Whenever eBay changes their rules, features and policies. they reverberate through the ranks of doll collectors that both buy and sell on eBay. The Fall 2009 changes will impact everyone trading dolls on eBay. Here are some of the most important things you need to know about the Fall 2009 release.
1. Sellers Can No Longer Charge Separately For Insurance
Starting this Fall, sellers will no longer be able to charge buyers separately for insurance. For low priced dolls, this can create problems when buyers demand insurance (insurance in those instances can eat up all profit). This can create even bigger problems for expensive dolls, especially at auction. It can cost several dollars to insure a doll worth several hundred dollars with USPS or UPS . Now, either sellers absorb the cost, raise their shipping and handling charge (which will upset buyers and hurt seller DSRs), or raise their prices. This also causes problems when an item is put up for auction--sometimes, you have absolutely no idea what the final price of the item is, so how do you account for insurance then?
2. eBay Is Messing With Best Match Again
If you are like me, you've already re-set your sorting defaults on your eBay search to "time ending soonest" or lowest or hightest price first to get away from eBay's inexplicably awful Best Match search sort. If you haven't, you need to know that eBay once again is messing with the Best Match formula. The following is directly from the eBay release: "Fixed Price listings will have a listing performance score based on the listing's recent sales in relation to the number of recent impressions it received. An "impression" is any time a buyer sees a search results page that includes the listing."3. Changes Are Being Made to the PowerSeller Program
This mostly concerns sellers, and if you have been a long-time PowerSeller, the news is not good. eBay has changed its reward system to include a new "Top Seller" designation which vastly overweighs 1s and 2s that a seller is given in any single DSR rating. A very small number of disatisfied customers (or mistaken customers, or impossible to please customers, etc) can now lower a seller's ranking in best match and cost the seller considerably more in eBay fees. Also, say goodbye to the familiar PowerSeller logo which will no longer appear on Seller pages in favor of the new "Top Seller" badge. I know several exemplary doll sellers on eBay who have already told me that they won't qualify as a Top Seller.4. eBay Can Use Your Photos In Their Catalog
As a doll seller, you know those gorgeous, time consuming photos that you have spent many hours taking for your eBay listings? Well, if you don't opt out by August 31st, you are giving eBay the right to use your photos in their product catalog. That's right--you'll be letting other doll sellers use your photos to sell their dolls. eBay does promise a photo ctedit if your photo is used, but it isn't a useful link to your listings or your eBay Store--it's just a link to your profile page (the one that, if you are like me, you never look at).5. Automated Messages Will Go Out To Buyers To Remind Them To Pay
Starting this Fall, automated reminders of non-payment will go out to buyers 48 hours and 96 hours after a purchase. Please note that these reminders are not coming from your doll seller--they are coming from eBay. So, if you are arranging a layaway or you are a buyer that likes to spend a few days perusing and selecting dolls to purchase from one dealer, please be aware that the messages are not coming from your doll seller, so don't "ding" their DSR for bad communication. However, if you are a Seller with rampant trouble with non-payment for purchases, you might like this change.6. Sellers Cannot List Unique Items On Any Other Site
eBay is creating a new policy which requires that sellers with only one of a particular item (such as an antique or vintage doll) may only post that item on eBay (if eBay is used to sell the item, of course). This may be troublesome, since many antique sellers post antique or vintage dolls in fixed price listings on two or even three venues at a time (since it is extremely rare that someone is just going to come along on two sites simultaneously to buy, for example, a $5,000 German Character doll or even a $500 Vintage Barbie). Sellers who do post unique antiques on more than one site already generally pull listings form other sites when auctioning the unique item on eBay.7. eBay Store Owners Can Put All their Store Items on Vacation
Feel like you never get a break? If you are a seller on eBay with many fixed price listings, sometimes it feels you have a job that never ends. Now, eBay Sellers can put all of their eBay Store listings on vacation. This allows the seller to inform buyers on their item pages that the seller is on vacation (seller crafts their own customized vacation message, as always). This is also very helpful for buyers, since no one wants to buy an item for an immediate gift, only to find out later that their seller was out of town for a week.
