April 14, 2009 New changes to eBay Policies

My first impressions are that other than "free Selling Manager" for everyone (which is actually already free if you have an eBay Store), and the more liberal "choice options" in listings (for sellers with similar items in different sizes, colors, etc.)I am not seeing anything that is advantageous to the majority of sellers - particularly those of us in the vintage/collectible/antique genres.

The new "Multi-Variation Fixed Price Listings" are indeed a great benefit to some sellers (primarily with new items - like a T-shirt seller). A T-shirt seller for example can now list 500 new T-shirts giving buyers options of size, color, etc. all in 1 single listing. Quite a time & $$$ savings. But if a seller is selling 100 vintage tobacco or trading cards, all different #'s but from the same series, we still have to put up 100 individual listings.

So once again, it would appear that antique/vintage/collectible sellers have been passed over regarding any beneficial changes. In fact from my quick preview, my guess is that the new policies - specifically the returns & dispute process - may very likely encourage even more of the casual and OOAK(one of a kind) small sellers to leave or at least decrease their inventories & selection on eBay.

I am all for anything that makes trading safer for buyers & sellers, but the new dispute resolution policies, appear to be yet again much more slanted in favor of buyers. While most buyers are wonderful & trade fairly, there are certainly scammers out there. In all my years buying and selling on eBay I have not had one occasion where I felt a seller intentionally mislead me in an item description or intentionally send damaged goods. However, in the last year, I have had multiple cases where buyers have tried to scam me - from claiming non-receipt, to switching an item with a different (and damaged) item in a return.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure & consideration, here are a few links to information about all the new eBay upcoming policy & procedure changes:
http://pages.ebay.com/sell/April2009Update/Overview/
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y09/m04/i14/s03
And the special eBay discussion forum re: changes at
http://forums.ebay.com/forum.jspa?rw=true&forumID=5100000002&anticache=1239735553176
Whether you agree or disagree with my early assessments, your comments are always welcome.