Weekly Community Chat, May 10th @ 1pm PT - General Topics

[alan@ebay]

Hi Community, 

Join us today at 1pm Pacific for a Community chat. There isn't a set topic so feel free to ask us your buying and selling questions. 

If you are a small business, don't forget to submit your entry for our SHINE awards, the closing date for entries is fast approaching and we've got some fantastic prizes!!

Thank you.

[krazzykats]

I was suspended for 3 days for the misuse of the word "Barbie" on three vintage Butterick doll sewing patterns. This was my second violation for this. What I can't understand is, "these are" vintage Butterick sewing patterns for Barbie, Midge and Ken dolls and that, is preprinted on the pattern envelope that it is, for Barbie, Midge and Ken dolls. I was suspended for misuse of brand. My descriptions comes straight off the packaging, so I don't feel I violated any rules.

The Barbie Butterick patterns are from the 1960s and were produced for Barbie, Midge, Babs, Annette dolls and more. And this verbage is printed clearly on the pattern envelope fronts. I could understand if I was using the Barbie name and it wasn't on the pattern envelope, but it is, and can be clearly seen in my photos. "These are original Butterick patterns for Barbie", etc... from the 1960s, so I don't understand the suspension for brand misuse. I accurately described these patterns.

I even checked the category, and they were in the correct vintage doll clothing pattern category.

Hello krazzykats,

We've determined that some of your listings haven't followed our Brand Name Misuse policy. As a result, we've taken the following actions on your account:
 - Selling privileges have been temporarily restricted. You won't be able to list new items or revise current listings for 3 days. You're also not allowed to register a new account during this time.
 - Listings that didn't follow our policies have been removed. A list of removed item(s) is available further down in this email.
 - Any fees for listings that were ended early for not following policy won't be credited to your account.

Please use only terms that describe your item accurately.

Adding brand, celebrity, or manufacturer names to a listing that was not made by that company, person, or manufacturer isn't allowed.

Making comparisons or including unrelated terms in your listing may confuse buyers who may not understand what's actually being offered. This can result in an unsuccessful transaction and may also lead to a buyer claim being filed.

For more information on our search and browse manipulation policy, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/search-manipulation.html

Please know, the listing title "BUTTERICK 3385 SEWING PATTERN~UNCUT 11.5" Barbie Midge DOLL CLOTHES NOT COPY!" suggests that the item is made/manufactured/marketted by "Barbie", when it is not, this might mislead buyers.  For this reason, eBay suggests sellers to include brand or model names in listing titles for items that are mechanically or electrically compatible with specific brands if words such as 'compatible with', 'fits' or 'for' are mentioned before the brand/model names. There's one exception, if the item for sale is universally compatible with most of the brands then the listing should not have any brand name. You may relist the item after making the necessary changes in the listing.

 During this restriction you can still:
 - Send email
 - Obtain shipping addresses
 - Leave feedback
 - Perform other administrative tasks......

What am I missing? Its a 1960s Butterick Sewing Pattern for Barbie, Midge, etc....

[bigmotormania]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@bigmotormania wrote:

Hello Alan, and probably Trinton and Heidi.

I have a question about communication between a seller and a buyer in regards to a Not As Described claim, and I was wondering about linking the buyer to websites that display the information to prove that your description was actually accurate and if that gets lit up by the bots as "trying to circumvent eBay".

The website I get my information from does in-fact sell items, but is not affiliated with me in the slightest. So it's just a general question here about the rules in regards to communication with buyers and showing specific information.

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This could be a tough one, as the link would be considered as potential drive to off site transactions. While you are not personally affiliated with that site, it does take the buyer off eBay to a location where they can make a purchase. If a buyer has concerns about a description, we recommend addressing those directly, recommending they do independant research or providing a link to product information that does not relate to a selling platform when possible.

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So to put it into simpler terms "Such a thing can be easily misconstrued, don't do that."

[Anonymous]

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@fleurdelis123 wrote:

Why is eBay doing away with “Good till Cancelled” listings with multi-variations? Apparently eBay is discontinuing the “Good till Canceled” feature for multi-variation listings. Although it has not taken effect yet, some of my “Good till Canceled” listings were canceled yesterday. I received no notice as to why my listings were canceled. I had to call eBay support to find out why my listings were canceled. Some of my multi-variation “Good till Canceled” listings are my best sellers and items that I carry all the time. So my cookie cutters with variations and many of my other listings will be canceled. I have many customers who have these items on their watch list, and I will lose my long sales history on these items which builds customer trust. In addition, the current on-hand amount will not carry over if I need to relist these items every month. Multi-variation listings (like my cookie cutters) make it much easier for customers to see all of the variations in one listing which can increase sales (and fees/profit for eBay). Many of my customers purchase more than one cookie cutter at a time. Discontinuing active “Good till Cancelled” listings with multi-variations will also further clutter searches for so many items like: cookie cutters, icing tips, sunglasses, caps, shirts, bathing suits, shoes, jewelry, scarves, etc. with different sizes, colors, or shapes. What difference does it make to eBay if a listing is 30 days or “Good till Canceled”-NONE. It will though make it much more difficult for sellers and for buyers- especially our repeat buyers who put items on their watch list for future purchases.

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Hi @fleurdelis123 - The Good Till Cancelled feature is actually meant for and best when used with multi-variation listings. I have seen some sellers have these ended due to UPCs missing or other reasons such as that. If you can, I recommend reaching out to customer service: https://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/cuhome?from_ocs=1 once more to have them review what happened here. There should be a different reason for this and they'd be able to take a second look.

[copper.boom]

This is not a question, just a comment. Thanks to the community team for fielding our questions, especially for these seller updates. While we don't have a lot of answers yet, and in fact have more questions than before, it is appreciated that you are working to get the correct information so you can advise back. I know it isn't easy to be the ones who take so much of the frustration and anger that comes with these updates.

Side note: next update the Community Team should be given at least a week to view the updates before they are released, that way you can find out all the policy specifics ahead of the flood of questions and perhaps eliminate some of the confusion and speculation from the get-go. Make it easier on you and on us. 🙂

[goodluckselling]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

I have two questions that are closely related to each other.

1st question  -  If I have an ebay buyer who I decide to refund in full through Paypal, does that result in an ebay out of stock defect?  This should really only be a yes or not answer.  The reason why I would refund should not have any deciding factors to the answer.

2nd question  -  If a buyer on eBay opens a return request and opens the return request incorrectly with multiply problems and I decide it would just be better to refund the buyer in full through paypal  -  Does this result in an out of stock defect on eBay?

In the 2nd question the refund has to be done through paypal because the return request was not done correctly and there would be no way to refund in full through the return request.

Thank You

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Hi @goodluckselling! 

1 - Yes. Without a cancellation request telling us why a refund was being sent, a defect would occur. 

2 - Defects could potentially occur but if this happens, reach out to our customer service teams: https://ocsnext.ebay.com/ocs/cuhome?from_ocs=1 and we can adjust the quantity in a return to correct the issue. 

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I am going to ask you to make sure what you are saying is correct.  I talked to CS early this morning and both the rep and the supervisor said that ebay will not under any circumstances issue a defect for out of stock when a full refund is issued through paypal.  The only way a out of stock defect can happen is when a seller cancels a sale on ebay. 

I feel certain they were both incorrect.  I also wondered why the rep said to me " what are you worried about anyways you do not have defect to your account right now"  Why that mattered I do not know and why the rep was not listening to me and my concerns instead of fishing around my account during the call, seems a bit out of line.

[Anonymous]

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@copper.boom wrote:

Should we expect Seller Updates to be released quarterly now (Spring Summer Fall Winter) or is yesterday's Summer update a one-off?

If we will receive updates quarterly will there be approx 3 months between updates, instead of the 1 month we had between Spring & Summer updates?

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Our updates will generally be in the Spring and Fall, but more frequent updates are not typical but may be communicated as needed. 

[labs118]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@kavi1030 wrote:

Are sellers going to be forced to use the seller hub and the new listing tool or will we have a choice of either? I am not happy with the seller hub or the new listing tool.

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No plans to require Seller Hub at the moment. We are always working to enhance this feature for you, so if you have any feedback feel free to provide it! You can access the Advanced Listing tool from the Sell option in the upper right corner of any eBay page, then select Advanced tool from the top right of the next screen.

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Trinton  it seems many don't see the same thing/ form  when listing
When I hit sell upper right hand corner I see this below.
when I click Create listing  from dropdown I can do single listing or multi listing.
If I pick single  I get screen shot 2







Create single listing brings this form





Seems many sellers are having issues with unchecking best offer, or offering IPR
Why a quick form, an advanced form , a SYI form?
I guess mine is the new advanced SYI ? correct ?
It is very hard to know how to even answer questions on the boards because of all the different forms seems we all see different things.

[carlmarxx]

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@copper.boom wrote:

This is not a question, just a comment. Thanks to the community team for fielding our questions, especially for these seller updates. While we don't have a lot of answers yet, and in fact have more questions than before, it is appreciated that you are working to get the correct information so you can advise back. I know it isn't easy to be the ones who take so much of the frustration and anger that comes with these updates.

Side note: next update the Community Team should be given at least a week to view the updates before they are released, that way you can find out all the policy specifics ahead of the flood of questions and perhaps eliminate some of the confusion and speculation from the get-go. Make it easier on you and on us. 🙂

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Well I wish they would respond to my questions .

[newview]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@newview wrote:

Listing Conditions

When listing an item, you agree to comply with eBay's rules for listing and Selling Practices policy and that:

    When you use the consumer seller listing tool to create listings, your fixed-price listings may renew automatically every 30 days, based on the listing terms at that time, until the quantities sell out or until you cancel the listing.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.html

==============================================

So eBay intends to relist my unsold items without my knowledge or consent?

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Hi @newview - We'll have more info on this later this afternoon and will update the thread then.

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I'll be watching closely for the answer.

It may determine whether I continue to sell on eBay or not.

[Anonymous]

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@angiezilla wrote:

I know some sellers are unclear on some of the new updates. Like eBay renewing listings automatically. Please clarify how will this work? I know some fear that their unsold listings will be renewed without their permission or knowledge. Is there a way for sellers to avoid this? With this affect all sellers? 

Like eBay renewing listings automatically. Please clarify how will this work? I know some fear that their unsold listings will be renewed without their permission or knowledge. Is there a way for sellers to avoid this? Will this affect all sellers? Please help us understand.

The catalog is another topic I saw addressed. Will all listings regardless of the product be added to the catalog? I know a lot of sellers do not want others using their photos. I understood the catalog to be for new unused items with UPC and MPN numbers. Will used, handmade or vintage items be automatically included in the catalog?

Thank you! 🙂 

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All great questions! We are reviewing all the questions posed and will provide more soon.

[Anonymous]

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@copper.boom wrote:

Two weeks ago @Anonymous posted a reply at the end of chat:

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Weekly-Community-Chat-April-26th-1pm-PT-General-Topics/m-p/26899516#M11636

@Anonymous wrote:

We've got a lot of different policies and while we don't have a centralized area where all changes are posted, the individual Help Pages are updated. I would always recommend double-checking the policy to make sure any updates are made to the information you're providing. Thank you so much for all you do in the Community! 

I appreciate that advice was given to double-check a policy page before giving advice to another poster, however...

This response also says to me that policies and policy pages are changed directly on the policy page and the only way to know about it is by viewing the page.

As a seller I am not going to read every single policy page every day just to see if anything has changed and if my listings are suddenly no longer compliant.

Why are policy updates not posted to the Announcements area as they occur with a link to the appropriate policy page? And is this something that we can make happen go forward?

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Hi @copper.boom - I can appreciate your concern on this. With how many policies we have, we wouldn't be able to post an announcement with each update. That said, we will make announcements on major changes. I simply suggest doing a quick glance over from time to time just as a refresher. 

[carlmarxx]

Trinton: Did Iask any thing that you folks could not respond back too? thanks

[carlmarxx]

Trinton: Did I ask any thing that you folks could not respond back too? thanks

[alan@ebay]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

I would like to make a suggestion.  As a seller on the east coast it is nearly impossible for me to make the weekly chat due to my post office closing shortly after the start of the chat.

My suggestion would be to have the ability for users to submit a question before the start of the chat.  I realize no answer could be made until the chat opens. 

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Hi @goodluckselling

Thanks for the suggestion! We're always looking to improve what we're offering in Community so it's great to get feedback like this. 

[carlmarxx]

Trinton: Did I ask any thing that you folks could not respond back too? thank  you.