Online workshop on eBay Diwali plans, 4 PM - 6 PM on 8 Oct

[sapana@ebay.com]

Exciting New Diwali – This Diwali shop and sell the new eBay way!!!

Dear Members,

In the spirit of effecting quantum jump improvements to our members’ experience – in the next few days/weeks we are launching a slew of initiatives that will turbo-charge our marketplace. With Diwali - round the corner, we are extremely thrilled about these initiatives – and are confident they will drive more buyers to the eBay.in site and improve the overall experience of selling and buying on this platform.

The key initiatives are as follows:

• High profile marketing campaign - Diwali Dealights: The eBay Way
• Payments Options Expansion - Now eBay users can pay on PaisaPay with 30+ banks (including SBI), more Debit cards, cash cards, and get more EMI options!
• Making Search on eBay more relevant for buyers – Launch of Best Match on eBay India
• Improving range and selection for buyers - Global EasyBuy now available in regular eBay India search
• Making good to buyers whose money has been refunded
• 5 Star DSRs for Free Shipping (when buyer does not pay for shipping)
• Live Chat support to most Trust and Safety questions for sellers


Diwali Dealights: The eBay Way

We are launching an Integrated media blitzkrieg coupled with high-octane promotions on eBay.in site with the aim of making eBay the numero uno shopping destination this Diwali.

We have a new TV campaign which will prominently advertise eBay.in as THE One Stop Destination for Diwali shopping. The media plan covers popular channels across Music, Movies, Entertainment, Sports and Infotainment genres. In addition, this would be reinforced by real-time on the ground activation/BTL activities to get new users to shop on eBay.in. We are excited at the buzz this would generate amongst shoppers this Diwali.

On site, as part of the Diwali Dhamaka, we will run a Mega Free gift Promotion that will give buyers a chance to get assured free gifts basis the value of their purchase. We will also be running a Diwali contest for everyone to participate in and win exciting prizes. That is not all, to reward our regular shoppers, we have a reward points program, ‘eBay edge’ for the festive season. With eBay edge, buyers can earn reward points on every purchase and redeem them against eBay discount vouchers.

These special initiatives will be supported by great offers such as discount vouchers, additional supply of great deals on Diwali-specific product lines etc

Payments Options Expansion - Now eBay users can pay on PaisaPay with 30+ banks (including SBI), more Debit cards, cash cards, and get more EMI options!

We are glad to announce that very soon buyers on eBay India will have option to pay with:

• Online Bank Transfer (OBT) of 30+ banks including popular banks like SBI, Axis Bank etc in addition to ICICI, Citibank and HDFC bank.
• Cash cards like ITZ and Done Cards
• Maestro Debit Card (aka ATM pin based) in addition to current Visa & Master Debit Cards
• Interest Free 3/6* month EMI options on Citibank and HDFC bank in addition to current ICICI bank

*eBay.in would levy a one-time 2.5% Convenience charge for 6-month EMI option (including service tax) of the order value on the buyers. This will be charged to the buyer while they make payment for their items during the checkout process and will be paid by the buyer in 6 easy installments.

There will be no change in PaisaPay fees for the sellers and the existing arrangement, will continue for the new payment options. As we come closer to the launch we will share the exact launch date with you.

Making Search on eBay more relevant for buyers – Launch of Best Match on eBay India

To provide improved relevance in the Search experience for buyers, we are rolling out the ‘Best Match’ sort logic as the default sort option in select categories (as compared to Time end soon sort logic that exists as the default today). These categories are -
Consumer Electronics [293]
Mobile Phones [15032]
Laptops & Computer Peripherals [160]

Over the next few weeks we will expand it to other categories as well.

In the last few months we have tested Best Match across few categories and are encouraged by the positive uplift in transactions. With the launch of Best Match, search algorithm that computes the priority for display of listings will be influenced by multiple parameters some of which are:
• Title & Category relevance: The system will assess how relevant Item Title is to the search query; basis past search & purchase history and more relevant listings will be given greater priority. For example, for search query “iPod Shuffle”, iPOD shuffle listings will be given more priority compared to accessories
• Buyer Experience provided by the seller: The Seller’s past performance in delivering to buyer expectations (measured through DSRs)

What do sellers need to do to benefit from Best Match:

To ensure sellers on eBay India are able to fully leverage the benefits offered by Best Match, we would advise you to follow the below guidelines:
• Deliver high quality service to buyers and maintain high DSR’s through accurate listing descriptions, prompt & proactive communication with buyers, and reasonable shipping costs and time
• Ensure that you list your items in the right category with the most appropriate item title to attract the right buyers
• Create detailed, accurate & attractive listing descriptions which can increase your quantity sold and classify your listing as more popular than others
• List multiple quantities of an item in the same listing. Item popularity as determined by quantity sold and a few other factors influences the sort order. Do not create duplicate / multiple listings of the same item

Note: Best Match as a sort option is already available for Technology categories (Mobile Phones, Consumer Electronics, Cameras & Optics, Memory Cards, Pen Drives & HDD and Video & Computer Games). You can go ahead and view how Best Match sort behaves (and any impact it might have on your listings) by selecting it from the “Sort by:” drop-down menu for the above Technology categories.

How can I know how well my listings are performing in Best Match?

The Best Match Visibility Tool, which will soon be accessible to sellers in their ‘My eBay’ page, will help sellers review the performance of their listings against the Best Match sort order. We will be enabling this for all our sellers in the coming weeks.


Improving range and selection for buyers - Global EasyBuy listings now available in regular eBay India search

As members are aware, we launched the ‘Global EasyBuy’ service last year to improve the range and selection of products available on eBay.in for our buyers

Global EasyBuy fulfills a demand for products that are not easily available on eBay.in directly. In order to more effectively fulfill this demand – we will be providing listings from Global EasyBuy, on the eBay.in search results page (SRP) when enough listings are not available through search directly on eBay.in. This will help improve the ease/efficiency with which our users can find products that they always wanted.

Making good to buyers whose money has been refunded

Many buyers have complained that getting their money refunded is an irritating experience for them, as they wanted the product and not the money. Such experience makes it less likely for them to buy from other eBay sellers.

From November 1st onwards, eBay will levy a penalty to all sellers whose PaisaPay refund rate (Auto refund + Seller initiated refund) is greater than 2% of PaisaPay transaction. This penalty will be up to Rs. 250 or 4% of PaisaPay amount whichever is higher for all refunds greater than 2%. This amount will be then sent to the buyer in form of a coupon.


5 Star DSRs for Free Shipping (When buyer does not pay for shipping)

We are introducing a change in the shipping charges DSR. As of October 28th when sellers offer free shipping and buyers choose the free shipping, eBay will automatically rate the transaction with 5 Stars for Shipping Cost DSR.

Live Chat support to most Trust and Safety questions for sellers

We are happy to announce that now sellers can get faster answers to most of their Trust and Safety questions via Live Chat support. This support covers few of the most commonly asked questions by sellers like Feedback removal, listing violation, reactivating accounts, etc. The support will be available from Monday to Friday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM IST. Just click on Live Chat link anywhere on eBay site to use the same.

We will share exact date on roll out of ‘expanded payment options’ and ‘Best Match’ in subsequent AB posts. To understand better about these changes, please contact our Customer Support Team or post your question on this thread. Please join us on this Online Workshop on this topic between 4 PM - 6 PM on 8 October 2010 for further clarifications.

Regards,
eBay Team

[santoshsgh]

dear ebay community members
can any one explain me in detail.

if buyer pays through paisapay & next day i recieved a email from ebay the buyer is no longer registerd on ebay.
can i ship the item to buyer ??????
in this case any one please help & guide me.
i never ship previous (before) this type of mail recieved from ebay.
am i penalised for auto refund for this type of case.

please help help help me.

regards.
santosh

[rhtdm.6624]

Dear Sellers,

I think we have to stop asking queries to them as they not want to answer our queries. Nothing will be changed now as they decided to do and that is final. They want only and only buyer satisfaction. I seen that in many cases when buyer complaints about product after purchasing & using 10 days eBay customer people says that give replacement to the buyer whereas we clearly mentions that shipment will be returned for replacement within 7 days. But customer care people blackmails us by saying that if you not offer replacement then action will be taken against your account. Why is it so??? Also they says one or two buyers create trouble. So why you are taking risk & provide replacement. Also I had one last experience where buyer used china product & on 18th day he claimed file under eBay guarantee & received response on 40th day from eBay and they are saying to give replacement to the buyer. Is it fair policy of eBay???

Here I think everything is done only for buyer satisfaction. But nothing done for seller satisfaction. Hold time of calls 35 Minutes & thereafter calls gets connected to person who don't have knowledge about answering the query. Really instead of blaming to the sellers I will suggest please look first about eBay and there critical rules.

Thanks
rhtdm.6624

[amitava123gems]

Hi Santosh,
I dont understand why ebay unregister a paying buyer. You better talk to buyer to know the facts. Or you may ask live chat and preserve the printout of the chat. It may be a credit card issue.
Thanx,
Truly,
Amitava

[spl_ind]

When will these new changes take place? Have you fixed any date? I am still surfing the airwaves everyday but still no sight of any eBay TV Ads.

[machpowertool]

Regarding PPCOD, I have not received the payment still now for item i have shipped on 4th Sep. COD orders are processed very slowly and also the remittances are getting delayed. eBay should think on it.

[veedeedirect]

Hello,

This is the most hair brained scheme ever imagined by ebaY.

Yes, we are all in favor of compensating buyers for orders not shipped but is has to be a symbolic gesture. We have been regularly shipping out small gifts valued at less than Rs.50/- for a couple of months now, to our buyers to whom we could not ship out the goods and most have been ok with it. No-one has left a negative.

It should be really 4% or rs.250/- which every is lower and definately not higher or a flat amount of say rs.100/- or rs.150/-

4% of PaisaPay amount is just daylight robbery. The sole intention is to fill ebay's coffers. The deal about making good to buyers is just that - a deal. Why send out coupons? Just give them the money upfront to the buyers, if you want to take it out of sellers pockets? This shows the real intention is to fill up ebaY's coffers.

After higher FVF in most tech categories, increasing listing upgrades fees, making a premium store almost compulsory for large volume sellers and charging them a cool 40K a year for it (premium store).

We guarantee the number of listings on the site will go down.

Currently we list say 500 accessories for iphone alone. Now these stock is dynamic and we cannot update this on a daily basis. Hence our refunds are much higher than the site norm. Almost 3% - 4%. But since sales on ebay.in are very limited, we have no other option. We cannot stock product which would sell once in 3 months / 6 months or not at all. But if these products are listed on ebay, we get sales of say one lakh rupees a month from such products only.

Now if ebay starts penalising us for not shipping such products, we have no alternative but stop listing these.

On the other hand we list high value products such as netbooks and notebook computers. We were just contemplating listing the entire range of notbebooks available in the country of say the top 5/6 brands on ebay. This would turn to be about 200 skus. Sinces sales would not be even 20 - 30 numbers a months, listings cannot be updated on ebay every day. But even with a sale of 20-30 units we would be getting sales of 5 lakh to 10 lakh a month. But if ebay levies a penalty of 4%, it would work out to rs.1000 - rs.2000 per notebook which obviously is not affordable. So the plan to list the entire inventory goes out of the window. Less will be available to buyers and less will be the sales.

Other factor not considered by ebay is that the reach of good couriers in this country is limited. About 5% to 10% of orders for high value products are from very small towns and villages which not good courier reaches. Now if we get high value orders of say rs.5000 to rs.50,000 from such remote locations it is obvious that we cannot fulfill them.

Does ebay want us to pay them between rs.200 to rs. 2000/- just to keep them happy for such courier non serviceable area orders?

Why don't they take over the logistics and than dictate such norms. If you look at their own PaisaPay COD, they are barely covering 10% of India in terms of geographical area and not more than 25% in terms of population.

How can they expect the sellers to reach out to the entire length and breath of the country?

My sincere advice to ebay would be to grow the business to such a level where at least one 100 sellers earn at least a million rupees a year doing domestic business (not cross border) before coming with policies which will bankrupt the few sellers who make any sort of living out of ebay.

If this policy is implemented in toto it would be one of the worst decisions taken by ebaY.

Our straight forward response if this policy is adopted in toto would be to reduce out listing to say 30% of current and unsubscribe from the premium store. We would save about 30K annually by not subscribing to the premium store and since most sales would happen by best match we can just list all the inventory on GTC. Instead of the 1000 skus we would be happy with just 300 skus on GTC bringing out total listing cost to just 4000 a year instead of the 40,000 currently. So even if do lesser sales of few lakhs we would save much more by listing less.

------
Devesh

[harshcorp05]

Hi,

Completely agree to Devesh Bhai on one hand more payment options are being added and on the other hand this penalty thing which i am sure is demotivating almost all sellers.

the penalty charges are seriously too high specially for sellers who deals in the tech category where margins are thin so if incase we have to auto refund the buyer for various other reasons too penalty will be charged.

I think this policy needs to be re-thought on to before implementing it and if it is implemented it would seriously be a demoraliser amongst all sellers.

listings would go down sales would go down too.

I hope ebaY thinks it from the sellers perspective too rather than only thinking from the buyer's point of view.

I am sure all co-sellers would agree to this.

its also surprising how the workshop ended before giving complete clarification on this issue.

Hope something is done

REGARDS
HARSH TANNA

[accessoriesmasters]

Hi

I too agree with daveshji.

The refund penalty policy is totally unfair

Just now if my buyer doesnt like item i tell him to return back for refund,from now if he dont like than also he need to forcefully keep it and leave negative.

If this policy is implemented

i think all sellers will write this in there listings including me

"NO REFUNDS PROVIDED NO MATTER WHATEVER CASE IT OR WHATEVER IS CLAIMED IN EBAY GUARANTEE AS FOR REFUND SELLER IS CHARGED 4% WITHOUT MISTAKE OF HIM"

This in case will reduce sales or if buyers gets item and if he is not satisfied will not come again on ebay.

Thanks for such a NICE MOVE & Hope someone changes it before it gets IMPLEMENTED.

Regards
Yogen ved

[amitava123gems]

eBay india is functioning like kangaroo court.
This penalty thing is a sick brainwave of some looneys.

[and-also]

Well if this is really going to be true, we can all make lot of money in discount coupons, by ordering stuff which we know GEB globaleasybuy will never deliver, as they have the highest refund ratio.

Hope there is equality in rules applied by ebay, the refund coupon rule will also apply to GLOBALEASYBUY, if they are going to do the same for global easy buy too, i have no qualms in accepting this new rule.