Hi everyone and welcome,

We've just unlocked the workshop and we're ready for your questions.

We have a number of the eBay team here so please feel free to ask us your questions.

Regards
Michelle
The eBay team

Hi,
Thanks for holding the workshop.
Currently a lot of categories are flooded with overseas listings on ebay Australia and especially China listings.
Considering that most sellers based in China either overcharge on postage or have bad feedback and star ratings does the new Best match mean we wont be so flooded with these listings or will the free post some offer put them higher on the searches even know they have bad DSR's.
On ebay Australia will Australian sellers have any better advantage for exposure over the overseas sellers.
I ask this as when I search on UK site the China based sellers seem to have more exposure and products showing than the local UK sellers.
Thanks.

My Concerns about Best Match:

We have been told that the NEW ebay is going to be good for OUR business, I am concerned about all of these new changes.

How does best match work, exactly. I’ve heard rumours that it is on a combination of price, postage, DSR’s and feedback, time ending soonest, longest listing, keywords etc. It seems to me that the algorithms will be so complicated that they just will not work.

So my concern is, that if everybody is getting increased exposure (I sell predominately books BTW), and I am competing with other Great sellers whose DSR’s, feedback, price, postage costs etc are at least as good as what mine are, then how will I be able to get higher than them on Best Match. I’m not willing to decrease my postage costs anymore as they are at the bare minimum that Australia Post charges + a very small charge to cover packing costs, I can’t decrease the sell price of my product as it is already very competitive in the market.

So please tell me in very clear layman terms how precisely I will be better off under this new proposal.
And I would like to know why it can’t be an option for people to select rather than the default, and are we able to turn it off so that we can keep time ending soonest, or have items that are closest to us as our default preference rather than having to change them each and everytime we do a search.

And with best match do listings that offer free or no postage get preference than those that don’t, as I have found that free postage just does not work, and while I am on the topic I believe that the UK site is shortly introducing mandatory free postage as their first postage option (now this may just be books/media rather than across the board), but I would like an indication of whether this will be attempted on the .au site also. As I do not believe that we should be forced to run our business a particular way when the way that is being forced upon us is wrong.

There are a lot of issues that I have raised here and I would like definite answers to them, as I believe would everybody else. Thanks for your time.

Based on what ebay has said so far clarenceriver...

All else being equal...cheaper postage wins out (with free post trumping) But that will depend on everything else being equal (DSR's, price etc)

*shrug*

If you apply a P&H fee then presumably your postage will be treated as higher than if you do not add a P&H fee but you have the same postage charge as someone else of equal standing

Hi,
I sell fragile items and have stiff competition. I quote a flat postage rate of $1.20 regardless of the number of items bought because I guarantee all seed posted in bubble wrap protection. My opposition offers postage for 60c but that changes with the number of items bought up to a maximum well beyond my $1.20.
How will this postage situation be dealt with in best match/

We cant help if it if a book weighs over 500 grams...Are you saying then we pump up prices and put in less postage? This is a better way to get higher up...


Craigo

Interesting idea olelantana

All being equal...you lose out (Unless there is someway to factor your postage option as a postage discount within ebay itself, the site wont be able to differentiate)