eBay’s Major Policy Changes and How to Stop Them Ruining Your Business

Articles by Avril Harper™ Updated: Tuesday November 24, 2009

Home Page & Articles Listing About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Links

eBay’s Major Policy Changes and How to Stop Them Ruining Your Business

by Avril Harper

There’s a new broom sweeping clean at eBay, causing havoc for sellers, and leading many to boycott or even abandon eBay as their prime selling base.

Within weeks of his arrival eBay’s new Director of Feedback has upset almost one hundred per cent of sellers by:

(1) preventing sellers from leaving unfavourable feedback even for dishonest buyers. The new system allegedly begins in May but no one, even eBay, has a definite date in mind.

(2) imposing a complete ban on digital goods on eBay UK.

According to a recent international survey, ninety-four per cent of respondents consider the new feedback rules will seriously damage their eBay business and one in four said they will probably stop selling on eBay once the new feedback changes arrive.

Soon afterwards Burke ruffled feathers again by giving less than seven days notice for sellers to remove their digital listings or be charged with violating eBay’s selling policies. In eBay forums you’ll find hundreds of information sellers claiming their entire income has been decimated and claiming eBay’s sudden mood swings left insufficient time for them to adapt and create alternative income streams.

Without going into pros and cons, reasons and excuses, the fact is Burke’s Law rules on eBay and you can like it or lump it, or look for ways to adapt to all these sweeping changes. If you’re on eBay for the long haul, adapting to change is your best option. These tips might come in handy.

Adapt to Feedback Changes

Let me say right up front, I hate the feedback system, I’ve always found it overly subjective, it’s wide open to abuse and I genuinely do believe there are many more dishonest buyers than ever there will be dishonest sellers on eBay.

I know customers must be protected online, and I understand the feedback system is designed to benefit the buying public. But I have never believed the customer is ALWAYS right and I have forty years selling experience to back that opinion. Like many PowerSellers I’ve had my share of dishonest buyers, including some who don’t pay, others who send empty envelopes they swear contained cash, some who report you for failing to deliver goods despite the fact you have proof of posting. At such times I feel obliged to leave neutral or negative feedback purely to warn fellow sellers against rogue buyers. Now I have to give dishonest buyers positive feedback or no feedback at all.

That is not the bad news!

The bad news is the door will soon be wide open for sellers to recruit armies of people to bid and leave negative feedback for their rivals on eBay.

The end result will be honest sellers’ accounts being blighted with negative points that could seriously cut their profits and even have their ventures closed down.

The good news is the odd negative has little impact on sellers with thousands of positive feedback points, but just one red dot can be disastrous for newcomers. That’s because, the more feedback points you have, the less impact the odd negative point has on percentage scores, meaning you could receive several negative points each month and still retain 100 per cent positive feedback.

There are ways to counter most potential problems and you do it like this:

* Grow feedback to a point where the odd negative has little effect. This is much easier said than done and it can mean creating hundreds or even thousands of listings each month to offset whatever potential negatives may occur. It’s time consuming but it works and it can also be very profitable. I do it by promoting at least 500 postcards or other small collectibles like cigarette cards or trading cards each month alongside numerous business packages and information products fulfilled on CD. I’ve found information products tend to generate more negative feedback than collectibles, and by listing more collectibles than information products I gain many more positive feedback points than negative. The main reason for more negatives appearing among information buyers than people buying collectibles is that information buyer expectations sometimes exceed product possibility. A good example is a book that shows exactly how to make money fast on eBay, that objective is entirely and easily achievable, but the buyer lacks commitment or does not properly read the instructions and ends up losing money. In a fit of anger he hits the negative feedback button.

* Slow or late delivery is a major source of buyer discontent. I recommend you have proof of shipping for all outgoing orders. Should an item be delayed in transit a proof of shipping slip will satisfy most genuine bidders who are more likely to wait longer for delivery than leave hasty negative feedback.

* eBayers with several selling accounts might consider combining some of those accounts to increase positive feedback points.

* Sod’s Law, and top level research, shows that customers are happier to buy from someone with less than 20 feedback points and 100% positive feedback, than another with 1000 points and 99.9% positive feedback. This means, sometimes, it might be a good idea to have several eBay accounts running at any one time. This lets you build each account to fifty or so positive feedback points, with no negatives, which allows you to operate in areas banned to newcomers, such as opening a Shop, using Dutch auctions, and so on. When one account drops below 99.9 or even 100 per cent positive feedback, you might choose to abandon it and work from one of your other established accounts, while at the same time opening and growing feedback in a new account.

Adapt to Digital Download Changes

From late April, 2008, digital goods will be banned from the entire UK site, but you can still (?) list them in USA Classified Ads. ‘?’ means ‘Don’t bet your boots on it staying this way.’

Now what can you do with those eBooks and software programmes you’ve gathered in great abundance? Well, you could:

* Give up selling on eBay and promote your digital products elsewhere. This is not an option the serious entrepreneur should consider, certainly not right now. eBay remains one of the biggest online marketplaces, perhaps THE biggest place to sell online. It wouldn’t make sense to stop selling digital products on eBay or give up on eBay completely.

* Adapt to eBay’s sudden mood swings … BUT! This is the best option of all, especially for people previously selling their information products entirely by digital download on eBay. Start by converting those hitherto digital goods to CD or other physical format or promote digital goods through USA Classified Ads (for now!). But, once you’ve re-established your eBay business, you need to work extra hard at growing income outside of eBay or risk another major profit slashing eBay policy change. When you’re back up and making money again, promise yourself never again to become dependent on eBay for your main or sole source of income. You must diversify beyond eBay, we’ll talk about how to do that in another article.

* Continue selling digital products on eBay, in eBay.com Classified Ads., for example, or via your ‘About Me’ Page. You can also use your email signature file to promote digital products you’re selling outside of eBay. DO NOT PROMOTE OUTSIDE EBAY PRODUCTS in communications processed through the eBay system or you’ll be breaking the rules. Bear in mind communications processed through eBay are also sent to and from your outside email box where you are allowed to mention products available outside eBay.

* Sell physical products on eBay. Promote your eBooks and software programs on CD or in paper format or a combination of both. Physical products usually have higher perceived value than digital downloads and you may find you make more money from a few physical products than previously from hundreds of digital download items.

Avril Harper Products

The Ultimate Dropshipping Report NEW

A Complete Newbie's Guide to Making Money From the Public Domain NEW

Thousands of AdSense Dollars Year On Year From One-Day Blogs and Mini-Sites NEW

“Cut & Paste” Your Way to $1,000 a Week Online Promoting Best Selling ClickBank Affiliate Products Through Low-Cost eBay Classified Ads. NEW

A Complete Newbies' Guide to Making Money With ClickBank

Make Money Tearing Up Old Books and Magazines and Selling Them on eBay

Bank Big Profits Selling Vintage Topographical View Postcards on eBay

The Easiest, Most Profitable, Fastest Way Possible to Make Money Selling Information Products on eBay

If you chanced upon this page and you would like to join our newsletter and download several new gifts every month, please sign up at: www.avrilharper.com