UK Pink blurts out the truth about overseas shops
By Ed | September 25th, 2008 | Category: eBay UK | 4 comments
Nope – no official announcement. No answers to directly asked questions in eBay forums, in emails, or in telephone calls to UK PowerSeller and regular support.
For 37 days, everyone at eBay UK, and anyone who might have known at eBay.com and eBay Inc. have dodged, evaded, ignored, and generally blanked any and all questions relating to whether or not overseas shop subscriptions would qualify for the new-BIN fees on eBay UK, in the same way as they did for the old style SIF fees. From the original announcements on August 20th first appearing on the UK site, until late afternoon today, no eBay employee would speak about the topic.
Finally, just after 4pm BST today, eBay UK Community Manager James blurted it out in a PowerSeller forum post (screenshot below – click it to see full size in new screen, and click here to see the thread if you are a PowerSeller).
To say that it is despicable for word to be leaked out in this manner, and this late, is a serious understatement. Since shops were first introduced on sites around the world, sellers in one country have been able to list on another in a format meaningful to the shop subscription they held in the first country.
For UK-registered sellers using eBay’s own policies to have their shop registration on a different country (gaining two sets of default visibility) this will not be viewed as closing a loophole, but as a deliberate deception. Many sellers will have built their 2008 Christmas season strategies based on being eligible for the new fees with their existing shop subscription. Many will also have committed large inventories to 90-day UK SIF over the last weeks, making it financially imperative that they don’t migrate their shop subscription before the new year.
For all eBay staff to have deliberately obfuscated, stalled, and, in the case of one UK PS Support rep, to have outright lied via telephone support, brings me close to accusing eBay UK (collectively with their employees) of corporate malfeasance. It is only legal prudence that I do not commit to doing so in writing.
The answer to this international listing and fees question could have been stated clearly, and upfront, on August 20th, in the original announcements. That it was not, and that it was then avoided for 37 days despite continuous asking, shows that the UK knew they could attract listing fees they would not otherwise receive. That’s a case for the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, and Trading Standards bureaux.
Just when I thought the eBay UK team were returning to the founding principles of the company, they pull a stunt like this.
My guess is they have just lost the goodwill and custom of an exceedingly large number of sellers worldwide, and the only temptation they could offer to regain them will not be Cheap Listing Days, but Free Listing Days with reduced FVFs.
I know this manoeuvre finalises my decision to never list another item on eBay UK if I have to pay so much as one farthing for doing so. And that has just lost them around 3,000 insertions per month in all formats, and yet another PowerSeller account. Tomorrow, I will migrate my seller account to a different site, and the Richmond Mafia will gain no further revenue from my listings on eBay’s other sites worldwide.
Ed.
18 minutes after James’ PowerSeller forum post referenced above, Anshu the Pink has posted a similar comment in the Q&A board here –
http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1200249775&start=165
Looks like now the cat is out of the bag, they have decided to come clean about it – WHY DIDN’T THEY DO THAT 37 DAYS AGO?
Just found this UK Q&A post from 08:36 25th September 2008 (by James) -
http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1100197180&tstart=0
In it he poses the questions below which are a direct copy from my blog post of 8th September (18 days ago). He also gives no credit to the original author (me) or publication (BuildaSkill) which is always done here when quoting from eBay. At least BuildaSkill are not guilty of plagiarism.
Q: Will Shop subscribers on non-UK eBay sites (ie not eBay.co.uk or eBay.ie) be able to list new-BIN format listings on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie at the new fee rates based on their Shop subscription level?
If so,, will they have to meet the UK’s business registration and minimum DSR requirements per Shop level in order to list at the new fee rates?
If not, will there be reciprocal ‘cannot list Shop format’ arrangements between eBay.co.uk and the other eBay sites, such that eBay.co.uk Shop subscribers will only be able to list Shop-associated listings on eBay.co.uk?
A: Shop subscribers on non UK (or IE) sites will be able to list items in the BIN format on eBay.co.uk. Their insertion fees will be the same as for non Shop owners i.e. 40p (20p in Media).
If they want to list items in the BIN format on eBay.co.uk with insertions fees of 20p, 5p or 1p (depending on Shop level), they will have to open a Shop on eBay.co.uk. To do this, they will have to meet the criteria to open a Shop (for instance: business registration and DSR minimum for Featured and Anchor Shops)
Q: Will shop subscribers on non-UK eBay sites (i.e. not UK or Ireland) be able to list new-BIN format listings on the UK & IE sites, at the new fee rates based on their shop subscription level?
If yes, will they have to meet the UK’s business registration and minimum DSR requirements per shop level in order to list at the new fee rates?
If no, will there be reciprocal “cannot list shop format” arrangements between eBay UK and the other eBay sites, such that eBay UK shop subscribers will only be able to list shop-associated listings on the UK site?
A: Shop subscribers on non UK (or IE) sites will be able to list items in the BIN format in the UK. Their insertion fees will be the same as for non shop owners ie 40p (20p in Media).
If they want to list items in the BIN format in the UK with insertions fees of 20p, 5p or 1p (depending on shop level), they will have to open a shop on the UK site. In order to do so, they will have to meet the UK criteria to open a shop (for instance: business registration and DSR minimum for Featured and Anchor Shops)
Q: THEREFORE why did he not answer the email forwarding him a copy of that blog post 18 days ago?
A: More fee-greed and deception?
My God Ed – that’s terrible.
What James has done is Intellectual Property theft – his post should be reported under VeRO
Plagiarism is the action of copying and using the words of another, without giving credit, for originating them, to the original author.
As you say, You’ve always credited or referenced the original source when you quote eBay (or anyone else) in the blog and forums – that’s responsible journalism.
James should be hung out to dry on the walls of eBay Towers for what he has done with that quote.
If anyone’s interested, Ed forgot to cross link his original post in the last reply
- it is here -
This blog post 2 days after the other one is also relevant, though it does not appear to have been plagiarised as much as the first one.
Gaz
I’ve just discovered the following announcement on the Polish eBay site, dated 8th September -
.
Changes in Store format and structure of fees in foreign eBay
08 September 2008 | 04:10 EDT
In September, eBay introduces significant changes to the fee structure and eBay Stores in 5 European sites and in the structure of fees on eBay.com.
1. Changes in format Stores online eBay.at, eBay.ie, eBay.de, eBay.ch and eBay.co.uk
In order to meet the needs of retailers, on 24 September 2008 eBay introduces online eBay.at (Austria), eBay.ie (Ireland), eBay.de (Germany), eBay.ch (Switzerland) and eBay.co.uk (United Kingdom ) Significant changes in the format Stores and charges:
* Items from eBay Stores will be visible in the standard search results, together with items in auction format.
* Depending on the type of Shop fee for listing an item will be very low – even 0.01 euros.
* The fees for auctions of many items will be the same as fees for auctions of individual items.
* Stores subscription will be available to users registered as a company. Shops carried out in these sites by people who are registered as private individuals will be closed.
2. Changes in the structure of fees on eBay.com
From 16 September 2008 on eBay.com will be significantly reduced fees for listing the auction format Buy It Now.
More details can be found here.
Sincerely,
Team eBay.pl
http://72.14.235.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http://www2.ebay.com/aw/pl/200809081602182.html&usg=ALkJrhj7LPr7kAAT5lyIulB2YbG4E3Ul0Q
Translation by Google online translation