eBay to reward top-rated sellers

The San Jose, California-based company said sellers who receive the highest ratings from buyers will receive 20% discounts on the fees they pay to eBay and feature more prominently in search rankings.

eBay said the system would be in place by October, ahead of the Christmas holiday shopping season, and that 150,000 sellers in the United States were expected to immediately qualify.

It said the program would launch in Britain and Germany at the same time as it does in the United States.

Sellers with as few as 100 transactions a year and $3,000 a year in sales can qualify for the program based on buyer feedback, eBay said.

"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," said Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay Marketplaces.

"For sellers, the Top-Rated Seller status recognizes and rewards their commitment to consistently delivering the highest level of customer satisfaction," she said.

eBay's move is seen as an attempt to boost stagnating online sales.

The Internet auction pioneer reported last week that its net profit plunged 29% in the latest quarter due to a drop in its online Marketplaces business and the strength of the US dollar.

The Marketplaces unit, consisting of electronic commerce websites including eBay, Shopping.com, StubHub, and Kijiji, logged $1.26 billion in revenue, a 14-% drop from the same quarter a year earlier.

Source: AFP

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