UPDATED: Q&A with Dinesh Lathi, eBay VP of Seller Experience

HenriettaOn November 24, 2008 at 5:01 pm Said:

Interesting, I must digest this before I comment. Thank you RBH, again, for your contributions to transparency.

GinnyOn November 25, 2008 at 10:07 am Said:

Dinesh said: “The reality is that it doesn’t matter what eBay wants… eBay.com is a marketplace and that means neither eBay nor our sellers get to set the price of goods sold on the site, buyers do. This is as true in auctions as it is in fixed price. Lower prices and free shipping are what buyers want.”

If you follow that logic, then ebay’s sellers should get to set the price of the fees paid to ebay. i.e.: Lower fees and free listings are what sellers want.

When buyers come to ebay, they do NOT set the price. Sellers set the price. If buyers want to pay the price, they will. If not, they won’t. Ebay’s attempt to convince sellers to set prices lower currently would result in more sales to buyers and provide more FVF and listing fees to ebay but might well not result in sufficient profits for many a seller.

But if you truly believe that buyers do set the price, then it would make sense for ebay to let sellers list for much lower listing and FVFs than the current fees.

Ginny

Concert PostersOn November 25, 2008 at 12:43 pm Said:

What an outrageous insult to us all. Dinesh has zero respect for ebay sellers.

–”Pierre talks about the “Level Playing Field” – where all sellers are treated equally – as being core to eBay.”

according to Dinesh though the level playing field, — “It doesn’t mean we will treat everyone the same” –

Just say that there is no level playing field on ebay. Level playing field does not mean anyone can sell on ebay, level playing field means everyone follows the same rules including fees and T&S.

Stop lying to us! [Sentence edited, see comment policy]

PAROn November 25, 2008 at 2:01 pm Said:

Ebay’s thinking needs an overhaul and fast. So far, they have mostly been wrong in their changes and in their treatment of sellers and so the sales decline and keep declining. Right now, I feel its safe to say that for most sellers Ebay should not be charging a listing fee at all because now they are almost comparable to the small venues who don’t ask listing fees and don’t make many sales. Sorry, but the Ebay brand no longer seems to attract buyers or help sellers to sell so, in effect, they aren’t worth what they were worth before all these changes.

PAROn November 25, 2008 at 2:03 pm Said:

I’m not just blowing hot air with the above post. The Neilson ratings showing Ebay page view declines is all over the internet today.

Doctor DealsOn November 25, 2008 at 4:39 pm Said:

RBH & Dinesh,

EBay page views are down by almost 1/3rd YoY and Unique Visitors are down nearly 10% YoY for October.

The real question is what is going on with Gross Merchandise Volume for Oct. Is it up or down and by how much?

Also, there are about 10,000,000 more items on eBay than prior to the Sept 16th $0.35 FP listing fee change and addition of FP30 & GTC listing formats. However, is there really a greater variety of product on the marketplace or just a lot more listings for the same or reduced variety of stuff?

Factually, our GMV is up YoY but it is mostly because we have added a more expensive mix of products, as sales of the same items we had last year YoY are actually down. Anecdotally, as a buyer I am finding less and less variety of offerings, if any at all, when I look to purchase items for myself, family or business needs.

What is eBay doing to mend relationships with the many thousands of good sellers eBay has driven off the marketplace and bring back their diversity of products instead of just flooding the marketplace with catalogs of identical items from big box & online retailers like buy.com that add little if any real value to eBay’s offerings for their commodity offerings?

Also, we have invested heavily in FREE SHIPPING and outstanding customer service which has raised our 30-Day DSR’s to 4.9 across the board. And while that is paying off during the double PS Discount period, it may not be worth the added cost after that extra discount disappears in January. By looking at our competitors we have found the BM search is focusing far more on “Recency” of sales than “Quality” of sales driving us to lower our price and reduce our service level to stay competitive. Todd Lutwak focused heavily on Lower Price & Recency of sales in the recent Top Seller Webinar. Is that the New – “New Vision” of eBay, Cheap Price and Cruddy Service to match? It comes down to “You Get What You Pay For”. We cannot afford to provide Nieman-Marcus service at Sub-Wal*Mart pricing.

We are everything eBay wants in a seller; Great Products & Outstanding Service but we are starting to question eBay’s long term viability as a marketplace because we do not see Management addressing the immense amount of community dissatisfaction among both buyers and sellers. We see this as having great potential for destroying the “Community” that 200 Million eBay users built.

RBH & Dinesh, please share with us all the Facts & Figures along with the real long term vision so we all know where we stand and what the plan is.

Thank you,

Doctor Deals

GinnyOn November 25, 2008 at 6:45 pm Said:

Dinesh said: “As a requirement for listing on eBay, all sellers – regardless of volume, category, and PS level (including Diamond Level) and without exception – must adhere to the same standards with respect to DSRs, feedback and policy compliance.”

When you ask a company and/or business person to “adhere to the same standards”, that is open to interpretation as to what exactly are the same standards. When a company lists 750,000+ items on ebay and gets 300+ negative/neutral feedbacks per month out of 50,000 feedbacks, their percentage of positive feedbacks is high enough that ebay pays no attention to their negatives. But if a small seller sells only 50 items per month or is ill and takes some time off and sells only a handful of items over a month and then is unfortunate enough to bump into an unfair customer who gives a negative feedback and unjustifiably low DSRs, that small seller can find themselves charged with “seller nonperformance” for one to a very few negs. That does not make a level playing field.

Even sellers who have been on ebay for ten years and who have had great feedback percentage and who sell large numbers of items (but not as much as a Diamond Powerseller) have found themselves in a situation of being charged with seller nonperformance because so much depends on the thirty day feedback and DSRs.

It is crazy when sellers are treated like naughty children instead of like the mature intelligent business people that most of them are.

MARCOn November 25, 2008 at 11:56 pm Said:

Richard, I do thank you for bring something truly interesting to the table. It really is a start in the right direction. As some of the previous posters mentioned, I would like to know what ebay is doing to repair their reputation with the general public? What p.r. plans does ebay have to address the average consumer? As I see it, and evidence should back me up, ebay page views are declining. Simple logic tells me that overall page views should be increasing given the price advantage that ebay touts, and of course considering current economic conditions. Why the discrepency? I’m just not seeing that ebay is thriving in the current economic conditions. Has ebay considered giving free listing to those sellers that start auctions at $9.99 or less?

JJHOn November 26, 2008 at 6:35 am Said:

Wow. Is this interview ever a collection of “revisionist thinking” and doubletalk. Talk about re-writing history.

I got a real kick out of this statement:

“When we think about Level Playing Field, we tend to focus on equal access to opportunity. In other words, anyone can come to eBay start a business, establish a track record and grow according to their capabilities. It doesn’t mean we will treat everyone the same, regardless of their track record and capabilities, but it does mean that we will make it possible for anyone to succeed.”

Regardless of how you spin it, revise it, or present it, there is NO level playing field at eBay anymore. Back “in the day” YOU DID treat everyone the same. EVERYONE had the same opportunity, the same chance, the same fees, the same EVERYTHING. The statements Pierre gave in his interview do not coincide with these definitions. You’ve just made it into what you want it to mean NOW, not what it was. These are just more lies.

I don’t know why I even bother to look at this blog anymore, it just upsets me to see the stuff that’s presented here.

TheBrewsNewsOn November 26, 2008 at 5:59 pm Said:

Regarding the “updated” information, unfortunately eBay has such a credibility problem with sellers that having someone from eBay make a statement does absolutely nothing to convince sellers that the statement is truthful.

And perception is reality where the “customer” is concerned (and eBay sellers are eBay’s customers). When an eBay buyer rates a seller on the reasonableness of the shipping costs that are stated in advance, it is the buyer’s “perception” that matters. It doesn’t matter that, in reality, the seller may have had to pay $1 out of their pocket for shipping and the buyer is unaware of the real and true costs. What matters is whether the buyer ‘thinks’ the amount is ‘reasonable’. So, if non-Diamond eBay sellers perceive that Diamond Powersellers don’t have to meet the same performance criteria, then whether that actually is true or not doesn’t matter. If sellers perceive they have been wronged, an eBay public relations statement will not change what the sellers believe.

And, specifically, regarding this comment:
“As a requirement for listing on eBay, all sellers – regardless of volume, category, and PS level (including Diamond Level) and without exception – must adhere to the same standards with respect to DSRs, feedback and policy compliance.”

According to eBay, all eBay sellers must maintain a 4.1 DSR or face listing restrictions and eBay Powersellers must maintain at least a 4.5 DSR rating across the board in order to retain their Powerseller status. But isn’t one the requirements for Diamond Powersellers that they maintain a 4.8 DSR across the board in order to retain their Diamond status? At least that is what is lists on the eBay website as one of the requirements for the Diamond Powersellers. So, are the standards for everyone “the same” or are they not? Again, it is same old semantics argument just as is debated repeatedly over the term “level playing field” and how the level playing field term has evolved over time to mean something different today than what Pierre first stated was his original vision. Twisting words around will not appeal to eBay’s sellers or convince them that eBay desires a Win/Win situation when everyone knows they do not.

Other sites are winning the hearts and minds of current and former eBay sellers just as they are winning the dollars of current and former eBay buyers.

Unless and until eBay sees ALL its sellers (not just the Diamond sellers) as partners, eBay will continue to decline. There are no amount of explanations or denials that anyone at eBay can write that will cause eBay sellers to change how they feel. The interview Q&A was an admirable attempt but it only pointed out again just how out of touch eBay is with its sellers.

And the recent eBay and PayPal surveys this week continue in that vein, with eBay focused on finding out where else I sell outside of eBay and what other payment methods I use. It really isn’t rocket science – I sell elsewhere because I get more value there than I do on eBay. I sell on eBay for cash flow reasons yet I make more considerably more profit selling elsewhere and by using other payment methods so, naturally, as a business who wants to stay in business I do sell on other venues besides eBay. Does eBay really need survey after survey to tell them that?

If eBay wants its site to be the cheapest on the internet, then I suggest they slash the selling fees they charge sellers and I bet the savings would be passed along to the buyers and, in that way, eBay could achieve their objective. But then eBay would have to learn to live on quite a bit less and I cannot imagine eBay doing that. So, if eBay is not going to lower fees significantly then they have to “do” something to add value. Adding value requires creativity and hard work. eBay cannot simply delegate that important “task” to the sellers, especially when eBay doesn’t provide the necessary tools to do so. Among other things, eBay and PayPal are technologically broken. The glitches are so commonplace that it is just a fact of life for eBay sellers now.

One final point. The quote above states “there are literally millions of people and businesses who are profitably making eBay work for them.” I would like to know how eBay can say that? How does eBay know that millions of sellers are profitable? What statistics does eBay have to use as a basis for that statement? I have never shared my financials with eBay and I doubt millions of sellers have shared their P&Ls with eBay, even if eBay cared enough to look at them.

So, is eBay assuming that sellers who continue to sell on eBay must be continuing to sell on the platform because they are profitable and making money on eBay? Based on the number of sellers I talk to, I would guess that there are at least as many sellers on eBay who are losing money as there are sellers who are making money. Cash flow is really the name of the game when it comes to eBay. Personally, we use eBay to liquidate lots of slow-moving inventory so we can buy more of the “better” inventory to sell on alternative venues where we make very good margins. eBay is not profitable for us, although it was for many years in the past, but it does serve a very important function in our overall strategy. And, so, I will continue to deal with some eBay buyers’ unrealistic perceptions about shipping costs and other things because it comes with the territory. I can’t change some eBay buyer’s opinions about the reasonableness of shipping costs no matter what I say. And, thus, eBay is faced with the same dilemma – nothing they say will change some seller’s minds about the “special deals” that Diamond sellers do or do not receive.

PAROn November 26, 2008 at 6:31 pm Said:

“Even sellers who have been on ebay for ten years and who have had great feedback percentage and who sell large numbers of items (but not as much as a Diamond Powerseller) have found themselves in a situation of being charged with seller nonperformance because so much depends on the thirty day feedback and DSRs.”

All this does – and all this has been doing is driving off small sellers – who are also buyers. For the life of me I cannot understand the reasoning here. Its as though management feels there is a bottomless well of small sellers coming thru the front door…and we all know that just isn’t true! When are they going to address this leak of sellers who just cannot operate in Ebay’s present environment? For the most part, these are the sellers who have made Ebay unique and they are also the reason so many buyers come to the site. Let’s be honest – I can buy the same wholesale junk at my neighborhood Walmart that Ebay’s diamond sellers are pushing.

mindelecOn November 26, 2008 at 10:35 pm Said:

“Lower prices and free shipping are what buyers want.”

when you survey people and ask if they want lower prices and free shipping of course they are going to say yes.

“In other words, anyone can come to eBay start a business, establish a track record and grow according to their capabilities.”

“Making it possible for anyone to access our market and succeed as a seller and offering incentives to the very best sellers are not mutually exclusive goals. ”

diamond sellers have no track record, they walk in the door plop down half a million listings that clutter the site and receive a discount.

re: DSRs… this has been said over and over again, but ebay management still doesn’t get it. the prime problem with DSRs is that buyers are being told that leaving a 4 is leaving a better than average rating for a seller. while ebay will kick sellers off the site that have less than a 4.1 and severly punish those with less than 4.3. a high percentage of your current seller discontent can be traced to this.

kees_en_koOn November 27, 2008 at 5:46 am Said:

if you do not sell on ebay or do not sell for a substancial period of time your DSR rating drops below the 4.0

ebay automatically will suspend you from listing !!!!!

is this the graditude I receive for being a powerseller for almost 10 years ????

also buyers have no obligation to fill inn the DSR system rating.which clever person has come up with this bright idea ??

the DSR system is now the spearhead of every seller and ebay won’t force the buyers to fill in this section.so the DSR rating is not a competetive or full scale mirror of your selling performance.

I missed nearly 500 DSR ratings last year because my buyers are still content with my selling performance but forgotten to fill in the star system.

now I miss my bonus and other benefits …………

great !!!!!

VAL2525On November 27, 2008 at 11:54 pm Said:

“Lower prices and free shipping are what buyers want.”

Really? In some categories, yes. In others, no. eBay management is thinking that one size fits all buyers and shopping experiences, but that’s just not true. Shoppers shop differently in various categories. Yes, I want the lowest price and cheapest shipping when I’m buying printer cartridges. But is that what I look for in clothing or vintage items? Of course not.

If “free shipping” is SO important to buyers, then why don’t sellers who offer free shipping have a DSR of 5.0 on shipping cost?

If “low price” is so important, then why do many sellers report that RAISING prices often results in increased sales? (In clothing anyway.)

GailOn November 30, 2008 at 3:55 pm Said:

Richard,

You must have choked when you read this one:

“When we think about Level Playing Field, we tend to focus on equal access to opportunity. In other words, anyone can come to eBay start a business, establish a track record and grow according to their capabilities. It doesn’t mean we will treat everyone the same, regardless of their track record and capabilities, but it does mean that we will make it possible for anyone to succeed.”

You see what kind of nonsense we have to put up with?

If our listings don’t show up in best match, how is that equal access to opportunity?

Here’s my question:

Powerseller status, regardless of the level, has always been earned. Diamond Powersellers are showing up on eBay with no feedback. Shoplet is a perfect example. How have they earned any Powerseller status, much less Diamond, when they have no eBay selling history?

What are the requirements and benefits for the new PowerSeller Diamond level?

To qualify for the Diamond level, a seller must meet one of two average minimum sales requirements:
– Three month minimum: $500,000 in sales or 50,000 items, per month, for three consecutive months
– Annual minimum: $6,000,000 or 600,000 items, for the prior twelve months
Also, the seller must have a minimum 4.8 in all four DSRs based on the last 12 months.

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/June2008Update/faq/index.html#2

Speaking of Shoplet, your new Diamond Powerseller’s feedback is 98.1%, eBay. Their stars have fallen below the requirement for powerseller status. Are you going to charge them for the 30575 items they have listed?

Buy has over 3000 negs and neutrals in the last 12 months. There’s no way I’m going to believe Buy’s DSRs are not being “fixed”.

Is this eBay’s idea of a vibrant marketplace?

GailOn November 30, 2008 at 4:28 pm Said:

Does Mr. Lahti think he’s talking to idiots? We’ve been eBay sellers longer than he’s been with eBay. We know eBay inside and out. We can feel eBay’s pulse, and know its heartbeat. We’re all internet savvy, and can find information eBay doesn’t even know has leaked. We know what’s going on and why.

When is eBay management going to realize that they cannot keep any decision or their reasons for that decision in stealth mode. We’ve built up an immunity to their doubletalk, and see right through it. We can sense ecommerce trends, without the help of eBay’s data.

No consultants with their MBAs know more than we do when it comes to our businesses. And, we know more about eBay, and where it is, than any of them. Our question is, how far down is John Donahue going to take eBay before he realizes he’s going in the wrong direction?

PAROn December 1, 2008 at 3:27 pm Said:

This is all very discouraging. Everyone here seems to have very valid points yet I see none of them addressed and none of them answered. Sure makes Ebay look like it is deliberately trying to deceive its sellers. I’ll keep watching in the hope that some Ebay management may come here and actually answer some of these questions honestly! I originally came here because someone on Seller Central posted the URL and said “go there if you want a good laugh”. I certainly see now just what he meant by that post.

MsFish213On December 2, 2008 at 8:34 am Said:

Level playing field? Check out the new Diamond Seller (?) Smartbargains….feedback at -1 and still active.

Doctor DealsOn December 2, 2008 at 10:07 am Said:

@MSFISH213

It looks like eBay has a “Diamond in the Rough” with that one.

Three feedbacks in total and two are negative, not a good start for anyone.

I would suggest that all new eBay sellers, not just Diamond PS’s, get their feet wet with a few smaller transactions before jumping in with a few THOUSAND listings so they can learn the ins and outs of this marketplace.

Just becuase you can sell on the internet does NOT mean you are prepared to sell on eBay. Ask anyone selling on eBay and any other marketplace how very different and demanding eBay buyers are compared to all other online marketplace buyers.

Hopefully they can turn things around with some professional eBay seller assistance.

DD

MsFish213On December 2, 2008 at 10:44 am Said:

@DD
It is hard to sell on Ebay. But, do you really think any one of us “common” sellers would be given a chance if that were our feedback?? I think not…we would be out of business.

MarkOn December 2, 2008 at 11:42 am Said:

I wonder why they (Smartbargains) have received so few feedbacks, they’d left 159 when I looked.

Dan WilsonOn December 3, 2008 at 6:38 pm Said:

Richard,

This is a great conversation.

Totally appreciate the corporate limitations (I did something close to your job way back when) but the statments re DSRs for diamonds are, frankly, equivocal.

I’d appreciate a much clearer statement: “Diamond Powersellers are subject to the same DSR and Feedback standards as all other sellers.”

dw