Key changes to the eBay PowerSeller Program

[sapana@ebay.com]

Dear Sellers,

Becoming & maintaining a PowerSeller status has always been something to be proud of, as it talks about your proven track record of both quality and quantity. We are making some changes to the PowerSeller program criteria to make it more useful for both buyers and sellers:

1. Sellers will now be required to have minimum of 4.5 on all DSR scores to become a PowerSeller and should have limited 1s and 2s on various DSR parameters(details below)

2. The average GMV for a Bronze PowerSeller will be Rs. 1,44,000 GMV in last 12 months instead of Rs, 60,000 in 3 months.

3. The average transactions for a Bronze PowerSeller will be 100 transactions in last 12 months

The new comprehensive list of minimum requirements to qualify for a PowerSeller are as follows:
90 days on site

Account is in good standing (not past due)

Feedback and detailed seller ratings (DSRs) requirements (details below)

• 100 minimum feedback

• 98% positive feedback over the past twelve months

• 12 month average detailed seller ratings (DSRs) of 4.5 or higher for all four DSRs - item as described, communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges.

• Rates of 1s and 2s* on DSRs with all buyers not to exceed the following rates and counts:

o Items as described: 1% or a count of <= 3, whichever is higher

o Communication: 2% or a count of <= 3, whichever is higher

o Ship time: 2% or a count of <= 3, whichever is higher

o Shipping & handling charges: 2% or a count of <= 3, whichever is higher

* The time period for evaluation for the rates of 1s and 2s on DSR is the most recent three calendar months for sellers with 400 or more transactions during those months. For all other sellers, the time period for evaluation is the most recent twelve calendar months.

Sales volume requirements

12 month average:
Bronze - GMV: Rs. 1,44,000 ; Transactions: 100
Silver - GMV: Rs. 12,00,000 ; Transactions: 100
Gold - GMV: Rs.48,00,000 ; Transactions: 100
Platinum - GMV: Rs. 1,20,00,000 ; Transactions: 100
Titanium - GMV: Rs. 6,00,00,000 ; Transactions: 100

eBay Policy Compliance

eBay policy compliance is required for all PowerSellers and Top-rated sellers. To comply, you must not violate the Shill Bidding, Feedback Manipulation, or Counterfeits policies—these policies are considered severe and may result in loss of PowerSeller and Top-rated seller status for a minimum of 180 days. Additionally, repeated violations of any other eBay policies may result in the loss of PowerSeller status. The maximum number of policy violations varies by PowerSeller tier and are as follows:
• Bronze: 4 violations in a 90-day period
• Silver/Gold: 5 violations in a 90-day period
• Platinum: 6 violations in a 90-day period
• Titanium: 7 violations in a 90-day period
Sellers may check their compliance with eBay policies through the Seller Dashboard. For a complete list of eBay policies and see Knowing the rules for sellers on the Help pages. For assistance with policy violations, contact us for more information.

For additional information of PowerSeller program, please contact our Customer Support Team. To get help from fellow Community members, you can also post your question here.

These changes will go live on site by 30th March 2010.

[snrama]

Hi,

Forgot to add: PowerSeller Packing Materials are discontinued and now we cannot purchase from the seller also. ?:| ---------------
With Regards,
Navaneeth (snrama) 😉

[shivamemory]

Hi all !

I agree with Mr. Navaneeth (snrama).

as We using Blue Dart then its very difficult to maintain DSR 4.5, as the shipping charges are higher than the other couriers.

and Regarding packing material tamper proof bags, if these are currently unavailable then can anybody suggest from where we can get these.

Regards,
Joginder

[mobilesstores]

Business has gone down big time for ebay... No sale in last 2 weeks. Almost like ZERO.

In such a case it doesnt matter if you are a powerseller. Plus due to high powerseller requirements some of the sellers may loose powerseller status and some like me would be moved from gold to silver.

4.5 DSR is difficult to maintain at all times.

[amit4134]

What is ebay india doing for the powersellers? There is no account manager till now for coins category.
There is a change on ebay.com in listing fees and insertion fees but nobody yet has approached me to guide and maximise the discount that will be available on ebay.com.
It seems there is a lack of motivation among ebay india category managers.
Powerseller packing kit that was complimentary has been taken off. Till date i ws never informed.
I had emailed the category manager regarding the down falling sales in the coins category. But no reply till date.

Is this the way we are going ahead in 2010???

Would like to know from fellow ebayers what they think about it as well.

My email was sent on 25jan2010:

Subject: Falling sales in coins category
Monday, 25 January, 2010 6:28 PM
From: "naresh surana"
To: "sapna gupta"
Hi! Sapna, How are u doing?

I am a bit worried about the future of ebay. The reason behind being the business is falling badly on ebay. Atleast the coins category. You are the category manager as far as coins is concerned. What measures are being taken? Please check the ratio of listings online on ebay coins category and compare it to the sales. It is good enough to tell the entire story. The trust among the buyers is not there. The listings are of such poor quality. Sellers are not trained correctly. Many look to make profits in postage charges. The focus should be more on having quality buyers and sellers instead of quantity.

What is ebay doing to promote 1 paisa listings?

Why cant they offer some discounts in commission for listing a coin for 1 paisa with no reserve? A seller takes a risk by listing a coin for 1 paisa. He may be even at loss on the end of the auction. This is the time to be innovative to promote business and build a trading friendly environment.

What are the incentives you are giving to a powerseller? Powersellers are the pillars of ebay business as they pay big commissions to ebay and create the trust of buyers. The listings of powersellers should be promoted. Atleast 1 listing should be given free propack for a month. Why has ebay stopped sending free packing material to powersellers???

The more 1 paisa listings and powersellers listings you will promote the more quality business ebay will generate.

I will be more than happy if i can help in any possible way to improve the ebay business environment.

Waiting for your response.

Thanks
Amit Surana
amit4134(ebay user id)

http://stores.ebay.in/Surana-Art

http://stores.ebay.com/Surana-Art

[navkar_collection]

Hi,

DSR of 4.5 is difficult to maintain on all four. The criteria should be to maintain in any 2 or 3 of the 4 DSR.

As we try to maintain shipping time, then the shipping cost increases. So the balance has to maintained, as to maintain shipping time you need good courier and you may loose DSR in shipping cost for same.

The other important changes required is , the distinguish of bronze, silver, Gold, Platinum or Titanium should be known to the buyer. Currently this standing does not affect seller as this is only known to them. Currently the buyer only sees that he is purchasing from the powerseller (but no distinguish).

As their are other goodies i.e. packing material and so are stopped by the ebay, So will distingushing bronze,silver, Gold, Platinum or Titanium make any meaning? As we cannot see any important role of this distingush.

[amitava123gems]

Hi,
I dont understand this maths.My reports say all figers 0%.
What is 4.5 DSR?I have a problem reading that.Do I need another software?Can you not express in percentages?
I wanted some tape rolls.Ebay sent me 5.Just for free.This is much more than enough.
My sales are good.No complains.Visibility is much better than earlier.
Shop subscribers are getting a very fair deal.And then this reduced FVF and free listings.
Nothing can be better.Ebay is taking good care of its sellers.Why dont you express your real feelings?
Thanx,
Truly,
Amitava

[Anonymous]

Dear All,

Thanks for all your comments.

To explain in detail the changes happening to the PowerSeller Program and answer any questions you might have around it, we would like to host a workshop on this same thread on Thursday 4th Feb 2010 at 1600 hours.

Hope you find it useful. Please do make it convenient to attend.

Regards,
Sushant

[amitava123gems]

Hi,
I am sorry,I see the DSR.I barely just at 4.5 .
Thanx,
Truly,
Amitava

[Anonymous]

Dear All,

Welcome to the workshop for taking you all through the changes to the PowerSeller criteria and to answer any questions you might have.

Before I get down to answering specific queries you have raised, let me try and explain (using examples) what the changes are.

Why are these changes being made to the PowerSeller program?
Simple - to directly relate to the eBay India’s goal of providing lots of safe, easy, deals.

Till now, the focus of the PowerSeller program has been on the sales a seller is able to garner. However, online shoppers in India today are more conscious than ever before about the quality of service they receive from the seller and it’s no longer just about deals. Keeping in mind this expectation from our buyers, we have decided to revise the criteria for the PowerSeller program so that we (sellers and eBay together) not only meet but exceed expectations of our buyers.

Sales: The current sales requirement for a seller to become a PowerSeller is INR 20,000 a month for 3 consecutive months. This criteria has been brought down significantly to INR 1,44,000 in a 12 month period. This translates to an average of INR 12,000 a month.

In the new PowerSeller Program sellers will be evaluated on a cumulative in the past 12 months and not a 3 month average.

Lots: Moving away from only a quantum of sales criteria, we have introduced transactions to recognize and reward those sellers who sell a lot of items on the site even though they might be selling relatively low-value items. This transaction criterion has been set at 100 (in preceding 12 months).

Safe: The current PowerSeller criterion for customer satisfaction stands at 100 feedback with at least 98% positive feedback. And this where we have made changes to more accurately reflect buyer expectations. Henceforth, sellers will have to

a. Maintain a Min. Avg DSR of 4.50 – This is the minimum of the average DSR across all the 4 DSRs. Consider the below example:

Say a seller received four DSRs in total. And he received the following:

Item as described: 4;5;4;5 (average 4.50)
Communication: 5;5;4;5 (average 4.75)
Shipping Time: 3;4;5;4 (average 4.00)
Shipping and handling charges: 4;5;5;4 (average of 4.50)

From the above DSR scores, while the seller meets thee Min. Avg DSR requirement of 4.50 on Item as described, Communication and Shipping charges; he doesn’t meet the criteria on shipping time.

b. % Low DSRs not to exceed 1% (for Item as described) and 2% (for the remaining three):

This percentage of Low DSRs is computed on the number of transactions by the seller and NOT on the number of feedback received by the seller.

Say a seller has 250 transactions and received 180 DSR scores for these transactions. Out of these 180 DSR scores, say he received a 1 or a 2 DSR score on:

Item as described: 3 transactions
Communication: 9 transactions
Shipping Time: 4 transactions
Shipping and handling charges: 5 transactions

The % Low DSR is computed for each DSR as a percentage of the total number of transactions. Therefore, the % Low DSR value for Item as described would be 3/250 = 1.20%. And similarly for the rest of the DSRs.

Considering the above criteria, the seller is exceeding the % Low DSR criterion on Communication (3.6% of transactions have had a 1 or 2 on Communication against a maximum allowed of 2%).

As is obvious, this % Low DSR is dependent not only on the DSR scores but also on the number of transactions itself. A small seller with say, 100 transactions in the last 12 months, would therefore be impacted if he were to receive Low DSRs on even 2 transactions (2/100 = 2%) for Item description. And to therefore take care of smaller sellers, there are also absolute values of Low DSRs and the higher value (percentage of absolute) is chosen.

The Seller Dashboard has been updated to reflect exactly your standing against each of these parameters. Therefore you do not need to do any math. You could review your dashboard for any information on any of the criteria. You could also contact Customer support for any clarifications needed.

[Anonymous]

Dear Umang,

Thanks for your feedback.

The reason for a reduction in the sales criteria is simply to ensure a larger number of sellers who conduct a large volume business (sometimes of low-value items) are also able to meet the criteria to become a PowerSeller and receive the benefits therein.

We are actively evaluating ways to enhance the benefits for a PowerSeller and will keep you all posted.

Regards