Ebay Watch: eBay and Online Marketplace News

EBay Revises User Agreement

In early May eBay announced changes to its user agreement, with the biggest changes focusing on the new eBay Resolutions policy, as well as the new eBay Purchase Protection policy (see “EBay Clarifies Buyer and Seller Protection Obligations”).

This past week Senior Counsel for eBay, Scott Shipman, announced that the latest revision would address obligations of buyers and sellers in transactions where a buyer has alleged receipt of a counterfeit item.  Under the revised agreement:

Buyers and sellers shall work in good faith during the resolution process to determine that the item is not counterfeit. If buyer and seller cannot determine that the item is not counterfeit, buyers are required to send the item back to the seller. Cost of return shipping will be paid by the buyer or eBay, unless both buyer and seller have agreed otherwise. Covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded will count as a violation by the seller of eBay’s prohibited and infringing items policy. If eBay determines the buyer is not acting in good faith, eBay may restrict or eliminate the buyer’s ability to return items or make future claims. Sellers shall not list, advertise, or cause that item to appear for sale, barter or trade on any eBay Inc. Web site or service.

The new user agreement is effective immediately for new members registering, and on June 14, 2009, for current members. Customers who do not agree with the user agreement are advised by eBay to close their account.

EBay to Offer Auction Listing Promo in June

This week eBay also announced a zero-dollar insertion fee promotion on some listings, starting June 16, 2009. This promotion will be available on a seller's first five auction-style listings (Regardless of your start price) when you list with eBay’s Sell Your Item form or Simple listing form. The final value fee for these listings with zero-dollar insertion fees will be 8.75 percent of the sales price or $20, whichever is lower.  The promotion applies only to the first five items listed during the promotion period.

iOffer Announces New Bulk Lister

In other online marketplace news,  iOffer has announced a bulk editor that will help its sellers to edit multiple item listings more easily and also to maintain current inventory. With the bulk editor, iOffer says that sellers can update an item's price, quantity, condition, description and shipping in three simple steps, allowing sellers to focus on marketing and customer satisfaction.

Another handy feature, shipping profiles, lets sellers create multiple profiles and apply them to different listings. For example, you may want to specify some items for international shipping, or you might want to apply free shipping on other listings. With this new feature, you can attach a shipping profile to existing or new item listings.

MedWOW Launches Medical Equipment Marketplace

MedWOW.com, a newly launched marketplace, aims to connect buyers and sellers of used medical equipment. According to MedWOW, the site launches at a time when more health institutions are looking at purchasing pre-owned medical equipment due to the current global economic recession.

The site offers a medical equipment catalog and search engine, a pre-purchase inspection service, and a multi-lingual interface that provides users of the site with a questions and answers mechanism. The site is designed to let buyers and sellers communicate through a list of professionally written questions and answers that are unique for each specific device. The questions and answers are automatically translated into the user’s preferred language.  Buyers also have access to professionally written Buying Tips for specific devices.

MedWOW is free for buyers however we noticed — hidden away in a FAQ on the Web site — that MedWOW charges sellers 50 percent of item sale price. Sellers looking for a niche medical equipment site should really look into MedWOW's fee policy before registering and listing. Smaller, individual sellers may not do as well as wholesalers on this site due to the steep final fee.

Vangie Beal is a seasoned online marketplace seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and avid online bargain hunter. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com.