Improving Buyer Experience on eBid

[Gothicina]

I'm going to try & pull together some of the other posts which broadly relate to this, & maybe between us we can come up with some suggestions for the guys.

Registration - & putting new accounts on hold.
http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showthread.php?t=97888

New members often find their account put on hold soon after joining & don't understand the reasons.
If there is a minor problem with the new member's address, telephone number, or they have opened multiple accounts, (I don't mean a banned member trying to open another account).

Instead of preventing them from doing anything & possibly losing a future valuable member why not.

1. Send them an email pointing out the problem, with a timescale to resolve it for instance 2/3 days.
2. Restrict their account so they may only bid on a small number of items until the problem is resolved, that way if they joined just to bid on a certain item, they still can. (Give sellers the option to refuse or cancel a bid by a restricted member if they wish)

Review how the whole Buddy Point System works when it comes to new members getting sign ups. If we want them to get new members to join, don't suspend them for doing it!

Dropshipping.
http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showthread.php?t=98552
As dropshippers do not actually have the goods, they frequently state in their listings things like "Item may not be in stock when you bid" & other phrases like that. Fair enough, but it can be very annoying to think you've bough something & find you haven't, so I suggest that it's made a requirement that all dropshippers need to declare they are dropshipping on each listing, & an explanation of what dropshipping is added to the FAQ's


Listing Violations

1) Multiple Identical listings
I know it's against the listing rules (which many don't bother to read) & eBid will remove them if they are reported but would it be possible to have a reminder box popup if someone uses list similar item & doesn't change the title or the photo, to help cut down on these?

2) Items in the wrong category.
There is at least 1 category full of listings that don't belong there that has been mentioned on the forums, & nothing has been done about it.
They may well have been placed in the wrong category because of changes in the spreadsheet, can't support move them?
http://uk.three.ebid.net/perl/main.cgi?type1=a&type2=a&categoryid=804&mo=subcate gory

http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showthread.php?t=94492

3) Misuse of the "Other" Sub-Categories.
http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showthread.php?t=98552
There seem to be a large number of listings placed in the "Other" sub-category, when there is a correct category for them. A nightmare if you like to browse.
Most of these seem to have been made using the spreadsheet, would it be possible to cap the number of listings uploaded into an "Other" Sub-Category at any one time?

High Value Items from New/0 Feedback Sellers.
http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showthread.php?t=98110
Gazza have you got anywhere on this yet? There still seem to be too many threads by newbies who have been ripped off.

Maybe the seller would not only have to have a certain positive feedback amount, but should have also been an active member of eBid for a set period, before they can list in certain categories.

[bluebedouin]

Not really sure whether I should add this here,but I'm sure you'll tell me off if not!
I've searched the forums as I thought it had been mentioned before but can't find any reference.
Another help for buyers would be an option to search for stores from the front page.

At the moment we only have the top 3 choices.

[lottie2005]

You can search for stores from the front page by clicking on the store tab between my ebid and the forum tabs.Then simply select the type of store you want clicking on your selected catagory and the appropriate stores come up.
Kind regards,
Michaela

http://uk.ebid.net/stores/Lotties-Clobber
http://uk.ebid.net/stores/Lotties-Boutique
http://uk.ebid.net/stores/Lotties-Toy-Shop

[lofty100e]

Gothicina: I may be wrong on this, but I thought there was something in the rules & regs stating that you must be in possession on the items on offer. This effectively outlaws drop-shipping.

Also if things are in the wrong category I think people should get a warning telling them where the items should be; and a time limit to move them before they are deleted by the management. Also if something is mis-filed but there is not a category one should be created. (I have always thought that with the state of the categorisation here, some times it is very unclear where things should be suspension is a bit harsh). Unless in cases like the hunting category where we have 11 and a half pages of wrongly placed items, which is obviously deliberate.

Lottie: I think BlueBedouin was reffering to a store search by name.

Also I think we need moderators on these forums who have the power to reprimand folks when necessary and move threads to the right category. This is something that is happening more and more often now we are getting more people here.

[lottie2005]

I have posted this on the kitchen table,so forgive me for repeating myself.However i feel that ebid need to get really tough with sellers doing this.
Whilst the rest of us are working hard to help new buyers and bring in more and more buyers.Some sellers continue to have links in their ebid all about pages and auctions to live feebay auctions.Buyers are navigating ebid only to be directed back to feebay.This is spoiling the ebid experience for new and old buyers alike.
I also agree with all that has been said regarding dropshipping.
Kind regards,
Michaela

[artlandish]

I have posted this on the kitchen table,so forgive me for repeating myself.However i feel that ebid need to get really tough with sellers doing this.
Whilst the rest of us are working hard to help new buyers and bring in more and more buyers.Some sellers continue to have links in their ebid all about pages and auctions to live feebay auctions.Buyers are navigating ebid only to be directed back to feebay.This is spoiling the ebid experience for new and old buyers alike.
I also agree with all that has been said regarding dropshipping.
Kind regards,
Michaela

This was discussed and clarified a few years back on the forums and if my memory serves me right, I believe that G& M said it was ok to display a feedback site link or auctionfb link in your auctions. That's probably why quite a few sellers use that link in their auctions. In the past, sellers were even allowed to import their eBay feedback into their eBid feedback.

It can be a very useful tool especially for sellers who are just starting out on eBid with 0 feedback and need to reassure their buyers that they have sold elsewhere and can be trusted. It's also comforting to new sellers to know that they can reassure their customers. It's hard enough to sell on here sometimes, a bit of leeway should be allowed when it comes to using the feedback tool.

Of course, ACTIVELY promoting eBay listings or eBay on your auctions - that, I don't think is allowed and also rather silly - what's the point?
--------------------------------

If you think about it, even G&M do it - they have Googleadsense ads for eBay on the site itself.

Like it has been mentioned before, everybody who visits eBid already knows about eBay and people looking on here aren't looking for a way to shop on eBay. If the wanted to shop on ebay, they could just go straight to the eBay website.

[Gothicina]

Of course, ACTIVELY promoting eBay listings or eBay on your auctions - that, I don't think is allowed and also rather silly - what's the point?
--------------------------------

Like you say Art the feedback links are allowed, the direct links to a feebay shop, or feebay listings (or any other ecommerce or auction site) are not & the guys will remove any listings reported for it.


It comes under 'Offering to Sell Offsite, or Links to e-Commerce Website within Description'

I think some of it at least can be put down to copying feebay listings into eBid without checking properly.

If you do a seach for feebay (spelt correctly of course) & click the search descriptions box you get
40828 results
The majority are because of feedback links.

[johnwash1]

Part of the reason there's a lot of listing in 'Other' categories, even when good ones exist, must be because of the organisation of categories. It's daft to have a system with only 2 levels. You go to something like Books and within that are zillions of categories that all start Fiction, zillions that start non-fiction, and so on. Why on earth isn't the system multi-level, so that sellers are led down an easy path of several choices, instead of having to waste time eyeballing some damn great listbox?

It feels like a design decision that's been made for the convenience of programmers, not for the convenience of users.

So if the users just say "Sod this" and list in Other, who's to blame?

Another side effect of this is that adding new sub-categories will be a less welcome step because it makes the list even longer, even more unwieldy.

[sdk]

re: Topic 'Improving Buyer Experience on eBid' & 'maybe between us we can come up with some suggestions for the guys.'

I'm not sure whether this belongs here.

I've been wondering whether it would be worth including a total eBid turnover value as part of publicly-accessible member information.

Thus if a seller is offering a higher value item than their turnover indicates is normal for that seller, buyers can make a more informed decision on whether to bid; and sellers could be reassured by a high turnover value on the part of a buyer.

If it's considered invasion of privacy to simply post a running tally, perhaps the turnover could be broken down into tiers, for instance:

0
£1-£100
£101-£1000
... etc

Perhaps these 'Turnover Tiers' could be associated with an additional icon against the member's name: something else for regular members to 'collect' as they progress with eBid.

Providing members with such information might be useful when assessing whether a buyer / seller has proven creditworthiness here.

[nykmedia]

I have to admit that I LIKE the "hot sellers" panel that's now in the main Buy/Want/Stores page and have looked at items from sellers that I hadn't even heard of before! I'd still like to see the front page changed so buyers aren't confronted by the exact same thing month after month. However, I thought all of this was already being discussed in the promo forums, as anything that attracts the buyer's attention is marketing that works Great big PLUS to eBid for their success in the way they market this site to existing users, nobody here can deny them that fact, even if they aren't fully aware of it themselves LOL