Hi,
I am Sharat Digumarti and I have recently taken charge of a very challenging role as Senior Manager - Marketplace Health for eBay India. Under this role, my team and I are responsible for enhancing both Trust and Safety and Seller Development and Growth.
Trust and SafetyI will like to take this opportunity to have a look at the various TnS initiatives in the year gone by. Last year, we undertook various initiatives based on your feedback and requirements. Some of the key initiatives were:
Reduction in Genuine Seller Suspensions: Last year we introduced Enhanced Consequences Guidelines which, depending on the nature of a violation, warned sellers adequately before suspending them. This helped genuine sellers who were unintentionally violating policies to correct their mistakes. In addition, we also made it easier for good sellers to get a faster reinstatement. The introduction of ODR India on the eBay India site further helped sellers in resolving disputes. These initiatives helped us reduce unwarranted suspensions of genuine sellers.
Reduction in Unpaid items: Based on seller feedback, we took various initiatives to reduce unpaid items on eBay. In certain categories which are prone to a high UPI rate, we also initiated controlled buyer verification. This and other similar efforts helped us bring down UPI rates to some extent. However, we have a long way to go to achieve what we desire in this field.
Enhancing Buyer Experience: Our buyers often expressed their displeasure at excessive shipping charges charged by some sellers and bad browsing experience due to multiple listing of same product. We clamped down on high shipping charges and saw good results on the same. While the problem of excessive shipping charges is not yet eliminated, it has reduced significantly. Unfortunately, we were not able to replicate this success in reducing unnecessary multiple listings across the site. However, listing fees in Mobiles and Accessories category brought a significant improvement in improving finding and buying experience for buyers.
Proactive Action against Counterfeit and Infringing Items: In order to remove counterfeit listings from eBay, in addition to co-operating with Right Owners, we recently put stricter measures in place. For items reportedly favoured by counterfeiters, we’ve started requiring additional seller verification. We will continue to keep an eye on products which are prone to counterfeit and will take proactive action against those sellers
Success in Law Enforcement cases: Last year we did extensive outreach to law enforcement agencies and worked closely with them to solve cases against fraudsters who targeted eBay buyers which led to bad buying experiences. Though these buyers have been fully covered under our Buyer Protection Program we still actively supported and worked with various agencies to nab the fraudsters. Learning from these cases further helped us strengthen our filters to catch bad elements at the initial stages itself.
Increasing Transparency via Feedback System: The eBay Feedback system had pioneered the trust levels between complete strangers who transact on the Internet. With evolving times, we enhanced the transparency of the feedback system such that it will help buyers take more informed buying decisions and help identify good sellers. Some initiatives in this regard were the restriction in use of Private feedback by sellers, limitation in using Pre-approved bidder functionality, proactive action against feedback manipulation. The introduction of granular seller feedback will be another step in this direction.
All of the above will tell you about the change in Trust and Safety approach over the past. As my colleague Rob Chestnut mentioned in his
message, TnS will be taking a proactive approach to increase trust on the site. I will like to discuss more on the next steps for TnS in my next Open House Discussion on 28th February 2007.
Seller Development ProgramLast year we also saw an encouraging increase in Power Sellers on the site. My congratulations to all the sellers who worked hard to achieve the status!
Meanwhile, the Power Seller team worked on various initiatives to increase the value of the Power Seller Program. Some such efforts were the Power Seller Recognition program, Power Seller interaction events in Delhi and Mumbai, Free Packaging Material for Power Sellers, dedicated marketing links for Power Seller products etc.
While I will be taking up this role, my focus will be on enhancing the seller development program to ensure that our sellers grow their eBay business. As we finalise the program details, I will
request your inputs on how you think we can help you increase your eBay business. The suggestions could be in area of, but not necessarily restricted to, business development support, customer support, increased interaction with eBay team required by you. Your inputs on the above will help us build a robust program that would benefit everyone.
I will be present on the Community Boards for an Open House Session and encourage you to post your thoughts, comments and suggestion on this thread. I am looking forward towards this meeting and I hope to gather lot of useful feedback on the new role which encompasses both Trust and Safety and Seller Development.
See you on
28th for Open house discussion at 4-5 PM!
Regards,
Sharat Digumarti
Senior Manager
Marketplace Health Team
