Ask Griff - April 2009

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Apr 3, 2009 11:52 AM

Ask Griff - April 2009 Hello all, Welcome to the Ask Griff thread for the month of April, 2009. My name is Jim Griffith (known to most as Griff). I have been with eBay since 1996. You can learn more about me on my About Me page. Ask Griff Thread Posting Tips & Guidelines

Starting this month, please only post using an active eBay selling ID. Posts using what is clearly a posting ID - an ID created solely for posting - will be deleted without response.
Make sure your post contains no more than three specific, non rhetorical questions on one topic that is directly related to selling on eBay. Use separate posts for separate topics and their questions, limited to two or three posts per session. When in doubt, summarize.
A “session” consists of approximately 50 posts. I will close a session (lock the thread) temporarily after about 50 or so posts to provide time for me to compile answers. I will open a new session (unlock the thread) after I have posted a response post.
A response post will contain all of the previous questions and my responses in one, single (and long!) post. Once a response post is uploaded, I will delete the original posts (to save space and avoid duplication). If a post is not deleted, it is because I am waiting on more information and input before creating a response.
If your posted question is not included in a response post, your question or post was either: answered in a previously posted group of responses; primarily editorial, or commentary in nature or a conversation between two posters; contained only rhetorical questions; requires more input from an eBay team or employee; or violated the general eBay Discussion Forum Rules and Policies. For example, posts asking about deleted posts will, per the discussion forum general posting rules, be deleted without response.
All posted suggestions will be forwarded to the appropriate teams for their consideration. You can also email your questions, account issues, etc to me at griff@ebay.com (using your regular email service, not My Messages). Include the phrase: "Ask Griff Thread Question" in the subject line and provide the User ID you wish to associate with the question as a "by" line. (no anonymous posts please).

Regards, Griff Jim Griffith ______________ eBay Inc

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May 29, 2009 06:01 PM

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Re: Ask Griff - April 2009

Apr 23, 2009 11:33 AM

This is a question from March to which I was unable to post a response till now. Thanks for your patience. Posted by robshelp on Mar 24, 2009 1:31 PM Next Generation View Item Page Questions Hello Griff, For many sellers there are / will be some subtle (and not so subtle) adjustments necessary to adapt to the new View Item page. Most profoundly affected are eBay Store/Shop owners because the standard listing frame option to show a left nav bar with categories is not (currently) offered for the new View Item page layout. For example, recently I encountered an eBay Store owner with a thousand+ listings using a template that includes a big yellow arrow pointing to where the categories would be displayed. Although perhaps not so dramatically, I'm sure most Store owners either reference the category list or depend on it being there as a part of their listing/selling strategy. Along with content, there are structural/coding changes that many (including non-store owner) sellers may need to perform if they use their own HTML or have purchased templates designed specifically for the environment of the current View Item page. At the most basic level the new page imposes a margin on the left that is not present in the current version. Due to the presence of that margin and as a result of the item description going into an iframe 100% isn't 100% any more, nor will a layout designed to fit snugly onto any given screen size still fit. Bottom line, there are significant adjustments required. Because some of those entail forgoing advantageous features of the current item page layout it isn't necessarily a wise decision to immediately begin adapting to the new layout. Furthermore, although eBay has been working on this new layout for an extraodinarily long time there still seems some possibility that further changes to it would require a different set of adjustments. In light of all that, here are my related questions: 1. How many shoppers are intentionally presented with the new View Item page at this time? We don't release that info. We are currently testing three variations in the US, with a very small percentage of buyers in each group. 2. How may shoppers are unintentionally presented with the new View Item page at this time? I ask because I quite accidentally discovered I am able to view all sellers items in the new format when I use FireFox 2 as my web browser if I first view my own items in the new format. Again, we don’t release this specific number. Sellers can choose to see their own listings in the new design. Different browsers and different versions of those browsers handle cookies in different ways—often depending on user settings. It's possible that other sellers can end up seeing items in the new design (assuming they took action to view their own listings in the new design), but these people would not be part of the test we're running 3. Will eBay be offering shoppers a choice of which view they want to use such as the opt-in period that was provided for My eBay and for Search? No. After our testing is complete, we will increase the percentage of buyers who see the new item page design in a couple of increments. These increments are necessary so that we can respond to any unforseen issues or bugs. However, we expect the increase to 100% to happen quickly this summer.] Please answer no! That would be bad for sellers because they'd have no way of knowing which view any particular shopper will be seeing. It would be preferable to set a date when all shoppers are presented with the new layout. It would be better yet if sellers have a grace period to determine that, my next question... 4. Will there be a grace period during which sellers may determine which version of the View Item page their shoppers will be seeing? The migration to the new item page is not listing-based or seller-based. Rather, because it is important for buyers to have a consistent experience, the migration is buyer-based. That is, a buyer moved to the new design will see that design for any listing he or she views. Thank you, Rob

Posted by austiners on Apr 6, 2009 5:35 AM Support for Thermal Printers and OS X (Mac) Griff -- Could you find out the status of PayPal support for thermal printers using a Macintosh? Currently, PayPal supports thermal printers for the Windows platform, but Macintosh users are out in the cold. PayPal suggests that Mac users install an emulation program and run Windows to use a thermal printer, instead of actually fixing the problem themselves. Endicia, which also uses Pitney-Bowes behind the scenes, prints thermal labels for Mac users, so it is clear that it can be done. One can find on the net several complicated work-arounds, but none work flawlessly. It just comes down to one question: When will PayPal support thermal printers (i.e. Dymo) for Macintosh users? I asked our shipping team for an answer and was told the following: In eBay’s label printing flow, we currently do not support thermal printers for Mac. We are investigating it further to figure out, when we can support it in future. That’s all I have at this time. ---------------------------------------------

Posted by robshelp on Apr 17, 2009 5:26 PM Next Generation View Item Page - More Questions Hi Griff, Some of my March questions regarding the new View Item page you have not yet addressed are answered in the Spring Announcements. I have another... In the FAQ: Link the question is asked and answered: Will the iFrame in my item description affect my search engine standings and the marketing of my listings? eBay serves a non-iFrame version of your listings to search bots and all non-browser based requests, so search engine standings will not be affected. The same non-iFrame version of your listings will be served to users with browsers that do not support JavaScript. Will you find out for us, if you can, whether or not the non-iFramed version will be served also to users with browsers that do support JavaScript, but have disabled it? (Yes, there is a difference) In both cases (JS not supported; JS supported but disabled), a non-iframe version of the page will be served. I ask because when a shopper visits the new View Item page (or the current eBay Motors View Item pages) with javascript disabled, links in the item description (including even eBay's automatically added Turbo Lister link) open into the item description (iframed) portion of the page, not the whole page. That could lead to quite a bit of confusion including nested display of VIew Item pages within other View Item pages. Before you answer against the likelihood that shoppers may have JavaScript turned off, please consider how much faster (try it yourself) almost all of eBay seems to perform with it disabled. Anyone with more than a casual interest in speeding up their eBay shopping experience could learn that, but not fully understand the implications. I may as well ask again (never answered from March) if there are any plans to detect a not-displaying iframe due to a web browser similarly having those disabled. Not so far fetched as you might think because eBay displays content in the iframe from a separate domain (potential security issue explained in my original post). No need to detect an iframe that's not displaying because of JS being diabled, since we'll serve a non-iframe version. Thanks, Rob

Posted by ifthatdontbeatall on Apr 17, 2009 7:09 PM DSRs Griff, I am a small, small seller and usually list auction style. I only get between 12 to 20 feedback per month. I ship all my items the day of payment or the next day. I use DC on every package. My shipping charges are actual or free. My DSR scores in shipping time and shipping charges, both are at 4.68. Well, red is flashing before my eyes. How on earth am I going to survive this maddness? I email every buyer at the end of the auction with a nice note, email as soon as I ship with the DC number. It only takes a couple of buyers to ding my stars and I am down again. This is just too much!!! How can Ebay justify the star system? I am a good and honest seller and have been here since 1998. I feel like an ugly step-child. Do something to make me feel better!!! I’ll try my best. I checked your feedback. Your current 12 month averages are 4.9, 4.8, 4.7. 4.7. These are not bad ratings. However, I am certain it is possible to raise them. I checked your listings and found this: “DSR Ratings DSR ratings are important to all sellers. For those who do not know, anything less than a 5 star rating is unacceptable by Ebay standards. A 4 rating can get your favorite seller ban from listing. Please consider this when you leave feedback. Sellers have no control of the actual shipping cost. Nor do we have control of actual time the item is in the mail once it has been shipped.” I don’t recommend sellers include text like this in their descriptions. The statements reflect your concern about your ratings which is understandable. All good sellers are concerned about their ratings. However, the statements do not reflect your concern about the buyer’s experience buying from you. Don’t take offense at this but in reality, most buyers don’t care about a seller’s status. Yes, some do (buyers who are also sellers, for example, as well as repeat customers, etc) I do recommend that sellers provide information about leaving feedback and ratings in their last correspondence with the buyer: the printed packing slip/invoice included in the package with the purchased item. This is the best, and in my opinion, the only time, to mention ratings and even then, they should be mentioned only in the context of your concern with the buyer’s satisfaction with their purchase. Something along the lines of : “I hope you are happy with your item. Please email me if you are not. My goal is to provide 5-star service!” If you ship items for free, add something like the following to the above, “That’s why we provide the most reasonable shipping option possible: Free Shipping!” This points out to the buyer that his or her happiness with the transaction is your only goal (and the subtext says, “Please leave me Five Stars” without begging for them.) You may also want to rethink the wording of your Return Policy: “I do not take returns for buyer’s remorse, ill fit, flaws that are clearly stated in the description. I will however, consider returns for other reasons. Please email with any problems.” Although it is ok for a seller to state the above, consider how this might affect your ratings. For example, a buyer buys something from you and receives and although it is exactly as described, they are not happy with it. It happens. It’s not necessarily anyone’s fault (buyer or seller). But in cases where a buyer cannot return an item for “buyer’s remorse,” (they have read your terms) is it not possible that they might leave all 4’s? After all, they aren’t happy and there is nothing they can do about it since you have stated you won’t take an item back for “buyer’s remorse.” Would it not be wiser to state something like, “Your satisfaction guaranteed. If you are not happy with your purchase, for whatever reason, send it back and I will happily refund your initial payment.” Finally, I am certain it isn’t your intention, but the wording of your Shipping terms could be viewed by a buyer as a bit perfunctory, if not a harsh: “Shipping is listed in every auction. International buyers need to email for cost. For UPS shipping I need a physical address. I ship within 36 hrs. or less, excluding weekends and holidays, once payment has been received. I will send an invoice after the auction ends. Please respond to the invoice as soon as possible. Payment is required within the 7 days.” You might want to consider rewording it as well. When I make recommendations like this, a seller will often ask me what difference does the wording make on my selling? Many sellers believe that if a buyer isn’t happy with their terms of service, they should shop elsewhere (and many probably do) but more often than not, a buyer will choose to purchase from a seller, even after that buyer’s initial less-than-positive impressions of a seller have been set by the presentation that seller provided in their listing description and TOS. (And buyers tend to remember these first impressions when leaving feedback and ratings.) These tips are not guaranteed to result in all 5’s across the board (there will always be buyers – thankfully a miniscule minority – who will leave a 4 instead of a 5) but they can help raise your ratings. Let us know if you do adopt them, how they work out.

Posted by ifthatdontbeatall on Apr 17, 2009 7:11 PM More on DSRs Oh, I forgot to add that I leave feedback as soon as I ship an item or at payment. A very wise strategy!

Posted by ted_200 on Apr 17, 2009 7:17 PM An Archived Thread and Recent Announcements Hi, Griff. You started a thread titled "The Customer: Always Right?" and invited everyone to discuss this concept. Now, there is a buyer situation here that I thought would be a useful example for that discussion - the guy who posted "I've got a bad feeling about this one..." who sells sports cards - but I could not find the discussion anywhere. After much searching, I finally located it on page 37 (it is even further down now), last posted to on Feb. 25. It does not indicate it has been locked (although I understand that has since been changed), but there are no reply buttons in the discussion, it cannot be posted to, and is rapidly sinking further and further back to never be seen again (by design, no doubt). At the top it indicates it has been "archived". You can find it here: Link My questions are: Why was this thread "locked", even though it did not indicate locked? Why has it since been locked? It wasn’t locked. It was automatically archived. This is a feature of the new discussion board format. Once a certain period of time passed with no new posts, a thread is either deleted or, if the creator of the thread had admin rights and selected “no auto delete,” it is archived. An archived thread remains available until it is manually deleted. Why have you never commented any further on this subject? As I said at the top of that thread, my purpose was not to participate in a discussion. It was to encourage among sellers, a discussion on the topic.. What do you have to say about the dozens of examples of outright fraud that are posted there, and continue to be posted to Seller Central each and every day since it was locked? If someone has been defrauded by another member, and they need assistance with resolution, they are always free to email me and I will assist them. I know you said you were not going to interject in the discussion, but since it has apparently ended, I thought you might provide some insight into why you posted it, why it was locked, and if it had any effect on your own answer to the question you posed in it. I posted it to start a seller discussion on the topic. I didn’t lock it (it auto-archived). And I was curious to see if the resulting discussion might provide insights to inform or alter opinions on the subject of customer service. I found the ensuing discussion interesting with a few good points made. Keep in mind the purpose was not to provide me a platform to express my views on the topic. That’s why I stayed out of it. I believe sellers can learn more from each other in these discussions than from just one person. On a related note, you promised some "good news" for sellers in the Spring Announcement. I was wondering, can you elucidate what in there is supposed to be "good news" for sellers? Sure. Here’s a list of ten examples from the recent announcement and how each benefits all sellers: 1.The capacity to display larger photographs (zoom) so that your buyers can see more clearly what it is you are selling (and help prevent confusion about condition, etc). Less confusion on the part of buyers means less chance of those buyers filling disputes regarding an item’s condition. Fewer buyer disputes are good for all sellers. 2.More buyer loyalty programs (eBay Bucks for example). By providing buyers with a system whereby they can collect “eBay Bucks” to spend on eBay based on their spending, (and the eBay Bucks money comes from eBay, not sellers, btw), we will provide more incentive for those buyers to spend more on eBay. When buyers spend more on eBay, it is good for all sellers. 3.The ability for sellers to provide their own custom tags for their listings which will make them easier for buyers to find. The easier it is for a buyer to find an item, the better the chances of the buyer purchasing that item. More purchases means more sales for sellers, and, wait for it… more sales are good for all sellers! 4.Multi variations will let a seller list one product in one listing with an easier way for buyers to choose variations of that product (size, color, etc) without having to indicate the variation in a separate communication. This means faster buyer decisions, less chance for confusion or mix-ups, less transaction friction, and lower listing costs, all of which are of course, good for all sellers who list items that come in multiple variations. 5.Smart FAQ’s to help cut down the time spent by many sellers answering customer queries for basic questions. The less time spent on a repetitive task, the more time to spend on other aspects of a business which is, indeed, good for all sellers. 6.Selling Manager will be free to all sellers. Selling Manager provides many features to improve a seller’s efficiency with regards to recording, listing management, customer management, etc. And, free is good too. 7.Printing postage and labels directly from eBay (as an alternative to printing them on PayPal or a third party site). Keeping this information and process in one place provides better efficiency for all sellers. 8.Better Bulk Editing tools. Our current tools are insufficient to handle the types of editing that sellers need to accomplish whenever there are changes made to site features or policies. Better bulk editing tools will significantly shorten the amount of time it takes to make edits to all parts of a large group of listings. Less time spent on bulk editing is good for all sellers. 9.Tracking information uploaded automatically into My eBay (works in tandem with 6 and 9). Uploading tracking information into the eBay end of listing management will provide a way for sellers to assure buyers their packages have shipping (and are either tracked or have Delivery Confirmation). More recorded information regarding shipping and tracking provides sellers with more protection in cases of INR. More protection in disputes is good for all sellers. 10.A better dispute and resolution process. The current dispute processes are in need of improvement. (as evidenced by the ongoing discussions on this topic in various threads across eBay’s discussion forums for one). The new resolutions process will live entirely inside eBay (as opposed to living between eBay and PayPal). It will provide a faster channel for buyers and sellers to resolve disputes amicably between themselves and it will provide sellers with a better level of protection in cases where they are not at fault. This is definitely good for all sellers. Hope that helps answer your question.

Posted by ted_200 on Apr 17, 2009 7:23 PM Coins: Replicas and Categories My other question this week revolves around a previously asked question: Your answer to vedave regarding replica coins and why they are not required to be listed in the "reproductions" categories within Coins and Paper Money was unsatisfactory. You replied: "We can create a category for legal coin replicas and we can take reports of Miscategorized items and move them as appropriate but since we cannot rule on what is and isn’t a replica coin (we are not the experts, we don’t hire item experts and we don’t handle the merchandise so even if we did have item experts, they couldn’t rule on items they didn’t actually handle) we can only rely on reports from other members and even then, it can take 24 hours or longer to move items into the appropriate categories." 1. The categories already exist. 2. The current policies do not require these categories be used. So if someone lists a replica Morgan Dollar in the Morgan Dollar category, instead of the Dollars > Reproductions category, and it is reported, it will not be removed because it is a replica of a MORGAN DOLLAR. 3. What do you mean, "we cannot rule on what is and isn't a replica coin"? Here is eBay policy on replica coins: The sale of replica coins and paper currency is regulated by U.S. federal law. Accordingly, the sale of such items is permitted on eBay as long as the following requirements are met: Replica coins Any "reproduction," "replica," or "copy" coin (U.S. or foreign) must be plainly and permanently marked with the word "COPY". The listing must include a photo of the coin with the appropriate markings. Images that are dark, out of focus, doctored, or otherwise deemed misleading are not permitted. Stock photos are also not permitted. The listing must clearly state that it is a "reproduction," "replica" or "copy" in both the title and description. We are not talking about unmarked replicas that are not properly identified (those would be "counterfeit" or "forgeries" coins - a whole other issue eBay needs to deal with, but outside of what vedave and I and others are asking here). We are asking about listings that say "REPLICA" in the title, "REPLICA" in the description, and have the word "COPY" stamped into the coin in the photo. How can you possibly say eBay cannot rule on this - it is plain as the nose on my face (I'll leave your face out of this...)! If you find a coin listing that is in violation of this policy, you should report it directly to Trust and Safety using the Report This Item link. All this requires is adding one single sentence to the Replica policy I posted above. "Replica coins must be listed in the "Reproductions" categories within Coins and Paper Money, and must not be listed in the categories intended for authentic coins." Again, why cannot this be done? I don’t know. Maybe it can be done. I will ask. Yes, Any "reproduction," "replica," or "copy" coin (U.S. or foreign) must be plainly and permanently marked with the word "COPY". My point in the first response was that if a replica coin is not marked as such and there is nothing in the listing description to indicate, overtly or covertly that the coin is or might be a replica, we cannot rule that it is. We are not coin experts and we don’t hire coin experts to make these rulings. Thanks for your consideration of these issues, and taking the time to continue to communicate with the users here. My pleasure.

Posted by adrian44 on Apr 17, 2009 8:23 PM How To Appeal a SNAD Claim Hello Griff and thank you for taking the time to answer questions! I realize this subject has been around a few times with no helpful answers or I missed them. This has now happened to two of my friends and my daughter. Buyer states item is SNAD and files claim with Paypal. They return item with DC so Paypal refunds buyers money. Seller receives returned item and it is NOT the item they sold. What can a seller do or what can Paypal or eBay do to avoid this fiasco? I posted instructions on how to appeal a SNAD case of this type (buyer sends back something other than what the seller sold and sent) earlier in this April thread (Post 5). The title is: Posted by katydidscards on Apr 3, 2009 1:37 PM , The Hypothetical SNAD/Buyer Fraud Question I have some additional information to add, so I will repeat that post here. (The new detailed information is in italics). Sellers have the ability to appeal Significantly Not as Described cases that are found in favor of the buyer for the following reasons:

The item was returned in a condition other than the buyer received, ( this does not include normal wear and tear from the return shipping.)
No item is returned (empty box)
The wrong item is returned
PayPal made an error during the initial case closure

In order to appeal a Significantly Not as Described case a seller should log into their resolution center and click the “appeal” button:

PayPal will generally require the seller to provide documentation to support their appeal. For payments $199 or below the seller will need to fill out an online affidavit that will be provided by PayPal. For payments over $199 a police report will be required. Please that there may be additional documentation required by PayPal before an appeal is processed. The type of documentation required will be determined on a case by case basis and will be provided to the seller at the time of appeal. Upon receipt of the supporting documents the case will be facilitated in the order it is received and a PayPal representative will review the case and determine if the appeal should be granted. In some cases the seller may be required to ship the item to PayPal prior to receiving their credit. If an appeal is granted the seller will be reimbursed for the amount of the transaction and the buyer’s account will be documented and reviewed for potential abuse of PayPal’s Policies. Please note that abuse of PayPal’s policies by either a buyer or seller is strictly prohibited. In addition to the above, all sellers should take pre-emptive action to reduce the chance that a buyer with fraudulent intentions will bid on or purchase your item or if they do, they will have greatly diminished chances of winning a SNAD claim:

Provide clear pictures of all aspects of each item (front, back, sides, etc) with close-ups where ever appropriate.

If you items have any unique identifying marks, show them in close-up photos. This includes serial numbers, scratches, marks, tears, cracks, etc. Feature them all.

Indicate in your return policy that all items returned must be returned in their original condition.

If you should receive a returned item that is not what you sent originally, keep the box, the item, all packaging and any labels, packing slips, etc. Immediately photograph the contents and packaging and immediately contact the closest law enforcement office and file a police report (for items valued at $199 or above) and then file the appeal per the instructions above. Or for items valued at $199 or less, immediately file an appeal following the steps above and follow the instructions for the online affidavit form. Do not wait! I don’t advise contacting the buyer. At least not until you have filed the appeal and required paperwork. Last of all, if this happens to you, don’t panic. You can win these cases on appeal. Just make sure to follow the steps above. If you run into an issue, feel free to contact me at griff@ebay.com using your regular email, not My Messages! I cannot respond to seller or buyer emails using My Messages!

Posted by jr49321 on Apr 17, 2009 8:38 PM Restricted for Listing Hi Griff, I've recently started selling here again after a long absence and am being restricted in certain areas that I want to sell in. I understand that I have to build my feedback up before the restrictions are lifted but I don't understand why those restrictions prevent me from editing auctions I have waiting in my scheduler. If an auction is not even showing to the public yet---and won't for days---why are we restricted from editing it? That's not fair in my opinion. I need more details (I am assuming this restriction is for certain brand name items you have scheduled to list). Send the details to me at griff@ebay.com using your regular email (Not My Messages Please!) and I will forward it to the appropriate department.

Posted by ozzie3 on Apr 17, 2009 8:48 PM Seller Protection in UPI Disputes "Sellers have protection in filed UPI cases. It is not accurate to say they have “no protection.” And, that is what is known as creating something out of nothing! Exactly what protection do ALL sellers have on filed UPI cases! Unless you mean, heaven forbid, that because one seller files a report on a UPI that that will somehow prevent another buyer from not paying as he sees that a seller was protected. If you can not protect sellers from bad feedback from UPI, then they have no protection, although they might have protection if they block that bidder from bidding again You have no idea of how this parsing of question with these types of answers affect some sellers My response was 100% accurate. Sellers do have protection from negative feedback in many filed UPI cases. It is inaccurate for anyone to claim this is not true (to claim that sellers have no protection). I did not say “all sellers.” (You did.) Yes, currently, not all UPI cases where a negative has been filed will result in that negative’s removal. But many are (I see them every day). I have, on more than one occasion here, made my own opinion on UPI and feedback clear (UPI cases should result in no feedback, ever). However, it is a disservice to sellers for anyone to claim that all sellers currently have “no protection” as an absolute.

Posted by ozzie3 on Apr 17, 2009 10:14 PM Shipping Calculator Messaging What, exactly , does this mean? Important: If you send an eBay invoice to a buyer or enter charges in a Selling Manager Sales Record, the shipping and insurance costs you enter will take priority over the calculated shipping costs, and the buyer will be charged the amounts you enter. And how does it interact with this? "Note:This shipping information is provided to you for general information purposes and may not be applicable or accurate for shipments processed with some carriers or for goods shipped across certain international borders. Please check with your carrier for any special rules that govern your shipment of goods. For international shipments, please also check with countries whose borders your shipment may cross for any additional rules, regulations, duties, or taxes that apply. " Now the second one says the shipping information may be incorrect when you use eBay's information, And the first one simply says that what you say on the invoice is what the buyer will be charged! How does that correct the information provided by the shipping calculator? Are those the real effective policies for determining shipping costs using the calculator? Why not? The first statement provides information for sellers who edit their invoices before sending them, specifically, the shipping charges. The second statement is for charges that are beyond the capacity of any shipping calculator to know. For example, for international sales, any assessed duties, taxes or fees. The shipping calculator cannot calculate these. Another example: carriers may require additional fees (or paperwork or both) for certain types of items (hazardous materials for example). Again, the shipping calculator cannot calculate those. That is why this paragraph is included for the buyer, so that the buyer doesn’t hold the seller responsible for those post shipping fees that might be applied to the service upon delivery.

Posted by nanartchik on Apr 18, 2009 3:56 AM Relevance Dear Griff, Thanks for the answers on Best Match and Search. As I am still trying to figure out how it might be possible for me to continue selling on eBay, I have a few follow-up questions. Even though I understand that Best Match is not going to be the way most - or any - Bidders find my listing, I was curious as to the meaning of one term used in describing the way Best Match sorts: Could you explain "relevance" as it pertains to Best Match. How is "relevance"determined? “Relevance” is determined by what the buyer uses for search terms or search key words. These key words are matched against the database of existing listings and weighted by matches to keywords used in item titles. Secondly: You responded to my previous questions about finding my art on eBay: My point: Sort order (Best Match, Time Ending Soonest, Newly Listed, etc) has little or nothing to do with how available your items are. What really matters are title keywords and quantity of listings within the category, especially in the Art category. In fact, in this category Everything depends one the keywords a buyer uses to find your items and the number of items listed by one seller. and nearly all of them have at least 10 current listings, and most have closer to 50 to 100 items. Although they do not all have the words "painting floral" in their titles, each of the extra listings provides another "window" into their total listings (or eBay Stores). I understand that if I list 50 – 100 “items” – difficult for me to think of an original painting of mine as an “item” – is my increased visibility because there is just more chances of a Bidder finding me? Yes. As when one uses buckshot, rather than a single bullet – forgive me, I am not a hunter, but that is the only analogy I can think of. The analogy fits. Of course, it depends on what the searcher uses for search terms but if a buyer searches for, say, “floral paintings,” and there are 300 returned results, having say, 10 of the seller’s items returned in the results (regardless of ranking) as opposed to say, 1 result, gives that seller better chances of being picked out by the buyer. Or, do Sellers who list a lot of “product” get a higher place in the list? I know that PowerSellers go to the front of the line, and Diamond Sellers get an even higher placement. No. Not true. No seller receives an advantage in Best Match ranking because they are a PowerSeller of any level, Bronze to Diamond. . PowerSeller status is not a criteria for ranking in Best Match. Thanks, Speaking of Diamond Sellers…My next question has to do with Keywords, and the rules regarding same. I understand the importance of Keywords in the Title. I also thought I understood what the rules were regarding “keyword spamming” and “search manipulation” until I did some research on the large Sellers who are my competition, (and according to Lorrie Norrington, the future of eBay.) Unless a Diamond Powerseller or large Seller is selling items similar to yours, they are not your competition. I checked your category and though there are PowerSellers in that category, there are no Diamond PowerSellers selling in the Art category. PowerSellers, yes, but none are Diamond level. And no one category of seller is the “future” of eBay. In my research on my competition, those Diamond Sellers who list a lot of paintings, and I came across this: There are no Diamond PowerSellers listing paintings in your category. Monet "Walking Near Argenteuil" Oil Painting Own a work of art! These large hand-painted reproductions carefully recreate original masterpieces, brushstroke for brushstroke, detail for detail, in brilliant oil paints. Features Monet "Walking Near Argenteuil" oil painting Oil reproduction of an original painting by Monet 30" x 34" 100% Hand painted, oil on canvas The original masterpiece was created in 1875 Mediterranean wood frame with gold finish Frame width = 5" Arrives ready to hang on wall Link Isn’t this a violation? No. This is not an original Monet. In the listing title, the seller does not identify this as a copy – which is what it is, rather than a reproduction. If I was searching for a “real” Monet, and came across this listing, I – as an artist with a BFA – would certainly know it wasn’t created by Claude Monet in 1875, but would the general public? Sure. When they read the listing, it states: “Oil reproduction of an original painting by Monet” Isn’t this misleading, as least as far as the title of the listing goes? Not really. A real “Monet” for $179 and free shipping? On eBay? I think not.

I suppose the seller could say “reproduction” in his title but he isn’t (and you aren’t) required to do so. And isn't the point that a Keyword Search for "Monet" will bring this up, especially since this is a Diamond Seller. (The seller is not a Diamond PowerSeller.) Sure. It would bring it up for any seller of the same painting. If I was listing the painting and I titled it “Monet "Walking Near Argenteuil" oil painting” it would come up in a search for “monet.” I am not a Diamond Powerseller and the title is not a policy violation. Currently, I am doing a series of Famous Art Parodies, and I have been oh-so-careful NOT to violate the rules regarding KWS. When I did a parody of Jacques Louis David’s “Death of Marat”, I did not put the original artist’s name in the title, although that surely would have helped Bidders understand what the painting was. Similarly, I could have reached a much larger Keyword Search audience, if I put the words "Munch" "VanGogh" and even "Mantegna" in my titles. (Mantegna is a Renaissance painter, and the subject of my currently running parody.) That was a mistake. Including the name of the artist that your art is parodying is not a violation of policy! If your painting is a parody of a Mantegna (ripe for parody I might add. I was fortunate years ago, to view up close his incredible frescoes in the Camera degli Sposi in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua . Jawdropping.) then you should use the term “Mantegna” in the title. Doing so is not a violation of the keyword spam policy. Just because it isn’t an original Mantegna (what? On eBay?… I suppose it could happen. What a lucky person that buyer would be!) doesn’t mean you cannot use the word. This goes for words like “Van Gogh” or “Picasso” or “Jacques Louis David.” Admittedly, this Series is a narrow niche market, but I have gotten more attention and "buzz" on these works than the more traditional art I have listed. It is just this kind of unique "item" that has made eBay famous. And you should start titling them appropriately as soon as possible so you can garner even more traffic. . Oh, and if I could produce and list 50 - 100 paintings at a time, I wouldn't be an artist...I'd be a factory. (And I suspect that is the way those bogus "Monets" are being produced.) The demand for reproduction art is huge, thus the supply. (That’s how markets work.) Personally, I would rather have a real work of art by an unknown artist than a reproduction of a famous work. Luckily, there are still many buyers who feel the same. Some artists I have known are nearly as prolific as a factory so it is possible to be both. By the way, apropos of nothing, I was a decorative artist for several years prior to my tenure at eBay. I worked in NYC schmearing murals on the walls of the rich and famous. Thus my more pointed interest in your selling on eBay.

Posted by here_we_have on Apr 18, 2009 4:09 AM A NARUed Buyer Help me Griff, I have/had? a buyer of 3 items, currently a NARU member. I recieved no email from ebay stating such, just ''note from ebay'' attached to the bottom of the sold listing in myebay. When I click the naru link there, it takes me to a page concerning not being able to leave feedback. I'm really not concerned about the FB now, (I've already been hurt enough as it is). Should not this link take me to a HELP PAGE that describes what I, as a seller, should do next??? Yes, it should. That would be more helpful. I will pass this suggestion on to the appropriate team. What would you do next? File a UPI and immediately relist (I wouldn’t wait). This buyer has been registered just less than ninety days, has received 150 FB , 100% as buyer and seller.

Posted by buriedbybooks on Apr 18, 2009 6:59 AM PayPal Process for SNAD Claims A buyer must check a box saying they're not filing a false dispute, and they must use an online form to tell PayPal how it was significantly not as described. If they do that, then we take them at their word that the item was misrepresented. Griff, the above post is from Monroe. You can find it on the special announcement forum. I would like to know why we were mislead about the TRUE nature of how Paypal SNADs work. Since we were told that Paypal 'investigated' those claims and made a decision after looking at the 'evidence.' Not all SNAD claims are decided automatically in favor of the buyer without prior investigation. Claims made for transactions over a certain value (undisclosed) or by buyers who have made previous claims are first investigated by a rep. And all appeals are investigated by a rep. Instead, we're told that all a buyer has to do is assure Paypal that they're not lying. I find it disturbing that so little effort is made to make sure buyers aren't using the SNAD process to overturn a seller's return policy. And that the disputes, themselves, are used to punish sellers without any attempt to verify the veracity of the claim. The “appeal” option is available to every seller in a SNAD case. Here's my question: Why doesn't Paypal/eBay put a FIRM limit on the number of times a buyer can file a SNAD dispute? We don’t use a number. We use a percentage. Using a number wouldn’t make sense. There is a big difference between five reports filed by a buyer who has purchased 50 items and five reports filed by a buyer who has purchased 1000 items. Thus, we do use a percentage (filed reports over number of purchases). The competition eBay is so bent on copying has a firm limit of 5 LIFETIME claims. But the anecdotal evidence seen here shows us that certain buyers are allowed to abuse this process without any repercussions whatsoever. That is not true. And in fact, if it is determined that a buyer actually defrauded a seller (“Rock in a Box “scenario), eBay will take action against the buyer. (And though I cannot speak directly to any single non eBay site’s policies, we do know that all of them will intervene on behalf of the buyer more often than their stated policies might imply.)

Posted by buyalot! on Apr 18, 2009 8:23 AM Small and Large Flat Rate Priorty Boxes Availability Griff, Rich said that PayPal was "ready" for the change to accommodate Small and Large Flat Rate Box and that it would come out in Q2 2009. Now, Anar has posted in the announcement forum that Small and Large Flat Rate Boxes, the latter of which has been around since March 2008, "will not be added in PayPal labels." Not now, not ever. "PayPal is looking at working into PayPal's label solution in the future. But we don't have definite plans to do so at this point." Link I feel like I have been lied to. I use PayPal shipping for my off-eBay sales. Also, I use MultiOrder Shipping because the acceptance scan is very important to me - because without it, the Delivery Confirmation number - which eBay calls Tracking unapologetically - never shows that I gave the item to USPS, making buyers nervous and dispute/neg trigger-happy. I will not be using the eBay label product until it has SCAN form support. Therefore for all intents and purposes, eBay has dropped the ball on Small and Large Flat Rate Box, again. What the heck is so hard about adding two more items in a drop down list on the PayPal shipping product? PayPal always gets all of the other rate changes in on time, but this one thing always seems to be a stumbling point - just look at how long the first Flat-Rate Box took to show up in PayPal shipping. In the past you have said it was a problem with the carrier. But USPS isn't the problem, clearly, since the labels will be available from eBay labels. Seriously, I know the coders at PayPal are smart folks - is there some ulterior motive at play here keeping these options out of PayPal shipping? Do Endicia and Stamps have something to do with this? I hope you can see why so many eBay sellers find this ridiculous. Small and Large Flat Rate Priority Boxes will be available in the eBay Label Printing product. As for the PayPal Label product: as soon as we can provide them there, we will. Keep in mind that with the PayPal labels, we work through a third party (Pitney Bowes), and not directly with the carriers.

Posted by the-cash-man on Apr 18, 2009 10:12 AM Private Auctions Griff, I am a seller and a buyer on eBay. I sometimes like to buy expensive goods, and I often on expensive items see that the auctions are "private". I get very skeptical of "private" auctions as I feel that they are a way to hide shill bidding. Their were legitimate sellers that were using these auctions to prevent fake second chance offers, and other spam from being sent to their bidders. The purpose of Private Auctions was to protect the privacy of buyers who were buying in adult categories. It has recently been used by sellers to keep "Best Offer" prices from showing up on Feedback Pages. Now that the masked bidder ID's have eliminated fake second chance offers and other spam why can't the masked ID's show up on "Private Auctions"? I'm seeing more and more of these private auctions and I click the back button. What harm does it do to put the encrpyted ID's on the bid pages. Good point. I will forward to the appropriate team for their response.

I will post a second batch of responses tomorrow (and reopen the thread at that time). Regards, Griff

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Re: Ask Griff - April 2009

Apr 20, 2009 10:01 AM

Thanks everyone for your posts and questions. I will close the thread now for a few days to research and compose responses. Regards, Griff Jim Griffith

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Re: Ask Griff - April 2009

Apr 17, 2009 03:31 PM

Hello everyone, It's been a very busy week here in San Jose with the Spring Update announcements and Town Hall (not to mention a flood of email) but I'm caught up and can now re-open the AG thread for more questions. Before posting, please review the guidelines at the top of this thread. I'll close the thread on Sunday evening (April 19th) and start compiling responses on Monday. Thanks! Griff Jim Griffith

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Re: Ask Griff - April 2009

Apr 13, 2009 07:34 PM

austiners: I am still waiting for information regarding your question (Thermal printers, PayPal postage and Mac computers). I will post it as a single response tomorrow. Thanks, Griff

Posted by pkmg9999 on Apr 3, 2009 7:49 PM Sellers from China and Non OEM Electronics Griff, Is eBay aware of the spam problem in the electronic accessory departments from generic and counterfeit items from Chinese sellers? We are aware that many sellers from China are offering generic electronic items (which are not necessarily considered 'counterfeit') Let me explain the current problems using an example. Do a eBay search for "NP-BG1". You will get over 2,000 results!! It is a digital camera battery made by Sony. Buy it new directly from Sony and it will cost you ~$45. Now look at eBay item #250400283415. Yup for $10 you can buy a "brand new Sony battery" from China. Only problem is Sony does not have any official parties to sell "new" Sony items on eBay that I am aware of. The truth is this item is a counterfeit battery as you can later tell in the listing when you see the true picture of the item and not the stock photo they used for the gallery. I did take a look at this listing. It is not advertised as a "brand new Sony battery." It is advertised as New Camera Battery For SONY Cybershot NP-BG1 NPBG1 There is a very big difference. This battery is not a "counterfeit." Had the listing said, "Brand New Sony Battery", it would be ended. However, it is not illegal for a manufacturer to make a product that works in another manufacturer's product (like these batteries that fit a Sony camera but are not made by Sony). Again, the distinction is crucial: As long as the item itself is not advertised as from the manufacturer, it is ok to offer it for sale (here or anywhere else). There is an eBay Policy that calls this distinction out. It can be found on this Help Page Exceptions related to the use of brand names Members are permitted to indicate the compatibility of an accessory to various specific brand name items and/or models, as long as words such as "compatible with", "for" or "fits" precede those brand name or model references. Here is a list of the many problems in this category: 1) Tons of generic Chinese sellers list counterfeit electronic accessories on eBay. It would be one thing if they sold generic items and were forthcoming about it. However a large percentage of the knockoffs for sale are spammed and marketed as the genuine item. I went through this category carefully and could not find any items that are in violation of eBay policy. If you have one that you believe is in violation, please feel free to send it to me for examination. I have tried to report these listings to eBay over and over. The policy that eBay currently has in place either nothing is done at all to the listing, they get a slap on the wrist, or they lose their account only to come back onto eBay selling on a different one a day later. I have even tried reporting the listings to Sony directly, but it is just impossible to report them all its like trying to hold back a landslide. There was no action taken because there was no violation. 2) Chinese sellers compete against one another and spam the category with hundreds of listings a day. Now add "Best Match" into play here. They get to be on top of the "best search" because their items are dirt cheap because they are generic, they always offer free shipping, they sell thousands of items in the category, and they have dozens of items selling daily. And this is all within the rules of listing on eBay. Can you guess what happens when I try to sell a few "used genuine Sony batteries" in this category? I pray to god people search my specific keyword such as "genuine and authentic", but even then they have to fight through the Chinese listings that spammed those words in the title also. I went through the category and searched on "genuine" and "authentic" and could not find any non OEM batteries being represented as "genuine" or "authentic." If you find any, you should report them. Solutions: I hope that after reading that you will agree with me that it is way to hard for buyers to search these categories for genuine accessories. I confess I don't. In fact, I tried several searches for actual brand name batteries and generics for several different cameras and was able to find them without a problem. I think the easiest and fastest solution to this problem is to add another category for electronic accessories. So that there is one category only for people to list real accessories made by the manufacturer, and one for people to list the generic items. This would make it much easier for buyers to either find a cheap generic item if thats what they want, or to find a qualitiy authentic item as well. New categories are always a possibility. I will forward your request for a separate category to the appropriate persons for their consideration. I would like to close asking you what else you propose we could do? We already tried reporting listings to eBay and to the companies in question, and I am unaware of what else we can do to take back the category. I really hope that someday eBay will create a reporting system that will actually have power to make a difference. Unless the items are in clear violation of policy, reporting them would not be constructive. In the meantime, using clear keywords and item specifics are the best ways to list and compete in this category.

Posted by kitchco on Apr 4, 2009 12:25 PM My Messages and Shipping Insurance Questions Coupla questions - When I receive an answer from a question to a seller, the original question is not included in the email reply. As it may take awhile, or I may have more than one question outstanding, it's a royal pain to have go back and wade through my messages to figure out what question is being answered. I just had two answered as "yes". The original question used to be included. When requiring insurance, as necessitated by new paypal policies, the insurance is automatically added. How is this done before the actual selling price is determined? It isnít. The amount for insurance is added to the customer invoice after the listing closes. It is calculated on the amount of the winning bid or purchase based on the insurance rate tables for the particular carrier and class of service the seller has provided to the buyer. And if I base the insurance value according to the cost determined by ebay, as opposed to the actual value, who gets left holding the bag if the shipper screws up or loses a very expensive item? Thanks to the new policies, if I contact the buyer with a higher insurance charge, they're going to hammer me with feedback. If a seller is using the eBay Shipping Calculator to provide shipping costs to his buyer, the buyer pays insurance based on the value shown as the purchase price or winning bid. A seller cannot raise the value (and thus, the insurance charged) over the amount of the purchase price or winning bid. Why can't we opt out of listing either of the two horrid choices for shipping? It seems the buyers cut off their own noses with this one. From what I've seen, this has not stopped anyone who really want to from listing exhorborant shipping charges and made life difficult for a lot of us. I am not absolutely certain what you mean by ìthe two horrid choicesî but will assume you mean UPS and USPS. A seller can select the option for Standard Flat Rate shipping (which is not tied to a particular carrier).

Posted by buriedbybooks on Apr 4, 2009 12:36 PM Ask Griff Thread Guidelines re: Posting IDs As a follow up regarding this: Starting this month, please only post using an active eBay selling ID. Posts using what is clearly a posting ID - an ID created solely for posting - will be deleted without response. I'd like to ask if/how discussing this change to the posting guidelines for your thread in a separate thread violates board policy. It doesnít If it does, can you please direct me to the exact policy such a discussion violates? A link? It doesnít violate policy to discuss or post opinions on anything in this thread. This is a significant alteration to your previous guidelines. And since you prefer that we not post commentary on the Ask Griff thread itself, it seems reasonable to me that discussion of your rules on separate Seller Central threads should be allowed. Discuss away! Especially since posters may not notice the change and grow angry and/or frustrated when their questions posted with a posting id are removed per your rule. That anger and frustration would likely not occur if posters saw a discussion about the new rule and were informed PRIOR to posting on your thread.

Posted by thecentre777 on Apr 4, 2009 12:44 PM Featured Listings Hi Griff, I really really think it is unfair for E Bay to give buyers so much power to hurt a sellers discount, and search standing. I always and I restate ALWAYS ship for less then my actual shipping and handling cost. (I OFTEN ship for FREE) Buyers still hurt my shipping DSRs. I also must tell you that E Bay has forced me to stop listing certian items because of Best Match. I am now forced to give free shipping and handling on most of my items. (If I don't list with free shiping and handling, the item will never show up on the first page) I have stopped listing some items because I can't make any money. I end up giving E Bay and Pay Pal a bunch of money, and I get little zero profit. Best Match has to go! Also, at times I have listed items with free shipping, and I paid for featured plus, and it still never ended up on the first page. (Even with 1 min left in teh auction) I even have raised search standings according to E Bay. Featured does not guarantee that an item will show up on the first page of a search or browse of a category. Featured listings appear at the top of the page where the item normally appears. For example, if in a search with the sort of Ending Soonest, if your auction format listing was also Featured, it would appear on the same page that the actual item appears. You can read more about Featured and how it works in the eBay Help Pages

Posted by katydidscards on Apr 4, 2009 2:29 PM Designating Specific Countries for Shipping or Not Shipping Hi Griff, I would like to formally request that sellers be permitted to designate specific countries to which they will not ship. As it stands now, for example, all of Europe covers a number of countries. I might wish to not ship to a specific one, but I cannot do so. So if I de-select the whole of Europe, I lose all the rest of the countries to which I am happy to ship. This seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. So would it be possible for us to create an exceptions list? Or radio buttons for each country within a given subgroup of International? I know I (and I presume many other sellers) would find that a great boon. This is a popular request. At the moment, I donít believe it is a top line priority but I have brought up the option for selecting by country in the past and will continue to do so. What many sellers do (myself included) is for certain items, block, say Europe with a statement in the description asking anyone located in Europe to contact me. If someone does, I can at my discretion, add them to my Buyer Exemption list.

Posted by patlisa514 on Apr 4, 2009 3:18 PM Cannot Navigate to Sell Your Item page hello. I was looking for direction. I have sold quite a few times before. Today I am trying to list items and cannot bring up the "sell an item" page. I can go anywhere else but there. I have tried right-clicking, and every other way to get to the sell an item page. Any suggestions? Lisa Go to the Sell Your Item by clicking this link Then click the big blue Start Selling button. If this doesnít work, email me at griff@ebay.com (using regular email, not My Messages!)

Posted by penguinsfan4life on Apr 4, 2009 6:24 PM Half.com Help Hello Griff I have a few questions. Why does NO ONE from livehelp know anything about half.com, and why can't they assist you. The phone number for half.com is for claims only. Any other issue and they disconnect you immediately after telling to to speak to ebay. No one from ebay can even look up a transaction, much less offer any information that is helpful, including contact information for fellow ebay members. If half.com is subjected to DSRs for shipping time, despite having ot offer media mail, shouldn't someone at least be able to help us at livehelp or via email? Half.com does not provide phone support but there is direct email. Did you navigate through the Half.com Help Wizard? My other issue is, why did it take Tand S a month to acknowedge my email to them and why wasn't it even read? When I called to find out what was going on after filing the information about a mallicious buyer, I was apologized to and asked to resend my evidence that someone circumvented by BBL, as livehelp confirmed that my email was mia. Before I sent it, my claim was "resolved" (without any help to me, as the neg and dinged stars remained) I apologize if your email to T&S was not facilitated in a timely manner. Feel free to email the details to me and I will work on your behalf to resolve the issue stemming from this transaction. Send details to me at griff@ebay.com using your regular email, not My Messages).

Posted by devildog683 on Apr 4, 2009 8:36 PM Digital Download Policy Griff, When was digital delivery removed as an option? I had some one from the seller support team tell me it was "never an option". I know this isnt true, so when was it removed? The change in the Digital Download policy was announced in March, 2008 in a post on the Announcement Board. Here is the Link.

Posted by ozzie3 on Apr 4, 2009 9:21 PM Griff Doesnít Know Everything (so true!) Question; Did you ever think of the curiousness of this whole business? You have been on eBay since 1996 , buying and selling, and, yet, you , working for eBay, and having buying and selling experience, still do not know the answers to questions about eBay policies and have to ask other members of eBay staff! Yep. Itís a huge site and there is a lot to know. I would never claim to know everything about eBay, especially all of the specific details but I do know where to go to find the information. For many of the questions asked here that involve specific details or reasons behind a policy or how a feature works, or that point out issues, or possible bugs, I do need to research and/or verify before creating a response. Don't you think it must be very difficult for new users to find out what eBay really is, when ,even you are still learning how things work on eBay? Yes, I can imagine that it isnít easy for a new user to find all the information she needs. The Help Pages are continually enhanced and more information added to them every day and they are a great resource for all sellers (itís my main resource as well). Is it the difficult user agreement, or the lack of education of all users? I donít know. I will have to research that one!

Posted by bosox24 on Apr 5, 2009 3:12 AM Listing Items with ìIvoryî in the Title Hi Griff - my questions is in regards to the ban on ivory and use of other words such as Tiffany. Many dinner patterns use these words but if they are in the titles of the auction, the listings may be cancelled as the bots pick them up as banned. For example, Tiffany is a girl's name, there are puzzles picturing Tiffany lights, there is a china pattern by Syaracuse China called Old Ivory and many other examples. How can we list these items without being sanctioned? Have you actually had listings for non-ivory items with the word ìIvoryî in the title, removed for violating the policy? If so, email the details to me. Those should not be removed (or blocked).

Posted by tantrumsandtiaras on Apr 5, 2009 6:13 AM VeRO, The DMCA and eBay I would like to know why ebay offers no assistance with an unjustified VERO takedown. I understand now the legality of it, but when the takedown is completely unjustified, the seller has NO recourse. I had one, obviously, by a company KNOWN to abuse the privledge. They do not respond to me. Ebay says to contact them if the VERO member will not respond. I did (by email mind you because Trust and Safety apparently refuses to speak with people know or even offer live help) and was told there is nothing they can do. I understand a place for the VERO program, but am VERY offended that ebay will even tell me they do not even take any time to review the complaint, just remove the listing. I could EVEN handle the removal of the listing, however what I cannot deal with is ebay finding ME guilty as charged and dropping my status after 12 years of not one single problem! And the lack of anyone at ebay willing to SPEAK to a seller is getting completely out of control! Sorry to hear this happened to you. Having a rights owner report and request a takedown of your item when you know that the item is legit is extremely frustrating. Although we (eBay) are not able to provide individual follow up assistance in fighting a takedown request, I agree that we could at least provide more information to sellers impacted by a rights ownerís takedown request. In the meantime, there is information on line on how to fight an unfair takedown request and, if you need assistance on the eBay side, feel free to email me at griff@ebay.com using your regular email (not My Messages). You might also want to read up on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to better understand the actual federal law itself and how the DMCA requires eBay to provide a program like VeRO (Verified Rights Owners) to facilitate the rights owners demands.

Posted by surlynkid on Apr 5, 2009 6:43 AM Unwelcome International Buyers/Bidders i will not ship internationally. i make this very clear in my auctions. every time, i get international bidders ignoring this. one person won last week, but after some searching, he found a friend in boston to receive the package for him. one ended last night, and he expected me to ship to italy. i give these guys the benefit of the doubt that they have a friend in the US or are coming here to scuba dive and will get it in the US. this last guy had no plan and screwed up my auction. i can't leave negative feedback now. all i can do is cancel the auction and lose my listing fees. i tried NPB, but that makes me wait a week. i want to start over now, not after a week of waiting and a week of investigation. how do i post negative feedback on these people and get my listing fees back? these people are extremely aggravating. You can automatically block buyers in certain areas using a feature called Buyer Requirements, specifically, the Buyer Requirement for ìBlock buyers who are located in countries to which I wonít ship. ì This Buyer Requirement depends on you as the seller, setting your International Shipping options in the Shipping Calculator to your needs. If you donít ship anywhere but within the USA, donít provide an International shipping option. For any existing ended transactions where a buyer outside of the USA has purchased one of your items, send the details to me at griff@ebay.com using your regular email not My Messages.

Posted by flashbacksdiecast on Apr 5, 2009 6:48 AM Cannot Add a New Credit Card to eBay Account Hi Grif... I have a very simple question. How, exactly, can one change their credit card that is used for selling purposes ? We have followed all the instructions we could find, but ebay continues to decline our new card. We have a feedback rating of 100%, for 90 customers that we have sold to in the past, but quit selling for a period of time. Now we want to resume selling, but with the old card no longer around, want to use our new card. We were even locked out for a period of time for trying to get the card through. We are currently using the card with Pay-Pal, with no problems for buying, but ebay still declines it. We are not really computer experts, and have difficulty understanding the jargon sometimes. Please give us a straight-forward answer on how we can resolve our problem...Hate to start all over again from scratch just because we cannot find anyone to talk to that can help us resolve our dilemma. Thank you I have forwarded your post to Customer Support for their attention and action. If they do not contact you within a few days of this posted response, email me at griff@ebay.com using your regular email, not My Messages and I will work on your behalf to resolve the issue.

Posted by katydidscards on Apr 5, 2009 12:41 PM Item Specific Question Hi Griff, Lately I've been making a concerted effort to use Item Specifics in my listings. However, I note that in some categories, I can't be accurate with them due to the lack of options from which to choose. One category in which I sell is Collectibles > Tobacciana > Tobacco Cards. When I try to add an Item Specific about one of those, one of the options is New. But there's no other option! By their very nature, Collectible Tobacco Cards are not New, but Used (some of them are from the 1880s.) But if I don't choose something, the default value eBay applies is New, right? Here's an item # you can check to see what I mean: 150324545275 So what do I do here? None of my items are New. They are all Used, by their very nature. I would happily describe them as such if I could. Is this a bug? If so, would you please pass it along to the appropriate person or group to be addressed? If a seller doesnít select a particular item specific, that field is left blank (eBay doesnít default it to a choice on behalf of the seller). If you check your listing 150324545275, there is no specific listed for ìage.î Through out the coming year, sellers will have more choices in ìtaggingî their items, specifically, with custom tags. Eventually, these custom tags will replace most preset item specifics.

Posted by dtmedin on Apr 5, 2009 12:51 PM Correcting PayPal Shipping Addresses Paypal Shipping is, in my opinion, one of the best efforts eBay has ever made in adding a feature that benefits sellers. I use it all the time. However, the interface to USPS shipment is a boatanchor if there is an error of any sort with the buyer's shipment address. You won't get any hint what the problem is in order to correct it, just that the address is not acceptable. You can spend hours on USPS's Click and Ship site trying to find the correct address format, or even google. Asking the buyer for clarification will usually net "that is my correct shipping address." My question: Why, if the Paypal address is confirmed and generally should be the address that the buyer receives their credit card statement (therefore is a serviceable address), cannot Paypal check the address in advance to see if it can be digested by USPS? This could even be done at time of entry by the user, or in batch in the background. If an error was found, could this not be corrected between the buyer and Paypal in advance of a seller having to deal with the problem? With the pressure on sellers' DSRs for shipping time, delays of any sort are not acceptable, and getting a dud address is a huge time sink. About one in 15 addresses I get are duds of some fashion in Paypal Shipping. Having experienced this issue first hand myself, I know how frustrating this can be. We had a similar question posted earlier in this session (see ìBay and PayPal Buyer Shipping Address Discrepanciesîabove). Our shipping team under the leadership of Rich Matsuura, is working on a solution as we speak.

Posted by djnoble35209 on Apr 5, 2009 4:05 PM Two Popular Questions Dear Griff. 2 quick questions, both of which only require a yes-or-no answer. There is much worry on this board about both subjects and their financial implications. 1 - Is Ebay removing the Auction Selling Format (yes or no) No. 2 - Is Ebay going to make Best Match the ONLY search method (yes or no) No. The answers to these 2 questions will help me decide whether Ebay is worth keeping as a primary selling site or not. I am sure many auction sellers are asking the same questions, both on this board and all over Ebay, but Ebay itself has been mysteriously quiet on these subjects. Sellers need some kind of Ebay guidance to make long-term business plans, and so much of we see and hear offers little assurance of Ebays continued existance as we knew it. It appears that no matter how many times I repeat these answers, there are some who either havenít seen them or donít believe me. (the first case I can help, the second I cannot). The Auction Format is here to stay at eBay. It is not going away. There are no plans to make Best Match the only sort option on eBay. Please be sure to tell as many people as you can. Thanks!

Posted by imperialjapan on Apr 5, 2009 4:05 PM Streamlining UPI Process Please, please, please reduce the amount of days necessary to brush away a Non-Paying 'Buyer'. Now: 8 days to file, 7 days for buyer to respond. 15 days! And then if the buyer doesn't pay, one would have to re-list and hope the next winning bidder will pay promptly. The damage Non-Paying 'Buyers' cause is great. Please help out the sellers here! And another pet peeve--don't allow these 'buyers' to leave any kind of feedback. Please! Two suggestions for which I continue to push. Although I cannot promise anything immediate, there are plans to streamline the UPI process (make it shorter). As for feedback for UPIsÖ I have made my position clear on this and it is something for which I continue to push.

Posted by bonuskid40 on Apr 5, 2009 7:07 PM Our CEO and Communications A quote from an interview with John Donahoe...He said, "Be more direct in communication." He needs to communicate, period. He has never once sent a message through the announcements since he has been CEO. When will he address the customers of this site on the actual site? He has time to do interviews, but not even say "Hi, Merry Christmas, Happy Easter, hope your spring cleaning is going well, and you're selling lots of stuff on eBay." Why will he not address his customers? Griff, I know I've posted this before, and you deleted 2 and answered one with a It's coming soon, wait and see type answer. John Donahoe has time to speak to the press, take time off to reflect and think, take 10 to 12 hour plane rides, but he has no time to even speak to his customers? Come on. I am irked by the seemingly total disregard and lack of respect or even thankfulness. We're sending the guy money and he won't even talk to us? Thanks for the post. I have forwarded it to John for his consideration.

Posted by xcergy on Apr 5, 2009 11:59 PM No Action/Response on a Reported Violation Does the 'report this listing' at the bottom of the view item page work? I have reported the same listing more than once for making offers outside the site. Response from eBay? None, Nada, Zilch. So I wrote to rswhelp@eBay.com asking the same question. Result? Nada, Zilch, no reply. Can I ASSume from this non-response that it is now legal to solicit for sales outside of eBay? No, that would not be wise. And, no, I don't want you, Griff, to look into it for me, I want eBay to do their job without your help. Gee a reply would be nice ... Even if they said GTH then I would know where they stand ... that would at least be communicating Hearing nothing tells me nothing, except that rules are being ignored, and it's ok to put whatever you want in a listing. Believe me, I not asking for anything that I wouldn't be expected to do myself ... and that is my job! It would be nice to see eBay do theirs. Trust & Safety receives about 30,000 to 50,000 emails a day (reports, responses, contacts, appeals, etc). Responding to each report would be impossible. However, if you want to send me the details of the violation, I would be happy to assist.

Posted by nanartchik on Apr 6, 2009 4:01 AM Questions from Self Representing Artist Seller Hi Griff, Okay. I am trying to list more, as per your suggestion. (I still can't afford a store.) I am also publicizing my eBay listings on Facebook. And I have been active on the Art & Artist Discussion Board for years...with most of my recent sales coming from there. Can you find my listings without clicking on the "view listings" next to my id? Here are some keywords: Art Oil Painting Original Orchid Purple Yellow. Just interested to see what happens. Well, when I search on all the keywords at once, I currently return nothing. I also note that currently, you have only two listings up on eBay; this in a category that has over 26,000 listings. Your titles are ART CAT Digital Print Copy Cats by N. Holliday And ART Original OIL Painting Orchid Floral by N Holliday A search on ìartî in this category returns over 26,000 items A search on ìart oil paintingî returns just over 6,000 items A search on ìart oil painting originalî returns just over 4,000 items. A search on ìart oil painting original catsî returns 23 items (none of which are yours since the words ìpaintingî and ìoriginalî are not in the title.) A search on ìart oil painting original orchidî returns 4 items, the first of which is yours. A search on ìhollidayî returns only two items: yours. Now, letís try some others: A search on ìprint catsî returns 34 items. If I sort by Best Match, yours is halfway down the page. No problem at all finding it with a short scroll through the 34 items. A search on ìpainting orchidî returns 21 items. Sorted by Best Match, your item is halfway down the page. Again, easy to find. However, A search on ìpainting floralî returns 251 items. And your item is about halfway through a Best Match sort of this list. And something very important: When you look through this particular list and check the other sellers who are offering items with ìpainting floralî in their titles, nearly all of them have at least 10 current listings, and most have closer to 50 to 100 items. Although they do not all have the words ìpainting floralî in their titles, each of the extra listings provides another ìwindowî into their total listings (or eBay Stores). My point: Sort order (Best Match, Time Ending Soonest, Newly Listed, etc) has little or nothing to do with how available your items are. What really matters are title keywords and quantity of listings within the category, especially in the Art category. In fact, in this category Everything depends one the keywords a buyer uses to find your items and the number of items listed by one seller. In some categories, like Electronics, Home and Garden, Health and Beauty, it is easier to determine what keywords a buyer is most likely to use when searching. In others, like Art, it is not so easy. My advice: List more items. It is the only way you can reasonably compete in this category. Two or three items at a time in this big category will always be disadvantaged by the number of items in the category (and not any single sort order). And if you do list more items, you will find that a Store offers benefits that you donít have now: A central, customized location, a regular newsletter to market your new listings, etc. Of course, I could not recommend a Store if your strategy is to list only a few items at one time. But if you can list more inventory, you will see an increase in at that very least, interest in your art. Another question: I am taking advantage of the Free Listings offered as much as I can...but I am concerned about this: Please note: For sellers listing with any tool other than the latest version of the Sell Your Item form (SYI 3.0) the promotional price will not be shown during the listing process. Instead the discount will be reflected in the "View Account Status" section in My eBay, as well as in your next invoice. I use the Auctiva service exclusively for listing and image hosting, so yes, I am using a "third party" listing service. How can I be sure that I am getting the discount? Check the ìView Account Statusî section of My eBay. If you donít see the discounted insertion fees there, email me at griff@ebay.com using regular email not My Messages. (side note. Auctiva is a great company and they provide really useful products but if you are only listing a few items at a time, why not just go through the SYI page? If I list 10 auctions and then get billed for it, I am not going to be a happy camper. Is there any way to determine that there will not be some loophole or glitch that will result in me NOT getting the free promotional listings? No there isnít. Thatís why I advise checking the Account Status section of My eBay and why, if you donít see the discounts, I provided my email address.

Posted by buyalot! on Apr 6, 2009 8:03 AM Streamlining the Dispute Process > Is it possible for a seller who does not have a tracking number with a delivery scan to lose an Item Not Received claim where, in the dispute, the buyer clearly stated they received the item and changed their mind/buyer's remorse? > It isn't fair to the seller. I cannot provide details at the moment (Lorrie outlined this briefly at Analyst Day) but we (eBay and PayPal) are working making the entire process of INR and SNAD claims more equitable and less confusing for sellers. Why should it take so long to fix this problem? Can't a memo be sent to the human beings deciding INR and SNAD claims at PayPal, to not rule in the buyer's favor in the event of obvious fraud? As if that isn't obvious anyway. And that is the crux of the issue. We have no immediate way to determine if a dispute is ìobvious fraudî on the part of a buyer. You did claim that INR and SNAD claims are decided by humans, not by robots. The delays in changing the process, and the current reliability with which these kind of claims are ruled in favor of the buyer despite clear evidence of fraud, suggest to me that it takes time for PayPal to adjust their robots to solve the problem. Can you explain why the problem of obvious buyer fraud cannot be fixed today? Because until we have enough proof, there is no way we can determine ìobvious fraudî on the part of a buyer. As I posted in the first batch of responses above, a seller who is defrauded by a buyer does have recourse through an appeal and can win the appeal. I hope you will understand why I have a very difficult time believing you when you say that PayPal does not decide claims with robots. There are no robots working at eBay. > Stating "four stars" (which on eBay tacitly implies "four out of five stars" and thus is a direct reference to eBay DSRs) would be tantamount to rating buyer with a DSR-like code. > Begs the question: would 5 star buyer be acceptable? > Yes. Apparently, then, the problem with "4 star buyer" isn't the DSR-like rating, it is the implication that 4 stars is a negative rating, correct? If eBay views "4 star" to be a negative rating, then why aren't buyers informed of this when leaving DSR's on a seller? Because a 4 star rating is not negative. An average of less than 4.1 is however. And, as I have stated repeated over the last year, it takes a significant number of 3, 2 and 1 ratings for an average to drop below 4.1

Posted by angusgeneralstore on Apr 6, 2009 8:22 AM Why A User ID Cannot Be The Same As The Text Before the @ in an Email Address Dear Griff. What is Ebay scared of, what is their fear. I went to update my email address (on my regular seller account), as my ISP changed from alltel to windstream. my username is the same. This is now not allowed to be done, BECAUSE my email address contains my username . example only. currently say it is angusgeneralstore @ alltel.net, and I was just wanting to update from alltel.net to windstream.net Is ebay so afraid that our email address MAY give a clue as to where we, and so many sellers do, sell off-ebay, that we can no longer use it in our email address. No. The reason for this restriction is to help fight fraud on the part of scammers who try to take over member accounts. I contacted powerseller support and they said it is just a security measure. That just appears to be MORE BS, why can't Ebay just come out and be up front and honest with us sellers. Off Ebay Selling Sites are a major threat to Ebay, no matter how minute the clue may be. There are many reasons why Ebay to many sellers, use ebay as an ALTERNATIVE, rather than their MAIN online selling site today. When will they wake up and realize us small sellers just are not stupid and stop treating us like we are. I understand if I leave my email as it is, sort of a grandfathered in kind of deal, i can use my user name in my email address. They also informed me that i will not be able to update and link my paypal address to ebay due to the same "SECURITY MEASURE" Seems to me if Ebay was doing as well as they say they are, they wouldn't be so afraid of the small things such as this. The PowerSeller Support rep was correct. Those who attempt to hijack accounts have had significant success in the past by using a memberís email address with various combinations of popular email providers. The create programs that can compile a list of these in seconds of possible email addresses. (I have a family member whose account was compromised a few years ago for this very reason). By not allowing an account to have a User ID and Email that match, it thwarts the efforts of these scammers and in fact, has helped dramatically reduce the incidence of hijacked accounts.

Posted by artmetal on Apr 6, 2009 9:28 AM Lowering The BIN Price in Current Listing. How do I lower a buy it now price once the auction has started (no bidders yet) Thanks Click the My eBay link on the top of any eBay page. Click the Active link on the left hand column under Selling. Locate your item and scan to the right of the title to the drop down box. Click it and choose, ìRevise Item.î As long as there have been no bids and the item has more than 12 hours to go before closing, you can edit the BIN price.

That almosts catches us up. Tomorrow is a news day at eBay. Be sure to watch the Announcement Board early tomorrow morning. Also, we have a Town Hall on Wednesday at 3:30 and of course, the eBay Radio show tomorrow at 11:00. I will reopen this thread on Thursday late or Friday early and leave it open for the weekend. Thanks again for all your questions! regards, Griff Jim Griffith _____________________ eBay Inc

Update: When I returned home tonight, I discovered that many of the links in this response were not formatted properly and wouldn't work. I have repaired them. (another good example of why it doesn't pay to rush!) Griff

Griff _________________ eBay

griff@ebay.com (8)

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Re: Ask Griff - April 2009

Apr 11, 2009 08:49 PM

The following post was left out from the first response thread as I was awaiting confirmation on the accuracy of my response. Unfortunately, I left a reference in the last response post (“see the post above to katydidscards”) and there was no post to katydidscards. This is that post:

 Posted by katydidscards on Apr 3, 2009 1:37 PM  

 The Hypothetical SNAD/Buyer Fraud Question  

I have a question with regards to buyers who file a SNAD and then return something that is not at all what they were sent. Hypothetical: Buyer purchases a new iPod. Seller ships it out. Buyer emails seller and says "Not new, old and broken." Buyer files SNAD. PayPal tells Seller to refund. Seller says "Send it back for full refund less your shipping." Buyer sends back a rock (to approximate weight of iPod) and keeps the new iPod. Buyer gets a refund from PayPal (he shipped with DC, of course), and gets to keep the iPod. What recourse does seller have in this sort of situation? How can the seller prove that the item that was returned was not the item that was shipped? Must we start video taping things as we pack, and then video as we open packages that are returned? Just curious as to what TPTB think about this sort of scenario. Defrauding an eBay seller in this manner is despicable. Any buyer who would defraud an eBay seller by sending them back something other than what the seller sent them should be shown the door (and worse. Any seller defrauded by a buyer in this manner might want to pursue the matter with the law as it could constitute mail fraud.). The good news: The incidence of this activity is extremely small. The better news: I spent the better part of this week on this particular issue, working with folks at PayPal so I could provide an accurate and helpful response based on what PayPay can and will do for sellers in these circumstances. From PayPal: ------------------ Sellers have the ability to appeal Significantly Not as Described cases that are found in favor of the buyer for the following reasons: •The item was returned in a condition other than the buyer received, ( this does not include normal wear and tear from the return shipping.) •No item is returned (empty box) •The wrong item is returned •PayPal made an error during the initial case closure In order to appeal a Significantly Not as Described case a seller should log into their resolution center and click the “appeal” button: PayPal will generally require the seller to provide documentation to support their appeal (the type and requirements of the documentation will be provided to the seller at the time that their appeal is reviewed for example, an affidavit or police report. [Although it should not be an issue obtaining a police report, from what some sellers have told me, it isn’t always possible. PayPal will always provide, on request during an appeal, the affidavit form for the seller to fill out and have notarized. – Griff] Upon receipt of the supporting documents the case will be facilitated in the order it is received and a PayPal representative will review the case and determine if the appeal should be granted. In some cases the seller may be required to ship the item to PayPal prior to receiving their credit. If an appeal is granted the seller will be reimbursed for the amount of the transaction and the buyer’s account will be documented and reviewed for potential abuse of PayPal’s Policies. Please note that abuse of PayPal’s policies by either a buyer or seller is strictly prohibited. ------------------ If you are a seller who has been defrauded in this manner and you need assistance with your case, email me. I am always happy to help a seller in this situation.

 Posted by semrafoster on Apr 3, 2009 4:57 PM  

 New Seller  

Hello Griff, I am very new to selling and there is so much to learn about ebay. I am trying to sell designer clothes and shoes. I have tried buy it now option, I have tried online auction style, I have tried reserve option. However, I cannot seem to attract high bidders. Do you have any advise please? Thank you The first step to selling on eBay is research. Research will help show you which formats work best for your items as well as the current values of sold items and the best starting prices for auction format listings. You can use eBay’s Completed Listings option for Search to view recently closed items matching a keyword search, or you can use a third party certified provider application like Terapeak.com to dig deeper into the data back 90 days. Also, you may find that as a new seller, you may be restricted in the amount of luxury brand items you can list. I advise any new seller who is selling only brand or luxury brand names items to find a second product line to offer to build up a history of selling on eBay in case you do find that you are restricted. If you need further assistance, you might want to visit the following pages: The Answer Center: staffed by expert eBay member volunteer experts in all aspects of eBay, including selling. The Learning Center with online tutorials and other resources. Seller Central (this discussion forum) where there are many experienced and seasoned eBay sellers who can offer general insights and advice on all aspects of selling on eBay as well as other topic specific discussion forums for more specialized discussions. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. griff@ebay.com using your regular email (not My Messages).

 Posted by bscheffl2 on Apr 3, 2009 4:59 PM  

  Leaving Feedback and Ratings  

I posted a question about why a buyer was allowed to leave feedback if they never paid for the item. Your reply was to in part, was to repeat the policy. Though I appreciate the response, I know the policy, and my question was about the "why" of the policy. 1) According to eBay's own explanation about why to leave feedback the answer is, "Leaving honest comments gives members a good idea of what to expect when dealing with other members." The key word being honest... How does a non-paying buyer's response about shipping, item meeting description, etc.. help others determine a seller's worthiness? Again, rate shipping... what shipping it? I want to know HOW eBay thinks a buyer rating shipping costs, time, item description, etc., for an item they never paid for and therefore never received, helps other buyers? Viewing the ratings and feedback for a seller helps a buyer better understand the overall service levels for that seller based on what all of their buyers have left in the way of ratings and feedback. That way, a buyer has better expectations beforehand of that seller’s customer service level. The feedback left under these circumstances and all their DSRs are false, could be retaliation, and for lack of a better word is a blatant lie. How does this help buyers? Except that a seller’s ratings are provided as an aggregate, not as individual ratings (feedback comments show individual comments). You supposition is that all feedback and ratings left are “lies,” or “false” or “retaliation.” Since the vast majority of ratings left are 5’s and since the vast majority of feedback left is positive, it would be incorrect for anyone to thing that all feedback or ratings are “lies,” or “false” or “retaliation.” That would mean the that the majority of left feedback and ratings – positive and 5’s – are “lies,” or “false” or “retaliation.” And they are not. It is such a flaw in the system. Why isn't this seen as compromising the integrity of the feedback system... again something that is not supposed to be done according to eBay. Because it isn’t. Ratings are left by buyers for sellers based on the buyers, not the seller’s, experience with the seller and the transaction. And, although it is not perfect (no rating system is), it works. 2) Non-paying buyers have increased since the feedback changes. eBay encourages sellers to file for this with no protection from retaliation as long as the buyer responds to the claim. Not pay for the item, simply respond. Sellers have protection in filed UPI cases. It is not accurate to say they have “no protection.” There are many sellers who will not file because of fear of retaliation because eBay's protection under these circumstances is limited to none. And that is unfortunate (that some sellers won’t file a UPI). A seller with a non-paying buyer needs to file the UPI in order to report the buyer and the transaction to eBay. How does this issue with the current feedback system and non-paying buyers help get non-paying buyers to stop bidding and not paying? By filing a UPI claim, a seller is alerting eBay of a non paying buyer so that we have a record of it. Chronic non paying buyers are suspended from eBay. All sellers know there is no recourse from an untrue feedback received because the seller had the audacity to file a non-payment claim with eBay. If a seller files a UPI claim for a non paying buyer and the buyer doesn’t respond or responds with an insufficient response, the claim is awarded to the seller and the buyer is blocked from leaving feedback. EBay's own policies seem to have created this vicious cycle and it needs to be remedied. I know sellers are sick of non-paying buyers, but isn't eBay? Yes of course. UPI’s cost eBay and sellers time and money. Our goal, as I have stated many times on this thread, is to eliminate, eventually, the possibility of UPIs by changing the transaction model so that all transactions on eBay are paid for upon purchase (like today’s Immediate Payment option for fixed price listings). Couldn't resources be better spent elsewhere? Is there ANY plan to address this issue? I would think money would be a motivating factor here... If you have had a UPI buyer recently that left you negative feedback and the buyer’s reason for not paying was not legitimate, and the buyer left you negative feedback and Trust and Safety would not remove it, email the details to me. 3) You said that eBay does not question the veracity of the feedback left because it would be a daunting task. An example: A buyer claims they never received item, but tracking proves otherwise. How difficult would it be to verify this? That does not seem too daunting. If it is daunting a task to research the claims made about veracity, then doesn't that tell eBay something about the system is wrong??? If the system is a working system it would not be that way. If you suspect the number of claim to be such that it would be daunting... doesn't that elude to a serious issue? It renders the entire feedback system's integrity. Daunting task or not... eBay created the feedback policy and sellers are being crushed by it everyday. EBay should have to deal with the consequences of a policy they developed all in the name of maintaining the integrity of the system. The primary reason that eBay cannot and will not verify the claims made in feedback statements is, as I said earlier, because if we did, we would have to verify all comments left (several million a day) and could be held responsible for these comments. That is why we have never, since the inception of feedback in 1996, ever verified the statements in feedback. That is what every eBay members agrees to upon registering (when they agree to the terms of the eBay User Agreement)

 Posted by mtndrifter on Apr 3, 2009 9:40 PM  

 Shipping Time DSR  

Hello Griff, Quite often on the Seller's forum, I read that many sellers are saying that they are being unjustly penalized on their DSR ratings by buyers on their "Shipping time" category. Almost everyone who is taking a hit is saying that they are being graded NOT on how fast they get their package in the mail but on how slowly the post office gets the package to the buyer, especially in cases of Media Mail and Parcel Post. The way the third category of the DSR is currently worded ("Shipping time"), it opens the door for buyers to grade the Post Office instead of the seller. For those sellers who frequently ship by Media or Parcel Post, it does present a problem for them. Wouldn't it be much more practical to change the wording of the "Shipping time" category to something that reflects more closely the time it takes for the seller to get the package in the mail instead of phrasing it as "Shipping time?" To many people, "Shipping time" means the time it takes for the post office to get their package delivered to them. How about instead of "Shipping time", it becomes "Time it takes seller to send package" or "Time it takes seller to get to Post Office with package" or "Speed of seller putting package into the mail" or something to that affect? Anything that conveys how long it takes the seller to get to the post office once they've been paid, instead of how long it takes for the post office to deliver the package after it has been mailed, would be better than the way it is worded now, IMO. I think it would be a very simple change for eBay to make, but I think it would be one that saves millions of misperceptions and headaches that sellers seem to be suffering over "shipping time" that the Post Office takes, which is out of the seller's control. "Shipping time" is the responsibility of the Post Office, not the seller, but it is the seller who is getting judged due to the literal sense in which that particular DSR category is worded. Sorry if I rambled, but I guess I'm just suggesting a simple change in wording for the 3rd DSR category to one that is more reflective of the time it takes the seller to get to the Post Office, not the time it takes the Post Office to get the package to the buyer. Thank you for listening. No secret. I agree. In fact, a better wording might be “time to ship.” It is something I have suggested (and yes, something for which I continue to advocate). I cannot promise it will be adopted but I will continue to advocate for it. However, in the meantime, I can only advise sellers on how to best avoid a low rating in this particular DSR category by setting realistic buyer expectations in their listing descriptions for all the classes of shipping service they offer, including and most importantly, those that tend to take the longest time like Media Mail. Make it very clear in your descriptions, in your invoices to buyers and in all follow-up correspondence.

 Posted by locanda on Apr 4, 2009 12:29 AM  

 Invoice Limitations  

Hi Griff, thanks for starting another month of Q&A. I have encountered a different problem in invoicing (not the supposed eBay mailings you've already addressed): I am not always able to re-send an invoice for buyers that can't find the initial invoice I sent. In addition, I recently filed a NPB dispute, and have communicated with a buyer who had unusual family circumstances, and their feedback profile certainly didn't fit a bad buyer that I would wish to leave a strike for. Thus, we've attempted to work it out through the eBay Dispute process, and are probably nearly resolved. However, as it is now over 30 days since the End of auction, eBay says the transaction cannot be re-invoiced. So, the buyer has to pay via PayPal, but can't link up the payment to the eBay item#. I'd like to be able to do this for a couple of reasons - 1 so that my recordkeeping is neater and My eBay shows the sale and its payment, and so that shipping the items can be eligible for PayPal Seller Protection. So, the question(s): Why isn't it easier to re-invoice, and why won't eBay allow this for a longer period (particularly if a dispute is open)? I am not sure why there is a cut off time for invoicing. Seems it would make sense to allow for more time. I will forward this to one of my colleagues for their attention. Can I get any assistance in connecting the payment up to my eBay items in this instance, and regain my SPP? Have you tried sending an invoice from PayPal? Log into PayPal, click Request Money. There are two options. One for Create A Money Request and one for Create an Invoice. Try the Money Request and select “eBay Items.” If you unable to connect the item number to the request, put the item number in the message box of the request. If anything goes wrong with the transaction (it shouldn’t), email me. I will vouch for you.

 Posted by zboo2 on Apr 4, 2009 12:37 AM  

  Accepted Payment Violations Enforcement Progress  

Mr. Griff Sir: I would like to give you and/or ebay or both a soft pat on the back for handling the many mentioned before problem with a PS about non conforming acceipted payments in their listings. As of tonight, it appears they, the PS, have changed their listings to be in compliance with ebay rules. Thank You. Thanks! The credit goes to our tireless Trust and Safety team. The question would only be, why did it take so long, at least 45 days after the first reporting? As I posted a few weeks ago in regards to a similar question: There were millions of items that needed to be changed and as we said in January, enforcement would start in January and ramp up over the subsequent months until we had as close to 100% compliance as possible. It takes a lot of time to field, investigate and facilitate the volume of reports we received but I am happy to say, and as you noticed, we are nearly there.

 Posted by here_we_have on Apr 4, 2009 3:38 AM  

 Questions on Feedback  

What is ebay's policy/stand on Q. 1) Buyers who leave Negative Feedback concerning an Item Not Received and DO NOT file a dispute/claim for such? A buyer is not required to file an INR report as a condition to leaving any feedback comment. Although we hope that they would, they are not required to do so. Q. 2) Would/Does ebay consider this as malicious bidding/buying??? Not necessarily and not without other supporting evidence. My ducks are all lined up, and I have a reasonable expectation of winning any such claim from buyer. Even though I list/buy here as a hobby, I treat it as a business. It has been about a week since you requested outreach and yet I have not been touched from a member of the T&S team. Resend the email and the details to me and I will reforward it to Trust and Safety. Q. 3) If ebay can associate other member ID's, when shilling is involved, why can't ebay associate my ID's when shilling is not involved? I am not understanding the question. Is there reason that you would want eBay to connect your own ID’s?

 Posted by craftygeezerette on Apr 4, 2009 8:19 AM  

  Leaving Feedback For Buyers  

Hi Griff, I still haven't starting listing again as more and more questions arise for me each time I read your posts regarding various sections. This response you gave below was in regards to automatically giving a seller a 5 if he/she offered free shipping. "As I stated in an earlier response to the same question/request, we wouldn't ever automatically award a rating to a seller. We are not the buyer so it would be inappropriate for us to give a rating in place of the buyer. What we could do (and please, I am only speculating here. This is not an announcement) is something along the lines of not providing the buyer an opportunity to rate a seller for transactions where the shipping cost was free but still keep an internal (eBay and seller viewed only) metric in place to tally all successfully-concluded free shipping transactions and use that metric as a factor for discount eligibility, ranking, benefits, rewards, etc... And coincidentally enough, this is actually the type of change for DSR and Free Shipping for which I have been advocating. " This I could understand but isn't eBay really giving a buyer an automatic "5" or postive feedback when you require sellers to leave nothing but postives (5's) for each transaction? Not really. We don’t require sellers to leave feedback. (Sellers cannot leave ratings for buyers). It’s up to a seller to decide if they want to. If a buyer pays for the item, it’s smart business to leave the buyer a feedback to acknowledge the payment. Or the seller can choose to leave no feedback. But sellers cannot “rate” a buyer. That is the part I cannot find that it is fair at all. Sellers are required to leave Positive feedback no matter how the transaction goes with the buyer while the buyers are allowed to give negative or positive feedback and low DSR's just because they want to. Sellers are not required to leave feedback. They can leave a buyer a feedback at their discretion. Guess my question is how is this policy fair to sellers? Don't we deserve to know how a buyer acts during a transaction? Acts? A buyer has one obligation in a transaction: to pay for an item. It is hoped that a buyer will be civil and courteous in their correspondence with a seller and most are but a buyer is not required to be. However, no marketplace allows sellers to rate buyers on their disposition, etc. If a buyer violates policy (doesn't pay for an item or attempts to defraud or extort a seller), the seller can and should report the buyer using this link to the Seller Report Hub which has just been updated btw, so make sure to visit it. There is a mistaken belief among some sellers that leaving negative feedback for buyers was an effective way of determining their past behavior so the seller could block or cancel their bids. It wasn’t. The truth is that since most bidding takes place in the last minutes of an auction format listing, it was virtually impossible to check the feedback for a bidder in time to cancel their bids. And for Fixed Price it was impossible. Sellers can limit bids or purchases based on the criteria provided in Buyer Requirements. They do work. Oh and yes I did sell quite a lot at one time but after the frustrations of non-paying buyers, and the rule changes. I stopped. In fact had I had a better understanding of the coming changes, I may have still been selling but now, well, I am just not sure aobut selling on here anymore. This is my selling id if and when I decide to sell again but right now what incentive do I have to sell where small sellers are being shoved further and further down the selling chain? Buyers and sales. If a seller is not making sales or is not finding buyers visiting their listings, they are always free to email me and I will take a look at their listings and make suggestions.

 Posted by guitar_parts_for_you on Apr 4, 2009 9:15 AM  

 The Invoice Question and The Number of Releases per Year  

Hi Griff, Just had this happen, sometimes I will allow a buyer to go a while without paying, so they can get a bunch of items to ship together and save on shipping. Especially if I have had multiple dealings with them in the past. Had one where I couldn't combine their items together on eBay, because 2 of the items were already a month since the auction ended. I wound up having to use a back door and combine it through Blackthorn. Why would eBay make it so I couldn't combine these in the first place through SMP? Especially since it can be done. See my response to locanda above. Another question I have deals with the recent announcement that eBay would limit major changes to (can't remember if it was 3 or 4 times a year). This was a major issue years ago also, and I seem to remember at one eBay live (2005 or 2006) where it was announced that it would be limited to 1 time a year. This held up till JD took the reigns. Please can we go back to that promise of just one time of major changes per year. I know there are a lot of great idea's out there, but having to restructure your business model every couple of months is a real pain. That way also you give the techs a chance to work out the bugs before applying to the site. We cannot limit changes to the site to once a year. However, we can group them together into 2 or 3 a year with a known and consistent process from announcement to release. That is the course we have decided upon for this and future years. This year there will be two releases. The first will be announced sixty days prior to release (this coming Tuesday).

 Posted by mygift2u on Apr 4, 2009 9:21 AM  

 DSR and Suggestions  

Griff Thanks for all you do here. It is apparent to eveyone that DSR's are here to stay no matter what the Community thinks about them. Not true. They are here for now (and for the year) but I have continually made mention (and it is no secret) that a new reputation system is in the design phase and could see a launch next year. But for now, DSRs are here and we have to work with them. However, why can't they be revised so they would be more representative of the "OVERALL" transaction? By picking apart the "overall transaction" it is almost impossible to obtain a perfect rating. I do believe the majority of eBay sellers are good and honest and DO try for perfection. That being said... MY Question Is: Wouldn't a system with single rating for a customer's "overall" experience of the transaction be better than breaking it down into multiple ratings? Customers can still leave comments such as "slow shipping", etc. in the comments area. Perhaps. A single rating system could be a part of a future reputation system. I feel more buyers would take time to leave feedback if the rating system was simplier. I am getting very few of my customers to leave feedback since the DSR system when into effect. Yes, simpler is always better. A new reputation system should be simpler. I feel a SINGLE RATING system would benefit sellers while still allowing buyers to grade the transaction. For example: How would you rate your overall transaction with this Seller? Positive Feedback: 5 or 4 stars Neutral Feedback: 3 stars Negative Feedback: 2 or 1 stars We all know that on the other major venue, a transaction is graded on the OVERALL experience and not on indivudual aspects of the transaction like Communication, Description, Shipping Time, Shipping and Handling Charges. Customers KNOW what the shipping costs are before making a purchase. Why should a seller be graded on that? The shipping date is usually on the postage label, so a buyer KNOWS when the package was shipped. Why should we be graded if the post office mis-directs the package or is slow because of a postal holiday or just postal error?? Thoughts? Not many in disagreement with your suggestions overall. A simple rating system would be a plus. As I said, nothing major in the way of changes will happen this year.

 Posted by mygift2u on Apr 4, 2009 9:24 AM  

 Major Announcement  

One more question are we getting closer to the "major announcement?" and when will it be? days? weeks? or months? Days. As we announced at the last Town Hall, from here on, we will be grouping releases and changes to features and policies into two or three releases per year (two this year) and announcing them in detail sixty days prior to release. Watch the Announcement Board on Tuesday morning.

More responses on Monday. Note: If I didn't include your question in a response post and the original question post is still visible (hasn't been deleted), it means I am waiting for needed information from either an individual or team here at eBay or PayPal before I can create a response.

Griff _________________ eBay

griff@ebay.com (8)

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(2 of 22)

Re: Ask Griff - April 2009

Apr 10, 2009 08:10 PM

Hello all, Thanks for your patience. It's been a very busy week here preparing for Tuesday's announcements. I will post responses in four separate posts over the weekend. Here is the first.

 Posted by foggy16 on Apr 3, 2009 12:20 PM  

  Vintage Clothing Categories Dilema  

Hi Griff. I and a lot of sellers in my category feel like a people without a land here on Ebay. Let me state that I have been overall pleased with the changes over the last year. I sell in the vintage clothing and accessories category. The problem is while we are lumped into the clothing category when changes happen. We are actually a half-breed of antiques and collectibles/clothing. Many times what is good for the clothing sellers does not apply to us. A couple of examples is the higher final value fee on the clothing category. I understand the reasons that this is for the clothes (I sell new clothes as well and do not have a problem with it on those items) but for vintage clothes it makes no sense. Also I strongly feel that we should have been included in the free additional picture rate change that was recently given to the antique and collectibles category. The truth is the entire clothing category would have benefited but used and antique items even more so. Most Clothing sites offer multiple views of shoe and clothing. I guess my question is can we get some reconsideration for the vintage clothing category when making changes by category since our needs do not really match the needs or our title category. Vintage Clothing and Accessories, though often worn, are viewed by many sellers and buyers as primarily, collectible. Yes, I would be happy to forward this suggestion to the category team for their consideration.

 Posted by ozzie3 on Apr 3, 2009 1:12 PM  

 Shipping vs Deliver Time Expectations  

I guess I qualify as a seller, don't I? If you sell on eBay, yes, you qualify. Is this a correct statement? ""When rating sellers on shipping time, rate the seller on the time it took them to mail the item, not the time it took you to receive the item. You shouldn’t hold sellers responsible for delays in mail services, international custom delays or for the time it took for your payment to clear. " Yes, it is. Didn't you previously state that the buyer should rate on the time of delivery? or am I in error Yes, I am afraid I did infer that. I am sorry. I should have been clearer. Although we do encourage buyers, when they are considering a rating for “shipping time,” to rate the seller on how long it took for them to ship the item, many buyers will rate a seller on Delivery time (some, not all, but some buyers hold a merchant responsible for every aspect of a mail order or online transaction up to the delivery of the item. This topic has been discussed here and among sellers for a while and the consensus seems to be that it might be better to word this aspect of DSRs as “Time to ship” as opposed to “Shipping Time.” (and, for what it’s worth, I agree). I’ll ask again about this as a possible change. Something many of you might have noticed is the push to provide tracking input fields in My eBay. The overall goal here is to make it possible in the future for tracking information to be added automatically into My eBay (for buyers and sellers) as an official indication of when an item has shipped. Besides providing this information for buyer and seller, this feature could also allow in say, a future version of a reputation system, for the removal of rating a seller on any aspect of time and shipping. For example, if a seller states they ship within two business days after the item closes and tracking proves that the seller did indeed ship within two business days, there would be no need for buyer input on this aspect of service.

 Posted by three_rivers_traders on Apr 3, 2009 1:20 PM  

  eBay and PayPal Buyer Shipping Address Discrepancies  

Hi Griff! A question about addresses. Specifically eBay addresses for shipping and PayPal addresses for shipping. Since eBay and PayPal seem to be sharing information such as buyer's notes, ect. Would it be possible to do a comparison between the address eBay has on file for a buyer and the address PayPal has for the buyer? Perhaps some sort of indication that the addresses are different? Hopefully this would help stop many of the "I moved and forgot to change my address" and "I mis-typed my address" issues that occur. Thanks! Rich Matsuura and his team (the work on all things "shipping") are working on a solution at the moment. No details yet but I will bring more when we have it.

 Posted by buriedbybooks on Apr 3, 2009 1:31 PM  

 Minimum Price for Fixed Price: More Questions  

Last month, you answered a question about BIN minimum pricing. Do those rules apply ONLY to Fixed Price core listings or are multiple quantity store inventory listings (which also use BIN) allowed to have a .99 price? I tested this again to verify and the .99 minimum for MQFP currently applies only to only Fixed Price non-Store listings (Store listings, regardless of quantity, must be priced at $1 or more). Can you please point to an eBay policy or fee page where this distinction is officially explained? I cannot. More to follow.... Because I have found 2 references to minimum pricing: one from the original introduction in February of 2008 and another more recent one. Neither page makes any exceptions for multiple quantity. 2008 fees Starting Price: Fixed Price, Store Inventory, and Buy It Now The "N/A" in the charts above reflects a new minimum start price for Fixed Price listings, Store Inventory listings and the Buy It Now feature. Store Inventory and Fixed Price listings must have a starting price of at least $1.00. The Buy It Now feature, which can be added to Auction-style listings, must also have a minimum Buy It Now price of at least $1.00. Current Fees Fixed Price listings and the Buy It Now feature have a minimum price of $1.00. Is this a new rule to accommodate the half.com listings coming next month? No. In fact, as it turns out, the discrepancy is an oversight. I wasn't aware of it until it was brought up here. I sent the the screen shots I published last week here, to Brian Hsu last week for his take regarding this apparent discrepancy in minimum amounts. I assumed it was intentional. He was out of the office on business for several days but did respond this morning and he verified that it is not an intentional feature change. It’s an error on our part. The inconsistency will be addressed ASAP so that the $1 minimum for Fixed Price covers all FP listing and not just SQFP (Single Quantity Fixed Price)

 Posted by postcardsnstuff on Apr 3, 2009 1:47 PM  

 ”Handling” Instead of “Shipping” Time  

Since eBay states on their Help Pages under "Detailed Seller Ratings" that: "When rating sellers on shipping time, rate the seller on the time it took them to mail the item, not the time it took you to receive the item. You shouldn’t hold sellers responsible for delays in mail services, international custom delays or for the time it took for your payment to clear." Would it not be more appropriate to call this rating "Handling Time" (or something more appropriate) to stop all the confusion and anger. Shipping Time is obviously not the correct name for a rating about the sellers Handling time. Buyers won't all read the meaning of the rating, therefore the title of the rating is extremely important. See my response to ozzie3 above (question posted on Apr 3, 2009 1:12 PM with the response titled “Shipping vs Deliver Time Expectations.”)

 Posted by steady2304 on Apr 3, 2009 2:10 PM  

  Shipping DSRs and Media Mail  

I really have a problem with eBay using the DSR's to determine how a seller is ranked in search. Overall my DSR's are good. 5.0, 4.9, 4.9, 4.9. But being a small volume seller (10-15) sales a month, getting just 1 rating below a 3 can be harmful to my 30 day DSR search standing. In February a buyer paid for her auction on 2/17. I dropped off package at my Post Office on 2/18. It left the sorting center in MO on 2/20. It arrived at the buyers sorting center in CA on 2/25. From there the next scan had it show up at a sorting center in NJ on 2/28. (The wonderful USPS). It then was sent back to CA and arrrived on 3/4 and was delivered to my customer on 3/5. Granted this was shipped media mail, but with Ebays limit on shipping charges in the Media category, even if your offer upgraded shipping choices buyers choose the cheapest shipping 95% of the time, yet still want the fastest delivery possible. While this was happening I kept my buyer informed not only by Ebay email but also had USPS sending updates via there website to her email. For all this effort she leaves me with a 5 for IAD, a 4 for Comm. a 2 for ship time, and a 2 for ship and handling. Not once did she return or answer any email updates I sent her. This in turn lowered my search standing from raised to standard. There has to be a better way for Ebay to rank sellers for search than by using an arbitrary rating system that can affect a small time seller in this fashion. It is really frustrating when a buyer( in this instance a relative newbie) can damage a sellers rating in this way. I now it only afects the standing for 30 days but it still is not right. Although it is true that a seller with a relatively low sales volume can see a lowering of the their search standard in Seller Dashboard in a case like this, the actual drop in search would be minimal and temporary, however. Remember that there are multiple factors that, taken together, determine standing in Best Match including relevance, past sales, shipping costs, item price, etc. With low volumes, a dip in any of these values can adversely affect them. However, given all that you did for the buyer, including sending them USPS updates, your frustration is not surprising. One question: do you point out in your descriptions that Media Mail can take from 2 – 3 weeks (or longer)? Setting buyer expectations in this instance can help reduce the chance the buyer will rate you lower.

 Posted by ozzie3 on Apr 3, 2009 2:26 PM  

 Wrong Time Showing For eBay Radio Ask Griff Show  

Griff, on the right side of this page it shows you on the air at 5PM, and when I went to the show at 5 it said you were on at 3-5 instead of 5-7. Is that a change that should have been noticed to the boards, or at least on the side of the page. Yikes! The show is still from 3-5pm Pacific. I will have someone fix that ASAP. Thanks for pointing it out!

 Posted by m1goblu on Apr 3, 2009 2:51 PM   Invoice Limits   Griff, Thx for taking the time to do this. My issue is , every week when my auctions end I have buyers who win more than 40 items. However the invoicing system will only handle 40 items. So I have to send 2 or more invoices. In one case 2 weeks ago I had to send 4 to one buyer that won 123 items. Of course this causes me to get separate Paypal payments from the same buyer , which causes me to have to ship several parcels to the same address so I have delivery confirmation for EACH payment. Why cant an enterprise as large as ebay just put all of one persons auction wins on one page, in one invoice , no matter how many they win. The way it is now its a HUGE pain & cause me to spend extra postage, which comes out of my pocket . Good question. I don’t know why there is a 40 item limit (I confess I didn’t know there was a limit) However, I will definitely forward your post to my colleague Kristina Klausen for her consideration (She leads the team that helps improve existing eBay tools, work flows and policies to reduce and eliminate inefficiencies.

 Posted by vedave on Apr 3, 2009 2:53 PM  

  Free Shipping and a Five  

A couple of followups here. Is it really true that you and ebay believe it makes no sense, and can never be done, to give free shipping an automatic 5? Correct. We cannot (and will not) give out automatic ratings in place of a buyer’s rating. What I have said previously here (and I will repeat) is that it is possible that we might remove the ability to rate a transaction on shipping costs if the shipping was indeed, cost-less (free). This could provide a null value for the rating (it wouldn’t count in the average. But an automatic rating in place of a buyer’s rating would not be possible. Ratings are not for eBay to leave, they are for your buyers to leave. I have to followup because that would just defy all logic. Also, you commented on Replicas in the coin/pm category, but mentioned looking at the collectibles category. Coins/PM is its own separate category. I wish you could review it and try to recommend to management that NO replicas be allowed in the U.S. coins/PM category. That crap is not US Coins/PM. This also defies all the logic the coin sellers can muster. You don't seem to think it's a problem, but you must understand that sellers and buyers are vacating. The hardest thing to understand is why it would take more than 24 hours to correct either of these problems. Dave We can create a category for legal coin replicas and we can take reports of Miscategorized items and move them as appropriate but since we cannot rule on what is and isn’t a replica coin (we are not the experts, we don’t hire item experts and we don’t handle the merchandise so even if we did have item experts, they couldn’t rule on items they didn’t actually handle) we can only rely on reports from other members and even then, it can take 24 hours or longer to move items into the appropriate categories.

 Posted by from-my-grannys-base on Apr 3, 2009 2:58 PM  

 TurboLister Issues Solved  

Just a thank you for the assistance you managed to call up for me from the turbolister team concerning the synchronization problems and the problems with it. It was much appreciated. Pass on my thanks again to the guys working on turbolister. Stew Will do! Glad they were able to help address the issues. We are compiling the case as documentation for other sellers who may experience the same issue.

 Posted by buriedbybooks on Apr 3, 2009 3:11 PM  

 New Ask Griff Rule: No Posting IDs  

Starting this month, please only post using an active eBay selling ID. Posts using what is clearly a posting ID - an ID created solely for posting - will be deleted without response. Griff, can you explain why you feel this new rule is necessary? And why it wasn't set-out via font or color so that posters familiar with your threads would know a rule had been added or changed? I would be happy to. First, I didn’t bold this new rule because I trust that everyone scours that first post to look for any changes and, as I have discovered in the last few days, my trust was well founded. (It hasn’t gone unnoticed!) Thus, it didn’t need emphasis. As for the reason for the new rule: Most regular posters – like you - here and on other threads as well, post with the same ID they use to sell. That is admirable. Others fear that their words or comments might draw the ire of others who would then interfere with their listings so they use a different account for posting. Now, I know that the “posting id” culture has a long, established tradition on eBay (and there are no plans to prevent anyone from posting on the rest of the discussion forums using a “posting id”) but this thread is different. It is meant to be for questions from sellers, (new and experienced) in a public forum where I provide responses. An allowed ID for this thread doesn’t have to be an ID with current listings for sale. Feedback showing past sales is sufficient. The ID can also be a selling ID for which the seller also uses to buy on eBay. However, it is only fair to posters like yourself, that anyone who posts here do so with an ID they use for selling. So any posts from an ID where the feedback is private or only shows buying activity, will be deleted. If you want to post on this thread, do so with an ID that shows a clear history of selling, current or past.

 Posted by guitar_parts_for_you on Apr 3, 2009 3:31 PM  

  Insurance Claims and Buyer Disputes  

Hi Griff, This may get a little long winded so I apologize in advance for that. I Had a customer that purchased an item back on the 2nd of March. They emailed me a week ago that they never received. Checked the tracking and it shows delivered on the 5th. First I don't doubt the buyer as this is just a $3 item, and a more expensive item I shipped to them 2 days later arrived just fine on the 6th. So I told them there is a chance that insurance would cover it, just email me before the 45 day time limit is up, and I would start an insurance claim. So I open my email today to a PayPal dispute, for non delivery. Well first PayPal deserves a round of applause, as soon as I entered the tracking information, the claim was over. But eBay on the other hand, advised the buyer to file a PayPal claim. Why, when eBay has the tracking number (Uploaded by Blackthorn from Endicia when the item is shipped) and could have checked and saw that it showed delivered. They could have seen that PayPal wouldn't be able to do a non delivery claim. IMO shouldn't they recommend that the buyer gets in touch with the seller and helps with the claims process? Shouldn't that be a requirement for any claim of lost or damaged in the mail? Before I address your question, I have a question for you. This buyer purchased more than one item from you. One arrives (the expensive one luckily) and the other doesn’t. This buyer looks to be a good, possible repeat customer in the future. Why would you make the buyer wait for an insurance claim on a $3 purchase? Wouldn’t it be smarter business to simply offer to refund the buyer, if not immediately, then in a few days? If the item goes missing, then you can file for the insurance. Making a buyer wait for 45 days to file the insurance claim and then another possible 6 weeks for the claim to process seems counter-productive? Under the circumstances, is it really surprising that the buyer filed the dispute? I have advised this before and will continue to do so: in cases where an insured item has either gone missing or was damaged in transit, don’t make the buyer wait for the insurance claim. Refund them immediately and, if necessary, file the claim to recoup (hopefully) your loss. As to the question – requiring a buyer to assist with an insurance claim in order to file a dispute or receive a refund, we do not require a buyer to do so and there are no plans to require them to do so in the future.

 Posted by sewyouthink1 on Apr 3, 2009 3:48 PM  

  Cannot Call eBay  

Why can't I get anyone to talk to me when I try to call ebay; I have a silver seller account and all I can get is a recording that is of no help at all. What is going on? What happened to live help? I forwarded your post to PowerSeller support for their attention. If they have not reached out to you (email or phone), email me and let me know at griff@ebay.com using your regular email, not My Messages.

 Posted by foggy16 on Apr 3, 2009 3:56 PM  

 Seller Protection and Charge  

Hi Griff Another question If I am qualified for paypal seller protection on an unauthorized use chargeback, then why should ebay hold my money the entire time they fight the chargeback. Long and short it does not matter if they win or lose they still have to give my money back so why should they hold the funds for the 30 day investigation. I read how the dispute works but it does not make any sense. Why would they not make the determination that I am covered by seller protection and immediately release my money. I am not absolutely sure why. I think the challenge is that we often don’t know right off, if a seller qualifies – they have to provide proof of shipping (or maybe some other info) and usually the seller hasn’t submitted that in advance of the chargeback being received. So we can’t protect them on the presumption that they will be eligible. But you are right. The process could probably be sped up. I’ve sent this to PayPal for their attention.

 Posted by djnoble35209 on Apr 3, 2009 3:56 PM  

  UPIs and Feedback  

Dear Griff, I have a few non-rhetorical questions plus reasonable solutions and I will keep them short -- 1 - Why can a non-paying bidder leave feedback AT ALL? This is a question many sellers would like a good answer for. As I have stated many times in the last three months: We believe there are scenarios where a buyer should not pay for an item and should be able to leave feedback, for example, if the seller changes the terms of the listing post sale. However, I have also stated that personally, I believe that we should not allow feedback for items where the buyer did not pay, for whatever reason. That is the position I advocate. Reasonable solution - As Paypal is THE required form of payment, AND Ebay knows the instant an item is paid for, THEN Ebays codemasters can put a line of code blocking feedback ability UNTIL item is paid for. Very easy programming task. But PayPal is not the required form of payment. There are five accepted forms of online payment on eBay. View the Accepted Payments Policy. Your solution therefore would not work. 2 - adding to katydidscards post - what protection is there for sellers who refund just to receive a rock, a peice of wood or a fake purse in place of an expensive original. Are we supposed to only open returns in front of a postal, UPS or FEDEX inspector? Otherwise there is no proof of what was done to a seller. POOF! Another seller leaves Ebay sadder and poorer. There are so many fraudulent returns happening now that many sellers refuse to list expensive items, just adding to the 'flea market' atmosphere that Ebay management hates so much. See my response to katydidscards above, Reasonable solution - require buyer to present open package to postal/delivery company for item verification BEFORE sealing, and a packaging label be affixed, by postal/UPS/Fedex employee to the outside of package detailing contents, be it a real camera or a peice of cement. That would cut way down on fraudulent returns, and an honest returner would be fine with doing that to insure they get a refund. You're asking eBay to require USPS, UPS or FedEx reps to verify the contents of a parcel before they accept it for shipment by creating a special form for pasting on the outside of parcels that are purchased in an eBay transaction with the clerk verifying the contents of the parcel. We cannot require USPS, UPS or FedEx to comply with anything, especially something as onerous as this suggestion, so as a solution, it would not be remotely feasible. 3 - As I understand the original quote from Ebay management regardling unleveling the feedback system, the reason was that 'the buyers were fussing' about getting negged for non-payment. Some people even mention 'retaliatory feedback'. Now all buyers are 'perfect' even when so many are not even close. And the 3-NPB-strikes rule does no good to the first two sellers who lose time and money on someone who does not intend to pay. Unfortunately, there is no way to know like there was a year ago. There was “no way to know” even before the feedback changes. 1.Most bidding takes place in the last moments of an auction format listing. It would be nearly impossible for a seller to view every last minute buyer’s feedback to determine their “worthiness” based on what past seller’s wrote about them and then cancel their bids. And for Fixed Price, it is absolutely impossible. 2.Since we don’t verify the claims made in a feedback comment, it was not possible for a seller to determine with any accuracy if a buyer was or wasn’t a chronic NPB based only on left comments. Reasonable solution - allow sellers to leave negative feedback ONLY for nonpayment and then ONLY after following the requirements of the NPB process. Ebays codemasters would find this an easy task, as again Ebay knows instantly when an item has been paid for (see reasonable solution #1 above) and when it has not, and also knows when an NPB report has been filed and what stage it is at. Whenever there is even the slightest possibility that a suggestion or posited solution could be adopted, I state as much. However, I would be doing you and anyone else who suggests that we allow sellers to “rate” buyers a grave disservice if I lead you to believe that this is a possibility. It is not. eBay will not return to a system that rates buyers. What you can do now: Use Buyer Requirements to filter out possible chronic non paying buyers and limit your listings to only those who have PayPal accounts. File UPI reports for all non paying buyers. What we can do now: Based on your filed reports, suspend chronic non paying buyers. What we will do in the future: Eliminate the possibility of UPIs by providing an immediate payment option for all formats.

 Posted by art_of_painting on Apr 3, 2009 4:30 PM  

  eBay TV Ads ? 

Hello Griff !! First, I want to thank you for the time and effort you have put into reading and responding to these issues/questions. I noticed Ebay has not advertised on Television for a long period of time, they seem to be doing banners ads and direct marketing. Are they planning to do any new catchy ads as they have in the past. When Ebay has done TV ads, I have had a spike in sales during those times. There are no immediate plans for a major TV ad campaign. We have decided to focus on other strategic marketing initiatives for the immediate future. Also, have they thought of doing some more exciting promotions, in other words get some excitement going? For example: * New Car Sweepstakes, always a popular item. Car companies are loaded with ones they cannot sell * Money give away, can't tell you how that would go over, I know Ebay has done money, but I only ever seen it on the page after sign in- Get some excitement going!! We sell they items, Ebay gives away the money, make a fun TV ad. •Contest for best advertisement video or idea from Ebay member that is used. Tie it in with buying etc. You may need a little faith on that one. Yes. In fact, there are many promotions planned for the year. Here are two current promotions recently announced and launched: eBay Bucks (in Beta) Celebrating our Seller’s Success (Monthly Contest with a $5,000 prize every month) My point is, the economy is challenged, you would have everyones attention for a BIG Promotion that is of a Positive Influence. I know you said there are No blackouts on Ebay. Problem is, my sales and questions come in as clumps, and then nothing. People cannot be just seeing my things at one time, unless it is designed that way, revolving servers or something. Is this a design of how Ebay works or their capacity? I have been on Ebay for 12+ years and am familiar with how it has changed with my sales. There are no revolving servers and there are no rolling blackouts on eBay. Items that are listed on eBay are available to everyone, everywhere at the same time. Thanks again for taking the time!! My pleasure.

More responses to come...

Griff _________________ eBay

griff@ebay.com (8)

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Re: Ask Griff - April 2009

Apr 6, 2009 09:35 AM

Thank you everyone for your posts over the weekend. I will now close the thread temporarily to create a response thread (this will take a day or so). In the meantime, while the thread is closed, if you have a question that you would like to have posted on this thread, send it to me as an email to griff@ebay.com (regular email, not My Messages!) with the words Ask Griff Thread in the subject line and your User ID in the body of the response. I will include it in the next post. regards, Griff Jim Griffith _____________ eBay Inc

Griff _________________ eBay

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