eBay

tyler@ebay · ‎08-19-2020

Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us for the Weekly Chat with eBay Staff. We don't have a specific topic this week, so feel free to share any general buying or selling questions you may have!

The chat thread will remain open until 2 PM PT at which point we'll close it from additional responses. After that time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that might still be unanswered.

To post your question, click Reply in the lower right corner of this post, type your question, and hit submit between 1-2 PM Pacific Time. The format of our chat mirrors the format of our Community Discussion Boards, where each post will appear in the thread chronologically. The Community Team will review each question as it comes in, and will quote the original question in our reply. This quote and the reply will appear later in the thread, so just keep scrolling down to see our answers.

Missed the chat? Send your questions to the podcast by calling 888-723-4630 or email us at podcast@ebay.com and maybe your questions will make it on the air! Or listen to past episodes while you wait for next Wednesday!

Tyler,

gwzcomps · ‎08-19-2020

@glgenterprise wrote:
@dtexley3 wrote:
I posted in the technical forum, but posting here as well. The rates that sellers are charged for FedEx 2Day and screwed up again. Buyer was charged the heavily discounted 2Day rate plus my handling fee. I had to pay the standard discount rate, more than I received from the buyer for shipping. So again the seller gets hit in the pocketbook.

It's long past time for eBay's IT management to start taking strong actions against teams that release broken code.
This has been going on for years, on and off. I have probably dozens of examples of it. The standard response from CS is "don't use Fedex". I second the notion that eBay stop releasing broken code and when they do, eBay should the the entity to eat the difference, not the seller with no control over the coding issues.

Ah yes one of my favorite responses from CS when there is a problem with a service eBay provides. Then if you point out you are paying for those features with your fees that try to tell you otherwise. That is one of my biggest gripes about eBay's CS. I get they can't do much to help, but their constant desire to weasel out of problems is frustrating.

brian@ebay · ‎08-19-2020

@gwzcomps wrote:

I notice semi frequent posts from less experienced sellers complaining about getting scammed or ripped off with fraudulent returns. Even us more experienced sellers are hesitant to list certain items. Are there any plans in the works to improve the safety of selling on eBay? Feels like this is no longer the place to be as a casual seller or small business.

@gwzcomps not counting the temporary protections resulting from COVID-19, we haven't announced any new protections since the Fall Seller Update. We keep on eye on the protections we offer and adjust them as needed. If anything changes then we'll be sure to announce it to the Community.

Brian,
Community Team

lew1228 · ‎08-19-2020

Dear E-Bay Staff - This is my 1st Time on the Weekly Chat with E-Bay Staff. Am a Top Rated Seller (Collectibles/Sports-Cards), Have been Selling on E-Bay for 4 Years, and was Recently Invited to become a Member of the E-Bay Council (?) . My Questions are Three=Fold: FIRST - ( 1 ) MANAGED PAYMENTS - The Delay in having access to Funds from Sales is Dis-Heartening and Negatively Impacts Sellers Business Operations. With PAY-PAL, you made a Sale, and you had Access to the Funds Right Away, so IF you wanted to make a Purchase with Funds from your Recent Sale, you could. Now it takes 1-2 Days for E-bay to send those Funds to my Bank, and Followed by an E-Mail your Funds have been sent, and that it may take 3-4 Days to Arrive. Now that has not been the Case, except for the very my 1st Time with Managed Payments, but there is a Delay, from Sale, to Posting with my Bank of 3 Days. Why can we not utilize Managed Payments, and Still have funds go Directly into PAY-PAL, like previously ? It seems to me that MANAGED PAYMENTS, benefits BUYERS ( ie., More Ways to Pay), but Burdens SELLERS, in that our Recent Sales Funds are Tied Up, in Transit, for a Minimum of 2-3 Days. SECOND (2) - CUSTOMER SERVICE : We really need to have the CUSTOMER SERVICE HOTLINE Number, Re-Instituted !! I know we now have the Call Back Tool, but for those who are not Computer Savvy, or are New to E-Bay, the Old Method was Far Better. I have seen the comments on Group Discussions, and I know COVID-19, was originally Given as the Reason for the Change, but that is not applicable any longer. And Far Too Often, Even when utilizing the Call Back Tool, Multiple Times, I and others have received a Message that Reads "UNAVAILABLE at this Time" . When you have an Issue, when you need assistance, right then and there, it really helps to have someone you can speak with, and who can guide you through. Live Customer Service Reps are vitally necessary, for both Buyers and Sellers, and for the Smooth, Efficient Operation of the E-Bay Sales Platform. Finally, THIRD ( 3 ) - I miss not being able to Send PERSONALIZED INVOICES. Unfortunately, Now all the Invoices are Generic Invoices. My Kind, Personalized Invoices helped to Generate Business., and Led to much Positive Feedback from Buyers in the Past. I really hope I did this Correctly. Thanks, in Advance, for your Time and Consideration. Look Forward to hearing back from you soon … Respectfully, Mark L. (lew1228)

Edit: Reply to this post can be read here

coffeebean832 · ‎08-19-2020

tyler@ebay wrote:
@coffeebean832 wrote:
Shipping page observation / feedback to escalate.

There are aspects that aren't intuitive and user-friendly.
Hi @coffeebean832 - I can't tell from your screenshot - is this within the listing flow, when you go to print a label or within the shipping calculator? That will help me sort out which team to get this to. Thanks!

Shipping page- aka the page where you buy shipping labels. 🙂

pburn · ‎08-19-2020

tyler@ebay

Please add this one to your list of issues that have been identified by community users. I tagged you and Brian and Rebecca in the thread. No one responded. Will that be typical of the Community Team going forward?

Another discussion-board glitch . . .

"A couple of days ago, a member posted a particular word in the title of their thread that was later deleted by the moderation team; however, the deleted word continues to be displayed in the title if one looks at the OP's posting history--at least the comments s/he posted before it had been edited.

The same now-deleted word also shows up in the thread title on my own posting history. The deleted word also shows up on my notification page for any helpfuls I received for the comments posted before the word was deleted.

I won't post the current thread title here, or include any screenshots of the original title, but I would be glad to provide it to anyone who's interested in inquiring via private message."

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Edit: A reply to your comment can be found here.

mam98031 · ‎08-19-2020

@maxoptical wrote:
I currently have 9 Item not received defects yet there is verified tracking for the item showing it was delivered. I was told by CS these could not be removed from my account as the customer did fill a case. I am pushing close to VERY HiGH for this matrix and I am afraid it will affect my eBay visibility.

John Norman

Just an observation. The CSR clearly is misunderstanding something as an INR can't appear on the Service Metrics unless the buyer HAS opened a case. So what was told to you makes no sense at all.

Dings in your Service Metrics are completely separate from Defects that appear on your Seller Dashboard.

The Service Metrics gets a ding for an INR or an INAD simply because one was opened, irregardless of it's outcome.

However many sellers are pushing for INRs to be removed from the Service Metric's dings if Ebay finds reason to cover us under the added protections due to the pandemic and USPS restructuring.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

ryanpmc22 · ‎08-19-2020

Hi. In the extensive database of past sales that are searchable by EBay sellers and buyers, EBay's price data does not appear to capture the price reductions when a lower offer is accepted by the seller (with respect to a "Best Offer" listing). In this way, the "Sold for" prices are arguably artificially inflated, misleading, and suggest that items have a higher value than they actually do in the EBay marketplace. I am a subscriber to EBay's Terapeak research service, and the problem exists there as well. I was only able to figure this out after comparing my own transactions with the database. I would be happy to be proven wrong or corrected. EBay staff, am I missing something? Do you see this as a problem? Thanks, Ryan

mam98031 · ‎08-19-2020

@hknumismatics wrote:
In posting in this thread I got the Post flooding error, plus an error message about faulty html code that I believe was also incorrect.

The threads don't currently like cut and paste from pretty much anywhere right now. It causes these types of error messages. I've had to do screen shots and use my Snipping Tool to get what I needed posted into a thread.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

coffeebean832 · ‎08-19-2020

@shipscript wrote:

1099: Accountants can request a report from the IRS that will list all 1099s the IRS has received for a given tax ID.

On second thought- that might prove to be impossible to resolve in time. The IRS is so backed up right now because of Covid that my accountant said they probably wouldn't get the form to me in time. (They haven't even processed my extension / cashed my estimated owed taxes check yet and that was sent in April.)

vociferous_commenter · ‎08-19-2020

RE: eBay's confusing announcement on seller protections and carrier delays:

Seller Protections need to be across both "Seller Performance" as well as "Service Metrics".
It doesn't do much good to have protections for a sub-item in one set of criteria if the seller is exposed in another.
True and comprehensive "Seller Protections" need to include INR, shipping defects for lates, "cases closed without seller resolution", as well as shipments that may unfortunately be lost completely (as sadly, many will be).
Protections need to include negative and neutral feedback removal (particularly on any TRP listing with free 30-day returns).
Some sellers are reporting negs being removed for INRs, others are having problems (inconsistent enforcement and/or poor CS training?) Not sure why FB wouldn't be included in these seller protections in the 1st place?
Ebay keeps stating that a buyer can’t open an INR until it has passed the delivery estimate, but others keep refuting that based on actual direct experience.
Ebay needs to clarify this process & policy.
Ebay's help pages need to be updated to include all above. Ebay’s help page that covers INR process is woefully lacking substance and details.
The whole “voluntary refunding buyers resulting in no protections” if true is absurd. Ebay simply needs to correct this policy.

The announced protections are for Seller Performance, and do not currently include Service Metrics. As far as Service Metrics are concerned, we are already comparing you to your peers (sellers that sell on the same site, with the same category, price, shipping and handling time, etc.) and so there are no new protections, as the design of Service Metrics already accounts for the increase of INRs across the board.

This is a flawed notion. There are well-documented regional issues (particularly within USPS) which will negatively impact sellers ship....

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Edit: A reply to your comments can be found here.

gwzcomps · ‎08-19-2020

brian@ebay wrote:
@gwzcomps wrote:
I notice semi frequent posts from less experienced sellers complaining about getting scammed or ripped off with fraudulent returns. Even us more experienced sellers are hesitant to list certain items. Are there any plans in the works to improve the safety of selling on eBay? Feels like this is no longer the place to be as a casual seller or small business.
@gwzcomps not counting the temporary protections resulting from COVID-19, we haven't announced any new protections since the Fall Seller Update. We keep on eye on the protections we offer and adjust them as needed. If anything changes then we'll be sure to announce it to the Community.

Yes I understand the current protections. TRS sellers now only lose half our money when a buyer is dishonest. It doesn't change the risks. Even with the protections I will no longer risk selling low profit items or high risk items on eBay.

Casual sellers don't have any protections to the best of my knowledge. I'm not sure if a casual seller would come back to buy stuff on eBay after they get scammed out of a $100-400 widget they sold.

mam98031 · ‎08-19-2020

@dhbookds wrote:
tyler@ebay wrote:
@dhbookds wrote:
Any word from Khoros on when the problems on the boards might be fixed?

And could you post the ones that you are trying to get fixed? the only one for sure that attention is being paid to is the post flooding problem.........
Hi @dhbookds - there's not a current estimate on when all open issues with Khoros will be resolved, but we continue to work with them, and progress is being made.

There are a number of issues open with Khoros at the moment, the largest ones being:

Post Flooding error
Random error messages when navigating the boards or composing replies
Email notifications not arriving
Pagination formatting issue

Thanks!

Thanks for the info Tyler.......
here are some others that have been reported, but not acknowledged on the Community board (including the one about the community board itself). I don't know whether the link to each will work on not, but this is a link to the original post:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Community-Platform-Feedback/Chat-is-a-mess/m-p/31137608#M14969
by Pburn message #15

All forum topics on this board

UK site links to .com forums

Unable to reply with quote

not showing post read on main discussion board

Oh and another annoying thing that is MIA is the thread titles on the individual posts. It gets very confusing when you pop into a thread from a link in the bell and you forgot to look at the title of the thread. You either have to go to the top of the thread to find out or go back to the bell.

This problem isn't as old as some of the others. This one I think started about midway in this journey, so is likely a bi-product of some other update to fix something else. We need these titles back.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

hknumismatics · ‎08-19-2020

@mam98031 wrote:

The threads don't currently like cut and paste from pretty much anywhere right now. It causes these types of error messages. I've had to do screen shots and use my Snipping Tool to get what I needed posted into a thread.

Yeah I am not quite sure what was this issue, but it took me 5 attempts to make my first post in this thread stick.

The html code and links I for sure inserted correctly using the link tool, but in the end to get it to post correctly it was just to cut/paste them manually.

dtexley3 · ‎08-19-2020

brian@ebay wrote:
@gwzcomps wrote:
I notice semi frequent posts from less experienced sellers complaining about getting scammed or ripped off with fraudulent returns. Even us more experienced sellers are hesitant to list certain items. Are there any plans in the works to improve the safety of selling on eBay? Feels like this is no longer the place to be as a casual seller or small business.
@gwzcomps not counting the temporary protections resulting from COVID-19, we haven't announced any new protections since the Fall Seller Update. We keep on eye on the protections we offer and adjust them as needed. If anything changes then we'll be sure to announce it to the Community.

Additionally how about eBay actually stepping up to the plate and implementing system improvements that would prevent this happening in the first place. Spend the money and hire a reputable ecommerce security firm to review and make recommendations on how to mitigate the instances of these frauds.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew