best Match even though they have no sales history. This is a good change that matches with our decision to list more in Fixed Price. Our sales data shows that Fixed Price listings sell for us at a higher rate than auctions, and at a slightly better price. So we can get longer exposure, the same turnover at better prices, and save on listing fees to boot. Excellent. We are reserving auction listings for highly valuable toys, or toys where we are unsure of the value. For most plush friends, we know what price to expect. This change matches our strategy perfectly. It also aligns our sales with eBay's auction-
Orignal From: The 2009 Fall Release - My considered opinion and affects to our business
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