Value Added Resource Week In Review 8-18-24
Welcome to the Value Added Resource ecommerce news week in review!
eBay News
Head of Seller Business Development, Stephen Weller, stopped by the eBay for Business podcast today to share tips for how sellers can jumpstart sales during the dreaded summer slump.
Weller's suggestions ranged from listing best practices and shipping strategies to pricing and sourcing, but it was his comments about Promoted Listings that got the most attention from sellers in the eBay community.
Liz Morton
In April, I raised questions about eBay's 2024 proxy statement claims of splitting compliance & ethics roles, calling out the lack of a named Chief Ethics Officer.
Now it appears previous VP Litigation, IP Assets, Site Trust, Aaron Johnson has updated his LinkedIn profile to retroactively show promotion to that role in September 2023 - an interesting choice given he was the main recipient of the infamous "Whatever. It. Takes" email from ex-Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer revealed in court documents in the ongoing 2019 cyberstalking case.
Liz Morton
Speaking of site trust, an eBay community member shared details of a recent customer service experience that raises questions about trust, transparency and the possible existence of a secret Trusted Buyer program that may override seller immediate payment requirement settings and provide other "perks" to select buyers.
Liz Morton
Several community members were skeptical about the existence of a Trusted Buyer program, but a leaked eBay survey posted on Reddit bolsters the idea while also revealing eBay is considering offering free returns for any reason on all Auto Parts purchases, with sellers picking up the tab either directly or through a Final Value Fee increase.
Liz Morton
eBay continues tapping into China's vast auto parts manufacturing base for cross border growth, launching the eBay Greater China Auto Parts Industry Summit and establishing the Yuanshi Motors Club to provide business development support for auto parts sellers in the region - including market analysis, product selection guidance, and compliance assistance.
It's not clear if the proposed free returns for any reason policy under consideration would also apply to these sellers, or if an exemption might be granted for Yuanshi Motors Club members.
Liz Morton
eBay has updated their policies to allow buyers to cancel orders any time before they are marked as shipped, but also says they will provide additional feedback protections for sellers if they choose to decline those requests.
Liz Morton
eBay Explore is back in the US, with a direct link shown prominently in the latest updated app experience. The feature now includes options to set preferred sizes but the Visually Similar search could still use some work.
Liz Morton
eBay appears to be tinkering with the view item page design again, with users reporting Available Quantity and Sold numbers are no longer visible to buyers.
Liz Morton
Sellers can now purchase UPS Ground Saver (previously known as SurePost) labels directly through eBay, offering economy ground service with transit times between 2 and 7 business days.
Liz Morton
Now 3+ weeks past originally timeframe, eBay apparently thinks they can get away with unpinning & burying Ask Me About eBay Ad discussion without providing any additional answers - while also paying for LinkedIn ads to promote this feature they won't even answer basic seller questions about.
Liz Morton
Etsy News
Etsy has updated their Terms of Use, Seller and Shipping policies impacting FedEx Smartpost claims, gift cards, arbitration and more, effective September 15, 2024.
Liz Morton
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