As you may know, over the past few months we’ve been working on a number of initiatives to support a proactive approach to securing the safety of the eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie marketplaces.

For instance, last autumn we put into place restrictions on listings to help reduce the number of counterfeit items on the site. We’ve also been protecting bidders on high-value items through the Safeguarding Members ID project, and with feedback 2.0, the second generation of our feedback system, we’re testing Detailed Seller Ratings as a way of helping buyers choose sellers who offer the best customer experience. In early summer, we’ll be changing our buyer protection plan to encourage the use of safe, insured payments through PayPal.

Early results from these and other behind-the-scenes efforts show that we’re moving in the right direction. We’re seeing a significant reduction in fake Second Chance offers, for instance, and fewer reports of potential counterfeit listings in the categories most favoured by scammers. Of course, as we make changes, the scammers also adapt their methods. While I’m pleased with our direction and progress, I also want to help the Community understand that this is an ongoing effort that requires an aggressive long-term approach.

Some of these actions have caused some legitimate concerns in the Community, and we’ve worked hard to listen to these concerns and address them where we can. With Safeguarding Member IDs specifically, we’re working to improve the user interface – we know this is the right policy, but we also know we can improve the user experience, and we’re working on it.

We’ve launched feedback 2.0 on eBay.co.uk, as well as seven other eBay international sites, and the initial reaction so far has been encouraging. We’re closely watching how this improved feedback system works, and continuing to listen to the valuable feedback we’re receiving.

Proactive Fraud Protection
Today I want to let buyers and sellers know about another security measure we’re taking. For safety reasons in categories with the highest levels of fraud-related complaints, certain listings may not be viewable for several hours before they’re indexed into Search results. These new listings are still viewable on the site through My eBay or if you search for the specific item number; however, they are not immediately visible through a keyword search or Browse.

To maximize exposure for these listings and ensure that buyers who browse by category see these items, we’ve made an important change. As previously announced, listings affected by the review process appear in the search results when they are sorted by the ‘Newly Listed’ sort option based on the time they were made visible in Search (as opposed to when they are listed). This ensures that they appear at the top of default Browse results, as well as within the ‘Newly Listed’ sort option for Search, where they belong.

What kinds of listings will be affected?
Unfortunately, it’s not possible for us to give you details on the criteria we use, because that information could be used by scammers to work around our Trust and Safety efforts. On the whole, however, we expect this security measure to affect only a fraction of listings.

Let me say that I understand that this has some impact for our sellers, but with the change to how we sort listings, and the fact that most bidding occurs in the final 12 hours of a listing, we believe it’s the right step to take. I know we share the same goal: to keep eBay a welcoming, safe marketplace for both our buyers and our sellers.

Again, I appreciate your support. Working together, our efforts are helping keep the marketplace a safe place to buy and sell.

Sincerely,

Rob Chesnut
Senior Vice President, Global Trust & Safety