mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
Join the Community team here at 1 PM PT on December 11th for our Weekly Chat with eBay Staff. We don't have a set topic this week, so please bring any general questions you may have on buying or selling.
The chat will be open for questions from 1-2 pm PT, at which point we'll close thread. While no additional questions can be submitted after this time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that may still be unanswered.
If you're new to the chat, welcome! Simply Reply to this post with your question from 1-2 PM Pacific Time and we'll be happy to look into it for you.
*Please note that we're not able to address account-specific queries. Questions regarding your account should be direct to eBay Customer Service.
doug@ebay wrote:Hi @mam98031 do you mean within the Community, or on the eBay marketplace? A bit back we disabled the Community spell checker to default to a user's browser spell checker. What browser are you using?
Thanks!
@mam98031 wrote:Hey a curiosity question.
Why after all these years hasn't Ebay added Ebay to the spell checker. It always shows we are misspelling it. Just wondering???!?!??
In the forum. I use Chrome.
@mam98031 wrote:
tyler@ebay wrote:
@joshuatreeimports wrote:
Hello! I was wondering if sellers are responsible for items with tracking showing they were delivered, but the customer claims were stolen after delivery. How far beyond successful delivery does a seller's responsibility extend?
Hi @joshuatreeimports - in a situation where tracking confirms that the buyer's shipment was delivered to their address you are protected from Item not Received requests (we would find them in your favor if they were escalated). Thanks!
Just to add a little more to this so no one gets confused. The item has to be shipped to the ship to address on the PP payment notification [if you are NOT in MP] for this seller protection to apply in both Ebay and PP.
In Ebay, they allow us to be notified by the buyer after the payment of an address change as long as that notification happens within M2M. So if we comply we are fine in Ebay and still covered. But NOT in PP. PP does not acknowledge or accept that change.
Hi @mam98031 - this was good advice, but it is a bit outdated. At this point in time we ask you to ship to the address used at eBay checkout regardless of what a buyer puts in messages, checkout details, or sends to you privately. This helps ensure our policies are consistent with other financial institutions and to avoid setting you up for repeated rounds of disputes through various services (the 'eBay to PayPal to Credit Card' loop).
It's still up to you if you want to fulfill a buyer's request, but if you're wanting to maximize your eBay protections, if a buyer asks you to ship to an address other than the one they chose at checkout you should cancel the transaction as Buyer Requested/Problem with Address and have them purchase again. Thanks!
@vrykalak wrote:
@fern*wood wrote:I'm curious as to why sponsored/promoted listings circumvent my choice of search criteria? I usually search highest + shipping first. So as I go down the list, out of nowhere, these sponsored listings pop up completely out of order, totally disregarding my search option. I find it confusing and annoying.
I am fairly sure it isn't just promoted listings that show up inappropriately in Search results.
eBay's search engine used to be far and away the best in the universe.
Now its results are (annoying at least and) outright wrong in many cases.
I have been asking for years: give users a switch they can toggle, saying "don't show me any results that don't reflect all my search terms"...to no avail.
If you have three search terms, and get too many results, then add a fourth term, the number of results SHOULD decrease. In fact, the number of results can double, triple, or more when you add a search term. That's ridiculous.
Yes very ridiculous indeed!!! Search for 256GB mSATA sometime if you want a good laugh... 
They pretty much take the search terms and chop them up however they see fit. Oh you used the letter "a" in one of your search terms? Here is every listing that has the letter "a" anywhere in the searchable fields...
@gwzcomps wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@gwzcomps wrote:
When is eBay going to take accountability for their site and its issues? I constantly have to call and report various different things that have been a problem for a while now. Examples:
- Buyers allowed to supply addresses that exceed the character limit.
- Buyers allowed to make multiple accounts to get around site policies and blocks.
- No real way to protect oneself from buyers that make false claims.
- Search engine hiding listings in results.
- Search engine providing inaccurate results.
- Random unresolved glitches like markdown manager problems and buyers having issues paying.
- Other issues I don't remember at the moment.
I do enjoy the new line the support people have been taught. "We are doing our best" It does make for a good laugh when some of these things have been problems for years now. I'm familiar with all the default responses and policies. Just hoping eBay will step up to the plate for a change 😞
Hi @gwzcomps, happy to let you know that we already takes steps to be accountable for site issues by investigating problems we identify or that are reported to us and working on fixes. For the specific examples you have provided, I can share the following:
- Addresses that exceed the character limit is something on our radar for enhancements. If this comes up in a transaction, you can cancel and use the Problem with buyer's address reason, communicating to the buyer that they need to adjust their address accordingly.
- Multiple accounts to circumvent policies and blocks is not allowed and we will take action when we identify this kind of behavior. Sellers can report this to us and cancel the transaction if they have reason to believe the buyer is someone they have blocked previously.
- Sellers who offer 30-day Free Returns or are Top Rated are able to report buyers who make return requests for a reason they believe to be false. If we determine the buyer has been abusive, all sellers who have interacted with that buyer will receive protections.
- Our search results are designed to provide the best possible match for a buyer's search - there is no guarantee that a seller's item will appear in search results. That being said, the only time a seller's items are "hidden" from search are when they have violated eBay policy and the subsequent consequences include not displaying their items in search results. If you feel like you've run into a technical issue unrelated to a policy violation, you are welcome to report the details to us for review.
- Markdown Manager issues have been investigated and while there were reports of promotions not processing within 24 hours as they should in the last few months, it appears that this is working properly.
- As for buyer payment issues, you may need to provide a more specific example - there are reasons why a buyer would have trouble paying that are related to their payment method, account status, or the settings of the seller. Technical issues with checkout are a top priority when they do occur, but if you are running into something we'll be happy to review.
I hope this helps showcase the steps we take to be accountable and address the concerns you have outlined. You are welcome to contact Customer Service if you run into any specific issues you would like reviewed, or post details to the Technical Issues board.
- All you have to do is set a character limit on the address for buyers that matches the limit eBay has set on the seller's side of thing.
- As for cancelling the orders we have to eat the PayPal fees now. Canceling the transaction is no longer financially viable for problems eBay has created.
- 30-day free returns make no sense for people selling used items. They are nothing but an expensive liability for sellers like me.
- I have listings that are hidden from search regardless of my standing as a seller. On top of that as a buyer I will not go to eBay first anymore because I am tired of digging through irrelevant results or paying too much for stuff because of how the search engine works.
Hi @gwzcomps,
- Yup, that is all we would have to do. Ensuring that the correct limit is placed, that the limit does not cause problems for addresses being shipped to international locations or takes those into account, and determining how to apply this kind of change across all of our marketplaces are all steps we would need to take prior to implementing a limit. After that is all complete, we must gauge the time it would take to program such changes and prioritize this investment against other, potentially more pressing changes. While I do not personally have a programming degree, I have learned that almost every change or enhancement that seems like it would be simple would still require a significant investment of time.
- Any questions or concerns you have about the fees of a third party payment processor would need to be directed to that company directly. I can advise that you plan for any potential increase in fees by factoring these costs into your item prices.
- I encourage you to try out 30-day free returns for a quarter and analyze the results this has on your business. We do not find that offering returns results in a significant increase in returns requests a seller receives, and the increased visibility and value of your listings corresponds with increased conversion. In short, while some seller may see an increase in returns when offering free returns, this is not a given and even if it does occur, the increase in sales may offset any increase in cost. The only way to find out is to give it a shot and see
- I would still need more specific examples to review this further or to pass along any suggestions for improvements to our search results. Feel free to post your feedback on the Technical Issues board or bring examples to future chats.
you got my email , send me the information about this case and I can give it to someone that will be very interested in seeing what is going on
@mam98031 wrote:
tyler@ebay wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
When Ebay redesigned the Feedback Page we seem to have lost an option we use to have. What happened to being able to view a members ID history for changes. We use to have a link to that, but not anymore.
Where can we get this information or has Ebay deemed we don't need it?
Hi @mam98031 - I'm not aware of any change to remove this function, can you link me to an example thread or get me some more detail I can use to look into it further?
There is not a thread. And I haven't a clue as to how to get you an example since it no longer exists on the updated FB pages. I'd have to go out and try to find a member that did not have an updated FB page and I don't know an easy way to do that.
Hi @mam98031 - thanks for this (and to everyone who grabbed screenshots!). I'll send this up to see if this was an intentional removal and if there's a way to get that info a different way.
