Community Chat, Dec 20th @ 1pm PT - General Topics

[alan@ebay]

Please join the Community team here at 1 pm Pacific on Dec 20 for our weekly chat. We do not have a set topic this week, so please feel free to ask us your eBay related buying & selling questions.

The thread will open for replies at 1pm and will remain open for one hour. 

 Happy Holidays! 🎄🎅🏽

[*coins]

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@mallontown wrote:

Thanks

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

usps holiday shipping deadlines 12/19 for first class mail

Why does ebay show buyers false delivery times for usps deliveries? This effects millions of people , buyers and sellers who use usps.

I included an example of an auction today 12/20 with delivery date of 12/23 to compare with usps saying all first class needed to be shipped 12/19 for Christmas delivery. 

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Hi @mallontown, 

Thanks for sharing this, I'm going to contact our Shipping team to have them review, I'll get back to you when I know more. 

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Thanks. Whats going on with the shipping team not knowing usps days. The prevoius large issue was that ebay did not know Veterans day was Novermber 11th 

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What "shipping team" are you referring to?

[brian_burke@ebay]

@go-bad-chicken Our stating that GSP items offer  tracking and customs is because we know that items shipped through GSP offer these services since our partner is required to provide them. With other sellers we do not know this. 

It's your business decision whether to use GSP or not, our statement about the GSP service is not unfair.

Regarding this statement from you:

"I understand that "Customs" are not included with the service that I provide, but when customs are deemed necisary by that buyers government, then those are requested by that buyers local postal service and they are collected at the time of delivery."

With GSP the buyer knows this cost is part of the purchase, is told up front and never experiences a surprise additional charge from their local post office - this is a terrible experience for the buyer. 

I hope you change your practice and collect and submit these charges up front instead of surprising your international buyers with additional fees to receive the item they already purchased from you. Most buyers are unaware of these charges. 

Thanks for selling on eBay, but please reconsider your approach to customs charges. 

Brian

[tyler@ebay]

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@monkeystein wrote:

From a previous SELLING THREAD:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/some-of-my-listings-are-appearing-under-international-sellers/...

Searching some of my items on November 11 & 12, when I search anonymously / not signed in and use the SEARCH WITHIN xxx Miles option, any zipcode that is different from mine shows my listings as International Seller,  not United States Seller.

Only in the DEFAULT mode do my listings appear as United States Seller.

When I click on and open a listing, then it does show as United States Seller. But potential buyers are not going to click on the listing if they think it is from an international seller.

Any update on this yet?

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Hi @monkeystein - we're still waiting on further updates from tech on this, thanks for your patience!

[alan@ebay]

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@vrykalak wrote:

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@golfingaddict wrote:

alan@ebay

I have a few packages that appear to be delayed.  I shipped them in my handling time, and validated by post office.

How is this reflected in Guaranteed delivery and my shipping time metrics.

They seem to be delayed due the current heavy shipping volumes.

 And yes, volumes this year have been very heavy.

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Hi @golfingaddict, 

My understanding of shipping protections if you are in the 'handling time option' is that as long as you have an acceptance scan from the carrier in your handling time, you should be protected. 

More info on protections for eBay Guaranteed Delivery available here: http://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/guaranteed-delivery.html#faqs

If I am missing something here, let me know, and I will contact the Shipping team. 

Many thanks. 

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The problem is: if the item arrives late, due to postal volume or for another reason, what good is Guaranteed Delivery? The buyer is counting on having the item arrive in time. The buyer is upset, the seller has to refund the item (which costs) so the seller is upset, too. Why bother?

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It is always disappointing not to receive an item on time. I believe that Guaranteed Delivery is key for our marketplace as it:

1. Increases visibility for sellers who can ship their items fast.

2. In today's super competitive landscape, if eBay did not offer a fast shipping solution buyers may end up shopping elsewhere. 

[Anonymous]

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@duchess-at-speakeasy wrote:
I think I have discovered why some sellers are complaining about "late" mailing when, in fact, they have met all tracking deadlines. USPS is removing some information from the tracking record! For example, on Monday, December 18, I created an eBay shipping label at 3:43 p.m. PST and took the package to the nearby PO shortly after 4 p.m. (The order was paid on Sunday, December 17.) Rather than wait in line for an acceptance scan (busiest day of the year and about 15 people in line for 2 clerks), I simply placed the 6x9 bubble mailer on a stack of prepaid boxes, caught the eye of the nearest clerk who acknowledged that I had done so, and left the PO. Later Monday evening, I looked up the tracking number at usps.com and found an entry "order confirmed, 6:31 p.m., [my zip code]." This entry confirms that the package is in USPS possession, which satisfies eBay's on-time requirements. On Tuesday morning, I checked the progress of the package -- the "order confirmed" entry was GONE! It was supplanted by 2 entries -- acceptance on December 19 at 1:50 a.m. in my zip code and arrival at the regional sorting facility at 3:05 a.m. Both these entries indicate to eBay that I mailed the package LATE! That's not fair! I created the label and physically mailed the package within my 1-day handling time and USPS acknowledged the order at 6:31 p.m. the same day. But now that acknowledgement no longer exists! And, no, this is not a time zone issue. I am in the Pacific time zone, same as eBay. ~~C~~

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Hi @duchess-at-speakeasy, I have sent you an email to get more details for review. Happy to dig into this further with you as soon as I hear back!

[tyler@ebay]

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@fern*wood wrote:

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tyler@ebay wrote:

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@fern*wood wrote:

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@aluvz2shop wrote:

Happy Holiday to all.

Quick question about a recent promo 

List FREE - 200 auction-style or fixed priced listings Pay no insertion fees on up to 200 listings. Plus, add Buy It Now for free.

12/19/17 00:00:00 PST

12/23/17 23:59:59 PST

0

200

It is listed not once but twice, is this a super bonus or done in error? 

Thanks in advance!

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Hi @aluvz2shop, I've never actually seen this happen before, but I do have a test you can run to determine if there are actually two promotions with the same offer or if this is just a graphical error. Try listing an item within the promotion criteria and check to see if the count of "200" lowers on both or just one. You are welcome to update me with what you find and I can get this over to our tech teams if there is an error present!

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I saw this yesterday.

List an item. It shows used in both spots. Not going to get double 200.

No harm, no foul:)

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The listings I am using are only coming off one of the offers.  The second one is still showing as active with 200 available.

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Howdy @fern*wood - will you check the terms and conditions of the promotions? We have promotions going for Fixed Price as well as for Auction Style listings with similar numbers that could be confusing. 

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They are the same one.  Both are showing accepted the same second, even though I only clicked accept once.   Even stranger than having it show up twice was seeing the count down wasn't advancing on both.

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That seems really odd @fern*wood - I'll reach out for more details. Thanks!

[brian_burke@ebay]

@vrykalak - it's completely about relevance. Do you want us to return items not relevant to what you are searching for?

Send me an example via email bburke@ebay.com

Thanks

Brian

[alan@ebay]

Thanks for joining us today, the topic is locked as the hour is up, but we'll stick around to answer any posts we haven't got to yet. 

We hope that you all have a fantastic Christmas. We'll see you back here next Wednesday for another chat. 

[Anonymous]

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@vintige wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

What can ebay do for US seller who experienced a drop in sales this year.

I think a big problem is the  influx of all the chinese fakes with low prices.

Has ebay ever considered helping USA sellers by making the default search on the Ebay.com (United States site) as being US.  There could still be the radio boxes for other countries.

We USA sellers at at a disadvantage because ebay does not police its own site correctly

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Hi @mallontown, we absolutely do not allow fake items on the site. We have teams reviewing the site 24 hours a day, 356 days a year to identify concerns and keep the site safe. If you have seen something we missed, you can report this directly from the listing and we will be happy to look into this further for appropriate action and improvements to our filters.

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I thought that somebody has to report an item before you have a look at it.

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Hi @*coins, happy to let you know that we proactively review our site for indications of abuse and will take action to ensure eBay remains a safe place to buy and sell. While member reports are appreciated as they help us identify gaps in our filters and catch anything that slipped passed us, we do not soley rely on these to protect our members 

[Anonymous]

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@mallontown wrote:

Thanks

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

usps holiday shipping deadlines 12/19 for first class mail

Why does ebay show buyers false delivery times for usps deliveries? This effects millions of people , buyers and sellers who use usps.

I included an example of an auction today 12/20 with delivery date of 12/23 to compare with usps saying all first class needed to be shipped 12/19 for Christmas delivery. 

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Hi @mallontown, 

Thanks for sharing this, I'm going to contact our Shipping team to have them review, I'll get back to you when I know more. 

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Thanks. Whats going on with the shipping team not knowing usps holidays? The prevoius large issue was that ebay did not know Veterans day was Novermber 11th 

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Hi @mallontown, sorry to hear that you ran into issues with shipping estimates related to Veterans day. When we make a mistake, we take steps to protect our Community and any impacted seller receives protections. We will update you once have more information from our shipping team regarding the upcoming delivery dates you are seeing!

[brian@ebay]

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@duchess-at-speakeasy wrote:
During the eBay label creation process, why does eBay delete the full 9-digit zip code provided by the buyer during Paypal checkout. Such a nuisance to have to add it back! ~~C~~

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Hi @duchess-at-speakeasy, I'd like to review an example and send it to the shipping team. I'll email you soon with more information! 

[Anonymous]

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@vintige wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

Thanks

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

usps holiday shipping deadlines 12/19 for first class mail

Why does ebay show buyers false delivery times for usps deliveries? This effects millions of people , buyers and sellers who use usps.

I included an example of an auction today 12/20 with delivery date of 12/23 to compare with usps saying all first class needed to be shipped 12/19 for Christmas delivery. 

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Hi @mallontown, 

Thanks for sharing this, I'm going to contact our Shipping team to have them review, I'll get back to you when I know more. 

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Thanks. Whats going on with the shipping team not knowing usps days. The prevoius large issue was that ebay did not know Veterans day was Novermber 11th 

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What "shipping team" are you referring to?

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Hi @*coins, we are referencing the team responsbile for Shipping tools and policies here at eBay. We have teams dedicated to a variety of topics, so you may see us refer to the shipping team, our tech teams, the appropriate team, etc.

[alan@ebay]

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

usps holiday shipping deadlines 12/19 for first class mail

Why does ebay show buyers false delivery times for usps deliveries? This effects millions of people , buyers and sellers who use usps.

I included an example of an auction today 12/20 with delivery date of 12/23 to compare with usps saying all first class needed to be shipped 12/19 for Christmas delivery. 

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Hi @mallontown, 

Thanks for sharing this, I'm going to contact our Shipping team to have them review, I'll get back to you when I know more. 

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Hi @mallontown, 

Our shipping team wrote back on Wednesday after reviewing your listing to advise: 

"When USPS publish their holiday calendar they are stating the most conservative date that would work for the longest possible delivery for that carrier service – ie from east coast to west..

When eBay makes a delivery prediction we are looking at the actual distance between seller and buyer and historical data for that carrier, at this time of year between those two zips. We are a lot more specific and therefore accurate.

It seems here that the seller is checking their own listing – and the delivery estimate algorithm is, therefore, showing the ship speed from and to the same zip code. On top of this, the seller offers same day handling so it's completely realistic that if it shipped today (Wed 20th) it would be delivered on Saturday.

When I check this listing now (Wed 20th) i.e. after their same day cut-off – the estimate is now Dec 26^th."

Thank you!