Retailers and brands are gifted PowerSeller status
by Chris Dawson
There have been many rumours that certain high street brands get fast tracked status on eBay, and it’s certainly true that Diamond PowerSellers not only get the PowerSeller logo (which is no longer displayed to buyers) but eBay will also negotiate their own fee structure.
Today on the PowerSeller board it’s now been revealed that sellers joining eBay Outlet will also get automatic PowerSeller status to enable them to qualify as Top Sellers if they meet the minimum quality standards.
Certain eBay ‘Outlet’ sellers reach these minimum standards but up to now do not qualify as Top-rated Sellers as they are too new to eBay to achieve PowerSeller status. The PowerSeller status requirement is used in order for eBay to ascertain that sellers are an established business. This requirement is not required for eBay ‘Outlet’ sellers as they are verified as either an existing recognised retailer and/or brand owner.
As a result we are now automatically entering these accounts into the Powerseller programme. ‘Outlet’ sellers will only achieve the Top-rated seller status if they also reach the necessary ‘Detailed Seller Rating’ threshold levels and minimum transaction requirements. If ‘Outlet’ sellers fall below the minimum standards they will lose Top-rated seller status as would any seller.
eBay Outlet Team on the PowerSeller Board
On the one hand it makes sense, if eBay are promoting high street brands that offer “High quality branded products, from manufacturer & retailers, with up to 70% off, on permanently good deals, promising fast delivery and with great return policies” then surely the sellers should be Top Rated Sellers?
However, for sellers who have worked hard to establish themselves on eBay, it’s bound to raise questions regarding level playing fields and, if they have an established off-eBay retail business, why they too couldn’t have been fast-tracked into the PowerSeller program.
72 Responses on "Retailers and brands are gifted PowerSeller status"
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So, what a lot of people suspected – that ebay gifted / fast tracked enhanced seller statuses to certain sellers – is finally confirmed
Just another example, imo, of the shoddy way in which ebay works nowadays.
Even for the sellers in receipt of these gifts, they are, to all intents and purposes, valueless if they aren’t earned and policed properly.
It leaves one thinking that feedback is also manipulated for selected sellers too – i.e. you want a neg removed Mr preferred seller, no probs, its done.
There are some great business case studies to be had out of ebay – most of the newer initiatives would be in the ‘How not to do it’ section
I thought Roszr summed up my feelings very acurately. Particulary post 52.
The policy on non-refund of original postage on returned items is certainly “interesting”.
October 23, 2009 at Scotch o’clock
I’ll be perfectly honest and state I couldn’nt give two hoots if Debs are fast tracked to TRS/PS status.
What grinds my bones though are the DSR breaches, vetting failures and constant rule breaking/bending that occures on an almost daily basis and yet eBay in there infinite wisdom are happy to parade them on the front page of the largest ecommerece site in the world and treat them like gods.
Sometimes eBay you really do stink.
I need a Scotch, is it scotch’o'clock yet?
Check the timestamp on your post…
Totally agree – it’s inevitable that large businesses listing on eBay will be “fast-tracked” to TRS status. But it is pretty disgusting how many of them seem to be in ignorace of UK net trading laws (I’ll assume it’s ignorance rather that deliberate breach), and that eBay are apparently doing nothing to assist them in compliance.
I would imagine that the outlet sellers are high on eBay’s priority list but selling on eBay is low on many of these retailers priority list.
Must check my watch I think it’s just coming up to Vodka past Tonic.
I am curious to know if any of the ebay senior management team know that this particuar cat is out of the bag?
I suspect not.
Too fast track a seller like this when we are all actively trying over a 3 month period to hit trs is an absolute joke !! It is certainly not fair trading nd there is certainly no level playing field !! i wonder if Ebay could survive on outlet sales alone ?
I don’t think so, personally.
I can’t understand eBay’s logic – we’ve seen the likes of Sony try a shop on eBay only to flee their store.
The likes of Littlewoods and Argos (who I believe have the same parent company) may hang about for a while, but it would be interesting to see how long when eBay find the need to charge them a viable rate.
Also, I read some posters comments on Tamebay alleging that retailers are spammng eBay buyers regularly after they’ve made their purchase. What’s the bettng that they aren’t promoting their own (clearance) websites?
This is a very risky and dangerous strategy for eBay to be taking and I think one day they could find themselves at the mercy of those Diamond geezers.
This seems to display that Ebay have lost all sense of respect for small sellers.
Either that, or they are so smitten with their “partners”, they have lost all sense of “balance”.
I think it is indicative of the new culture of Ebay towards sellers.
Sellers just need to adapt.
Mark
All ebay sellers are treated equally. But some are treated more equally than others. *insert Twighlight zone music here*
Interesting to see the Ebay MD is going to speak at the Retail Week conference soon, I am guessing they are hoping to woo some more big names.
What I would see as the core of ebays business is the small to medium seller that makes a second or sole income from ebay. These are the ones that will stay loyal and help build a community togther.
If ebay are not careful they could loose these guys by getting the big boys in. The thing to remember is the big boys change direction at a moments notice and then ebay could be left with an empty store!
Stu
If I want to buy from Argos or Debenhams, I’ll go to their website. I certainly wouldn’t buy off them through eBay and get 3rd rate service.
The Amazonification of eBay will continue. Sad to say, but eBay seems to have forgotten what made it special in the first place. Outlets certainly isn’t it.
Also, congratulations must go to argos-clearancebargains who despite 95 negatives this month, still managed to achive Top Rated Seller status. If they can do it with 99.5% positive, why can’t I with 100%?
I would think that their gameplan is to try and convert some of the big High St players to take Paypal on their own websites, Paypal is earning more for Ebay Inc than Ebay is, and is the area where unlimited growth is possible. Against that background it is no wonder that they are prepared to move the goalposts, its a sensible business decision.
Tsssh, yet more eBay seller shafting shennanigans.
I also understand that eBay are trying the upmost to get as many high street shops on the site. They are offering them deals like no fees for 1 year. NO FEES…. now how does that affect the small seller to be competitive?
Good luck and good bless…
Well, this just about says it all in my opinion. If anyone still “likes” (or worse still “loves”) eBay after these revelations then you are (in my opinion) certifiably barking
what revelations?
that a well established retail store is considered a given for PS and TSR status?
hardly a revelation really is it unless you have been walking around with your eyes shut.
ebays job is to make ebay money not to make you or anyone else money.
and dont bang on about level playing fields or unfairness, every single one of you would and probably do give certain customers better treatment than others.
But is eBay doing a good job of making eBay money?
I’m no expert on the financials of large corporations but eBay doesn’t seem to be doing as well as it should be & within eBay (big company) the eBay market place doesn’t seem to be doing as well as it should be.
If there was another company out there who should eBay be measuring itself against & how are they doing?
I didnt say they were doing a good job of it.
Im just amazed at how many folk seem to forget that is their main aim ( even if they are a rotten shot!)
I suspect the difference is that none of our businesses was founded on being a ‘level playing field’ nor do we constantly insist that it is when it clearly isn’t.
I think you will find it is a long time since anyone from ebay said it was a level playing field.
Those days are gone and things change, hanging on to the past is simply a waste of effort.
ebay is not fair, neither is life, all you can do is get on with it coz complaining about it is a waste of breath.
I think it’s possible to agree with both sentiments. ie
1) It isn’t fair, and probably complaining is a waste of a seller’s precious time which could be used more productively.
2) Make finding other selling venues a priority in the face of all the ongoing changes which suggests there is some truth in the fevered speculation. In particular, don’t waste too much of your listing cash if you are not going to get exposure. Make sure you’re getting a return on your listing investment.
Edit: Sorry, I mean to put my comments above underneath Whirly’s comments below
To add to misery one outlet negative feedbacks yesterday (‘NO STOCK’ for three different items) was removed in less than 2 hours, including the counter for revised feedback.
Outrages
Oh it just gets better, negative feedback removal as well. Wake up and smell the coffee people eBay sellers.
Steve, why does someone who closed his eBay business want to hang about on eBay forums saying that eBay is dead? Surely you’ve got better stuff to be getting on with?
I have plenty to be getting on thanks, but like most people I do look at blogs and news sites etc. It’s like you saying “why are you reading the BBC news haven’t you got better stuff to be getting on with ?”
I also believe that you can’t see just how bad eBay treats its sellers until you step back from it (either voluntarily or otherwise) and take an objective look, and suddenly it dawns on you just how bad eBay is. Still that’s my point of view, and I have the right to it; a la Voltaire and all that.
Incidentally it answers (for me at least) that one big question I always had over the years “why doesn’t company xyz sell on eBay ?” I know why now, they’ve been on the outside looking in and could see the rot.
Might I suggest posting some positive comments with a wider flavour of the ecommerce landscape then instead of the tiresome running down of ebay. Not only is it your right to have an opinion but if you know of better options than eBay feel free to make your contributions constructive
I think it’s great that people like Steve reveal eBay for what it is.
It’s all over the web (on many a discussion board) that eBay is slowly eliminating small to medium sellers in favor of large retailers. They do this by such ludicrous schemes like Best Match and the DSRs for TRS program (virtually impossible to obtain consistently, month after month) which plunges ‘failed’ sellers to the bottom of search pages. What’s laughable is that some of these sellers may have missed the grade by 0.00000000015%, or some other mathematically ridiculous percentage.
DSRs, for example, allows buyers to do the culling on eBay’s behalf and eBay can therefore point to buyer ‘disatisfaction’ as to the reason why a seller’s listings aren’t higher. However, the retailers are not subject to the buyers whims for as their feedback is fine tuned (see below).
Ebay can’t afford to shed small/medium sellers too quickly as they subsidise the presence of the large retailers, and there has been speculation (here as on many other forums) that some Diamond sellers/large retailers pay no fees at all for up to a year. In addition, it can be seen – and is also cited on numerous discussion forums – that these large sellers have a lot of their negative feedback removed within hours, which skews their true rating.
It’s really sad to read the woes of excellent sellers on here who strive to jump through the impossibly high loops that eBay set them. They don’t realise what’s going on, or they are in denial about it. They can’t believe the speculation as to what’s happening as it is so against the British sense of fair play – which it is.
People DO need to wake up and smell the coffee and get off eBay as soon as is viable before they starve to death. People, make contingency plans before you lose the shirts of your back. When the ‘you know what’ hits the fan, don’t say that there weren’t those such as Steve who made themselves unpopular by warning you.
Also those who currently stick up for eBay are to be admired for their loyality, but once eBay no longer need you to rally for them, you’ll also be dispensed with.
Well done, Steve, for figuring this out. Keep up the good work. I, amongst many other silent observers, appreciate your warnings.
Business is not a sentimental affair.
If it pays we stay, if it doesn’t pay we leave. We have lots of other venues that we sell on, eBay is one of them.
If you rely solely on eBay for your income then thats a risky business to be in, if however it forms part of your income then I think personally you would be a fool not to be on it, costs us 4p a month to promote a product infront of millions of people…that imho is money for old rope (assuming you have the patience to put up with all the crap they throw at you
)
Reasoned argument is one thing but if anyone is constantly sniping with nothing constructive to say and not actually revealing anything at all it just makes them look bitter and twisted.
Better options than eBay ….
Amazon, Play, Tradespace, car boot sales, anything really
I like a good moan at ebay like most sellers and there is much about the current structure of ebay I don’t like. So why am I still selling on ebay – because I’m making money, which exactly what ebay are doing.
Ebay is a business; it’s not a social network site. I personally think the way they have treated small and medium sellers recently to be bad business practise.
I for one have found the constant moving of goal posts and jumping though hoops to be annoying and bad business, which is why I’m now focusing on my own internet shop.
Whilst ebay remains a viable source or income I will stay and make the best of the situation.
However ebay management really need to wake up and smell the coffee because small and medium sellers like myself are becoming less dependant on ebay, and there may well come a time when I decide that ebay just isn’t worth the effort.
My own shop is now starting to be a real competitor to ebay and I’m putting more business that way every day, and less towards ebay.
I only opened my own shop because of frustrations with ebay. If I’m doing it then I guess many other sellers are following the same route. If ebay wants to become an online catalogue for high street retailers that up to them. I think that they will regret this at some future point, but it is their decision.
Because ebay is a business my decision to list or leave will be solely based on business and not on the fact that they regularly annoy the hell out of me. I like all sellers have the option to leave.
So will I still moan away at ebay? Yes, can’t help myself.
Will I leave ebay although? Not sure yet, depends on how far those goal posts move from this point on.
‘My own shop is now starting to be a real competitor to ebay and I’m putting more business that way every day, and less towards ebay.’
Realistically its not a competitor to ebay, its a bog standard ekm shop.
I’m not saying this to be rude, but if you are growing as a company you need better web design and a more flexible shop than ekm.
Both prestashop and megento are more flexible and you can install and get hosting for a fraction of EKM’s prices (or eBay).
To illustrate my last post prestashop or magento starter packages are just 30.95+VAT A YEAR at http://www.terranetwork.net. (no conection other than as a happy customer, if you are happy installing them for free at most hosting companies, for example one.com starting at about 10 quid a year)
Prestashop looks far better out of the box, is better supported, more flexible, and easier to use than EKM, which is about 239.40 (inc VAT) a year.
Try the demo at http://www.prestashop.com/en/showcase_demo/
If you don’t believe me.
magento is more suited to large e-commerce sites and will be hard for anyone who doesn’t know web design, but if you are proficient in web design can be set up for about the same price.
Radams
I take on board everything you say and yes my shop is a bog standard ekm shop.
My point is that even with a bog standard shop I’m now getting business outside of ebay and even if it is bog standard its doing very well.
If you have viewed it you will appreciate that my categories are a bit mixed up and it really need some care and attention.
It’s doing so well that I am seriously looking at increasing its size whilst decreasing my ebay inventory.
Quite apart from the additional business, it’s incredibly refreshing to OWN and CONTROL you own site.
I really am getting fed up jumping through ebay hoops, and I accept that there are some impressive packages on offer, but as I said previously I will only stay at a platform if it pays, and at the moment my EKM shop is bringing in extra revenue.
The packages you have linked too look good, but I think they might be beyond my technical skill. At the moment I’m committed to my EKM shop, but will look at these packages with a view to the future.
You have given me food for thought – so thank you for you suggestions and advise
Our main site is using Magento…If you are thinking of using it also you should expect to spend at least £2500 on developement.
Magento requires a lot of changes to make it suitable for most ecommerce shops, not least the template system it uses is VERY complicated and difficult to make it look unique.
I would suggest NOT using an external company to design/code etc yuo Magento site, instead hire someone on a part time basis. It will work out better value in the long run.
Having said that, once you get your head around how Magento works, it’s an amazing piece of software and allows you to have multiple websites/domains running from one installation.
I have never keen to part with money and £2,500 is no small sum, but I appreciate that sometimes you need to make this sort of investment to get the returns.
What really puts me off however is your comment about it being Very Difficult.
I know my EKM shop is as radams describes it “Bog standard”, but it works for me. I daresay that a better front end shop might bring in more customers, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how successful it has been.
But its real selling point for me – is its easy peasy. I play with HMTL but I’m way behind my kids on IT matters.
Thanks for the update
ohh come on people…are U just pretending to be that naive and stupid…no i didnt think so…ebay is a business they do not care one bit about you..if you have a horrible crash and leave your kids behind..they would care about the outstanding fees even if you have been there since year 1!
And please what other business do you know where some little men selling ohh i dont know a grand month gets treated the same as somebody turning over a million a month.Wake up they are not treating you as a BUSINESS PARTNER FGS, NOT AS AN EMPLOYEE BUT AS A SLAVE NOTHING ELSE!
OH AND STEVE YOU USED TO MOAN ABOUT AMAZON ON THE BOARDS
Oh, but jm – there are businesses who care about customers as well as profits.
Why? Because by caring about existing customers they nuture LOYALITY, which in turn generates LONG TERM BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS.
It is far more easier to obtain run rate business from a long term business partner than to keep churning for new (possibly fickle) clients.
That’s surely the more sensible way to do business?
I fear eBay are making a grave error p*ssing off their small/medium, long term, previously LOYAL, customer base.
of course debs thats how the system normaly works however ebay knows that most sellers rely on ebay and have no where else to go. …tell me another business where you spend several thousand pounds a year on a service and they treat you like you are a turd they stepped in…
Of course its a mistake because the big boys will not be so keen on all the changes however I think ebay found out a long time ago that they can do whatever they want! Think about all the s***t they served us in the last couple of years (manually change to 15% think how many tens of thousand of hours were spent by all the powersellers rather then ebay getting a programmer to change it – remeber the royal mail trade mark change) and I bet you the number of sellers has gone up! I really thought I never say this but the future governor was much better then this current idiot!
I think somebody else said it before ebay is not a retailer! amazon is thats why amazon will win the war.
I’m sure as ebays figures go down the will come up with some fantastic ideas (not) so be prepared for some great new things! Why not just spend some money on advertising ebay rather then trying to fix something that is not broken….
JM Amazon is not without problems, but they have far less “issues” than eBay. Like I said it’s not until you step back and no longer use eBay that it suddenly hits you just how bad a venue it is for selling in my opinion.
one last thing..something to get angry about jd sport needs one more neutral or neg and they will be restriced 5% (of course not) but still it will be the first lesson for ebay that not every high street seller will be ebay slaves
if ebay restrict them they will simply walk away, ebay needs these companies more than they need ebay.
thats why negs “mysteriously” vanish within hours , its why they are given TSR and PS status
the only folk that will stop it are the buyers who will eventually be too “fickle” for most of these big guys to handle.
Off topic – sorry
Is anyone else finding that their GTC listings turn into 30 listings? I had 100% GTC a few weeks ago. I now have 28 x 30 day listings as well as 14 I have relisted.
I will contact ebay on Monday and they will probably reply on Friday with the answer to a different question.
that is a TL glitch, they know about it and are allegedly working on it.
Thanks for the update. It is really annoying.
Chris.
They are gifted TRS.
Take a look at Argos who have suddenly qualified for TRS:
Argos have:
1.10% Negs and Neutrals. (Past 30 Days)
1.06% Negs and Neutrals. (Past 6 Months)
Considering some positive feedback customers also leave low DSR’s, how on earth have Argos managed to get below 0.5% in all 4 criteria’s?
I think that this should be a new post.
The same has happened for Littlewoods and Schuch, they are no where near qualifying.
100% agree. I don’t mind these Outlets having different fee structures to the rest of us, but advertising them as Top Rated, when they clearly haven’t been Top Rated by buyers is at best misleading.
Also agree that Steve Anthony Williams should try contructive criticism.
Well thank you for your comments but do pay attention, there’s no H in my middle name
As for commenting on what I say am I going to have to go all Voltaire on you ??
Also my experience of eBay was extremely extensive as I was one of the biggest sellers there was in the UK, so I don’t think “blinkered” is fair comment.
Steve, you never fail to amuse me.
When the company you worked for, retrowarez went bust, taking with it your customers, suppliers, banks and paypals money. You said ‘its a limited company, thats why we have limited companies’ I also think you also said it was lucky you were able to save yourself and your house from personal bankruptcy due to this legal protection.
Now i have no problem with that, its how company law works.
However now you claim that it was you personally that was a big seller on ebay, well, no it wasn’t. It was your employers retrowarez LIMITED, a seperate legal entity.
If you want to take the credit, you also have to pay the people you ripped off. Make up your mind.
Why all this Steve bashing? It;s not like he’s a postman or works for frooition
You knew what I meant, as MD of Retrowarez it was still my “experience”. Also, I was a pretty big seller even before the company became limited, PLUS I have another account (still running) as a sole trader with over 75000 feedback, I just don’t advertise the fact.
Whilst we debate the merit of comments, I don’t think it’s very constructive jumping on the band wagon to lay into into other posters, either.
Whilst I can’t speak for Steve, I think he got the message the first time.
“It;s not like he’s a postman or works for frooition”
That really did make me splutter my morning coffee
I think censorship would ruin the validity of Tamebay.
I accept that Chris is very pro-ebay.
Sue not so pro-ebay.
But commentary from those that feel Ebay have let them down should also have a place.
Censorship can take many forms…
But the main issue here, is that Ebay are favouring the Outlet sellers and the charges of underhandness that are being levelled against Ebay should be dealt with by Ebay.
It is obvious they read this blog, so here is one of the best places to air views.
It would be a shame if the topic was dragged down and “diverted” through “Steve” bashing in my view.
Mark
Yes, I agree this “favouritism” is a big problem. Let’s hope an “airing of views” will help and eBay will listen to sellers, but I doubt it.
after months of is ebay not the worst place ever (agree) and I would rather sell on car boot you come out with this bs:
have another account (still running)
make up your mind and if you have why are selling dvd on your ethicalcompanies and not on ebay (my guess is they have banned you and will not let you back on)
I respect you like a lot of people but then you dig yourself a massive hole…
It seems to me that this unrelenting attack on ‘Steve’ is a diversionary tactic by people close to, or even perhaps, working for Ebay. Sound far fetched? It’s eBay’s modus operandi for trying to crush dissent – just check out the insults hurled on the Yahoo message boards, or the auctionbytes site where the ip of some trolls has been traced to eBay’s San Jose headquarters.
I don’t know ‘Steve’ from Adam – let’s all just agree that he’s is a whining, serial whinger – sorry Steve – in order to move on and not let the topic become derailed by, shall we say ‘friends of eBay’.
No, let’s focus on their outrageously preferential treatment of oulet merchants to the detriment of regular sellers. Sure, they have a rightto do what they want with there site,but us sellers need to let them know that we are not happy with being screwed over.
If you pay for a service you are NOT receiving, then you have a right to complain at the top of your lungs before you walk away.
And by the way – it was a bad move, Steve, revealing that you still sell on ebay.
My friend made criticisms of eBay on a message board and revealed far too many details about himself. eBay then found his account and did nothing less than torture him. They ended all his hundreds of listings because he failed to put his business information on his eBay store page (he didn’t know he had to do that as he had it in his item won notification email).
They ended them again as he used a generic term in his item description, but they said it was a manufacturer’s name, and so they got him for keyword spamming. (As an example, think to the company ‘Hoover’ and the act of ‘hoovering’ – this wasn’t his exact ‘crime’ but is was the similar use of a manufacturer’s name that has become verb-like, if you will.
eBay linked him to an old NARU’d account – more than two years old – belonging to his ex. That’s how determined they were to run him off the site for daring to voice his annoyance. Six months later, they won’t even answer his emails, let alone let him back on. Make sure they have no reason to hound you, too.
I am astonished that there are still people who actually buy into the BS that is the TRS scheme.
It is a complete fee grab. I have gone from PS with discount and 100% feedback to a “Standard” seller in January with no discount. Simply through an arbitrary moving of the goalposts.
Ebay still works for me, I viewed all discounts as a bonus and for me it is still a valid place to sell.
Other people have different ideas and I suspect other people who suffered from the collapse of suppliers would still be selling on Ebay to this day.
Of course the big chains got preferential treatment. They walked in and said “Hey, you want big high street names on your site giving it a level of legitimacy? Oh you do? Well, drop those pants and turn round and we will discuss our fees!”
I would do it to them if I had the size to back it up as well, no use in being a hypocrite there.
Debenhams are also the Deal of the Day
as well as being a fast tracked TOP SELLER. — Think I will hide the Debenhams store card from my wife — ( when she is not looking of course )
Realistically — we all have to up our game .
I think Deb’s might have to up there game also.
Hardly setting the world on fire.
Just got this from the power seller board. John Donahoe Talks with Pierre Omidyar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp2PBPOkeqE
Listen from 2mins 30secs on, rather amusing
now that is funny
5754 views. 2 Star Rating. Yep thats spot on.
the plus side of ebay is you can have just a debit card and start selling and receiving funds, amazon you need a credit card to be able to register for selling.
i hope to own ebay one day god willing and make it better for sellers