Hello…This is Brian Burke, Director Global Feedback Policy. Digital goods are often reproduced at little to no cost to the seller. On eBay, this creates the potential for Feedback Manipulation (both real and perceived). To preserve the integrity of the Feedback system, effective March 31 all goods that can be digitally downloaded or transferred electronically must be listed using the Classified Ads format.
Using the Classified Ads format, sellers receive a 30-day ad at a fixed price. This solution enables sellers to continue to market their digital goods on eBay; however, because Classified Ad listings are a lead generation tool and do not result in transactions that go through eBay, Feedback cannot be exchanged between buyer and seller.
Sellers who wish to continue to offer digital goods can do so by selecting the Everything Else>Information Products category in the Sell Your Item form and choosing the Classified Ads format (not auction-style or fixed price). For more information about the Classified Ads format, please read Advertising with Classified Ads.
Sincerely,
Brian Burke
Director, Global Feedback Policy
As highlighted above, It seems to be applied to domain names.
What are the classified ads fees you may ask?
They threw out the baby with the bathwater. Domain transfers (sales) cannot be easily “reproduced at little to no cost to the seller”.
I appreciate them cracking down on bogus and junk auctions, but they need to put things like this out there for public comment and response before making sweeping decisions.
I would not personally use ebay for domain buying or selling, and the domain auctions are full of junk and fraud too, but it seems like they could have made a few minor enhancements to their system to accommodate them.
My guess is this isn’t mean to apply to domain names since the seller paid something for it. It applies to eBooks and such that people sell for a penny. They get a lead and feedback.
I have not used Ebay for domain names in over 5 years. I just this week posted my first one after seeing you (Sahar)almost bought one on Ebay. I didn’t think real buyers even watched Ebay listings.If it sells, I guess I will be glad I got in under the wire. Here is my Ebay listing if anyone is interested. Maybe it will be the last great Ebay domain name auction, LOL. I wish.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330221963171&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab=Selling
http://www.BuyTheRightDomain.com
Interesting post about ebay
There is just no way for a company like eBay to take every type of auction/sale into account when they are faced with challenges like this. Given that domain auctions are a very small part of the auction inventory at eBay I can imagine they weren’t considering domain auctions at all in this decision.
eBay is so yesterday… It has to be the worst place to sell a domain name.
Ebay is like a used car dealer. They promise you the world, and the first sign of a problem…
Now I like this site that doesn’t charge listing fees called ioffer.com. They take about five percent when something sells or a set amount with highend stuff - but it seems reasonable. I’ve compared the # of listings. I believe ioffer seems to have about 40 percent of the listings ebay has in all the categories I’ve checked.
You can even pull in your feedback from ebay. It feels a bit like the earlier days of ebay - when it was a bit of fun before the greed ruined everything.
“To preserve the integrity of the Feedback system, effective March 31 all goods that can be digitally downloaded or transferred electronically must be listed using the Classified Ads format.”
Translation: Ca-Ching!
Wow!!! I did sell LASex.net on Ebay. $999.00 The only reason I listed this name was because Sahar mentioned trying to buy a name on Ebay. I thought Ebay was useless for domain names. I guess they are now. Thank you Sahar, I Firmly believe you have the very best blog on domain names on the net. Bar none. Keep up the good work.
http://BuyTheRightDomain.com
Well it’s April 1st and I just listed a new Domain name sale on Ebay. So I guess domain names are not going to be included in the “Transfered electronically” list. The article above says effective March 31st.
If anyone is interested here is the link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=330224714952&Category=11153&_trksid=p3907.m29
And
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=330224598729&Category=11153&_trksid=p3907.m29