Hi... I'm Howard Rosenberg, Senior Manager of eBay's Private Marketplaces division. As sellers grow their businesses, finding new supplies of items to re-sell on eBay can become a bigger challenge. We've also heard from large manufacturers, wholesalers and liquidators that selling on eBay in the high volumes they need to sell to be efficient can be difficult for them.

To address both of these marketplace needs, we're pleased to introduce the Reseller Marketplace, a new business-to-business marketplace specifically for eBay PowerSellers.

PowerSellers of all levels will be able to buy multiple-quantity lots of various products from participating companies that they can then resell on eBay.

Currently, you will find product lots in a number of categories including:

• Computers, Networking & Software
• Consumer Electronics (including MP3 Players)
• Home & Garden
• Sporting Goods

If you are a PowerSeller, we invite you to visit the Reseller Marketplace on eBay.com to learn more. If you're not currently a PowerSeller, we hope the new Reseller Marketplace will give you another reason to want to join eBay's PowerSeller program.

We'll be working to expand the number of participating companies and available inventory on the Reseller Marketplace over the coming months, so check back often.

We'd also appreciate your input on how we can improve the Reseller Marketplace. Please send your thoughts to us at ResellerMarketplace@ebay.com.

Thanks,

Howard Rosenberg
Senior Manager, eBay Private Marketplaces

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Hi... This is Matt Halprin, Vice President of Global Marketplace Policy Management. Last week, I shared some news with the attendees at the eBay Live! event and I'd like to share them with the rest of the Community.

We know we've had some work to do to make our policies easier to understand. At the same time, we are working to make our enforcement efforts more consistent, fair, and effective. In 2005, we've been making progress in these areas, and there are several changes coming later this year that we want you to know about:

• More Policy Tutorials

  Earlier this year we moved over 100 policy pages into a new, clearer and easier to understand template. We will soon launch our VeRO Tutorial which an effective education tool members can use to learn about our policies. In the coming months, we will launch 5 more 5-10 minute online tutorials for several policy groups including Fee Circumvention, Search & Browse Manipulation (e.g. key word spam), Shill Bidding, Feedback, and Overall Marketplace Policy.

• "Report This Item" Link on View Item page

  You told us that reporting questionable items was too difficult, so later this summer, every View Item page will have a "Report this Item" link at the bottom of the page. This feature has been live in Australia since May and has been received favorably by the Australian Community.

• New Enforcement Consequences and Mitigation

  Later this summer, we will be adding three new consequence guidelines that we believe will both create a more level playing field for the majority of members who follow the rules, as well as encourage compliance with marketplace policies. Soon, members who violate policy may also be subject to:

  1. Limits on account privileges - Members who violate eBay policies may soon be limited in their trading activities. For example, the number of listings they can create or the number of bids they can place may be restricted. Or they may be required to take a tutorial before they can continue their trading activities.
  2. Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings - Later this year, sellers who violate policies could lose their listing fees. We believe this will encourage policy compliance and help create a more level playing field for the majority of good sellers who follow policy.
  3. Loss of PowerSeller status - A very small percentage of PowerSellers violate eBay policies, but the actions of these few reflect negatively on the rest and set a bad example in the Community. In August, meeting a minimum level of eBay policy compliance will be a new requirement for entering the PowerSeller program and maintaining membership. We believe this is the right thing to do for the reputation and credibility of our good PowerSellers.

To learn about all of the progress that we're making in these areas, I encourage you to read an advance copy of my article that will be appearing in the July issue of The Chatter Newsletter on eBay.com. We will be working on these plans throughout 2005 and into 2006, and I'll update you on our progress periodically.

Sincerely,

Matt Halprin
VP, Global Marketplace Policy Management

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Brian Burke

Hi... I'm Brian Burke, Senior Marketplace Policy Manager for Feedback.

eBay's feedback system is a powerful way for perfect strangers to have the confidence and trust to trade with each other on eBay. Like other areas of the eBay marketplace, the feedback system has continually evolved to keep up with the changing needs of the Community.

Today, at eBay Live! 2005, Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America, announced a number of changes we will be making to the feedback system later this year.

These changes include:

1. Neutralizing feedback left by members who don't participate in issue resolution processes

   We believe that members unwilling to participate in processes designed to help resolve issues, such as the Unpaid Item process or the Item Not Received process, shouldn't be able to impact another member's reputation. After this change is implemented, if a member leaves feedback for a transaction and does not participate in these processes, eBay will neutralize their feedback. This means the rating (whether positive or negative) will not affect the recipient's feedback score. While the feedback comment itself will remain, it will include an administrative note from eBay indicating that the feedback doesn't count towards the member's total score.

2. Removing feedback from users who are indefinitely suspended within 90 days of registration

   We believe that members who are indefinitely suspended within 90 days of registering on eBay were never truly members of the Community, and so their feedback comments and ratings should not count. We will automatically remove feedback (positive, neutral, and negative) left by such users.

3. Requiring new members to complete a tutorial before leaving neutral or negative feedback

   This change will require all new users (members with a feedback score of less than 10) to complete a short tutorial before leaving neutral or negative feedback. We hope that the tutorial will educate new members about the feedback system as well as ensure that they are aware of the various communication tools available to them prior to leaving feedback for their trading partner.

Since we will now be addressing member non participation within the eBay issue resolution system, we will align eBay-approved certified dispute resolution services' feedback withdrawal systems with eBay's and only accept mutual feedback withdrawal when both members agree to the withdrawal. This will take affect when we introduce the process for neutralizing feedback from members unwilling to participate in issue resolution processes.

I've written an article in the July issue of eBay online newsletter, The Chatter, detailing these upcoming changes and the philosophy and history behind the feedback system. I invite you to read an Advance Copy of July's Marketplace Safety article to learn more. Please stay tuned to the General Announcements board for more updates on these upcoming changes as we get closer to launching.

Sincerely,

Brian Burke
Senior Marketplace Policy Manager

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We are pleased to announce that the expansion of My Messages is now complete. Now you'll be able to confirm whether an email that appears to be from eBay is legitimate, because all account-related messages from eBay will be in your My Messages Inbox.

From a safety perspective, the bottom line is this - If the email affects your eBay account, it's in My Messages.

Please see the announcements from Rob Chesnut on June 1, 2005 and Wendy Jones on June 20, 2005 for more details.

In addition, My Messages will now be one of the most convenient and reliable ways to communicate with Customer Support and other eBay members. Soon you'll start receiving:

• Important account-related messages (e.g. billing invoices, password change notices, and other Trust & Safety messages)
• Customer Support responses
• Member-to-member communications

To familiarize yourself with the expansion of My Messages, please read our Frequently Asked Questions Help page and take the My Messages Tour. As always, we would love to hear your opinion. Please participate in an upcoming My Messages Workshop which we will announce shortly in the Workshop Calendar.

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	***Original: Customer Support News from Wendy Jones - Expansion of My Messages Coming Soon***
	20 June, 2005 | 23:19 Wendy Jones Hi. I'm Wendy Jones, VP of Customer Support for eBay North America. Earlier this month, you heard from Rob Chesnut about the upcoming expansion of My Messages and its ability to help protect the Community from spoof email. Now, I'd like to highlight one of the other important benefits. My Messages will now be one of the most convenient and reliable ways to communicate with Customer Support and other eBay members. Communication with eBay and with other eBay members is an important part of healthy trading activity. However, we know that your email inboxes are crowded, and occasionally you may not notice a response from Customer Support or a question from another member. Furthermore (and unfortunately), there may also be times when an important email might be blocked by your ISP as a security measure. With the expansion of My Messages in late June, Customer Support responses and member communications will be delivered directly to your My Messages Inbox (in addition to your registered email address), making communication just as easy as checking on your trading activity in My eBay. Here are some of the benefits you can expect: New Alerts at Sign In – eBay will tell you when you have new account alerts that require your action as soon as you sign in (such as unpaid item alerts). This will help ensure that you never miss important account-related information from Customer Support or Trust and Safety. Reliable delivery – We've all had emails simply not show up for some reason from time to time. When you use one of eBay's on-site contact forms (such as Ask Seller a Question), we will deliver copies of your email to both the recipient's My Messages Inbox and to their registered email address. A copy will also be saved to your Sent folder within your My Messages in case you need to reference it later. Reduce unwanted messages – Now all member-to-member contact forms give you the option to hide your email address from the recipient. This will prevent your email address from being shared with members with whom you are not in a transaction. Hiding your email address requires the recipient to reply to you through the secure My Messages system. Easy Contact with Customer Support - Quick access to Customer Support will be provided within My Messages, and you'll receive all their responses both in My Messages and at your registered email address. Finally, we'd like you to remember these two things: Only eBay and registered eBay members can send messages to My Messages. My Messages is an addition to your email communications, not a replacement. Messages have expiration dates and will be automatically deleted (for example, member-to-member messages will be removed in 30 days). Since all messages are also delivered to your registered email address, you are able keep copies for as long as you'd like. We hope the My Messages expansion will help make communicating on eBay even safer and more convenient for you. Please take some time to become familiar with the upcoming changes by reading our Frequently Asked Questions Help page and taking the My Messages Tour. As always, we would love to hear your opinion. Please participate in an upcoming My Messages Workshop which we will announce shortly in the Workshop Calendar. Sincerely, Wendy Jones Vice President, Customer Support, eBay North America
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eBay's having a birthday and you could go home with a loot bag full of prizes, including three great eBay shopping sprees and one of 10 silver Apple iPod mini digital music players! Starting on Wednesday, June 22, 2005 and running through Friday, July 1, 2005, be sure to enter the Big 5 and 10 Birthday Giveaway Contest, part of our month-long Big 5 and 10 Birthday celebrations.

From June 22 to July 1, 2005, all you need to do is place a bid or make a Buy It Now (BIN) purchase to be eligible to win one of these great prizes:

• One Grand Prize of a $5,000 CDN eBay shopping spree
• One of 2 Secondary Prizes of a $500 CDN eBay shopping spree
• One of 10 silver Apple iPod mini digital music players - one given away for each day of the contest

Please note that your entry into the contest is not automatic – once you've placed a bid or made a BIN purchase, you need to go to the contest page to place your entry and answer a skill-testing question.

Each night, we'll select one lucky winner who will receive a silver Apple iPod mini. Each morning, the winner's User ID will be posted on the contest page, so be sure to check back every day. It could be YOUR name in the winner's circle!

You'll be allowed to enter the contest once each day for the 10-day contest period, provided you've bid on an item or made a BIN purchase on the same day you enter the contest. For example, if you bid on Monday, June 27, 2005, that bid qualifies you to enter the contest on Monday, June 27, 2005 only. If you wish to enter the contest again on Tuesday, June 28, you'll have to place a bid or make a BIN purchase on a different item.

Each qualified entry gives you another chance at one of the iPod mini digital music players, one of the Secondary Prizes or the Grand Prize shopping sprees. Please read the rules and regulations and the FAQ for all the details.

Be sure to enter the Big 5 and 10 Birthday Giveaway Contest every day. Good luck!

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We are pleased to announce changes to eBay Stores that are of particular interest to Canadian buyers and sellers.

In the next few weeks, we will be introducing some significant changes to eBay Stores:

1. For Stores Buyers
   
   
   • Improved Search by Store Name - Store Name search replaces Store Name and Description search and you will now find Stores with names containing your search keywords, regardless of whether they were opened on eBay.ca, eBay.com or any other eBay site.
   • Improved Search for Stores containing Items - When you search for Stores containing items that match your keywords, we will extend the search to include eBay.com Stores as well as eBay.ca Stores, so long as the Stores contain items matching your search terms that are available to Canada.
   • View all Stores from eBay.ca - You will no longer be redirected to a different eBay site when visiting an eBay Store opened on a different eBay site. You will be able to view the Store while remaining on eBay.ca, and only see items in the Store that are available to Canada. (If you choose to see all the seller's items in the Store that aren't available to Canada, you can follow a special link that we will provide whenever any items have been filtered out).
   • More Stores in Browse - When browsing from the Stores Hub, you will now see Stores opened on eBay.com as well as eBay.ca (as long as the Store contains at least one item that is available to Canada). If you wish, you can filter down to Canadian Stores only.
   
   
2. For Stores Sellers
   
   
   • Improved Stores Search – We are making it easier for buyers to find your Store on eBay.ca, eBay.com, and wherever you make your items available.
   • Improved exposure on eBay.com - The upcoming changes to the Stores product will enhance the exposure of eBay.ca Stores on eBay.com, and the exposure of eBay.com Stores on eBay.ca.
   • Featured and Anchor placements on both eBay.ca and eBay.com - For eBay.ca Featured and Anchor Store sellers, your Store can now show up in Featured and Anchor Store placements on eBay.com as well as eBay.ca, including the eBay Pulse page, the “More on eBay” box on search and listings pages, the Store Hub, and more.
   • Localized view for your International Buyers - If you make your eBay items available to buyers outside of Canada, users on other eBay sites will be able to visit a localized view of your eBay Store without leaving their home eBay site.
   
   
3. Subscription Fee Change: eBay.ca FEATURED and ANCHOR Stores only
   

   The eBay.ca Basic Store monthly subscription will remain unchanged at C$15.95.

   Effective July 16, 2005, eBay.ca monthly subscriptions for Featured and Anchor Stores will change as follows:

   Subscription Level	Subscription Fee up to and including July 15, 2005	New Subscription Fee as of July 16, 2005
   Basic Store	C$15.95	NO CHANGE
   Featured Store	C$49.95	C$64.95
   Anchor Store	C$299.95	C$649.95

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We're pleased to announce that eBay Selling Manager is now free with a Basic Store subscription.

Selling Manager (a C$7.50 per month value) is eBay's online sales management tool that enables you to track your sales and manage post-sales processes, like email and feedback, in bulk. If you already have a subscription to a Basic eBay Store or are going to open one soon, simply subscribe to Selling Manager on the same eBay country site where you opened your eBay Store by clicking here.

Basic eBay Store sellers who already have Selling Manager will begin seeing the free Selling Manager subscription on your next invoice automatically. You will not be charged for Selling Manager as long as you maintain your Basic eBay Store.

For more details about this offer, please see our Frequently Asked Questions Help page.

The free Selling Manager subscription is not available for Featured and Anchor Store sellers because Selling Manager Pro is available for free for these sellers. For more details, click here.

Thank you for having an eBay Store!

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As part of eBay's strategy to improve Trust & Safety in our marketplace, we are introducing a new design for eBay Policy pages to make our policies easier to read and understand. As part of the new design, the information on each Policy page has been organized into four parts:

1. Introduction - This area of the page clearly describes the policy, as well as what is not permitted. This section also includes guidelines on potential consequences of violating the policy. These consequences can include listing cancellation, limits on account privileges, and account suspension.
2. Some Examples - Here you can review examples that illustrate how you can comply with the policy, as well as examples indicating potential violations.
3. Additional Information - This area of the page contains more useful information that helps make the policy easier to understand. This includes links to other sites and online resources, contact information for organizations relevant to the policy, etc.
4. Why does eBay have this policy? - This section outlines eBay's rationale for creating the policy, and explains how it helps provide members a consistent and safe trading experience on eBay.

In addition to improving the way information is organized, we've also made it easier to read Policy pages. Each section of the page (except the Introduction) has a "Show/Hide" link. By choosing to show or hide each section, you can read the page a section at a time or in its entirety.

To review the new Policy page design, please visit the main Rules and Policies Help page.

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*** Kick off eBay's Birthday with a 10 CENT LISTING DAY, June 4 ***

As we celebrate eBay's 10th birthday and eBay Canada's 5th birthday all month long, we're happy to announce the first of a few surprises and announcements...a 10 cent Listing Day for Auction-Style and Fixed Price listings. It all starts Saturday, June 4 at 00:00:01 (one second after midnight, EDT) and ends that same day at 23:59:59.

Insertion fees for your listings on this day will be reduced to 10 cents (both US and CDN depending on your listing currency).

This promotion is open to all Canadian residents who list their items in Auction-Style format or Fixed Price format on eBay.ca. Motors vehicles, Business and Industrial Capital Equipment, Stores Inventory format and Real Estate Ad format will be excluded from this promotion.

Click here for more details on 10 cent Listing Day.

This is one of many great surprises and cool announcements we'll be making during our 5th and 10th birthday celebration, going on all month in June. Check the Birthday Celebration hub page every day in June to see what else we have planned!

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As the sophistication of these emails has increased, it has become evident that we all need help to weed out these fraudulent emails from our systems. Over the last year, eBay has rolled out one industry-leading product, the eBay Toolbar with Account Guard, that helps protect users from spoof sites by alerting users whenever they are about to go to a spoof eBay or PayPal site. If you don't have the eBay Toolbar, I strongly urge you to go to the eBay Security & Resolution Centre and download it today.

But it's clear that we need to do more. That's why I'm particularly happy to announce that eBay will be rolling out one of our most effective measures to combat spoof - the second phase of My Messages (available in My eBay). With the second phase of My Messages, launching in late June, you can trust that important eBay account-related messages you receive in My Messages will be legitimate.

From a safety perspective, the bottom line is this - If the email affects your eBay account, it's in My Messages. If you get an email that looks like it's from eBay about a problem with your account or requests personal information and it's not in My Messages, it's a fake email. Please forward it to spoof@ebay.com.

The initial phase of My Messages, launched earlier this year, has been a read-only Inbox for members to receive information about buying, selling, and other activities and events on eBay. This second phase of My Messages allows for two-way communication with eBay and with other eBay members. Soon you'll start receiving:

• Important account-related messages (e.g. billing invoices, password change notices, and other Trust & Safety messages),
• Customer Support responses and
• Member-to-member communications

... ALL in your My Messages Inbox. This will ensure you never miss an important message because of spam blockers or a full email box. Additionally, you will continue to get a copy of these communications to your registered email address.

Since upgrading My Messages is a large global project, you'll start noticing some visual changes to My Messages in a few days - folders/folder management, consolidated views of all unread messages, the ability to forward a message to your address, and other changes. However, the bulk of the new features (and all of the new messages) will not be available until late June. We'll keep you updated on our progress on this General Announcements board.

I hope you will take some time to become familiar with the upcoming changes to My Messages by reading the Frequently Asked Questions Help page and taking the My Messages Tour. After the launch, we will be hosting a Workshop to review the new features and answer member questions, so stay tuned for more details.

Sincerely,

Rob Chesnut
Senior Vice President, Trust & Safety

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To help make the pages that list items when you search or browse download more quickly, we will soon be changing how they’re created. This change will especially benefit members using slower dial-up connections to access eBay.

This will not affect how these pages appear to most members, although some could see some visual differences depending on the browser you use.

• If you use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6.0 (or newer) or Mozilla Firefox 1.0 (or newer) as your browser, you should not experience any change in the display of these pages.

• If you are using one of the following browsers, you may see slight visual changes to the page (such as the spacing of some words), although all the functionality of the pages will still be available to you:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer, versions 5.0 and 5.5 (including MacOS versions)
  • Netscape 7.0 and newer
  • Opera 7.0 and newer
  • Safari 1.2 and newer
  • MSN TV 2.0

• If you are using one of the following browsers, you will be able to use the basic functionality on the page, but the appearance will be much like a text-only version of the page:

  • Netscape 6.0 and older (including Netscape 4.7)
  • Microsoft WebTV and MSN TV 1.0

For more information about web browsers and eBay, please see our Web Browser Recommendations Help page.

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If your search for an item on eBay produces either zero or a low number of search results, we will soon present you with several ways to help refine your search. These include:

• Automatically running a spell check if no results are found
  If your original search words don't show any results, we will automatically run a spell check on your search words. If a spell check correction is available, we will display listings using the alternative search words.
  Note: You will always have the option to undo the automatic spell check correction.
  
  
• Displaying listing counts if you removed search keywords or search filters
  Sometimes using too many keywords or search filters can constrain a search, producing zero or low search results. In these cases, we will now show you the number of listings you would see by removing one or more keywords or search filters from your original search terms.
  Note: This feature already exists in categories with Item Specifics.

These recommendations should help buyers make more informed choices in refining their searches. Sellers should also benefit from these changes, as they will enhance buyers' finding experience and drive more bids to sellers' items.

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