We recently announced that we would be testing how we present the Top-rated seller badge to buyers on eBay.co.uk. As a result of this, the badge will now appear on all Top-rated sellers’ listings in the search results page on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie

This is another step in our efforts to reward those sellers offering the best quality and customer service on eBay.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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British Summer Time ends this weekend and we want to inform you about any potential impact this may have on your listings. The clocks will fall back by one hour at 2am to 1am on Sunday 25 October, 2009.

Auction format listings on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie starting before the change and ending afterwards will still run for the correct length of time (3, 5, 7 or 10 days). For example, if an auction format listing was to start at 13:00 before the time change and ends afterwards on Sunday, then the listing’s end time will be at 12:00 instead of 13:00.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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We would like to remind all members that the new unpaid Item process is now in effect.

Sellers can now open an unpaid item case 4 days after the sale takes place. If a buyer still does not pay for an item after a further 4 days, the case can then be closed. At that point, a seller can get a refund of their final value fee and the buyer is no longer able to leave feedback on the transaction.

Buyers are reminded to pay for their items promptly. If buyers are unable to do so, they should contact the seller.

Click here for more information about the new unpaid item process on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie

Regards

The eBay team

Regards,

The eBay Team

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On 8 October 2009, we advised that due to the impending Royal Mail industrial action, we would temporarily remove the option for buyers to rate sellers on dispatch time on the Detailed Seller Rating form (DSR), from the start date of any national strike action.

Please note that this now comes into effect from Thursday 22nd October and will be in place until further notice, depending on the extent and length of the industrial action.

We will inform you in advance when we reinstate dispatch time on the DSR.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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We would like to update you on the current Royal Mail industrial action and what we are doing to help you mitigate any issues
Royal Mail workers’ union (the CWU) have announced plans for two 24-hour postal strikes on Thursday 22nd Oct and Friday 23rd Oct. On the first day, mail centre staff and drivers will strike. On the second day, delivery and collection staff will strike

What is eBay doing?

During a recent meeting with Royal Mail we sought assurances that post will continue to be delivered in the event of a national strike. Royal Mail confirmed it is committed to delivering all of the mail entrusted to them, but have indicated delays are inevitable.

Meanwhile we have agreed pricing deals with alternative postal carriers. This means eBay sellers will be able to choose a door to door courier service from as low as £3.60 for a guaranteed 3-5 day delivery for packets up to 2kg.

We will continue to update you with advice for both buyers and sellers.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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We've received a number of questions from sellers concerned about Google's recent announcement regarding Google Base.  For eBay sellers this means that starting in December, sellers will no longer be able to submit their own item information to Google Base.

The vast majority of traffic to listings comes from searches on the eBay site, but Google Base can help drive additional buyers to your items. eBay currently sends information about millions of listings to Google Base every day. We’ll continue to work closely with Google to ensure our feeds align with their requirements. There's no need for you to change your listing practices.

It's also important to note Google ultimately controls which items are surfaced in their search results and in what order. A listing may not show up for a number of reasons; such as it takes Google approximately 3 days to index eBay items .

We'll keep you posted on any further updates and best practices.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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Today the Commercial Worker’s Union has issued strike notice to Royal Mail this means a national strike is possible from the 18th October.

We take this notice very seriously and recognise the negative impact that such action will have for sellers on eBay.co.uk and I want to let you know what we are doing to mitigate the impact:

• We’re temporarily removing the option for buyers to rate sellers on the Dispatch Time Detailed Seller Rating from the start date of any national strike action.   

• We’ve expressed our concerns directly to the business secretary Rt. Hon Lord Mandelson that it is unacceptable many hard-working small businesses selling on eBay are victims of a dispute that is beyond their control (See letter below)

• We’re working with a number of alternative postal carriers to ensure sellers can provide the levels of service that are critical in the run up to Christmas.

My team will be providing you with updates on advice to both buyers and sellers during this period, please be assured that we are doing our best to help you through this industrial action.  

Regards

Mark Lewis

7 October 2009

Dear Secretary of State,

I am writing on behalf of thousands of eBay sellers to express grave concern about the impact of the proposed national strike at Royal Mail.

Some 120,000 businesses are currently registered and making a living on eBay.co.uk. While they work with a variety of postal suppliers, many rely heavily on Royal Mail for their deliveries and are understandably concerned that any postal strike will cause huge disruption at a time when they can least afford it.

These sellers tell us that Christmas typically accounts for a fifth of their annual sales and despite the tough economic conditions, they’re successfully growing their businesses and investing for future growth.  Any barrier to them delivering their goods could dent public confidence in a growing and increasingly important part of the economy.

While we have no wish to minimise the intractability of the issues at stake, it is not acceptable that many hard-working small businesses, are innocent victims of a dispute that is beyond their control.

I therefore urge you to consider these sellers as you encourage both the Royal Mail and the CWU to reach a negotiated settlement and to bring this dispute to a swift end.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Lewis
Managing Director for eBay in the UK

Regards,

The eBay Team

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Over the next three weeks, we’ll be testing how we present the Top Rated Seller Badge to buyers on eBay.co.uk . As a result, a very small percentage of buyers will see the badge in search results. The current positioning of the badge in the View Item page and elsewhere on the site will not change.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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Important Changes for Sellers – UK Update October 5th
We would like to keep you up-to-date with some important changes for sellers announced in July. Most are now active on the site and you can get full details of each initiative by clicking the links below. We also include some additional information that is important to sellers.   

Some additional information on the changes:

Top-rated Seller status – Low volume sellers
Since the launch of the new Top-rated Seller status we have been listening to your feedback. Some sellers have improved their service levels dramatically since the announcements and yet are unable to qualify due to the 12 month look-back period. We are looking into this to understand how many sellers are impacted and to review the qualification time periods. Please watch out for an update.

Discontinuing several features
If you have an active listing with one of the features at the time they are discontinued, the feature will be removed from your listing automatically. You’ll receive a full credit for the price you paid for that feature on the next billing invoice after your listing ends.

Category changes – Books category
Proposed category changes to the Books category have been postponed. We will inform you of any changes at a future date.

Excluding postage locations
We have noticed there is some confusion in how sellers can block bids from buyers located in countries to which they do not want to deliver to.
In order to apply postage exclusions please read the following instructions.
To block buyers in countries you don't want to deliver to:

1. Go to My eBay.
2. Click the Account tab, and then click the Site Preferences link in the left navigation.
3. In the Selling Preferences section, scroll to Postage preferences, and then click the Show link.
4. Click Exclude postage locations from your listings.
5. Select one or more continents to exclude all countries on those continents. Or select Show all countries and check the specific countries you don't want to post to.
6. All excluded countries you selected will appear on the lower section of the page.
7. You can select to apply these exclusions to all current live listings on a global level.
8. Click the Apply button to save your requirements.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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Today (Thursday October 1st 2009) we are announcing plans to expand our European customer service operations in Dublin, Ireland, with the creation of a European Centre of Excellence. As a result, our existing European customer service center in Dreilinden, Germany, will be refocused to provide local German-language support only.

Creating a Centre of Excellence in Dublin mirrors the approach we are taking worldwide to focus customer support in key operational hubs. Our goal is to improve service levels and responsiveness to the needs of our buyers and sellers.

We do not anticipate the level of support we provide to UK and Irish buyers and sellers to be affected by the plans announced today

Regards,

The eBay Team

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