With AI Monitoring, Ebay's "Customer Service" Has Reached a New Low
It's disgusting enough that we long-time sellers have no real U.S.-based support hotline AT ALL because it's cheaper for this company to have totally brainless bots "handling" things.
But eBay has reached a new low with this AI nannying garbage.
I was trying to relist an item, and the listing was removed because the AI bot "determined" there was language indicating I was offering to sell outside eBay.
See attached screen shot of the Description, which is edited to remove ONLY words that would help identify the item's identity and branding . Have a look. There is NOTHING in the listing indicating that I'm trying to sell it off eBay.
Thanks to the economy, it's been difficult enough trying to sell anything at all on this app, and stuff like this just makes me want to give up on this platform more than I ever have.
Some of you believe that eBay shadowbans sellers, and some of you don't. All I know for sure is that the last time we had an item flagged for a completely erroneous "violation" in November that was never properly removed, our sales plummeted. What I believe is that every account has some sort of "good standing" rating that reduces search visibility based on a lot of factors, including defects, late-ships, etc etc, and that our "internal rating" has been in the gutter for many months. I can't prove any of that, but by the same token, neither can anyone disprove it because it's proprietary internal data.
But regardless, either way, treating sellers who have 20+ years experience as if we're trying to scam eBay is so idiotic I can barely stand it.
So. If anyone with any authority is reading this, I sent an appeal, so PLEASE REVIEW AND FIX THIS IMMEDIATELY. Just this once, treat me like a trusted LONG TIME partner I am instead of a common lowlife thief. And while you're at it, give us actual support personnel to talk to.
cyberontix
OP5 months agoOkay, so if you've followed this saga at all, I had a listing removed because eBay's AI bot "determined" there was language indicating I was offering to sell it outside eBay, which is absolutely wrong.
Now, it'd be one thing if I could just delete the listing, forget it and go on with my life, but here's what happens. The listing is "active," waiting for me to "fix it," but it shows up in my Seller Central dashboard as "ended and not relisted," so I waste my time checking on it every day, and there's nothing there. See pics.
That's a bug, and it's been around for at least 6 months, and it's annoying, and it's probably affecting my visibility because eBay's AI thinks I'm just a baaaaad boy.
Fix it, eBay, let's go.
stainlessenginecovers
·5 months agoThis site is NO different than Amazon, Walmart (as a 3rd party seller), Home Depot, Lowes etc. (they ALL allow 3rd Party Selling).
I am simply AMAZED that people think these HUGE sites will run smoothly.
You have to find the work arounds on all of them as has been the case for years (even PRIOR to AI Bots etc.).
cyberontix
OP5 months agoI used to expect eBay to run smoothly, which it did until John Donahoe was installed as CEO in 2010 by Bain Capital and his "creative destruction"-driven algorithm destroyed all the trust sellers had in the platform. Now I'm never amazed.
robbie31415
·5 months agoI think the issue is for using term "other venues".
Potentially "one internet stop"
But the first one is an indirect way of saying you sell off eBay, which could result in people looking you up for potentially better deals off eBay.
But I suspect the the two could trigger the bots.
fern*wood
·5 months agoI wouldn't take a chance with any links in my listing--especially two of them. Ebay provides a link to my store, so I see no reason to do it again.
my_boston_baked_beans
·5 months agoI will not use the AI option as I do not trust a bot to write a description for my mechandise. It is my responsibility to know my items , and write the best description. I don't trust AI. I would rather have as much control as possible (given ebay is controlling this venue). AI is offered on many other selling venues, but how successful and well received it is I do not know.
For me I opt out of AI. As long as my brain is working I will depend and use that 🙂
a_c_green
·5 months agoI don't know that anyone here would especially recommend using the AI option to write their description, but to be clear, the OP's problem is with an AI screening process blocking his listing; he's not using AI to write his text for him. (Although it might be fun to have an AI-written description getting blocked by an AI screening. Let them go at each other and watch your laptop melt down.)
my_boston_baked_beans
·5 months agoThank you for the clarity, but that is exactly what I thought happened using AI for descriptions only to have AI screen itself 🙂
dryophelia
·5 months agoI wonder if the “and other venues” is triggering the A1 bots?
Not saying I agree, just grasping at straws trying to make it make sense.
meme6253
·5 months agoAll that I will say is that I don't care much for AI & Bots.
itsjustasprain
·5 months agoOkay - I looked at the two blue paragraphs in one of your listings chosen at random. The first one (TO SEE ALL THE [...] ITEMS IN OUR EBAY STORE!) is basically the same link as the standard 'Seller's other items' near the top of the listing. It begins the same way with 'https://www.ebay.com/str/cyberontix/...'
But your second link ('visit our eBay store') begins with a different domain: 'https://stores.ebay.com/Cyberontix' It might be that the screening software does not recognize the stores.ebay.com portion as its own site. (I know that seems stupid but Ebay software is not exactly world-class.)
One other idea I was thinking about: Your embedded link in both cases is the entire paragraph. The first one runs to two lines and the second one runs all the way to four. I would try shortening both of them so that only the phrase CLICK OR TAP HERE is the hyperlink and the rest is plain text. It may be that the Ebay screening is overflowing trying to parse the entire link. Cut the hyperlink waaaaay back to just the first 4 words in each case and see if that goes through.
cyberontix
OP5 months agoUpdate, the listing is still in "listing issue" status, where it will probably stay for months, even if I just delete the listing, which happened last year. This is what's known as a "bug." Wish I had some of what eBay's newest crop of programmers are smoking.
itsjustasprain
·5 months agoSorry to hear that. I was really thinking that I might be on to something with my theory about those overly long links.
cyberontix
OP5 months agoMy favorite part of all this stupidity is that, same as last time, it's still in my "Unsold and not relisted" list as a "phantom listing," like, if I end 100 listing to do a Sell Similar batch, it only ends 99, not 100, so I've got to sit there doing math to coordinate everything. It's amazing, eBay's been in business how many years now, and every new crop of engineers adds a new super-stupid bug that bungles the bare basics.
cyberontix
OP5 months agoThe native eBay link to "see seller's other items" isn't "floating" or anything, meaning it's not right in your face, so I added the links (one of which is product-line-specific) for convenience's sake. I do the same thing with my two backup accounts, pointing them directly to this main account, and I think it's helped.
fullers_uk
·5 months agoEbay AI has gone mad, I keep getting emails to tell me items that havnt sold and I should offer free shipping, the problem is the item already has free shipping and has done since it was first listed.