ebooky
Посредник
August 20, 2008 | 07:04AM PST/PT
Lorrie Norrington
Hi everyone. As we head into the busiest shopping season of the year, I want to let you know about some bold changes we're making on to lower your up-front costs and help you to sell more efficiently. Combined with the improvements we're rolling out to deliver a more consistent shopping experience this fall, buyers will see more bargains than ever, and keep coming back to to buy from you.
Listing fixed price items is more affordable than ever
We understand you have a lot of choices when it comes to selling online. That's why we're changing our pricing to reduce your up-front cost to sell and align with your success. Starting September 16, we are lowering the listing fee for all items sold via the fixed price format to only 35 cents, and a special rate of only 5 cents through the end of the year for Buy It Now™ fixed price listings in the Media categories (Books, Video Games, Music and DVDs/Movies) using pre-filled item information. (See our new Fixed Price fee structure here.)
Accordingly, we are shifting the majority of our costs for most categories to the back end (final value fees), which you only pay if you're successful in selling an item. In extremely competitive e-commerce categories such as Consumer Electronics, Cameras and Computers, we're decreasing final value fees. This means we're giving you an even bigger incentive to list these types of items on
In addition to the pricing change, we're extending the listing duration of all Buy It Now™ fixed price listings to 30 days, up from seven with an option for automatic renewal. For sellers whose items that may take longer to sell, this change will be a huge cost reduction and time saver. Taken together, these two big changes – 35 cents for up to 30 days - represent a 70 percent reduction in listing fees on fixed price items.
As for Auction-style listings, we've decided not to make any changes. We believe this format is already a good deal, especially when you list with a low start price. Auctions will always have a place on – they are a proven way for sellers to get the best value for their unique items, and they continue to receive significant exposure in search as they are sorted primarily based on time ending soonest.
So that's the big news: 35 cents for 30 days. We're virtually eliminating the up-front cost to list an item at fixed price on And this is not a promotion - we are serious about making the most competitive marketplace online.
The changes we're making in pricing also mean great things for buyers. As more merchandise comes onto the site, we're applying our search technology in a way that will make their shopping easier, faster and safer. Essentially, buyers will see the most relevant, best priced inventory from our most trusted sellers – all of which allows them to buy with confidence. And when buyers find and buy what they want for a good price, you win.
Free shipping incentives in all categories, plus shipping charge limits in Media
Shipping is an important factor for buyers as they shop online – and expectations are higher than ever. Today, buyers want free or reasonable shipping. So, if you're already offering free shipping on items, we're going to reward you even more.
Beginning on October 1, 2008 and running through the end of the year, all sellers will receive the option to use subtitle for free, worth $.50 per listing, when free shipping is offered. And for eligible PowerSellers, you will receive double your PowerSeller Final Value Fee discount on these items, starting on the same date and running through the end of the year when you offer free shipping - this is up to a 40% discount! As always, items with free shipping will get a boost in Best Match search results.
In addition to shipping incentives, we're introducing limits on shipping and handling charges in one of our biggest and most competitive categories, Media (Books, DVDs & Movies, Music and Video Games).
This means that Media sellers will need to offer at least one shipping option within the specified limit. The dollar limits are fair, especially compared to what e-commerce competitors typically charge for shipping. With this move, we're also ensuring that buyers encounter fewer excessive shipping charges, which is the number one reason they leave the site.
See more detail on reasonable shipping and Free Shipping incentives.
Updated seller standards – minimum DSRs
Finally, we're instituting a new minimum Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) requirement, as a way to further improve the customer experience for everyone on As of November 1, 2008, sellers will need at least a 4.3 across all four DSR categories, over the prior 30 day or 12 month period depending on volume, in order to list on the site.
Today, only a small fraction of sellers fall below this threshold, yet they are responsible for a high percentage of customer complaints, which hurts you and our marketplace overall. We're urging all sellers whose scores fall below the 4.3 threshold to use the next two months to adjust their business models and/or work on improving their DSR scores.
Lorrie Norrington
Hi everyone. As we head into the busiest shopping season of the year, I want to let you know about some bold changes we're making on to lower your up-front costs and help you to sell more efficiently. Combined with the improvements we're rolling out to deliver a more consistent shopping experience this fall, buyers will see more bargains than ever, and keep coming back to to buy from you.
Listing fixed price items is more affordable than ever
We understand you have a lot of choices when it comes to selling online. That's why we're changing our pricing to reduce your up-front cost to sell and align with your success. Starting September 16, we are lowering the listing fee for all items sold via the fixed price format to only 35 cents, and a special rate of only 5 cents through the end of the year for Buy It Now™ fixed price listings in the Media categories (Books, Video Games, Music and DVDs/Movies) using pre-filled item information. (See our new Fixed Price fee structure here.)
Accordingly, we are shifting the majority of our costs for most categories to the back end (final value fees), which you only pay if you're successful in selling an item. In extremely competitive e-commerce categories such as Consumer Electronics, Cameras and Computers, we're decreasing final value fees. This means we're giving you an even bigger incentive to list these types of items on
In addition to the pricing change, we're extending the listing duration of all Buy It Now™ fixed price listings to 30 days, up from seven with an option for automatic renewal. For sellers whose items that may take longer to sell, this change will be a huge cost reduction and time saver. Taken together, these two big changes – 35 cents for up to 30 days - represent a 70 percent reduction in listing fees on fixed price items.
As for Auction-style listings, we've decided not to make any changes. We believe this format is already a good deal, especially when you list with a low start price. Auctions will always have a place on – they are a proven way for sellers to get the best value for their unique items, and they continue to receive significant exposure in search as they are sorted primarily based on time ending soonest.
So that's the big news: 35 cents for 30 days. We're virtually eliminating the up-front cost to list an item at fixed price on And this is not a promotion - we are serious about making the most competitive marketplace online.
The changes we're making in pricing also mean great things for buyers. As more merchandise comes onto the site, we're applying our search technology in a way that will make their shopping easier, faster and safer. Essentially, buyers will see the most relevant, best priced inventory from our most trusted sellers – all of which allows them to buy with confidence. And when buyers find and buy what they want for a good price, you win.
Free shipping incentives in all categories, plus shipping charge limits in Media
Shipping is an important factor for buyers as they shop online – and expectations are higher than ever. Today, buyers want free or reasonable shipping. So, if you're already offering free shipping on items, we're going to reward you even more.
Beginning on October 1, 2008 and running through the end of the year, all sellers will receive the option to use subtitle for free, worth $.50 per listing, when free shipping is offered. And for eligible PowerSellers, you will receive double your PowerSeller Final Value Fee discount on these items, starting on the same date and running through the end of the year when you offer free shipping - this is up to a 40% discount! As always, items with free shipping will get a boost in Best Match search results.
In addition to shipping incentives, we're introducing limits on shipping and handling charges in one of our biggest and most competitive categories, Media (Books, DVDs & Movies, Music and Video Games).
This means that Media sellers will need to offer at least one shipping option within the specified limit. The dollar limits are fair, especially compared to what e-commerce competitors typically charge for shipping. With this move, we're also ensuring that buyers encounter fewer excessive shipping charges, which is the number one reason they leave the site.
See more detail on reasonable shipping and Free Shipping incentives.
Updated seller standards – minimum DSRs
Finally, we're instituting a new minimum Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) requirement, as a way to further improve the customer experience for everyone on As of November 1, 2008, sellers will need at least a 4.3 across all four DSR categories, over the prior 30 day or 12 month period depending on volume, in order to list on the site.
Today, only a small fraction of sellers fall below this threshold, yet they are responsible for a high percentage of customer complaints, which hurts you and our marketplace overall. We're urging all sellers whose scores fall below the 4.3 threshold to use the next two months to adjust their business models and/or work on improving their DSR scores.
