Open House Discussion with Ambareesh Murty, Country Manager, 12 Jan, 4-5PM

[sapana@ebay.com]

Message from Ambareesh...

Hi Everyone

This is Ambareesh Murty, Country Manager of eBay India and I’d like to invite you to an Open House discussion with me on Wednesday, 12th Jan 2011 from 4-5 PM IST.

At the outset I will like to thank all of you for your continued passionate support and in helping us reinforce eBay as India's most preferred online shopping destination. With your support we made tremendous strides in 2010 and continued to deliver on our promise of making lots of safe easy deals available to our buyers. A BIG thanks to our seller community for expanding the available range of products, providing compelling deals and delivering high levels of service to make buying enjoyable on eBay.

1. Our 360 degree marketing campaigns ensured that a lot more users bought for the first time on eBay. 2010 was packed with TV ads, coupons, social media engagement and several high profile charity auctions.

2. The Category Team’s efforts towards ensuring wide spread seller success yielded positive results. More entrepreneurs started successful eBay businesses and existing sellers benefited from increased sales.

3. To enhance our user experience and give buyers more ways to pay, we expanded PaisaPay payment options with more OBT banks, more EMI options and also introduced the PaisaPay COD option.

4. The launch of eBay Guarantee* made it easier, faster and convenient for buyers to resolve their concerns in the off chance that they had a problematic transaction, thereby increasing trust on eBay.

I recognize that there is still lots to be done to deliver a seamless marketplace experience for our buyers and sellers and in 2011 we will continue to provide lots more safe easy deals to buyers to ensure that even more online Indian's try out eBay.

Our community has always been our most vocal supporter and our strongest critic and I look forward to your suggestions for further improving our user experience and answer your eBay related questions during my Open House discussion.

You can post your questions in advance on this thread, or join me live on 12th Jan at 4 PM. See you on the 12th!

Regards
Ambareesh Murty
Country Manager – eBay India

[ambareesh@ebay.com]

Dear COOL_DEALS30, HIGHSKYINDIA, NAVKAR_COLLECTION, SOLARTRONIKS2010


In 2010, we had launched the PaisaPay COD service basis feedback from our Members. I acknowledge the fact that there have been teething issues in ensuring that the monies collected are remitted to the respective sellers on time.

We are constantly engaging with the Couriers on this issue and are addressing the same with them on a priority basis. I would assure you that this would be resolved very soon.

Cash on Delivery presents a huge opportunity for growth in a market like India where issues such as lack of touch & feel and non-availability of credit/debit cards, are barriers to shopping online. We are committed to making this a success and request the co-operation of all sellers in adopting the same.

Regards...Ambareesh

[rrelectro]

sir

i don't know why my paisapay remittance has been put on hold! pls check it out! amount is around Rs. 205000/-

pls help

frm
rajesh

[ambareesh@ebay.com]

Hi DIGIMART_ONLINE_IN1/VKRM200/HIGHSKYINDIA/JAYWEBS

While I take on board all your suggestions on UPI, I dont think taking advance payments from buyers would help. This would only create high friction in the buying process which would be detrimental to the marketplace and our objective of getting new buyers to try eBay.

Over the last few years, we have taken several steps to reduce UPI and have seen it reduce significantly.
I am certain that we will see UPI reduce even further over the next year or so.

Regards...Ambareesh

[ambareesh@ebay.com]

Hi MURALIPHILA/VINAYAGA_RAMAN/COOL_DEALS30/RAHUL_7777/BENEDICT_KMU/MUSICMYSOUL3/ANKITJI123/SN-SHOPPE/LIFEISNICE03/JAYWEBS/AMIT-JAIPUR/and all community members

There have been several posts on eBay CS; my views are as below:

Often as a customer, I feel pained when I do not receive a high level of customer support. Therefore I can understand the need for eBay to provide the highest levels of service at all times.

While we've improved over the last few years by putting in place strong training processes, attention to detail and requisite escalation mechanisms, basis your feedback it seems that we need to do a lot more.

We'll continue to improve the quality of our support and hopefully your feedback on customer support will be more positive when next we meet.

Regards...Ambareesh

[ambareesh@ebay.com]

Hi HAPPY.SHOPPEE/TCC.IN/And Others

Our promotional credits process incorporates/requires account/item reconciliations and therefore takes a certain amount of time.
While we will endeavor to reduce the lag however minimally I foresee a 6-8 week timeframe for credits to reflect in your accounts.

Regards...Ambareesh

[ambareesh@ebay.com]

Hi HIGHSKYINDIA/INFOTECHMART/HAPPY.SHOPPEE/COOL_DEALS30

I understand that sometimes INR cases happen due to no fault of our sellers (logistical issues/non service areas etc).

Fortunately these incidences are low and we have factored this into our INR penalty policy where only sellers with greater than 4% INR (which is much higher than site average) are required to pay a penalty on INR's above the threshold 4% level.

We formulated/revised the policy basis community feedback and I believe will help improve our buyer experience substantially going forward.

Regards...Ambareesh

[takgye]

Hello Mr Ambareesh,

First of all congratulations to Ebay Team for some of the achievements of 2010.
Like most others we have have a few points.
We are relatively new to EBay with less than 1 year on EBay with close to 5000+ feedbacks(with 3 months self closure in between)

EBay New Year Coupon Distribution
Coupon distribution is a great way of attracting new buyers.However
a) Sellers should be pre-informed if coupons will be distributed on a large scale.reasons.First impression is the last one.On new year with severe FOG and cold , our deliveries are impacted.Also some of the staff wanted leave for holidays so we sanctioned.We could have made better arrangements had we been pre-informed that sales will be 3-4 times normal sales.This would leave a good impression about EBay India on new buyers.
b) It should be limited to new buyers and not those who have created 10-100 accounts just for it.Also in these accounts the addresses are wrong/numbers wrong and we are sent mails "Please change address" which screws up our automated processes.

Information Sharing
EBay's transactions have a lot of information which can be useful.For example
1.All related id-s or atleast the alternative phone numbers of buyers/sellers.
2.Last courier sent by which courier and received fast.We need to call and find out from buyer which courier is there at their location if pincodes are not shown in courier sites.In these cases numbers are not reachable/invalid a number of times.The whole idea is to get the buyer satisfied and such information can be helpful for all sellers.Why ebay retains this data to itself? For example if XYZ courier has doe very well for a location it will enhance the knowledge of all sellers.This knowledge will bear fruits someday.
3.We block certain buyers but they manage with new id's.TNS should do some great job here atleast so that all related-id's are blocked if not shown to us.

EBay Account Managers & Management
Our experience has been very good.Be it Raghu,Dipty,Sapana,Arun,Raj,Praseeth,Ravi.Talking to them has always sent positive vibes.

Holidays
We are also humans and want free time with our family/friends.When EBay does not work after 7pm , even we should be spared on Sunday.In the Park with Family on Sunday we get "What should we do with ....". How can we remember each and every transaction if we are sending high volumes daily?

EBay India's Love for "Magic" Numbers
We feel that somewhere there are magic numbers created.For example the magic figure of 4cases and 100 feedbacks in CRF.We dont know what heuristics were used to get these numbers but they are not logical.The best way for us to override this is to split our account into multiple id-s and just increase these numbers for us automatically since CRF judgements are not logical.

Recently Introduced CRF
We would give it a BIG thumbs down.Why?Till now 2 got verdict for 2 cases
Case 1.Item Sent , delivered in 4 days by DTDC.Village address with zero internet connectivity.Buyer played tricks files under ebay guarantee and in less than 24hrs ebay closed case in favor of buyer.(What was the hurry?) .In 24hrs to get a POD from a village who can manage.Left Negatiive , in CRF replied that HE WANTS TO CHANGE FEEDBACK (since he got money and item) but CRF could not reach Majority.

Case 2.Sealed Item delivered.Buyer claimed not working, within minutes we replied to please send back.Buyer left negative.Without any proof of defect , do we need to re-ship? CRF said Feedback should stay. BUYERS WILL USE -VE FEEDBACKS AS A MECHNISM TO GET MULTIPLE ITEMS.Sellers will increase prices to cover such losses and this will inturn affect EBay India's price reputation.We already add a small percentage as "IRRATIONAL PAISAPAY REFUND COST" to our prices since December 2010.

If CRF continues this way , we will need to re-think on our business strategy/partners.

4% Paisapay Penalty Clause
1.Buyers order , go for vacation, courier comes back to us.EBays "In hurry" Paisapay prefers refund.
2.Buyers order and send mails to cancel saying ordered by mistake.
3.Buyer rejects to accept parcel, plays tricks just to misuse this clause.We have proof buyer did this with mutiple id's and same address and then raised refund one by one.
4.Buyer unhappy or did not read the listing properly, when we refund we are doing something bad for our account.
In all these cases where is seller at Fault?

TNS
We would describe it as a "Copy Paste Expert Department".An example
Feedback "at the purchasing time it displayed no shipping charge. but i payed 40 rs extra"
What was sellers fault here? Do we need to give free shipping for all items so that ebay's software problems dont get us -ves.
We wrote to TNS and got a standard copy pasted reply.We wrote again but TNS did not remove.
We sent out a case of multiple items being listed 4 times , TNS insists on item numbers.We sent step by step instructions but it preferred spoon feeding of item numbers only.TNS is a backbone and should be a Mossad / CIA supported by robust /innovative automated processes.

Auction Mode
We tried once, but its irritating as most items are not paid for.

Seller "Terms Of Sale" Protection
We list a few points under Terms of Sale.Any feedback or violation of the sale by us or buyer should be a violation.
For example
We mentioned in listing "Output:DC 12V 300mA.Check the current requirements before buying".
We got Neutral stating "All car battery outputs 12v/10 Amps but the item outputs only 500ma.waste product".
This product used very well with chargers /FM modulators, etc but will have to stay with this neutral.
Will TNS remove this ? ..we will get the standard reply, so we did not write to them.
We would love to have "Seller TOS Guarantee".

EBay Logistics
We know EBay has been working hard on this , but the sooner the better.

There are a lot of great things about EBay India and thats why we all are here.We like most humans also are "Greedy" and we just hope that things get better and better so that we all grow exponentially TOGETHER !!!

Once Again congrats for all the great work done by your team which we have not written here !!!

[ambareesh@ebay.com]

Hi ANAND.LOHIA/INDIAN_GAMER007/VAIDYARS7

Our purpose in Global Easy Buy is to provide great international variety to buyers in India. We think we would have significant challenges in managing buyer expectations while purchasing used/refurbished items and therefore currently do not provide the same.

While Global Easy Buy surfaces great inventory, the benefit of a marketplace is such that if the prices are found to be high, the buyer can choose not to purchase internationally and seek similar products from India.

I have also asked my team to look into specific service issues on Global Easy Buy/I2C raised on this thread and they will be reaching out to you over the next few days.

Regards...Ambareesh

[ambareesh@ebay.com]

To MISYS12/NARAYANANBYJUVADAKKUMKARAYIL/SINGH.MANAS/RAHUL_7777/LIFEISNICE03/SHUBHAMLEEKHA

I am informed by my team that your claims have either been settled or are in process. While eBay settles your claims at the earliest, refunds sometime take time to reflect in your bank/credit statements due to processing time at your bank's end.

Further, let me take this opportunity to assure all buyers that eBay sticks by its resolution Guarantee* and we are committed to further improving the Guarantee experience for all our sellers and buyers.

Regards...Ambareesh

[ambareesh@ebay.com]

Folks

Over the course of the last few hours, I've tried my best to respond to as many posts as possible.

While I have read all the posts, I realize that there are a few members to whom I've not yet been able to respond. My team and I shall do so in the course of the next few days.

It's been great being here and I am looking forward to our next interaction soon.

Regards...Ambareesh