An official announcement by eBays #2 exec this morning  http://tinyurl.com/5cwqte adds new emphasis to Fixed Price listings with a new back-loaded fee structure, longer durations, category-specific Final Value Fees, and other tweaks.  Also announced were minimum seller performance standards based on Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR) scores, and the elimination of paper payments (checks, money orders) and most previously-approved alternate payment methods.  "Fair Shipping" cost limits will also be introduced.

Number 2 exec Lorrie Norrington said that eBay is reversing its policy of counting Neutral feedback as Negative feedback later this month in a July 10 announcement.  This reversal marks the end to the most reviled policy change in the site's history.  The policy included a punitive re-scoring of Neutrals retroactive to a year prior, well before any indication was given of the new direction.

Universally condemned as unfair by Sellers, the policy shift sparked tremendous Seller backlash in frustration and anger.  Tempers flared again when the effects of being put in practice were seen.  Sellers with sterling feedback records were suddenly disqualified from PowerSeller status, discounts, search placement, and other benefit programs. (I would have also been disqualified from the Education Specialist program.)  These program requirements were quickly "grandfathered" for damage control, and a review of the policy promised repeatedly at eBay Live! in June.  Norrington's announcement says the change should occur in late August, though later remarks attributed to eBay staff place the actual change more likely in October.

In the interim, Seller's reputations have the appearance of exaggerated poor performance while the miscalculation of feedback scores persist on the website's display.

To eBay's credit, this brings full circle a tragic decision, the promise to review, and making good on that promise.  While it doesn't significantly improve trust in policymakers direction -- they put this in place in the first place -- it's a step in the right direction to earning that trust. 

Oklahoma City-area eBay Sellers will gather Thursday, Aug 14 for the monthly group meeting.  Held the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM, the OKC group will discuss eBay news and developments, trends, ideas and mutual support.  Featured presentation in August is chapters 3-5 of eBay University's "Beyond the Basics" course, with the conclusion at September's meeting.  There is no cost to attend. See www.UnkieJoe.com for details.

Sellers will not be allowed to have links or email addresses in their listing descriptions when eBay's Anonymized eMail goes live, according to eBay's Seller Experience team.  Because any direct email before the trade would defeat the purpose of the initiative, these will be banned by policy.  Listings that continue to display links or email addresses will be removed from the site. 

SELLERS MUST REMOVE ANY DISPLAY OF OR LINKS TO EMAIL ADDRESSES BY SEPTEMBER'S ROLL-OUT OF ANONYMIZED EMAIL. 

Please take care of that this month to avoid trouble later next month.

Member-to-member messages sent via the site's Ask Seller Question (ASQ) and Reply to Question (RTQ) links will be "anonymized" in September.  This change is expected to combat fraud, spoof and spam emails by limiting member email addresses to actual trading partners, according to Dinesh Lathi, VP of eBay's "Seller Experience."  No member email address will be revealed to the other person unless and until they are involved in a bought/sold transaction.  Once members are committed as trading partners, their email addresses will be available to each other.

Typical Buyer requests for additional pictures or supporting data that is usually supplied by attaching files, and experiences with delays (or loss) of messages sent through eBay's mail system have some Sellers voicing concerns about the viability of the project.  I believe that preparations have already been made for scaling up the messaging systems at eBay, and any such problems will be quickly resolved. 

I support the initiative as a positive move to reduce criminal fraud and intrusive, annoying email originating from eBay, provided that eBay's email policy and mechanics stay out of the actual trade between partners once a deal has been struck.