As well as other perks to set them apart from the crowd

Jul 28, 2009 10:22 GMT  ·  By
eBay is hoping to revive its declining Marketplaces unit with the new changes
   eBay is hoping to revive its declining Marketplaces unit with the new changes

EBay was once one of the most powerful and most popular companies online but time hasn't been especially kind to the company, with its main business, the auction site with the same name, seeing a decline in user numbers and, more importantly, in revenue. In a move to revive its Marketplaces unit eBay has announced it will offer a number of benefits, like discounted fees, to some top sellers.

"For buyers, the new eBay Top-Rated Seller status makes it easy to find the highest quality sellers on eBay based on the feedback of other buyers," Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay Marketplaces, said. "For sellers, the Top-Rated Seller status recognizes and rewards their commitment to consistently delivering the highest level of customer satisfaction."

EBay plans to launch the new program in time for the holiday season and will reward sellers with a high user rating with a 20 percent deduction on their final value fees. The sellers will also receive a Top-Rated Seller badge as a guarantee of the quality of their services and will also be elevated in the search results. For a seller to qualify for the program it will have to have a rating of at least 4.6 out of 5 based on the user scores, which depend on many factors like item description and shipping options.

Apart from the user satisfaction rating, the sellers will have to have at least 100 transactions per year cumulating at least $3,000 in annual sales. The company estimates 150,000 sellers will immediately qualify for the program, when it will be launched in October, in the US alone and will roll out at the same time in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Other small changes were also announced with the addition of a new Search Visibility tool, which will allow users to see more easily how the results are generated to eliminate any doubts about the system, and new bulk editing tools as well as other improvements to the site.