Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Friday 5 October 2007, 1:26 PM
Jajah, eBay and the telepathic PR
(Be sure to read this post down to the bottom, because you all may come in handy here...)
We've just received an irate (not at us, I hasten to say) missive from the proprietors of the internet telephony company Jajah.
Jajah, like its little-known rival Skype, allows its users to put call-me buttons on their websites. Jajah, unlike Skype, is not owned (however regretfully) by eBay.
Can you guess what happened when eBay auctioneers tried putting Jajah call-me buttons on their auction pages? Well, according to Jajah, each such auction was removed in its entirety because, in eBay's words: "it violated the eBay Inappropriate Links policy… links or other connections to live chat systems are not permitted." Unless, one presumes, the live chat system happens to be Skype.
Over to Jajah's co-founder Roman Scharf: "Our vision was simply to bring voice communication to one of the worlds greatest marketplaces for eCommerce. With millions of registered users, Jajah is hardly an 'inappropriate' organization. We were seeing great excitement for Jajah buttons on eBay and we are disappointed that some of our user’s listings are now being removed. We are currently seeking to get clarification from eBay."
With the echoes of this year's eBay-centric PayPal/Google Checkout debacle still ringing in my ears, I decided to give eBay's PR agency a call to see if Jajah's allegations were true.
The chirpy young soul I spoke to first asked me to send details of specific customers who were affected - one of the oldest stalling tricks in the book. Naturally, I wasn't having any of that, and I asked her to just ascertain whether or not eBay has a policy of punishing those of its users who use non-eBay-affiliated call-me buttons on their auction pages....
"OK, I'll see if we can put together a statement on that for you. Goodb..."
"Hang on, wouldn't you like my contact details?"
"Oh. Yes."
For some reason, I'm not expecting a reply on this issue anytime soon.
UPDATE: It appears I spoke too soon. Here's what eBay has just sent me:
"The JaJah buttons are prohibited by eBay’s Links Policy which has been in place for years. eBay’s Links Policy is global and applies to every eBay site.
The policy specifies that only certain links can be included in listings; specifically, the link must be directly related to the item being listed. (You can reference the policy here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html).
While eBay have done some testing on integrating Skype buttons on eBay, even Skype buttons are not allowed within the listing page itself. The Skype buttons only appear near the “Ask the Seller A Question” link which is outside of the individual listing page.
eBay strongly encourage the eBay community to use the “Ask the Seller A Question” functionality for any direct communications to ensure that their communications and the transaction stays on the eBay Marketplace. This is an important step in ensuring a safe transaction and that they’ll be eligible for any eBay Protection Programs that might apply.
eBay is dedicated to maintaining the trust and safety of its marketplaces and try to fully understand how any new feature or tool may impact the marketplace before introducing it to ensure that it is not only useful to the community but is also safe and can not be used by fraudsters."
Right, so I stand corrected. eBay bans Skype call-me buttons too. If anyone happens to come across any evidence to the contrary, do let us know...
PreviousComments on this post
"While eBay have done some testing on integrating Skype buttons on eBay, even Skype buttons are not allowed within the listing page itself. The Skype buttons only appear near the “Ask the Seller A Question” link which is outside of the individual listing page."
Is it any surprise that Ebay is struggling to work out how to make money out the stupide piles of cash they paid for Skype. I think not. The Economist has a great piece looking at whether Meg Whitman is going to be around for much longer despite being by all accounts a thoroughly nice person.
Yes I can confirm that chat buttons have long been banned. The policy was clarified a couple of years ago when it was starting to become popular. It is also true that Skype buttons were not allowed, even from the time eBay first purchased the company. Jajah really dropped the ball on this since they needed only to ask any of the more technically oriented professional sellers or contact any of a number of seller groups. Or if you're more cynical, they let some sellers down for the publicity of their 15 minutes of fame.
On the other hand, it is absolutely not true that "eBay strongly encourage the eBay community to use the “Ask the Seller A Question” functionality for any direct communications". eBay has taken several underhanded measures to make e-mail more difficult but there has never been any policy or statement to this effect. While many sellers are convinced that eBay would like to control every communication between buyer and seller, eBay strenuously denies it, stressing that they do strongly encourage direct communications including e-mail. It is also absolutely not true that there is any impact whatsoever on the various buyer protections when the buyer has communicated with the seller outside of eBay-controlled channels. That is based entirely on the presumption that because the communication was off-eBay it relates to a sale which is off-eBay - obviously unsupportable.
eBay's real issue with Jajah, Skype or any other direct communication channels is their fear that the transaction will be completed off-eBay and they'll lose the final value fees.
Yes I can confirm that chat buttons have long been banned. The policy was clarified a couple of years ago when it was starting to become popular. It is also true that Skype buttons were not allowed, even from the time eBay first purchased the company. Jajah really dropped the ball on this since they needed only to ask any of the more technically oriented professional sellers or contact any of a number of seller groups. Or if you're more cynical, they let some sellers down for the publicity of their 15 minutes of fame.
On the other hand, it is absolutely not true that "eBay strongly encourage the eBay community to use the “Ask the Seller A Question” functionality for any direct communications". eBay has taken several underhanded measures to make e-mail more difficult but there has never been any policy or statement to this effect and no doubt would like to control every communication between buyer and seller. However, eBay strenuously denies this, and eBay does strongly encourage direct communications including e-mail. It is also absolutely not true that there is any impact whatsoever on the various buyer protections when the buyer has communicated with the seller outside of eBay-controlled channels. That is based entirely on the presumption that because the communication was off-eBay it relates to a sale which is off-eBay - obviously unsupportable, but the real fear eBay has of this.
