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

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
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46 REPLIES 46

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

payal_kerela
Not applicable
sir,
i am a very old user on ebay, but i found that you are totally unfriendly and non coperative. You had suspended big sellers like nisha_online , coolstuffmart and vibhamall
However i hadnt have a deal with them but it was really shoking, I had lost faith in your team, and besides that you says that we are working to get good seller , do you think that there is good from these sellers. Kindly explain
Thanks
payal_kerela
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Open Discussion with Sharat on Seller Growth & Trust&Safety (28 Feb 4-5 PM)

snrama
Community Member
Hi payal_kerela

There are lot of good sellers at eBay. eBay doesn't suspend geunine sellers without a reasons. I think nisha_online & coolstuffmart are back. ---------------
With Regards,
Navaneeth (snrama) 😉
---------------
With Regards,
Navaneeth (snrama) 😉
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Open Discussion with Sharat on Seller Growth & Trust&Safety (28 Feb 4-5 PM)

123eashan
Not applicable
I WANT TO SALE MY NOKIA 6270 WITHOUT BILL ,WILL IT CAN BE SOLD ON MY DEMAND OR NOT?
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Open Discussion with Sharat on Seller Growth & Trust&Safety (28 Feb 4-5 PM)

haresh_vatwani
Not applicable
Hi Sharat,
This is haresh_vatwani.
I want to suggest you that ebay seller fees should be shown on our ebay account only after we recive the payment.
Also the buyers should be completely verified as 9 out of 10 buyers dont pay on ebay after buying the item.
And buyers who are not paying after buying something should be done to them.
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Open Discussion with Sharat on Seller Growth & Trust&Safety (28 Feb 4-5 PM)

nakatib
Not applicable
hi! i sell in the jewelery category and need some guidance to capture the international market. i need to know the charges of listing in ebay.com.how much in % would i increase my business if i do so ? i also am very upset with the unpaid items policy. the buyers in this case are more protected than the sellers.i suggest some amount should be taken as deposit at registration time n if the buyer does not pay ,a % amount can be deducted and added in the sellers account. in this way non buying bidders will definately reduced and the sellers will also be protected.please take this matter as prime importance.thanks
regards
nisreen {nakatib}
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Open Discussion with Sharat on Seller Growth & Trust&Safety (28 Feb 4-5 PM)

ritu@ebay.com
Not applicable
Hi All,

A warm welcome to today's Open House. Today we have Sharat Digumarti with us. Sharat is a Senior Manager - Marketplace Health for eBay India and is excited to be here today. Sharat will be here till 5 PM.

He will be answering the questions already posted by our users, before answering fresh questions in the session.

Please Welcome Sharat! Feel free to post your questions and make the most of this one hour.


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

yash@ebay.com
Not applicable
Hello Everyone

I am happy to spend the next hour with you all and answer the questions already posted and any other additional points
Regards

Yash
Regards

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

coolbrasco
Not applicable
Hello Mr. Sharat Digumarti,

First kindly accept our congratulations from seller for making eBay India a wonderful place to sell.

I missed to see you & eBay India team in Bangalore Top User's meet due to my travel. Like other sellers, i would like to appriciate eBay India team for making eBay a wonderful place for shopping in recent days. I aknowledge that eBay India is improved and i am experiencing good selling. Unlike before i have 100% payment from past month and i am happy about the quality of the buyers, which saves plenty of precious time of a seller. I hope this will continue and attract many buyers and sellers.

I would like to express one concern as a seller. Incase if buyer did not receive an item (due to shipping company's mistake or a natural disaster) and if we have shipping proof, what is the guarentee for a seller protected from unpleasent feedbacks (I have no such bad experience, becuase i try to compensate the loss immediately though i loose some money becuase it is worth getting a -ve feedback ) or loss. Though i have shipping proof, i cannot argue with buyer to avoid bad feedbaks and i have to refund some money quickly to keep him happy. eBay should introduce a insurance scheme for sellers and buyers to prevent the loss(50%-50%). This is really complicated issue i agree, eBay should think for solution to protect sellers from bad experience.

Regarding customer support by email, it is again a big issue and long story. It is becuase how the team handles a problem. If i start, all other sellers will start and when Vasundhara comes to online meet i will raise those issues.

Kind regards,
CoolBrasCo.
Power Seller
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Open Discussion with Sharat on Seller Growth & Trust&Safety (28 Feb 4-5 PM)

yash@ebay.com
Not applicable
Dear nakatib

Thanks for your post. I will ask my Cross Border Team to get in touch with you and give guidance and tips to sell on other ebay sites.

If you want to list directly on sites like ebay.com( US) the charges are as displayed on the ebay.com site and the same applies if you want to list on any ebay site.

I agree UPI is an area of concern and we continue to work to reduce UPI rates and thanks for the suggestion
Regards

Yash
Regards

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

yash@ebay.com
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Dear coolbrasco

Thanks for your appreciation for all the effort and frankly users like you make ebay a great marketplace

You are absolutely correct on the concerns and the challenge ebay faces in finding a solution. However, we have not seen many instances of items lost in transit as many sellers use good courier/logistics service providers. I agree ebay should do something in this direction and we will explore during the course of the year
Regards

Yash
Regards

Yash
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