Friday, April 18th, 2008
John Donahoe talks to eBay Ink
Two weeks ago, John and Pierre conducted a live webcast to the entire organization that emphasized a need for open communication and what can only be described as bold steps for the company (I’m working on getting video excerpts of the conversation to share with Ink subscribers soon).
Before they sat down together, I was able to get a few minutes with John on my own in which he shared a lot of the same themes that came up in his discussion with Pierre. I had hoped to share this with Ink readers sooner than now but with the quiet period in place heading into earnings, I was unable to do so.
Before we jump into the original conversation, however, I wanted to make sure I addressed a timely and critical discussion that has been given more fuel by a Financial Times story, that ran on the heels of the earnings news this week, that I felt needed clarification directly from John. So, the first question and answer below is from earlier today. The rest is the transcript of my conversation with him on March 21. I plan on sitting down with Skype president, Josh Silverman, in the coming weeks to get his take on the future. For now, here is my conversation with John.
April 16, 2008
Q. I read in the Financial Times that we may sell Skype. That if the synergies are strong, we’ll keep it in our portfolio. If not, we’ll reassess it. Is this true?
We have no plans to sell Skype… and why would we? As I said in the story, it’s a great business with a great purpose — enabling the world’s conversations. With a new president, our plan for Skype is to focus on providing the best possible user experience and continuing the incredible growth momentum we’ve enjoyed with Skype for the past four years.
To be clear, I’ve fully supported big investments in Skype, including removing the earn-out, and bringing over some top talent like Josh. I think this business has tremendous potential that we’ve only started to tap. Josh and I are both excited about the prospects … our job now is to make sure we continue to build on Skype’s successes and grow its passionate community of users.
March 21, 2008
Q. Thanks for taking the time today. I’m going to jump right in by addressing the marketplace. There’s been a lot of talk about how you look at the business. Some of our users have even claimed that you don’t like the marketplace. What do you say to that?
I love the marketplace. I love the purpose, mission and values that underlie eBay. It’s why I left a really good job to join this company. I have enjoyed getting to know our community, this business, and the employees over the last three years. And yes, I love the marketplace! Let me share a story with you: I spent New Year’s in Australia visiting an old friend of mine – a music lover – and I wanted to send him a thank you gift. I went and found the entire collection of KFOG – Live at the Archives on eBay. There’s no place else in the world where I could get a collection like that so easily – I got volume 4 - 14. I went back and forth with several sellers – building the collection. And then I found a seller who had a set but had already sold it. I asked him where I could get another one (for myself) so in the end I was able to send one to my friend and get one for myself. That kind of interaction never ceases to excite me. The seller has since emailed me and asked me if I had listened to song 4 on collection 6 … to me, that is eBay.
So, I love the marketplace and I love our purpose and mission. More than anything, I feel a huge sense of responsibility to maintain the vibrancy and the relevance of eBay in today’s ecommerce environment … and in tomorrow’s. And that to me is the biggest challenge.
Q. Speaking of challenges that you face; specifically as the new CEO on the block, Meg said in her internal memo to employees “It’s time for eBay, and this community, to have a new leadership team, a new perspective, and a new vision.” How does your vision differ from Meg’s?
The world is changing and it’s a different time from when eBay was born. There are different formats and platforms that sellers can sell on. There are different websites that buyers can buy on. I view my biggest priority and challenge is to ensure that we bring the very best of what eBay has represented over the years. This means giving buyers great value and selection and giving sellers a great opportunity to sell at unparalleled volumes and to bring eBay into today’s world and tomorrow’s. So that buyers say “eBay is the best place to find value and selection and I will continue to come back” and so that sellers are able to sell and make a living which in turn fuels eBay’s success.
Q. You continue to reference challenges and you’ve also been quoted as being aggressive when facing those challenges. In the January earnings call, for example, you said that “we’re going to get very aggressive about making eBay easier and safer to use”. Can you elaborate on how you actually see us being aggressive? Provide specific examples?
We have to confront some sacred cows. Our guiding principle is what is best for our marketplace? What is good for the buyer? At the end of the day we need buyers and what has distinguished eBay from the beginning is the extraordinary traffic. We’ve done a lot of research on buyers and we know what turns them off. Our best buyers are telling us that they’re having too many bad experiences and that is unacceptable.
Q. What kind of bad experiences?
A big issue is excessive shipping charges. A second is that the item is not as described. A third is item not received. A fourth example, which is particularly infuriating, is when a buyer receives retaliatory negative feedback. Our most active buyers have told us that this was among their primary reasons for buying less on eBay. But we’re doing our part to make it better. For example, we’re focusing on providing better customer support and protections for our buyers when they have a bad experience. Our number one goal is to ensure that our marketplace provides the best experience for buyers so that they come back.
Q. What about the seller experience?
On the sellers’ side we heard a lot of feedback, too. Sellers came to us and said a number of things, including that incentives aren’t aligned enough … that they were absorbing too much of the risk with insertion fees … that they wanted to list at higher volumes and create listings more easily. They also told us they wanted to get a gauge of where they stand in terms of performance.
The new pricing that we’re rolling out is directly in response to this feedback. The seller dashboard that we’re rolling out in May is in direct response to that. We’re making improvements to our tools for casual sellers. For example, we instituted a process that has cut down the listing time by a third. And for larger sellers, we’re doing a number of things that will make their experience on eBay much easier. We’re determined to be the healthiest and most vibrant marketplace today for both buyers and sellers.
Q. Taking a step back from the Marketplace – looking at eBay Inc., the big picture. We have a lot of irons in a lot of fires… what is it that keeps you up at night?
It’s having the courage to stay with what is right for our customers, even when there is controversy around it. I really care a lot about listening to the community. I care a lot about being customer focused. But I also recognize that there are 80 million different opinions out there and it’s tough not to be paralyzed by that many different beliefs on where we should go as a company.
I feel that our user experience didn’t keep pace for a number of years, partly because we were trying to please all of the people, all of the time … we became less decisive in making changes that we had to make. Now we need to have clarity and conviction to acknowledge what needs to be done – and then do it.
For example, we instituted detailed seller ratings last year, which caused a lot of controversy in the community. But we know they’re working – both buyers and sellers are telling us that. At the end of the day, we must have the courage to do what’s best for the marketplace.
That’s not to say we won’t make corrections where needed. For example, we announced changes to pricing across the board at the eCommerce Forum, but heard from some sellers that the structure didn’t suit certain categories very well. So, we went back and changed pricing for media, such as books, CDs and DVDs.
We are going to be much more balanced moving forward in terms of being responsive, yet sticking with our conviction.
Q. Any advice to the new guy?
Listen and have passion. Our goal is not to be a finely tuned, smooth, perfect machine. The minute our community stops talking is the minute I worry. Because their opinions, constructive criticism or praise, stem from passion. People are basically good – that is our belief. And we will not shut our ears to what people have to say – we will embrace it.
Tagged: ceo, ebay, eBay Ink, ebay interview, ecommerce, executive profile, interview, john+donahoe, Marketplace, online marketplace, paypal, q&a, skype
Patricia 1On 04.21.2008 at 2:24 pm Said:
“There is a fear among some sellers – expressed here for example - that once the feedback changes are in place next month, vast legions of “bad buyers,” who have been waiting patiently in the wings, will suddenly descend on the marketplace, leaving hasty and undeserved negatives willy nilly.”
With all due respect, Griff - you obviously do not read the Ebay Feedback discussion board. I have been selling for 10 years…in all that time I’ve left only two negatives (both NPB’s back when there was no other recourse), yet, I will fight to keep that right. I do NOT leave feedback first and for one very good reason. If there is a problem I want the opportunity to make it right - I do NOT want any surprises - I want the buyer to come to ME and to say there is a problem. In all truth, the transaction is NOT complete until BOTH buyer and seller are satisfied! When you take away my right to leave feedback you allow buyers to simply leave a negative instead of bothering to come to me and say they are not satisfied! In every case where a buyer has done that and requested a refund he got one with no questions asked. This is how a good seller maintains a reputable business and keeps his buyers HAPPY! This new policy is such a major major problem and you folks just cannot see it. to you, its just another experimentation in trying to get buyers to buy more - to us - it is our livelihood you’re playing with! Like I’ve been saying all along, this won’t rid the site of one bad seller - but a lot of good, honest sellers are going to get slapped around and have the reputations they worked darned hard for damaged AND they will leave. This is the biggest reason why sellers are scoping other sites and supporting other sites because they KNOW what’s coming. Okay…its not our turf, we either play by the rules or leave…but I have a feeling ebay is already beginning to realize it is the latter and not the former that is happening! The very idea ebay has enlarged buyers blocked bidder lists dumps the whole concept of bad buyers on us and ebay stands ready to penalize us for having had bad buyers in the first place. I am so furious I can spit nails!
Patricia 1On 04.21.2008 at 2:30 pm Said:
“That is not going to happen. Here’s why. There are tens of thousands (or more) sellers on eBay right now who have been employing feedback as though the changes have been in effect for years. They always leave positive feedback immediately upon receipt of payment which effectively “blocks” them from leaving a negative for a buyer. These sellers tend to have fewer disputes and higher rates of positive feedback and DSRs compared to those sellers who either subtly or overtly hang the sword of negative feedback retaliation over their customers. ”
Just to blow that myth out of the water, I have several thousand feedback at 100 percent, DSR’s 5.0, 5.0, 5.0 and 4.9! More than double my customers come back and buy again and again. I’m sorry, but you people and your new policies are SO wrong I cannot believe it!
DagnyOn 04.21.2008 at 3:35 pm Said:
@Griff
[I]As we have announced (and as we have repeated since the announcement), if a non-paying buyer in a UPI dispute does not respond do the dispute (and by “respond” we mean a substantive, verifiable response), that buyer will be blocked from leaving a negative. If the buyer has already left a negative, it will be removed. If a buyer is suspended from eBay (for whatever reason but for the sake of this discussion, for attempting to use feedback to extort a seller), all of the feedback left by that buyer will be removed from the site.[/I]
Really Griff? A response with substance? Well that is real news. As the policy stands now a NPB can respond with a single –period- and the feedback will not be neutralized.
So eBay is going to review responses for substance ? What will constitute a response of substance? What excuse for not paying will be acceptable and verifiable?
Well, I look forward to reading that revised policy, but I hope when sellers lift the proverbial bun on the policy they will not be left wondering – “Where’s the beef?”
implogOn 04.21.2008 at 3:47 pm Said:
For an exercise in how eBay protects sellers, let’s look at buyer PICOLABETTY.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000664197&start=0
Reported to eBay Trust & Safety on March 28, 2008 and to eBay spokesman acting as a non-spokesman Usher Lieberman in this blog on April 4, 2008.
PICOLABETTY was having an “excellent buyer experience” while scamming multiple sellers and leaving multiple undeserved negs.
Buyer was NARU on April 15, 2008, 18 days after report to Trust and Safety and 11 days after link to thread about the buyer was posted on this blog.
Way to go eBay. We feel safer.
Then there is buyer JIM_TIEN. He’s having an “excellent buying experience” too.
Look at his feedback.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=jim_tien&ftab=AllFeedback
Defrauding eBay sellers for nearly 1 month and still active.
Below copied from Auction Bytes blog comments on post titled “eBay Helps Sellers Block Bad Buyers”
“eBay Helps Sellers Block Bad Buyers
by: rainbowseeker
Sun Apr 20 2008 10:31:15
EBay also said they will be working to swiftly kick off bad buyers. I had a recent experience with that so called swiftness.
A couple weeks ago I sold an expensive set of sterling flatware to a buyer with the ID jim_tien. If you do a search for this ID you will see it is still active. The address for it was given as in the Russian Federation. At the time I sold the sterling he had one positive recent feedback and no negatives. Late the evening of the purchase he wrote asking if I would ship the next day if he paid me immediately. Well I would have to be stupid to answer yes to that request…which I did not. By the next evening his one positive feedback had a note on it that he had retracted the payment once the item was shipped….and I was also contacted by another seller that he had tried to pay them with a stolen Pay Pal account.
I of course called powersellers to be told there was nothing they could do so I wrote security and trust. My email was acknowledged as received but to date I have not received a reply.
Meanwhile the buyer has now acquired 5 negatives and I am sure several dispute counsel strikes…mine included….yet he is still listed as active. He has obviously moved to another ID. Let this be a glaring example of eBay’s SWIFT action against bad buyers. Who…remember….we will no longer be able to leave NEGATIVE feedback for.
My take….is an old one….don’t believe anything eBay promises us.”
~~~~~
And as one commenter to the same post wrote;
“The ONLY way another seller would know that this buyer is a thief and using what seems to be a stolen credit card number is the negative feedback left by sellers.
ARE YOU LISTENING EBAY? NEGATIVE FEEBACK LEFT BY SELLERS IS THE ONLY WAY ANYONE WOULD KNOW THIS BUYER IS A THIEF!!
Sorry for shouting but ebay’s hearing problem while ”listening” to the community is working my last nerve”
~~~~~
Much safer eBay, so much safer……………
KarlOn 04.21.2008 at 3:49 pm Said:
“There is a fear among some sellers – expressed here for example - that once the feedback changes are in place next month, vast legions of “bad buyers,” who have been waiting patiently in the wings, will suddenly descend on the marketplace, leaving hasty and undeserved negatives willy nilly.”
It remains to be seen what the outcome will be,ebay through their policies can and often do change or set trends,and not always for the better.
The feedback change coupled with the other changes and the way they are being implemented have a strong potential of creating a very high maintenance service with high maintenance buyers.
Because sellers who left feedback first under the old system faired OK doesn’t guarantee it will remain the same….after all ebay thought the MFW was a good idea.
My guess would be after May the top negative feedbacks given will be,in no particular order “Seller Doesn’t Leave Feedback” “Overcharged on Shipping” and “Slow Shipping”.
Since feedback for buyers will become meaningless it should be done away with completely.That would solve one of the upcoming problems anyway.A far more efficient system would be to use just the DSR setup and add a comment function for both buyers and sellers.Of course it would need to be tweaked some,but it would remove the stigma and focus on the red dots.The scarlet letter effect would be eliminated.
I hope eBay has a plan B and C waiting in the wings they can implement on a moments notice.
So far,judging by the effects of the changes that’s already been rolled out they’ll need em.
SandiOn 04.21.2008 at 3:50 pm Said:
“As we have announced (and as we have repeated since the announcement), if a non-paying buyer in a UPI dispute does not respond do the dispute (and by “respond” we mean a substantive, verifiable response), ”
Are you stating ebay is going to actually have real life human interface? How will that happen with recent layoffs? Ebay can not even enforce it’s own plicies, e.g. I reported 40 auctons in the last week that have clear, obvious policy violations and not one was pulled by ebay.
And then there is the comment - as long as a buyer does not mention shipping, non as described, etc. Come on, an unpaid item 99% of the time means the buyer never paid. All that statement did was open the door for buyers to make one staement and the seller gets the shaft - AGAIN.
Why is ebay “assuming” they are not an equal opportunity venue? Are they not aware that for every bad seller there is a bad buyer? Come on, a 5th grader could figure that out.
As a seller, I lost 179.00 when a buyer did a fraulent reversal, ebay and paypal did nothing to protect me, I still live with the negative that buyer RETALITIATED with. She was finally kicked off ebay 104 days after she registered, so I and the other 5 sellers she negged have lived with her negative for over a year - and now we are to believe ebay is actually going to do what they say?
As abuyer, I have enough common sense to use the tools provided me. I actually read the description, I actually check the seller’s feedback, I determine if shipping is acceptable - then I determine if I want to do business with the seller.
Fairy tales, that is all it is. ebay has lost the trust of it’s users, sellers did not do that, buyers did not do that - ebay managed that task all by itself - now publically blames sellers. Shame on them.
It is not sellers who caused distrust, ebay has a long time track record of failing ALL its users. They certainly have a long way to go before they can even hint that they are somehow able to determine what is good customer service.
It is obvious whoever is coming up with these hair brain ideas is clueless to retail trends - the highest performing retailer as a buyer satisfaction rating of 80% - everyone else is below that. Now that ebay has given buyers free reign, did they not understand that those same buyers would be rating their sellers? When ebay sellers avg a 70-80% feedback score, how will ebay then convince buyers the virtual makretplace is safer than it was today?
I have DSRs in the top 10%, heck I actually have 5.0 on shipping and handling - but I will not sell or buy on ebay as long as management takes no responsibility for ITS OWN mistakes, as long as management disrepects every single user.
As a buyer I totally resent that my 100% feedback has been devalued. As a buyer, my feedback will be the same as every scam buyer. I worked hard for that 100%, I followed the rules, I treated my sellers as I wanted to be treated (FYI I have never used the DSRs as a buyer, I found the entire system cumbersome and useless). The policy also tells me as a buyer that I am petty and childish. It tells me I am apparently unable to do simple math and must not have reading comprehension skills - why else would shipping charges bother me? I take responsibility for my own actions - what a concept I know - ebay should try it sometime.
PLEASE let’s not forget ebay created part of the retailitory negative issue when they implemented the seller performance restrictions - their OWN customer reps were telling sellers impacted to do WHATEVER it took to get buyers to withdraw negative feedbacks.
What Einstein came up with elimating mutual withdrawal down the road???? Go to the feedback board of the AC and see just how many clueless buyers say they left a neg by mistake, how do they change it.
ebay has not been honest with their users in a long time. They can not expect users to lay down and say “yes sir” when ebay makes policies that will ultimately destroy the marketplace.
implogOn 04.21.2008 at 3:57 pm Said:
@ Griff
Below is copied a question I posed to Richard in the blog’s infancy. Maybe you can provide an answer as Ms. Norrington seems to be part of the Town Hall.
Thanks in advance.
~~~~~
implog
On 04.02.2008 at 4:42 pm Said:
Please re-round the circle squared by eBay President Lorrie Norrington on the eBay Announcement Board on March 20, 2008 titled “Update For Sellers”.
Norrington seems to be attempting to address the concerns of sellers who fear a neg from a non-paying bidder. Norrington attempts to mitigate the new “neg sellers only” policy by writing:
“What we have determined is that if the buyer does not specifically call out poor seller performance, item condition or transaction problems during the UPI process, eBay will remove the seller’s negative or neutral feedback — retroactively.”
This makes no sense. Sellers do not send items won in auctions before receiving payment. How can a buyer who leaves a neg be justified by claiming a problem with “item condition” for an item never sent, received nor seen? Again, sellers DO NOT send items without first receiving payment.
While Norrington’s “solution” may be boss pleasing “disruptive innovation”, it flat out makes no sense in the real world of selling on eBay.
Thank you for your help.
TheBrewsNewsOn 04.21.2008 at 4:11 pm Said:
Griff says:
“it is our job, our ethical duty to you and to the success of this marketplace to do what only we, as stewards, can do:
Change the system.”
***********************
So by Griff’s reasoning I am “assuming” then eBay also plans on CHANGING THE SYSTEM in the following ways to ensure the success of the marketplace:
1. Offering free shipping on all items sold directly in the eBay Powerseller store or at least change the shipping costs to be in line with what eBay has suggested the “optimum” shipping costs should be. Example:
In the Power Seller merchandise section, Griff’s Book OFFICIAL EBAY BIBLE, the shipping and handling is $8.43. Try charging $8.43 for S/H on eBay for a book and a popup message appears WARNING you that your shipping charges are out of line. Can you imagine what kind of DSR rating a buyer would give the PowerSeller merchandise section for the shipping and handling charge. Hmm….. Okay, just so that it doesn’t seem that I am picking on Griff, how about the S/H for a one ounce pin? $4.87. Again, is this “acceptable” for eBay sellers to charge? I think not. But it is okay for eBay to charge those shipping charges. Do as I say, not as I do.
2. Offering free telephone support for EVERY seller.
Didn’t eBay recommend that sellers provide telephone support in order to improve their communication ratings and their customer service? Hey, what a great idea. But I didn’t see where eBay suggested that sellers only provide telephone support for eBay buyers who purchase more than $1,000 a month. How about providing telephone support for ALL eBay sellers (telephone support just like “The River” does… and since eBay is obviously trying so hard to emulate the policies on The River why not also emulate the ones that would require eBay to actually change THEIR own system)?
3. Confirming new eBay users and linking all eBay bidder IDs so when a seller blocks a buyer, they can block ALL of the buyer’s current and future IDs.
eBay is acting as a caring steward in removing the bottom 5% of sellers who are providing the most buyer dissatisfaction. What about removing the bottom 1% of buyers who are causing 90% of the problems for sellers? Rather than turning anyone away, eBay wants every buyer… even the ones who don’t pay or who scam sellers. But, of course, eBay has nothing to gain by restricting the bottom 1% of buyers …. except relieved sellers who could better care for the 99% of great eBay buyers. Yep, I agree with you Griff…. eBay needs to change the system.
*******************
I love 99.9% of my customers and I have a very high rate of return of repeat customers. But I still have that 1 in 1,000 new buyer who is obviously out to take advantage of the system. Those buyers are not necessarily unique to eBay (I also manage several ecommerce websites and have had my share of problem mail-order buyers) but the problem buyers find it easier to gravitate to eBay because the eBay and Paypal system supports the problem buyer. The problem buyer would be kicked to the curb on “The River” and I would refuse a future website order from a problem buyer. However, I cannot block a problem buyer on eBay because it is too easy for the buyer to simply start over with a new ID.
Regarding the “surveys” that eBay is basing their decisions on….. I have experienced the eBay surveys as both a buyer and seller and if I were ever to submit the type of biased eBay survey in my Masters Level or Doctoral Level college courses I would have been laughed out of the classroom. Of course you can get any type of answers you want from a survey if you ask the questions in a biased manner. It is not the big red donut (negative feedback) that causes a “good” eBay buyer to leave the eBay community… it is oh so much more.
******************
After reading Griff’s discussion of eBay ethics and his mention of data and surveys, I created a survey of my own.
In today’s edition of eBay Family Feud ……. 1,000 eBay sellers were surveyed.
Sellers were asked what is the first word or thought that comes to mind when you think of the term
“eBay ethics” ………………………number one answer “Oxymoron”
GailOn 04.21.2008 at 5:02 pm Said:
Griff ~ Regarding your 4th paragraph, “for the sake of this discussion, for attempting to use feedback to extort a seller”…….this is Lorrie Norrington’s 3/17/08 statement: “When we identify a pattern of abuse, or the evidence is clear from your report, we will remove the negative or neutral feedback — retroactively. But, we can’t identify those patterns without your help and reporting. This is a call to action for every seller.”
This doesn’t sound to me like eBay will remove a buyer’s undeserved negative feedback to a seller. It sounds more like ‘email us and we’ll send you a canned response as usual’. What constitutes a “pattern”? How many sellers have to complain about a buyer before one feedback can be removed? Who at eBay will be watching for this ‘pattern’, and how will they know when they see one if there are no set rules? If there are set rules, for heaven’s sake, publish them!
And, while eBay is waiting for this ‘pattern’ to appear, PayPal is 1) withholding payment from the seller, and then 2) refunding the buyer’s payment because a bogus complaint has been filed.
Regarding Norrington’s last two sentences above, what does she think we’ve been doing for years now? It’s about time for eBay to do some of its own heavy lifting. eBay has servers and programmers up to its adam’s apple. If toolhaus could extract negatives left by an certain ID, eBay can certainly do it, also. Analyze something that really has to do with users’ experience!
Speaking of which, why didn’t eBay just get rid of the sellers who routinely used retaliatory feedback, instead of (in essence) removing the feedback tool from all sellers? Could it be that eBay realized it was their biggest sellers who were causing these retaliatory problems?
AmberOn 04.21.2008 at 8:09 pm Said:
@Griff,
I’m sorry Griff, but I cannot believe that buyers left the site due to negative feedback.
They left the site because they didn’t get what they paid for, were overcharged for shipping, discovered ebay has NO customer support (come on–you know it’s pathetic,) and…finally….couldn’t find what they were looking for because search is such a mess.
Best Match is a disaster–especially for small sellers. My sales are the worst they’ve ever been. EVER! I offer terrific customer service and have a 30-50% repeat buyer base. BUT, since I’m not a Powerseller, I don’t qualify for the FVF discounts, I don’t get “special” listing fee sales, and I don’t get phone support.
I don’t now and never will agree with your opinion regarding feedback. Buyers have always had a responsibility that extended beyond payment. The increase in “retaliatory” negatives was in direct proportion to the number of buyers who “jumped the gun” and left feedback first instead of contacting the seller to address a problem. Mandating a Contact Seller form prior to leaving negative feedback would go a long way to fixing the issue. Feedback is not a communication tool but, sadly, it is increasingly being used as such.
I, like others, have ZERO faith that ebay has the personnel to police the NPB Negatives. I have yet to have them respond in the time frame promised or even address the actual issue I reported. Not once in 5 years.
@Richard,
I too think those numbers are inaccurate. I have a buying id and a selling id. Many users have 3 ids: 1 for buying, 1 for selling, 1 for posting. Regardless, though, buyers don’t pay the fees. Sellers do. Ebay gets insertion fees even if there are no buyers. Ergo, sellers are eBay’s customers. Buyers are important, yes, but talking to people I know who buy elsewhere, feedback isn’t even a blip on the radar as to the reasons they left. Price, lousy search, and horrible customer service(from ebay and the sellers) were much more important.
Patricia 1On 04.21.2008 at 8:35 pm Said:
I think we can all see by now that ebay is not going to take the blame for anything. Far easier to dump it on the sellers and who cares if some of the better ones leave…we’re a dime a dozen….or so THEY think!
JJHOn 04.21.2008 at 8:53 pm Said:
Griff said:
“There is a fear among some sellers – expressed here for example - that once the feedback changes are in place next month, vast legions of “bad buyers,” who have been waiting patiently in the wings, will suddenly descend on the marketplace, leaving hasty and undeserved negatives willy nilly.
That is not going to happen.”
OK Griff, let me just ask one simple question…
What if it does happen? What will eBay do about it?
I don’t think you’re “plan” to remove all that feedback is capable of that load.
So play devils advocate with me here a minute Griff, as ebaY’s “first” customer service representative.
What WILL you [ebaY] do if it DOES happen?
I will not hold my breath waiting for an answer, and I sincerely do not say that to be rude.
Your’s Truly,
JJH
DaveyOn 04.21.2008 at 9:06 pm Said:
@Griff
I had a few thoughts, as a 2200+ feedback “lily white” seller as you call us, and I think a “B” seller or whatever you call a seller who leaves feedback after they get feedback, as that signals to me that a deal is completely wrapped up (I’ve only left 3 negs, well-deserved, for buyers, so I’m not a retaliator). My FB is the result of really hard work, pure and simple. I represent a good cross-section of users leaving for other sites as I build business there, as I do not feel welcome here at all.
Your quote:
“As we have announced (and as we have repeated since the announcement), if a non-paying buyer in a UPI dispute does not respond do the dispute (and by “respond” we mean a substantive, verifiable response), ”
This can be repeated ad-infinitum with the same vacuous effect. It might be believable IF eBay had a track record for anything other than brain-dead customer service and T&S. I can only assume that if you haven’t seen the ugly underbelly of the respons-o-matic randomized boilerplate bot, you wouldn’t understand. The eBay/Paypal complex regularily ignores verifying facts when it is playing with sellers’ money, how much less will it do with things having to do with sellers’ reputations? FOr example, Bill Cobb said quite some time ago that the canned support responses would disappear. Have they? (No!) What makes your assurance above any more reliable?
Will this verification be automatic and wind out all sorts of bad judgements like some of the current systems which can be gamed? Or will it involve faxing in reams of documentation, usually twice as the first copy is overlooked or lost?
When eBay in effect answers sellers’ concerns with a “Trust us, we’ll take care of that,” it does nothing to assuage fears as we’ve all run across eBay’s “sincere” customer service commitment at one time or another, or repeatedly. This is customer service that make cellular and cable companies look real good.
While I’m on the customer service topic, how about the principle of leading by example? eBay’s push to get sellers to improve their customer support smacks of hypocrisy at its highest. Why doesn’t eBay get its own house in order first?
“Your success (sellers) is absolutely crucial to the success of the marketplace.”
Great, we want that too. How about taking input on goals from a good cross-section of sellers to see if those goals can be met with policies that are friendlier to the community rather than kneejerk responses and telling us what we prefer? Getting the DSR system straightened out and tied to a single, natural language definition of success and failure (to both buyers and sellers)would be an easy first goal.
Having dealt with data all my life, I know even “incontrovertable” data can mean whatever you massage it to be. As another person mentioned, the way most eBay surveys I’ve gotten are biased, good data would be almost impossible to distill.
You guys need to return one more time to the ideating room and ask why eBay worked so well several years ago. Any more “disruptions” and you may be the stewards of an empty room (unless you count the Chinese sellers remaining). You’re right that people resist change in general. Most of us, though, appreciate change more if it goes in our favor, at least partway. We’ve been here long enough to know how the marketplace really works. When you remove the only anti-fraud tool a seller has (reliable two-way feedback), raise our fees (mine went up 50 percent!) when the press release says otherwise, don’t address long-standing bugs and other system issues, and bury our goods in Best Match, one wonders…
SandiOn 04.21.2008 at 10:10 pm Said:
@Davey:
“This is customer service that make cellular and cable companies look real good.”
A few years ago we had a problem with the IRS, it turned out to be simply 2 numbers having been tranposed, but I still remember the first agent I spoke to saying, “Just be patient, it will be painful, but just work through the system and it will be all fixed in the end,”
7 months later he was proven right.
That experience with the IRS was easier and less painful than when the buyer did the fradulent reversal. Trying to get anyone from ebay or paypal to listen was impossible. I couldn’t even get them to acknowledge they might have a buyer who needs to be watched. I was to the point, ok forget about me and my money, can you at least protect other sellers from this criminal???
To add insult to injury, she had left me a negative after I left her one - my only negative I might add - I got an email from ebay telling me I was fallen below their 5% buyer whatever they call it or some garbage - this happened last year right when they poorly implemented that policy.
It’s really a sad commentary that the IRS provided better service than ebay - and the IRS was less painful.
My other suggestion to ebay is get one thing right, I mean completely right before implementing any other change! Go to the answer center and you will find daily posts from users who can’t leave feedback, or it is telling them they have already left it when they haven’t. The site has been broken forever.
J. JuradoOn 04.22.2008 at 12:34 am Said:
The problem is very simple!
Why we as sellers want to list 7500+ items?
If the best Match default put our items 123 places down.
An item that will end 9 hours later,
That with a combine price and shipping cost of $18.60
Is in the top first place!
With only 131 FBs!
A member since April 08 2008
We offer the exact same Brand New item,
with a combine price and shipping cost of $11.00
that will end in 2 hours!
it is placed 123 places bellow!
We have over 19589 FBs!
Members since 2001
We list on what we believe are strategic times,
We keep in consideration several factors on buyer’s patterns,
I.e. We make sure none of our listing will end at
the time American Idol is showing!
We were doing and average of $12,000.00 at month
Paying eBay and PayPal around $2,760.00 at month
Clearly given eBay and PayPal 23% of our gross Sales
Listing and average of 7500 items a month
And selling around 680 items or 12% of our listings!
Of which 10% are repeat buyers.
Now our sales had plummeted to $6812,44
in the last 30 days! And we just paid eBay alone
2039.00 in listing and selling fees!
With the new best match default listing
We the sellers are now subsiding
All of the 122 listings above us!
Even so we offer the same
Brand New Item for $11.00!
We can’t believe that eBay is using
Their coveted ‘Best Match” search engine,
As their vehicle for a better buyer experience!
What eBay had fail to analyze is that
The Best Buyer Experience is coming to eBay
To find great products at great prices!
Buyers come to eBay to find a bargain,
Buyers come to eBay to experience the eBay
That wants to offers the best deals in the internet!
But now eBay default search systems,
List more expensive items first
with total disregard of ending times or pricing
Long on the hard knocks,
But short on the long green!
Does that give me Venture Capital potential?
These changes are causing a tremendous
Decrease on sales with the direct consequence
Of a decrease on the number of successful listings.
We are been force to list less because
We won have
Revenue to list more!
It doesn’t make sense to list 7500 items
To only sale 300 items a month!
This weekend we sold only 15 items
The lowest in our history on eBay!
Our operating results and profitability
Is been harmed buy eBay decisions.
And ultimately we all will loose,
The sellers, the buyers, the eBay community
And the stockholders.
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