ebay and the latest ...............................................MEDIA REPORTS

[*Yibida*]

And the 2600 ! .. I'm on a roll !...Egg roll !... LOL

[Philip.Cohen]

“Best Match” is a joke and has nothing to do with aiding sellers or buyers in general; it seems to be the eBafia Don’s clumsy, disingenuous way of looking after his favored sellers, that’s all.

Auctions are indeed sorted by the default “Worst Match” unless you have manually chosen otherwise; indeed eBay, from time to time, resets my preferences to “Worst Match” and I have to then reset sorts to “Ending soonest”. Try doing a search without logging in and see what you get: the laughable “Worst Match”!

20 April is only 10 days away; I look forward to hearing the chief headless turkey once again spinning his fairy story about how well eBay is doing at the end of his first three-year “Great Leap Forward” plan. Sad so many of the hoi polloi had to be sacrificed along the way. All for the greater (his) good of course, you understand.

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[*smee*]

again , I repeat auctions are sorted by time left if you use the best match default search and that is a fact !


This was in response to this statement ....
 
"while I have never been a fan of Best Match ... I have to say from my observations the improvements are for the best

previously in the searches of my sort of listings the 99 cent auction asian selling flooders got priority exposure

at least now other sellers get a fair go"



and I am merely pointing out that 99c auctions never got priority exposure because in the best match search the auctions get exposure based on time left

I strongly urge anyone whom thinks otherwise do their homework and look at the auction listings displayed in any best match search unless you actually refine the search


here is a sample on a search for mens wallets on the standard best match default ...
http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313&_nkw=mens+wallets+&_sacat=See-All-Categories
you will note that the bins are in random order or what eBay deems as "best Match" ( as previously noted by some knowlegable posters ....free post first )  but please note that any listing that is an auction is in time remaining order ................ I rest my case !!!!!!!

[*smee*]

and further to the above they are always listed in a ratio depending on how may auctions v bins there are in any given search ... for example you will notice in the above search it shows 4 auctions then 1 bin ...4 auctions then 1 bin and so one on the most prominent pages ( in this instance the first 7 or 8 pages ) ... also not that if it is listed as an auction with a bin price as well , it is treated in the search as an auction i.e  listed in order of time remaining because if/as soon as someone bids then the bin price disappears and its auction only  

[bnwt]

call me selfish

but prior to Best Match my items got good exposure

then after Best Match up until now my items were lost pages back into the wilderness

now I have listings on pages 1, 2 & 3 .... I am getting exposure again .... I don't really care who how or why

[*smee*]

 exactly Tags ... I hear what you are saying and I agree with regards to BINS to a certain extent except it help to know why so that you know how to improve your exposure ... you have worked that out with the new free postage exposure , however when everyone comes to that conclusion and all list with so called free postage you will be back to where you were ..

but that doesnt alter the fact that auctions are shown by time remaining in the standard default search and it matters not what their starting price is/was or anything else for that matter  ... and that has absolutely nothing to do with best match ...thats how they were always listed/shown and they get no more exposure than they always did in fact they get less because store listing never used to be included in the standard default search and now they do ( store listings used to be under all the other listing in a sperate section )

[Philip.Cohen]

If anyone wants to know what the default search is on eBay simply “sign out” and do a search and see what you get: it’s Best Match. OK, I agree that the “ending soonest” status of auctions is not affected by Best Match, but BINs are all jumbled up and there is absolutely no point to such jumble that I can detect—certainly not if you are looking at a list of items from a single seller.

Best Match is some sort of sick joke on eBay users; undoubtedly some sort of devious manipulation by eBay to aid its preferred sellers. Otherwise, I don’t know what purpose Best Match serves, but you can bet that it serves eBay’s interests before it serves the interests of eBay’s users generally, either buyers or sellers. As principally now a very rare buyer of anything on eBay it simply irritates me when it occasionally raises its ugly head.

“if/as soon as someone bids then the bin price disappears and its auction only”

If ever there was a classic demonstration of the utter stupidity of eBay data base programming this is indeed it. Why, when a buyer makes a nominal bid, on an auction that has an optional BIN, would eBay kill the higher BIN option? Surely, it is logical that any potential buyer should have the option of closing the auction early by taking the seller’s higher BIN price? Only eBay could come up with such totally illogical programming logic. You know for sure that you are dealing with idiots when you see this sort of logic.

Then, is not just about everything this bunch of headless turkeys do either devious or simply stupid?

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[*Brum6y*]

I always understood that the Auction with BIN was set up the way it was so that, should someone decide to try the auction path, then the final price would be determined by the auction process - including the possibility of the auction bidding going higher than the BIN price.

Otherwise, to do as you suggest Phil, the BIN price would have to be considered the sellers ceiling price ... when it is reached in an auction, bidding is over, item is won and everybody else can go home.  So, despite the possibility of active bidding willing to push the price higher, the whistle is blown and its game over?

That is one sure way to end up with a frustrated seller and a number of annoyed buyers.

[Philip.Cohen]

I work on the presumption that a BIN price (initial option or otherwise) is the price that a seller wants for the quick sale of a known-value item—an eBay auction being not usually a prompt matter; why would you not leave the BIN option there at least until any bidding is within, say, a large fraction of the BIN; otherwise you may also risk getting possibly considerably less than the BIN, particularly with a nominal-start auction; or the seller has to watch the item and then play the “cancel auction” game if the bidding is not satisfactory. After all, does not eBay want—indeed does not eBay presently desperately need—the highest FVF it can possibly get off every sale, no matter what?

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[bnwt]

SOC Exchange claims it will take on eBay


http://mumbrella.com.au/soc-exchange-claims-it-will-take-on-ebay-44183

[*Yibida*]

SOC Exchange claims it will take on eBay


http://mumbrella.com.au/soc-exchange-claims-it-will-take-on-ebay-44183

Just checked it out,, almost nothing on there ?  how long has this Aust site been operating ? $10 a year is cheap enough but there's nothing but empty shelves ?   I didn't know this site existed till BNtags linked it ... if they recon their going head to head with feebay they better have a lot of spondule for advertising ! the Net is a deep back void and every pixel looks the same ... unless you make a beacon you will not stand out.

[Philip.Cohen]

Beware of ‘the Paypal call’ and what to do today to mitigate large PayPal reserves. (Part I of II)
http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_strategies/2010/02/beware-of-the-paypal-call-and-what-to-do-today-to-mitigate-large-paypal-reserves.html

This is a Scott Wingo ChannelAdvisor blog story from 28 February 2010, which has probably appeared here before but is worth another read. Even Scott Wingo has given eBay/PayPal a good beating around the ears over PayPal’s intention to put holds on sellers’ funds.

First of all, PayPal does not supply “credit”; they are no more than an additional, non-retail bank-supported, middleman, “leach” sucking away at the online payments process. PayPal is applying these funds holds to protect themselves because eBay’s and PayPal’s fraud-facilitating policies have attracted so many fraudsters to their respective businesses that the whole thing is getting out of control. Even Scott Wingo, in whose business eBay has a financial interest, is offering criticism.

You will note also that Wingo’s blog has the comments turned off; he’s apparently gotten tired of having his ugly partner, eBay, complain about all the negative comments about eBay and PayPal appearing thereon.

And, PayPal’s (disingenuous) response thereto:
http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_strategies/2010/02/paypals-response-to-my-post-on-reservers.html

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[*smee*]

the best match for BINS seems to have changed again , I think ... it appears as though all the free postages arent getting priority exposure like they were in the past weel or so ... hmmmm , I didnt think it could last like that

[*Brum6y*]

I can't say I'm not surprised - but how much better is it?

... or is it too soon to figure that out yet?

[*Brum6y*]

I emailed my seller friend ... they're still up (what a surprise ... not).  They have heard the same from a couple of other sellers, but haven't checked it out themselves yet.

[bnwt]

Shop for free! Researchers cheat PayPal checkout


http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/13/technology/ecommerce_security_flaw/?section=money_latest

[bnwt]

Tyranny of distance hindering Aussie online retail


http://www.startupsmart.com.au/growth/2011-04-13/tyranny-of-distance-hindering-aussie-online-retail-report.html

[Philip.Cohen]

“Same Store Sales at eBay, Amazon Slightly Down in March
http://seekingalpha.com/article/263122-same-store-sales-at-ebay-amazon-slightly-down-in-march?source=email_watchlist

Don’t you just love this headline? But, what’s it got to do with the text of the story: “Amazon came in at 70.3% y/y growth for March, a very strong showing, and continues to show impressive share gains. eBay accelerated slightly for our customers, coming in at 6.5% y/y vs. February's 2.5% growth. Overall we see that e-commerce in March came in at 7.64%, a slight dip from the 11.3% in February.”

eBay is still going down the toilet relative to all other e-commerce.

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[low-enghooi]

eBay is still going down the toilet relative to all other e-commerce.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes. YOU ARE WRONG!!!!!

But it doesn't matter at all. Creative sellers see ebay and amazon as a selling tool and continue rake in tons of profits everyday.

So who care if ebay is dying? Obviously creative sellers don't. Every day I read more and more and more sellers are making tons of profit from ebay. I don't read this similar story from Amazon seller.

Everyone can sell on Ebay USA. Can an Australian seller sells on Amazon USA? You bet!

Amazon can be the best of the best of the best of the best of e-commerce website. So what? When it meant nothing to Australian seller.

Ebay could be the dead man walking. Again so what? Many sellers are still earning good income.

[Philip.Cohen]

“eBay Bans Auctions of Fixed-Price Items under Dupes Policy?”
http://letters.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2011/4/1302726556.html#comments

Ah, isn’t it comforting to know that the headless turkey idiots are still fully in control of the eBay farmyard?

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[Philip.Cohen]

“What Amazon Will Be Like in 2030”
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2011/04/13/amazon-like-2030/

“Amazon's business allowing third-parties to sell through them is a rip-roaring success and eating into eBay which, itself, is sinking into irrelevance because of poor management execution.

“By 2030, expect Amazon to be an enormous eBay-like marketplace, except functioning much better.”

Oh, dear me, what has eBay’s Chief Headless Turkey done to get the Dirty Digger’s Fox off side? Not advertising on Rupert’s TV channels, maybe?

“The only company that has the scale and expertise in payments to take on PayPal's network effects [sic] is Amazon. And PayPal isn't very well run, often angers customers, and has an ugly product. Amazon's payments solution already exists and is already better than PayPal's and is growing, albeit slowly as far as we can tell.”

Sorry, but it is the participating retail banks via Visa/Mastercard that, once they get their act together, will consign the clunky PreyPal to the history books.

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[bnwt]

Skull should not have been auctioned


http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/skull-should-not-have-been-auctioned-20110414-1dg2q.html

[bnwt]

PayPal Survey Points to Interest in Escrow Service


http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2011/4/1302811770.html

[bnwt]

Online shopping starts to register


http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Australian-shoppers-come-on-down-the-queue-at-the--pd20110406-FMVKY?OpenDocument&src=rot

[Philip.Cohen]

“eBay Best Match Search Sucked for Three Years”
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y11/m04/i14/s01

“An eBay executive acknowledged the shortcomings of Best Match from the time it first rolled out in 2006. But, he said, Best Match has improved over the past 18 months due to the use of behavioral data.

“Best Match is the default sort order of search results on eBay. In a blog post on Wednesday, Senior Director of Search Science Mike Mathieson pointed to search results from September 2009 for a search for "plasma tv" and pointed out that there were no actual TVs in the top 10 results.”

And anything has changed, really?

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[bnwt]

Cash-strapped fashionistas are turning to eBay


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/8451330/Cash-strapped-fashionistas-are-turning-to-eBay.html

[Philip.Cohen]

Notice of [PayPal] Policy Updates

"You are receiving this notification because you have elected to receive email notice of all PayPal Policy Change Notices.

"PayPal recently posted a new Policy Update. You can view this Policy Update by logging in to your PayPal account. To log in to your account, go to https://www.paypal.com.au and enter your member log in information. Once you are logged in, look at the Notifications section on the top right side of the page for the latest Policy Updates.

"If you need help logging in, go to our Help Center by clicking the Help link located in the upper right-hand corner of any PayPal page.

"Kind Regards,
PayPal Australia"

Ah, yes, but where is the policy update? The link is to PayPal's home page; no mention thereon of any policy update. Why do I have to "log in" to see this update? Anyway, logging in produces a notice on "Never Give Out Personal Information". OK, I'll toss a coin and click on "Go to Security Center". Can't find any "Notifications" section there. Go back, try “My Account”. Ah, there it is; not exactly at the TOP right side of the page. Why do they have to make everything so hard? Can't these turkeys do anything logically? Anyway:

“The entire User Agreement has been revised. A copy of the revised User Agreement is contained in Schedule A, below. In particular, the PayPal Buyer Protection Policy and Buyer Complaint Policy has been revised with material changes to the Buyer Protection Policy and removal of the Buyer Complaint Policy. The revised PayPal Buyer Protection Policy contains material changes for sellers and buyers.”

I’m far too old to try to absorb all this legalese; maybe auctionbytes will summarize it for we simple peasants. 

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.

[*Brum6y*]

" Once you are logged in, look at the Notifications section on the top right side of the page for the latest Policy Updates. "

Which is where I found it:



(Maybe if I had a few more transactions it would be more towards the 'top')

[Philip.Cohen]

AT LAST, AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT THE HEADLESS TURKEYS AT EBAY ARE UP TO WITH DSRs
(lifted from the auctionbytes forum)

Well here are the true facts of DSRs:
An account with 947 feedback 100% positive. Gone from a trusted seller to suspended in less than 10 days; every item we sell is mailed international. DSR’s 4.9-4.9-4.9-4.8  No disputes, No claims EVER only 4 neutrals ever and all read positive (not 1 negative ever). We sell around 8-10x more on Amazon with NO drama like this rubbish. Management have totally destroyed eBay. Here is what the goon squad say:


I have reviewed your account and found that your account has been restricted due to high BBE (Bad Buyer Experience) rate in the past 8 weeks. The BBE factors include neutral/negative feedbacks, disputes and 1-2 DSR ratings.

Please be kindly informed that neutral feedbacks also is included as Bad Buyer Experience. [THERE YOU HAVE IT IN PRINT]

For this restriction, eBay is counting BBE rate on the percentage of BBE transaction numbers and the total transaction numbers in the past 8 weeks. The formula of BBE rate is as below:

BBE rate= (BBE transaction numbers in the past 8 weeks / Total transaction numbers in the past 8 weeks) ×100%

Due to our safety and security reason, the minimum requirements of BBE rate cannot be disclosed to you.

But this rate does reflect the general buying satisfaction of your account. In order to maintain eBay as a safe and reputable place to trade, a number of seller accounts with high BBE rate may be restricted or even suspended to minimize their impact on eBay's overall buyer satisfaction, avoid further protential worse performance and make sellers aware of their weak points and focus on improving services to fulfill the ever-increasing buyer expectations.

According to the BBE rate formula above, there are 2 ways to lower the BBE rate and further to lift the restriction:

1. Reduce the BBE transactions records by revising the negative/neutral feedbacks and low DSRs.
2. Enlarge the total transaction volume, by selling out the active items with better communications and faster delivery. [LOL, HOW, WE ARE SUSPENDED, IDIOTS]

Since there is no appeal procedure applying to this restriction, we can't manually review your account. Our system will evaluate your account performance once a week. (Next re-evaluating time will be on Apr 20th). If the performance is improved and qualified enough, the restriction will be removed automatically. If not, your further effort to improving will be needed till next system evaluation.

Thank you for your interest in helping to keep eBay a fun and safe place
to trade!

[bnwt]

Philip

please stop filling the Media Reports with editorial and opinion

why not start your own thread


and just for the record these "true facts" about DSR's are no great revelation .... go to your Sellers Dashboard and all the details are explained in plain and simple english but I suppose you don't have a Sellers Dashboard to go to as you aren't a seller

[*Yibida*]

Good idea tags ! .... Phil go to it buddy .... we can have tags post what he does best and you can have your own thread and do what you do ....

Let me know if you need a hand selecting a suitable heading for your thread .... one thread would compliment the other ... wish I'd thought of it !.. 

" Dead men walking " ????   I'll leave it up to you ..

[bnwt]

First eBay / PayPal charge-back. We'll see what happens.


http://www.t-g.com/blogs/stevemills/entry/40976/

[bnwt]

Sick of Corporate Greed


http://letters.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2011/4/1302966780.html

[bnwt]

eBay Adds Facebook Like Buttons to Listings


http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2011/4/1302957658.html

[bnwt]

‘Buyer’ steals bike


http://www.andoveradvertiser.co.uk/news/8976992.___Buyer____steals_bike/

[Liisa-Sx]

eBay Adds Facebook Like Buttons to Listings


http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2011/4/1302957658.html

On the policy page under ''Other Links,'' it specifically states under the links not allowed: ''Links to social networking websites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.''

If it wasn't so damn typical of Ebay, I would laugh......

[bnwt]

eBay Listing Analytics Tool Provides Sellers with Performance Data


http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/cab/abu/y211/m04/abu0285/s03

[bnwt]

PayPal to offer digital credentials to online consumers


http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=22479

[bnwt]

Bump app becomes a surprise hit


http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2011-04-19-bump-app.htm

[*CountessA*]

I've been using the Bump app ever since I first got my iPhone. It IS a snazzy way of sharing information. *nod*

But... I would never, never, never "bump" financial information from PayPal, unless I were absolutely convinced this was secure to the nth degree. The level of security to be confident of your contact information is one thing; it's another level entirely when it comes to finance.

[bnwt]

eBay Acquires Ad-Driven Localized App Maker


http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/ebay-acquires-ad-driven-localized-app-maker-130827

[bnwt]

The power of the crowd


http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/the-power-of-the-crowd-20110420-1doq8.html

[bnwt]

Amazon, eBay wage costly battle for shoppers


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/21/us-amazon-ebay-idUSTRE73K7FG20110421

[bnwt]

Item Condition goes missing on eBay.com, .de, .co.uk


http://tamebay.com/2011/04/item-condition-goes-missing-on-ebay-com-de-co-uk.html

[bnwt]

eBay's Fee Increase Is Not about Encouraging Free Shipping


http://letters.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2011/4/1303681647.html

[bnwt]

Watch for the new "Shopping Cart" in eBay


http://www.t-g.com/blogs/stevemills/entry/41110/

[bnwt]

3 Internet Retail Stocks: Who Will Win Earnings Season?


http://www.thestreet.com/story/11090778/1/3-internet-retail-stocks-whats-the-top-of-online-this-earnings-season.html

[bnwt]

eBay Local Sends Shoppers Right to Retailers' Front Doors


http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/cab/abn/y11/m04/i25/s01

[bnwt]

Alibaba Introduces Online Sellers to Chinese Brands


http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/cab/abn/y11/m04/i26/s03

[*CountessA*]

PayPal pushes mobile phone payments

[...]TICKY FULLERTON: How much of PayPal's transactions happen over mobiles as opposed to over the net - computers?

FRERK-MALTE FELLER: So we see a rapid growth in transactions that are happening over the mobile phone. We've already had 10 per cent of our four million customers use PayPal from their mobile phone and that growth curve is accelerating quite quickly.

So when we look at last year in 2010, we've had a 14-fold growth in mobile transaction. That's not 14 per cent, but it's in fact 14-fold the mobile transaction that we had just a year earlier, so it's been a rapid development, really a tremendous growth.

TICKY FULLERTON: And that's largely as a result of the take-up of smartphones, isn't it?

FRERK-MALTE FELLER: Yeah, the smartphones have really made that key difference. Whereas previously, you know, some phones would let you access the internet, they weren't too clever and it wasn't a great customer experience.[...]