posted on June 19, 2001 11:33:46 AM new
I just read the latest AuctionBytes Newflash and am curious who the 20,000 users were that were picked for this survey. Were you amoung them? I find it interesting that 20,000 were surveyed and only 4,000 replied. I have a feeling the other 16,000 burned their survey.
eBay Stands Behind Its "Recommendations Email" Policy
Nearly 80% of members surveyed were in favor of eBay's new "Recommendations Email" feature, according to eBay. Company spokesman
Kevin Pursglove told AuctionBytes that eBay considers many sources when considering new policies and features: forums, focus groups, a program called "Voices," and surveys. According to Pursglove, eBay conducted a
survey of 20,000 users, netting a response of about 4,000; nearly 80% of those responding were in favor of the Recommendations Email policy. The
Recommendations Email policy is an opt-out feature in which "underbidders" are sent email telling them where they can get similar items elsewhere on the site. eBay recently pulled the auction of a
high-volume seller when he complained about eBay's Recommendations Email policy in the auction description, causing a furor on auction message boards. Pursglove stated that comments on its message boards "reflects
one segment of the community. When we do a study, it reflects a much broader perspective."
posted on June 19, 2001 11:49:30 AM new
Actually, that's a 20% response rate, which is very high. Typical response rates are in the 3% range for users chosen at random from a pool.
I did graduate work in statistics and worked in direct mail for a time. I know that there are a number of tricks that can be used both to bump up the numbers and to prove whatever thesis you want to prove.
- choosing who will receive the survey questionnaire. It's possible in some cases to predict how a respondent will answer, and it is possible to cull the names of those inclined to be unfavorable. That alone invalidates the survey's applicability to the larger pool. i.e., you have proven that your hand-picked group will vote the way you want them to, and that is all you have proven.
- asking the questions in such a way as to force the desired answer. In law, this is called "leading the witness" and is generally frowned upon. At least, Jack McCoy gets yelled at when he tries it.
- offering an incentive for completing and returning the survey. Experience has shown that if the respondents receive something of value with the survey - even as little as a quarter taped to the envelope - many of them feel obligated to "earn their pay."
I'd be interested in seeing the survey package and knowing how the participants were chosen. Of course, I'd also be interested in a legal, tax-free million dollars, but that's just about as likely to happen.
posted on June 19, 2001 12:27:16 PM new
Ebay claims to have 29 million registered users. Keeping the Recommendations feature on the basis of a survey that was sent to 20,000 with a response of 4,000 is laughable. Mr. Pursglove should be embarrassed to cite it as a reliable sampling.
posted on June 19, 2001 01:37:41 PM new
hey stamper!
nope, i didn't get it either. interesting that, so far, only one of us has. makes me think silkmoth's got the right idea of how ebay conducted it. i'd like to see the survey, too.
posted on June 19, 2001 02:35:58 PM new
Not too fair a survey since it went to 95% buyers since that is what makes up eBays population. Tons of buyers, few sellers.
Of course buyers want it.
What sucks is that as sellers we are the ones paying the fees and when a person bids on my stuff I dont want eBay using my fees to spam the buyer with a list of other things the buyer could bid on instead!
posted on June 19, 2001 02:44:33 PM new
I got and I answered it.
I'm mostly a seller on ebay but do buy 1 or 2 items a week.
I'm one of the ones that DIDN'T like the Spam-vertisement feature.
The reason I gave for not liking it was that I felt it would make buyers lazy and stop doing searches or browsing through the categories because basically ebay was picking and choosing suitable 'like' items for them. As a seller I'm not too crazy about it. I would have to sit and hope my items made into ebay's 'spam' then.
I received a few of the emails after losing bids on items and the auctions listed in my spam email from ebay were for a wide variety of things - some related to the auction I lost and some not - basically because of keyword spamming(another ebay no no! Go figure!)
I felt if they had to have it, and that's a big IF, it should be opt in ONLY.
So...I guess I was once again in the minority on ebay.
posted on June 19, 2001 03:24:43 PM newOf course buyers want it.
it would make buyers lazy and stop doing searches or browsing through the categories
So...are we saying that a buyer, who will be spending HIS money on an item HE wants, doesn't have a right to search the site in whatever way is convenient for him?
So..are we saying that a feature that helps the buyer find what he wants should not be offered to the buyer even if he wants it?
So..are we saying we don't want the customer to have choices?
So...are we saying we don't care about the customer?
So...are we saying that contrary to what is frequently stated on this board, we really don't care about customer service?
I can see having the opinion that the recommendation emails should be opt-in...there is always the possibility of p*ssing off the buyer with unasked for emails. But I think most of the buyers on ebay are smart enough to realize why they got them and the next time they bid they will opt-out if they do not want to get the emails. So in a short period of time this "issue" of spam would be a non-issue.
I can also understand the critism that the emails are not truely specific enough to be of much use...but allowing the buyer to determine which of the words in the auction title they want searched for WOULD help make the recommendations a handy tool for the buyer to find the item he is looking for.
What I don't understand is not wanting the buyer to have as many tools as possible to find the item/s he wants to buy. I thought that was the whole point of a marketplace...to get people to BUY. It seems to me the easier we make it for the buyer to to spend his money the more money all of us sellers can make.
posted on June 19, 2001 04:02:12 PM new
"What I don't understand is not wanting the buyer to have as many tools as possible to find the item/s he wants to buy".
I think the main issue is that we, as sellers, are not allowed to "spam" (ie. inform underbidders that we are placing a like item back up for auction), but eBay finds it perfectly ok to send out these very flawed "recommendations". I think all most of want is an even playing field.
I have heard from several customers already, who are angry that this is an opt out feature and that the emails don't even stay within the category they bid in.
The BAD news: They are getting turned OFF to eBay!
The GOOD news: They LOVE my AW Storefront! No hassles, no waiting. -- just order, pay, and go!
posted on June 19, 2001 04:20:19 PM new
[QUOTE]What I don't understand is not wanting the buyer to have as many tools as possible to find the item/s he wants to buy. I thought that was the whole point of a marketplace...to get people to BUY. It seems to me the easier we make it for the buyer to to spend his money the more money all of us sellers can make.[/QUOTE]
With the huge increase in competition, WHAT on earth indicates that making it easier for a buyer to spend money 'this' way helps us ALL make money???
[QUOTE]
So...are we saying that a buyer, who will be spending HIS money on an item HE wants, doesn't have a right to search the site in whatever way is convenient for him?
So..are we saying that a feature that helps the buyer find what he wants should not be offered to the buyer even if he wants it?
So..are we saying we don't want the customer to have choices?
So...are we saying we don't care about the customer?
So...are we saying that contrary to what is frequently stated on this board, we really don't care about customer service? [/QUOTE]
These statements are SOOOO broad as to not even be worthy of a reply!
Amy, I have a serious question for you. You don't have to answer of course but I would like to know (seriously) is there ANYTHING .. even some 'tiny' little thing that you DON'T like about ebay?? ANYTHING??
posted on June 19, 2001 04:32:13 PM new
yes, the rub is that ebay made such a fuss about our not contacting buyers with other things we have to sell, yet they're using the underbidders on the listings we pay for to do the same thing, should the buyer not opt-out.
the fact that they're not listening bothers me. that it's opt-out bothers me.
and that fact that before, should it not work out with the high bidder, i had a better chance of contacting and selling it to the underbidder, and now have less of a chance of doing so. that bothers me.
posted on June 19, 2001 06:53:37 PM new
I just read in another post where "Recommenations" is now opt in, rather than opt out. I haven't bid in while, so am not sure. Can any bidders shed any light? And if it is now opt in, when did that take effect?
posted on June 19, 2001 07:07:12 PM new
Hello stamper3. I bid on the Petition AGAINST Recommendation Emails auction on the evening of June17 (Sunday night) and it was still set to OUT OUT.
posted on June 19, 2001 07:19:31 PM new
I received a survey. I'm a power seller and not a buyer.
The survey was worded very neutrally. Have you heard about the new feature --yes/no. What do you think of the new feature-- strongly opppose, oppose, neutral, favor, strongly favor. All of the questions were worded that way.
The only thing I received for filling out the survey was a "thank you for filling out the survey"
[ edited by sunderdown1 on Jun 19, 2001 07:29 PM ]
posted on June 19, 2001 08:00:26 PM new
Thanks Sunderdown. I appreciate your letting us know.
Blanche:
I guess I just need to bid more often! I bid on that auction too, but never saw the Recommend feature. As dumb as it sounds, I didn't even think about it at the time! Duh! Is it there when you bid, or do you have to go to My eBay?
posted on June 19, 2001 09:55:49 PM new
Kittykittykitty, I wish it was on My eBay as well. That's where it belongs or on the preferences page so each individual buyer or seller could decide ONE TIME whether they wanted to receive the Spam or not. I don't allow cookies so I have to keep OPTing OUT every time I bid which I find to be so intrusive that I don't want to bid anymore.
posted on June 19, 2001 10:48:13 PM new
Hey KittyKitty! Thanks!
Hi Blanche. That's exactly what I am hearing from my customers and I think it is going to bite eBay in the proverbial butt. While sales may be great is some areas, they are generally down for many sellers. Economy? Supply & Demand? Maybe, but I find it interesting, that while my auctions are down, my Storefront business is starting to build. I think that the majority of buyers want simplicity and are tired of jumping through the ever changing eBay hoops. At least that is the message that I am getting.
A good example was the change in Buy It Now. I was having wonderful results with it and had several customers who were using it on a regular basis. Now, due to the nature of my items, I get a lot of low feedback buyers. Then along come the powers that be and say you have to a feedback of 10. My BINs plummeted immediately. The irony is that BIN buyers rarely turned into NPBs, although I do get a bunch of those with the ended auctions, and eBay's rationale was that newbies might not pay. Go figure!
posted on June 20, 2001 12:40:21 AM new
Tuition44years...would you agree that sellers who are rude, overcharge for shipping, doesn't spell out the TOS clearly in the auction, doesn't describe the merchandise accurately, provides abysmal customer service, shills, never sends the merchandise the customer paid for, etc creates a negative experience for the buyer?
Would you agree that sellers who are honest, pleasant, friendly, describe their merchandise accurately, provide exceptional customer service, sends the merchandise promptly, create a positive experience for the buyer?
Would you agree that negative experiences can cause a person to decide to never shop at ebay again? And would you agree that positive experiences encourages the buyers to keep coming back again and again?
And would you agree that the more people who shop frequently on ebay the more merchandise we can all sell...and that if buyers stop coming we will all suffer with lower sales?
Allowing the buyers as many tools as possible to find the item they want to buy, the better their chances are of having a positive experience...and positive experiences mean the buyer will come back again and again. That is how, even with more competition among sellers, we would all benefit.
Make the ebay experience positive for the buyer and he buys more, and also tells his friends who in turn come on ebay and buy. The more the current buyers buy and the increase of buyers that can result from a happy ebayer spreading the word, the more likely it is that the "buyers market" ebay currently is can turn to a "sellers market" again.
Lynne, you ask if there is anything I don't like about ebay. It really isn't relevant to the discussion but I think I will answer you anyway.
When ebay did away with the free relist and instituted the current system I didn't like it... I argued quite a bit about it with Skippy on the Q&A board one day. I was pretty vocal on these boards about what I thought about the reserve fee, especially the requirement that the opening bid had to be a specific percentage of the reserve. I have been vocal about some of the stupid VERO auction endings of merchandise that the seller has a right, under the first sale doctrine, to sell.
I thought it was bad policy to tell sellers they could not make deals with their bidders on a reserve-not-met auction...or couldn't sell a "no bid" item to a person who contacted them after the auction ended and made an offer. I thought the limitations on getting user contact information was a bad idea.
In the case of the recommendation emails, I think it would be better to have it opt-in. I also think it would be better if the buyer can direct which word or words in the auction title to use in the search. I think the idea itself is a good one, the implementation of it needs a little work though.
Does that answer your question? Maybe the reason you thought there was nothing about ebay that I disagree with is because I try to see all sides of the issue and don't automatically react negatively.
I will say this though, in all I think ebay is a great forum to sell my items...I don't find it restrictive, I don't feel pushed to the wall, I don't think the people at ebay are brainless wonders nor do I think they don't care about the users (both buyers and sellers), I don't think they are trying to push the small sellers out the door.
posted on June 20, 2001 01:19:56 AM new
got one a few months ago, filled it out, couldn't tell you now how I answered but if it was worded toward spam I know I said no.
posted on June 20, 2001 01:37:47 PM new
blanche and stamper,
yes, it really should be on the preferences page, perhaps with a small blurb with one of those yellow 'new!' gifs next to it on the first my ebay page.
amy,
yes, yes, yes, i agree with all of those things, but i don't get the correlation. buyers getting a post-auction list of other similar (let's say they really are similar) items up for sale, and bidding on or buying them doesn't ensure they're going to have a positive experience. the sellers could be better, worse, or the same as on the original item.
posted on June 20, 2001 03:20:00 PM new
Kittyx3...nothing can guarantee a buyer will have a positive experience on ebay.
Finding items on ebay can be a daunting experience...especially for a newer buyer. Anything that makes it easier for the buyer to find what he is looking for helps to lead to a positive experience.
There are many things that go into a positive experience for the buyer...this would just be one of many. Of course the buyer could end up buying from a seller on that list who turned out to be a seller from h*ll, but then again, if he had bought from the first seller (the one he was the underbidder) there is no guarantee THAT seller wasn't a charter member of the Creepy Sellers Club.
Just because other things can go wrong after the buyer locates an item to bid on does not negate the fact that making it easier for the buyer to find the item in the first place helps to build a positive experience for the buyer.
There is only so much ebay can do to make ebay a positive experience for the buyer...making it easy for a potential buyer to find items of interest is one of the limited things ebay can do to draw and keep buyers on site so we sellers have customers to sell to.
By providing accurate descriptions, by being fair and up front with our shipping costs, by maintaining good communications with the customer, by shipping promptly, we supply the other elements needed to ensure the buyer has a totally positive experience.
