eBay's Fall Round of Changes

I am not that compelled to write this post since the changes do not bother me, but I have been very critical of eBay in the last year, so to be fair I need to point out that these changes are not that bad. Some of them are actually good. Of course you would hardly know that from the way some people are complaining on various message boards.

What is happening is that eBay went too far last year, and now eBay is pulling back some with regards to the DSRs. The problem is that eBay yanked me around too much last year with reduced search visibility and glaring red marks in my seller dashboard. Go to this post to see what my seller dashboard looked like in the fall. I am the same person and the same seller I was in the fall. My feedback is always positive, yet eBay had labeled me as a failure.

It sounds like eBay has now fixed it so that people like me who are casual sellers will no longer have that happen to them. Unfortunately, eBay damaged my morale last year by doing that to me, and my books are now listed elsewhere. I doubt that I will ever go back to eBay full-time since I now have my booth set up at Bonanzle. For people like me, these new changes are too little, too late.

I am not going to go through everything since the information is readily available for everyone to read. Here is the link straight from the source:

Seller Update: Overview

The above link was provided in a message that told me, "The great news for you--based on your track record of consistently delivering great service to your customers, you are on track to be invited to the PowerSeller program, get Top-rated status and earn the highest discounts and rewards starting in October."

So I already know without clicking on the link that I qualify as a "top-rated seller," which is eBay's highest rating that can be bestowed on a seller. Apparently eBay will use this rating for both power sellers and casual sellers who achieve high DSR ratings. It is interesting how I was a failure in the fall and now I am top-rated. EBay is just a tad inconsistent.

The changes to the power seller program seem to be the ones that have the most people upset. Read the above link if you want to know about them.

The other part that bothers some people is that eBay will no longer allow sellers to charge for optional insurance. Insurance must be already included in the charges or not charged at all. This is what eBay says about it:

The insurance option creates the perception that buyers need to purchase shipping insurance as a protection on eBay, an experience they're not accustomed to on other ecommerce sites. In fact, sellers have always been responsible for their items until they arrive safely in their customers' hands. That's why shipping insurance will no longer be included in the purchase flow as either an option or requirement for buyers.

A lot of sellers are upset about this. The sellers that are upset are the ones who think that they are not responsible when the buyer does not receive the merchandise. If you are one of those people, consider this: When you buy from Amazon and do not receive the item, do you expect Amazon to reply, "We are not responsible for items not received. Once the item leaves our warehouse, we cannot guarantee delivery. Speak to the carrier about the whereabouts of the item."? Or, do you expect Amazon to send another one at their expense? I am sure that most people would expect Amazon to send another.

I have always felt that way. The seller is always responsible, and insurance is never necessary. As a seller, I feel that my buyers waste their money when they pay for insurance for a low cost book. Why pay $1.75 to insure a $5.00 book? I have never had a package go missing. Knock on wood. It will happen eventually, but so far I have probably mailed out several thousand packages and have had none disappear. I have had one that was severely damaged. The buyer reported that the post office tried to bend the box in half, and the result was not good.

I do have a concern, but my concern is as a buyer. I am concerned that all of those slipshod sellers who feel they are not responsible when they pack badly and the items disappear will require insurance on everything including inexpensive items. I would hate to be charged $1.75 to insure all packages. I fear that it will happen.

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I decided to add this part after this post was published. I have now read about how eBay is computing the DSRs. The DSRs left for a seller from multiple purchases by a single buyer will all count towards a seller's DSR rating. This means that if a seller has all good DSRs, but one buyer purchases five items and leaves ones, that buyer's DSRs do count five times as ones. This is not good. A single buyer could completely destroy a seller. I still do not care since I am not planning to sell much on eBay ever again. If eBay wants to destroy the rest of its sellers, they can go for it. Whatever.