EBay messages not supporting PDF attachments is a problem for my post sales buyer communications
The product I sell on ebay has a companion user guide in PDF format. It should be simple for me to provide this PDF after sale but ebay does not support PDF attachments. I have to send the buyer a message for them to go to my website to download the user guide; more steps in the sales process for both me and the buyer. In a perfect world, It would be easy for ebay to alert the buyer that a manual exists in the listing (enabled post sale), and can be downloaded. Or, simply, just enable PDF attach and I can send them the manual through the message tool. What is more ridiculous, during the listing process ebay has a feature for "upload documents related to the listing". I did this expecting that these documents would be visible to the buyer but it appears these docs fall into a black hole. ??
rugerskick
·10 months agoI also refer customers to other trusted, safe sites via a link to download pdf files from. None have ever complained. For ebay its a security issue, they don't want ebay to be in any way linked to someone who downloads a file thats malicious or causes problems, they just don't allow for that possibility to occur through the site. And in this particular case, I understand that viewpoint.
Since they do not prevent sellers sharing a link to the files with buyers, they aren't harming sellers' ability to provide buyers info they need on items they purchase. If they also did that, it would be a serious problem.
toysaver
·11 months ago"The product I sell on ebay has a companion user guide in PDF format"
Unless you wrote this guide you have no legal right to distribute it. All written works are copyright protected including manuals and a sheet of directions. Most guides and such are from manufacturers and intended for customers that bought products from them. If they are buying from you instead they have been denied that money.
slippinjimmy
·11 months agoI have never heard of any brand that charges money for User Guides or Manuals. Most brands don't take kindly when people try to sell them but the OP is not selling manuals.
For something like a watch, camera or computer related item the manuals are always available from the manufacturers website, usually even for quite old and no longer produced items they are available (maybe not if you are talking about an item that hasn't been produced since the 1950's).
toysaver
·11 months agoI don't know of any business that charges for a user guide but you can be sure the cost of such is part of pricing an item. Yes, guides and manuals can be sought out and used but this is different. The OP is making a profit on the works of somebody else. The PDF didn't fall out of the sky. A business invested time and resources to produce it. EBay doesn't want the legal liability of being involved in this type of transaction.
Where can I obtain watch parts? | Seiko Watch Corporation
"We do not supply spare parts directly to individuals anywhere in the world. We recommend that you contact an Authorized Seiko Service Center or a Seiko appointed dealer to have the watch part(s) replaced."
kinetivations
·11 months agoI own all the rights.... I manufacture the product and wrote the manual.
slippinjimmy
·11 months ago@digisan924
I did a simple Google search for manuals for the two Seiko watches you have listed.
Example search: Seiko user manual 7L22-0AN0 SBHV009
Both came up as the very first results so it's very simple for anyone who wants one to find it.
The second link Google provided is for all Seiko manuals available on their website
Perhaps all you need to do it mention in your listing that the manual is available for download from the Seiko website.
kinetivations
·11 months agoThanks for all your time to help, but this problem is for a newly manufactured product I sell with my business account. This thread is on my personal account.
babyers88
·11 months ago@digisan924 both manualowl.com & manualslib.com allow you to upload manuals
they are free as far as i know, just the website is heavily dependent on ad's
babyers88
·11 months ago@digisan924 documents can be uploaded in the listing when you create it, just a heads up if you were not aware
digisan924
OP11 months agobeen there, done that. doesn't work. ebay does not expose these docs to the buyer. No clue what those docs are used for, if uploaded, but when you look at the listing they are not shown pre or post sale.
whitewaterford
·11 months ago@digisan924
I've not used this, but here is what may be a simple solution unless this is proprietary information. In the listing itself, there is a section "item disclosures" toward the bottom of the listing where you can add product documents. Apparently it does support PDFs. Good Luck!
digisan924
OP11 months agoTried the "item disclosures" trick. It does not work. Ebay does not expose these documents to the buyer. I've uploaded the user guide when I made the listing thinking it would make them available to a buyer, but nope...
whitewaterford
·11 months ago@digisan924 Sorry this didn't work! I tried it now too and since The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) applies to all sellers who deliver items to the EU or Northern Ireland, apparently this information isn't viewable on the ebay.com site. I added a user guide to one of my documents and checked from ebay.fr for example and guess what ..... the user guide appeared! So I guess it only appears to EU buyers. Too bad!
rugerskick
·10 months agoCool, I am going to check this out. 🙂
tobaccocardyahoo
·11 months agoMy preferred solution would be sending a hard copy of the manual with the product shipment.
I do not watch the pennies.
digisan924
OP11 months agocustomers these days hate paper manuals and want everything digitally. They want PDF
Unavailable member
·11 months agoWhy don’t you just call your buyer and get their email address, you have their number in the order details.
You can send the buyer a message first and let them know you will be calling.
digisan924
OP11 months agowaaaay too much work/time for me. and buyers DO NOT want the seller calling them randomly. Most wont answer anyway, then Im sending more email to alert them to answer their phone. Again, terrible customer service for a simple UserGuide
Unavailable member
·11 months agoI’m not customer service, thank you very much.
digisan924
OP11 months agoI meant customer service from my side, not that you were ebay customer service.
adamcartwright
·11 months ago@digisan924
I thought there was a way to include the manual in the listing itself, but I see that's not for the US.
rugerskick
·10 months agoYour scope of the problem is too narrow. Plenty of used items no longer have manuals with them, but they are available online in pdf form.
digisan924
OP11 months agoyes this works, but would be easier to send them the user guide in one shot. And my customer has to navigate to my site to download the doc, which is more work for them.
stephenmorgan
·11 months agoUse to be that you were allowed to exchange emails for 2 weeks as long as you had a paid transaction between each other. Does this no longer work?
luckythewinner
·11 months agoCan't you just include a note with the item that gives the URL to the PDF user guide?
eburtonlab
·11 months agoCan't you just include a note with the item that gives the URL to the PDF user guide?
Or send a QR code?
digisan924
OP11 months agoQR codes are also flagged
eburtonlab
·11 months agoQR codes are also flagged
I was just able to send a QR code with a non-eBay link by eBay message between two accounts and verify that it worked for me on the receiving end.
[edited to add: don't include the QR code in the listing -- send it to the buyer or include it in the package.]
digisan924
OP11 months agoOK, but what I was commenting about was having a QR code in the listing. Those are flagged. If I send the customer a QR code post-sale through ebay that is allowed but that is actually more work for my customer since now they have to pick up the phone and scan the screen, then move that file off their phone to PC if they want to read it there. My user guide experience works OK on mobile but its much better UX on laptop.
digisan924
OP11 months agoQR codes are also flagged
digisan924
OP11 months agoNo. EBay flags this immediately and takes the listing down for violating terms. No URLs can exist in the listing; from ebays view could be bad actors attempting to lure customers off ebay for side deals etc.; basically using ebay for marketing and avoiding selling fees
digisan924
OP11 months agoNo. EBay flags this immediately and takes the listing down for violating terms. No URLs can exist in the listing; from ebays view could be bad actors attempting to lure customers off ebay for side deals etc.; basically using ebay for marketing and avoiding selling fees
kensgiftshop
·11 months agoCouldn't buyer just Google a manual if they need one?
digisan924
OP11 months agoNo. My device user guide is not available by google search. Web search engines cannot see it. And besides this is terrible customer service. I would never expect my customer to fend for themselves finding the operators guide.
kibble-net
·11 months agoCan you simply give them a URL where they can view it in their web browser?
chapeau-noir
·11 months agoI don't know if we can send URLs to buyers even post-sale - maybe someone here can say if that's OK or not.
@digisan924 I just ran into the same problem. Fortunately, in my case I could reformat to an image file, but trying to do that with a manual of any more than a few pages would be a mess - I know, I've done it.
Since I include packing slips, now I just include the short-form manual I sometimes have for some of the electronics I sell - if you can't send them the URL post-sale, maybe you can just include it in the package.
digisan924
OP11 months agoI already have a package insert with URL and QR code. But customers sometimes never look at the paperwork in the box. They just think its a packing slip or receipt etc. then they contact me looking for user guide etc. This would all be solved if ebay would allow PDF attachments post-sale. I know they dont want to do this since they pay for all the data traffic on their servers and these PDFs could be double digit MBs (mine is 1.2MB).
Even easier for ebay would be to allow PDFs are part of the listing images; they could restrict the file size too, say, 5MB or so. typical for a hi-rez compressed image type. Then the buyer can also preview the device operation
participatrophy
·11 months agoAdd a picture of the user manual cover page to it. They think it's a packing slip because that's what it looks like. Needs a can't-miss-it visual cue that says otherwise at a glance.
Alternatively, you could add the URL & QR code to the cover page, duplex print as booklet, trim neatly by hand, fold neatly, and staple bind. Those looking for a hard copy of the user manual will find it. Those only looking in hopes of finding a route to a digital copy will find that too.
kinetivations
·11 months agoThese ideas are all good but dont fit my customer service needs/desires. Buyers dont want more paper. They want electronic user guides. My vision of the best customer service is when they buy the device they get a PDF of the manual "immediately" not later with some process they have to perform that takes up their time scanning QR codes, or dealing with typinf in a URL etc. Those days are gone.
I posted this thread originally to attract attention from EBay in the hopes of them adding to their sites list of new features. EBay has no conduit for bugs or features I can find on the site. Every 'contact ebay' pathway ends in a dead end if you have an issue that does not fit their site's support logic. I understand why.....it would be an enormous drain on resources if they had a freeform input portal where users could comment on what they dont like about ebay's site.
participatrophy
·11 months agoBottom right on most pages there is a circle icon with a question mark inside it. Click that and you'll find the means to submit feedback &/or tech reports. Some pages also have a "Tell us what you think" link in tiny font that leads to a 3 question survey type deal. There's one more like that too but the exact wording of it isn't coming to mind at the moment. Once you know to look for them they're easy to spot.
Speaking of exact wording though, add the word "for" (or "fits") before the word "Seiko" in your listing. Every instance. Doing so will keep you in line with eBay policy on copyright protections. You leave yourself open to unneccesary risk without the proper wording, and eBay tends to be rather unforgiving about that sort of thing under the right circumstances.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/intellectual-property-policy?id=4349
FAQ section at the bottom, 3rd question
kinetivations
·10 months agoIm not re-selling a Seiko product. The product in question here is something I designed and manufacture new. I own all rights to the product and documentation, etc. I made the mistake of starting this thread on my personal ebay acct not my business acct. People clicked on my personal items for sale and all these very confused replies showed up, attempting to help.
chapeau-noir
·11 months agoWell, you can't *make* people pay attention. The only thing I can say is when you ship, just message your buyer to expect a link to the manual to be in their package, and hopefully they will look.
I agree that eBay will probably never allow pdf files as attachments for the reason you cite. Agree with no phone calls or paper manuals, so I think your options are limited.
digisan924
OP11 months agoThe domain service I use charges more to host the PDF so it can be viewed that way and downloaded. I use dropbox which is free.