Attention Jewellery Sellers
We'd like to call special attention to the changes in the Jewellery category. They are a step in our plan to create a new Fine Jewellery section later this summer, separate and distinct from wedding-related and fashion-oriented jewelry. If you sell Jewellery, please visit http://pages.ebay.com/categorychanges/Jewelry-2008.html to learn more about our plans for the category.

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Canada Post is taking steps to ensure that the eBay community is notified well in advance of our intention to adjust the pricing and the specifications of Oversize Lettermail. This is a reflection of our intent to work closely with our valued customers and partners in order to reduce the negative impact of these changes.

What is changing?

Canada Post is proposing to revise the specifications for Oversize Lettermail, and to create new specifications and pricing for “irregular” oversize items. This amounts to splitting existing Oversize Lettermail into two categories, based on the item’s thickness, flexibility and shape.

“Regular” Oversize Lettermail items will include:

• Items that are between 0.18 mm and 10 mm thick, regardless of flexibility; and
• Items that are between 10 mm and 20 mm thick that meet the new flexibility requirement and do not have box-like edges

• Items that are between 10 mm and 20 mm thick that do not meet the new flexibility requirement and/or have box-like edges

In addition to the introduction of these specifications, Canada Post has proposed a significant price increase for Irregular Oversize Lettermail that brings the price of the service in line with the cost incurred to process and deliver thick and rigid oversize items. As well, it is likely there will be a price increase for all Lettermail items, including “regular” Oversize Lettermail, to keep pace with inflation and other economic factors.

Why are these changes being made?

Oversize Lettermail items that are thick and rigid, or thick and have box-like edges, cannot be efficiently processed through the letter sortation equipment. As a result, these items are often sorted manually or are processed through the higher-cost parcels stream, which drives up processing costs.

By isolating oversize mail items that can be processed mechanically, Canada Post can continue to offer our customers a low-cost, high-value domestic shipping option for flexible, parcel-like items.

For oversize mail items that cannot be processed mechanically, these changes will bring our service pricing in line with the actual costs incurred to process and deliver “irregular” items.

How can a piece be tested to see if it meets the new flexibility requirement?

In January 2009, all Canada Post retail outlets will be equipped with tools to measure the dimensions of oversize pieces and test the flexibility of thick items. To view a prototype of a template that you can print to measure the thickness and test the flexibility of your existing oversize items, click here.

Alternatively, you can apply the step-by-step Table Flex Test to determine an item’s flexibility.

Note that these prototypes and tests are provided for illustration purposes only, and are subject to change.

How will this impact the eBay community

These changes will impact eBay sellers who use Canada Post’s Oversize Lettermail service to send items within Canada that are thick and rigid, or thick and have box-like edges. Items that would be defined as Irregular Oversize Lettermail include: media discs sent in standard CD, DVD or Blu-ray cases; hard cover books; or trading cards in protective plastic casings.

We recognize that these changes create challenges for your business, and may impact your cost to fulfill customer orders. To facilitate the transition and help you choose the most appropriate shipping option, Canada Post has compiled some recommended packaging and shipping practices that will hopefully mitigate the impact of these changes—and may even lower your shipping costs.

We look forward to continuing to work with eBay Canada and the many sellers who look to Canada Post to fulfill their customers’ orders each day.

Sincerely,

Mike Badour
General Manager, Transaction Mail Product Development and Management
Canada Post

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Renee VonBergen

• Columns so you can quickly scan for information, as well as the traditional sections available in the current version of My eBay--Watching, Bidding, Active Selling, and so on.
• The ability to organize your items the way YOU want to--put items into lists that you create, such as "Items to Research," "My Wish List," or "Possible Gifts for Joe's Birthday." (More details are available on this thread on the My eBay discussion board.)

You can learn more about the test by checking out my new thread on the My eBay discussion forum.

Send us Feedback!
Anyone who is placed in the test this week, or who is already using the beta version, can send us feedback at any time through the Send Comments link near the top of any My eBay beta page. You should also check out the beta thread on the My eBay discussion board and leave your feedback--my team and I monitor the thread and will pop in from time to time to answer questions.

I want to emphasize how much we appreciate the time you take to send us comments. Your opinion on what works--and what doesn't--helps us build a better tool. On behalf of the My eBay team, thank you!

Sincerely,

Renee VonBergen
Product Management

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• Nordstrom’s Cadence-Lea and Trio-Lea Girl’s Sandals due to choking hazard

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Subha Shetty

Buyers and sellers have always relied on the Item page. Sellers need this page to effectively showcase their items, while buyers need it to help them find the information they need to make a purchasing decision. Over the years, the page has suffered from “improvement overload” – as more and more options and information have been added. The result is that today’s page is cluttered and less efficient than it should be from both a buyer and seller perspective.

My team has spent a lot of time studying how buyers use this page and identifying the most important data. We’ve also done extensive testing on the best way to present these elements on this page. The result is a more streamlined page that gives buyers a quick snapshot of the most important information. Other details, such as high bidder and seller location, are still just a click away.

Here’s a rundown of the most important changes:

• It’s more visual. Buyers love pictures. The new design includes a larger picture shown at the top of the page so they can clearly see what they’re bidding on.
• It’s simpler. To make the page easier to use, we’ve moved some of the less critical features and put them behind tabs. We’ve also removed a few features that were under-used. The end result is a much cleaner page that emphasizes the most important information and features that buyers need when they make purchasing decisions. In addition, buyers will be able to place bids without having to go through as many steps.
• Buyers get more selection – sellers get more exposure. Online shoppers today expect an experience that highlights value and selection, and the new Item page is designed with this in mind. Buyers will see links to similar items from the same seller in various places on the page. (These placements are still being tested.)

Community input has been invaluable
We’ve been testing our new page since February. (Read an earlier interview with me on The Chatter blog about this test). The input and information learned has been invaluable, and several improvements were made as a direct result of what we heard from our Community.

For example, in the original test back in February, we had messaging on the page to alert buyers when a seller had low DSRs compared to other sellers on the site. Members told us that this display was confusing and caused more issues and concern than it solved. We’ve gone back to the drawing board on this aspect, and it will not be part of our initial launch.

See for yourself - check out a preview of the new item page
After all that, I know that seeing the page is much better than reading a description. To check it out and learn more about the new design, visit this page - http://pages.ebay.com/newitempage/. I also hope you’ll visit our Frequently Asked Questions to learn even more about the new Item page.

Our launch plan
We’ll be phasing in our latest variations of this page with very small groups of members (less than 1%) in the next week or so. If you’re part of this initial launch, you’ll see a link at the top of page where you can send us your feedback – and please do! You’ll also be able to opt out of the new page if you wish. As time goes on, we’ll be expanding the number of members who see the new page by default.

We appreciate your input and support! We’ll be back with more updates soon.

Sincerely,

Subha Shetty
Buyer Experience

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Dinesh Lathi

In addition to the news that Lorrie has shared, I’d like to share some more details and other news of interest to sellers that attendees have heard from us during the conference classes and discussions this week.

Safer member-to-member email via anonymous email forwarding
To protect buyers, starting in September eBay will “anonymize” email addresses sent through the member-to-member communication system (Ask Seller a Question, Reply to Question). eBay will replace the sender’s email address in the “From” field with a temporary anonymous address, and replies will be routed through eBay for processing prior to delivery. In turn, when recipients hit the "reply" button, their email address is also replaced with a temporary email address, which will then be routed through eBay before being sent to the original sender.

As further protection, starting in September, email addresses will no longer be allowed in listing descriptions.

Making emails anonymous is becoming an industry standard that adds an additional level of safety. On eBay, we are limiting access to email addresses to people who are in a transaction together -- and who have established a level of trust with each other – as another important step in improving the overall safety of the marketplace.

Required soon – Specified shipping, return policy, item condition and handling time
As Kristina Klausen from the US shipping team shared earlier this year, starting in July, sellers will be required to specify their shipping cost and services if they want their items to appear on eBay.com.

Then later this fall, sellers will also be required to specify other key pieces of information in their listings: item condition (whether the item is new or used), your handling time (how long it will take you to put the item in the mail), and whether or not you offer a return policy, and if so, what the terms are.

More rewards for PowerSellers
As Lorrie mentioned, we’re adding a new PowerSeller reward to further encourage and reward our best sellers:

• PowerSellers with 4.9 or higher across all four DSRs will receive a 20% discount on their Final Value Fees.

For Sellers – A quick “listing update” checklist
We realize that any time sellers need to change their listings or templates, it costs you time and energy. To minimize the effort it takes for our sellers to accommodate our changes, I’d like to give you a quick checklist of changes you may need to make in the coming weeks, based on the changes we’ve announced:

1. Remove any links to third party sites to stay in compliance with recent updates to eBay’s Links Policy (Read our previous announcement)
2. Specify shipping, return policy, item condition and handing time in the specified fields. This information will be required soon so now’s the perfect time to get started.
3. Remove any email addresses from your listing descriptions by September.

Let me close by saying that attending Chicago at eBay Live! 2008 with much of my team has been an inspiring way to round out my on-the-job education. The sellers here and at home are not hesitant to voice concerns, and we appreciate that. Your energy and optimism about your businesses and the eBay marketplace are inspiring, and I look forward to serving you.

Sincerely,

Dinesh Lathi
VP, Seller Experience

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• "Hip Charm" key chains due to excessive amounts of lead

For Sellers: Please check your product model numbers and refrain from listing any items that are part of this recall. Any currently listed items that are included in the recall should be ended.

For Buyers: If you believe an item you are interested in bidding on or purchasing may be part of this recall, we encourage you to use the Ask Seller a Question feature to verify.

As a service to our Community, eBay announces some product recalls, like these, when we believe the marketplace will be impacted. To stay informed about all CPSC recalls, please bookmark http://www.cpsc.gov and sign up to receive notices on new recalls issued by the CPSC.

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For those who may have attempted to listen to the webcast live today, we apologize that the link provided earlier did not work. We hope you enjoy the full webcast now at the archive link above.

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Lorrie Norrington

Today, we announced some exciting news that will go a long way toward meeting our goal of a healthy, vibrant marketplace. We also provided the audience with some updates on the changes we’ve rolled out over the past six months, including how members are responding to incentives, pricing and Feedback. Overall, we’re pleased with what we’ve seen, but as with anything we do, we are committed to listening to all of you and looking for ways to improve.

I know that many of you have seen a lot of change over the past six months, and for some it hasn’t been easy. But as I told the audience here, people simply expect more when they come to eBay … and it’s our job to make sure we meet their expectations.

Although we have more work to do, we’re seeing signs of real progress. The news we announced today builds on what we’ve done to date … and I know these changes will make our marketplace stronger.

I’m providing a summary below, and I encourage all of you to read our overview page to learn more about all of the changes announced today.

More rewards for PowerSellers
Last fall, we told you that detailed seller ratings (DSRs) would be an increasingly important success metric for seller standards and rewards. We also stated our intention to turn the PowerSeller label into a badge of distinction, one that buyers would come to recognize as a mark of trust. Today, the PowerSeller program is just that – it rewards sellers for their success in both sales as well as buyer satisfaction as demonstrated by great DSRs.

Today, we announced that we’re adding a new PowerSeller reward to further encourage and reward our best sellers:

• Starting with July invoices, PowerSellers who have a 4.9 or higher across all four DSRs will receive a 20% discount on their Final Value Fees. We hope as time goes on, an increasingly greater number of eBay PowerSellers will qualify for this new substantial discount.

Between now and the holiday season, we’ll do more to support your success and ensure we are price competitive in every key category. The intent of all this change is obvious: We want great stuff and great deals on eBay – new, used, and collectables.

Please stay tuned for more pricing information on the Announcement Board later this summer.

Investments in our best buyers
We’re investing heavily to make eBay.ca safer and easier to use for all buyers. This includes enhancements in our search and user experience, so that you’ll see more relevant, high-quality products than ever before on eBay.ca.

In addition, top buyers are getting more attention from us in terms of service. Starting at the end of June, we will be providing live customer phone support to our US top buyers and we anticipate rolling out similar support to our Canadian top buyers later in the year. We’ve been offering phone support to our sellers for many years, and it’s certainly time to extend that to top buyers.

Feedback progress
I want to acknowledge the concerns many of you have shared about the changes we made to the Feedback system in May. As we outlined in January, we felt strongly that we had to make significant changes to preserve the system’s integrity and to reduce the bad experiences created by retaliatory Feedback that were driving our buyers away. Many of you have written to me personally about your concerns, and I want you to know we are listening.

I also want to share that, while it’s still early, we’re seeing encouraging results. Although sellers feared buyers would leave negative feedback more often, I’m happy to report that the combined rate of negative and neutral feedback is unchanged over the first month. Also, the percentage of buyers who are leaving detailed seller ratings has increased: Now buyers who leave Feedback leave DSRs 76 percent of the time, showing an increased confidence in the Feedback system. And when buyers have more confidence in feedback, they have more trust in shopping on eBay.

That said, this is an evolving system. For example, we’re looking at enabling buyers to withdraw/change their Feedback in limited circumstances to help resolve issues or correct the occasional mistake based on input from our Community. Our goal is to address this by the end of the year. And we’re doing this based on input from our Community, including at eBay Live!.

Other Announcements
I’m happy to tell you that starting this fall both US sellers, and buyers on eBay.com, will receive increased protection when they trade with PayPal. Although resource restrictions prevent us from rolling this initiative out to Canada with the same timing, we do expect to offer the same protections to Canadian buyers and sellers in 2009.

We’ll continue to monitor the effects of these changes carefully, and rest assured we’re make additional improvements as needed.

Jeff King

As a reminder, the Playground previews of some of the technology that will be released this year as part of eBay's Finding 2.0 efforts. Buyers and sellers who have used the US version of the Playground in the past will be pleased to know we've made many changes inspired by your suggestions since last fall and have implemented the changes for the Canadian version.

For instance, you'll discover the new Finding navigation is much improved. The navigation is driven more heavily by seller-specified item specifics and is more consistent with the classic category structure that you are familiar with and prefer (we heard you loud and clear on this). The beloved 'Snapshot View' returns for fans of browsing the site visually. And, you can add a 'Watch this item' link by using the Customize your results feature. This lets you see which items you're already watching, right from the search results page.

There are many additional projects in the works for Finding 2.0 as well, including an exciting new way you can navigate and refine your queries. You'll see these changes added to the new experience in the coming months.

More about Finding 2.0 Launch Plans
Throughout the year, we'll be releasing even more new features. We'll also be adding an opt-in ability that allows members to make the new experience their default Finding experience.

My team and I want to help answer your questions and ensure you have the best experience possible as we start to transition to the new Finding technology. Look forward to online workshops and online "office hours" on the Search Discussion Forum, and stay tuned to the General Announcement board for more information!

Sincerely,

Jeff King
Senior Director, Finding

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Monique Svazlian

Last chance to register
The event starts next Thursday, June 19, so if you haven't registered yet, take advantage of the $20 savings and sign up!

Saturday-only Pass
If you can only attend the last day – or if you'd like your friend or spouse to accompany you to the Gala - we have a special Saturday-only pass available for $75. This gets you into both the conference, as well as the Closing Gala featuring Grammy-nominated artist Chris Isaak!

And here are a couple of ways that our members can participate from home:

Friday morning, June 20 - Keynote webcast
eBay leaders will deliver their keynote address from 10-11 a.m. Eastern/9-10 a.m. Central. Click here and bookmark this URL to watch the streaming webcast event LIVE. (This link will not work until the event.) We will share the full archive shortly after.

Saturday morning, June 21 - Town Hall broadcast via wsRadio
Hosted by Jim "Griff" Griffith, our panel of executives will be taking questions from eBay Live! attendees during this month's Town Hall broadcast from 12-1 p.m. Eastern/11-12 noon Central. This event will be broadcast LIVE with the help of our friends at wsRadio.com. Click here to tune in.

See you in the Windy City!

Sincerely,

Monique Svazlian
Event Manager
eBay Live!

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Apple iPhone 3G Pre-Sales are prohibited. This highly-anticipated device will be in high demand after the widespread release on July 11th, 2008. Prior to the release of similar high-demand electronics, we saw a high number of well-intentioned sellers unable to meet their pre-sale obligations to buyers due to restricted supply, as well as an increase in fraudulent listings for these items. To prevent similar problems with the iPhone 3G, eBay is prohibiting all pre-sales of this device.

Criteria for Apple iPhone 3G Post-Launch Sales. In order to continue to ensure protection for our Community after these items are made available by the manufacturer, the following requirements have been put in place for the sale of the iPhone:

• The listing must include a unique photograph of the item or items
• Your User ID must be clearly displayed within the photograph (watermarks will not be accepted).
• To ensure buyer protection, PayPal must be the only accepted form of payment

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Our thoughts go out to our affected Community members and their families in these areas.

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This issue was first posted to this board on May 30, and PayPal is continuing to investigate the issue and determine a solution.

Workaround: Transaction details can be referenced in the Recent Activity or History sections of your account.

We apologize again for any inconvenience this may have caused and will post updates as soon as they become available.

Thank you

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• Backyard Leisure swing sets due to the hangers holding the swing chains breaking
• The Children's Place camouflage pajama sets due to the screen print containing excessive amounts of lead

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• Remote-Controlled Helicopter toys sold exclusively in Walgreens due to fire and burn hazards
• QuinCrafts Children’s Jewelry due to lead exposure
• Simmons Kids Crib Mattresses due to entrapment hazard
• MindWare Animal Tracking Explorer Kit due to chemical that irritates skin and eyes

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Nick Donelson

The Seller Dashboard consists of the following modules:

Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) – Here you can track your average ratings from buyers for shipping costs, shipping time, communication, and item as described. eBay is using these ratings to set key performance standards and eligibility for seller rewards. This section will enable you to keep track of where you stand and monitor the effectiveness of changes in your selling strategy. You'll see:

• your rolling 30-day DSR average, as well as your 12-month DSR scores. To maintain buyer anonymity, if you have less than 10 sales in a rolling 30-day period, you'll just see your 12-month scores.
• your DSR scores displayed to the hundredth of a point. For example, you may see 4.83 as opposed to the rounded 4.8 displayed on your Member Profile. This will be available shortly.
• how your DSRs compare with an average seller on the site.

PowerSeller discounts – PowerSellers can see the discount received on their last invoice, and monitor progress towards their next discount. This module has been available to PowerSellers since March.

Account status – Here you can easily find billing information related to your account, including your balance and payment status.

Policy compliance – You'll see alerts about policy violations, as well as existing, pending or potential eBay sanctions—and in some cases, what you need to do to remedy the situation. We've also included links to the specific My Messages that include more information about any violations you may have. Note - information about some policy violations won't be included here initially, but will be added over the next few weeks.

Buyer satisfaction – Your buyer satisfaction rating is a composite measure of the experience you're providing for your buyers. It's based on your DSR scores, negative and neutral feedback received, and Buyer Protection claims filed by your buyers. The rating system is based on four levels and the vast majority of sellers will be at the "Good" level. If you have a low buyer satisfaction rating, you'll see suggestions on how to remedy the situation.

You can find links to the Seller Dashboard within the My Account section of My eBay, and on the Summary Page of our Selling Manager products. (If you've customized the display of your Selling Manager Summary page, you'll simply need to add the Dashboard to see it). If you have at least 10 DSRs in the last 12 months, you can check out your Seller Dashboard at www.ebay.com/sellerdashboard.

My team is also hosting an online workshop on June 5 on eBay.com, so make sure to stop by, and bring your questions!

Sincerely,

Nick Donelson
Seller Tools

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