vacation mode counting against sellers

[autographs*for*sale]

Clearly eBay is not listening to its sellers or CS agents. Many sellers have complained that eBay continues to count late shipments while a seller is on VACATION against them. This is absurd.

On a seller's listings during VACATIONS it could not be more obvious to buyers that their orders will not ship on time, therefore they are NOT disappointed or surprised.

When I brought this to the attention of a CS agent on Twitter, one told me that's because "some sellers have staffs that can ship while the seller is on vacation." Duh! Those sellers don't NEED vacation mode.

[jdome2626]

I completely agree. Why should a small business or individual seller have to hide the listings while they are in vacation mode? We are still paying the monthly store fee. It seems like a very simple fix on Ebays end. I had multiple late shipments, while in vacation mode, over Christmas. I even took the time to message each individual who made a purchase letting them know when it would be shipped. They were all fine with and all left positive feedback. Ebay dinged me for a late shipment for all. They are really making it harder and harder for the little guy to sell. Very dissappointed with the new TRS rules.

[dottenx]

Ebay only cares about their bottom line. They do not care at all about there sellers or they would not continue to screw them over year after year after year.

[gracieallen01]

---

brian_burke@ebay wrote:

---

@baggs-2017 wrote:

I used it once, and all of my buyers were great with getting their items when I returned, sent each and every one of them a note while on vacation.  They bought, KNOWING that their items would ship when I returned.  If they weren't, I also asked them if they wished to cancel.

The only people that had 1 single problem with me taking a vacation, WAS EBAY.  

---

I'm glad this topic came up. I understand the perspective, there are two options with vacation mode - one hides the inventory from the buyer, the other still allows buyers to make purchases. We do not have any change to announce about how vacaction mode works, but will take this back to leadership. Until then you can always choose the option to not show inventory to buyers. Obviously htis means reduced sales, as a business it will be your call.

Thanks for selling on eBay.

Brian

---

Isn't it true that if a buyer has an item on their watch list, they can still buy it even with the sellers items 'hidden' while they are on vacation?  If this is true, then it blows your argument completely out-of-the-water. and ebay is penalizing the seller for something YOU (at ebay) created.

[autographs*for*sale]

I guess that's right. 14 days is much better than 30 days.

[arachnoidtex]

I just had this happen to me. I thought the whole purpose of vacation mode was not only to let your customers know you were away, but also so you would not get penalized and bring down your top rated status. Imagine my surprise when I got a message from Ebay saying I was in danger of losing my top rated status because I had 6 items that were not mailed the next day. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard on Ebay. So really what's the point? Ebay along with their new conditions starting May 1 does absolutely nothing for the seller, especially the small scale seller. I get closer all the time to dropping out of Ebay.

[djmovers99]

Yep, this just happened to me last week.  I learned a valuable lesson: the store vacation setting is meaningless and just a gimmick.  This is the first time in my history that I ever got dinged for being late!  I will not use it next time.  I will close my store next time and I will not get sells and eBay will not make money from me (except for store subscription) during that time.  Very sad...

[brian_burke@ebay]

---

@autographs*for*sale wrote:

Brian,

It is absurd that eBay suggests Store owners remove inventory from the site in order to avoid getiing dinged for performance standards. What am I paying eBay monthly subscription fees for? Have a little sympathy for small business owners who don't want to ship 52 weeks a year.

Vacation mode sales SHOULD NOT COUNT against late shipments or at least be treated differently. Find a compromise solution besides inventory removal.

---

autographforsale,

I agree with your sentiment, I was not telling you to remove inventory, just ensuring you knew the option was available. The tool doesn't work the way you want to day, and I don't have a different answer for you. But if the impact to your business is so great using the vacation option as you are today, you have another option. 

I've taken this back to the Shipping and Trust teams. 

Thanks for selling on eBay.

Brian

[brian_burke@ebay]

---

@autographs*for*sale wrote:

Brian,

It is absurd that eBay suggests Store owners remove inventory from the site in order to avoid getiing dinged for performance standards. What am I paying eBay monthly subscription fees for? Have a little sympathy for small business owners who don't want to ship 52 weeks a year.

Vacation mode sales SHOULD NOT COUNT against late shipments or at least be treated differently. Find a compromise solution besides inventory removal.

---

autographforsale,

I agree with your sentiment, I was not telling you to remove inventory, just ensuring you knew the option was available. The tool doesn't work the way you want to day, and I don't have a different answer for you. But if the impact to your business is so great using the vacation option as you are today, you have another option. 

I've taken this back to the Shipping and Trust teams. 

Thanks for selling on eBay.

Brian

[dhbookds]

brian_burke@ebay

Brian, the main problem is that when a seller looks at the vacation choices......there are NOT good explanations......

i.e.  yes you can hide inventory on that option.........

but on the option of "putting in the vacation message" there should also be a notation to increase the handling time because the items will be shown and unless that is done, a seller will get dinged for late shipment.  Right now......there is only the verbiage about putting in the message and some sellers ASSUME ebay, working from the date they have filled in, will extend the handling time automatically.........That DON'T happen............

I might note this has been a continuing problem for YEARS........and much discussion has been had with blue/pinks.......getting something done about it would sure solve a REAL problem for sellers........

[brian_burke@ebay]

---

@dhbookds wrote:

brian_burke@ebay

Brian, the main problem is that when a seller looks at the vacation choices......there are NOT good explanations......

i.e.  yes you can hide inventory on that option.........

but on the option of "putting in the vacation message" there should also be a notation to increase the handling time because the items will be shown and unless that is done, a seller will get dinged for late shipment.  Right now......there is only the verbiage about putting in the message and some sellers ASSUME ebay, working from the date they have filled in, will extend the handling time automatically.........That DON'T happen............

I might note this has been a continuing problem for YEARS........and much discussion has been had with blue/pinks.......getting something done about it would sure solve a REAL problem for sellers........

---

dhbookds,

Noted and I will take back to the Shipping and Trust teams. It's beyond the verbiage we also want to ensure we are setting the right expectation with the buyer, both when they buy with the note that we display, but also in the estimated delivery time we show the buyer. 

Thank for selling on eBay

Brian

[ymeagainlord]

brian_burke@ebay Wouldn't it make MORE sense to code it so that the "late shipped" clock only started ticking AFTER the  buyer's increased handling time elapsed (for vacation mode only)?

[partial*eclipse]

brian_burke@ebay

The recommended text change (re: revised handling time) is for the text of the seller Help page, which currently is too vague. Every day, there are threads from sellers who misinterpreted that page, and who have been penalized for late shipping.  The Help page needs to explain that the basic vacation status is nothing more than an "Away" message, and that sellers are still expected to ship their Sold items within their stated handling time. 

This will not affect the "verbiage" that is shown to potential buyers; it's about how the vacation settings are explained to Store subscribers in the Help page.   If a seller realizes that they need to revise their handling time, that  will help to make the estimated delivery date consistent with the seller's vacation dates.

[mallontown]

---

@autographs*for*sale wrote:

Clearly eBay is not listening to its sellers or CS agents. Many sellers have complained that eBay continues to count late shipments while a seller is on VACATION against them. This is absurd.

On a seller's listings during VACATIONS it could not be more obvious to buyers that their orders will not ship on time, therefore they are NOT disappointed or surprised.

When I brought this to the attention of a CS agent on Twitter, one told me that's because "some sellers have staffs that can ship while the seller is on vacation." Duh! Those sellers don't NEED vacation mode.

---

never use Vacation as it will lead to bad  on time shipping metrics, just change your handling time.

If you are going on Vacation just add enough days to your handling to be able to ship on time when you arrive back from your vacation. Keep in mind you may need an extra day vacation after returning from your vacation. Ebay makes it easy to do a bulk update of shipping time with 500 items adjusted at a time.