Anyone who sells items that can be sent by email or delivered through eBay/Paypal’s download service has certainly had a rough week. eBay announced earlier this week that sellers of digital goods would no longer be able to list those items in auction format. Sellers of digital goods would be required to list their wares in the classified ad format that costs $9.95 per ad and doesn’t receive any on eBay feedback for the transactions (since they would all be completed off eBay).
The main reasoning for this rules change was stated as FEEDBACK MANIPULATION. Many of the digital downloads are easily replicated and any seller could quickly generate thousands of listings and pump up their feedback. Unfortunately all goods that can be “shipped” digitally do not fall in this category of items, eBay listing templates and store templates come to mind.