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Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

We have 30,000 active ebay listing, and do NOT use ebay business policies.  Instead, we have 20 listing templates that our team uses when creating new listings.  We have avoided using business policies because we like the ability to customize shipping specifics and return specifics when we are listing items because certain items are required to be shipped a certain way, or not allowed to be shipped a certain way (batteries, liquids, some test equipment, etc).

 
Around 10,000 of our listings are "calculated shipping" with USPS First Class as the first option which we have as free for the buyers.  Then we have Priority Mail, UPS Ground, and UPS Next Day Air as optional calculated upgrades for the buyer if they want to pay for a different shipping service.  
 
What do we do?  I am unable to find a way to bulk-edit these items.  The bulk editing tool does not allow us to filter our listings by first-class listings.  When I download a CSV of our listings there is no way for us to sort them by first class either.
 
Is there not a way for Ebay on the back-end to create a rule to automatically switch first-class listings to ground advantage?
 
Is there anything we can do to automate this or will all of my first-class listings be removed from ebay?
Message 1 of 94
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93 REPLIES 93

Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

A customer service "manager" is NOT "management", it's just the csr sitting in the next cubbyhole!

 

 

Message 16 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

Since there is very little 'swing' in the $ amount a buyer pays when it comes to 1st Class Packages (zone 1 to zone 8, very little) is it feasible to:

 

Bulk edit all as 'flat rate shipping price' vs. calculated? then just 'charge' the highest amount regardless where the buyer lives (doubt they would care or know the difference between $6.19 and $6.78- as I have charged that shipping amount plus $2 ($8.95) for over a year without issue (I now do Free Shipping, but that's for other reasons)

 

Are your items in various 'store' categories? 

Is it typical that the 'lower priced items are shipping 1st Class?

 

You can bulk edit, albeit you would still have to 'go through' the listings to 'checkmark' the ones to edit (if easily known/detectable) and they show 200 per page, so someone goes through 5 pages and does this and you've went through 1000 listings. Getting through 10,000 would take 10 days and you can bulk edit the 'up to 200 per page' one at a time, repeating 5 times. Should take about an hour per day for 1000 listings.

 

Again, if the items are known by title and or price, you can list 'lowest price first' and keep moving through, guessing that 1st Class Shipped items are lower cost than others and you may not even need to look at the 'upper' pages?

Message 17 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies


@dhbookds wrote:

devon@ebay 

elizabeth@ebay 

kyle@ebay 

 

Op says

We were informed yesterday that eBay would not allow items to be relisted after August 9th that have an option of first-class package shipping service.

 

Announcement says (7/10)

 

We are asking sellers to update listings to Ground Advantage over the next 30 days to ensure buyers see the most accurate shipping details. We realize this may take longer for some sellers and we will continue to support First-Class on existing listings for a longer period of time. We will update you as more information becomes available.  

 

Do CRS need some information/education?  Hate to see incorrect info being given to sellers......can't believe the "longer period of time" would only be 1 wk.....


Hey @dhbookds I'll be glad to help sort this out.  The 30 days timeframe is referring to July 10th-August 9th.  After August 9th, if Good-Til-Cancelled listings have not been updated correctly, they may not renew themselves at that point.  

Kyle,
eBay
Message 18 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies


@dhbookds wrote:

First class is made up of 2 shipping possibilities.....package and what I call letter.......Package is what needs to be changed........letter (sticker type things, mailed in a non trackable envelop) stays the same:  "First class".    Ebay can't filter between those. 

 

My thought, nothing to back it up, is that they are afraid if they supply a First class filter.......even people who have "letter first class" listings will change everything to GA which will create a mess for them. 

 

IF they could include price and/or weight in the filter that MIGHT solve the problem.......tho my brain probably doesn't conceive of all the permutations of how sellers list. 

 

They've recently added a caveat that they will extend the 30 days

 

We are asking sellers to update listings to Ground Advantage over the next 30 days to ensure buyers see the most accurate shipping details. We realize this may take longer for some sellers and we will continue to support First-Class on existing listings for a longer period of time. We will update you as more information becomes available.  

 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/USPS-introduces-the-new-consolidated-ground-shipping-ser...

 

As to what happens after that.......I've seen nothing definitive........a blue did say something to the effect that listings would not show a shipping price, but a "contact seller for shipping information" note.  But blues have not gotten right answers on alot of stuff for this....so I take that with a grain of salt. 

 

I, again, "imagine" they aren't going to give any leeway answer to what might happen because they want as many listings updated as possible....

 


Hey @dhbookds just to touch on this subject too, situations like this will generally continue to evolve, sometimes very rapidly.  We will provide the best and most accurate info we have available at a given time, but that doesn't mean that information won't change or be updated later.  As new information becomes available, we'll be sure to post those updates as quickly as possible.  

Kyle,
eBay
Message 19 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies


@maverickindustrialsales wrote:

We have 30,000 active ebay listing, and do NOT use ebay business policies.  Instead, we have 20 listing templates that our team uses when creating new listings.  We have avoided using business policies because we like the ability to customize shipping specifics and return specifics when we are listing items because certain items are required to be shipped a certain way, or not allowed to be shipped a certain way (batteries, liquids, some test equipment, etc).

 
Around 10,000 of our listings are "calculated shipping" with USPS First Class as the first option which we have as free for the buyers.  Then we have Priority Mail, UPS Ground, and UPS Next Day Air as optional calculated upgrades for the buyer if they want to pay for a different shipping service.  
 
What do we do?  I am unable to find a way to bulk-edit these items.  The bulk editing tool does not allow us to filter our listings by first-class listings.  When I download a CSV of our listings there is no way for us to sort them by first class either.
 
Is there not a way for Ebay on the back-end to create a rule to automatically switch first-class listings to ground advantage?
 
Is there anything we can do to automate this or will all of my first-class listings be removed from ebay?

Hey @maverickindustrialsales from what you are describing, it sounds like you have essentially created your own version of business policies with those templates you use.  I'd highly recommend looking into using eBay's built-in business policies to replace those templates, so that editing in bulk will be a snap!  You can check out more info on them here to see if they will work for your business.

Kyle,
eBay
Message 20 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

Why not create a column on active listing page for shipping method? It will help sellers now and in the future.

Message 21 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

kyle@ebay 

 

Not to "chew you or anyone on the Community team out", but it shouldn't be envolving.......USPS gave the information out months ago.......

 

The sad part it, ebay wasn't ready.......their initial announcement was wrong (ONLY parcel select with no other shipping options would be migrated to GA)..........and it continues to be a massive headache for sellers......

 

Only today (you should have an @concerning it).......a seller reports CS told them on 7/12, any first class (one presumes) package listing will be taken down 8/9 if it's not changed to GA...even tho the announcement quote (dated 7/10) above seems to give much more leeway......

 

Meanwhile sellers with 1000's of listings are staring at a screen trying to figure how to do this......

 

As a side note (optimistic) Shipscript has come up with a help...but is hamstrung until the "eBay Developer team authorizes my request for a daily limit increase so that I can publish this tool".

 

If you want to "help"..........you might get someone to contact @shipscript and it ought to be someone who is feeling the heat about what's going on.........if anyone actually is.........

Message 22 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

I am just like maverickindustrialsales, Policies will not work.  Since eBay has no real idea how shipping works, they did not figure this would be an issue.  Companies that sell many SKU's with different weights and DIMM's along with International and shipping the the customers wishes cannot do what you are suggesting.  

Message 23 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

In both of ours businesses that is not possible not without spending a larger amount of the profit on shipping.  Business people maximize profits.  In logistic you have to watch every penny. 

Message 24 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

kyle@ebay 

 

Shipscript has shown in this thread what his tool is able to do

 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/Why-can-t-eBay-update-my-listings-with-First-Class-to-Ground/...

 

he hopes to integrate with seller hub........

 

 

Message 25 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies


@ten_o_nine wrote:

Why not create a column on active listing page for shipping method? It will help sellers now and in the future.


If eBay did that, it would probably show only the first shipping method offered in that column. Many sellers offer a choice between shipping methods.

 

Possible alternative: a filter in the search bar where sellers can filter by shipping method. Though I see problems with that.

 

Best option I can think of: downloadable report that has shipping method and would allow sellers to bulk edit in excel then upload to replace existing shipping. Similar to how eBay gives sellers option of downloading a report of listings missing required item specifics.

GLORIOUS!

Confused about the switch to eBay discounted shipping? Read this discussion to make an informed decision about opt in / opt out.
Message 26 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

Just FTR, ship is a she = )

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley
Message 27 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies


@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

Just FTR, ship is a she = )


thanks.......I just use what used to be the generic he/his, etc......will try to remember....but my memory is shot....

Message 28 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

lol           kyle@ebay 

 

Where is the magic door.......to understanding? 

 

The announcement clearly states

We are asking sellers to update listings to Ground Advantage over the next 30 days to ensure buyers see the most accurate shipping details. We realize this may take longer for some sellers and we will continue to support First-Class on existing listings for a longer period of time.

 

Now you are saying the listings will not renew? 

Message 29 of 94
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Re: Ebay First Class to Ground Advantage Bulk Edit Problem, LARGE QUANTITIES, No Business Policies

ebay still working on solutions is what we were told, sounds like this is not over so hang in there.

Message 30 of 94
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