21/5/10 Powerseller Profiteer Newsletter

News from eBay HQ that the scamsters will hate plus something even more exciting (if that’s possible) coming your way soon

Hello!

This week, whilst continuing to look at cars (I just can’t let that one go) I have been extremely busy. What with piles of orders to get through, emails to answer and several articles to write I’ve barely had a minute, but the most important thing that happened this week, and something that is going to have a major impact on you, is that I had a hugely exciting and very positive meeting with my publishers. 

For a while now I have been researching and testing a new method which demolishes the biggest stumbling block you will ever encounter when starting your own online business, whether you want to sell on eBay, Amazon or from your own website . This system will solve what I believe to be the biggest problem for anyone looking to start selling online. The even better news for you is that all the hard work will be done for you. It’s going to be a total revelation and believe me this will make me so unpopular with so many people in this industry!  

Trust me; this is going to be massive. 

There’s just one problem at the moment and that is that my publishers have reined me in and I have been sworn to absolute secrecy for the time being. You know me, I wanted to tell you everything straight away but in truth this system does need to be tested a bit more first to make sure it’s perfect.   

This method applies whether you want to resell products on eBay, Amazon, your own website…..in fact, anywhere for a profit and will make all of these opportunities the easiest things in the world for you to achieve success in. 

Like I said, I am still in the testing phase but look out for a very important email from me in the next 3 to 4 weeks when I’ll be able to divulge more information.  

A fairer feedback system 

Now back to the present and I said that I have some bad news, and I’m afraid that’s true, I do really have bad news….. 

BUT! Only for that small minority of dishonest buyers out there - which obviously doesn’t include you – that enjoy leaving negative feedback and low DSR’s for no reason other than they can. Well that’s all going to change as I’ll explain here. 

What I want to talk about today is feedback and particularly negative feedback. Feedback is of course a very important thing for any business – good or bad – because feedback allows you to look at the things you are doing right, look at the things you are doing wrong and make the necessary changes if required. 

But sometimes feedback in the negative can be unwarranted and this is especially true with eBay in the past. The site has unfortunately been plagued for years with feedback problems – who should leave feedback first - buyer or seller, can a negative feedback get removed, why can buyers leave feedback but not sellers – I could go on. eBay feedback has been a really unsettled, unsatisfactory area in recent times. 

But, I have good news because all that is about to change next month. eBay have seen the light (or actually listened to feedback from sellers on the site) and will soon be implementing a new system whereby sellers can actually request that negative feedback is removed.  

Now obviously you can’t request a feedback removal if it was fair negative feedback, that just wouldn’t work, so if you have negative feedback and it was deserved then you simply have to make sure you don’t make the same mistake again, and wait until the red dot drops off  the page.  

But you will remember that a while ago, eBay decided that sellers could not leave negative feedback for buyers – even if the buyer did not pay or was a scamster – which understandably caused great unrest amongst sellers, especially Powersellers because this was to put it bluntly, simply unfair. Not only did it leave sellers wide open to the often warped minds of competitors who wanted to sabotage their businesses but it meant that we couldn’t even warn others that a buyer was a scoundrel and possibly a cheat.  

This system basically left sellers wide open to abuse, detrimental unwarranted negative feedback which in turn could lead to a loss of profits and at worse the end of their business. Not good.

So, I’m delighted that from early June sellers will finally get a little bit of power back and can request that a negative feedback is removed. There are some rules and restrictions and it is at eBay’s discretion as you would expect otherwise everyone would be getting their negatives removed and the point of feedback would become obsolete. But the great thing is that eBay have identified that their system is in fact a tad one sided and they are taking steps to put it right by proactively identifying buyers who abuse or misuse the feedback system.

This includes the Star System too, not just the feedback percentages. So under the new system eBay will consider removing negative feedback in the following cases:

If a buyer threatens to leave negative feedback if the seller doesn’t provide something that wasn’t originally offered in the listing. This is extortion. 

If a buyer leaves a positive feedback but then also leaves a contradictory score of 1 or 2 stars on the DSR’s. 

If a buyer leaves abusive or inappropriate feedback. 

How it will work

What will happen is that sellers will be able to ask eBay to investigate a case of unwarranted negative feedback with a view to having the feedback and points removed. And this may also mean that if the buyer is a repeat offender they may be suspended from the site. In my opinion this is great news because it really levels the playing field for us sellers! 

Now as I’ve said, there are some rules as you would expect but again the rules are in my opinion fair. For example you must show that you have solved any problems with the transaction before you request a feedback removal and you obviously need to communicate with the buyer and explain to them why you feel their negative feedback was unjustified – but these are obvious points which I hope you would always deal with anyway!  

There is also a limit to the number of removal requests you can submit per year which will differ from seller to seller as it is calculated based on your feedback score. Again, I think this is fair and to be honest if you are racking up loads of negative feedback then you should be seriously looking at where you are going wrong with your eBay business anyway. 

This is great news for sellers and it’s all good right now because there are even more (positive) changes coming in June to eBay. I won’t go into them all here because there are several, but they are all straightforward and will help you and your eBay business so there is no need to worry.  

I’ll go through them in next weeks newsletter so that you are prepared and know what’s happening in the next few weeks, so keep an eye on your inbox. 

In the meantime, if you‘ve got a minute, it’s worth checking out eBay’s information on the feedback changes, including an example of the email that will be sent to buyers who consistently leave poor feedback or low star ratings.   

Feedback  

As always I wish you the very best of success, 

Amanda 

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I produce this newsletter on the understanding that these are my own personal opinions and experiences, which are as accurate as possible at the time of publication. I cannot be held responsible for any error in details, accuracy or judgment whatsoever. 

© Amanda O’Brien 2010 

 

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