Launching new Seller Standards for eBay.in sellers

[seemak@ebay.com]

Consistently delivering to great buyer experiences is a key driver towards business growth. At eBay, to ensure our sellers deliver to a great shopping experience, we continuously evaluate our sellers' performance on site.

Performance of sellers on eBay India is currently evaluated basis the Seller Non Performance Policy [click here for more details: http://pages.ebay.in/help/policies/seller-non-performance.html ].

However, starting 20th May 2011, the evaluation criteria for our sellers’ performance will be replaced by a new set of guidelines referred to as Seller Standards. The new standards aim to give sellers recognition, insights and the help they need to improve and grow their business.

With launch of new Seller Standards, eBay will consider low DSR’s as key constituents to deficiency in sellers being able to provide expected product / service to buyers. Hence we have shifted away from evaluating sellers basis neutral and negative feedbacks to evaluating sellers basis the low DSR they receive for their transactions.

Additionally, with Seller Standards, sellers will now be evaluated on all their transaction, whether the feedback for the transaction was received or not (i.e. if feedback is not received at the time of evaluation, the transaction will be deemed good).

Through Seller Standards, eBay expects its sellers to have a very low amount (within set thresholds) of 1 or 2 stars on the Detailed Seller Rating score. To meet the minimum performance standards, sellers need to satisfy either one of the below requirements:

•The minimum DSR percentage rate; or
•The minimum DSR count

If both the DSR percentage rate and the DSR count are not meeting the minimum requirements, then the expected level of service from an eBay seller isn't being met. Until their ratings improve, sellers who fall below the minimum standard may face a number of consequences including demotion in search and restrictions in selling activity or even suspension.

We are also enhancing the Seller Dashboard so as to provide you more detailed information regarding the sales you have done with buyers in India and abroad. This will give you the opportunity to identify your areas of improvement.

Why are we moving to Seller Standards?

To put more emphasis on quality and to reward and recognize sellers who create great buyer experiences. Through Seller Standards, eBay will now consider the rate of low DSRs received by a seller – specifically 1s and 2s – as a way to assess the quality of buyer experiences the seller provides. All sellers will be expected to have low rates of 1s and 2s.

How is Seller Standards more beneficial than Seller Non Performance Policy?

• Unlike SNP policy which was used to identify & restrict sellers who do not meet buyers' expectations, Seller Standards works on rewarding sellers through increased visibility / recognition ensuring growth in their business on eBay
• With SNP policy, sellers were evaluated only basis known transactions (i.e. where buyer has provided feedback / raised dispute), while with Seller Standards sellers will be evaluated on their overall transactions (whether or not the feedback was left)
• While SNP used to evaluate sellers on a weekly basis, in Seller Standards sellers will be evaluated on a monthly basis which provides the seller an opportunity to work with the buyer and revise the feedback received
• To ensure all sellers are fairly evaluated, sellers will be evaluated basis their volume of business
o For sellers with 400 or more transactions, evaluation period will be last 3 months
o For sellers with less than 400 transactions, evaluation period will be last 12 months

New Seller Dashboard

From May 2011, you will be able see a snapshot of your DSRs in your Seller Dashboard, including your low DSRs (1s and 2s) and your average DSRs. This snapshot will be updated monthly. You can also use DSR reports to see your total counts of 1s and 2s. To get this view, log into your Seller Dashboard and click the link at the top. You should be able to see a preview of this new dashboard within the next two days.

For more details on the Seller Standards please click on this link http://pages.ebay.in/help/seller_standards.html

We will be conducting an online workshop to answer any queries you have around these new changes on Tuesday, April 5, 2010 at 4 pm IST. Please post your comments, feedback and queries on this thread

Regards
eBay Team

[many.more.shoppe]

Dear Seema,

Please include something which will restrict buyer from leaving negative feedback without communicating with seller. Because most of feedback left are from new buyers and without discussing or email from buyer.

And when buyer leaves negative feedback all dsr will be zero for sure.

So also you must not apply ebay standards as per international buyers but consider indian buyer standards.

All new implemented tools are not working well if you take example of community forum. Even though buyer is not responding or if buyer is agree to remove feedback stating he left feedback in error still the case is going in buyers favour.

Please do something to save our ebay accounts or one day all good sellers will vanish from ebay because of policies.

Already you charge so much of fees and paisapay fees infact we earn 50-100 rs for each product and ebay earns 200-500 rs for the same. Its like we are doing social service.

Also consider indian courier industry is not so good because of different government policies in different states so even though we ship same day at times there is delayed shipments of most of the time buyer has lenghty and confusing address and switch off numbers. So in such cases if we get 1-2 low counts ebay will punish which is not justified.

There will be long list of problem and ebay will create everyday more n more So i must stop here.

Thank you

[lotmany]

A good move towards de-linking the seller performance and the negative/neutral feedback counts.

Hope you need to work on the % and counts. Also, make sure if some account is falling behind, an eBay expert should guide that seller and mould that seller account as needed.

We wish all feedbacks left by buyers be there on seller account. Removal of feedback should be done only when it is very much needed.

Regards

[shreelaptop]

Dear All !

I have something to say about the true representation of the seller image if new seller standards are implimented.
Basically it seems that moving away from negative / positive feedback to rate a seller, will proove to be good for sellers because most buyers cares too less for negative feedback, specially new buyers.
For feedback there are only two points negative and positive however DSRs give more accurate idea - If it is towards negative side, it gives an idea of how much. Overall it seems to be a good step.

However please Consider a few facts about all four standards :

1. Item as described : Recently I faced a case where the buyer wanted to return the laptop battery recently purchased from me, because he purchased new laptop hence do not want to keep this newly purchased battery. Hence he opened a case SNAD. as I wanted to keep away from any dispute and the fear of negative rating, so I choose to refund rather then any kind of dispute.
Though no fault of mine, still I faced a few similar cases in which I had to refund and the detailed rating received in these cases, are not true representation of mine ( or any seller in such state )

My suggestion is, rather then asking to click on number 1-5, include some more accurate definitions under Item as described : like
if the buyer wants to rate it less then 5, then he should be asked at what point, the item is different from description.
This comment should be visible to atleast seller of that item so that the seller can correct the problem if found genuine.
Here the buyer may be asked to reply to questions like : if the item was packed properly? yes/no, Did you got the item undamaged? yes/no

2. Communication : In more then 50% cases, buyer purchases from me, I ship the item same day, and the buyer receives it with in reasonable time and leave positive feedback since the item works well. At communication DSR, I do not receive 5 rating. I do not know why. In cases when the buyer asks me something before or after purchase, I reply generally with in 2-4 hours. If buyer wants reply with in minutes? it is not possible always for any seller.
Clearly receiving low DSRs in this case also, is not true representation of any seller.

My suggestion is, to include more details under communication like :
(a)Have u made any query with the seller towards this purchase ? yes/no. If the buyer reply is NO, the rating option towards communication should be unavailable. If the buyer answers yes, then he should be asked some more info like : Did the seller replied timely? or replied with in two working day / 3 working day / 5 working day / not at all. Replying in two working day (48hours) should be considered 5 ratings.
(b) Was your doubt cleard by the seller in his reply ? yes / no
(c) would u like to give any suggestion to seller for improvement? yes/ no. If the answer is yes, he should have an option to write his comment.
(d) OR the buyer may be asked any other similar related query that help improve buyer/ seller experience.

3. Shipping time : Almost all the orders received through ebay, are dispatched same day, except sunday but there is delay sometimes due to courier company and the buyer leaves low DSR in the shipping time, clearly this is no fault of seller still low rating clearly indicates that this also is not a true representation of seller's image.
My suggestion here is that shipping time should be considered by ebay itself depending the order time and the shipping info entered in paisapay.
Shipping with in 48/72 hours, should be considered 5 points in DSRs


4. shipping charges : Most of my items are free shipping items. But some time very low prices items such as mouse for Rs 99/ or even cheaper such items, requires shipping charges of Rs 50/ due to box packing, the actual shipping charges comes around Rs 60/ but the buyer feels Rs 99 for item and Rs 50 for shipping? too high ! In such cases when buyer is not actually aware for shipping charges, it is very easy for him to say shipping charges as very high because he compares it with the item cost. Clearly this is also not a true representation for seller's image.


My suggestion here is that shipping charges, should be considered by ebay itself and not by the buyer. A free shipping, shipping charges as per ebay defined limits should be considered for 5 points towards shipping DSR and shipping charges more then ebay defined limits should be considered accordingly.

In the transactions Where no feedback has been awarded by the buyer, it should be counted based on how fast the seller entered the shipping details and the shipping charges on that item. A free shipping or shipping charges as per ebay limits along with the shiping details entered with in 48 hours, should be counted 5 DSR.

[seemak@ebay.com]

Hi All,

A warm welcome to today's Open house Session. Today we have Anil Shenoy from the Marketplace health team here to answer your questions and have an open discussion on Seller Standards.

He will be here for an hour. Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have in mind.

Regards,
Seema

[anil@ebay.com]

Hi All,

Thank you for being on this Open house, Over the next 1 hour would provide answers to various queries you may have on Seller Standards.

Regards
Anil Shenoy

[anil@ebay.com]

Dear rhtdm.6624,

We have a Feedback removal policy which specifically addresses cases of feedback extortion. Here’s the link to the policy. Please go through this link and let us know for any questions

http://pages.ebay.in/help/policies/feedback-removal.html

Also, we strongly recommend our sellers to leave feedback proactively to the buyers as the new buyers may or may not be aware of how feedback works. This in turn would improve your overall Feedback score. Communicating effectively with the buyers is the best way to handle any post sales issues that could arise.


Regards
Anil Shenoy

[anil@ebay.com]

Dear lotmany,

We thank you for your feedback. We understand that there is a need for educating sellers on the standards set to continue their business on eBay and we would be outreaching to all sellers who may potentially be impacted because of this change.

Regards
Anil Shenoy

[anil@ebay.com]

Dear rajelectroniks,

We would like to highlight that with Seller standards, we have enhanced our seller dashboard which provides additional insights into your selling performance on the site.

This enhancement to seller dashboard was made with the objective of being transparent and helping our seller understands where they currently stand basis the set standard & the areas where they need to improve/ work upon.

To encourage buyers to leave DSRs, buyers are assured that their ratings are anonymous hence Sellers will not able to see exactly which transaction resulted in lower scores.

Regards
Anil Shenoy

[anil@ebay.com]

Dear Amitava,

It may be possible that you would have gone through a bad experience; however generalizing one bad experience may be a bit harsh to our buyer community.

Having said that, for the example cited by you, we would suggest you to report such instances to our Trust & Safety team as this would fall under Feedback Extortion.

Just to highlight that the criteria is set keeping in mind expectations of Indian consumers. Basis the thresholds mentioned, most of our sellers are well within the norms.

Additionally we would also handhold sellers who do not meet these standards such that they improve upon their performance and continue their business on eBay

Regards
Anil Shenoy

[anil@ebay.com]

Dear inteli_india,

To address your concerns on unjust feedback received from the buyers, I would like to suggest Redressal options through which you can have your feedback reviewed for removal.

- Using the Feedback revision option: Communicating effectively with the buyers can help reduce post sales related concerns as most of the problems get mutually resolved between the buyer & seller. You can send a feedback revision request to the buyer to have your feedback removed. Link: http://pages.ebay.in/help/feedback/revision-request.html
- Feedback removal policies: We do have our Feedback removal policies in place to take care of exceptional cases / limited situations. Please do go through this policy http://pages.ebay.in/help/policies/feedback-removal.html to see if any of your Feedback rating falls under this
- CRF: Community Review Forum is a service powered by the eBay Community. eBay members make decisions about whether feedback is fair. You can file for cases by logging onto community court: http://www.ebaycourt.com/cc/courtindex.jsf
If there are any unjust feedbacks received with positive comments, would request you to write into Trust & Safety team to have it reviewed for removal.
Further, with the launch of seller standards, we are shifting our focus from evaluating seller’s basis their average DSR’s to low DSR’s. Research has shown that low DSR’s instead of average DSR’s are a much better measure for quality. Hence with seller standards, the concerns around being negatively impacted ( because average DSR is dropping) due to a 3 or a 4 on a DSR will be significantly reduced as sellers will be judged on low DSR’s as against average DSR’s

Regards
Anil Shenoy