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?
93 comments
mn467462
·3 years agoWhy do sellers refer to themselves as we? It's weird.
norskmediashop
·3 years agoJust a reminder in case some of you didn't read it, ebay issued a statement in this thread on friday afternoon:
Hey everyone, as this situation continues to evolve and new information comes available, I have a quick update! We are no longer referring to a deadline of August 9th! While there is no hard deadline in place at this point in time, we want to stress to everyone the line right after that in the announcement that states:
"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."
so this is not over, and I think were going to see more come of it.
broto_64
·3 years agoYou can create multiple business policies, one to fit each of your specific attributes... Pain to set up initially but makes life easier for a good long time.
simply-the-best-for-you
·3 years ago@suzysemporium I just wanted to thank you for offering that very detailed & thorough explanation, complete with pictures 🙂 Like @mr_lincoln I also use 3rd party software & also have presets set up with them. Having been in software most of my life though, I don't want to be dependent on the 3rd party software in case it ever shuts down, so I'm going to look into how the 2 play together. It seems like Business Policies & Presets in Sixbit are very similar things & SB had told me the other day (when Ebay hadn't updated the API yet, so SB couldn't offer Ground Advantage) that if I used Bus Policies, then I didn't need to do anything in SB, so that tells me they are at least somewhat redundant.
simply-the-best-for-you
·3 years ago@suzysemporium I do not use Bus Policies currently. I am curious though from what you describe, what happens if you list an odd item that does not fit the criteria of any of your shipping policies. Is it possible to just manually do that one differently? Or do you have to create a new policy for it, even if it's a one-off?
Thanks!
suzysemporium
·3 years agoI have had that happen. Currently I have two listings that did not fit my other regular business policies. I created business policies just for them.
One is for a lighter that needs to go ground no international. The other is a comic book that I wanted to ship in a padded flat rate envelope. I just looked up the item, since I forgot what it was. I have two separate business policies just for them.
When the items sell, I can keep those policies and let them sit with no items for later possible use. Way on the right side of the screen I can see how many items are under a policy. When I click on the number, I can view the items. It will bring up a list like when you go to seller hub to view active listings.
I do have a free shipping policy sitting there with a 0, just in case I want to use it later on. If I want to de clutter, I can delete those policies that are sitting at 0. I give each policy my own title so I can tell what it is for and any special settings. You are going to see the title of the policy when you create the listing.
You can sort the policies by type (shipping, returns, and payment) or by how many listings are in each policy.
You can also have more than one return policy and payment policy. When creating the listing, you can mix and match the policies. You might want a 14 day return buyer pays on some items, and a 30 day return seller pays on other items.
maverickindustrialsales
OP3 years agoThank you for the input. Hopefully, in time, eBay will arrive at a fix for this instead of a "kick the can down the road approach".
laststopgeneralstore
·3 years agoI would definitely consider using business policies for a store of that size or any size for that matter.
I didn't use them for the longest time because I thought they were a huge pain but after you learn how to set them up, it makes life so much easier. Might take you some time now but you should consider setting up business policies for all of the different ways you ship/return/charge shipping etc...
Other than that you'll most likely have to do it manually.
luckythewinner
·3 years agoI simply set up a separate business policy for each of those scenarios.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoI stated once in this thread, your business cannot be compared to maverickindustrialsales and mine and auto category. Most of my items have different shipping requirements. Most have variable weights and DIMM's which require calculated shipping. If we were to go to Zone pricing which shipping policies would put us in our shipping costs would increase. eBay shipping policies work for some categories and not for others. Have an open mind about all Selling on eBay, many caretories are not like yours. This is standard eBay in that all on the platform are not really considered when making changes. eBay should have learned from their first global shipping deal, we were BETA for a week and got out, did not really perform as designed. eBay should just stay out of shipping they really do not know how to do it. They should hire Stamps.com for shipping and hire for 100% Google for search. I think if both were done the platform would grow instead of losing Gross Market Value, GMV, 7 quarters in a row and most likely the 8th quarter when the numbers are released for last quarter.
onefootflipper2
·3 years ago98 Percent of the store in question is free shipping. One policy would literally cover 98 percent of their store. "Free Shipping" standard shipping.
Can you point to a single thing you can do without shipping policies that you cannot do with them? I would love to hear about it. Be aware that calculated shipping, combined shipping, exceptions for specific items and allowing customers to choose between different options are all possible with policies.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoGoing forward after First Class is gone and Ground advantage is fully in, policies will work for bulk editing. The CURRENT issue will not allow policies to do the trick because of Calculated shipping and First Class Package. eBay has already come out and said there is no fix other than manual for First Class Package. I checked what you sell and we are in apples to oranges categories. You will have no issue in making this change. Companies like mine and others in Auto, Business and Industrial and Computers and Tables , this is a huge problem. I understand for you its hard to see what the issue is. I see that for you. How about you understand that others may have shipping issues your are not aware of. Big difference in Zone and Calculated shipping. Take Texas as and example. I ship a 12x8x6 lb box to El Paso from Phoenix cost will be $12-14 landed to Tyler Texas 1000 miles away will be $18 to 21. Zone pricing USPS would more or likely be $19 for the zone. No don't go crazy with the numbers. This is just of show the reason calculated verse zone. eBay loves zone as they collect more fees with that. I save $4-5000 a year by using calculated. I have 4 people I'm paying to revise our listing this weekend. It will take some 280 man hours to do the process. We will finish by the end of next week. If I am incorrect you would have hear from eBay correcting me and to date none from eBay has said a thing.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoSorry but I still have absolutely no idea what is the difference between "calculated" and "Zone" pricing. Are they different carriers? Different services? I'd appreciate a specific example with exact prices. If you do have some way to ship for less, we'd all like to know about it!
onthescrews
·3 years agoI hear you. Often times we can’t see things outside our own narrow scope. This may be a difficult piece for the rest of understand. Let me preface by saying I could be way off here in my own understanding of what’s happening.
With respect to policies, are you saying you can’t assign which shipping option you’ll use when you do the listing? How is it exactly that variable weights and calculated shipping preclude you from setting up a policy? Why exactly would a shipping policy put you in zone pricing?
I think unless you can explain why, in layman’s terms, everyone here is going to find it difficult to help you.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoWhy does that make shipping policies impossible? A shipping policy specifies the service, handling time, and whether the shipping cost will be flat or calculated. Then IF flat rate shipping, a price is entered. Package weight and dimensions are not part of the policy; they are entered for each listing. I do not understand your distinction between calculated shipping and "Zone pricing." Here's the entire set of data that are included in a shipping policy:
suzysemporium
·3 years agoYou are right. I wonder if some people think there can only be one shipping policy.
Many various shipping policies can be created, for a lot of situations.
You could have:
"First Class 1 Day Handling",
"First Class No international",
"First Class 14 Day Handling".
If you choose "First Class 14 Day Handling" that is what will show up on your listing giving you 14 days to ship just for that listing, and any other listings you choose to select that particular policy. All your other listings could be "First Class 1 Day Handling".
You can have 10 calculated policies, 3 free shipping policies, 15 flat rate shipping policies all at once. You would just have 28 different policies in total, better than changing 10,000 listings. I have 7 shipping policies right now for 500 listings. I deleted a shipping policy I had just for one item that already sold. I could have kept it for the future, but am trying to keep things as simple as I can. I can easily recreate it later on if needed.
Examples calculated and free shipping:
1) Ground advantage Under a pound 1 day handling
2) USPS Ground - UPS - Fed EX 1 day handling
3) USPS Ground - UPS - Fed Ex 3 day Handling
4) USPS Ground No international
5) UPS 10 Day handling, and etc
6) USPS Priority - Overnight - Fed Ex 5 day Handling Ship to US and Canada only
Offer flat rate shipping, you can create policies:
"Under a pound X amount",
"1-2 pounds X amount,
"2-3 pounds X amount"
There is a freight option and local pick up only option.
Ebay doesn't always make things clear. When I first saw business policies, I tried it and didn't like it. It wasn't until I watched some videos, especially the one form the auction professor that I actually understood the policies, how they worked, and what you could do with them. Now I'll never go back.
I noticed people talking about trying to use a bulk editor with business policies, when business policies is the bulk editor for shipping.
If a large company had specific software for listing and handling shipping specifics that couldn't interact with Ebay's policies, then there would be problems and issues. Maybe a business had a business account with special rates better than Ebay's discounts from specific carriers, and used their shipping label system. Then business policies may not work for them. Other than that, there should be no problem.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoWhen you refer to "zone pricing" @allthingssurplus, are you perhaps confusing business policies with rate tables? If not, I have no idea what you're trying to say.
As mentioned in above posts, you can set up calculated or flat shipping policies. While you can use rate tables with flat cost biz policies, it's not a requirement. I don't use rate tables. I have a mix of flat and calculated shipping policies to suit my variety of inventory. Some of them have combined shipping rules applied, some do not.
Any shipping, return or payment set up that can be implemented without biz policies can also be set up with biz policies.
Biz policies consolidate and save time.
Say you set up calculated shipping with a choice of 2 services. And you either set that up in a listing template or you manually set it up with every listing you create. To make any kind of change you have to either update listings one by one, or use the bulk editor. But there's no real way to filter which listings use that shipping set up unless maybe you can do it by store category.
Say you set up biz policies. And you set up a shipping policy with that calculated choice of 2 services. You apply that policy to your template and/or your individual listings. Want to make an update? It will apply with just a few clicks to every listing using that policy. Want to update one single listing? No problem - create a new shipping policy and attach it to that listing. Want to see what listings are using that shipping policy? One single click filters every listing tied to that policy on seller hub active listings page.
Package WT and DIM are set up at the listing level, not at the biz policy level.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoEverything you are saying is fine and dandy with regard to eBay policies after all of First Class is no longer in listing. For the current Issue of changing First Class Package with Ground Advantage and having calculated shipping policies will not work. eBay has stated that only parcel select will convert and not remove any other shipping service the Seller is willing to provide. In order for this change to take place for Auto, Business and Industrial and my category Computers and Tables we are forced to do it manually. If this were not true an eBay worker would have already come out and said what I and several others have been saying is incorrect. To date that has not happened. By the way the 3 categories stated are the money maker for eBay. Once again we are punished for paying high fees and not receiving proper IT to make this change.
fern*wood
·3 years agoTo be honest, I've not seen any ebay rep explain how to update the listings using any method. So telling you that you are right or wrong will probably never happen. The only help with how to do this that I've seen is from other sellers. Ebay just said to do it.
simply-the-best-for-you
·3 years agoOops, too late to edit, just wanted to also say that my annoyance at this nightmare fiasco is NOT directed towards Kyle, who is great & just doing his job.
simply-the-best-for-you
·3 years agoI find it VERY hard to believe that Ebay will suddenly with no announcement, allow the vast majority of listings on their site, to not renew.
Most sellers, the VAST majority still have no idea they're supposed to do anything.
Third party listing tools including the one promoted by Ebay (Sixbit) as of the 11th, cannot support the change b/c Ebay hasn't updated the API to allow for Ground Advantage. I was just informed in another thread (and confirmed it myself) that that has now been done for Sixbit. Who knows how long the other 3rd party tools will take to implement?
Ebay initially (2 months ago) told people to start making the change over the next 30 days from that announcement. Just one little problem with that. You can't make the change until the product actually existed on July 9th. How did no one at Ebay notice that?
And now I'm supposed to believe that on August 9th, virtually every GTC listing on the site will suddenly cease to renew? Let's just say I won't be holding my breath.
norskmediashop
·3 years agoI find it VERY hard to believe that Ebay will suddenly with no announcement, allow the vast majority of listings on their site, to not renew.
I agree, this would cut off business for ebay, and the seller, something has to give here. Or many are just going to walk away from ebay. Ebay does not seem to understand the many stores with thousands of listings that can not be changed with bulk edit or bus policies. (though we were told they do understand and are working on it....that could be good or who knows). But bulk edit and bus policies will not work, every item has a different set of ship configurations based on the item. Again the other platforms are rolling into the ground advantage, its just a name change, this fiasco is inexcusable.
norskmediashop
·3 years agoebay still working on solutions is what we were told, sounds like this is not over so hang in there.
fern*wood
·3 years agoI hope for the sake of many many sellers that something is in the works to help, but count me in as skeptical. It's not like this switch hasn't been known for months, so why wait till the sh*t hit the fan to look for a solution. I also wonder about ebay for business reps that were giving out different information than other reps. This gives me no confidence that there is a unified direction here.
norskmediashop
·3 years agoI agree with you, were in the same boat but fighting them to the core to do something about it, other platforms did they can just do it too or they will see a loss of revenue once many sellers/stores bail out and quit with ebay.
mr_lincoln
·3 years ago@norskmediashop A day late and a dollar short ...
kyle@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.
maverickindustrialsales
OP3 years agoKyle,
Thank you for trying to help, but again we are unable to use business policies for our application. We are not anti-business policies. We have tried and there is no way to use them with our business model. We know that we are not alone in that and would really like for your voice as a moderator to pass this up the ladder.
Surely as has been voiced by others in this thread, eBay would not benefit from having thousands of listings drop off of their site due to this issue.
Because weights and dimensions are stored on eBay, could anything over 3.5 oz be automatically moved to Ground Advantage on the back end? It would seem that could be a solution so that first-class envelope users could retain their products as well.
onefootflipper2
·3 years agoI have never seen a store more usable with business policies than yours.
Do you even know what they are? Like actually, for real, what they do and what your options are. They literally allow you to do every single thing you do without them, including customizing for specific items, but they allow you to fix things like this in seconds.
98 percent of your store seems to be free ship items. You create ONE policy, called "Free ship" and you apply that to 98 percent of your items. Problem solved right there. The other 2 percent or so seems to be local pickup and some heavy UPS items. Policies for those and you are done. Handling cost baked into calculated shipping on the item? You hit the override button on the shipping policy when listed and change the handling price on that listing alone.
Or if you won't do that, then just select 2000 at a time everything in your store that has free shipping on it and change the shipping to "Standard Shipping", that fixes that problem right there. I could do your entire store in about 20 minutes.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoHey @maverickindustrialsales . I say this with every intention of trying to help you and not to push you into something you don't want to do.
When you tried using biz policies, what specifically was the road block you faced?
Asking a mod to escalate FB that a product doesn't work for you is not going to be effective. You have to let them know why something doesn't work, or what specific part of the feature needs to be changed along with what it needs to be changed to in order to work for your business. Without providing that kind of info, the feedback isn't productive.
Having said that, you mentioned setting up a variety of shipping options through your listing templates. As a biz policy user I can say with confidence:
There is no reason you can't create a biz policy that replicates the exact shipping settings in your listing template and repeating the process for all your templates. Once that's done, assign listings to those policies using bulk edit tool.
Are you able to convey which part of biz policies don't work for you and why, with the purpose of either getting past a hurdle, clearing up a potential misunderstanding about how policies work, or if there's truly a problem with the system and its compatibility with your business, providing specific FB to eBay letting them know why biz policies don't work for you?
simply-the-best-for-you
·3 years ago@maverickindustrialsales thank you! As of former programmer, I don't understand the difficulty? I was writing the very simple code in my head. Of course IDK today's languages since I was an Assembler programmer, but the basic premise is exactly what you typed. IF shipping = First Class AND weight = >3 ounces THEN change FC to GA, ELSE continue. I fail to see the probem & whatever language you choose to write it in, it's a simple piece of code.
It may not get everything, but it seems that would easily get 90%.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 years agoSince 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?
maverickindustrialsales
OP3 years agoBusiness Policies will not work with our business model.
Looking for other feedback besides directing toward Business Policies.
Cheers.
slippinjimmy
·3 years agoBusiness Policies absolutely work, I use third party tools to manage my eBay listings, they have had a form of business policies (Shipping Presets) that predate eBay's by more than 20 years, I have always used them and they make changing shipping parameters totally painless. I can change anything related to shipping in bulk with just a couple of clicks regardless if I have 100 listings or 100,000 listings.
Almost 100% of the issues sellers are having with the change from First Class to Ground Advantage are due to sellers resisting using Business Policies which have been available and have been encouraged by eBay for many years.
"I refuse to use Business Policies"
"I refuse use the Seller Hub"
"I refuse to use Item Specifics"
"I refuse to use xxx"
All these refusals eventually come back to bite you.
Meanwhile, sellers who have been using Business Polices were able to update their First Class Package listings in just a couple of minutes no matter the number of listings.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoIf that Seller has calculated shipping checked and ships using First Class Package bulk editing is just not possible. We have tried and we use a third party as well. The key factor is calculated.
suzysemporium
·3 years ago"If that Seller has calculated shipping checked and ships using First Class Package bulk editing is just not possible. We have tried and we use a third party as well. The key factor is calculated."
The key factor is not calculated, but "third party". You are right, bulk editing will not work with business shipping policies, But.......
If you use business policies, why are you even trying to use Ebay's bulk editor? Your shipping business policy serves as the bulk editor, and it takes seconds. Time = money.
In the business policy, to switch from first class to ground advantage. I went to policy I titled "First Class", and set up for first class only. Click on add service, and choose USPS ground advantage. Then next to USPS First class, I clicked on link remove service. That changed all of my listings that used the "First Class" shipping policy. That is how it is used as a bulk editor for shipping services used, handling time, shipping international yourself, and excluding countries.
When you create the listing, you choose or create the shipping policy. Then input the weight and box dimensions, which is needed for calculated shipping. That is not taken care of by business shipping policies. That is solely taken care of when you are creating a listing.
I see shipping business policies may not work with a third party software program that does not recognize Ebay's shipping business policies. You directly in put the weight and dimensions in the listing itself, but Ebay is using some type of program or coding to grab the shipping business policy information from elsewhere. I can see where a third party may have issues with that.
I always use calculated shipping. I sell a large variety of items the smallest being a of earrings to the largest so far being a 19" doll. I have shipped everything from 01z to 5 pounds. I also will combine shipping whenever possible. Calculated shipping factors in all of USPS shipping carrier rules and zones as long as you have the weight and box dimensions correctly set in the listing. I can't speak for UPS or FedEX, but would assume the same. I had first class shipping on 148 listings out of 581.
If I had to try to use bulk edit from first class to ground advantage, I would have to take more than a day to sift through most of the 581 items just to make sure they didn't have first class shipping. I think I would give up at that point. Just to switch from first class to ground advantage, it took under a minute to switch 3 business policies.
I could just as easily switch from calculated to free shipping on all of my listings if I wanted to by making changes in the business shipping policies. Through the shipping policies not through the bulk editor. If I had free shipping on all of my items and made sure to put in the weight of the box, length, width, and height when creating the listing. I could just as easily switch from free shipping to calculated shipping. I have my policies set up for USPS only, since that is where I can walk to every day, and don't have other options without having to drive. I could just as easily add FED EX or UPS.
Because I use Ebay labels, I can make adjustments to the weight or box dimensions after I click on purchase label, but before I click on the buy button. Anyone using ebay labels would be familiar with this. I do this frequently whether or not I combine shipping. I find my self adjusting by a couple of ounces usually.
What you are telling me is that I should have never been able to switch from first class to ground advantage because I use calculated shipping on all of my items, have weights ranging from 1 oz to 5 pounds, and use business policies?
The only difference, I never use the bulk editor for shipping with the shipping policies. Why make things 100x more difficult? If you want to go from free shipping to calculated, but never entered the weight or box dimensions in the listing, well that is another story.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoYou never addressed First Class Package. eBay has stated that those listing using that method of shipping will require manual revision. Reason, all of the additional shipping services will not be included with the revision ie FedEx, Priority and UPS. Those would have to be added to the listing after the change. You do not deal with the range of items and shipping requirements that companies like mine. All of your policies you have going will be great after the conversion to Ground Advantage has been completed. Again eBay has agreed with me so far and you have not hear them come out with a fix for this. All they have done is same you will have more time to get it done, just get it done.
I have been doing this for a really long time at a high level. We have tested various ways to bulk revise these listings with no success. The OP of this thread is in some what the same business we are can't get it done and he knows how to write code. He has 30K listing to my 4200. This is costing us a great deal of money and all eBay is saying just get it done.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoHey @allthingssurplus . I've read your posts and understand your situation exactly.
Your current method of updating listings one by one from FC to GA is not efficient. There are less time consuming ways to address it.
My advice to other sellers in your situation, and yes, it has worked successfully for them in auto parts, computer parts & other categories with variety:
Set up biz policies. Those FC listings will be converted to GA with the biz policy set up if you follow the info posted here:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/Setting-up-Business-Policies-Update-to-USPS-Ground-Advantage/td-p/33855922
It makes no sense to update your listings then convert to biz policies after. You're doubling the workload. Instead, your listings can be updated when you make the switch.
Basically, you enroll in biz policies. You ignore all of the auto-generated policies. You set up your own policies. Then - and this is where the work comes in - you assign listings to those new policies which can be made easier by using bulk edit tool and category filtering. More details at the link I posted above and in my signature below.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoI never said I was going to enroll in eBay policies at anytime. I said after all the revisions were made for Ground Advantage that policies would work fine. Either way there is a great deal of work involved making this revision. Due to our inventory the most expeditious way to make the change is manually. I have no trust in using eBay policies. To date eBay has proved their lack of ability in most areas of the platform. We do not have a static inventory. We have a great deal of one-offs. The time need to build special polices for many items would exceed making the current required changes manually.
This is a problem eBay should have a fix. Its their platform and are being paid heavy fees to provide a vehicle for Seller to pay those fees. eBay has made it clear they want in the logistics business. Well logistics requires IT that will provide the ability to make changes for all the Sellers in all categories. Logistics is always a fast changing business.
I appreciate all the input. It will be cheaper and faster for us to manually make these changes. I am not a hard head or angry about change or afraid to make change. Being in business for 52 years and having at one time 20 convenience stores has groomed me for change. Change is something that requires planning. This is the fail on eBay's part. All should read a 30 page book written years ago, The Minute Manager. It spells out how you can be a manager or a firefighter. In this change the platform is acting like a firefighter without water. Again eBay has not come out and said policies will fix this CURRENT revision issue.
suzysemporium
·3 years agoI do admit, I'm not quite sure what is all involved when someone chooses to go to business policies the first time. It has been too long for me to remember. You may have to edit each listing once to select which business policy to use or create. Yes, that would be a hindrance, and take a lot of time when the switch is made.
I'm delving more into your listings, since you said "You do not deal with the range of items and shipping requirements that companies like mine." Nice range of items from electronics to books.
I noticed something I didn't touch on, which you didn't mention that you offer free and calculated shipping in the same listing.
This is for everyone. Having free shipping along with calculated shipping. I did a brief test listing for this. Took about a couple of minutes if that to set the test up if anyone was interested.
I tried it out with business policies. I just quickly picked 3 random services. More services could have been added including media mail for books.
I also think most people don't realize this is a possibility. I didn't until today looking at your listing. With calculated and flat rate shipping, the top service has free with a check mark box as shown below. You can add more services, but only the top service shows free shipping in the listing.
This is how it appeared in the test listing. No I didn't want to leave the listing up, so it is already down.
Is that one of the situations you were talking about?
If someone already set up a listing like this, and has a friend or employee where they can test the cart side. When the buyer selects a service that has a price beside it, does the price show, or free shipping? My main beef with ebay is they do not let us test the back end of the shipping cart. I wish I could have tested this, combined shipping, and exactly how request invoice works. Rant over.
I did not see where you could have calculated for one service and offer flat rate with another service in one listing simultaneously. If you are talking about that, Ebay falls way short even though you could have some listings with flat rate, and some with calculated.
The other thing I noticed was business policies have freight, but have no services to select. I can see that causing issues.
If anyone has a store front who uses business policies, I would love to have this confirmed. In the payment policy does checking other payment methods cash on pick up, check, and money order allow you to accept those payments when someone walks in to buy the item without having to ship it even if you do not have local pick up only checked in shipping policies? If not, ebay is falling short in this area.
Ebay always had issues working with 3rd party services.
Another area where Ebay is sorely lacking is with combined shipping. All a part of shipping logistics. I would love if Ebay allowed more than one combined shipping rule under calculated shipping. I imagine a headache for larger businesses who mostly work with combined shipping.
I know one business that has over 35,000 items, and most of his business is working with combined shipping. He says combined shipping in Ebay's cart never works. Most of his items are under a pound like items. He basically got to the point where he just refunds the shipping cost.
Those are the pitfalls I see as of right now. Ebay is lacking.
I don't know if using a bar code scanner to pre-fill in data would be a pit fall for using business policies or not. That is for businesses selling newer items. Some sellers use a bar code scanner and create bar codes for their inventory system.
So far I don't see a problem with each item being an individual size or weight when using business policies. You mentioned I didn't address first class. I already did. I even showed how to switch from first class to ground advantage in business policies. I can only talk about policies, since I no longer have access to the older system, and do not wish to opt out.
You later mentioned you do not intend to switch over, which is fine. I guess I consider this post as a journey of discovery, since I learned something new. To help show where Ebay is lacking.
This has gotten more to the point of where people are arguing with each other instead of trying to understand each other. I'm going to apologize now, since I know I'm a part of all of this.
To help us to see where Ebay is lacking, not allowing certain shipping combinations, or causing you logistic headaches. If it is possible for you to explain without getting too technical, I would love to hear about it. I don't know if Ebay will ever change things, but it would bring more awareness to everyone.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoAgain real simple. If you use calculated shipping and have First Class Package (so far all except for two people, the OP and myself, all have not addressed the First Class Package shipping service with regard to making the revision) you will have to manually revise your listings. eBay has said it and the OP has said it and I say it. Both the OP and myself have run our on tests and come to the conclusion we are correct. The OP knows how to write code and both of us have been on eBay for decades doing millions of dollars of business. First Class Package if revised as most on the thread are insisting we should do would cause us to lose all of our additional shipping services we currently offer our customers like FedEx, overnight, 2nd Day, priority etc. Yes we could get the listing to convert to Ground Advantage however we would have to revise all the listing anyway and add all of our additional services. eBay has said only Parcel Select will cross over with all additional shipping services intact. That does not work with out business model. We are upset in that if eBay can do Parcel Select they should be able to do First Class Package as well. An assumption can be made that there is a conflict with Flats (stamped first class mail) and First Class Package which if package were allowed it would cancel out the stamped service. Don't know that for a fact though.
Again someone ask eBay why First Class Package can't be crossed over like Parcel Select. So far eBay will not communicate about any real fix. So starting tomorrow my team will be racking up the overtime hours to fix what should be eBay's problem.
suzysemporium
·3 years ago"eBay has stated that those listing using that method of shipping will require manual revision. Reason, all of the additional shipping services will not be included with the revision ie FedEx, Priority and UPS."
Let me know if I'm understanding this correctly. With the way Ebay has shipping set up out side of business policies, that if you use your 3rd party bulk editor to switch from first class to ground advantage you will loose all other shipping services. You will need to manually go back in the listing, and add the other shipping services. That may happen even if you found a way to use ebay's bulk editor.
Then, yes Ebay failed everyone who does not use business policies. While giving preferential treatment to those who use business policies, since I never lost any other service I had with first class when switching.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoStop saying First Class the problem is First Class PACKAGE. The new USPS system is flats. Again the problem in revising to Advantage is only Parcel Select will cross completely and Package will not.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoMessage #2 on this thread here is what said in the first para:
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.
Flats are letter/envelopes. If you have multiple shipping services, as all our listing have, and one of those is First Class Package none of those services will revise and listing at that point will only show Ground Advantage. So a Seller is faced with having to add all of those services to listing by doing another revision. If your inventory is static like baseball cards, shirts, dolls and things like that revising your listing will take no time at all. The three money making categories for eBay are Auto, Computer and Tables and Business and Industrial. All of these categories are being damaged the most with this revision because eBay is not smart enough to write some simple code to allow the Package service to cross over like Parcel Select.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoThat is exactly what I said and yes eBay has failed.
mr_lincoln
·3 years ago@slippinjimmy I don't use Business Polices but "refusal" might be a bit strong considering what I sell and how I sell it. Would it be possible to have a Business Policy written for this and if so how exactly would it be written, screen shots would be appreciated.
suzysemporium
·3 years agoYour store is similar to mine. You have a lot more trains for sale though, and I only saw one book. I have a lot more figurines. We both have kitchen items. I don't like selling mixing bowls though. I do sell jewelry, key chains, toys, paper ephemera, bottles, . I'm not sure which shipping services you use. I'm assuming you use calculated shipping. At minimum 3 business policies. I'll even show you mine.
1) Titled - Ground Advantage (For items under a pound Originally titled first class)
Calculated Shipping
Service selected - Ground advantage.
(There is a link under the shipping service where you can add more services.)
Handling Time - 1 day
No international - since I don't ship international directly through USPS or other service.
Note If you do not want to sell internationally through Ebay's international EIS service aka GPS, you need to opt out through selling preferences now.
2) Titled: Ground - Priority (This is for items over a pound)
Calculated
Service selected - Ground Advantage and Priority
(Note you can add UPS, Fed EX, Flat Rate, or any other service you want here)
Handling time - 1 Day
No international
3) Titled: Media mail - ground (for the book)
Calculated
Service selected - Media mail and Ground Advantage
Handling - 1 day
(Note if the book is over a pound, you can add other services. I actually have two business policies for medial mail. One for books and other media items under a pound, and one for over a pound.
If you ship internationally but have an item you don't want to ship internationally. Under international shipping click on edit exclusion list. Exclude all countries.
Say if some of your items you have over a pound you want extra handling time to pack. You redo #2, and change the title and handling time
2) Titled: Ground - Priority 3 Day Handling
Calculated
Service selected - Ground Advantage and Priority
(Note you can add UPS, Fed EX, Flat Rate, or any other service you want here)
Handling time - 3 Day
No international
This is dealing with the shipping policy side. Will be giving more photos and explanations, and explain the listing side of things in another reply.
partial list of shipping services that can be added.
suzysemporium
·3 years agoContinued....
Calculated will not work unless you have filled out the package weight and package dimensions when you are creating the listing. This is a screenshot from create a new listing.
I'm new to inserting images. If I known I could put text underneath the image, I would have done so in the first reply.
Right under Shipping policy, you see ground advantage with an arrow. This lists all the shipping policies that I created and titled. Title them so you know what they are. I need to fix some of the titles. Next to the titles you can see how many listings I have for each policy.
suzysemporium
·3 years agoPS: The shipping policy with the arrow is where you choose which shipping policy you want for the item. The three dots next to the list is a menu
- View Shipping Policy
- Edit Shipping Policy
- Create Shipping Policy
mr_lincoln
·3 years ago@suzysemporium First, I can't thank you enough for going through and creating those posts. That really helps explain it since prior to your explanation many just say "use a business policy" which is like the tip of the iceberg with regard to getting them set up.
I have 1 day handling on all of my listings, I use Priority mail on anything over 1 lbs ... I used to use Parcel select plus Priority and most Buyers picked Parcel but I could ship Priority and still pay less than the Buyer's Parcel select cost ... that worked until USPS raised their rates to where I would lose money doing that, so I dropped Parcel select ... so until G-A I just offered Priority for stuff over 1 lbs.
Most of my listings are created from one of up to 50 Templates so for future listings G-A will simply be pre-set in the Template. For existing listings I have most of the First Class ones converted to G-A. I can add G-A to my Priority mails listings at my leisure.
Again, my sincere thanks ... I could set on up based on your explanation.
suzysemporium
·3 years ago"I don't use Business Polices but "refusal" might be a bit strong considering what I sell and how I sell it. Would it be possible to have a Business Policy written for this and if so how exactly would it be written, screen shots would be appreciated."
Final thoughts after posting the how I would create business policies for your store with images in the posts below. I'll eventually figure these forums out someday. Read the other two posts first.
I was never really good at presentations I know you directed this to someone else, but thought I might try to help. Sorry if my first post seemed cluttered, or a little confusing.
If you need any clarifications or more explanations, let me know.
This was only for calculated shipping. You can have these calculated shipping policies and also use the flat rate and free shipping at the same time. It is not either or situation. Each business policy only controls the listings you add to it.
The business policies controls the shipping method, service, handling times, and international. The weight and packing dimensions are controlled by each individual listing. Otherwise the policies would become one huge mess.
If you want to offer free or flat rate shipping, it is easiest to use ebay shipping calculator to figure out shipping costs. I'm not sure if you know about that or not.
I use 3 day handling times, because sometimes I'm not always able to make it to the post office in one day. Handling times can go up to 40 days.
I hope this might have helped you, or someone else.
maverickindustrialsales
OP3 years agoBusiness Policies do not work and will not work with the model that we run. We are shipping many items with combined orders with random sizing and servicing needs with products that we sell.
nobody*s_perfect
·3 years agoSizing is not part of the shipping policies, so variations in size aren't a reason not to use shipping policies.
You can set up different policies for each shipping situation, such as hazmat, different combinations of services to offer, etc. Take a look at the shipping policies page, which shows which factors they DO consider.
https://www.bizpolicy.ebay.com/businesspolicy/shipping?pageNumber=1&source=manage
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoIn 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.
dhbookds
·3 years ago@maverickindustrialsales
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.
May I ask who told you that?......as it seems in direct conflict with the statement I copied from the Announcements.........
maverickindustrialsales
OP3 years agoAn eBay CSR yesterday.
slippinjimmy
·3 years agoWell telephone csr's are not known for accuracy.
Calculated shipping listings that use First Class Package will cease to work.
Flat Rates shipping listings will have issues (not exactly known what the issue will be).
eBay has not officially stated that these listings will not renew unless changes but the effect will be similar in that buyer may still be able to purchase but won't be able to complete checkout. That will lead many buyers to move to another seller, some will contact you in attempt to get your listings fixed so that they can pay.
maverickindustrialsales
OP3 years agoWe have 12000+ calculated shipping listings that are scheduled to be shipped via first-class parcel.
I hope you are correct that this will simply cause a buyer to not check out completely.
The eBay CSR yesterday ( and I agree that many of them do not know much) did say that the listings that were not changed to reflect first-class would automatically not be relisted after the 30 days. Perhaps they were ignorant of the last info posted above, but they were conversing with management several times during the call.
slippinjimmy
·3 years agoA customer service "manager" is NOT "management", it's just the csr sitting in the next cubbyhole!
dhbookds
·3 years ago@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.....
kyle@ebay
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.
dhbookds
·3 years agolol @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?
lotzofuniquegoodies
·3 years ago@dhbookds
I think in eBay speak GTC means until eBay cancels a listing unceremoniously in the dark of night. I have tried to ask in the past if a listing(s) get cancelled by eBay do they end up in a sellers unsold folder or to the poof into oblivion. (Same situation happened when they cancelled sellers permission to use the term "refurbished" as a condition. I have never gotten a straight answer. A tool for searching out these critter listings would have been real hindsight!!!
-Lotz
kyle@ebay
Hey everyone, as this situation continues to evolve and new information comes available, I have a quick update! We are no longer referring to a deadline of August 9th! While there is no hard deadline in place at this point in time, we want to stress to everyone the line right after that in the announcement that states:
"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."
dhbookds
·3 years agoThanks Kyle..........I appreciate the "update".........but think the real problem is original communication....3rd time you (not your fault) haven't been given the correct info....and I've sent an email to one of the shipping guys and suddenly there is an "update"...... If something like this happens again.....I'd suggest checking with a different source in the beginning........just a heads up.......
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoKnowing eBay can't be trusted to repair the platform or give good information on how large Sellers can make this shipping revision without spending Thousands of dollar, telling us its not the 9th is a pipe dream. Someone grow a pair and come out with a date so business people like volume Sellers can plan. I get the concept of planning is very hard for eBay. However when it comes to fees you seem to have excessive plans. GIVE US A DATE
wastingtime101
·3 years agoBut that's the kind of situation where biz policies help @maverickindustrialsales . I'd suggest you reconsider using biz policies.
Links in my sig below offer help with bulk edit for ground advantage and setting up biz policies. Hopefully you can find something useful there.
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoI 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.
suzysemporium
·3 years ago"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."
Are you scanning a bar code, and it fills in a template? Are you using a shipping service other than Ebay shipping labels? That is the only way I see business policies not being able to work.
If you are using Ebay labels, business policies make things super easy. In 30 seconds, I changed 3 shipping business policies from first class to ground that control 418 items. One first class only, One offering media mail and first class, and just for one listing First class no international.
I was against Ebay business policies until I watched this you tube video by the Auction Professor "10 Best Tips Tricks Settings All Resellers Should Know." 10 Best Tips Tricks Settings All Resellers Should Know
mr_lincoln
·3 years agoHi @maverickindustrialsales
I posted on my own thread about this and that they should have created a column on the Active list to sort by different hipping methods ... it's not like they didn't know this was coming so to me their support for this particular transition is a complete FAIL.
The Active list DOES have a Shipping column and you can sort it. I tried it yesterday but since all my listings are set for Calculated not much changed when I sorted. You might just see if that column sorts between Free Shipping and Calculated opposed to Flat rate and Calculated (which I suspect it was it does).
If you do not see that column use the Customize link and add it. Here are all of the column choices we have:
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoIf you are doing calculated and First Class Package. The only fix is to manually revise the listing. eBay no brains
lotzofuniquegoodies
·3 years ago@mr_lincoln
Unsure if this is addressed further along in the same discussion but it would be most helpful if there were filters for shipping options. Some sellers use flat rate. Others use free and others use either calculated with 1 option or several there is no way I have been able to find to edit or update listings seamlessly as most sellers require. Shipping policies do not work for everyone. Neither does bulk edit. When they implement changes such as these there seem to forget about potential consequences or the time involved to repair the bonus damage they caused.
What would be most helpful is when a seller clicks a filter it remains for the next time the seller returns to fix item 2 instead having to start from square 1 again.
-Lotz
allthingssurplus
·3 years agoAt last a Seller that understands the problem eBay has created. We have 4200+ listing most to all in computer part or automation parts. Like you we have specific ways to ship which is prudent to the business. eBay has made no allowance for large volume Sellers to deal with their inventories. After reviewing this issue for the past 3 weeks here is the sad tail you and I are facing. If you want your listings how you have listed them, calculated shipping and various shipping methods, you are forced to do that process manually one at a time.
The hope is eBay would be smart enough to figure out how this process could be made seamless. Truth be known they are not. Why eBay insists on damaging their, as they say "valued Sellers", with the lack of support on IT issues is shameful. This should have been addressed and fixed by eBay a very long time ago. Anyone think eBay did not know this was going to be an issue for the three largest categories on the platform, Auto, Business & Industrial and Computers. Don't know for sure however my thought is a large amount of the eBay bottom line is generated by these three categories.
We have tested and found it will take 4 mins. to properly review and change a listing. That equates to 280 man hours costing, wages and taxes on the wages like $7000.00 for a process that should take less than an hour by a press of a button. Those Sellers that have static shipping, all the same stuff and cost, won't believe the problem. The problem is real. So eBay in their wisdom or lack there of, thinks its okay for Sellers like you and me to burn up a couple of weeks of listing time to repair what they should have already planned for. Keep in mind its not the Sellers platform. Sellers are currently paying a great deal of their net to be on this platform. Sad eBay feels its Seller should be responsible for IT issues on the platform and continue to do a high level sales. People will read this and say if you don't like it leave. Well our company was a 100% Seller on eBay and now only 10% which is consistent with the quarter after quarter of eBays loss of Gross Market Value, GMV.
dhbookds
·3 years agoFirst 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-service/ba-p/33860819
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....
kyle@ebay
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.
ten_o_nine
·3 years agoWhy not create a column on active listing page for shipping method? It will help sellers now and in the future.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoIf 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.
ten_o_nine
·3 years agoIf eBay did that, it would probably show only the first shipping method offered in that column. Many sellers offer a choice between shipping methods.
-----------------------------------------------------------
It can be expandable if more than one service, any developer can do that.
dhbookds
·3 years ago@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.........
dhbookds
·3 years ago@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/m-p/33867346#M452493
he hopes to integrate with seller hub........
toomuchstuffagain35
·3 years agoJust FTR, ship is a she = )
dhbookds
·3 years agothanks.......I just use what used to be the generic he/his, etc......will try to remember....but my memory is shot....