Simplx Blog

Things change in every industry, and the online world is certainly no exception. Our successful clients aren’t simply folks who came up with a good idea and ran with it; they are entrepreneurs in the truest sense, who have learned to cope with (and thrive through) change.

eBay has instituted several changes recently, and this post today is going to focus on two of the biggest ones that will impact your eBay business.

External Links
Although they were regulated previously, links to other sites from eBay are now restricted even more strictly. It used to be legal to put links to your online store in your eBay MyWorld page or your About Me page, but that is no longer the case. Furthermore, links that take customers to informative pages about a particular product can not advertise, or link to, a site that offers any products or services for sale off eBay. That, unfortunately, includes your online store.

This change takes effect as of July 1st 2008, and violation of it can have serious consequences including cancellation of listings without refund, dings against your seller status, or even account suspension.

Buyer Feedback
Previously, buyers and sellers both left feedback for each other at the end of a transaction. As of May 19th 2008, eBay’s feedback program has changed regarding this. Sellers no longer control what feedback they leave buyers; all transactions are considered “positive” for buyers. Naturally, this may be a concern for you, because it seems like there is now nothing you can do to protect yourself from unethical or unreasonable buyers. In fact, there are several other changes that have been made which should help to balance the matter.

The biggest tool you have is the Report a Problem page. This is a Seller’s utility that you can use to report malicious buyers. Using this tool, you can report:

Unpaid Item
You didn’t receive payment for the item you sold.

Feedback Extortion
The buyer is threatening to leave negative or neutral Feedback for you unless you provide goods or services not included in your original listing.

Feedback Abuse
The buyer included your name or phone number in a Feedback comment or is bidding on your item solely to leave you negative Feedback.

Unwelcome and Malicious Buying
The buyer does not meet the terms you’ve outlined in your listing and is not permitted to bid on or buy the item.

Customs Fraud
The buyer is requesting you to provide false information on a customs declaration form.

Report Another Problem
Get help with other eBay transaction problems or safety concerns.

In addition to providing this tool, eBay has also taken a new policy on negative feedback: if a user leaves you negative feedback and they are later disciplined for abusing the feedback system, their negative feedback will be removed from your record. This makes it especially important to use this system to report violators; it’s the way they are caught and disciplined.

You will find the Report a Problem page at this link: eBay Problem Report for Sellers. We advise that you bookmark this page in case you need to use it in the future.

Conclusion
Things change. eBay changes. But you have advantages that other eBay users don’t have; you have someone in your corner, watching out for the changes that might affect your business and reminding you to stay on your toes as they come up. Keep your head up, follow the rules, and remember that new regulations also mean new channels of opportunity.

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