Thursday, April 24th, 2008
eCommerce Summit Q&A: Part 1
As promised, I will be posting Q&A sessions on Ink in multiple parts to make sure I cover all questions posed both here on the blog already, and at the eCommerce Summit. The following questions were asked immediately following Lorrie’s keynote yesterday.
Q. Based on a group study this morning, 2 out of 5 of the current PowerSellers with the best store listings on eBay Pulse will not qualify for PowerSeller status based on DSR ratings, when that goes into effect. How are you going to address this issue?
Lorrie Norrington, President of Marketplace Operations: It’s true that some sellers won’t make the grade with DSRs. When we put out the DSR requirements, we said you would need to have a 4.5 or above to qualify for PowerSeller status. We also gave sellers until July 1 to bring up their DSRs. Based on what we presented earlier, it’s obvious that a high percentage of PowerSellers are not only making the grade with DSRs but they’re qualifying for discounts. Sellers need to reach out to us and their TSAMs because clearly there are some best practices out there to ensure folks get the highest DSR possible; whether it’s over communicating or immediate feedback, for example.
Todd Lutwak, Sr. Director of Seller Development and Programs: The sellers have done an excellent job raising their DSRs. I think that sample that you took locally is definitely different from the metrics we’re seeing. Over 80% of PowerSellers have 4.5 DSR or above. We’re continuing to monitor as we progress to that July date.
Lorrie: I’d like to add that we really appreciate the work that PeSA is doing here. The educational work is going to be really important for sellers that want to get their high DSRs. To Todd’s point, 80% are doing it now and we want to have more.
Q. You said that there were some retaliatory remarks that prompted the change to Feedback? Can you elaborate on that?
Lorrie: I was referring to the fact that sellers were 8 times more likely to leave a retaliatory negative remark and that is why we changed the Feedback system.
Q. What was happening there? Can you talk more about this?
Matt Halprin, VP of Trust and Safety: The Feedback system was set up to make sure that both parties were accountable to each other. What has happened over time is that sellers have increasingly held off on leaving feedback until the buyer leaves feedback to make sure they don’t get a negative rating without being able to counter that. Sellers used to do this twice as much as buyers; now it is eight times as much. So basically buyers were no longer willing to hold sellers accountable for their performance; which is why 90% of sellers have positive feedback scores of 99% and above. As a result, buyers don’t trust the feedback system because they can’t discriminate between great sellers, average sellers or poor sellers. We needed to fix that because eBay is based on trust. If buyers don’t have trust they won’t send money or bid as much on an item (we’ve all talked about the notion of ASPs not being quite as high as they used to be). It is up to us to help your economics by making sure that buyers are more confident when they bid. Which is why we changed the system and with this more honest of a system we’ll be able to do things like elevate items in search and reward sellers for top performance with bigger discounts. All of which will create more of a race to the top than we’ve had before.
Lorrie: We announced this change back in January and it goes into effect in May. My advice is as soon as your buyers pay you, give them positive feedback.
Q. I was at the Catalyst Conference and I’m really excited to hear about some of things you’re introducing and to see you guys out here in force. You said it today, and it came up back at the Catalyst Conference about the .02 points discrepancy for non-domestic DSRs. There are some areas of this world that just don’t have the same postal service as we do here in the US. There is a distinct drag in Italy for example, really slow. Another is Slovakia. I shouldn’t have to tell the Canadian customer that his mail system is stinky – he already knows it – but it won’t stop him from dinging me on shipping. I know you look at it from the 50,000 foot level but it would be great if you could address it more granularly so maybe I could qualify for the 15% discount next time. [Applause]
Matt: Although this is the first time I’ve heard about Slovakia, it’s not the first time I’ve heard about Italy or Canada. We’re aware of it and there are a variety of ways we’re looking at addressing it. I don’t think right now that we have a tool that allows you to lock out a country like Italy for example (if you simply choose not to ship there) but that is one end of the spectrum. Just to share one bit of information, and I admit it is 50,000 foot information, but it is very telling for us. We thought that all Cross Border Trade DSRs were going to be a little bit lower than domestic DSRs because of shipping. Actually, around 50% of sellers have cross border trade DSRs that are equal to or higher than their domestic ones. So obviously there are some best practices in place that are helping address that possible situation. Now, I want to make sure I affirm what you said – we are looking directly at Italy and Canada to address that specific issue.
Q. Talking about shipping. Shipping & Handling cost seems to be the lowest DSR for most eBay sellers, I think we can all agree there. Shoppers love free-shipping. Can you talk about how eBay looks at free-shipping relative to DSR scores as well as free-shipping economic models that work for sellers in the eBay landscape?
Matt: Shipping and handling is the lowest DSR of the four but I do want to point out that 72% of all DSRs left for S&H are 5s. Frankly, I think that means the DSRs are working because we all know that S&H charges on eBay are higher than the Internet on the whole. So we have an online shopping environment that has set buyer expectations and we all need to find ways to address that together.
Dinesh Lathi, VP of Seller Experience: The fact of the matter is that free shipping is the standard for eCommerce now. Sellers who want to meet buyer expectations need to aspire to that. It is our job, the people here on stage, to help you do that. So, there are definite things in the works at eBay that will help you accomplish that. Look for that soon.
Lorrie: And, in the end, I think it’s pretty straightforward that you need to be very specific when you identify shipping costs and set that expectation and again, to Matt’s point, there are a lot of people out there getting 5s for S&H.
Q. I understand the retaliatory feedback concept. I don’t agree with it but I understand it. What I don’t understand is why DSRs are anonymous. If we have customers leaving valid DSRs we want to know who they are so we can make things right. If we can’t do anything to counter their feedback, we should be able to see what they’re leaving us. [Applause]
Matt: This is a tough issue and it’s one that we haven’t settled on inside eBay yet. I’ll explain why they are the way they are now but also talk about the fact that they may be changing. First of all, why wouldn’t we make it completely transparent? The answer is that we have seen sellers who send emails after receiving a negative, (for example, they have received a 3 or 4 from a buyer) and the seller begins to harass the buyer. I get examples of this sent to me from buyers all the time. The harassment is what we’re really trying to get away from. eBay really is the only place where a merchant can kick the buyer on their way out the door. This is the reason why we might keep it anonymous. The argument for making it completely transparent is very obvious. It will help sellers learn about what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong. So what I think you’ll see at a minimum is us moving to a place where we provide the information in different ways – whether it’s by geography or by category – or go all the way and provide complete transparency. We’re not sure yet, we want to monitor how the new feedback system works before making our final decision.
Lorrie: It is an important point though. I think it’s obvious that our intent is to put more trust back into the system. We think this new Feedback system does that. Like Matt said, we haven’t even rolled it out yet so we’re just going to have to see how it goes. I think it’s a great point of learning for us. I think this is a good time to emphasize what we’re trying to get across to sellers. First of all, we want an incredibly open dialogue with you and to listen to you and there will be places where we continue to roll out new initiatives or experiments that we’ll want your input on. There will also be places where we won’t change because we think it’s best for the marketplace. But the open and honest dialogue with each other can only help. So, in the case of the new feedback system, we haven’t rolled it out yet, and as we do roll it out we’ll learn from it.
Q. We have a shipping calculator on our system so that anyone that comes and makes a bid can calculate the shipping cost before they make a decision to buy and yet we still only have a 4.6 for shipping. We would like to be able to respond to them to find out why they’re not leaving a 5 even though they knew the cost was coming.
Matt: With the new system I think everyone in this room will get more specific information on a transaction that has not gone perfectly well. Buyers will now have 80 characters to provide feedback and detail all without the fear of a negative retaliatory feedback.
Lorrie: And I think this is exactly the kind of input we’re hoping to get here. Our intent is to make your experience better so it’s this kind of feedback that helps get us there.
At this point, the keynote Q&A was ended to allow for the first sessions to commence. Immediately following this initial Q&A session, all eBay representatives moved into the panel room for an hour of further questions and discussion. That one is coming next time.
Cheers,
RBH
Tagged: competitive, cross border trade, dinesh+lathi, dsr, ecommerce, ecommerce summit, feedback, lorrie+norrington, Marketplace, matt+halprin, online trade, pricing
Patricia 1On 04.24.2008 at 10:42 pm Said:
I have a feeling what they’ll try to do is standardize shipping costs like some of Amazon’s wares. I know when I buy CD’s or Books on amazon the shipping charge is the same for each seller. I look for ebay to try that one….though I don’t think they can do it site-wide. Arts, for example cannot ship the a large painting for the same price as a book even though they may weigh the same. Just kind of thinking out loud here.
Patricia 1On 04.24.2008 at 10:49 pm Said:
Brews:
“One major thing that sellers seem to be asking for is for eBay to verify new buyers and to link any new IDs created to previously created IDs so that when a seller blocks one ID then all current and future bidder IDs will be blocked. Why is eBay opposed to making “new” buyers verify their identity? How can eBay be a safe place when one party to the transaction can create throw-away IDs at will?”
I don’t see that happening any time soon. Then they would have a clearer and more accurate count of how many users they really have 
MechelleOn 04.24.2008 at 10:54 pm Said:
The stupidity of it is- my customers get a better shipping deal the way I have it- free after the initial 4.60 for cosmetics- the majority take advantage of this. They would pay much more if I were as base in character as eBay and offered them “free shipping” than to just pay the freaking 4.60 flat.
[edited]
implogOn 04.25.2008 at 5:22 am Said:
“So in summary, everything we’re doing this year is to
help us achieve our goals of: making eBay easier and safer, improving value and selection and extending PayPal to create a safer buyer experience.”
L. Norrington PESA eCommerce Shing Ding 4/23/08
Look at the feedback for member jim_tien who is having an “excellent buying experience”. What would be more valuable to the eBay community, the honest negative feedback left by sellers warning other sellers of this crook or positive feedback left immediately as suggested by Ms. Norringoton “My advice is as soon as your buyers pay you, give them positive feedback”?
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=jim_tien&ftab=AllFeedback
How out of touch with the reality of eBay’s auction buyer/seller process do you have to be before you are asked to clear your cube and walked out the door?
The Trust & Safety (Safe Harbor) discussion board receives posts about new scams and scammers on eBay almost daily. A recurring part of many posts is “I reported this to eBay and did not hear back/they did nothing.”
There is a thread anchored at the top of the T & S board titled “Today’s Scams In Progress” and it was NOT posted by any eBay employee to help the community or to make an “excellent buying experience”.
Ebay’s security problem was created and is well maintained not by sellers but by eBay’s abject failure at taking action against thieves.
Richard — Learn more of your new home. Spend some time reading the T & S board posts. See how community members NOT eBay help folks who have been scammed. Count the number of times you read about eBay inaction on reported site crime.
Then try to keep your integrity and hold your lunch next time you hear a chirpy eBay exec, mgr or “team member” talk about making eBay “safer”.
TheBrewsNewsOn 04.25.2008 at 5:47 am Said:
Perhaps eBay is basing their comments on “flawed” data.
For example, I quickly surveyed eBay, Amazon, and the eBay Store (direct) to get the shipping price on an individual mug:
*************
From Amazon - Diner Coffee Mug - $7.45 shipping
From eBay - individual Mug - $5.50
(auction 190215944967 - uses calculated shipping so could be higher depending on your zip code)
From eBay store (direct purchase from eBay) - $6.84 shipping
*************
However, if you use the keyword search “coffee mug” on eBay and then calculate the average shipping price per auction, per item, you would get very skewed results. On the first page of results that were returned, I found several listings for mugs which contained multiple mugs in the listing. NOT ONE of these listings were correct in their listing — they all listed their offerings as being a quantity of 1 instead of the a quantity of 4
(1 lot with 4 items is how the listing is supposed to appear).
Therefore, anyone running “statistics” would think that these buyers were charging $10.50 PER MUG, for example, rather than $10.50 for a set of 4 mugs.
So, on the surface it might appear that the shipping costs on eBay are higher than elsewhere simply.
110245827214
220225555212
120249207827
120249222944
150238628792
I stopped writing down the auction numbers after the first five but the vast majority of eBay listings with multiple items are listed incorrectly on eBay.
Because of the incorrect “input” into the system, of course the “output” would be flawed — Perhaps shipping PER ITEM is not really higher on eBay. Perhaps instead, the eBay system is flawed in its gathering of statistical information.
But I am assuming that eBay management’s statement about shipping being higher on eBay is based on actual numerical data. I could be wrong, though. Perhaps their statement is simply based on one of their eBay user surveys — “Do you think shipping costs on eBay are too high in comparison to other ecommerce sites” and because a majority of buyers answered YES, eBay management now has the “factual” data they need to enact policy changes forcing sellers to lower their shipping costs.
JewelrySellerOn 04.25.2008 at 8:55 am Said:
I think this eBay’s way to force us sellers to help eBay look better (more competitive) when compared to Amazon.
Force the sellers to offer free shipping and pay the costs out of our pockets. Then -
Buy from eBay and get free shipping. Buy anywhere else on the internet, pay for shipping.
Patricia 1On 04.25.2008 at 9:13 am Said:
I don’t particularly think ebay is trying to get sellers to lower their shipping prices….underneath it all I believe they want sellers to hide their true shipping costs in the opening price (and advertise free shipping) then ebay gets a cut on it in their fees….sorry…but that’s what I’m thinking about the whole shipping problem. There really is NO outrageous shipping costs that can’t be handled by educating the buyer. Nobody should ever be gouged on shipping if they just use a little bit of effort to find out the shipping costs and agree to them BEFORE they bid. No whining afterward, etc. I base that firmly on the fact that so far - “enhancing the buyer’s experience” is doing nothing but lining ebay’s pockets!
TWOn 04.25.2008 at 9:22 am Said:
So let’s compare eBay to Amazon since eBay seems to want to be Amazon.
A less than 1 lb. item (earbud headphones) on and from Amazon costs $5.58 to ship “standard” shipping. If an order exceeds $25 you get free “standard” shipping. I can attest to the fact that “standard” shipping is excessively slow. If a PS on eBay took that long to ship their stars would be none too good and they would not be a PS long.
The same item on eBay can range from $10 to ship (ridiculously high) to $4 to ship (a little low). There was one that shipped for free but the item was flat out retail price which could be expected.
The question is do the buyers want bargains and fair shipping prices or do they want retail prices and free shipping? It’s not going to be both ways and the lowest prices total on eBay turned out to be the item with reasonable shipping.
And this is for consumer goods not HTF collectible/antiques which IMO will be a financial hardship for a seller, especially a small seller, to ship for free not to mention for eBay to control the shipping price on. The bots will be overloaded and make mistake after mistake as the aforementioned multiple coffee mugs pointed out.
Amazon owns and ships products they own while eBay does not. I am all for some type of standardization for shipping but to expect free shipping is going to make sure the eBay marketplace will lose all that makes it unique as small sellers of HTF items slowly migrate to other marketplaces.
As eBay continues to rest control away from the seller, the seller is going to continue the slow migration away from eBay and onto venues that allow the seller the freedom to operate in a fashion that the seller deems as beneficial to their business.
Patricia 1On 04.25.2008 at 9:38 am Said:
This is how much ebay cares about buyer’s experience. Ebay allows buyers to buy fakes from China - why? This is more of the same…art fraud…that I posted before that still has not been addressed.
150238837936 - original painting
Original MADART Painting ABSTRACT ART Modern SURREAL
220222901365 - chinese fake - he even mentions her in his title!!!
Original MADART Painting ABSTRACT ART Modern SURREAL
The chinese seller is a powerseller - maybe untouchable? Else why are ALL these Chinese powersellers getting away with openly selling fakes?
Randy SmytheOn 04.25.2008 at 11:05 am Said:
The “Free Shipping” comment comes directly from the only competitor out there that matters to eBay — Amazon
Mr. Lathi, could just as easily have said “Amazon” is the standard in online commerce.
Amazon offers “Free Shipping” for orders of just $25 or for Amazon Prime Customers who pay for their membership. Everybody else they charge S&H.
But that is the standard that is working.
JewelrySellerOn 04.25.2008 at 11:45 am Said:
Now, if eBay had said to the Seller community, ‘Offer free shipping and eBay will roll back the February price increases’, I’d be much more eager to participate.
eBay, you don’t seem to have any hesitation in causing sellers ‘pain’. But you don’t have any willingness to ’share’ in the ‘pain’ you want to inflict!
TWOn 04.25.2008 at 12:43 pm Said:
Amazon owns their own items they offer free shipping on. Those 3rd party companies that sell on the Amazon site all charge shipping as far as I can tell. Amazon might control the shipping cost from 3rd parties to an extent but I just checked one supplier and the regular shipping rate was higher with the 3rd party supplier than it was for Amazon.
“The fact of the matter is that free shipping is the standard for eCommerce now.” is a statement without validity.
JewelrySellerOn 04.25.2008 at 12:44 pm Said:
Next thought - Who pays insurance?
Signature verification of delivery is $1.75 for First Class or Priority Mail.
I can offer/build in free ’standard’ shipping for my products.
I can offer ‘discounted’ priority or express shipping by discounting the value of standard shipping from these rates.
This could create a buyer choice of free standard shipping with the option of discounted shipping at a faster delivery rate.
We currently require insurance for USA shipments starting at $1.75 up to $50 in value (the cost of delivery signature verification).
SandiOn 04.25.2008 at 1:09 pm Said:
I’m sorry but I think ebay is totally missing the mark on what their biggest public relation nightmare is - it’s not shipping, it’s not item not received - it’s clear and as posts here have shown, ebay is NOT addressing the real problem with the resources it must if it wants to remain viable.
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PARIS (Reuters) - L’Oreal, the world’s largest cosmetics group, has launched legal action against eBay, alleging the online auctioneer does not do enough to combat the sale of counterfeits, the company said on Monday.
======================================================
Fed Up With Fakes
LVMH and other luxury brands are aiming big guns at online purveyors of knockoffs
A recent listing on eBay reads: “Brand new authentic Louis Vuitton holdall, $188!” Offers another: “Authentic Dior sunglasses, $23.30.” Too good to be true? You bet, says Paris-based luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. LVMH has filed a lawsuit against eBay Inc. (EBAY ) contending that nearly all Vuitton and Dior items sold on the auction site are fakes.
====================================================
Fake - Ona Yote Dance Team Jacket Patch on eBay
=====================================================
Identify Royal Vienna Fakes on eBay
My World April 4th, 2008
I am appalled at the many incorrectly identified pieces of porcelain for sale on eBay and elsewhere. The fakes and frauds are numerous.
================================================================
Sunday 28th January - Ebay finally took some action against one of the biggest sellers of fakes - Eftis aka Bidancient - after the UK Sunday Times exposed him. He brags about how he regularly shill bids - uses friends to bump up a bid price against the real buyer - and then tries to backtrack rapidly when confronted.
There is clear evidence of this taking place and many bona-fide dealers have complained to Ebay about this and his fake items, especially his Greek Hoplite helmets that sell for several thousand dollars and originate from China. (made last week.)
It took exposure from a quality national newspaper to push Ebay into taking action. The power of the press!!
====================================================
Watchdog Group Gives Live Demo of eBay Security Vulnerability
Mar 13, 2008 … Falle-Internet.de was able to display reporters’ eBay account information on a special page once reporters had visited an eBay Germany
=====================================================
$490 million worth of Fake Sneakers Found in Germany
When all was said and done just under 1 million (945,384) pairs of knock-off Nikes were apprehended and thrown in the dump (see picture above). So if you’re in the market for some Jordans and are cruising ebay, if it’s too good to be true most likely it’s not.
=====================================================
eBay Gets Sued For Selling Counterfeit Goods
French cosmetics company L’Oreal is suing eBay in 5 European countries - Belgium, France, Germany, UK and Spain - for selling counterfeit bottles of perfume. L’Oreal claims they’ve tried to reach an agreement with eBay on this matter, but in the end had no choice but to sue them.
This is definitely not the first time eBay has been sued over fake goods: in this case from 2000, they’ve been sued for sale of fake sports memorabilia. eBay’s stance then (and probably now) was that they merely offer a platform for selling goods and that they cannot be held accountable for the authenticity of individual items on sale.
=====================================================
Tiffany Sues eBay over Fakes
===========================
Just do a search on ebay and fakes, you will find countless news articles from AP, Reuters and every other news source.
You can browse hundreds, if not thousands of collector sites that list seller after seller who are known to be selling fakes - some of these sites even keep track of how many times they have been reported to ebay and how long it takes ebay to finally do something (if they do anything at all).
“eBay’s stance then (and probably now) was that they merely offer a platform for selling goods and that they cannot be held accountable for the authenticity of individual items on sale. ”
Right, that’s the attitude to improve the buyer experience and trust in the venue.
It’s time ebay stopped with the smoke screens and actually really addressed the real problems.
Patricia 1On 04.25.2008 at 2:43 pm Said:
If I may - the arts categories are also riddled with fraud. Especially Chinese sellers (sorry but they are the biggest offenders) will steal an image from a successful artist’s listings and then reprint it crudely - maybe even slap a little paint on it and are selling these fakes as originals. Many times they don’t even bother to change the artist’s name on the painting!!! They are reported to no avail. Even the artists themselves who try to report it under Vero get the runaround or get ignored. They are getting away with this and buyers are getting duped instead of the “exciting experience” ebay wants us to give our buyers! Something needs to be done - not to just line ebay’s pockets but to really bring up the reputation of that site. Ebay is forcing this on ALL sellers but refuses to do their share to clean up the place because then that costs them money. Its kind of like having the wolf guard the henhouse - sorry to be so blatant but its true.
I’ve given two examples on this blog of art fraud - still would like an answer as to what ebay is doing about it. I have no idea if they still have Arts Community watch but most of us quit it because it simply had no teeth and we got tired of reporting the same offenders over and over again.
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