Community Chat, Dec 19 from 1:00 pm PT - General Topics

[alan@ebay]

Hi eBay Community! 

Join the Community team here from 1 pm Pacific today for the final Community Chat of 2018. 🥳

We do not have a set topic today, so please use the hour to ask us your eBay buying or selling questions. Also, reflecting on 2018 and looking forward to 2019, please use this chat as an opportunity to share your feedback on what you've liked/disliked on the Community platform and if you have suggestions for things we can start doing in 2019 to improve the Community experience, let us know. 

Thanks. Chat soon!

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone! The chat is now open for questions 

[blueeggsandspam]

Hi! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Question: If a seller cancels a transaction with the reason "buyer requested" does the buyer get some sort of strike on their account? Is it counted against them in any way?

[mam98031]

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE !!!!  This may be the last chance I get to say that to the guys here on the Chat as well as some of the posters that may stop in.  I LOVE this time of year and I SINCERELY hope it turns out to be extra special for everyone here!

[liqu_5274]

I'm pretty new to purchasing on Ebay, so forgive my ignorance lol. I purchased a number of items which say have shipped but there is no tracking number. Why are sellers not required to give this information to the buyer? It is particularly worrisome when the purchasing from other countries than where I'm located. 

To be fair, the shipping estimates I was given have not passed yet - but those are also not very helpful - some span a month. That's like a weatherman telling me to expect between 1 and 30 inches of snow. All of the items say they have shipped almost immediately after I paid, but there is no way to track them. Since it's been about 3 weeks and nothing has arrived I'd like to be able to see where they are. It seems like some sellers show items as being shipped right away whether they actually are on their way or not.

Is there a way to determine which sellers will provide tracking information and those who will not? As far as I can tell, when I make a bid on an auction item, I can't say I'm only bidding if you'll give me tracking information. Is the only way I can do this by keeping track of them myself? It would be helpful to add this kind of thing to the filtering list; I can't believe I'm the only one who would find this information helpful.

[ayeres_books]

For two months now there has been an issue that Ebay has been aware of, but has failed to correct. Ebay store sellers who offer items in the Everything Else category are not having their Everything Else items visible to buyers who visit their stores. This problem began in mid-October and continues up through today. I have made multiple phone calls, brought the problem up in surveys I’ve completed, and also raised the issue in this forum. Ebay has acknowledged the problem, but apparently is doing nothing to correct it. Of course, they continue to charge store owners monthly fees and listing fees for items that don’t have visibility that we are paying for. I don't understand how a company with Ebay’s resources can’t or won’t fix a known issue that is impacting its sellers while continuing  to charge them fees for services it is failing to provide. It’s time to fix this issue and it’s also time for sellers affected by this to receive listing fee and/or store fee credits to compensate for the services Ebay has failed to provide. I know it may not sound like it, but I've generally been very happy with Ebay as a seller over the last 13 years. But this issue is very disappointing.

[Anonymous]

---

@blueeggsandspam wrote:

Hi! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Question: If a seller cancels a transaction with the reason "buyer requested" does the buyer get some sort of strike on their account? Is it counted against them in any way?

---

Hi @blueeggsandspam, we monitor buyer behavior and if we see an excessive number of "buyer requested" cancellations, we will investigate for appropriate action. This can lead to warnings, restrictions or account suspension if we find evidence of abusive behavior. We also will review for signs of a seller abuse and work to correct this as well if there are signs that the seller chose the incorrect reason to manipulate their metrics.

Happy holidays to you, too! 

[gracieallen01]

Now, now, you should know that ebay can't/won't disclose what happens on someone else's account.

[buyselljack2016]

Not sure if anything has been posted on the boards, or on eBay.
Some weeks back I posted about what seemd to be a problem with the new shipping label when wanting to change the "ship from" ZIP

I would just like to post my recent experience with that.

Because of the look of the set up when trying to "calculate shipping from amother address" thus changing the "ship from" I was very reluctant to continue with the process. It appeared that the return address was going to also change. That would not be acceptable.

This week I threw caution to the wind on a 1st Class shipping item that I am very certain will not be coming back. I was able to enter the shipping address of the Post Office that I would be shipping from. When the label printed, the new ship from Zip was displayed just as it would have been done with the "classic view" label. My correct return address was displayed.

Not only is it not clear that the label will come out this way before you try it, but the biggest drawback here is that this is such a cumbersome process to do it.
The "classic view" label is so simple to do. You just enter the Zip that you want to calculate from/ship from, and you are good to go. (You do need to remember to switch it back when done, as it will stay that way)

The new label is a convoluted/multi step process just to do the same thing as the classic. We are presented with opening a new window to enter info without knowing what the end result will be.

The 1st time that you want to do this the Ship from/Return to is presented in one area.

Once you have gone through the process of changing the "ship from", the "new label" comes up with a different setup showing the "Return to", and "Ship from" as two separate and distinctive options.

That ship from address and Zip is there for future use if someone commonly ships from that different address, but the classic label form only needs the Zip code that you will ship from without looking up the physical address of the Post Office building that the Zip is assigned to.

Yes, I know that I can (at the present time) easily switch back to the "classic". We know that will not be supported forever. In a developmental process things need to be simplified, not complicated. We are not taking the round wheels off our vehicles replacing them with square ones. We need to evolve, not regress.

[tunicaslot]

gracie - I think he just wanted to clarify that Ebay indeed does monitor buyers who ask for repeated cancellations as some had doubts about this.

[tyler@ebay]

---

@buyselljack2016 wrote:

Not sure if anything has been posted on the boards, or on eBay.
Some weeks back I posted about what seemd to be a problem with the new shipping label when wanting to change the "ship from" ZIP
I would just like to post my recent experience with that.
Because of the look of the set up when trying to "calculate shipping from amother address" thus changing the "ship from" I was very reluctant to continue with the process. It appeared that the return address was going to also change. That would not be acceptable.
This week I threw caution to the wind on a 1st Class shipping item that I am very certain will not be coming back. I was able to enter the shipping address of the Post Office that I would be shipping from. When the label printed, the new ship from Zip was displayed just as it would have been done with the "classic view" label. My correct return address was displayed.
Not only is it not clear that the label will come out this way before you try it, but the biggest drawback here is that this is such a cumbersome process to do it.
The "classic view" label is so simple to do. You just enter the Zip that you want to calculate from/ship from, and you are good to go. (You do need to remember to switch it back when done, as it will stay that way)

The new label is a convoluted/multi step process just to do the same thing as the classic. We are presented with opening a new window to enter info without knowing what the end result will be.

The 1st time that you want to do this the Ship from/Return to is presented in one area.

Once you have gone through the process of changing the "ship from", the "new label" comes up with a different setup showing the "Return to", and "Ship from" as two separate and distinctive options.

That ship from address and Zip is there for future use if someone commonly ships from that different address, but the classic label form only needs the Zip code that you will ship from without looking up the physical address of the Post Office building that the Zip is assigned to.

Yes, I know that I can (at the present time) easily switch back to the "classic". We know that will not be supported forever. In a developmental process things need to be simplified, not complicated. We are not taking the round wheels off our vehicles replacing them with square ones. We need to evolve, not regress.

---

Thanks for sharing your experience @buyselljack2016 - we'll make sure this gets to the shipping team.

[mam98031]

In recent weeks there has been several threads that discuss feedback both received and left.  Various issues and concerns.  My question that I have not really been able to find a solid answer for in the policies is regarding Comments left by sellers on FB they have received.  Do the same rules for leaving FB apply to the comments left by a seller on a FB received?  If so, then why can sellers refer to a case in Ebay and why can a seller be less than positive?

Please provide a link to whatever policy guides us on this as I'm unable to locate it.

[Anonymous]

---

@ayeres_books wrote:

For two months now there has been an issue that Ebay has been aware of, but has failed to correct. Ebay store sellers who offer items in the Everything Else category are not having their Everything Else items visible to buyers who visit their stores. This problem began in mid-October and continues up through today. I have made multiple phone calls, brought the problem up in surveys I’ve completed, and also raised the issue in this forum. Ebay has acknowledged the problem, but apparently is doing nothing to correct it. Of course, they continue to charge store owners monthly fees and listing fees for items that don’t have visibility that we are paying for. I don't understand how a company with Ebay’s resources can’t or won’t fix a known issue that is impacting its sellers while continuing  to charge them fees for services it is failing to provide. It’s time to fix this issue and it’s also time for sellers affected by this to receive listing fee and/or store fee credits to compensate for the services Ebay has failed to provide. I know it may not sound like it, but I've generally been very happy with Ebay as a seller over the last 13 years. But this issue is very disappointing.

---

Hi @ayeres_books, while I certainly understand the frustration an error like this can cause it does look like these items are showing up without issue in search results. Though the storefront is a great tool in a seller's business, it is not the only benefit of a store subscription and many elect to subscribe to a store for the fee credits and discounts that it offers. That being said, our tech team is reviewing this issue for a solution and will implement a fix as soon as possible. Many times changes are delayed until after the Holiday season to avoid any unintended disruptions and we appreciate your patience while we work a fix soon.

[divwido]

Does ebay have any plans to try to stop the outrageous shipping charges we are seeing?  Now it's not just finding what you want but also finding someone who isn't making a 50% profit on  the shipping costs.

[gracieallen01]

  Yeah, I came to that conclusion, after the fact and it was posted.  Oh well. 

Thank you, though.