Support has fallen off a cliff.
I've had a technical issue affecting my account for almost 3 weeks now. It has caused me to suffer almost $2,000 in sales losses.
I've done extensive analyzing on my end to confirm it's nothing stemming from something I am doing wrong.
I've recreated the error, I've tested new listings on both my own personal computer, a friend's laptop (on my own internet) and the eBay app on my smartphone and can confirm something is going on in the background at eBay to cause information to be deleted. Information that would otherwise cause a normal sale.
I've now had phone support make 3 tickets, I've detailed what the EXACT issue is, and all I keep getting is completely unhelpful drivel. The eBay equivalent of "have you tried turning your computer off and back on?"
The last time I called phone support, the agent told me "oh, we've had several people call in over the last couple weeks with the same problem you are having", then when I asked for a little more clarification, she completely changed the subject, like someone above her told her to "drop it".
meme6253
·4 months agoYou stated that you wanted them to give a little more clarification, But I think we also need some more clarification from you so that maybe someone here can help you out or steer you in the right direction, For instance what information was deleted that would otherwise cause a Normal sale??
quadcitypickers
OP4 months agoVehicle compatibility. For instance putting your Year/Make/Model/Engine/Trim would check eBay's database and let you know if the part fits your car or not. Without it, many will not buy.
It randomly vanished from 60+ listings. Spent 8 hours the morning of 5/9 making new ones from scratch, all showing fitment data when viewing the active new listing, took an hour lunch, came back POOF - all gone again.
I have grown even more upset at the clown show that is their back office team. They finally passed the ticket onto the product development team, aka programmers. After spending 2 weeks telling me it's this or that causing it, stuff I was doing on my end, even after I had support send them screen recordings proving it wasn't.
I can assure you, after dealing with a promoted listing fee promotion glitch last year that caused me to accrue over $400 in fees I had explicit evidence and reassurance I would not be charged, it took a month of back and forth before they would admit their was an actual issue, and escalation to the BBB for them to issue credit. Basically, I was supposed to be charged half of the cost, but they insisted I needed to do another step in order to be eligible that was no where on the page, in the terms, anywhere. Even phone support told me multiple times I did everything right.
Their resolution team called me acting like they were doing me a big favor crediting me and this would "only be a one time occurrence", even though THEY MESSED UP.
I have a strong feeling they are told to deny and weasel out of any admission there is a problem. I knew better this time so I have tons of "receipts" proving the glitch is not on my end.
quadcitypickers
OP4 months agoI made another listing, and since it was a rather specific part for only a couple years of F150, I put in fitment data in manually.
It did not fall off.
So it seems like the glitch occurs when publishing the listing, there is something causing the data to not populate automatically.
quadcitypickers
OP4 months agoLook, I am sorry if I seem grouchy, but I've did 8 hours worth of listings for naught. I've spent no less than 4 hours on the phone with customer service, and many messages to eBay for sellers which is eBay's social media support team on Instagram, only to get a bunch of first-day answers that were silly. Like "if you are trying to list this part outside of the eBay motors category, fitment will not show up". Like....duh.
I've been able to replicate some of the glitch. I took a screen recording and sent it to eBay support. If you list the item with returns turned off, and then go back and turn returns on, the entire fitment data vanishes. I am hoping this will demonstrate it's something going on in the background of the coding causing this rather than me doing something wrong.
onefootflipper
·4 months agoI might want to suggest saving to drafts before posting. Then you can copy the draft. That way if the fitment vanishes from the live listing you still have the draft, which you can copy again (so you don't lose it) and make your needed changes to the draft copy.
quadcitypickers
OP4 months agoI don't typically use drafts, but was poking around with different listing options to see if I could "pull the lever" that causes the glitch so eBay could have something to work with as far as trying to figure out what was going on behind the scenes.
quadcitypickers
OP4 months agoThe only workaround I've had so far is making a brand new listing. I've been clicking "sell similar" on random seller's listings for years as it copies over the fitment data. This is no longer working.
I had another person I know who sells on eBay try using "sell similar" as well and the fitment data was lost, everything else (brand, part number, etc) copied off.
So this at LEAST confirms this issue is not specific to my account.
jonathanbrightlight
·4 months agoI haven't been dealing with auto parts and fitment data myself, but many sellers avoid the "Sell similar" option because it either copies things they don't want or doesn't copy things accurately. I would pretty much always start fresh. If something is the eBay product catalog/library, I'm more prone to use that than another seller's listing, but even then it's often inaccurate.
onefootflipper
·4 months agoAlso, you start a thread roughly every 3 days about how terrible the ebay auto parts category is and how many problems you have in it and how you hate it.
So I have to ask, why do you keep sourcing auto parts in the first place? That isn't all you sell, they all seem to be new, so you are obviously ordering them from someplace. Why not just order literally anything else?
quadcitypickers
OP4 months agoIf you aren't here to provide help or insight, kindly leave. What I choose to sell is MY CHOICE.
Are you an employee of eBay? Telling me to sell other stuff is completely unhelpful. Next time a branch falls and pokes a hole in your roof, I will tell you "should have cut down that tree before hand". It's about as helpful as your drivel.
onefootflipper
·4 months agoWow, what a wonderful person you are. I guess you missed the bug specific advice that I have given you FOR FREE earlier in this thread and in many others.
No one ever paid me to provide you support for your issues, and never a thank you for my time. Just an insult because daring to ask why you continue to pursue a category you are obviously struggling in is somehow terrible. All I ever wanted was for YOU to be successful, but since you don't appreciate that, I am no longer going to click on your threads. I can recognize a black hole when I see one.
quadcitypickers
OP4 months agoBecause I still have nearly 150 items to list in that category. I get my inventory from all over, and my profitability determines what I sell. Things like video games, cell phones, electronics, people are always looking for those to resell, and will drive prices to a margin under 10% after fees/shipping, auto parts have a longer time to sell, but a more decent margin.
What do you prefer I do? Just throw my hands up in the air and go "oh well" and throw away $8k in inventory?
I am not a person that just gives up when encountering a problem.
onefootflipper
·4 months agoI have 8K in existing inventory would have been a great answer actually.
onefootflipper
·4 months agoTry making the listing WITHOUT the fitment information and then editing the listing to add it. I bet that makes it work.
There is a similar bug going on for at least 5 years now about overriding the shipping cost when using a fixed price shipping policy where it only sticks if you edit an existing listing.
wifetrained
·4 months agoEbay has never had customer service worthy of the name.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months agoI am glad you got around to identifying what the problem you are referring to is.
I am even more glad that it is Ebay Motors and relates to fitment guides. Since I would neither buy nor sell in that portion of the site, and fitment guides for internet marketplaces appear to be prone to disaster, no matter what site they are on. Might have something to do with the large number of sellers who live out of their suppliers' inventory who know nothing about the products they sell, nor their applications.
We chose to be in the businesses we are in, and it all should affect whether we continue selling what we sell.
There are lots of types of product, that I used to sell online, that I no longer do.
a_c_green
·4 months agoRockAuto.com seems to have the search issues nailed, based on my experience over the years in looking up parts that need to be precisely matched to the vehicle (e.g. not only a specific model but also even a specific option set or trim level). My mechanic pointed me to them so I can order the correct parts first time, at a discount relative to what he would have to bill full retail for, and then he does the installation.
I think the key reason why they are successful and eBay is not is because they seem to verify and enforce accurate fitment data (somehow), as opposed to just letting sellers make stuff up and bomb the database with keyword spamming every conceivable part, make and model. It's slightly ridiculous to search for something specific for your make and model of vehicle and be handed search results that are all over the place, filled with nonsense listings that are nowhere near accurate.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months ago@a_c_green
Rock Auto is an auto parts retailer. Ebay is not. Amazon is not. Might have something to do with why their fitment guide works. An auto parts retailer has more info and the knowledge to apply it, than the sum total of all of Amazon's and Ebay's auto parts sellers and their marketplaces.
a_c_green
·4 months agoWell, yeah, that was my point. eBay's fitment guide database simply isn't going to work unless they actually take some responsibility for enforcing and verifying the data, as opposed to letting everyone simply stuff their listings with as much garbage applicability data as possible.
Given their current structure, I don't see how they could get from the mess they're in now to something useful as demonstrated by RockAuto. I can plug in clear search parameters for Year, Make, Model and part name, and still get handed results that are laughably wrong. (Those are at least easy to ignore. The bigger concern is a search result that looks plausible but is still wrong.)
funfactorychannel
·4 months agomaybe not fallen but let go?
pls-consignments
·4 months agoFrustrating to say the least. Poor customer service is now synonymous with the brand. Unfortunately, the only recourse is to lower your expectations.... unless someone comes in and buys it. 😬
kibble-net
·4 months agoIf you think GameStop would make things better for sellers, I have a bridge to sell you. All major payment methods accepted.
pls-consignments
·4 months agoWell, if it doesn't "fall off a cliff", it might as well jump off the bridge. 😉
grann-4629
·4 months agoWell, if it doesn't "fall off a cliff", it might as well jump off the bridge.
Wait! I was thinking about buying that bridge ...
mordecai8614
·4 months agoA little off topic, but there's no point in telling people to block buyers in your feedback replies because their names show up censored.
jonathanbrightlight
·4 months agoIf you want to give a little more detail, we can see if we can help, but right now this is very vague.
I would almost never try to call eBay to report a technical issue, especially one that was not affecting a bunch of users. There are sometimes better ways to get it in front of the people who can help, if it truly is on eBay's side.
quadcitypickers
OP4 months agohttps://www.ebay.com/itm/227337014671
I spent 8 hours making a bunch of new listings in eBay motors the morning of 5/9. That listing is pretty much the only listing where the fitment data saved.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/327149211164
If you look at this and many others, all it says is "check item description to confirm this fits your vehicle".
I had those listings up 2 weeks ago and they all lost their fitment data. I made a bunch of new ones, and they were all showing for about an hour then the data vanished. I confirmed each and every listing was showing that fitment data.