Useful To E Bay Sellers example essay topic

e Bay's Global Community As I read through some of the discussion threads of e Bay sellers, I realized how technology has allowed us to form international community of consumers with established rules and regulations. Doing business through e Bay still seems a little risky but the fact that the majority of people still live ethically has allowed e-bay to succeed. Like in every society there are people that still try to circumvent the system and will try to get away with unethical activities. Through the discussion forum, e Bay sellers have established an environment in which anyone can communicate the problems they have encountered and ask for advice for handling those situations. Sellers also have the option to offer suggestions on how to make the selling process better. Some of the issues that I found interesting in nature were how e-bay sellers handle non-paying bidders, feedback concerns, and international selling.

The hot topic that I found in many discussion threads was the issue with non-paying bidders. This problem makes it difficult for sellers to continue selling with confidence and it also makes it hard for new sellers to start selling. Non-paying bidders also prevent honest bidders from actually purchasing the item. This also forces the seller to place the item on auction again, incur a re-listing fee, and they may not also get the high bid that they had the first time. It also causes retaliatory negative feedback from the non-buyer to the seller. The sellers have addressed this issue by providing suggestions and answering each other questions.

Some of the ways the seller community is handling the issue of non-paying bidders is by filing non-paying bidder alerts and FVFC (Final Value Free Credits). Consensus from the seller community is that filing negative feedback is not sufficient because e Bay does not suspend a non-paying bidder until their feedback number reaches about a negative three. However, if the seller files the FVFC, E-bay will suspend the bidder if three sellers have filed on the same bidder. e Bay also addressed this situation by conducting a workshop titled "Reducing Unpaid Items". The workshop was conducted by the e Bay staff and was opened to the entire seller community. I think that this type of format is very useful to e Bay sellers, because it gives them the chance to voice their concerns directly to e Bay and get immediate feedback as to what is being done to address those concerns.

Some things that were discussed were some causes of unpaid items and some practices that sellers can adopt to reduce unpaid items. Some causes of unpaid items are international buyers, dead e-mail accounts, and sellers that don't file in fear of negative feedback. Some of the practices that they suggested to sellers were to offer PayPal, utilize e Bay checkout, include shipping costs in the shipping details, and use Immediate Payment on BIN (Buy it Now) listings. The e Bay staff also provided links with suggestions and updates on what they were currently working on. The response of the seller community was positive and was even taken back to the discussion forum. Some suggestions to reduce non-paying bidders from sellers are to require buyers to enter their credit card information prior to making a bid.

The reason is to verify the customers' identity and to protect the seller as well in case of non-payment. This was suggested to e Bay in one of their workshops and their only objection to this suggestion to this was that it would eliminate too many buyers that actually follow through with their bids. One practice that sellers have adopted is continuing to bump the threads regarding this topic so it remains current and new sellers have the chance to read it. I think this is a very good idea because it is one of the most important issues that concerns sellers, experienced or new. Along with non-paying bidders, the fear of negative feedback is a problem that sellers also encounter. The majority of the time this stems from the non-paying bidders.

Some of the concerns by sellers are that buyers are posting negative feedback for reasons that are no fault of the seller. Some of these reasons include negative feedback when an item is damaged upon delivery, even though the seller insured it. If the buyer does not check the item before signing for it, the insurance company will not take responsibility because they don't know if it was damaged after delivery. Ultimately if the item is damaged the seller ends up receiving negative feedback. Some responses to this was to pack the item better and to notify the buyer that they inspect the items in front of the delivery person in order to claim any damage that may have occurred. Another example in which a seller received negative feedback was that they posted a "7 day No Questions asked Money-Back Guarantee" on their item and it was returned used after the 7 day period.

When the seller refused to provide the refund, negative feedback was filed. Some suggestions made by the e Bay community were that the seller should not place such a tight return policy in the first place. They can also leave negative feedback for the buyer due to the fact that they did not adhere to the policy and returned a used item. I think that the other sellers were able to offer good suggestions to these issues due to the fact they are experienced sellers. One last issue that I found interesting in navigating through the forum was new international sellers looking for advice.

Some of their concerns were what types of payments to accept, if selling overseas worth the extra effort, and which delivery method is best. The experienced seller community was able to address all these concerns. Many of them suggested PayPal as accepted payment method; others also accepted Bid Pay / Western Union, International Postal Money Orders, due to the fact that it's not as easy to do a charge back with those types of payments as it is with PayPal. The primary suggestion for delivery method was USPS and advised that they fill out the necessary paperwork to track and to offer the optional insurance, whether the buyer chooses it or not. The reason is to ultimately prevent charge backs. As for the extra effort, the majority of seasoned international sellers said they loved selling internationally and that for the most part they have been successful.

I think that if a seller is going to go international and takes the proper precautions they can have a good international selling experience. I think that e Bay has established an environment in which sellers can help each other out to become better sellers and to achieve a positive selling experience. I found a real sense of community in an environment that is completely web-based and in which there is no face to face communication. I also like appreciate that e Bay conducts workshops and that they are constantly in touch with the seller community to try and better the system..