Community Chat, Dec 13th @ 1pm PT - General Topics

[alan@ebay]

Hello, 

Please join the Community team here at 1 pm PT today for our weekly chat. 

Talk with you soon! 

[dtexley3]

(oh no, not this again...)

Two days ago a member contacted me about shipping on a couple items and I was able to accomodate his request and price under my standard shipping discount, everyone was happy.  The next day he inquired about two more items and asked if I woud give him the same shipping price, the difference wasn't much, so I said yes.  I told him to put the items in his Cart, make sure no other items were in the cart and click "request total from seller".  He msged me back that the link was greyed out and hovering over the link displayed a message "...cannot be requested as discounts have already been applied".  The ONLY discount was the standard shipping discount.

Luckily he was willing to allow me to refund him the difference, but not everyone does resulting in lost sales.  the ONLY reason that the "request total" link should ever be disabled is when the buyer manually selected IPR on their listings.  As a seller I should be able to offer the best customer service possible, which includes BEING ABLE TO GENERATE AN INVOICE.  Why does eBay continue to leave money on the table by not allowing us to negociate prices to a happy ending on multiple items?

I don't need to hear all the reasons the link is disabled and why.  I'm just venting my frustration that eBay's "venue" won't allow me to offer the kind of customer service that I should be able to.

</soapbox>

[alan@ebay]

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Alan/ et al.........\

any word on when the refurbished of  "new and refurbished" will be removed? 

It certainly continues to be embarrassing.      

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Hi @dhbookds, 

I'll check with our Product team to see if they've made a decision on that. I'll let you know what I hear back.

Thanks. 

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Hi @dhbookds, 

Our Product team has advised that this is a bug that is due to be fixed in January. We do not roll out updates to the site during the busy Christmas period, which is why this fix is delayed. 

Thank you! 

[dtexley3]

Will eBay be making an announcement about last week's data breach with Google and that they need to take extra caution when receiving an email that appears to be from eBay and contains their full name and userid?

Any data breach, no matter how minor should be publically addressed with your users.

[mcjbob]

Shipping First Class to Hong Kong using eBay labels is not possible. eBay labels require a city/county code for Hong Kong, and Hong Kong does not use such codes. As an added problem of using eBay labels, the number of spaces available for name and address are less that what PayPal or eBay allows buyer to have as their address.

However, when I go to USPS ‘N Ship, USPS allows a First Class label to be printed without the non-existent city/county code, and allows more spaces for names and addresses.

In addition to the extra work using Click ‘N Ship, I lose the eBay discount. More work, and I lose money. For now, I have blocked shipping to Hong Kong. This has been an ongoing issue for years, (check eBay discussions on this going back to 2015).

Can you pleased nudge the team responsible to get this fixed?

[terrycanarsky]

Question:  When is eBay going to stop holding sellers responsible for things for which they have no control?

- Example:  We have a 1 business day turn-around policy.  This morning, I sat down to ship an item and discovered there was a problem with the buyer's address (too long) provided to eBay.  Messaged the buyer right away with a screenshot so he/she could correct it, yet I've heard no word back and the post office closes in less than an hour.  I called eBay a few minutes ago and was told we have two options:  cancel and refund (no defect because of the address) -OR- the CSR would make a note and when the late shipping defect came through (if nothing is heard by eand o fday), we can appeal and *maybe* get the defect removed as a "courtesy".

Courtesy?  For something out of our control?  Really?

Cancel a transaction = "poor buyer experience"

Same thing happens if the carrier does not scan when eBay deems appropriate even though the package arrives on time.  We receive a ding even though *we* did everything we could have and have no control over the various shipping companies.

~Melody R

[penguins_dont_fly]

Good Afternoon all ...

I'm a little late to chat 🙂

Trinton:

There have been issues with printing International USPS labels through bulk shipping lately.

I myself have encountered it twice in the past 2 weeks.

1) Priority Mail to South Africa - Bulk shipping Errored out "cannot print one label" after editing the customs form and verifying weight/dimensions.  I had to print from the order.

2) Priority Mail Express to Poland - Bulk shipping threw up a big red notice that PMEI was not supported through online labels, that I had to go to the Post Office for this service (since when?) I couldn't even print from the order ... I had to use PayPal shipping.

Since neither of the labels could be printed, they were not included on the SCAN sheet. I had to ask the carrier to scan them separately.

There have been other reports, besides mine, about this on the boards recently.

Could someone please look into this?

[brian@ebay]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

(oh no, not this again...)

Two days ago a member contacted me about shipping on a couple items and I was able to accomodate his request and price under my standard shipping discount, everyone was happy.  The next day he inquired about two more items and asked if I woud give him the same shipping price, the difference wasn't much, so I said yes.  I told him to put the items in his Cart, make sure no other items were in the cart and click "request total from seller".  He msged me back that the link was greyed out and hovering over the link displayed a message "...cannot be requested as discounts have already been applied".  The ONLY discount was the standard shipping discount.

Luckily he was willing to allow me to refund him the difference, but not everyone does resulting in lost sales.  the ONLY reason that the "request total" link should ever be disabled is when the buyer manually selected IPR on their listings.  As a seller I should be able to offer the best customer service possible, which includes BEING ABLE TO GENERATE AN INVOICE.  Why does eBay continue to leave money on the table by not allowing us to negociate prices to a happy ending on multiple items?

I don't need to hear all the reasons the link is disabled and why.  I'm just venting my frustration that eBay's "venue" won't allow me to offer the kind of customer service that I should be able to.

</soapbox>

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Hi @dtexley3, we've passed along your feedback. For the benefit of others reading this thread I will include reasons why a buyer won't be able to use the Request total from seller option.

• The seller has set up a discount profile.
• The items are on sale.
• The seller doesn't accept combined payments.
• The item has immediate payment required.
• There is only one item in the cart.
• The item(s) already have free shipping.

[golfingaddict]

I understand the push for fast shipping and I have been very interested in Guaranteed Delivery.

For some reason, I  no longer see the toggle for Guaranteed Delivery in my searches.

Do you suppose it is just my searches or has something changed?

I still have no idea if a buyer is choosing my listings because they are in Guaranteed Delivery or not.  As a buyer, I have yet to see that option when I buy. When I have been able to toggle for Guaranteed delivery, I am surprised to see the numbers.   In one search, it went from 90,000 to 900 offerings.

Are all sellers able to opt in to the program now?

Does that seem right? 

[dhbookds]

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alan@ebay wrote:

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Alan/ et al.........\

any word on when the refurbished of  "new and refurbished" will be removed? 

It certainly continues to be embarrassing.      

---

Hi @dhbookds, 

I'll check with our Product team to see if they've made a decision on that. I'll let you know what I hear back.

Thanks. 

---

Hi @dhbookds, 

Our Product team has advised that this is a bug that is due to be fixed in January. We do not roll out updates to the site during the busy Christmas period, which is why this fix is delayed. 

Thank you! 

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Oh, Alan, best laugh of the day............ the change was announced 10/17, reported as working incorrectly a wk prior to that,  but we aren't going to correct it because of the busy Christmas season?  Meanwhile, sellers had to do all the active content stuff, start doing the watermarks, etc.......but ebay certainly can't be asked to make such a correction during this busy time, sigh. 

thanks for the info, tho, others have tried to get the info and couldn't.    

[tyler@ebay]

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@mcjbob wrote:

Shipping First Class to Hong Kong using eBay labels is not possible. eBay labels require a city/county code for Hong Kong, and Hong Kong does not use such codes. As an added problem of using eBay labels, the number of spaces available for name and address are less that what PayPal or eBay allows buyer to have as their address.

However, when I go to USPS ‘N Ship, USPS allows a First Class label to be printed without the non-existent city/county code, and allows more spaces for names and addresses.

In addition to the extra work using Click ‘N Ship, I lose the eBay discount. More work, and I lose money. For now, I have blocked shipping to Hong Kong. This has been an ongoing issue for years, (check eBay discussions on this going back to 2015).

Can you pleased nudge the team responsible to get this fixed?

---

Howdy @mcjbob - thanks for letting us know what you ran into! While our agreement with USPS does mean they reserve the right to sell certain shipping services exclusively (like First Class International to certain countries), the character count mismatch is definitely something we're aware of and have brought up before. I'll see if I can't get it back on someone's radar for the New Year. Thanks!

[mallontown]

This weeks glitch is ebay deciding to make my item 86% off.

I use markdown manager and the highest it goes is 60%.

This particular item was marked down 50% by me but ebay made it 86% off

[Anonymous]

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@terrycanarsky wrote:

Question:  When is eBay going to stop holding sellers responsible for things for which they have no control?

- Example:  We have a 1 business day turn-around policy.  This morning, I sat down to ship an item and discovered there was a problem with the buyer's address (too long) provided to eBay.  Messaged the buyer right away with a screenshot so he/she could correct it, yet I've heard no word back and the post office closes in less than an hour.  I called eBay a few minutes ago and was told we have two options:  cancel and refund (no defect because of the address) -OR- the CSR would make a note and when the late shipping defect came through (if nothing is heard by eand o fday), we can appeal and *maybe* get the defect removed as a "courtesy".

Courtesy?  For something out of our control?  Really?

Cancel a transaction = "poor buyer experience"

Same thing happens if the carrier does not scan when eBay deems appropriate even though the package arrives on time.  We receive a ding even though *we* did everything we could have and have no control over the various shipping companies.

~Melody R

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Hi @terrycanarsky, if you cancel the transaction because there is something wrong with the address, you would not receive any kind of negative mark on your account. While I commend you for reaching out to your buyer to let them know, they would not be able to change the address in the order details and it was a mistake on their part that led to the delay. We would recommend cancelling for repurchase so there are no extra steps required on your part, however, I can confirm that removing a late shipment defect due to a buyer error or request would not be considered a courtesy. This is a part of policy and protection we offer. While cancelling can lead to a poor buyer experience and should only be used when needed, this is a perfect example of a time where a cancellation is appropriate. 

As for carrier scans, you contract with your shipping company to provide you with a certain service. If they are not fulfilling this agreement, we encourage you to discuss the issue with local management. The tracking uploaded and validated expectation is only for Top Rated Seller status and is designed to set you apart - really show that you are providing top service to your customers. Providing tracking that has been validated by a carrier improves the buyer experience and helps them prepare for delivery when needed. You would not receive a ding as long as the label was scanned at some point, thus verifying that it is a valid tracking number. Without this scan, we have no way of proving that you fulfilled this Top Rated Seller expectation of providing valid tracking. 

While I know that it can seem like you have no control over this, you do have options! Speaking with the management at your local courier office is a great place to start and, if improvements to the service you are paying for are not provided, you can always consider a more reliable shipping method to ensure you are able to provide top service. We don't expect you to be perfect, which is why this expectation is only for 95% or more of your transactions. This will help account for any sales that have extenuating circumstances and the occasional issue with your chosen carrier.

[alan@ebay]

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@golfingaddict wrote:

I understand the push for fast shipping and I have been very interested in Guaranteed Delivery.

For some reason, I  no longer see the toggle for Guaranteed Delivery in my searches.

Do you suppose it is just my searches or has something changed?

I still have no idea if a buyer is choosing my listings because they are in Guaranteed Delivery or not.  As a buyer, I have yet to see that option when I buy. When I have been able to toggle for Guaranteed delivery, I am surprised to see the numbers.   In one search, it went from 90,000 to 900 offerings.

Are all sellers able to opt in to the program now?

Does that seem right? 

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Hi @golfingaddict, 

I see the toggle on both mobile and desktop, haven't heard of any changes to that. Let me know if it persists and we'll file a report for it to be investigated. 

We're onboarding sellers in a phased rollout, all sellers should be able to opt-in during 2018.

Many thanks. 

[lookng2015]

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doug@ebay wrote:

Hi @chrysylys thanks for the suggestion, but we wouldn't want to do anything like that to limit conversation around the topic and/or to delete any posts that don't violate guidelines. It would be difficult to decide what is relevant and what is not, and we don't think volume is a good reason to remove posts.

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@chrysylys wrote:

Hit and run post as I have something else to do before the sun goes down.

Should there be some kind of a soft limit on the number of posts in a thread? With very rare exceptions, once a thread goes past about 50 posts it has gone off topic in one way or another and has turned into bickering between points of view. Sure, those posts can be reported, but perhaps they can be monitored a bit better to prevent those issues to begin with?

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Thank you for that.

[dbmm-media]

alan,  where have you been?

 theres been updates almost everyday during the formerly busy Christmas period.

and almost all the updates are not even tested before implementing