I have noticed that instead of store items showing up after core items I'm now beginning to see International items.Am I losing exposure of my Store items while still being charged the same?

Hello all.

Thank you for your posted questions (and for following the guidelines for this particular thread).

I will now lock the thread for a few days while I compile the questions and answers, which I will post here on Monday, at which time I will reopen the thread for new posts.

Regards,

Griff
Jim Griffith

Griff _________________ eBay

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Posted by austiners on Dec 5, 2009 9:31 PM Griff -- I have been buying recently, and am wondering, after all the discussion of eBay's new email notifications, why I have not yet received an email upon completing checkout and paying for the item? To me, this is the most useful email and I don't understand why I have not received one for any purchase. I have received the shipping notification email, but not the one for the completion of checkout. As a seller I am continuing to send messages notifying buyers that payment has been received, since I don't think eBay's messages are working as described. Can you confirm that eBay is actual sending a message upon successful completion of checkout? Is it possible for a someone to opt out of this message? Thanks Normally, if a buyer completes Checkout using PayPal or a credit card, he or she should receive what is called an Order Confirmation (which indicates that Checkout has been completed). At the moment, this feature has been turned off in the US for testing purposes for payments made with PayPal. No word on when it will be turned back on. If you use PayPal to pay for an item, you should be receiving payment notification from PayPal and if the seller has set up to send automatic payment received notification, you will also receive those.

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Posted by marsull_inla on Dec 8, 2009 5:33 PM Partial Refunds Hello again Griff, There seems to be a rash of buyers who request partial refunds on items they purchased (they refuse to return for a full refund). Sellers are complaining that they believe this is a scam to get a lower price. Generally there is some vague threat about leaving a neg for the seller if a partial isn't given. Would it be possible to have ALL partial refunds done only through a process on ebay? Or track how many are done/sent to specific IDs in Paypal? That would be a way to red flag 1) buyers who abuse the refund process and constantly ask for them 2) sellers who seem to have problems delivering what they promise win, win, no? Absolutely a win-win. Although, in many, if not most, of the cases that I have seen from my perch here at eBay, the request for a partial refund is usually the result of genuine dissatisfaction on the part of the buyer. Still, there is always the possibility that a buyer purchased with the intent of asking for a partial refund. We can establish that intent by two ways: out and out admission by the buyer (rare) or a repeat pattern of requests. Currently, we do track the number of transactions where a buyer has filed a dispute or where a seller has reported the buyer for possible feedback abuse (this is why it is crucial for all sellers who believe that they have been the target of feedback abuse to file a report here.. We can also track partial refunds issued to buyers via PayPal. All of the seller-supplied comments and information filed by a seller in any dispute case, is stored and accessible later for determining repeat buyer activity including repeated requests for partial refunds. A buyer whose record indicates a pattern of requesting partial refunds faces sanctions, including suspension. That said, although I am not promising anything concrete, it isn’t entirely ruled out that we might someday disallow all requests for partial refunds from buyers (an “all or nothing policy” in its place). But for now, at least on a case-by-case basis, a buyer can ask for one.

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Posted by deltamaster on Dec 8, 2009 6:54 PM More Partial Refunds And to follow up on this one.... Question 1 : Why is it that eBay encourages buyers to request partial refunds in the help pages? I searched Help extensively and could not find any text where we encourage buyers to request partial refunds. Feel free to send said reference to me. Question 2: Why can eBay not do anything about those sellers that get bent out of shape and ding sellers ratings when the seller refuses to accept the request for the partial refund and instead offer to refund in full upon return of the item? Because the request for a partial refund in and of itself, is not a violation of policy and we have to assume (as does the seller) that the request is indicative only of a dissatisfied buyer and not evidence of malicious intent. However, every transaction that ends up in a dispute, filed or not, has to be judged on its own. If there is evidence that the buyer regularly requests partial refund requests, we may take action. Question 3: Can you speculate (or has eBay researched) on the reason for the increased number of postings relating to this subject over the past couple of years? Is it because more sellers are complaining about it or is it because more buyers are doing it? We don’t measure an issue's impact or scope by the number of postings on that issue. The posts may often provide some textural context for a larger issue but "number of posts" is unreliable as a quantitative measure. We do measure verifiable reports of partial refunds and to date, there has been no overall, marketplace-wide marked increase in buyer requests for partial refunds.

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Posted by rdcomics on Dec 8, 2009 9:17 PM PowerSeller Evaluation Dates Hi, once again. To somewhat pick up from my last post. When eBay does a PS evaluation, a date stamp is given for seller to know when last one was done. Mine occurs on the 10th of the month. I have had occasions were a PS evaluation was given between the standard set date, and system would then date stamp it (ex: August 26th) until the next regular scheduled PS evaluation happens (September 10th in my case). I have a recent email from eBay saying that PS evaluations are done on occasions without notifying seller that one was done. Specifically, there would be no new date stamp to let seller know that a PS evaluation was performed. If that is the case, why even have date stamps if last one showing to seller may not actually be the last one performed on his/her's account? Seller may be looking at what is potential old information, as eBay's operating system is working off of the new evaluation that seller had not been notified on. Conversely, is eBay not obliged to display any and all dates that a PS evaluation was performed? I inquired and was provided with the following: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Hi Griff, The PowerSeller evaluation date for all sellers is the 18th. There are instances where the evaluation is defaulting back to the old, pre Top Rated program date of the 10th. There is a software fix on track for rolling the week of Jan 18th (after the holiday quiet period). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------

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Posted by elecgreg on Dec 8, 2009 9:40 PM Payment Reminders Griff I admit that I haven't read the above questions. I've done that plenty in the past and I know it may or may not duplicate a Question. I'm just here to toss my nickle's worth in about the Automatic Dunning of my customers. You say that the language used in these Payment Reminders in no way indicates that the Seller is responsible and I fully disagree. If it were me, and I have purposely made myself a target of one, I wouldn't care who was responsible. I would consider it nothing more than what a collection agency does. Dunning. Here is the actual Payment Reminder:

We may disagree, but to my eye and ear, the language in the payment reminder makes it clear that it was sent by eBay, not the seller. I also have had a considerable slip in my Communication DSR rating since this idiocy began. I only revived it from it's low point by adding a message to my buyers invoice to ignore anything that isn't signed by me. Isn't it wonderful that we now have to tell buyers to ignore eBay? Now, my questions are, Has any serious conversation taken place regarding the Option to Sellers to choose not to send these dunning messages to our customers? I attended a meeting about this very topic last week to review the possibility of an opt in/out for payment reminders and it is looking like we will add an opt in/out but because of the depth of the current feature (it touches a lot of other features in the background), an "opt in/opt out" feature could not be launched until mid year 2010 . However, there are some short term solutions, including our changing the wording of the current Payment Reminder” to something more on the order of a “purchase reminder,” with reminders to the buyer to note the purchase and to submit payment per the seller’s instructions. Also, I spent some time last week experimenting with a possible workaround and though it is definitely not elegant, it does appear to work. The following steps will prevent a payment reminder from being sent and will allow you to submit an invoice for multiple purchases from the same buyer once they have finished shopping. (note that I worked this out using Selling Manager Pro, not Selling Manager. I am not sure it will work with SM. Also, my testing was limited in scope to my own existing transactions. If you try the procedure below and notice conflicting results, please let me know!). So, here goes: If you make an arrangement with a buyer to pay for a series of purchases over a period of time longer than 48 hours, follow these steps:

1. If you are unfamiliar with the process, make sure to read the Help pages for Sending a Combined Invoice. You may want to return to this page after the buyer has finished purchasing to learn more about how to “send a combined invoice.”
2. If you are not set up for providing shipping discounts automatically, read this Help page. You do not have to configure automatic shipping discounts. You can discount the shipping price on the final, combined invoice per the agreement you have made with your buyer.
3. Before the buyer starts making purchases, make sure to shut off automatic “payment received” notices in Selling Manager Pro. Note that this setting is global in scope and effects all or none of your listings.

   

4. As the buyer completes each transaction, find it in My eBay > Selling Manager Pro > Sold and select “Mark as payment received” in the drop down box on the far right hand side of the transaction’s column in the Sold view.

   

   Marking an item as “payment received” will prevent the automatic sending of a Payment Reminder to that buyer.

5. When the buyer informs you that they are finished purchasing, you can send them an invoice but only after you have altered the payment status for each item back to “payment not received.” You can only send an invoice for items if the status is “payment not received.” Unfortunately, resetting the payment status for a transaction isn’t as easy as selecting a menu option (it isn’t there). To change the payment status for a transaction marked as “payment received,” go to My eBay > Selling Manager Pro > Sold, locate the item and click the item’s record number:

   

6. Uncheck the box for “Payment Received On” (Under Payment Information in the Sale Status and Notes window.) Do this for all the items purchased by the buyer.

   

7. Follow the steps for Sending a Combined Invoice.

What Department of eBay is directly responsible for the decision to Dun buyers? The Unpaid Item team oversees the management of the Payment Reminder email. Is this a part of promoting the "Buy now, Pay Later" program? No, absolutely not.

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Posted by ted_200 on Dec 8, 2009 10:22 PM Outage Questions Hi Griff, I have some questions about the "outage" and the handling of it. The Outage Policy on the site seems to want to make a distinction between a "search outage", and an outage where the Item Listing Pages cannot be accessed. With New Search, even category browse is nothing more than a search that is run on that category. Since there was no way to get to the Item Listing Page to access it, this incident seems clearly to me to be the more severe outage where Item Listing Pages cannot be seen. Yes indeed. It was an extremely severe outage with nearly catastrophic effect on the rate of buying activity on the site. Given that, why weren't the procedures followed as outlined in the Outage Policy? Actually, the procedures were indeed followed and then some. Here is The Outage Policy for eBay. Fee reimbursements were issued to all sellers per the terms in the policy. In fact, we went beyond the stated policy by indemnifying all sellers with listings that closed during the outage from receiving negative or neutral feedback and any ratings except 5’s,. We also allowed sellers to decide whether or not to complete any transaction that ended during the outage, without risk or consequences. Second, the communications with the community were unsatisfactory in my opinion. Too much time elapsed between the problem and any communication. Then, the communications appeared on the obscure "Systems Announcements" where most people will never see them. They should have been on the "General Announcements" right from the start, with the subject showing up in "Announcements" on everyone's MyeBay page. Then when the decision was finally made to allow sellers to back out of their auctions that ended during the outage, there was no on-site announcement at all. Instead, Lorrie Norrington sent a "personal" email to the affected sellers. The problem is, it was too late (2 days later) for many sellers to do any good - they had shipped the items already or did not check email before shipping. Not only that, not everyone got the "personal" email - I had auctions end during the outage, and I NEVER got any such email. The decision to email sellers regarding the removal of fulfillment obligations for listings that ended during the outage was made on Sunday. Since we were moving beyond the actual terms of the existing outage policy, it was necessary to call a meeting with all executives to obtain buy in and approval. This took most of the day Sunday. Once all were in agreement, an email was sent to all sellers who had listings end during the outage. The email was sent to their regular email addresses as well as their My Messages Inboxes. The reason for detailed email instead of a general announcement is that not all sellers had listings that ended during the outage. After careful deliberation, we decided it would be less confusing if we directly messaged those sellers who had listings that ended during the outage as opposed to all sellers. Here is the text from that email. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Dear [seller user id]: By now you might be aware that between 9:45am and midnight PST on Saturday, November 21, eBay search was down with searches returning limited or no results. We know this is a very serious disruption, especially as you are ramping up your sales for the holiday season. Because you had listings ending during or within an hour after the outage, I wanted to let you know, personally, what we will be doing to support your business and protect your eBay reputation. First of all, this outage will not negatively impact your feedback or detailed seller ratings (DSRs) in any way. All auction-style listings completed during this time will be protected from negative and neutral feedback as well as DSRs below a five star rating. In addition, we will not expect you to fulfill Auction-style orders completed during this time if you feel the search outage prevented you from realizing the full expected price from your auction-style listings that closed during the outage or within an hour after the outage. It's up to you whether you want to fulfill the item in the interest of good relations with your buyer or cancel the transaction. If you do plan to cancel a transaction, we ask that you contact your buyer within the next 48 hours (by end of day Tuesday, Nov 24). For your convenience, we've drafted some language below that you can use in your emails to inform the buyer of your intention and let them know this cancellation was due entirely to an eBay issue and not you as a seller. If you had Fixed Price listings completed during this time period, you would of course be expected to fulfill sold items as usual. Second, in keeping with eBay's outage policy and doing what's right for sellers and buyers, we are taking the following actions for listings that ended during or within an hour after the outage (9:45am Saturday - 1:00am Sunday PST):

• We will refund all associated fees for Auction-style listings and refund pro-rated fees for all active Fixed Price listings during the outage. This refund should be reflected in your next eBay invoice.
• We will remove negative/neutral Feedback and detailed seller ratings (DSRs) lower than 5 stars given by buyers for affected Auction-style listings.
• We will alert the eBay and PayPal resolutions team in the event that a claim of item not received is filed for an affected listing.
• We will be sending a 10% coupon up to $100 off to buyers who won Auction-style listings during the outage for any inconvenience.

We fully understand the impact of an outage of this scope on you, our valued partners. We sincerely apologize for the disruption to your business. I want you to know that we are continuing to focus our teams and resources to ensure a smooth and rewarding holiday selling season for you. Sincerely, Lorrie Norrington President, eBay ___________________________________ Suggested email for notifying your buyer of cancelled Auction-style transactions: Dear Buyer: As you may know, for a period of time from Saturday, November 21 to Sunday, November 22, eBay search was returning limited or no results. Unfortunately, the item you purchased from me on [date] was offered through an auction-style listing affected by this technical disruption. I wanted you to know that as a result of this issue, I am cancelling this transaction and any payment you made will be fully refunded. In addition, eBay will be sending you a 10% coupon up to $100 off for the inconvenience. Now that eBay search is fully restored, I will be relisting this auction [today]. I sincerely hope you will bid again-and win! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact eBay via the "Contact us" link at the top of the eBay homepage. Thank you for your understanding. I look forward to your future business. Sincerely, ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Why weren't communications quicker, why weren't they put in a place where everyone could find them easily, and why were they scattered all over the place (email, Systems Announcements, and General Announcements)? We acted as quickly as we could under the circumstances. We posted information as we discovered it and we did so in more than once place – including email and both the System Announcements and General Announcements - so that everyone could find it (not everyone reads just one channel on eBay’s site.) Finally, I will ask a multiple choice question. The outage was caused by: a. A surge in new listings that overwhelmed our systems. b. A software problem on our back-end systems. c. We still really don't know. d. It is proprietary, and we aren't going to give anyone a clear answer. As we announced, it was b., a software issue which, once located, was remedied. One other interesting action that resulted from this outage: Since the experience was a bad one for buyers as well as sellers, we decided to issue $10 eBay coupons to any buyer who had conducted any activity on the site directly before or during the outage. I have one or two more, but will not exceed my daily limits. Thanks as always!

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Posted by decoratingyourself on Dec 9, 2009 7:33 AM Unpaid Items I would like to second this post...there has been a rash of non paying customers in the auction items and the onus is on the seller. These buyers are really clogging the system and should get the message that if they bid and win then they need to pay. I am also a buyer and pay right away. There seems to be a change in the message the buyer is getting. They seem to think if they win and don't pay then nothing will really happen to their buying status. I have also seen more warning messages on seller's auctions that they would like only "serious" buyers to bid. This move of the sellers part shows the weight of this problem. I don't believe in putting any such messages on my auctions. I treat buyers with respect, I only will they would do the same to sellers. The ideal (and future) solution: the option to make all formats “immediate payment required.” The current, albeit, imperfect action: report all UPI buyers, and make sure to utilize all available Buyer Requirements.

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Posted by krafty-kitty on Dec 9, 2009 2:41 PM Buyer Claims Items Not Received I have a problem and I need some kind of guideline or just plain help. I have sold two coins to two different buyers. The first was paid with an echeck through paypal, it took 7 days to clear and I mailed it the next day. Before the echeck cleared I get a message from the buyer wainting to know where is the coin. I explained that when the payment cleared I would ship it. I did not include any insurance in the shipping cost but pay for that myself to be sure. The next day after clearing paypal I sent the coin insured. The second coin I mailed the next day after receiving payment and insured it also. Now the buyers are saying they have not receive the coins. Some of the messages are just plain mean but I explained that I did insure and that I have checked with the PO concerning this. The PO says that I have to wait 21 days after mailing before I can file the claim. I have explained this to both buyers and that as soon as the required time has passed I will file the claim and refund their money at that time. One buyer is just plain rude and saying he wants his "refund" now. The other buyer I have expalined the procedure to also and he today send a message wanting a refund. I have again ask both to be patience as the PO will find the coins as they were insured. I am beginning to feel like this is some kind of scam. They are in a way "demanding" that I give them a refund NOW! So what suggestion do you have for me on this. Any help that anyone can give to me is most appreciated. I would really not like to file a claim and then find out that they had received the coins and were not telling the truth. Would that not make me an accessory to Mail Fraud? Anyway, I can't file a claim until after the 21 days, so what do I do? Thanks, so much, R There are two separate issues for which you need to be concerned. The first is the apparent non-receipt of the items by the buyer, the other is filing an insurance claim with the carrier (USPS). Without the details of the transactions (don’t post them here, send them to me directly at griff@ebay.com using regular email, not My Messages), I cannot provide specific assistance but in general, a seller should always send them via a mail service that provides tracking or delivery confirmation and for high value items (specifically, over $250 in value), the seller should obtain signature confirmation. This will help protect you in a case where the buyer files an Item Not Received dispute with eBay or PayPal. As for the insurance you purchased: Insurance on a shipped item protects you, the seller, in cases where you might have to refund the buyer for an item not received, either willingly or as a result of a ruling in favor of the buyer in any disputes filed by the buyer with PayPal or eBay.

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Posted by buyalot! on Dec 9, 2009 2:59 PM Fee Credit For UPIs Griff, I e-mailed you about this issue on 11/23 and you never replied. I do apologize. I searched my ginormous Inbox, found your email, unopened and unanswered. It was purely an oversight on my part. I had an unpaid item (fixed price) due to deadbeat buyer from Italy. I went to relist it and the form said it was not eligible for a free relist. I asked customer support and they told me that fixed price items aren't eligible for any free relists (not even for unpaid items). I know this is not how it used to work. I should get all my fees back for unpaid items, but eBay changed it. Does that sound fair to you? Shouldn't I get a free relist regardless of listing type if there was an unpaid item? We have never issued insertion fee credits for fixed price listings that didn’t sell on the first attempt. The insertion fee credit, from its inception in the early days of eBay to today, has only applied to auction format listings, either the pure auction format or the auction format with Buy It Now and for those, we credit the second insertion fee only and only if the item sells on the second attempt.

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Posted by pltbowie on Dec 9, 2009 4:15 PM Change in Status Griff, I seem to be behind times? The day before billing I went from a 20% discount to NONE? I see nothing in my dashboard to cause this unexpected, unpleasant change. I don’t have an answer on hand. I purposely do not have access to member accounts (I used to but voluntarily gave it up in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.) Email the details to me and I will forward it to CS for their response.

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Posted by deltamaster on Dec 9, 2009 4:44 PM How Top Rated Seller Status is Evaluated Question: Why are discounts afforded as result of a snapshot instead of an average of ratings during the rating period? It would be a more accurate view of a seller's satisfaction rating (and the true sense of rating at all) if those rewards were afforded as a result of an average of all the ratings accumulated over the last month. The snapshot method merely focuses on one moment of one day chosen at random (?) near the end of the month and in no way offers a true sense of the seller's rating and should not be used to calculate any rewards a seller may receive for satisfying their customers. I asked my colleague, Dawn Sullivan for a response. Dawn oversees the Top Rated Seller and PowerSeller programs. Her response: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Hi Griff, The evaluations are on the 20th of the month for Seller Performance status which dictates discounts – this is what is on the “Last Evaluation” tab. The “Current Evaluation” tab shows how a seller is trending toward the next evaluation period. Concerning the 20th date, hoping I can explain this one clearly, but please let me know otherwise. The old way evaluated was based off of feedback received during the last 30-days for discounts – and we averaged the DSR’s based on when the feedback was received, not when the transaction occurred. In today’s system, we tie feedback back to the date of the transaction, and look at full calendar months of transactions (the most recent three calendar months for high volume, and twelve for low volume). Since feedback generally takes two to three weeks to be left, we evaluate the most recent calendar months on the 20th of the month, to allow the most recent completed transactions to receive feedback. The process of evaluation and updated statuses for Top-rated only happens monthly – on the 20th – so the evaluation isn’t “random” as the member describes… perhaps it the current evaluation that the member sees that gets confusing… the dashboard isn’t a intuitive as we’d like, but improvements will be made to the Dashboard in 2010. Hope that helps! And, happy holidays! -Dawn ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------

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Posted by instantvideogames on Dec 9, 2009 6:12 PM Promotional eMails Featuring Free Shipping Hello Griff, Could you explain to me what the promotional email with the subject line: "Free shipping on the season's hottest toys" is supposed to mean? It means that there are listings of the season’s hottest toys on eBay that also offer Free Shipping. The body of the email says: The toys on their wish list ship free What does that mean? I don't see any kind of rebate terms, or offer or anything else related to The toys on their wish list ship free. Is this just a non-statement that means nothing? The links in the email point to searches for listings of the hottest toys that also provide Free Shipping. What concerns me, is that directly below that, are my items, and they don't have free shipping. Is eBay trying to get buyers to harass me for free shipping? Neg me for bait and switch? I just can not think of an upside to this. If eBay wants to tell me there's free listings and charge me double, that's fine. We have a business relationship, and I am a big boy. I know that every offer is misleading at best. Fine. But the consumers? We can't be treating the consumers the way we treat sellers. I thought eBay treated the sellers the way they do because they considered the consumers the real customer, but if eBay starts using the same unqualified superlative exaggerations on the consumers you're doomed. I asked a member of the marketing team to provide some insight into the email and specifically why your items were appearing in the email sent to you. Hi Griff, I’m sorry to hear about the seller’s frustration and confusion. That was certainly not our intent. The references to toys with free shipping had to do with the main merchandising content of the email. The images and text links of toys all linked to search results filtered for free shipping. We were trying to communicate that eBay has the hot toys with free shipping. Some users received an extra section of dynamic personalized content in the email. It was either 2 recently viewed items, 6 items similar to what they last looked at or 4 items similar to what they last purchased. I can see where someone might get confused by this section of content since it could very well not be toys or free shipping. We look at how to best address this in upcoming emails. If your items were appearing in the email you received, it would be because those were the items that you last viewed. (Not every recipient of the email is seeing the same items in that box).

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Posted by rdcomics on Dec 9, 2009 7:46 PM Missing Announcement and Insurance Policy Compliance & Enforcement Hi again! About the Fall Seller Update: On September 22, Mr. Lathi announced the implementation of the first round of updates. This was done with no User Agreement in place. That is, the one that was then current (ending Sept/28) was not available to the whole of the eBay.com user community, since at least mid-August, and remained so until the new one took effect Sept/29. This message by Mr. Lathi has, since mid-October, been been erased from the announcement boards. As eBay has stated that they do not erase announcement board messages, why was this one deleted? (recalled?) Thanks for pointing this out. I too recalled a Sep 22 announcement post from Dinesh and was concerned to find that it was no longer viewable since we definitely do not delete announcements. A little digging uncovered the post in an archive but unlinked. It had not been ported over when we moved from the old to the new Announcement Board format back in early November. It is back up now. Also, and this is extremely important, Mr. Lathi has not yet annouced if the enforcement of the line "not responsible for uninsured items" is in place nor if the Best Seller Practices policy is in place. Why is that as he has been listing all other Fall Seller updates implementation and not these two? This is very important for a seller to know the exact dates these policies will come into place as it may result in violation strikes. A very serious matter for a seller. Finally, about that insurance line above, eBay's system, while flagging the banned line when a seller is in the process of listing an item, still allows the item to be listed. Why does it not halt the listing, as it does with mention of paper payments, and refuse its submission until seller makes corrective changes? If this thread is to be closed I am also putting in this.. Happy Holidays to you and your family and friends. Thank you! And a very Happy Holiday to you and yours as well! I spoke with Trust and Safety and the enforcement of the Insurance policy is, because of the sheer number of violating listings, in a steady, but slow, ramp up process. Currently they are focusing on Top Rated Sellers and pressing enforcement with them, first with a demand for editing the offending text and, if the seller does not comply, we are ending the listings. This is also the case with the Seller Practices policy. Trust and Safety is purposely not announcing a date for full compliance by all sellers but will do so well in advance. In the meantime, all sellers should be taking this opportunity prior to the requirement for full compliance to edit their listings, both for the insurance policy and the Seller Practices policy.

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Posted by ted_200 on Dec 9, 2009 9:08 PM Outage Questions Hi Griff, Two more questions about the "outage", and I will leave you be for the month. After the 1999 incident, Meg and Pierre issued a pretty straight-forward apology (without the qualifiers and provisos we saw this time). In it, they promised a fully functional back up "hot site" that would prevent any future prolonged site outages. As someone who has worked in Risk Management, I can tell you that this is something required of even medium-sized companies who only rely on computers for peripheral functions like accounting and inventory control. As a large corporation that relies on a computer network as their entire business model, it is unimaginable such a back up plan was not in place. That was over a decade ago now, yet it would appear a functioning back up system is still not in place. Is there still no functional hot back up site in place? Or, was there some internal command and control issue that prevented it from being placed into service in a timely manner? Unlike the famous 1999 outage (I remember that weekend all too well), this recent outage was due to software, not hardware (it was an errant line of code). The physical network and platform for eBay was radically changed after 1999 and is now “backed up” with layers of redundancy that extend around the globe. Software issues, like the one that caused this outage, are extremely rare anomaly and impossible to predict or detect until they happen. Lastly, there were board posts indicating there were issues in the very early a.m. hours in the Central and Eastern time zones, and other posts indicating issues well into Sunday. How was it determined the "outage" was from 0945 to 2359 on Saturday? Our own extensive and extremely detailed eBay network logs which indicated when the problem started and when the fix kicked in. Thanks for your patience and dedication, and Merry Christmas to you and yours! Thank you and the same for you and yours as well!

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Posted by celtictwo on Dec 10, 2009 1:43 AM Help from PayPal and eBay Griff; Is there a central "help" available if one in unsure if the issue involves eBay of PayPal? Case in point - My last several shipments using PayPal shipping are not updating my Selling Manager pages. Items shipped through PayPal still showed as Awaiting Shipment in SM. My real concern is that it appears my customers are not getting the Shipped notices from PayPal and I am rated on communication. I've had similar issues in the past and both parties (i.e. - eBay and PayPal) blame each other and nothing gets accomplished. If there is no central "help", would it be something that should be considered? You should be able to obtain help on this issue regardless of which part of eBay you approach for help. For now, feel free to send the details to me at griff@ebay.com (using regular email, not My Messages) and I will forward it to the appropriate team for review. If you have shipped the item, you can change the status in My eBay >Selling Manager from “waiting shipment” to “shipped.” That will also indicate to the buyer the item shipped.

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Posted by cmrhode on Dec 10, 2009 6:58 AM Buyer Claims Items are Not Functioning The buyer claims that the item (web camera) is defective. I have sold 5 of these units and he bought 2. None of the others had any problem and I used it lately and it worked fine. He claims NEITHER work. He took the camera apart to "inspect it" which seems inappropriate. I offered, before he told me that he took it apart, to pay for the return and to refund his money. But now the story seems too weird. His company sells these things and so I don't know what I will be getting back since he opened it up and now claims that there are problems. He is also threatening my 100% good rating. What do I do with someone like this? Tell him to ship the items back to you in the condition in which they were sent, and that you will issue a refund once the items are back in your hands. Once you have the items, issue the refund. Then either relist the items or, if they are indeed not working, discard them and move on to the next customer. A tip: If the item you list has a unique identifying mark, in this case, a serial number for example, take a photo of the serial number and indicate it as a part of the text description as well. This will discourage any buyer who intends to “switch out” a non functioning item for your working item. Another preventative: if the surfaces of your items will not be marred by them, consider using tamper proof labels. If the item is of high value, and you often sell high value items, consider custom made tamper proof labels.

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Posted by rdcomics on Dec 10, 2009 9:37 AM Top Rated Seller Program Hi! I get to do one more. After expressing concerns over how eBay initiated the TRS program in early October, eBay, in an email exchange, finally admitted that some sellers were given PS and TRS status without meeting the minimum qualifications needed for attaining PS status. The reason given was, basically, that they were close enough so eBay did it as a courtesy to them. I find this hard to believe that eBay would be giving preferential treatment to some sellers over others. What was the reduced criteria used to allow these privilege users to attain PS status? I asked Dawn Sullivan who manages the Top Rated and PowerSeller programs, and she replied: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Hi Griff! This is inaccurate. We announced the new lower criteria for PowerSellers back in July – there was never a “close enough” evaluation. Here’s the link to the July announcement and content that spells out what we did (see below). Thanks! -Dawn http://pages.ebay.com/sell/July2009Update/Details/index.html#1-2 New eBay Top-rated seller status:It's not sales volume that distinguishes quality of service. That's why, starting in October, a new PowerSeller status—eBay Top-rated seller—will highlight and reward those sellers creating the best buyer experiences.

• eBay Top-rated sellers will earn top rewards: 20% fee discounts, exclusive promotion in search results for Fixed Price listings, exclusive ability to purchase Featured First, and a prominent Top-rated seller badge on their item pages.
• PowerSellers of all levels, from Bronze to Titanium, can qualify as eBay Top-rated sellers if they have at least 100 transactions and $3,000 sales in the past year, and low DSRs (1s and 2s) on no more than 0.50% of all transactions with U.S. buyers on each of their 4 DSRs.
• . . .

----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Conversely, if that is not the case, as the TRS program is tied into the PS program, when the TRS program was initiated, did it not also activate the PS program that was suppose to only take place in April 2010? As a result, automatic PS invites were sent to sellers who met the April/2010 qualifications. See the above, “PowerSellers of all levels, from Bronze to Titanium, can qualify as eBay Top-rated sellers if they have at least 100 transactions and $3,000 sales in the past year, and low DSRs (1s and 2s) on no more than 0.50% of all transactions with U.S. buyers on each of their 4 DSRs.” Also, as eBay may have been aware of this conflict, did eBay put a halt on releasing those sellers who had loss their PS status, a short time before start of TRS program, so that these sellers would not be invited back into the PS program at the start of October with the APR/2010 qualifications? I apologize but I don’t understand this question. eBay did do unscheduled PS evaluations just before the first monthly TRS evaluation was initiated OCT 20/21, removing all those "outstanding" loss PS sellers who were "AT RISK". That is not correct. See above.

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Posted by flapjackluvr on Dec 10, 2009 5:22 PM Feedback Removal Hey Griff, My question is can a feedback be removed or changed? Changed as in “edited”? No, it cannot. Removed? Possibly. The criteria for feedback removal can be found in our Help pages by searching Help for “feedback removal.”

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Posted by trueboy on Dec 10, 2009 7:01 PM DSRs, Customs Issues and International Buyers Hi, Griff: As the poster in #9 raised certain questions about DSR's, that's my concern as well. Specifically, I had an international buyer who was notified twice about her customs charges. She refused to pay her customs charges and never received the item. It was her own fault she didn't receive her package and ebay allowed her to post fraudulent information (to quote her, "THERE ARE NO CUSTOMS CHARGES ON USED CLOTHING! RESEARCH YOUR FACTS!") on my feedback. My problem is this: She refused to pay duties to her country, she never received the package--so how can ebay allow her to rate my DSR's when she never saw the items through no one's fault but her own? It's a frustrating concept, and I would certainly appreciate any information you could offer. Thank you! Two points you should be aware of (and will be happy to learn I am sure): Although it was announced that it would start in April, DSRs left currently by international buyers for US sellers do not count in the qualification calculations for either Top Rated Seller or PowerSeller. Currently, we will remove negative feedback and low ratings left by international buyers where the feedback contains a reference to customs fees, hold ups, duties, etc, but only if the seller has followed the specific guidelines stated here in the Help Pages.

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Posted by bcbookkeeper09 on Dec 10, 2009 9:05 PM Unpaid Items Same here I have had more nonpaying bidders in the last two months than in all the years I've been selling on eBay. Most are new buyers or snippers. I have also noticed that my DSR's take a hit when I file a claim and force payment.In the past I have had items damaged or SNAD claims after forcing a buyer to complete a purchase they ,for whate ever reason, don't want. I'd rather cancel the sale and relist but if I do that it leaves me open to neg feedback from a buyer who hasn't paid for an item and has not answered any of my emails to them. Don't tell me I'm doing something wrong. Alllistings are detailed, shipping cost and all fees are in the listings. I have a (no reason needed) 14 day return policy. Why can't I just cancel a sale to a nonresponsive bidder after a set number of days? The best way to handle a nonresponsive bidder or buyer is to file a UPI. If the buyer doesn’t respond, you can close the dispute and the buyer will be blocked from leaving feedback or ratings. Why does a nonpaying bidder have the right to leave feedback/ DSR on a canceled sale? There may be valid reasons for non-payment or a buyer asking for a cancellation. For example, the seller adds more shipping post sale (I had an email from a buyer this morning about a case like this) or the seller may have requested a cancellation because he didn’t like the final price of an auction listing. In cases like these, the buyer had the opportunity to leave an appropriate feedback reflecting their experience with the seller.

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Posted by xanreads on Dec 11, 2009 7:34 AM Buyer Requests a Buy It Now Price Hi, I am new to Ebay. I posted an item for bid and someone sent a message they want to know final price to pay today... Is that allowed. If I respond, how do I ensure payment. And do I send the item before or after payment. Can I sell it to this person right away before a bid is entered, due to thier interest? Welcome to eBay! A buyer can ask such a question but a seller does not have to oblige. You can list an item as an auction format with a Buy It Now price but there are restrictions if you are a brand new seller with a feedback score of less than 10. You can read more on our Help pages by searching on Buy It Now. In addition, you can list a Fixed Price item (there are some restrictions for new sellers which can be overridden by following the steps here. Look on that page under the section for “Requirements.”) with a Best Offer so that buyers can submit an offered price, which you can accept, ignore or respond with a counter offer. You can learn more about Best Offer by searching our Help pages on the words, Best Offer. For this listing, you would have to end it early and relist it with the Fixed Price format. If you are restricted by your lack of a 10 or more feedback score, there are ways to override the restriction. You can read about them on the Buy It Now Help page, in the section marked “requirements.” Thank you!

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Posted by rdcomics on Dec 11, 2009 7:48 AM Top Rate Seller Program I guess I get to do another one. Looks like I'll be using up my alotment for 2010 with this month. Concerning the TRS program............. How is it possible that eBay does not know how unfair it is being to the seller community, who are paying to use their service, by giving one set of sellers an advantage over another set just because one set happens to sell more items, volume or price-wise, over another set? Many sellers (myself included) actually have better percentages than some sellers who have a TRS badge. Our listing show ABOVE those with TRS badges in searches, and at times are ABOVE all the TRS sellers in that particular search, yet the TSR seller has this showing when buyer checks them out... All other things being equal in a Best Match sort, a Top Rated Seller will receive advantage in ranking. But keep in mind, the single biggest factor is relevance, not seller status. So it is entirely possible for a seller not in the Top Rated Seller program to have their item ranked over a Top Rated Seller. On TRS sellers feedback page they have these wordings associated with their id.... Consistently receives highest buyers' rating True. Ships item quickly True. Has earned a track record of excellent servive True. Also, when placing cursor over TRS badge, they get this.... Get fast shipping and excellent service when you buy from eBay Top-rates seller. True. Sellers, with better feedback/DSR scores and no TRS get this... ----------------------------------------------- Nothing. If a buyer is indicisive over which seller to buy from, who do you think they will choose? The one will eBay's "seal of approval" or the one with no seal. We would hope the Top Rated Seller (with the badge that indicates previous buyer’s “seal of approval” as provided by eBay.) That is, after all, the whole point of the program. As the TRS is strictly used for billing purposes and somewhat for better search results, why have it showing to the buyer? It should only be internal between seller and eBay. I couldn’t disagree more. The Top Rated Seller program was created to recognize and reward those sellers whose buyers leave them the highest ratings (and the lowest number of 1 or 2 ratings). As one of the rewards, those sellers receive a 20% discount on their fees. As another reward, the TRS badge is intended to alert buyers that a seller displaying the badge has earned recognition as a Top Rated Seller by the high ratings previous buyers have left. At the same time, a TRS seller who loses status due to loss PS status or one or two low DSR's, will now have all that freebie verbiage missing in their listings. A buyer may question, "What happened to this seller that he/she lost eBay's seal of approval?. I think I'll pass on this seller for the time being.". Yes, that could happen. Pleae explain eBay's reasoning. Thanks. The eBay Top-rated seller status is intended to recognize PowerSellers who consistently provide the best experiences to their customers. The program differentiates sellers by their relative performance and offers incentives and rewards for providing great buyer experiences. The Top Rated Seller program helps elevate the level of overall buyer trust in the eBay marketplace.

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Posted by msfmx on Dec 11, 2009 8:22 AM Using Buyer Requirements to Reduce the Incidence of Unpaid Items This seems to be an on going problem, i have 8 out of 10 auctions that i am still waiting for payment. help us out griff... Are you utilizing all of the available Buyer Requirements? What are buyer requirements? You can block buyers from bidding on or purchasing your items by specifying buyer requirements. You can block buyers who:

• Don't have a PayPal account
• Have unpaid items recorded on their account
• Are registered in countries you don't ship to
• Have reportedly violated eBay policies
• Have a Feedback score lower than the number you specify
• Are currently winning or have bought '1-100' of your items in the last 10 days (you can specify the number)

I checked your listings and it appears you are not using the requirement that requires all buyers to have a PayPal account. That one is important. Using it can reduce a seller’s rate of UPI buyers by up to 17% or more.

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To djbkg and dorothysew: I will post answers to your questions about Store Inventory Format in Search Results as soon as I have it (I am still awaiting final answers from the Search team). In recognition of the Holidays, this will be the end of the December Ask Griff thread. We will start a January 2010 thread the second week of January. This is also the end of the first full year of the Ask Griff project (I started it back in January of 2009). I thank everyone who has participated to date and hope you will rejoin us next year we start Year Two! Until then, enjoy the Holidays with your friends and family. Drive safe, cherish the season and those you love. Here's looking forward to a happy and prosperous eBay New Year! Regards, Griff Jim Griffith _____________ eBay

Griff _________________ eBay