It must have been one heck of a siesta in Spain this summer.

The Spanish site have just announced that from 24 September, their PowerSellers will be eligible for 20% FVF discounts if they maintain minimum DSRs of 4.5 across all scores.

Last month, I blogged about the reported disparity in national average DSRs between sites, and posted a special report about the exceptionally low national average in Spain.

The new Spanish announcement about PowerSeller discounts contains one interesting and very worrying phrase -

Being registered user Spanish and confirmed in eBay.es well as take home in Spain (via Google online translation)

This appears to be saying that PowerSellers on the Spanish site not only need to be registered on it (fair enough), but also need to live in Spain and be Spanish citizens - if true, then that’s completely out of order for a subsidiary of a global multinational company - or is it?

Could this be a taster of a new-style policy for other eBay sites?

What’s your opinion?

Ed

In an announcement made “in the interests of transparency”, the eBay Spain team have posted an announcement of their national DSR averages for sellers during the month of June 2008, and for the 12 months to the end of June.

The numbers are quite revealing, and I’ve repeated them below with the national averages currently displayed for eBay UK and eBay US as shown by the Seller Dashboard (note - UK & US averages are as of today 11 July, not for June as a whole).

The average is calculated as a simple average of all ratings that buyers give sellers.

The calculation for the past 12 months, with the following results for eBay Spain:

Item as described:	4.43	(UK - 4.73 )	(US - 4.73 )
Communication:	4.43	(UK - 4.69 )	(US - 4.68 )
Despatch time:	4.32	(UK - 4.63 )	(US - 4.62 )
Shipping and handling:	4.25	(UK - 4.58 )	(US - 4.59 )

In the past 30 days, with the following results for eBay Spain *:

Item as described:	4.51	(UK - 4.74 )	(US - 4.76 )
Communication:	4.51	(UK - 4.70 )	(US - 4.70 )
Despatch Time:	4.40	(UK - 4.64 )	(US - 4.64 )
Shipping and handling:	4.31	(UK - 4.59 )	(US - 4.63 )

* These results are of June / 2008

Looking at those results, it is hardly surprising that eBay Spain recently made an announcement in which they let slip that they only had 10,000 or so sellers (it’s recorded in our forums somewhere) - if that’s their national average for DSRs then no sellers there will be getting the seller performance discounts.

It also points to an opportunity and a threat. UK & US sellers who list onto eBay Spain should be automatically elevated above Spanish sellers by virtue of DSR ratings, leading to above average sell through rates for those “foreign” sellers on the Spanish site. However, conversely it also raises the threat that the apparently intolerant Spanish buyers are going to heavily ding the sellers DSRs regardless of service quality.

Either way, I feel that it demonstrates a need for a concerted and sustained education program in Spain for both buyers and sellers - those national averages clearly demonstrate the Spaniards are just not getting “It”. Perhaps it needs an eBay Inquisition to teach them the error of their ways? Or is that what’s already caused those numbers?

Perhaps this is an opportunity to revive a dormant seller account, build up a DSR rating in the UK or US, then try to finesse those higher DSRs as higher visibility on the Spanish site? Perhaps, perhaps not.

What do you think?

Ed

Starting at the end of June, all listings on eBay Spain must state a shipping method and cost, or the listing will not be accepted.

An announcement released today, does permit collection as a shipping type and gives the example of a sofa as being an item suitable for such a method.

The announcement claims that there are currently 50,000 items on the site with no shipping method or costs stated, and that buyers are complaining of being charged up to two or three times what was quoted pre-bid. The announcement states that such actions are driving buyers away from the site.

Personally, I’m all for policies such as this (maybe the first sensible one from any eBay this year?).

From the very first item I listed on eBay, I have always stated shipping costs for all zones, and after the first few months of finding my feet, I have always tried to specify a minimum of two, shipping methods and costs, to each geographic zone. My only gripe is that the eBay shipping system does not offer sellers enough flexibility to specify more zones and more delivery options.

Maybe that’s why I love the system that ecommerce site software osCommerce offers - I could run a local post office from their shipping modules.

Ed

Effective 4th March, eBay Spain has followed France and the US in combining the cost of Gallery into the basic insertion fee.

Their announcement states there is a cost saving in the first two pricing tranches, after which the combination fee remains at the total it was before this change. 

It would appear there is going to be more and more eBay sites rolling in this direction over time.  Partly it makes sense from an accounting and IT infrastructure viewpoint (lower system overhead if you halve the invoice lines), but no doubt many will see it as a fee increase by stealth. 

It’s possible this weekend’s 2-day Free Listing promotion on UK is a waters test to see if sellers will heavily subscribe to listings without Gallery.  If they don’t, you may see a similar fee merge appearing on UK in the near future.

Ed

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