We thought you might like to know we’ve improved our seller dashboard – it’s now full of extra features to give you an even clearer idea of your performance.

Here are a few of the ways you can now keep track of your account:

• Detailed seller ratings (DSRs) – See your average ratings from buyers. We’ll use our members’ scores to set key performance standards and rewards. To help you manage your sales, you’ll find:
• your DSR average over the last 30 days, as well as your scores over the past year. (If you’ve received less than ten DSRs in a 30-day period, you'll just see your scores for the last twelve months.)
• your exact DSR scores - right down to the nearest 0.01. For example, your profile would show 4.83 rather than 4.8.
• how your DSRs compare with the average eBay seller.
• Search standing – See whether your listings are at risk of being lowered in the Best Match sort based on your DSRs.
• PowerSeller status – Find out where you stand now and how you can reach the next level. If you're not a PowerSeller, you'll see how close you are to qualifying.
• Seller discounts – Business sellers and PowerSellers can now see the discount on their last invoice, and monitor their progress to their next discount.
• Account status – View your account’s billing information, including your balance and payment status.
• Policy compliance – We’ll alert you if you break the rules, and update you about any limits we’ve placed on your account. We'll also include links to messages in your My Messages area if they include more information to help.

If you’ve gained at least 10 DSRs in the last twelve months, you can start using your new seller dashboard today. You’ll find links to this in the My Account section of My eBay, and also on the Selling Manager summary page.

We hope you’ll enjoy making the most of your new seller dashboard.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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The PayPal site is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. The maintenance began at 7am BST and is scheduled to run for approximately 1 hour.

During this time the PayPal site and a majority of PayPal features will be unavailable. Normal functionality will return once the maintenance has completed.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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This Thursday, when you list on eBay.co.uk using the Auction-style, Auction-with-Buy It Now or Buy It Now Only (Fixed Price) formats in eligible categories, insertion fees will be half price for each item you list.

So the more you list, the more you can save!

Final value fees and feature fees are not included in this promotion.

Terms and conditions apply

Regards,

The eBay Team

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We’ve made some great improvements to eBay for Charity.

From Friday 23 May, you’ll find it easier than ever to support your favourite causes when doing what you do every day on eBay – here are just a few of the reasons why:

• Manage all eBay for Charity activities from your 'My eBay' in the Donations Account tab without needing a separate account with MissionFish (eBay’s charity partner)
  
  
• You no longer need to register with MissionFish; eBay will cover all that for you from now onwards. You'll just need to accept the new terms and conditions with eBay next time you sell. (MissionFish will continue to collect and process donations for you and ensure all funds reach your chosen charity)
  
  
• Paying your donations is now quick and easy, you can choose to automatically pay with the same method as you pay your eBay fees or select another that suits you better
  
  
• It’s even easier to choose your charity and donation percentage in the Advanced 'Sell Your Item' form with the new eBay for Charity feature
  
  
• We’ve lowered our minimum donation from £2 to only £1 per listing
  
  
• We’re here to help – our new dedicated eBay customer support team is on hand for all your eBay for Charity needs
  
  
• If you run into any problems or your buyer doesn’t pay, we’ll refund your donation through the eBay Unpaid Item process
  
  
• Keep an eye out for special auctions from familiar faces – lots of celebrities and your favourite brands want to help make a difference with eBay for Charity
  
  

But don’t just take our word for it – visit our shiny new eBay for Charity site to find out more about the exciting ways to get involved.

So far, you and 21 million other eBay users in the UK have raised over £5 million for good causes. Huge thanks for helping to make eBay for Charity such a great success.

What is eBay for Charity?
eBay for Charity is an easy way for buyers and sellers on eBay.co.uk to support their favourite charities. Buyers can shop for items knowing they’re supporting a good cause, be it an everyday bargain or a special auction. Sellers, whether they’re individuals or businesses, can donate a percentage from any sale to a charity of their choice and add Gift Aid to their donations. Charities can also sell their own items directly on eBay.co.uk.

Learn more about eBay for Charity.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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eBay for Charity is going through a major relaunch to make it easier for you to support your favourite cause on eBay.

Because this upgrade is a complicated process and requires close coordination between eBay and our charity partner MissionFish, eBay for Charity will be unavailable from late afternoon on Wednesday 21 May. The all-new eBay for Charity will be available on Friday 23 May.

During the upgrade, you won't be able to create any eBay for Charity listings, and other eBay for Charity features may be intermittently unavailable or slow. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Listings created before and after the scheduled maintenance will not be affected.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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Last month we told you that we’d soon be launching International Site Visibility (previous announcement). We wanted to let you know that we’re introducing this listing upgrade on Tuesday 20th May 2008. 

More information on International Site Visibility is available: UK members | Irish members

Regards,

The eBay Team

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In March we announced that we’ll require all sellers on eBay.co.uk to offer PayPal as a payment method on their listings.  We can now confirm that the requirement will take effect on 3rd June 2008.

We’re making this change as buyers are more confident and likely to buy on eBay, and sellers more likely to see their listings convert into sales, when PayPal is offered as a payment method. It also means we can provide protection to buyers should things go wrong.  Currently, over 95% of listings on the site already offer PayPal.

More information about safer payments on eBay

Thanks for your support in helping to keep eBay.co.uk a great place to buy and sell.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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We wanted to let you know that the PayPal site will undergo maintenance on Friday, 30 May, 2008 between 7am and 8am BST.

During this time, the PayPal site and a majority of PayPal features will be unavailable.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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When we ran the free gallery picture promotion in March, we got excellent positive feedback from sellers, so we’ve decided to repeat the offer. From 19 May until 30 September, the gallery picture listing upgrade on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie will be free.

Whether you’re just starting out or are already a big seller with thousands of items for sale, having a gallery picture next to your listing in search results means buyers are more likely to bid for and buy your items.

This is just one of the ways we’re reducing the cost of listing an item on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie. We’ll update you on other plans we have later this year.

Terms and conditions apply.

Learn how to get free gallery pictures for your listings: UK members | Irish members

Regards,

The eBay Team

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A concert honouring Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday is being organised for 27 June to help raise essential funds for the 46664 campaign. The 46664 campaign raises awareness about the impact of AIDS, especially in Africa, and promotes effective HIV prevention measures throughout the world.

As there are a limited number of tickets available, we expect that some of these tickets will be offered for sale on eBay. We have been working with the organisers of the concert to further their fundraising efforts and will apply the following conditions on the sales of these tickets, in line with our recently announced policy for the resale of charity tickets:

• At least 20% of the final sale price for any ticket for this event must be donated to the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust (UK) through our eBay for Charity programme.
• Sellers of these tickets need to be registered with eBay for Charity.
• One-day and three-day listings will not be allowed.

Thanks for your understanding and for your support of this cause.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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Following on from our announcement back in January, we’d now like to confirm that changes to the Feedback system will come into effect on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie from 15 May.

Why are we making changes?
We’re aiming to restore the trust and transparency that’s at the heart of the Feedback system. We want buyers to be able to rate sellers honestly so that other buyers can tell good and bad sellers apart more easily – and have total confidence in who they’re buying from.

We’re also recognising sellers who attract repeat buyers – this is a clear indication of good service. At the moment, a number of feedback ratings from the same buyer count as a single rating, but from 15 May onwards a seller’s Feedback score will reflect all the feedback they’ve been left.

More information about the changes: UK members | Irish members.

Protecting sellers
Since our announcement in January, a number of sellers have told us they’re concerned about the risk of some buyers abusing the new Feedback system. So to combat this, we’ve made some modifications to the changes we originally announced:

Before feedback is left

1. We’ll remind all buyers about to leave negative or neutral feedback for a seller to get in touch with the seller first, and to allow plenty of time for their item to arrive (we’ll also include a specific reminder for cross-border purchases).
2. Sellers will have more control over who they allow to bid on and buy their items thanks to an enhanced Buyer Requirements tool. For the first time, they’ll be able to block bidders who have been reported for policy breaches and non-payment. We’ll launch these enhancements at the end of May.
3. Buyers will be able to leave feedback for 60 days after a transaction (down from 90 days).
4. If a seller is a PowerSeller and has been on the site for at least a year, buyers will not be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for 7 days after their transaction.

After feedback is left

1. We’ll remove negative or neutral ratings if a seller opens an Unpaid Item claim and the buyer either doesn’t respond or doesn’t specifically say the seller is at fault.
2. We’ll remove negative or neutral ratings left by a buyer if they’re subsequently permanently suspended from the site.
3. We’ll base Feedback percentage scores on the last 12 months’ activity (rather than on lifetime activity) so that negative feedback doesn’t permanently affect a seller’s reputation.
4. We’ll be launching a dedicated hub for sellers to report malicious or unfair feedback from buyers.

Shopping with peace of mind
As we announced before, all listings on eBay.co.uk will soon need to offer PayPal as a Safe Payment method. This is so that buyers have the choice of purchase protection on every item they buy.

Over 95% of listings on eBay.co.uk now offer PayPal. If you don’t already offer it on yours, we’d strongly recommend you sign up now. We’ll update you soon on the final deadline for the requirement to offer PayPal on your listings.

We hope you’ll support these changes. They’ll create a safer marketplace where buyers are more confident and which rewards sellers giving good service.

Regards,

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On Saturday 10th May and Sunday 11th May, you can list a car or any other type of vehicle for half the usual insertion price when using the Auction-style, Auction-with-Buy It Now or Buy It Now Only (Fixed Price) formatswhen using the Auction-style, Auction-with-Buy It Now or Buy It Now Only (Fixed Price) formats.

Terms and conditions apply.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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