If current trends continue across multiple venues there will be Bad Days Ahead for online auctions sellers. Many sellers have complained for years over eBay's VERO program and false claims against licensed merchants, now the stakes have increased and sellers are feeling the pinch across multiple sites.
Overstock Auctions began enforcing wide spread infringement rules this week by completely removing all records of suspect auctions. Impacted sellers have posted to the Overstock message boards requesting help or information on the sites policies.
According to one user in a thread titled "I Need Help Right Away! Where's Live Chat?" the site is not only requesting copies of vendor transaction records, and proof of authenticity, but item numbers and actual URL's of the removed listings along with a sworn statement.
Patrick Byrne's Open Letter addressed the issue of counterfeit merchandise as "Fugazi Handbags" (Possibly named after the song "Epic Problem" by the band Fugazi) stating there would be zero Tolerance on the matter. According to Patrick an Overstock staff member who has sold thrift store merchandise on eBay for 3 years was helping review the listings.
Also this month eBay has announced a tougher stance on high fraud areas of the site with increased scrutiny of sellers with periodic reviews according to an unknown set of standards. Ebay also announced that the Pre-Approved bidder feature will be going away after the Holiday Selling Season.
Many sellers within high fraud categories such as Coins use the Pre-Approved bidder feature to prevent fraudulent dealers from purchasing properly graded materials at market value, and then reselling them at highly inflated grades and prices.
Another preventative measure being implemented by eBay is the Safeguarding Members ID's initiative that rolls out site wide soon.
While measures such as this will reduce the fraud rate for a while, it will also impact the small seller who occasionally lists a used designer item at auction. How many small business owners will be forced to shut down while going in endless circles to comply with unknown standards?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment