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

[linusstudios]

As always. GEB wont be taken in this penalty scheme. It's above SNP, above any policy violation , everything. This wont be any different.

[and-also]

Well why only then individual sellers, who work on their own inventory and own infrastructure be directly in competition to GEB, where GEB is given all sorts of perks, its unfair, now even in search results the GEB products are seen, my customers ask me why on GEB its cheaper and on my listing its expensive, what answer should we give ???

That they need not keep the inventories thus they are cheaper and we have to keep minimum inventories of all goods thus the cost of space, future value of money and other price fluctuations hit us, thus we are expensive, or we start selling at losses, after hoarding in inventories.

The electronic market is very price sensitive, a few months back say in august the iphone 4 sim card cutter used to cost on ebay itself 1600rs and many have bought and day deal was somewhere around 1000rs plus, now in october all the sellers got it down to 700rs odd, now its 500rs odd, so if we stock up the inventories as per ebay rule, we cannot reflect the current prices, otherwise there should be level playing field.

If GEB you are introducing to compete with local ebay sellers in tech section, then let both of them play by the same rules, and on an even ground, if one loses, then its fair, but just putting on small sellers handicaps and then making them compete against GEB who has zero handicaps and full immunity is not fair.

If the coupon system is going to be introduced for refunds, make the level 10 percent of paispay transactions and above threshold, or also apply the same rules to the bigger fishes in pond, instead of gullitoning the small fries in the pond, also give discount coupons for buyers buying from GEB, and getting refunds.

I hope all sellers will agree to this, and its a very fair conclusion, let rules of the game be applied to all participants, without any immunity enjoyed by any single player.

Those are the basic tenents of this fair market place, as envisioned by the founder Pierre Omidyar.

[anil@ebay.com]

Hi All,

Let me explain to you the INR policy in FAQ format which will help clarify all doubts our community members may have on this

What is the Policy all about?
Sellers who have INR rate of 2% or more of Monthly PaisaPay transactions will be levied a penalty of Rs.250 or 4% of the payment value whichever is higher.

What types of INR are considered for this Policy?
All Approved INR which has been initiated by the PaisaPay system (also known as System Initiated INR) & INR’s initiated by the Sellers are considered for this policy. INR’s raised by Buyer are not considered for this policy

If the INR are more than 2%, will I be penalised for all INR transaction?
All INR Transactions which are greater than 2% will be penalized. To explain this: if the Seller has 100 PaisaPay transactions for a given month and 3 INR approved for the same period. Then the Seller will penalized for the 3rd transaction only and not all 3 INR transactions.

Is it applicable to all Seller?
Yes. It is applicable to all sellers selling on IN site

Are there any Exception to this?
Yes. Sellers who have 2 or less INR in the month or have Monthly PaisaPay transactions less than 10 will not be considered for this penalty

When is applicable from?
This is applicable to all transaction done from 1st November 2010.

What is the frequency?
The policy will be implemented manually on monthly basis and seller PaisaPay account will be debited by second week of month. E.g. Penalties applicable for INRs of transaction made in November will done by second week of December.

Having said that, if the Seller feels that his INR was not his fault but were due to reason beyond his control (e.g. I do not ship to Kolkata and had mentioned in on my listing but still buyer from Kolkata goes ahead and buys it, Buyer wrote to me informing me to cancel the transaction post his payment), the Seller can write in to their account managers or Customer support with details on why the INR was not within their control. eBay will review the request & if it found that INR was beyond the control of Seller, eBay will reverse the Penalty charged in next cycle.

Regards
Anil Shenoy

[c153niyam]

My queston is if ebay deducts money from sellers and sends buyer coupons - what if buyer does not use the coupon? Then that penalty money has gone to ebay, right?

[anandxyz]

as a buyer i would say good step ebay.

[and-also]

@anandxyz ,now buyers will not get easy refunds, as they priorly used to get be it any reason, it sounds good, but both the buyer and seller have to be very extra cautious for the same

@Anil --- please clarify , the paispay transactions are counted or the paispay volume, ??? means if i sell goods worth 100rs and have 1000 transactions, and sell 1 good worth 1,00,000 rupees, so say total 1001 trasactions but refund on the transaction having 1 lakh value,now will i be penalised or not, means VOLUME is considered or Transactions are considered.

Second querry is means as you say all .in sellers are in the fray so GEB also i2c sellers will also be penalised or exempted ????

Thanks in advance.

[linusstudios]

@ eBay

I still have some doubts which I am putting as Questions here-

1- As Mr Anil mentioned only INR's will be counted, what about Item not as described refunds or refunds claimed under eBay guarantee.

2- If there are 6 refunds will the seller be charged- 250 X 4= 1000? But quoting you- "Sellers who have INR rate of 2% or more of Monthly PaisaPay transactions will be levied a penalty of Rs.250 or 4% of the payment value whichever is higher. "

Its not mentioned per refund.
Please do clarify.

[anandxyz]

frankly i don't trust GEB for me mental peace is more important they sent me many discount coupon but i never exercised it i am happy with Indian sellers ,specially the non Delhi sellers .

[rhtdm.6624]

Hi Anil & All,

I have one solution for all this trouble. I will suggest please don't apply this policy which you are thinking to use on eBay.in. Hope then no queries & no issues will arise about refund & penalty to the seller.

Regards
rhtdm.6624

[rajelectroniks]

@berrynxt4u...

The calu is very simple, per 100 transactions done, you get 2 refunds free and ebay will start penalizing you from the 3rd refund onwards, now it is your luck that if your 3rd refund is a transaction of 1 lakh, then ebay will charge you 4% of 1 lakh that is 4000/- !!!. VOLUME is NOT considered, Transactions ARE considered.

@linusstudios...

Slight correction in your statement, not 250 x 4, it will be 250 or 4% of paisapay amount whichever is higher. So for every 100 transactions 2 refunds are free and 3rd refund onwards you will be charged as given above.
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