Improvements to eBay

This blog documents a personal experience of how eBay is not there to ensure that sellers offer the after sales service they either promise voluntarily or are obliged to offer as a minimum under various country jurisdictions. Many vendors know about this loophole and once their sale becomes immune to negative feedback or financial repercussions (a matter of weeks) they just jump the boat.

Photo source: http://www.pantherarchery.com/

Here are some system re-engineering suggestions that will support a proper after sales mechanism:

1. Sellers will have a field where they can specify the guarantee/warranty they offer – I’ll use the term guarantee to mean either in this article. If a particular item must have a minimum guarantee as this is imposed by the laws of the country than the seller would not be able to specify a value less than the minimum value.
2. Until the guaranty period is over, buyers should be able to log multiple instances of any communication with sellers regarding after sales matters. This feature will allow other buyers and sellers to work out what products are problematic. This function may also be used to recall a product because of health and safety issues.
3. Once the guarantee period expires, eBay will send an email to the buyer asking the same to rate the guarantee. Not only could this prove to be an effective way to stay in touch with people who may have dropped eBay off their purchasing radar but would give people an opportunity to rate sellers for after sales. If a buyer does not rate a seller within the pre-announced deadline, eBay would automatically rate the vendor as having respected its after sales obligations.
4. Just like the existing star rating, guarantees can be used by buyers to select better sellers than others based on after sales.  It will also benefit professional sellers as this will give them the edge over sellers who are there simply to dump goods and hide. I can’t help noticing the number of sellers who make it a point to tell buyers not to leave negative feedback but to talk to them first so that matters can be resolved.  This after sales rating would have a similar effect.
5. All acquisitions can be called up for at least 12 months. If a seller (or country legislation) offers a longer guarantee on a particular item, then this should be extended to cover the promised duration. Buyers will have the option to archive transactions in order to facilitate the management of their purchases. Both buyers and sellers must be able to recall the exact page details they viewed when they won the buy it now or bid.
6. All messages related to successful transactions are retained for the same period. Unlike what happens today, buyers should be able to contact a seller for the duration of the guarantee. This ensures that:
1. Buyers and sellers do not move out of eBay for any part of the transaction. Before the sale is concluded, eBay make it a point that everything is done within their confines, so why shouldn’t they retain the same policy after they have taken their fee?
2. If there are problems, eBay will have access to the entire exchange. This gives all parties more peace of mind.
3. It demonstrates that eBay is there for sellers and buyers for the entire transaction.