Regards,
mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@ayeres_books wrote:
What is the status of the issue of Everything Else items not being displayed in sellers' stores? This has been an issue for 4 months now. I have called, emailed, responded to surveys and participated in this weekly chat session and the only answer I have been given is that Ebay is aware of the problem and working on it. How can something like this take 4 months (and counting) to fix? I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps Ebay is intentionally suppressing Everything Else items from stores, but not announcing it. If that's the case, Ebay needs to let sellers know so they can reevaluate their selling strategies, because as it stands now, we're not getting full value for the store fees that we'ere paying. What is going on with this?
Hi @ayeres_books! I've looked into this and see the issue is still ongoing. I'm going to send another report over to the techs. When I have more information to share then I'll be sure to tag you in this thread 
@mam98031 wrote:
We need an update to the UID policy. On the policy page it does not mention that there is a 32 time frame for opening a UID, you have to find that info on a separate page, which doesn’t make sense to me.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/unpaid-item-policy?id=4271
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/resolving-unpaid-items?id=4137
Thanks, @mam98031! I'll get this suggestion over to the team 
Hello again eBay Support Team:
Next subject:
You owe me 83 Cents from another Cart failure on a multiple order …
While multiple sales to one Buyer are not the norm here they do happen and are increasing. The ongoing unresolved failure of the cart for multiple fixed price purchases to provide Sellers with an invoice that allows adjustment for Combined shipping PRIOR to Payment is racking up quite a bit of uncredited FVFs for eBay on those overpaid shipping costs.
Short of fixing the long standing problem the next obvious step is for eBay to automatically credit Sellers the FVF on the shipping Refunded to the Buyer on multiple purchases. This week it’s about 83 cents for me. Again, this should be automatic and not require sellers to call to get the FVFs credited. While 83 cents doesn’t sound like a lot, multiply that by just a small % of the published number of over 25 million registered Selling accounts and the number grows in a hurry.
What does eBay do with all the FVFs it collects from this situation?
I am wondering if part of the Payment Processing section on the soon to be released 2019 Spring Seller Update will cover this situation and correct it once and for all?
tyler@ebay wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all you guys. A day early, but certainly you won't be all in one place tomorrow.
You are APPRECIATED! Thank you for your hard work and attentions to matters on these threads and outside these threads.
You're so sweet @mam98031 - thanks for saying that, and hope you and your DH have a fun Valentine's Day planned. 🙂
We've been snowed in, so it will be a simple celebration here at home. But at least we are together. Our daughter hasn't been able to come home for days. She is with friends close to where she works as it is just too dangerous out there right now.
@forgottenape wrote:
in the interest of transparency for buyers and other sellers shouldn't ebay link all of a members id names on their about me page? this would cut down on the rampant rumors of shill bidders and seller competition complaints. I understand there are legitimate reasons for multiple id's but im also sure that legitimate members wouldn't mind having all their id's linked in one place both to divert traffic to their other stores and to dispel rumors and innuendo of wrong doing. seems like a simple thing to resolve the never ending conspiracy theories. and if they are true on some level it will discourage further actions
Hi @forgottenape - that's an interesting suggestion, and one I haven't heard before. I think there are legitimate reasons to want to have a separate id (a buying account used to acquire inventory vs selling account to sell the same inventory for instance). We always want to respect our member's privacy, so there are going to be concerns there as well - but I'll relay your suggestion to the right teams. Thanks!
@Anonymous wrote:
@goodluckselling wrote:I am seeking clarification from eBay staff about how refunds and returns should be completed and what happens when the eBay approved protocol is not followed. In this thread we are seeing a couple different understandings.
Starting with post number 7 where a forum user is telling others to just go to paypal and issue a label and refund as a way to handle a return and refund. There are also replies to post 7 in post 8 and specifically post 10 that are suggesting that eBay has told us that this action in post 7 would still reflect bad seller ratings.
To which this reply was offered from the author in post 7
That isn't exactly what Ebay has said. If you don't email your buyer within Ebay and outline what is transpiring, meaning the refund, then yes it is possible for Ebay to give the seller an OOS defect. But not if you are communicating with your buyer along the way on what is happening.
Here are the three questions all related to each other that I need your help with.
Question - Is it okay to just communicate through the ebay message system about refunds and returns and then proceed outside the eBay generated pathway (resolution center). Keep in mind these refunds and or returns could be for anything like out of stock or product damaged, not as described, or sent the wrong item, etc. You would not know unless there was communication from the buyer in the eBay message system about an issue.
Question - Is communications from a buyer and or seller through the eBay message system good enough for sellers to proceed outside the resolution center areas to complete these customer service tasks and also not receive bad ratings to our seller standards and service metrics?
Question - Does eBay want us to use the resolution center pathway for all returns and refunds or is there a high bred area like being talked about above that would be approved by eBay for these kinds of customer service tasks?
As dedicated sellers on eBay we deserve to hear eBay's official position about this. It should not be hard to give a clear and concise answer so every seller who reads this can know without doubt about what eBay intends for it's user to do and what consequence we face when we go outside the boundaries set up for us to use.
Good Luck Selling!
Hi @goodluckselling, happy to address the thread you are referring to and provide some additional context to.
- A refund should be sent via the Cancel Transaction, Item Not Received, or Return Request process when possible. The only time that a refund via PayPal would be acceptable is if one of these other options is not appropriate. The most common example is a shipping discount provided post-checkout. This could also arise when a seller wins an eBay Money Back Guarantee claim, but still wishes to refund their customer partially or in full.
- In instances where no other eBay process is applicable (those listed above) and the seller needs to refund via PayPal, we ask that the seller communicate with the buyer on eBay about the refund they are issuing and provide context. eBay messages that clarify the purpose of the refund would be acceptable and would serve to prevent an out of stock defect. Additionally, if one of the previously discussed cases has been opened and closed, this would count for the purposes of communication to explain the reason the refund is being issued.
- If the buyer is concerned about not receiving their package, a refund should be issued through the Item Not Received Request process. If the buyer wishes to return an item, this return and any associated refund (full or partial) should be issued through the Return Request process. If a buyer wishes to cancel the transaction in full, the Cancel Transaction Process should be used. There are instances where resolving a customer's concerns may not fall into one of these processes, and in those instances a refund through PayPal with communication on eBay would be acceptable. A refund through PayPal without explanation on the eBay platform may result in a Cancel Transaction defect for Out Of Stock.
- This topic is touched on in our Knowledge Base article for issuing a partial refund, found here.
This has come up again because of something I said on the thread that was referenced.
I do understand and respect Ebay's position on this. But how or why would I tell a buyer that does not want to file a claim that they have to or I can't help them? Some buyers do not want to mess with the claims process. And I don't think I should tell them that I can't help them unless they do. How would that be better customer service than if I just took care of them without a claim?
I do understand that Ebay wants sellers to support the Service Metrics program. I don't agree with it as I've made abundantly clear before, but I do understand that this is a driving force in having sellers always use the claims system when a refund to a buyer is needed. However this is not a one size fits all. Some buyer just don't want to file claims.
@vrykalak wrote:
I'm experiencing a major problem with selecting categories for clothing I sell. Categories should be organized by main garment type first, then variations within that type, and whether it's for men/women/kids/unisex last.
I sell lots of t-shirts and costumes that could be worn by men or women, and sometimes kids.
But I have to choose one or the other for my listing, because nobody ever searches for unisex garments. So half my potential buyers never see my offerings.
Certainly, eBay can't abandon the current category hierarchy.But could there be a different hierarchy, each item in it linked to the same item today, that organizes garments by type first, and potential wearer second?
Hi @vrykalak - thanks for this insight, I think it's a sound idea for unisex garments to have some kind of different sub structure to help surface it in relevant searches. Ideally search should be surfacing items if they apply and I imagine 'unisex' would apply to all types, but I'll see what I can find out. Thanks!
@papermoneyforme wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@goodluckselling wrote:I am seeking clarification from eBay staff about how refunds and returns should be completed and what happens when the eBay approved protocol is not followed. In this thread we are seeing a couple different understandings.
Starting with post number 7 where a forum user is telling others to just go to paypal and issue a label and refund as a way to handle a return and refund. There are also replies to post 7 in post 8 and specifically post 10 that are suggesting that eBay has told us that this action in post 7 would still reflect bad seller ratings.
To which this reply was offered from the author in post 7
That isn't exactly what Ebay has said. If you don't email your buyer within Ebay and outline what is transpiring, meaning the refund, then yes it is possible for Ebay to give the seller an OOS defect. But not if you are communicating with your buyer along the way on what is happening.
Here are the three questions all related to each other that I need your help with.
Question - Is it okay to just communicate through the ebay message system about refunds and returns and then proceed outside the eBay generated pathway (resolution center). Keep in mind these refunds and or returns could be for anything like out of stock or product damaged, not as described, or sent the wrong item, etc. You would not know unless there was communication from the buyer in the eBay message system about an issue.
Question - Is communications from a buyer and or seller through the eBay message system good enough for sellers to proceed outside the resolution center areas to complete these customer service tasks and also not receive bad ratings to our seller standards and service metrics?
Question - Does eBay want us to use the resolution center pathway for all returns and refunds or is there a high bred area like being talked about above that would be approved by eBay for these kinds of customer service tasks?
As dedicated sellers on eBay we deserve to hear eBay's official position about this. It should not be hard to give a clear and concise answer so every seller who reads this can know without doubt about what eBay intends for it's user to do and what consequence we face when we go outside the boundaries set up for us to use.
Good Luck Selling!
Hi @goodluckselling, happy to address the thread you are referring to and provide some additional context to.
- A refund should be sent via the Cancel Transaction, Item Not Received, or Return Request process when possible. The only time that a refund via PayPal would be acceptable is if one of these other options is not appropriate. The most common example is a shipping discount provided post-checkout. This could also arise when a seller wins an eBay Money Back Guarantee claim, but still wishes to refund their customer partially or in full.
- In instances where no other eBay process is applicable (those listed above) and the seller needs to refund via PayPal, we ask that the seller communicate with the buyer on eBay about the refund they are issuing and provide context. eBay messages that clarify the purpose of the refund would be acceptable and would serve to prevent an out of stock defect. Additionally, if one of the previously discussed cases has been opened and closed, this would count for the purposes of communication to explain the reason the refund is being issued.
- If the buyer is concerned about not receiving their package, a refund should be issued through the Item Not Received Request process. If the buyer wishes to return an item, this return and any associated refund (full or partial) should be issued through the Return Request process. If a buyer wishes to cancel the transaction in full, the Cancel Transaction Process should be used. There are instances where resolving a customer's concerns may not fall into one of these processes, and in those instances a refund through PayPal with communication on eBay would be acceptable. A refund through PayPal without explanation on the eBay platform may result in a Cancel Transaction defect for Out Of Stock.
- This topic is touched on in our Knowledge Base article for issuing a partial refund, found here.
This has come up again because of something I said on the thread that was referenced.
I do understand and respect Ebay's position on this. But how or why would I tell a buyer that does not want to file a claim that they have to or I can't help them? Some buyers do not want to mess with the claims process. And I don't think I should tell them that I can't help them unless they do. How would that be better customer service than if I just took care of them without a claim?
I do understand that Ebay wants sellers to support the Service Metrics program. I don't agree with it as I've made abundantly clear before, but I do understand that this is a driving force in having sellers always use the claims system when a refund to a buyer is needed. However this is not a one size fits all. Some buyer just don't want to file claims.
Your buyer could have abused the MBG and may not be eligible, or does not want to be on Ebays radar for returns. If you want to support this, you could be enabling a rotten buyer.
So we are suppose to tell them we can't help them unless they file a claim?
Where does it say in the Ebay rules that it is Manditory? Please provide a link.
Over the years I've had a few buyers that have wanted to return something and not open a claim. Having concerns over if they were abusing me or the system was never even a question or concern. They had an issue that I was willing to take care of, so I did.
