Scott Morrison reports in the WSJ.com that EBay unveiled a series of changes to its core marketplaces business, which should help large vendors sell new goods in greater volumes.

It said sellers that provide the highest level of customer service will earn a new “top-rated seller” status, receive a 20% discount on fees and be elevated in search results.

In a nod to alienated small sellers, the company will give top-rated status to merchants who have very little negative feedback from buyers, even those who don’t rank among the largest sellers on its online marketplace.

Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, which makes software that helps sellers ply their goods on eBay, said the bulk of the changes will help underpin eBay’s ongoing shift away from auction sales toward bulk sales of fixed-price goods.

EBay expects to immediately qualify 150,000 eBay Top-Rated Sellers in the U.S. when the program goes live in October 2009. Sellers with 100 transactions a year and $3,000 in annual sales volume can qualify based on buyer feedback.

In a bid to reverse the trend, eBay CEO John Donahoe told investors earlier this year that eBay will focus on establishing itself in the “secondary market” by serving as a platform for sellers offering fixed-price out-of-season and overstock items in bulk.

Read why ebay is changing it market strategy.

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