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 October 2007 |
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***Introducing a new PayPal security feature*** |
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30 October, 2007 | 02:16PM GMT
At PayPal, we’ve spent many years building sophisticated backend systems to help us detect fraud. Our attention to detail has helped us build a reputation as a safer, and easier way for sellers to receive payments online.
Earlier this year, we successfully introduced a new risk reduction feature in North America that benefits eBay sellers called Payment Review. Payment Review will soon also be available to UK sellers.
What is Payment Review?
Payment Review is an automatic early warning system that alerts sellers to potentially fraudulent payments. It relies on the vast amounts of payment data in our systems, our experience in sophisticated fraud modeling and the collective expertise of our fraud agents.
How it works
If our systems spot a high-risk payment, we’ll send you an email alert within minutes to advise that payment has been interrupted, pending investigation. A Payment Review investigation typically takes up to 24 hours to complete.
If we determine that the payment is most likely legitimate, we'll let you know via email and on the Transaction Details page that you can send the item to the buyer. The payment may still be subject to a reversal or chargeback but it will remain eligible under the Seller Protection Policy, provided the transaction is eligible. (Learn more about standard eligibility requirements.)
If we determine that the payment is most likely fraudulent, the payment will be automatically cancelled.
Payment Review is automatic; there’s no need to opt in.
You probably won't see "Pending" payments often
While we think Payment Review will provide great protection for sellers, payments will only be interrupted in a small percentage of transactions.
You should still exercise good judgment when accepting payments.
Payment Review is an important step forward in helping to deliver an even safer experience for eBay sellers who accept PayPal; however, it's not a substitute for seller caution when accepting payments. We recommend that you also have in place a risk reduction strategy that suits your business. We look forward to helping you grow your business.
Regards,
The PayPal Team
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***We'd like to draw your attention to a product recall announcement made in the US, particularly if you buy or sell on eBay.com*** |
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26 October, 2007 | 02:10PM BST
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently issued a recall of certain children's items. The products include: Bumbo Baby Sitter seats, certain types of children’s metal jewellery, "Go Diego Go" boat toys, toy gardening tools, purple Halloween pails with witch decorations, "Cars" backpacks that contain small magnetic game pieces, "Hanna Montana" black jeweled girls' boots with a guitar-shaped silhouette and zipper, and Gymboree toy pirate swords.
eBay takes recalled items very seriously, and we work closely with the Consumer Product Safety Commission on these issues. We encourage buyers and sellers to visit cpsc.gov (See the Recent Recalls section) for more details about the products and model numbers included in this recall. You may also wish to visit our Recalled Items policy .
For Sellers: Please check your product model numbers and do not list 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 the model number.
As a service to our Community, eBay announces some product recalls, like this one, when we believe the marketplace will be impacted. To stay informed about all CPSC recalls, please bookmark cpsc.gov and visit regularly.
Regards,
The eBay Team
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***Updated: Changes to fees in the Photography and Toys & Games categories*** |
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24 October, 2007 | 11:31AM BST
We’re happy to say that we’ve resolved the technical problems that affected the changes to fees in the Photography and Toys & Games categories. The revised fees, applicable until 31st December 2007, will now be charged as expected.
We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused while we sorted out the technical problems.
As we mentioned previously, if you were charged the normal Insertion fees for items that qualified for the reduced Insertion fees, we’ll credit your account for the difference by 30th November. If you were charged the normal Final Value Fees instead of the revised Final Value Fees, you will not be asked to pay the difference.
For more details on the fees changes, visit: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/sell/oct2007toysphoto/.
Regards,
The eBay Team
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Link to this announcement | Back to top
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***Previous update:
Changes to fees in the Photography and Toys & Games categories*** |
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*** | ***
We’re happy to say that we’ve resolved the technical problems that affected the changes to fees in the Photography and Toys & Games categories. The revised fees, applicable until 31st December 2007, will now be charged as expected.
We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused while we sorted out the technical problems.
As we mentioned previously, if you were charged the normal Insertion fees for items that qualified for the reduced Insertion fees, we’ll credit your account for the difference by 30th November. If you were charged the normal Final Value Fees instead of the revised Final Value Fees, you will not be asked to pay the difference.
For more details on the fees changes, visit: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/sell/oct2007toysphoto/ .
Regards,
The eBay Team
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Link to this announcement | Back to top
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***Original:
Delay in announced changes of fees in the Photography and Toys & Games categories*** |
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23 October, 2007 | 03:10PM BST
We’re writing to let you know about the delay to the announced changes of pricing in the Photography and Toys & Games categories that was scheduled to start on the 23rd October and end on the 31st December 2007:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/sell/oct2007toysphoto/
Due to a technical problem, sellers are still being charged the normal selling fees. We are working to fix this problem. In the meantime, listings that qualify for the reduced Insertion fees will continue to be charged the normal Insertion Fees. However, we will credit the difference to the seller’s account as soon as possible.
If you are charged the normal Final Value Fees you will not be asked to pay the difference at a later day.
These pricing changes will end on the 31st December 2007 as planned. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this problem.
Regards
The eBay Team
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Link to this announcement | Back to top
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***UK-US visibility in Collectables categories*** |
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18 October, 2007 | 03:16PM BST
Every day, more than four million people in the UK log on to eBay.co.uk, and this large number of potential British buyers plays a huge role in making our marketplace attractive for UK sellers.
We know that our sellers also value the ability to reach a global audience for their items. Earlier this year, we had to remove the free visibility that UK sellers had enjoyed for many years on eBay.com, because the sheer number of UK listings that were appearing there was making it difficult for American buyers to find American items.
Since then, we’ve been testing ways to enable relevant UK items to appear on eBay.com without undermining domestic American trade. We’ve run tests in a range of different categories, and using a range of different filters, to try to ensure that only items that appeal to American buyers will show up on eBay.com.
We’re going to widen the testing so that when you list an item on eBay.co.uk, it will also be listed automatically on eBay.com if:
- The item is listed in the Antiques, Art, Coins, Collectables, Dolls & Bears, Pottery, Porcelain & Glass or Stamps categories
- You offer PayPal as one of the payment options for the item (to ensure easy cross-border payments)
- You specify the price of postage to the US (to make the total price clear to US buyers)
- The item is located in the UK
Similarly, items listed on eBay.com in the same categories, and meeting the equivalent criteria, will appear on eBay.co.uk if their sellers meet an important additional restriction: sellers of items on eBay.com must have feedback of at least 100 and at least 98% positive for their items to appear on eBay.co.uk. We’ve added this extra qualifying criterion to ensure that the number of overseas listings does not overwhelm UK items.
We’ll be testing the new criteria at least until the New Year.
Thanks for your support – and happy global selling!
Regards,
The eBay Team
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***Consumer Product Safety Commission:Toys Recalled Week of Oct 8*** |
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12 October, 2007 | 05:00PM BST
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently issued a recall of certain children's items due to excessive amounts of lead and choking/laceration hazards. The products include: Cub Scouts Totem Badges, Bendable Dinosaur toys, Princess Magnetic Travel Art Set Lap Desks, Deluxe Winnie-the-Pooh 23-Piece Play Sets, Deluxe Wood Art Sets and certain styles of Starbucks children's plastic cups.
eBay takes recalled items very seriously, and we work closely with the Consumer Product Safety Commission on these issues. We encourage buyers and sellers to visit http://www.cpsc.gov (See the Recent Recalls section) for more details about the products and model numbers included in this recall. You may also wish to visit our Recalled Items policy.
For Sellers: Please check your product model numbers and do not list 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 the model number.
As a service to our Community, eBay announces some product recalls, like this one, when we believe the marketplace will be impacted. To stay informed about all CPSC recalls, bookmark http://www.cpsc.gov and visit regularly.
Regards,
The eBay Team
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***Update on Feedback: Detailed Seller Ratings*** |
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10 October, 2007 | 10:04PM BST
We are pleased to provide a brief update on the Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) introduced about 6 months ago.
DSR adoption rates
We’re delighted that buyers are leaving detailed seller ratings over 78% of the time. In addition, the overall rate of Feedback being left remains at 70%. This is a positive result, because it shows that the introduction of DSRs has not had any negative impact on buyers’ willingness to leave Feedback.
A look at marketplace DSR scores
With over six months of data, the DSR scores for eBay.co.uk are showing some healthy early patterns. Our data prove the vast majority of our sellers perform well in satisfying their buyers.
Below is a table with a breakdown of DSR scores by seller percentile. The median score reflects the score that a seller in the middle would get, if sellers were ranked by their buyers from best to worst. As you can see, the scores are quite high, with 4.8 for most items and 4.6 for shipping costs.
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Bottom 10% of sellers |
Bottom 25% of sellers |
Median seller |
Top 25% of sellers |
Top 10% of sellers. |
| Item As Described |
4.6 |
4.7 |
4.8 |
4.9 |
4.9 |
| Communication |
4.5 |
4.6 |
4.8 |
4.9 |
4.9 |
| Shipping Time |
4.3 |
4.6 |
4.7 |
4.9 |
4.9 |
| S & H Charge |
4.3 |
4.5 |
4.6 |
4.7 |
4.8 |
Using DSRs
Detailed Seller Ratings are a measurement of buyer satisfaction, and they give sellers a tool they can use to evaluate how they are performing. When an individual set of DSRs (visible to sellers by mousing over the stars in their profile) is compared with the chart above, sellers can get a sense of how well they are performing compared to the marketplace as a whole. Sellers with scores lower than the median can take advantage of this data – which is provided by buyers across the marketplace -- to reevaluate and adjust their business practices.
As we look to ensure that buyers have great experiences on eBay, we will be leveraging this DSR data in several ways in 2008: to help us evaluate seller performance, as criteria for seller benefits such as PowerSeller eligibility and other rewards, and for prioritising search results.
Regards,
The eBay Team
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***Next generation checkout – a simpler way to pay on eBay*** |
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01 October, 2007 | 06:32PM BST
Over the next weeks, we’ll be introducing new checkout pages that should make it simpler to complete your transactions on eBay.
The main change you’ll see is that you’ll be able to log in directly to your PayPal account from eBay to pay for items, rather than having to leave eBay to log in to PayPal separately, as was previously the case.
Other improvements include the ability to pay multiple sellers at the same time, a facelift of the pages to make it easier to see what you need to do, and better integration of postage discounts and coupons.
At present, 5% of members will see the new checkout pages. We’ll increase that over the next few weeks, until 100% of members can use the new checkout, just in time for Christmas.
We hope you like the new checkout pages.
Regards,
The eBay Team
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***New Head of Trust & Safety at eBay UK*** |
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01 October, 2007 | 04:10PM BST
The success and scale of eBay's marketplace, and its foundation in trust, means that it can attract a small minority of unscrupulous people who attempt to exploit this trust for personal gain. We are deeply committed to protecting our members from those who attempt to defraud them, and invest heavily in preventing and reducing this activity on eBay.co.uk.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Ambrose as the new Head of Trust & Safety for eBay UK, replacing Garreth Griffith, who has moved to PayPal UK. Richard will also be responsible for the continuing expansion and improvement of eBay's customer support services.
Richard has traded on eBay for nine years and has worked at eBay for four years, first as manager of the Collectables categories, and more recently leading the development of new search technology that will be launching on eBay UK early in 2008. He is passionate about making eBay an even safer place to trade, and about involving the eBay community more deeply in this effort.
Regards,
The eBay Team
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