eBay’s New Unannounced Seller Requirement – MindReading Policy Has Been Implemented
.
eBay listened to buyers’ most reasonable demand that shipping and handling on eBay be free so that eBay members can now find the lowest price on eBay along with free shipping. This transformation occurred because of eBay’s new rating system which punishes all sellers who do not offer free shipping. eBay buyers around the world applauded eBay’s very determined efforts to stop the outrageous practice of shipping and handling being charged to online buyers.
However, eBay buyers have found something else to complain about now. According to eBay, the number one reason that buyers are now leaving the eBay site is that sellers are not communicating quickly enough. According to the survey commissionned by eBay, buyers feel ignored because they are not receiving responses to their inquiries quickly enough from eBay sellers. Once again, eBay is stepping up to the plate in response to eBay buyers’ reasonable demands.
eBay buyers sending an email to a seller TODAY are being informed that they should have received a response from the seller YESTERDAY ( -1 business days ) for that inquiry. Sellers are expected to answer questions today, before they are actually asked tomorrow, in order to receive a “5″ rating in the Detailed Seller Rating criteria of “Communication”. Buyers have publicly stated on many forums that any seller who responds only same-day to an inquiry can expect to receive a ”4″ star rating, at best.
The eBay notice says:
Your question has been sent to *ebay member name here*
You should get a response within -1 business days.
A copy of your question is in your My Messages “Sent” folder.
The screen capture above is a TRUE picture of an actual screen shot taken from eBay today. The only alteration is that both eBay members names blocked out for privacy purposes.
One good piece of news…. eBay sellers may already possess the mindreading skills needed to be in compliance with the new requirement since most eBay sellers have, in the last few months, been making some VERY accurate (5-star) predictions about the direction eBay has been going.
.
eBay may be analyzing seller response time now and including the average as a figure to display on that HTML page. I’d be meh about such a feature, but it doesn’t hurt. The only issue is that many sellers don’t necessarily use eBay’s system to reply. I only use it if the customer has a bad e-mail or they repeat their question which suggests they never got the first response.
Sun
September 19, 2008
I too have listened to the buyers and eBay as well. I have prepared in advance my answer to all the emails I will receive from buyers: “No, the terms of the sale are already stated in the auction.”
Robert
September 19, 2008
Sun, very shortly you will no longer have the option to choose not to use eBay’s system to communicate with eBay’s buyers.
I hear eBay is working hard to achieve perfect anonymity of their buyers mailing addresses so they will be more secure and comfortable with sellers not having that information when they ship.
Henrietta
September 19, 2008
Hi, What you see there is a forerunner to the soon to be implemented buyer-seller anonymity email system ebay is working on I have been told that sellers will be asked or required (how i don’t know?) to respond to buyers questions within 24 hours or 1 day at most. Not doing so may result in further search result punishment. I got this from a powerseller
ed
September 19, 2008
haha
Ebay themselves take 36 hours to reply..
BMX
September 20, 2008
What if your eBay store vacation settings are turned on?
Will this message from eBay reflect that?
Considering you can state when and how long you will be away.
Will this technology on the eBay site be connected somehow?
OR – will this be another eBay ‘ glitch ‘ or area of doing business on ebay with ebay provided and paid for tools that just don’t co-exist together, leaving the seller to spend more and more time explaining to customers that it is an ebay issue….?
Again, eBay, what the hell are you doing?
formercanadianplatniumpowerseller
September 21, 2008
What a joke.
Businesses are allowed to take a day or two off. If you emailed BUY about an item, do you expect a same day response if you sent that in on a Saturday or Sunday – I don’t think so.
Another “rumored” policy that eBay can kiss my —– on.
JJH
September 21, 2008
Another question:
What about international sellers?
I don’t know how many I used to have that would be emailing me while ( I was asleep ) and complaining that I wasn’t replying.
I got to the point where my listings had a map of the world and my location marked with a big red arrow.
Seriously, I STILL had buyers not knowing where I was!
Again, ebay, what the hell are you doing beside contributing to the world wide economic problems?
formercanadianplatniumpowerseller
September 21, 2008
[...] week, while at Inc.500, I was reading a blog post by Brewsnews. There were sessions going on and the exhibit hall was pretty empty. When I read this post, I burst [...]
Vendable » Blog Archive » Tidbits from the eBayVerse
September 22, 2008
Your headline was perfect. I laughed out loud at the surrealness of the whole thing and included it in my top blog posts this week:
http://vendable.vendio.com/2008/09/22/tidbits-from-the-ebayverse/
Crystal Wells
September 22, 2008
[...] eBay’s New Unannounced Seller Requirement – MindReading Policy Has Been Implemented [...]
eBay Buyer & Seller - Communicating via Mind Meld « Trading Assistant Journal
September 24, 2008
What about weekends?
24 – 48 hours would be more realistic, but still tough if you’re traveling or on vacation.
Sometimes emails don’t deserve an answer … Buyers need to learn to read!
Consignment Pal Resale Directory
September 24, 2008