Open House Discussion with Gautam Thakar, Director – Categories & Marketing

[rohit@ebay.com]

Dear Users,

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new initiative for users to interact with eBay India Management – the eBay India Open House.

Staff from the eBay India Management Team will be available on the Discussion Boards at pre – defined times, to answer any questions you might have regarding buying and selling on eBay India.

The first session is with Gautam Thakar, Director – Categories & Marketing. We invite you to join Gautam for an online chat on Thursday, the 2nd of June, 2005, from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM IST.

You can submit your questions before or during the event by making a post on this thread. For help on using the discussion boards, please click here (http://forums.ebay.in/thread.jspa?threadID=300000542).

See you on the 2nd at 5:00 PM!

Regards,
Rohit,
Community Development Team

[gautam@ebay.com]

dear halwawala_in1

I did read your post - it is tough to be online and respond to all users at the same time. But i am trying hard. Some of the concerns regaring lack of buyers i have already addressed and you should see much more growth. With respect to west bengal , we do not have an office there at this stage and are more centralized as a business decision. On paisapay, i think you may have noticed an improved speed of response as most of teh backlog has been cleared but you will see much more as we are looking to staff that with more peopel to help resolve outstanding issues. Regards
Gautam

[gautam@ebay.com]

dear f2966,
please do not apologise - if we have indeed not been responsive , you are warranted in being angry. You will have eBay's full support for anytihng to prevent misdemeanours and catch culprits. We will get in touch with you at the phone number and address you have registered with (please update if it is not recent). Regards
Gautam

[invogue-inc]

Very nice gautam, not a single direct reply to any of my queries!!! How do you expect users to stick on to the site at such bad times, when they are really made to feel as if they are unwanted. If you cannot reply to my queries, atleast take a note of them as resolving such issues will very much stop people from writing on such boards and help eBay India become a truly great site.

[invogue-inc]

I too want to say the same things as halwawala:

The e-bay team has been sort of Non-commital ,

None of the points raised by me have been touched .

[gautam@ebay.com]

Everyone on the boards today,

Thank you very much for all the time - there have been some important issues raised. I have tried answering as many as i could. My apologies , if despite extending the session i have not been able to answer all.

Our community team will interact with you on anythinig that is pending.
We will be taking these up seriously internally and will update you of the progress. And you will see more of us on the boards and listening to you.

We are committed to growing your business and request your continued support as some of the changes may not be overnight. Appreciate your patience and support.

Thank you once again for taking the time and while i was put through a 'hard' session , i think this feedback is very important to us. Regards
Gautam

[i_gems]

Dear Gautam,

I would suggest that Ebay India hold a PowerSellers Confrence where it should invite Top 20 - 25 Sellers to Mumbai and boost our confidence by Direct Interaction with the Management.

This would help come out with the Solutions to increase the Sales 2-4 Fold as expected by us when Ebay India started.

Moreover, we are ready to bear half the cost of our Participation if Ebay can't afford full expenses.

Just a Humble Request..

This I am saying from our Past Experience.

I had a One To One meeting with Mr.Avnish Bajaj in Delhi 1.5 Years Back and gave some solutions and suggestions lot of which were actually put in place.

Our company has got some great solutions for increasing both the Sales and New Buyers on Ebay India.

I had written an email earlier also to your Team but am yet to get any Response till now for the past 2 months.. 😞

Regards,
Rajan
Truely Honest Jewellery Sellers on Ebay
iGems
CelebratingLove

iGems
http://stores.ebay.in/iGemsIndia

CelebratingLove
http://stores.ebay.in/CelebratingLove

[rohit@ebay.com]

A big thank you to all of you on the boards, and to Gautam, for participating in this - the first Open House Chat with the eBay India Management Team.

We shall take note of all your feedback. And, as Gautam has mentioned, you will see more interaction from eBay staff across various functions on the boards going forward. So do keep visiting the boards, and leaving your feedback. While it might be difficult for us to responsd to each of them individually, we shall definitely listen to all of you. Gautam has mentioned this, and I would like to reiterate, the changes will not reflect on the site overnight. So please do not feel that your concerns are not being heard, let me assure you, they are.

Thanks once again,

Regards,
Rohit,
Community Development Team

[gautam@ebay.com]

dear invogue-inc
I stopped by again at the boards to check if there were more responses after my meetings for the day were done.

Again, i did try and address a lot of the issues that were raised and you are right that i could not address all. Unfortunately could not but we are making a start. This is an important initiatve and over time as i get more of teh team to listen to you all on the boards, we will be able to help better.

The issue with regards to edit rating is a difficult one as it affects all countries. There have been cases where buyers give negative ratings and then say they will change only if some additional discount etc is given to them. SO this does cut both ways. Yes Indians are different but i dont think that different from some other Asian or other developing markets. This may be , and i want to be honest, one of the features where we may have limited ability to change since its a global policy.

As we think about it , we try and take a look at the overall picture - what are all the positives that eBay can bring to baazee. International buyers, more marketing muscle, better tools and many more. There are some tradeoffs to this that the global product may not be able to customise in India.

That said i will check this with the global team and if indeed not possible - ie if no other country wants this feature - then work on other ways with you all to try and restrict bidding by non serious buyers or educating buyers about feedback. Regards
Gautam

[sitare_india]

Dear Sir,
INTERNATIONAL SELLING: EBay.in is quiet new and it will take some time to be known to world community. The listing fee of Rs 15/Rs.30 is quiet high and impractical. If a seller list about 200 items and choose international listing, he will have to cough up Rs 3000/- WEEKLY. And there is every possibility that he will not earn that amount extra. I PROPOSE, after considering practical aspect, EBay.in should charge Re. 1/- for all international listing. I hope all sellers will list their all products worldwide. As a result both Ebat and sellers will be benefitted.

[rohit@ebay.com]

Dear i_gems,

We have recently launched an initiative called "Voices of the Community". This is a day long session, held at the eBay India office in Mumbai, where we invite buyers and sellers to participate and provide us with feedback.

While it will not be possible for us to invite each and every one of our users to our office, we shall definitely try to reach out to users such as you in our future sessions.

Thank you once again for all your feedback,

Regards,
Rohit