The Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA) issued a statement announcing its concern with recent member suspensions from eBay. PESA, describes itself as a non-profit trade association comprised of over 800 high-volume eBay sellers generating over seventy million eBay transactions worth $1 billion in eBay sales annually.

PESA said it has long lobbied for more consistent policy enforcement to protect buyers. In its statement, however, PESA called eBay's approach to rules enforcement a step forward, but also a "shoot first and ask questions later" approach with longstanding reputable sellers.

PESA Executive Director Jonathan Garriss is quoted in the statement. "We applaud eBay's new efforts to protect shoppers. In fact, PESA would welcome greater seller verification to fight fraud and counterfeit merchandise. But it's critical that sellers receive common sense treatment regarding rules issues - especially shopper favorites with very high positive feedback ratings. If a reputable seller is in violation of a policy, eBay needs to make a phone call and speak with the seller to inform them of the issue. If they fail to acknowledge or remedy the problem in a reasonable time frame, then a penalty is warranted."

(Jonathan Garriss had stepped down from his position as at PESA in January, but when contacted for this story said he is still Executive Director of PESA and will be filling that role until the end of 2006.)

eBay Director of Corporate Communications Hani Durzy said in reaction to the PESA statement, "To sum it up, we were a little surprised and a little disappointed that they put out this statement. We have for some time been engaged in an incredibly valuable and useful ongoing dialog with PESA about this issue and other issues like it."

Durzy explained that eBay used to have only two options when confronted with seller policy violations - to warn a seller or to suspend a seller. A suspension means eBay removes all of a seller's items from the site and prohibits them from logging in to the site.

eBay has created a new way of dealing with violations that it recently put into effect, spelled out in this January 26, 2006 announcement: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200601261616502.html.

Durzy said it allows eBay more options in dealing with policy violations. Now, eBay may limit violators from listing new items until they have taken a 15-minute online tutorial, but without removing that seller's active listings from the site. Durzy said in those cases, sellers would likely not receive a phone call. But sellers who have account managers would receive a phone call before a suspension, he said. Durzy could not list the criteria necessary for a seller to have an account manager.

Durzy said eBay is not targeting large sellers, nor is it targeting small sellers. "We expect all sellers to comply with eBay rules. We don't think large sellers should be given a pass. We are giving them as much communication as possible. We are not unleveling the playing field for policy violations."

http://www.gopesa.org

Update (4/3/06): Here is a link to the press release issued by PESA: http://ecommwire.com/?id=379&keys=eBay-sellers-business