Received a random call from eBay Utah
Received a call a couple days ago from eBay, Utah. They were fishing around and promoting discount manager. Lady was quite knowledgeable. I ended up doing most of the talking after she figured out that I know eBay like she does.
Just a run of the mill checkup to see if I had been using item discount manager, volume pricing etc, etc. She said it was a new department, so to speak and they were contacting sellers to be informative and garnering feedback from sellers. She also stated that she was with Social Media CS Facebook, before this new department.
I generally stand by the rule that I have everything priced right to begin with, though I am behind on a complete price re-check of all listings due to other projects around here. I use volume pricing on 95% of everything that has multi-quantity available.
I went ahead and started a 10% markdown the next day.
If I can't give up another 10%, I suck at sourcing. Running it for 2 weeks. See what shakes out.
Last call from eBay Utah was several years ago concerning EIS. Was not long after that call that I was into EIS. I was waiting until I had shipping weight and dimensions into every listing...... could have started EIS without all that work upfront.
Anyone else get random calls from eBay Utah? If so, what were they seeking?
Waiting now for my next call in 2029 or thereabouts.
slippinjimmy
·2 months agoI received this type of call from eBay in the past. This was when I was much more active than I have been in the past few years.
While they really have nothing of interest for me I use the opportunity to direct the discussion to the small number of issues that have bothered me for years (such as the problems for buyers to request a total on combined purchases).
After that part of the discussion it usually devolves to a social call where we chat about the weather or how long they have been working for eBay.
I get similar calls from other service providers like my ISP.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·2 months ago@slippinjimmy I got a few of those too...I think one difference is that those were usually shorter and general. These are focused on your store/account, and you can indicate ahead of time what topic(s) you want to focus on. I'm going to give it a try, but I'm making some changes to my business model, and want to wait till have some of that stuff finished first.
stainlessenginecovers
·2 months agoInteresting as I use the DM every month and have for 15 years. Just today, I have 528 items yet only 524 are showing when I go to 'add' my new sales (I do them monthly) and 4 items which need to be on sale are not even shown.
onefootflipper
·2 months agoI have had a young lady from Utah call me twice over the past 3 years, pretty sure it was the same one both times, she was familiar with my youtube channel. Talked about promoted listings. She was very nice, polite and definitely knew what she was talking about.
hawkwind5454
·2 months agoBack in the Jurassic period of eBay, I would occasionally get a call, just to check and see if I had any problems, concerns, or questions and to make me aware of a trendy new ebay programs. (Twaz actually nice) I think the last random call I received from eBay was when they were starting to roll out promoted listings. Since then, crickets.
grann-4629
·2 months agoI got a call (back) from an eBay 'live agent' once and it was just another dumb robot converted from a vacuum cleaner. It was like being on a merry-go-round!
kibble-net
·2 months agoI got a call from ebay a few weeks ago. Not Utah. Just reaching out to know if I wanted a free consultation. I figured it was simply to pitch me on spending more on promoted listings, so I politely declined.
grann-4629
·2 months agoDid they also offer you 2 weeks paid vacation in the Bahamas if you make it through their 2 hour free consultation?
lakefor94
OP2 months agoHave to ping @my-cottage-books-and-antiques and @valueaddedresource to see if they had heard anything about "new eBay departments" made up of former social media reps or the like?
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·2 months ago@lakefor94 Nope.
@kibble-net Sounds like ebay was reaching out with a "Seller Clinic" offer. I've seen comments from sellers who attended these, and most seemed to feel it was worthwhile. I think a lot depends on how well you prepare for it. I'm thinking of doing it at some point, but I will first thoroughly review my existing store and compile a list of specific questions. As always with this sort of thing, a lot will depend on how well I prepare and the attitude and expectations I bring. If you do want to try it, you can set one up---I think we can have 3 a year.
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/growth/seller-clinics
valueaddedresource
·2 months ago@lakefor94 thanks for the ping!
To answer your question, yes this is a thing, but no it's not new - one of the reasons the social media reps were able to be so much more helpful than phone reps is they were often part of the same division that handles the Pro Seller Programme/ Seller Growth initiatives.
From a response of mine to a post about the social reps last year:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Open-discussion-about-the-social-media-reps/m-p/35115201/highlight/true#M2572361
In the past I've actually seen some of the community team here also occasionally pop up answering questions through the social support channels - though it's difficult to say whether that may still be true since the social reps don't always sign a first name on their tweets/posts and even if it is, there are definitely more than just the names we are familiar with here.
In general, I believe most of those roles are likely based out of the Utah or Ireland offices and I suspect that one of the reasons they tend to be more knowledgeable and more empowered to be helpful than overseas support might be that they are also part of the same division that handles the Pro Seller Programme/ Seller Growth initiatives.
Here's a 2017 article talking about eBay's Social Media Customer Care team which was led by Dallen McKee at the time, highlighting some of the things that make that team different than other support options
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/special-columns/how-ebay-supports-buyers-and-sellers-social-media
While some of the social reps were no doubt let go during layoffs earlier this year, I suspect the shut down of social support on X and Facebook didn't mean most of those people were let go - it simply means they were reassigned to other areas ie. continued support for those Seller Growth programs, onboarding support for eBay Live sellers, etc.
As for eBay cold calling sellers, that's not really new either - here's just one example from 2023:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Ebay-called-me-yesterday/m-p/34192728/highlight/true#M2331103
That being said, I have seen an increase in reports of sellers receiving these calls in the last ~2-3 weeks, so they're clearly making a "push" for this kind of seller engagement right now for reasons that may not be entirely unrelated to the light that has been shone on eBay seller relations by GameStop/Ryan Cohen's takeover bid. 😉
chapeau-noir
·2 months agoThey've never called me.
THEY DON'T LIKE ME!!!! 😭
broto_64
·2 months agoI hope they don't.
kensgiftshop
·2 months agoI got one years ago, don't remember what it was for though.