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
