Open Discussion with Sharat on Seller Growth & Trust&Safety (28 Feb 4-5 PM)

[sapana@ebay.com]

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 Safety
I 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 Program
Last 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

[krishnaindia]

Hi Sharat

1. New ebayers - Pay Rs 25/- throgh Paypaisa and this will be adjusted with first buy . That will bring down a lot of non serious buyers .

2. New Ebayers: A Rs 5 /- transaction with the new buyers credit card which again can be reimbursed against his/her first buy .

3. If the new buyer doesn't pay in a stipulated time frame - blacklist the mobile number with place . So that he cant come back. A SMS reply method with code number to complete the new ebayer form would be ideal .

4. Categorise new ebayer -- if SMS validated Silver , if credita card validated gold. And let sellers choose the type of buyers thay want .

I have so many more suggestions . Let us see how this is answered and looked at .

Kind regards,

KrishnaIndia

[yash@ebay.com]

Dear haresh_vatwani

Thanks for you post.

The suggestion needs to be evaluated as some of the fees like Feature Fees need to be charged at the time of listing. Also buyers have various choices to make the payment to the sellers and it would not be feasible to track the payments and then charge sellers

The current UPI process addressed this issues and the FVF - Final Value Fee is revered in situations of failed transactions

Buyer Requirement is a powerful tool to restrict buyers/bidders on your items. Check this link below
http://pages.ebay.in/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html
Regards

Yash

[guptazmall]

Hello Sharat,
I am Nidhi and my ebay id is guptazmall. it is only last year when I became a member of ebay india. At first, all was going well till my id was suspended. When I loggined to ebay.in with my id and password a suspension notice flashed onto my PC's screen for which no prior intimation was given. It was mentioned in the email that my account is linked to a suspended account and to my surprise the name of that account was not even mentioned in the email. And the next day my account was reinstated and it has been 3 days since my account has been reinstated but till now it has not been updated fully as far as my sold items are concerned. So I am helpless as far as my recent transactions with my buyers have been deleted for insufficient reasons.
I am very disstaisfied with ebay as the customer support do not reply till 2 long days have passed. They do not even think that such suspension gives a bad impact on our customers. Moreover when the id is not known and when I donot have such linked id they then mentioned.
In future, the trust and safety department have to go a long way in protecting the rights of the sellers at ebay who rely upon them but are not satisfied in return.
Try to update my account as soon as possible.
Please do improve your response time.

Regards,
Nidhi Gupta
Account holder
guptazmall

[yash@ebay.com]

Dear krishnaindia

Thanks for your post and very good suggestions.

Currently PaisaPay service is only a pass through and what you mentioned has regulatory concerns associated with it

As mentioned in my earlier posts, UPI is an area of concerns and we continuously work to reduce UPI rates.

We look at the overall site metrics and restrict buyers and as an individual seller one can effectively use the Buyer Requirement Tool in restricting certain profile of buyers or ask them to verify through SMS etc before placing bids. Check this link to know more
http://pages.ebay.in/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html
Regards

Yash

[yash@ebay.com]

Dear guptazmall

Thanks for you post and sorry to note the experience. At this stage I dont have specifics of your case such as the reasons for suspension and reinstatment.

We will look at this process and check where we can improve in these situations. Will also pass this as a case to our Customer Support team as also regularly look at improving
Regards

Yash

[yash@ebay.com]

Dear 123eashan

Thanks for you post and apologies as I could not understand your question.

If you contact our Customer Support or check the link below
http://pages.ebay.in/ebayexplained/sell.html
Regards

Yash

[krishnaindia]

Yash ,

Thanks for the reply . Yes doing things like validation is definitely regulatory .

Answer to that is sell a 'buyer guide' from ebay . The amount paid to buy that will be adjusted with first buy . Make it a sort of a priviledge for the new ebayers. OF course , Meg (Whitman) or John (donahoe) may not keep that barrier for more new users .:-)

I agree there are so many new ebayers who bought my stuff and I am very happy with them .

When is the new feedback (2.0) coming ?

Kind regards,

KrishnaIndia

[yash@ebay.com]

Dear payal_kerela

I understand your concern on suspensions of some of the sellers on the site. I will like to give you a broader view on suspension to help you understand the circumstances under which s seller may get suspended. There can be various reasons for a seller's suspension, namely Non payment of eBay fees, Seller Non Performance or too many complaints from buyers agaisnt one seller, eBay Policy Violation, False contact information etc. Suspension is the last step hat is taken agaisnt a seller. If a seller violated any policy, the first step is always to educate the seller becuase most sellers violate policies unintentionally. To ensure that sellers are aware of the policy, at times we ensure that seller has read about the policy before he can make fresh listings on site. Similary, there are other attempts and several warnings made to help the seller resolve the issue before suspending his account. If the issues remain unresolved, the account gets suspended. We endeavaour our best to ensure that genuine sellers are no suspended. Our seller community is as important to us as our buyer community.

Hope I am able to clarify the matter. Please do not hesitate to post a question or clarification
Regards

Yash

[yash@ebay.com]

Dear KrishnaIndia

Thanks for your views.

We would be making the announcement on Feedback 2.0 in the next couple of weeks

Yes we dont want to block all new buyers and it may not be the best solution to collect money before the purchase and adjusted post purchase.

We have to look at alternate solutions which are creative and not restrict trial. As you might be aware lot of new buyers in India are first time ecommerce buyers which also needs to be kept in mind while finding solutions
Regards

Yash

[manishadiamond-usa]

Mr Sharat Digumarti
last time when i posted a message regarding my limits on ebay for selling you assured me that it will soon be lifted
but amazingly you dissapered just as ebay's customer support does plenty of time
than I thought to better remind your so said trust and saftey team about my ID. and here is the message I got (see below)

are you sure we are ebay.in and not ebay australia ???

I am been doing good on ebay and thought to increse my sales with a country based id which would feel more comfortable with the buyerers but you have not only discouraged me from listing/selling but have also made a huge dis-appointment to thoughts of eBay as a market place

I would like to hear your coments on this please so that the whole community know where and what eBay is all about


Hello Ranjeet,

Thank you for writing. This is Trevor, and I appreciate the opportunity
to assist you again.

We have advised you of this situation in several emails already. Your
selling activities are currently restricted to your manishadiamond
account only.

We will not be raising your limits on your manishadiamond-usa account,
or any of your other associated accounts.

Further emails regarding manishadiamond-usa and other associated
accounts will be read, but may no longer receive a response.

All inquiries related to the limitation of the active manishadiamond
account will need to be submitted from the email address associated with
that account.

Thank your for your time.

Regards,

Trevor B.
eBay Customer Support
_______________________________
eBay - Australia's online marketplace