Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

April 13, 2009

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

By: Ina Steiner

Mon Apr 13 2009 21:38:33

eBay confirmed it would announce a new dispute process tomorrow and said there would be no changes to fees. Spokesperson Usher Lieberman said eBay would take a more active role in resolutions that would make it simpler for buyers and remove friction between buyers and sellers.

"Our goal is to stand behind the transactions on eBay no matter the payment method and make a long term investment in the customer experience and the eBay brand."

AuctionBytes has learned that, in disputes found in favor of the buyer, eBay itself may actually issue refunds without waiting for the seller to do so. This would be a radical change for the company, and something to which many sellers may strenuously object. It's not clear whether eBay will give sellers less time to respond to claims or how it will collect from the seller.

Lieberman said the company is not releasing specifics and is taking a deliberate approach to testing the new process. eBay would roll out the new dispute process in a way that makes sense for buyers and sellers, he said.

Sources say that many of the specifics to be announced tomorrow would not come as a surprise to those who follow eBay and listened to its recent presentation to analysts. There are some new features designed to make it easier for sellers, such as a new feature similar to Hosted Support's FAQs feature to help reduce buyer inquiries. (Sellers currently report far fewer customers inquiries on sites such as Amazon.com than on eBay.)

Longer-term changes appear to revolve around an easier returns process for buyers, a more robust checkout system and an expansion of its structured catalog pages where shoppers see a more Amazon-style page when shopping for items. A more consistent and detailed catalog would be especially well received by large Diamond-level merchants who list their inventory on multiple channels.

eBay is revealing its spring product release cycle tomorrow scheduled to roll out live to the site in June. Expect an Announcement Board post tomorrow morning. A Town Hall meeting is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, and the changes will be discussed on Griff's radio show tomorrow and on the eBay Ink corporate blog.

Update: Here is the announcement.

Comments (96) | Permalink

Readers Comments

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Pat

Mon Apr 13 21:49:48 2009

...and eBay expects to dip into my account for those refunds? Oh I can't wait to hear this!!

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: On Lies and Secrets

Mon Apr 13 22:21:11 2009

"an easier returns process for buyers"

!!!

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Harriet

Mon Apr 13 22:23:13 2009

Of course, they are going to remove money from your future sales to pay for any automatic refunds that are given.

And, if history is any teacher, we know that they will find in favor of the buyer in just about all cases.

This will not make it any better for relations between buyer and seller, it will make it even more contentious.

The more they interfere in the commerce between buyer and seller, the worse the situation gets.

All of the seller negative rules and regulations which have come about this year have made the stock go lower and lower and lower.

It is a very steep decline.

They are manipulating themselves right out of business!

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Ebay's Slow Death

Mon Apr 13 22:25:08 2009

FraudBay!

I bet the Buyer Fraudsters are just licking their chops! Complain and Shazam! you get a refund! The Seller is left saying, ''Whoa! What just happened! My account got zapped and I have no idea what the problem was!''

Yup! It is all about the Buyer, and screw the Seller, again! Most of the Buyers left on Ebay are the ones who want something-for-nothing and know they can get it there.

I can hear a bunch more Sellers jumping off the ship! The only things left on that sinking ship called Ebay, are the Rats!

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Bob

Mon Apr 13 22:45:38 2009

If this is true, I'd say this is long overdue. Make the process easier for buyers, keep them happy, and the legitimate sellers will stay and prosper. The rest can go to Boondazzle or wherever...

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Henrietta

Mon Apr 13 22:51:33 2009

I thought last year we announced it was not a dispute process any more but a resolution. Now it is dispute resolution?

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Kevin

Mon Apr 13 23:04:25 2009

Good news on the fees....I'll be interested to see if they do anything to make it harder for a buyer to leave a neg.....if a buyer wants to leave a neg, they should be forced into a process similar to the UPI process. If a seller does not respond after 8 days, or if they can't reach an agreement, then they can leave bad feedback. Every neg we have ever gotten has been from a <10 feedback buyer who lied when they checked the box that said they did try to contact the seller to resolve the problem before leaving feedback. This way, everything (including the rampant extortion) is documented and in the event of a problem, the seller is given a fair shake to resolve it.

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: ebayer

Mon Apr 13 23:08:21 2009

Regarding the refunds is that not what paypal already does? Buyer complains for whatever reason and they get their money back. Why would ebay need to do it when paypal already does it?

Can't wait to hear what good for nothing mess they have come up with this time.

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Bob Bananahead, San Jose

Mon Apr 13 23:36:56 2009

Oh boy, I can't wait to see the garbage these geniuses have come up with now. It's already easy enough to steal there.

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Anonymous

Tue Apr 14 00:10:53 2009

Primary crap-shoveler for a titanium PS here.

eBay being retarded is money in my pocket, and I'm pleased to see eBay will continue to keep a roof over my head for some time yet to come.

Keep the faith, eBay. Make sure my employer knows I and I alone can navigate your worthless reps, your bug-ridden API and the gang of criminals and retards you call a customer base.

(Sales jerk from PayPal called, trying to score our merchant account. I enjoyed very much telling him that PayPal was offered on eBay because it was expected, but that we really needed professional-grade services for our website, and didn't see PayPal as a good fit.)

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: The real Bob!

Tue Apr 14 00:21:12 2009

@Bob

My hunch is you've never been scammed by a buyer through the current Paypal system, as thousands of honest sellers have for years now....have fun at work tommorow, Jose/Usher/Corporate Yes Men, etc/all....

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Ebay H8 club

Tue Apr 14 00:35:50 2009

It's shameful that the Ebay corporation treats it's Victims, the sellers(the real engine of this site) like trash.
Funny, seems Ebay has a problem controlling the engines (skype patents) for their machines, maybe
that's why they want supplier's info??? I used to give more money a year to Ebay in fees than they earned, and
another bushel to my Pal too. I used to worry every month about
making enough to PayBay & my PO. Now, I'm making more profit, selling less for more & enjoying my freedom.
Good job, Ebay, from Powerseller with over 20,000 Pos. F/b to 0 in fees in a year. All to squeeze the juice out of
the last 5 or so percent of users that still prefers checks or Money orders, shells or wampum. Without the
wonderful sellers of Ebay, the Emperor has no clothes. The Emperor can't hide behind the Diamonds for long,
too transparent, especially at the rate they are getting Negs & neutrals for a dismal STR of .02%, even with
premium placement & no listing fees, that's the best they can achieve. No one cares & they've alienated many
potential customers that will never shop there now. Buy's CEO has stated in the media he is "disappointed"
with the Ebay experiment, but probably signed at least a year contract, so he's stuck for now. He also talks about
wanting more comparison options, and Of course, Ebay will grab their ankles and help out their buddy at the
seller's expense. (customers, be warned BUY is just another shopping engine, like Ebay, with small sellers,
which they do not stand behind, nuff said)

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Sandy Purina, not an Ebay employee

Tue Apr 14 00:42:05 2009

@the real Bob, but Paybay says there are "ONLY HONEST BUYERS", "The seller must have made a mistake", etc, while any dolt with 1/2 a brain cell can go read the Ebay forums, and count a couple thousand $$$ in PP victims daily. Are you sure you're not confused & somehow at fault yourself?

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Mercy the Mingless

Tue Apr 14 00:53:41 2009

Hey everybody!

Calm down!

The sellers have a Seller's Advocate - and he's on the inside!

IT's going to be OK.

Stay tuned.

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Patricia

Tue Apr 14 00:55:17 2009

Ebay is so busy these days....hammering those nails into its own coffin ;-)

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Phyl

Tue Apr 14 01:03:56 2009

Well, looks like I need to be a power lister within the next few weeks to get my inventory out of here. I'm not a fool and I will not let eBay refund buyers my hard earned money and facilitate theft and that is all it will be on this site in June.

The fat lady is singing! It's all over but the crying! Mass exodus' of the past won't hold a light to this one!

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Daddy Bear Guff, seller advocate

Tue Apr 14 01:16:38 2009

If you mean Guff, he's proven he's nothing but a tired old pitchman. Maybe he can shill off that Jungle Juice Tobacco smell junk he used to sell on you, but as the great Sandy Purins once said, "dont urinate on her leg & tell her it's raining". Who names their kid Usher anyway?

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: The Fat Lady

Tue Apr 14 01:23:34 2009

I ain't singing for Ebay, with my luck they'll say I was too "pitchy" and steal my money with Paypal assisted SNAD fraud.

California's Civil Code 3294(1) defines malice as conduct which is intended by the defendant to cause injury to the plaintiff or despicable conduct which is carried on by the defendant with a willful and conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others.

California's Civil Code 3294(3) defines fraud as an intentional misrepresentation, deceit, or concealment of a material fact known to the defendant with the intention on the part of the defendant of thereby depriving a person of property or legal rights or otherwise causing injury.

Sounds like Paybay to me!

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Danny

Tue Apr 14 01:35:35 2009

Knowing Ebay and their love affair with BUY.COM and the other Darling Diamonds, who list free of charge, Ebay will announce the following ---

No more auctions, all items are BIN, just like Amazon, who JD copies closely. Also, Best Match will be the only search option.

Like buyer feedback, true opinions cannot be left on Ebays boards due to censorship, as Ebay deletes post after post (but Ebay doesn't delete posts --- right, and I'm Sheena, queen of the mermaids) and suspends users who are too vocal in their honest feelings about the end of a great website.

There has also been speculation by Ebay forum posters about Ebays manipulation of DSR numbers in response to posts on their forums. No physical proof that I am aware of, pure speculation mind you, no accusation here, but apparently many people see a sudden drop in these hidden DSR numbers after posting less than favorable remarks about Ebay management and policies.

With Ebays insistance that DSR stay a foggy and hidden thing, very cloak and dagger, members understandably feel that Ebay manipulates these hidden score numbers for Ebays own benefit.

Tomorrow's eBay Announcements: No Fee Change, New Dispute Process

by: Want to know who gave you bad DSRs?

Tue Apr 14 01:39:51 2009

Here ya go, Danny, direct from Paybay's board before they removed it, and it works:)

I figured out a way to find out what DSR score was given for a single transaction, and just thought I would share. It's not a hard process, but it may take a few tries to get it right.

Here's what I did:

I just noticed that now when you go to the Seller Dashboard screen, at the top where your DSR 30-day scores are located, there is a link that says "see your reports". I had never noticed it before. I clicked on it, and it's a report generator that ebay has created to allow you to view your DSR scores for your transactions. However, you can't view a single transaction, all you can view is averages. BUT, you can 'trick' the report into showing an individual transaction...

Go to create report>report type>item numbers. You will need to enter 10 item numbers here, no less. The report generator will collect the data from the 10 items you listed and return your average DSR score for those 10 reports. If one or more of those transactions didn't leave DSR scores your report will be returned as incomplete. That means you'll have to take one or two numbers out and replace them with new ones.

So, what I did was I started putting item numbers in, in batches of 10. After a while, I found a batch of 10 that gave me all 5 stars across the board. Now, all I have to do is save that report, and every time I receive a new feedback, I replace one of the item numbers with the new number, and voila! it tells me what I received by looking at the average.

You already know that you received nine 5-star ratings. So when you look at your average after replacing one item with a new item, you can tell what your new buyer left.

If you still have a 5.0 - your buyer left a 5 star.

If you have a 4.9 - your buyer left a 4 star (9@5=45 + 4 = 49 = 4.9)

If you have a 4.8 - your buyer left a 3 star (9@5=45 + 3 = 48 = 4.8)

If you have a 4.7 - your buyer left a 2 star (9@5=45 + 2 = 47 = 4.7)

If you have a 4.6 - your buyer left a 1 star (9@5=45 + 1 = 46 = 4.6)

If your report gets returned incomplete, that means your buyer didn't leave stars, or didn't leave stars in every category.

The hardest/most time consuming part is trying to find 10 transactions that all left 5 stars across the board. That took me about 20 - 25 minutes of plugging in numbers because a lot of people apparently don't use the DSR score ratings. But once you figure that out, you're good to go and can figure out what ANY other transaction/buyer left for your DSR score.

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