Open House with Sharat Digumarti (Trust & Safety) - 28 June (5-6 PM)

[rohit@ebay.com]

Dear Members,

Please join Sharat Digumarti, Sr. Manager – Trust and Safety, in a discussion on the initiatives taken by eBay to provide a safe trading experience for our users. Many of our members have raised the topic of user verification. Sharat will be discussing with you the initiatives taken by the Trust & Safety team on this topic. Please post your suggestions on the topic of “Verifying users on eBay” by replying to this post. Sharat will discuss these during the Open House.

Host: Sharat Digumarti, Sr. Manager – Trust and Safety

Date: Wednesday, 28th June 2006

Time: 5.00 PM to 6.00 PM (IST)

We look forward to seeing you then!

Thanks and Regards,
Rohit,
Community Development Team

[indconcepts]

Dear Sharat Digumarti,

Hello,

It's nice to see you again on Community Board.

T&S is doing a lot for the Community and is the FOUNDATION of a building called ....."ebay".

But somehow I feel that....Trust & safety department of ebay is only after bigger issues and isn't doing anything to safe-guard smaller issues of the sincere Sellers.

You once said that its a CAT & RAT game between T&S and Fraudsters ......you are 100% right.

In this CAT & RAT game, every time there is a new RAT in the story...... but the CAT remains the same.

I mean.... everyday there are new Fraudsters on site.... who penetrate the site through new loopholes.....so, its the T&S who gets EXHAUSTED in tackling this ongoing process.

T&S is so concerned about the safety of the site that it doesn't care to solve the small issues of the sincere Sellers.

Mr. Sharat .... kindly let me know that....if a Seller creates 5 ID's .....

In his Own name, Wife's name, Father's name, Mother's name & his brother's name......

.......and start doing multiple listings of the same product.... 5 times.... in all the five of his ID's.

So to have 25 listings of the same product.

What steps would T&S take so that there is level playing field amongst the Sellers.

I have been following three ID's since February and have submitted proofs that these belong to the same person who is misusing the system..... but no action has been taken by the T & S.

Believe me .....after the gallery Fees has come into play.... Multiple listings with Multiple ID's has become a nuisance on ebay.

The over all Buyers experience on the site has been hit hard due to NON GALLERY Listings .....and multiple listings through Multiple ID's have made things worse.

Before the gallery fee, the total listings were around 2 lakhs ..... today also the total listings are around 2 lakhs. ( ten thousand here or there).

ebay thinks that it has succeeded in tackling multiple listings ....... but ground realities are different.

Verification is no doubt an important issue ....but controlling verified members so that they don't misuse the system is much more important.

Its too dangerous when you elect a Don to a political post.

I would also like to mention that ebay is becoming a HUB for cheap products from Grey Market. Innocent buyers easily get trapped, lured by the rock bottom prices.

"Fly by night" operators mint money by fooling the innocent Buyers.
After they get suspended, they devise ways to create another ID.

ebay thinks that it has shunted the Seller OUT ..... but ebay is an ADDICTION ..... once "IN" you don't go "OUT".

It's time that some foolproof verification is done.

I feel ….. TIN number verification for SELLERS could do wonders for the site.

regards

Umang Midha .

[emailswarup]

Hi,

I agree with Umang, especially about Gallery view and verifications.

With the Gallery view it was easy to have an idea about the product and the seller as most of the sellers use a particular type of photos (image positioning, clarity, decoration etc.) without the Gallery view its difficult to notice the fraudulent sellers / listings at a glance.

About the verification, I think eBay must do full proof verification, at least for those listing items with final price of over (say) Rs.10000 and for the buyers bidding over the same amount. It will bring more reliability for both sellers and buyers. .
Best Regards 😄
Swarup
Kolkata

[rupesh.dinkar]

Hi Mr.Sharat,
I am the sufferer of fraud seller. Can you do for ebay and from the view of seller and buyer that the selling and buying can be done through ebay,in such case seller and buyer both are safe and ebay security amount also not gone in vain. Though for this, ebay have to do extra work.

[cameras_n_such]

Hi Sharat,

I appreciate all the hard work done by your Team in keep the site free of fraudsters would wish you all the best in the future.

I was going through the eBay.co.uk site and found that users there are either registered as "Business Seller" or "Private Seller" or "Idividual" Can you throw more light on the same and is it practical to have such a system for the Indian site too?

So once a seller registers as a business seller he should have to submit proof of business as Umang as said in form of TIN no. or any other govermnet license.

For Private sellers, individual users the verification should either by Credit Card or Bank Transfer (via PaisaPay). This verification can atleast for a start be implemented on voluntary basis and sellers could be allowed the option to offer certain products only to such PaisaPay verified buyers. In the month of May 2006, my UPI rate is an astounding 78%. I am wondering ist it worthwile doing business at all if majority of buyers are non genuine / serious.

Private Sellers / Indivduals can have selling limits which may be both in volume as well as value terms.


Regards,

Devesh

[snrama]

Hi,

I too appreciate all the hard work done by your Team.

I suggest the team to verify all the items of new sellers over Rs.10000/- as there are many chances of Frauds.

I too completly agree with Umang and Swarup on the Gallery view and verifications. ---------------
With Regards,
Navaneeth (snrama) 😉

[baaniya_online]

Dear Sir,
like other sellers, i am also facing problems of non-paying buyers... these non-serious customers not only waste time of ours , but they also burden your resources.. in last 30 days i have filled atleast 4 unpaid item disputes. Ebay must have a method of punishing these non-paying buyers. For a starter, ebay can use a paid-verification method, in which the buyer will get the charges paid for the verification, refunded/adjusted in the last purchese (in case in wants to close his a/c). Like in the paypal.com, it charges a amount of 1.95usd , and adjusts it in the first purchase...

This kind of method will surely discourage the non-serious buyers, even if the amount is small, like of Rs. 50/-.

Also some buyers/sellers donot leave feedback, even after a sucessfull transaction.. So you should make it a system, in which the buyer/seller will automatically get a positive feedback, if no unpaid item/or item not send complaint is logged within 45 days... it will increase the feedbacks of the e-bayers...

Also, like demands of some other users, private feedback should be done with.. it does not let a person get a correct feedback of the buyer/seller...

Regds
Rajneesh Goel

[mysalesoffer]

Dear Sir
Most head ache is non paying buyer
When any seller want to be register seller he can not be without verification code then why for buyer just email?
You suspend to non paying buyer but
Any tom dick and Harry can create new email id and start biding again
If you add verification compulsory for buyer too I think no of non paying buyer becomes very less and they take care for becomes suspend as seller take care of their account

[rdhume]

hellow Mr.Sharat

As a buyer the one problem I this buyers face is the exact description of the product the seller has posted, I am facing such a problem , the item name posted is a perfume and I get a deodorant, Perfume is totally different from Deodorant.

such sellers should check what they post

regards

Rohit

[skyshopindia]

Dear Mr. Sharat

It is very nice to see you again for an Open House Discussion on Trust and Safety related issue. After 1 year crossing I can say TnS put lot of efforts to make the site safe and healthy.
At this moment I didn’t find any serious issue related with the TnS. Still there a lacuna in TnS job, that is in so many cases we need to go for a cure after the cases being happen. There should have a preventive method.

e.g.
1. Illegal -ve Feedback - Previously there was no way to remove a –ve feedback received by a seller except the Mutual Feedback Withdrawal between members. But now it can be removed by eBay in case a buyer illegally leaves it. This is curative method, not a preventive method. Generally this type feedback left by Non Paying Buyers. How non-paying buyers are allowed to take part in Feedback Process?

2. Multiple Listing – Previously it was from a single ID, but after new ML policy and implementing gallery fees, it is presented in other ways, by using multiple ID and without Galley Image. Tracking criteria for Multiple ID is not appropriate, that’s why a member can easily use this loophole to create Multiple ID. Secondly reporting Multiple Listing is also now became difficult because of no gallery image.

3. Insufficient Seller Verification Process - I have seen a seller was suspended possibly due to SNP, but within a week same person is selling the same product creating another ID, where bank a/c information is same. It clearly indicates incorrect Seller Verification procedure. A seller must be verified with a valid postal address, valid Credit Card, valid Bank Account with A/c holder name, valid Landline telephone no. These should not be repeat in any other ID.

4. Private Feedback – For a buyer it is OK but I did not find any solid ground for this parameter for a seller.

5. Fake Buyer – As stated by Cameras_n_such, my non-fulfillment rate is also above 69% in the month of April-May, all are due to fake bidding. I have no knowledge, how to increase fulfillment ratio. If I block the new buyers then my sale will down to 70%.

6. Fake Product – There is a guideline for listing, which are allowed to sale thru eBay.in, but where is the guideline for Fake product (Product with Fake Title and Specification)? Still you are depending on reporting such cases by the members. There is no preventive method when listing a Fake Product. When a buyer is cheated with such product who will protect them?


Regards
Achintya Ghosh