eBay Scrap Free P&P

eBay UK have done a sharp U-turn on their previously enforced ‘free’ P&P in selected categories.  Instead they have opted for capped maximum charges in certain categories.

In true eBay fashion, the update was a day late.

You can see the official announcement here.

What’s Happening to Powerseller Support?

Over the last few weeks, there have been an increasing number of threads on the UK Powersellers Forum asking for the PS support telephone number.  It seems some are seeing it in the PS portal and others aren’t.  Some powersellers are getting through to PS support in Ireland and some are being given a special PIN and getting through only when they use this.  As yet there has been no official announcement, although eBay did say a while back that they were re-organising their European customer support centres.

There are unconfirmed reports that calling PS support now gets you through to a call centre in Manila and that ‘in eBay’s eyes, powersellers don’t really exist any more and that all eBay users have the same support telephone number’.

Also unconfirmed as yet is that personal account managers have also been scrapped for powersellers.

New eBay Powerseller Requirements ‘Leaked’?

In what appears to a mistake, some eBay Powersellers were given a glimpse of the new, much lower requirements to be a Powerseller on eBay from April 2010.

It seems to indicate that selling just 100 items over a 12 month period will be one of the minimum requirements.

Here’s the text (the link has now been taken down).

New PowerSeller eligibility requirements from April 2010

There are five volume levels that distinguish PowerSellers, based on their gross monthly sales. Three additional levels will be introduced to better distinguish PowerSellers based on the level of service standards they offer – starting with the introduction of the Top-rated seller and Standard status on 1st October 2009. In January 2010 the Above Standard status will be introduced along with a new Final Value fee discounts structure to reward sellers consistently offering the very best service.

Benefits and services vary with each level. eBay automatically calculates eligibility each month and notifies qualifying sellers.

Starting in April 2010, the new eligibility requirements for all PowerSellers will include:

A lower transaction and gross merchandise volume requirement of a minimum of 100 transactions or £2,000 in the last 12 months.*
An average score on detailed seller ratings (DSR) of 4.60 or higher in all four areas
A raised minimum performance standard based on low detailed seller ratings of 1 and 2 stars (low star ratings)
Compliance with the Selling Practices policy (introduced in October 2009 for eBay Top-rated sellers only)
* Euro equivalent for sellers from the Republic of Ireland

Raised minimum performance standard

In April, all PowerSellers including new participants will be required to meet the raised minimum performance standard for selling on eBay. The minimum performance standard is defined by a maximum number of low star ratings allowed for transactions in UK and/or Ireland. Specifically, PowerSellers will be required to have no more than 1.00% for item as described and no more than 2.00% for communication, dispatch time, and P&P charges.

All PowerSellers should regularly check their Seller Dashboard to ensure they are meeting the new eligibility requirements before the April changes take effect. There they can find detailed information about their current performance including a daily updated snapshot of their low star ratings by each detailed rating area

Sellers who don’t meet the new requirements in April will lose their Powerseller status and associated benefits. However, eligibility to the PowerSeller programme is evaluated each month and sellers who improve their performance are invited to rejoin the programme when they meet the requirements.

The eligibility requirements for the PowerSeller programme today & April 2010

Criteria
Current
April 2010

Minimum transactions
Minimum of 100 items sold per month for three consecutive months
NEW Minimum of 100 transactions to UK and IE buyers per 12 months

Sales volume (GMV)
Minimum sales volume of £750 across a minimum average of four monthly listings.*
NEW Minimum sales volume of £2000 per 12 months* (based on sales to UK and IE buyers)

Average detailed ratings score
(must meet in all four areas)
4.0 or greater
NEW 4.60 or greater

Max. number of low star ratings of 1 and 2 stars
(must meet only one criteria)*
No minimum performance standard for PowerSellers
NEW Minimum performance standard

Item as described
Max: 1% or 3

Communication
Max: 2% or 3

Dispatch time
Max: 2% or 3

P&P charges
Max: 2% or 3

Other requirements

Business seller
Must be registered as business seller on eBay.co.uk or eBay.ie

Feedback
100 feedback, 98% or more positive
(from global transactions)

Membership
Active member for 90 days

Account
Account is in good financial standing

Policy breaches
Have no policy breaches in the preceding 90 days
NEW Have no policy breaches in the preceding 90 days and, in respect of the Feedback Manipulation, Shill Bidding and Counterfeits policies, have no policy breaches in the preceding 180 days.
NEW Must comply with the Selling Practices policy.

eBay Schuh Outlet in Feedback ‘Meltdown’

Schuh, the large footwear retailer is not having the best of times as one of eBay’s Outlet stores.

In the last 30 days alone, they have received over 1200 negative feedback and over 200 neutrals, mostly for the same reason – the item wasn’t actually in stock.

Schuh’s customer service page on their eBay Outlet states that due to a software error many items were listed when they were actually not in stock.  All auctions that ended between 7.30PM and 9.30PM on November 25th were affected.

Many buyers in their feedback seem puzzled as to why they didn’t receive their item, but it was later relisted.  Some have also claimed in their public feedback that the auction ended in such a low price that the item wasn’t sent.

It’s clear from reading the feedback that many of those disappointed customers don’t believe the ’system error’.

Schuh have also been apparently offering those customers a 20% discount off their next purchase – on their website.

Free eBay Media Listings for Private Sellers

eBay UK are currently running a promotion, allowing private sellers who list media items on auction with a start price of up to £4.99, with no insertion fees.  It runs from now until January 24th 2010.

Full announcement here

Free eBay Listing Weekend December 5th & 6th

eBay UK are running a free listing weekend for private sellers on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December.

Announcement here.

Save Money on eBay & PayPal Fees Mini Guide

Want to maximise your eBay selling profitability?

Here’s our mini guide on how to save some money on your eBay and PayPal seller fees.

• Make sure you know the auction start price cut off points
• Use the correct category – some attract lower fees
• Use listing upgrades sparingly or not at all
• Use Turbo Lister to save on Listing Designer fees
• Use relist where applicable to get a relist credit
• Make use of Second Chance Offers
• Host your own photographs – don’t pay eBay for multiple photos
• Keep your listings topped up with stock before they end
• Consider opening a shop
• If your turnover is over £1500 a month apply for PayPal merchant rate
• If most of your items sell for less than £10 apply for PayPal Micropayments pricing

This is a mini guide based on our article Save Money on eBay and PayPal Fees on our main site.

Find Gifts in Our eBay Shop Directory

Earlier this year, we launched our eBay Shop Directory.  You can find well over 100 eBay shops all in one place.  If eBay search isn’t finding what you want, why not take a look at our comprehensive and varied range of eBay shops?

They are sorted into categories to make it easier to find what you’re looking for, without trawling through lots of irrelevant items that eBay sometimes throws up in searches.

Lots of gift ideas, consumables, jewellery, clothing, gadgets, accessories, toys, games, electronics and much more. 

There’s something for everyone in our eBay Shop Directory.

eBay UK Email to Sellers Re Search Outage

eBay UK have been sending out the following email in the wake of the recent problems with search and other failings on the site.

“By now you may be aware that between 4:45pm GMT on Saturday, 21 November and 8:00am GMT on Sunday, 22 November eBay search was unavailable with searches returning limited or no results.

We know this was a very serious disruption, especially as you look to increase your sales for the Christmas shopping season. Because you had listings ending during or within an hour after the outage, I wanted to let you know, personally, what we’ll be doing to support your business and protect your eBay reputation.

First of all, this outage will not negatively impact your feedback or detailed seller ratings (DSRs) in any way. All Auction-style listings completed during this time will be protected from negative and neutral feedback as well as DSRs below a five star rating.

In addition, we’ll not expect you to fulfill Auction-style orders completed during this time if you feel the search outage prevented you from realising the full expected price from your auction-style listings that closed during the outage or within an hour after the outage. It’s up to you whether you want to fulfill the item in the interest of good relations with your buyer or cancel the transaction.

If you do plan to cancel a transaction, we ask that you contact your buyer by end of day Tuesday, 24 November. For your convenience, we’ve drafted some language below that you can use in your emails to inform the buyer of your intention and let them know this cancellation was due entirely to an eBay issue and not you as a seller.

If you had Fixed Price listings completed during this time period, you would of course be expected to fulfill sold items as usual.

Second, in keeping with eBay’s Outage Policy and doing what’s right for sellers and buyers, we are taking the following actions for listings that ended during or within an hour after the outage (4:45pm GMT Saturday, 21 November – 9:00am Sunday, 22 November GMT):
• We’ll refund all associated fees for Auction-style listings and refund pro-rated fees for all active Fixed Price listings during the outage. This refund should be reflected in your next eBay invoice.
• We’ll remove negative/neutral Feedback and detailed seller ratings (DSRs) lower than 5 stars given by buyers for affected Auction-style listings.
• We’ll alert the eBay and PayPal resolutions team in the event that a claim of item not received is filed for an affected listing.
• We’ll be sending a 10% off coupon to buyers who won Auction-style listings during the outage for any inconvenience, up to a maximum value of £70.
We fully understand the impact of an outage of this scope on you, our valued partners. We sincerely apologise for the disruption to your business. I want you to know that we are continuing to focus our teams and resources to ensure a smooth and rewarding Christmas selling season for you.
Sincerely,
Jody Ford
Senior Director Seller Experience Europe”

They’ve also included a suggested email for sellers to send to buyers;

“Suggested email for notifying your buyer of cancelled Auction-style transactions:
Dear Buyer:
As you may know, for a period of time from Saturday, 21 November to Sunday, 22 November, eBay search was returning limited or no results. See the official eBay report. Unfortunately, the item you purchased from me on [date] was offered through an Auction-style listing affected by this technical disruption.
I wanted you to know that as a result of this issue, I will not fulfill this transaction and any payment you made will be fully refunded. In addition, eBay will be sending you a 10%-off coupon for your next purchase up to a maximum of £70 for the inconvenience. Now that eBay search is fully restored, I will be relisting this auction [today]. I sincerely hope you will bid again – and win!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact eBay via the “Contact us” link at the top of the eBay homepage. Thank you for your understanding. I look forward to your future business.
Sincerely,
XXX”

Finding Stock to Sell on eBay Mini Guide

Have you ever asked yourself ‘how do I find stuff I can sell on eBay’?

Here’s our mini guide on sourcing stock for sale on eBay.

• Search on Google for words such as wholesalers, suppliers, distributors and trade login
• Look at the packaging on items, they often have the suppliers details on the back
• Look in the phone book or yellow pages – not all suppliers have websites
• Look in bargain bins in shops, or go to closing down sales
• Keep an eye out for clearance & liquidation auctions in your local area
• Buy wholesale clearance joblots on eBay and sell the items individually
• Visit trade fairs and meet suppliers face to face
• Look at on-line trade directories

 

This is a mini guide based on the article Finding Stock to Sell on eBay on our main website.