eBay 2008 Annual Report Download - page 12

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customer-focused company, we no longer allow sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers and provide sellers
with additional tools designed to avoid negative feedback.
SafeHarbor Program: We also offer the SafeHarbor program, which provides guidelines for trading and user
dispute resolution. Our SafeHarbor staff investigates users’ complaints of possible misuse of eBay platforms and
takes appropriate action, including issuing warnings to users, ending and removing listings, or suspending users
from bidding on or listing items for sale.
Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program: The VeRO Program lets intellectual property rights owners request
the removal of listings that offer items or contain materials that infringe on their rights. This helps to protect
community members from purchasing items that may be counterfeit or otherwise unauthorized.
Customer Support: We devote significant resources to providing personalized, accurate and timely support
services to our community of users. Buyers and sellers can contact us through a variety of means, including email,
online text chat and, in certain circumstances, telephone. We continue to focus our resources on improving our
accessibility, increasing our capacity, expanding our category-specific support, extending our online self-help
features and improving our systems and processes to allow us to provide efficient and effective support. In addition,
top eBay sellers who qualify for our PowerSeller program receive prioritized customer support.
Value-Added Tools and Services: eBay users have access to a variety of “pre-trade” and “post-trade” tools
and services to enhance their user experience and to make trading faster, easier and safer for them. “Pre-trade” tools
and services are intended to simplify the listing process. “Post-trade” tools and services are designed to make
transactions easier and more convenient to complete. These tools and services may not be available in all
international markets.
These tools and services include:
• Turbo Lister, eBay Blackthorne, ProStores, Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro, each of which helps
to automate the selling process;
• Shipping Calculator, which makes it easier for buyers and sellers to calculate shipping costs;
• Shipping Labels, which allows sellers to print certain postage and UPS labels;
• eBay To Go, which allows users to embed item listings in their own Internet websites; and
• PayPal, which facilitates the online exchange of funds.
We currently provide these services directly or through contractual arrangements with third parties.
PowerSeller program: PowerSellers are eBay’s top sellers who have consistently sustained a high volume of
monthly sales and who have a high level of positive feedback. Members of the PowerSeller program get a range of
special benefits, including pricing discounts, prioritized customer support, promotional offers, eBay promotional
merchandise, advanced selling education, opportunities to participate in research and other special rewards. The
PowerSeller program is free of charge and a special PowerSeller icon is located next to the seller’s user name if the
seller qualifies for the program.
Top buyer program: Our top buyers benefit from having a special phone number to call if they have an
unsatisfactory user experience in connection with a transaction on our websites. From time to time, we also offer
special coupon initiatives to top buyers.
Coupons and Buyer Rewards: Coupons were given to targeted buyers throughout 2008 to drive our GMV
growth. We introduced, on a limited basis, a buyer rewards program to incentivize our larger buyers to remain loyal
by offering cash back through “eBay bucks.”
Best Match: Buyers on eBay.com now see “best match” as the default search result. The best match
algorithm determines which listings appear at the top of searches based on, among other factors, relevance, detailed
seller ratings and shipping and handling charges. “Best Match” is designed to enable buyers to find the items they
are looking for more quickly and easily, incentivize sellers to provide better deals, reasonable or free shipping and
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