The following is from a newsletter I receive from Auctiva Blogs. Go to Auctiva site to read entire post.

Keeping eBay in Mind
‘Come to think of it,’ eBay’s new multimedia ad blitz is stirring excitement.
by Brad and Debra Schepp
- Nov 24, 2009

eBay’s new advertising campaign is generating excitement as we enter this holiday shopping season. Brand new, the campaign began in October and includes a series of television commercials, print ads and online spots. We’ll look at a fourth buzz-worthy element of the campaign a little later.

The TV and online ads feature comedians explaining how they found amazing bargains and deals by shopping on eBay. The ads themselves have a casual and personal tone that lets the audience “in” on the deal being described. Read the full story here.

Here are 3 things I think eBay might be getting right on their new rollout of changes:
(The following are excerpts from eBay’s site/messages to sellers)
1. Update your listings in a snap
In late September, you’ll be able to edit most fields and the descriptions of up to 200 Fixed Price and Store Inventory Format listings simultaneously. Records of all sales before your edits will still be available to you for future viewing.

2. Get it resolved quicker
eBay is improving the resolution process for both item not received and item not as described disputes and moving it to eBay from PayPal. The new process will cover disputes for transactions paid through any payment method–not just PayPal. The resolution process has also been streamlined to resolve disputes faster. In addition, eBay’s and PayPal’s user agreements were updated recently for the new process.

3. Manage buyer emails easier
Spend less time answering emails and more time focusing on delivering great service. eBay is making it faster and easier for you to respond to buyer questions and manage your emails with buyers. You’ll be able to reply to buyer emails in your email or in My Messages, see the entire thread from the first communication, customize post-transaction emails, ensure emails you send aren’t duplicating emails sent by eBay and more.

4. New way to look at DSRs Underlying all these changes is a shift in the way we look at detailed seller ratings (DSRs). Our research shows that low DSRs are a more accurate measure of the quality of buyer experiences provided by sellers on eBay. That’s why we are evolving the way we measure quality, focusing more on how many low DSRs—1s and 2s—a seller receives than on a seller’s DSR averages.
(This one’s a maybe, we’ll watch and see)

Check out the complete list of changes here:
Seller update: September 2009

Until next time…

Do you have some Auctiva listings that will NOT allow changes to the description or extra shipping information field? I did. And I didn’t want to have to completely relist all the items. Need to know how to change those ‘locked’ Auctiva listings to comply with Ebay’s new rules?
Here’s what I did. There may be an easier way, but I haven’t found it. Ebay’s system would not allow changes through the bulk change process. These listings kept coming back as problems. So here is what I did:
Step 1: Go to your ‘My Ebay’ page. Click on ACTIVE LISTINGS. (narrow by category if you’d like)
Step 2: At the end of the individual listing, click on the drop-down arrow at the end of the line under the “Action” column. (Usually the first option in this box is “Send to Online Auction”.)
Step 3: Now RIGHT-CLICK on “Sell Similar”. Select “open in new tab” or “open in new window” so that it will be easy to go back to the original listing if necessary.
Step 4: Go to the new tab or window and make the necessary changes to your listing to comply with Ebay’s new rules. (I also changed the price by .01 or to an odd amount so that I could know at a glance which is the new listing and which is the old listing when I went later to delete the old inaccurate listing.)
Step 5: When finished with changes and the new listing is complete, go back and delete the old inaccurate listing. Note** You WILL incur listing fees again through Ebay because you are creating a new listing. If you are making these changes in store listings, the cost will be minimal as compared to having to completely relist the item anyway.**

Hope this helps someone. If you have any questions, please ask.

Please add any links to successful auction sites that you are using. You are welcome to list a link to your auctions. I feel like any and every place that you can get a ‘free’ advertisement for your listings is a good thing!

Are you listing and having success on ebid, ecrater, auctiva commerce (still new), UBid, Bidz.com, overstock, amazon, OLA (online auctions), WeBidz, auction-warehouse, ePier, ItsGottaGo, Auction Fire, Auction Addict, Bid Alot, Auction.com, auctions.com, or any others? Tell us about your experiences!

Click here to see a list of Auctiva Commerce stores!

We need to know what is working and where we need to go to buy your items!!