Top Australian Seller NARU, Reacts to eBay Feedback Changes

[jordan2008]

Top Australian Seller NARU, Reacts to eBay Feedback Changes

The account of one of the largest sellers of DVDs on eBay Australia and UK has been suspended, or NARU as it's known on the auction site. Phil Leahy, who also heads an organization of eBay sellers, said he stopped trading on eBay about a month ago in order to revamp his operations, and is NARU for not yet having paid his eBay bill.

A Platinum PowerSeller and head of PESA Australia, Leahy had been using a software program called Marketworks to manage his 40,000 product SKUs. But the software didn't deliver on its promises, he said, saying it failed to improve its Search Engine Optimization capabilities. After ChannelAdvisor acquired Marketworks, Leahy decided the time was right to switch to a new system.

The timing of his decision couldn't be better, he said, referring to the changes that have been rolling out at eBay. Previously Leahy's business was out of stock on 15 percent of his inventory, leading to customer dissatisfaction. And with eBay's new rating system, his feedback and "Detailed Seller Ratings," or DSRs, were taking a hit. One customer left him a neutral rating last week, for example, writing, "They never had this item to sell in the first place But gave full refund."

eBay has also begun using DSRs to reward sellers financially if they get high marks, and to punish them with less exposure on the site if they receive low marks.

Leahy said he is focusing on best practices when he relaunches, such as having a 100 percent in-stock policy. He also plans to become less dependent on eBay.

The fact that he is willing to abandon his eBay User ID, "philsales1," which had earned 112,150 feedback ratings since launching in July 2002, to start with a new ID with no track record, speaks volumes about eBay's new policies. Highly rated PowerSellers can receive discounts of 15% off of their fees and get a boost in eBay's search results.

Leahy said the old ID had a legacy with it, and to raise DSRs on the account, he said, "it can't be improved overnight." He'll begin with a new ID and will "focus on the DSR question." His new ID will contain his company's name, Entertainment House.

Despite the challenges, Leahy said he thinks eBay has done some really good things with the new feedback system. "DSRs are a great thing, they help sellers recognize their responsibilities. But not all changes are positive - such as mutual feedback (withdrawal) - I can't figure out why they took it away. The seller is just going to leave it at that." With sellers unable to leave buyers negative or neutral feedback, and unable to get their own negative feedback withdrawn even if they succeed in making the customer happy, "sellers won't go through the refund process," he said.

"eBay got a few things wrong, but they are deal breakers."

Leahy said he has worked out a payment program with eBay for the bill he owes, but said the fees are minimal given the millions of dollars he has paid eBay over the past six years.

[doper]

When buyers leave feedback, eBay UK, US, Australia now serves up a pop-up box on users' computer screen stating, "Buyers, you can no longer receive negative or neutral Feedback from sellers. You should leave honest and accurate Feedback without the fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings."

Sellers have expressed fear that the incidence of unwarranted negative ratings will increase as buyers realize sellers are unable to give them anything but positive ratings in return. Compounding their fears, last week sellers learned eBay was doing away with Online Dispute Resolution and Mutual Feedback Withdrawal, which also removes incentives for sellers to make things right with unhappy buyers once feedback has been lef

[offband]

Getting much of the attention on discussion boards is the seller's positive feedback percentage, which changed due to the new way eBay calculates the s................. Many sellers complained their ratings go down, asking why neutrals would count as negative ratings. Others were thrilled that negs or neutrals received years ago no longer counted against them

[news]

New Buyer Requirement that will allow sellers to block buyers who have been reported by other sellers for eBay buying policy violations; that it was improving the process that sellers use to report buyers for policy violations; and was expanding the scope of the existing Buyer Requirement for unpaid items, so that it supports more comprehensive blocking of buyers who have a history of non-payment