Monday, May 19th, 2008
Knowing Where You Stand
In an AB Post today regarding changes in eBay Marketplace policies, John McDonald, Sr. Director of US Trust & Safety said the top-line reasoning behind these changes is to “create more choice and selection for buyers and make it easier for them to find what they’re looking for. Second, these policy changes add flexibility, convenience and cost-savings for our sellers.”
And there is some great news here. For instance, the Choice Policy (good name for a policy that actually limited choice), is being eliminated so that sellers can now list items in different sizes, color, etc. in a single listing. This helps buyers with a more convenient shopping experience and provides sellers with relief on insertion fees.
But what I want to focus on here at Ink is the expansion of the Seller Dashboard and Best Match rankings because they are intertwined and very relevant to the issue of transparency. I would go so far as to say that a lack of transparency in the recent past has both pulled us away from our roots and hindered our relationship with the community. However, I’ve been encouraged, since joining the company in January, that the concept of transparency is being so widely embraced. It’s definitely something everyone is trying to get better at doing (how else would we have got this blog up and running with comments to begin with?).
The Dashboard is a significant step forward in making eBay a more transparent company with which to do business. And in the interests of transparency, it seems that we are disclosing some issues with Best Match ranking that were perhaps not made abundantly clear:
Since launch, we’ve been monitoring and making adjustments. Some of our adjustments will result in a larger number of sellers with below average performance scores being lowered in Best Match search results. If either of the following conditions apply to you, the visibility of your listings may be reduced:
- Your shipping cost DSR is 4.5 and below
- Your buyer satisfaction rate (shown on the dashboard) appears as “needs improvement,” “poor” or “unacceptable.”
The good? Sellers with 4.7 and above (on all DSRs) should start to see an additional boost in their search standing in Best Match (yes, the announcement is another outbound communication from eBay hammering home the message that sellers are being rewarded for providing the best possible buying experience at the expense of those sellers that are simply “good” rather than “great”).
What I’m interested in hearing about from you though, when the Seller Dashboard is unveiled later this week, is whether or not it is providing you with the information and transparency you need in order to make your business decisions? Is it really letting you know where you stand in the marketplace?
Here are links to some key docs associated with the news today:
Policy Changes FAQ
Seller Non-Performance Policy
Circumventing Fees
Chance Policy
Links Policy
Tips for Improving DSRs
Cheers,
RBH
Tagged: buyers, dsr, ebay, ecommerce, feedback, john+mcdonald, policy+changes, seller+dashboard, sellers, transparency
Doctor-DealsOn 05.21.2008 at 11:57 am Said:
@Richard,
The Neu - Neg issue may simply be one of perceptions. Under the old system Neu FB was not weighted as either a Pos or Neg buying experience. As a Neu it had no affect one way or the other.
Under the new system Neu FB is being weighted in the calculations equally to Neg FB.
I can show you thousands of examples where a Neu FB sounds quite Pos in verbiage and because some users do not completely understand how to use the FB system they many times use Neu FB when they are confused thinking as a Neu it will have no affect.
Under the new calculations Neu FB is figured into the formula with the same affect as if it were a Neg FB and eBay is assuming that ALL, 100%, of Neu FB is a non-positive buying experience when we all know that is not the case. Even for T&S Seller Performance Standards it is not calculated that way.
This is a substantial change in the FB system where Neu FB is weighted exactly the same as a Neg FB. There is no way eBay can say with any certainty that every Neu is a non-positive buying experience, yet that is the way eBay has chosen to calculate it.
If all Neu FB is going to be considered by eBay as a non-positive buying experience then it should most likely be removed as an option so the buyer and not eBay can make a determination of either a Pos or Neg buying experience.
Unfortunately under the system eBay has chosen it is simply guessing that every Neu FB equals a bad buying experience much to the detriment of the seller’s reputation. All simply based on eBay’s best GUESS, not the facts or the buyers actual intent.
Thank you,
DD
MechelleOn 05.21.2008 at 12:22 pm Said:
@Richard
exactly! why not get rid of the neutral altogether? I would appreciate your getting an answer to your question- our question. See if they’ll provide some transparency on this issue.
DawnOn 05.21.2008 at 12:34 pm Said:
Richard said:
Why not get rid of “Neutral” ratings all together?
You’re asking US? 
I think that is exactly what most sellers would like to see happen, now that neutrals count as negatives.
Should there really be a rating for someone feeling “indifferent”? If not, how do we address the retroactive issues people would face?
I’m not sure I understand that second question, Richard. We are facing the retroactive issues NOW. The obvious answer would have been not to have made the change retroactive. Is that what you mean? Or do you foresee some other retroactive issues if eBay was to remove the neutral FB option tomorrow?
MistyOn 05.21.2008 at 12:39 pm Said:
@ Richard I have no neutrals on my account so I am fortunate in that sense, if I would have had any I would be totally peeved. I disagree with the way eBay is using them against seller’s. I have seen a few posts on SC where a seller only had a neutral and no negs and it reduced their percentage from 100% to 99.9% so it is in fact being used as a negative against sellers.
TonyOn 05.21.2008 at 12:41 pm Said:
There was an example on the ebay town hall the other day of ebay executives not understanding why people are hurt by this issue over neutrals.
A light user had paid for an item, not received it, been refunded and then left a neutral, he got a neutral in return. The changes meant that his percentage rating was now something like 85%. The executives saw this as an example of why retaliatory feedaback was bad, however the issue really was the way neutrals are now judged in a negative light. That’s what made his score so low, at the time it was left, it did no harm.
TheBrewsNewsOn 05.21.2008 at 12:45 pm Said:
Richard, you just asked the questions we have been asking.
I believe you are listening and perhaps you may even, in time, understand our concerns and frustrations but the bottom line is that your understanding of the situation will not change eBay’s policies or change how they treat members of their community in the future.
eBay has made quite a few mistakes over the years and this year they made a very serious miscalculation. In years past they have made policy changes and raised fees and lots of folks made lots of noise about leaving but few did ultimately leave. eBay has counted on the historical behavior of sellers to guide them through this year’s changes. However, eBay has made a serious mistake this year in underestimating the impact their changes would have on sellers. Sure, the “bad” sellers are being pushed out but the good ones are, for the first time ever, stepping out to try the alternatives. And there are so many alternatives now that were not available 10 years ago.
By the time eBay fully understands why sellers are so angry and frustrated (and it’s not for the reasons they think), most of us will be gone from eBay altogether or will be using eBay as a place simply to dump the product that we cannot sell at the high price we want in the other online marketplaces. We’ll put our “good” merchandise in the markeplace where there are good buyers willing to pay our prices and eBay will be our dumping ground. The selection on eBay will be great for the bargain hunters looking for the closeout deals (you know… kinda like the flea market that Donohoe doesn’t want). The buyer looking for the quality merchandise, the latest and greatest, will not be logging on to eBay…. no matter how many Buy.com sellers eBay brings in.
TonyOn 05.21.2008 at 12:46 pm Said:
Why have neutrals at all is a very good question. They’ve been redefined as being equal to negatives in percentage calculations, so they’re not a neutral in that sense.
They’re used as a weighting in seller non performance, they don’t carry as much weight as a negative, but they certainly carry more weight than neutral suggests, so again it’s not really a neutral.
The option to give a neutral view is afforded by not leaving feedback at all.
So what is the point of a neutral?
implogOn 05.21.2008 at 1:45 pm Said:
Get that Burke guy back in here.
Tell him we want to have a little talk about his “assumptions” –
1. All returned negs are “retaliatory” because they are returned negs.
2. All neutral feedbacks are negative because they aren’t positive.
Madness.
Patricia1On 05.21.2008 at 1:45 pm Said:
@ Richard - a perfect example….I once sold plastic tatting shuttles, new and sealed in their box from the manufacturer. I sold them for 2.25 each in dutch auctions. One lady gave me a neutral and said “item as described, arrived quickly”. So, I questioned her….are you ready? She said well, it was only 2.25 and I thought that too small an amount to rate praise! As long as you give them the option…it will be misunderstood and misused! I say do away with neutrals - if ebay wants black and white - good or bad then there is no room for neutrals.
AmberOn 05.21.2008 at 1:49 pm Said:
“Why not get rid of “Neutral” ratings all together? People either had a good experience or they didn’t. ”
That’s what we’ve been saying all along. Some people are treating Neutrals as N/A…no opinion. Yet with these new CUMULATIVE changes, a neutral has verifiable negative effects that the person leaving the feedback could not anticipate.
The DSRs are there for those who had an overall good transaction but wish to nitpick one aspect of the seller’s service. The same is true for those whose transactions were negative overall–but wish to be honest in reporting the parts of the transaction the seller got right (although I’d be willing to bet that the stars are trashed by the majority of buyers leaving negatives).
HMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOn 05.21.2008 at 3:21 pm Said:
A NEUTRAL should be considered much like SWITZERLAND, not like FRANCE
Guilty until proven innocent.
TonyOn 05.21.2008 at 3:36 pm Said:
This blog is the only part of ebay that I feel positive about right now!
The amount of sellers with good feedback who are being suspended with the 30 day rule is absurd.
Patricia1On 05.21.2008 at 4:59 pm Said:
@ Richard….
I was reading Mr. Donahoe’s speech that he gave at Legg Mason Capital Management
http://www.leggmason.com/thoughtleaderforum/2007/conference/donahoe.html
In his speech he specifically stated:
“We treat every seller the same. Now, the level playing field really means that the little player shouldn’t get shut out. ”
Under the present circumstances and the recent changes that proof this statement to be not quite what it states, could you ask one of ebay management to please explain it to us here?
After reading that whole thing I can now say that “disruptive innovation” are two words I wish I never heard! 
TheBrewsNewsOn 05.21.2008 at 8:04 pm Said:
Richard, in case our explanation about neutrals = negatives is still a bit unclear and you need more “proof” that eBay is counting neutrals as negatives in their new scoring calculations…..
Look at trendy*kidz feedback rating.
Past 12 months shows 2031 positives, 4 neutrals, and 1 negative. A very respectable rating, no doubt.
When you click on her eBay World page, however, it shows the number negatives as 5
(Obviously eBay is calculating the total negatives as 4 neutrals + 1 negative).
I guess even eBay would have a hard time explaining that one.
I’m sure this is a “display” glitch of some kind that will fixed as soon as this information becomes known but in the meantime I have saved a screenshot for you in case the real truth is removed from the eBay World page before you get a chance to view it.
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