eBay revealed Thursday it had revamped its Certified Providers Program, and it dropped some developers from the program as a result. The move comes in advance of its merging the eBay Developers Program – along with that of newly acquired Magento – into PayPal’s program as part of its new X.Commerce initiative.
eBay said it was changing the Certified Providers Program in an effort to make it “the stamp of seller tool quality” on eBay. Laura Della Torre, Senior Manager of the Certified Provider Program, said eBay also wanted to work with just a few providers on a regular basis to make sure they could keep up with eBay changes, and to help make those changes easier for sellers.
eBay has been rolling out changes to its site fast and furiously since 2008. The second seller release of 2011 is due out this month, and eBay’s new policy prohibiting third-party checkout rolls out to the site today.
What eBay did not say explicitly in Thursday’s announcement was that the program now consists mainly of packaged software solutions – developers who were cut from the CP program included consultants and custom programmers.
One such provider, Lynn Dralle of The Queen of Auctions, is an eBay PowerSeller, author and teacher (her Certified Provider page is still available on eBay). She told AuctionBytes that it was a mutual decision to stop participating in the CP program. “It was really geared more towards programming and application type companies. There wasn’t really a benefit to me anymore.”
Another provider, Tobe Goldfinger of JDT Technologies, provides consulting services and custom eBay programming to high-volume sellers. (Her company’s page is also still available on eBay.)
Goldfinger said she is still committed to eBay and continues to have a strong working relationship with eBay.
Sources in the industry said eBay’s CP program had become dormant and that the change to the program may mean that remaining developers will get more attention from eBay.
Another developer whose company remains in the program said the biggest concern among eBay certified providers was whether eBay merchants know about them – something many eBay developers inside and outside of the program have struggled with since the first eBay tool was developed.
According to eBay, the following criteria will be used to determine eligibility for the new CP program moving forward:
- Marketplace Impact: We select eBay developers who are impacted the most by eBay changes and who can make the most impact on your business.
- Customer Satisfaction: Don’t take our word for it. We gauge customer satisfaction through annual customer surveys and ongoing product review.
- Feature Support: Certified Providers must support the features you need the most to be a part of the program.
Oddly, eBay did not announce the change on the eBay Developers program blog.
