eBay Rolls Out More of the 'Top Rated Sellers' Program in Search - Sellers Aren't Happy

I've had several inbound 'flame mails' about a change eBay (EBAY) made this week as part of their roll out of the SR2 release. I wanted to show everyone what's going on and get a pulse from readers on where you stand.

Background

Back in late July (seems like 2 years ago!), eBay announced what they internally call SR2 (Seller Release 2). We had detailed three-part coverage that begins here. A big chunk of the changes is what we call the ETRS program or eBay Top Rated Sellers program. This program goes through an interim period from Oct 09- April 10 and then is fully live in April. The way I explain it is that in this interim period, the search aspects go live (the front end or demand side) and then in April the fee aspects go live (or back-end/economics piece).

I've had lots of interviews with reporters about the program and generally think it is a good direction for eBay to be going in. I've always been concerned (as is usually the case with eBay) that something between the announcement and the implementation/go-live would be a big 'miss'. It's the eBay 'wait and see' factor. Some of these things sound great on paper and in AB posts, but when the go live, they just do something so wacky they can cancel out the positive aspects of a program (for example, I'm still excited that ETRS is domestic only).

Today eBay went live with some search functionality that I'm calling the eTRS button that looks to be the wacky feature of SR2 that has caught everyone (even me) by surprise.

The eTRS button

eBay quietly added this prominent checkbox yesterday (Sept 29) and sellers noticed it in about 2 milliseconds. On some browsers it has a big purple box and others it does not so it looks like eBay is still testing the appearance of the box. In this screen shot it appears in the bottom left. This is a browse session, in search sessions it is showing up much higher as there usually isn't a big category tree in SERPS.

click to enlarge

What this innocent check box does is filters the results to show ONLY eTRS seller's listings. While eBay has talked about advantaging eTRS seller listings in search, they didn't say they'd be giving buyers a very visible and easy way to 'show only' eTRS listings. Sellers are in an uproar because this is an extreme advantaging to eTRS listings that wasn't part of any of the announcements or sample screen shots from the July announcements. There's a big difference in 'demoted' or 'not advantaged' to 'easily filtered out'.

'eTRS Coverage' -data from the eTRS button

Long-time readers will know I'm a data nut, so this button actually gives us an interesting ability to measure today's and future eTRS coverage for a variety of eBay categories. What you do is navigate to the category, capture the number of listings and then click the magic eTRS button. Now you know the eTRS listings, non-eTRS listings, total listings and relative %'s of each. In other words you can see how many 'top rated' vs. not top rated (low rated?) listings. I built the following table of eBay's top 15 or so categories using this approach:

Here's the same data, but sorted from most eTRS coverage to least.

There are some interesting data points here to observe and mull over:

• Overall 21.3% of eBay listings are top-rated
• The Camera category is the highest with 28%
• The DVD category is lowest with 13.2% (ouch)
• With eBay's first page of results showing 50 items and with a 21% coverage, if a search term has 240 results or more, it's very likely that the entire first page will be eTRS. That's going to make it really tough for non-eTRS sellers as pretty much every eBay search I ever run comes back with > 2k items unless I get extremely specific.

Moving forward we'll be tracking this on a monthly basis (assuming the eTRS button is here to stay forever) and will report on that as I think it's going to be an interesting way to measure the success of the program.

What do you think about the new eTRS button?

Seller and buyer readers what do you think of this change? Sound off in comments. BTW, lots of eBay folks read this blog so this is a way to be heard.

Disclosure: I am long Google and Amazon. I am CEO of ChannelAdvisor where eBay is a minority investor.

Comments

[Patricia013:]

I can see the top seller program and the cutsy little badge but when they start placing buttons so that you can exclude any seller who isn't a top seller then that's were I see favoratism, manipulation and a possible well deserved lawsuit! When is Ebay going to stop catering to larger volume sellers and start treating ALL sellers basically the same. It is NOT Ebay's business to manipulate sellers - its their business to offer service for the fees they get....that does NOT include hiding some sellers and pushing others forward! This effort would be better spent ridding the site of bad sellers and unscrupulous buyers - making the site safer for everyone! I just cannot get over the sheer arrogance and stupidity of this company - it seems every month they amaze me a bit more!

Sep 30 04:29 PM

[Patricia013:]

"BTW, lots of eBay folks read this blog so this is a way to be heard."

LOL be heard? be heard? Ebay knows the mantra they've heard it every day since Donahoe took over. A complete and total imbecile would know what Ebay users want and need by now! They don't want to listen. Every time they say "you spoke, we listened", I just want to puke!

Sep 30 04:33 PM

[User 283977:]

From this uses perspective the key button needed on e-bay is the one that fires the current executive mismanagement team. I am not talking about the troops at e-bay, I am talking about the people responsible for e-bays program that blatantly favours high volume sellers.

E-bay used to be an essential daily visit for me as I looked for rare vintage/ antique treasures. I spent a lot of money on e-bay in the past. Now many of my favourite sellers have left e-bay because of things like that new button.

If I was a financial analyst covering e-bay I would ask if e-bay knows what percent of previous high REVENUE e-bay CUSTOMERS have left or have significantly reduced their buying in the past two years. If the answer was they don't know, that would speak volumes. If they said they knew, but refused to release that information, I would say interpret that as meaning the results were disturbing.

Sep 30 04:55 PM

[sandhilltra...:]

I just want to let everyone know that as one of ebays top rated sellers I am not a fan. (eBay id: sandhilltradingltd)

why?

Well, since the new changes rolled out I have seen several of my competitors lose their "powerseller" badge and expect the same to happen to us. It seems the new system favours near perfection and this is almost impossible due to the "idiot factor" that some buyers bring to a sale.

IE one buyer recently bought a fridge from us and left a neutral feedback. the feedback reads "ok but it keeps turning off and on" .
A fair comment you may think until you analyse it. Fridges use thermostats. The thermostat turns the fridge "off and on" and prevents it from frosting up. We pointed this out to the buyer who completely disregarded our emails.

We have checked the seller dashboard and this shows we have now received 3 low DSR markings and one more and we lose top seller status. This despite having a 100% positive feedback record.

It's only a question of time.........

We are getting a bit fed up with all these changes that keep getting forced on sellers.

One thing before I wind this moan up............ last year saw the change in feedback that saw "neutrals" affect seller status. eBay consequently lost 18000 powersellers overnight and eventually conceded that they had cocked things up a bit and put things back to the way they were. How long before they realise the new changes are going to cost them money and do another about turn?

eBay........... stop F***ing us around

Sep 30 08:06 PM

[NYM Arts:]

Ebay is now an Over Analyzed piece of disfunctional JUNK.
I haven't sold OR bought on it since October 2008.
It is now a venue featuring Donahoe Diddling himself in public for his own pleasure......
Over, and Over , and Over , and Over.....
As If the rest of us give a damn.
There's your Pulse reading Scot.

Sep 30 08:29 PM

[citizen1:]

Ebay has become a nightmare to many many sellers, and from what I hear, many are leaving. Hopefully it will open great opportunities for other general auction sites. There is a disgust by sellers who now must insure packages at their own expense or overcharge customers already paying very high shipping. Small volume sellers are ostrasized and discriminated against.

The company has left out the small seller, the one that made them rich and famous. The idea should be to make sellers more honest communicative, and make customer service better. How many items I have received which were, "not as stated in the ad". This is a good example of buyers' grievances.

Sellers are getting sick and tired of being abused with rules to help buyers and hurt sellers especially mid and lower volume sellers. Sellers must package and calculate shipping before listing it when many items may not even sell. This can increase the amount buyers pay for shipping or hurt the seller who may have to pay extra. That may be acceptable for big businesses but not general sellers. Now this new bash against lower volume sellers and a plus for the high volume businesses is very discriminatory, as are other Ebay practices..

This is George Orwell's,"1984", book in true life. Many of the older set remember that famous book. Ebay is BIG BROTHER. They give rules and you must follow. They keep track of everything you do and write. They know everything that you have done on their site. They can delist you at will. They let any seller post anything buyers question for anyone else to see in the ads. They discriminate as they see fit. They try to keep sellers and buyers from communicating by using the Ebay format to record everything written between them. They demand you follow, or they will throw you out of their "community".

Buyers will be happy to get what is honestly stated in the ad. If they wish they can insure it. The seller's job should not be burdoned with extra time and money to insure items, especially when they MUST buy delivery confirmations which prove that postage/ shipping was purchased. I have written about the new changes severaaal times with NO response from the company. When will they end? I do not know how they get away with all this.

A concerned person

Sep 30 10:17 PM

[fairytrixy:]

I pay fees for there to be a venue with buyers to buy what I have. I expect to get what I am paying for the same way that eBay expects the people selling on the site to provide items/services that are what the customer is paying for. Why can't they give money off fee advantage due to ratings without including exposure. We are all paying insertion fees for exposure. If there is a chance that I will be filtered out for any reason I expect to be refunded for insertion fees. They are messing up what potentially could have worked out OK. I thought with the new real time feature that will be sprung on the world in November through PayPal at Innovate 09 that auctions might get back on the map for the sellers who have collectible vintage items that NEED the auction platform to succeed.
The 80's Stanford MBA Crew has gone to the geeks you know.?.

Sep 30 10:53 PM

[bcncv:]

Ebay has had so many opportunities to shape the internet marketplace, and screwed up every single one of them.

Add this to the plenty of anecdotal evidence I hear about how bad the company is to work for, and this seems like a perfect short all the way to $0. (someday)

Oct 01 02:31 AM

[Philip Cohen:]

And, some more food for thought from the buyers' perspective …

Shill Bidding on eBay: Case Study #2

Shining some light on the more sophisticated and therefore harder to detect shill bidding activity by some “professional” sellers on eBay auctions

This time a spreadsheet analysis of multiple auctions, from some "professional" sellers from the US and Australia. Needless to say the analysis demonstrates, once again, that, contrary to eBay's claims, shill bidding by many “professional” sellers is rampant on eBay auctions. The full comment and spreadsheet download links at:
www.auctionbytes.com/f...
And, the earlier case study of blatantly naïve shill bidding at:
www.auctionbytes.com/f...

A most disingenuous, unscrupulous organisation—eBay that is.

Oct 01 08:49 AM

[User 494167:]

TRY FINDING 1 JUST 1 EBAY SELLER THAT IS HAPPPY WITH EBAY !!

1ST - THE NO NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FOR BUYERS ALLOWED

2ND - NO MONEY ORDERS NO CHECKS - PAYPAL ONLY

3RD - NO CHARGING FOR PACKAGE INSURANCE ALLOWED

4TH - NO PROTECTION FROM CHARGEBACKS OUTSIDE THE USA

5TH - DSR RATING SYSTEM THAT GIVES BUYERS THE ABILITY TO BLACKMAIL THE SELLERS USING FEEDBACK.

6TH - HIGH EBAY LISTING - PICTURE HOSTING - SELLING AND PAYPAL FEES !!

EVERY MONTH ITS A NEW SLAP IN THE FACE !!

Oct 01 09:07 AM

[boardwalk:]

This is outrageous!.......but Ebay doesn't care. Ebay does not listen to their customer..........the seller. People can write on discussion boards or on various web sites, but it will not change a thing. No one can force a change at Ebay? Shareholders could make changes, but they don't. The only thing that would bring home the message that sellers are unhappy............is a boycott. Yes its been done before. Usually a weak effort only lasting a week. It needs to be for a month. Yes some sellers depend on Ebay for an income and will not join. Can you imagine what might happen if all Ebay sellers were to not list one thing for 30 days. The newspapers would carry the story, so would television. Shareholders would be asking questions as to "Why" is this happening. Only then would there be changes...

Oct 01 11:37 AM

[leapingcat:]

Don't think that the buyers are any happier either. The typical Ebay buyer knows what he/she is looking for and manipulating the results in favour of large scale sellers, and hiding the listings of smaller-scale sellers who may offer just as good customer service, is doing no-one any good, including stockholders. I can't be the only one now using Amazon instead of ebay to buy electronic items and Specialistauctions.com to look for collectables.

Oct 01 01:02 PM

[User 283977:]

Getting a feel for the pulse Scot?

I don't see too many people that are happy here, and the only contrary indication is the unexplained single thumbs down rating on many of the comments... no defence of e-bay's actions, just an anonymous thumbs down...

That's exactly how e-bays management treats its customers (sellers and buyers) they DON'T LISTEN.... if the customers have any thing negative to say about what e-bay is doing, they are ignored. After all, management knows more about how to run a company than its customers…

In reality, management that ignores its customers needs and wants will run a business into the ground. Its difficult to bring back angry customers. By NOT listening to the needs and wants of e-bay's customers, management is driving away those customers, and in the process of doing that, they are, at the minimum, damaging the brand.

This is similar to what happened at AOL. Management that became more interested in doing the next great deal destroyed the company as they lost touch with their customers.

Oct 01 03:00 PM

[NYM Arts:]

Posted: February 26, 1996,
To: eBay Community

I launched eBay's AuctionWeb on Labor Day, 1995. Since then, the site has become more popular than I ever expected, and I began to realize that this was indeed a grand experiment in Internet commerce. By creating an open market that encourages honest dealings, I hope to make it easier to conduct business with strangers over the net.

Most people are honest. And they mean well. Some people go out of their way to make things right. I've heard great stories about the honesty of people here. But some people are dishonest. Or deceptive. This is true here, in the newsgroups, in the classifieds, and right next door. It's a fact of life. But here, those people can't hide. We'll drive them away. Protect others from them. This grand hope depends on your active participation. Become a registered user. Use our feedback forum. Give praise where it is due; make complaints where appropriate. For the past six months, I've been developing this system single-handedly, in my spare time. Along the way, I've dealt with complaints among participants. But those complaints have amounted to only a handful. We've had close to 10,000 auctions since opening. And only a few dozen complaints.

Now, we have an open forum. Use it. Make your complaints in the open. Better yet, give your praise in the open. Let everyone know what a joy it was to deal with someone. Above all, conduct yourself in a professional manner. Deal with others the way you would have them deal with you. Remember that you are usually dealing with individuals, just like yourself. Subject to making mistakes. Well-meaning, but wrong on occasion. That's just human. We can live with that. We can deal with that. We can still make deals with that. Thanks for participating. Good luck, and good business!

Regards,
Pierre Omidyar

Oct 03 06:36 PM

[Patricia013:]

NYM Arts - thanks for reposting that. Its something John Donahoe hasn't read or has read and thrown in the circular file. Pierre speaks of a business model for the little guys - Donahoe trashed that, kicked the little guys out of the way and flung open Ebay's doors to the big guys. Ebay can't work Donahoe's way and he's finding that out on a daily basis. Right now he's on a path to oblivion and can't stop it because to do so would admit that he was wrong!

Oct 04 12:03 PM

[fatseal:]

Since the top rated seller badges have been rolled out, that little bit of code has apparently FARP'd up the system to the point that pages load like molasses, they break, descriptions are missing, photos are gone and so many other complaints from the Technical & Seller Central boards.
forums.ebay.com/db2/to...
forums.ebay.com/db2/to...
forums.ebay.com/db2/fo...

Oct 04 02:36 PM

[NYM Arts:]

Yes, and I would like for Ebay Auctions to be sold to a person as Visionary, Respectful, and Nuturing as Pierre.
We've all had Enough of the Chaos.


On Oct 04 12:03 PM Patricia013 wrote:

> NYM Arts - thanks for reposting that. Its something John Donahoe
> hasn't read or has read and thrown in the circular file. Pierre
> speaks of a business model for the little guys - Donahoe trashed
> that, kicked the little guys out of the way and flung open Ebay's
> doors to the big guys. Ebay can't work Donahoe's way and he's finding
> that out on a daily basis. Right now he's on a path to oblivion
> and can't stop it because to do so would admit that he was wrong!

Oct 06 10:42 AM