Community Chat Hour - Tue. July 3rd @ 1 pm PDT - General Topics

[alan@ebay]

Join The Community Team here at 1 pm Pacific on Tuesday, July 3rd for our chat hour. We're moving the chat hour forward this week due to the July 4th holiday 🇺🇸

Chat with you then! 

[the_fancy_fox]

On a different thread it was stated that the new seller metrics for the 4% fee increase would only apply if a seller had over 10 SNAD returns or 1%. (Which seems to conflict with being judged against your peers)

So if a seller has sold 20 items in a particular catagory in the last year and ends up with one SNAD return, will their fees increase 4%?

Is there a minimum amount of sales before these metrics kick in?

[doug@ebay]

Hi @beauty_at_your_tips2013, this is something we're still working on. Hope to have an update soon.

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@beauty_at_your_tips2013 wrote:

When may we expect to finally have accurate information as to the numbers of viewers and watchers we have on our items?

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[tyler@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
Hi Alan,
From the Spring Seller Update:

"You will be able to customize your Store by using our many different modules later in 2018."

From the Summer Seller Update:

" New Stores features
Starting in June 2018, we will provide eBay Stores subscribers valuable new features that will help you manage your Store. They include:

New merchandising opportunities
Enhanced mobile experience
HTTPS security
Manage your Store from one convenient location—Seller Hub
In late-June 2018, these Store features will only be accessible in Seller Hub at the following locations:

Marketing tab
Stores Management
Performance tab
Sales reports
Traffic reports"

"Late June" has come and gone.

Where are these new store enhancements? Particularly the new modules some of us have been asking about for months?

Is eBay behind schedule again?

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Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques - we sent a request for updates on this to the Stores team yesterday and are waiting on their response now. When we hear back I'll update you here on what we learn! 

[lecroy3]

Hi Alan. Thanks for hosting today. Quick questions about returns. 1) If a seller is deemed to have a high rate of returns, will an Ebay representative review a seller's status before the 4% additional FVF is imposed? And 2) Will the peer percentage be posted somewhere on the Performance chart so sellers can gauge their performance with that of their peers? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

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@funfactorychannel wrote:

Is misleading advertistement here to stay?

Basically your taking keywords from my store and taking people out of it with a misleading banner.

If you go to barbie seller store and type barbie you get an add to take the buyer out of that barbie sellers store before they have a chance to browse. That banner right now is very misleading to sellers and buyers.

Buyers will think that is my store banner as it doesnt say Ad but says featured. I would like to have that spot for the anchor store I paid for, but not as a nice spot to take buyers out of my store and on to other sellers.

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Hi @funfactorychannel - Thanks for the feedback on this! The same thing happens when you simply search 'Barbie' without specifying a seller's account. With a generic search, our goal is to make it as simple as possible to help narrow down exactly what you're looking for which is why you're taken to a product page. That said, I see your point when you've specified a specific seller and I'll make sure that feedback is shared. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Thanks Tyler. I look forward to seeing an update.

[dhbookds]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Hi Alan  Happy almost 4th, hope it's cooler where you are ........

There continues to be questions about listing promotions banner showing up at the top or bottom of a listing.

Bob K said in the q/a ( as I understood it), that the bannner would show if the promo was a "good one".......at the top.  Lesser ones would show on the bottom or only when a buyer went to check out.......

I can find nothing to expand on this..........I understand that $1 off 3 items, each valued at $500 is not a good one, but can you give us what WILL make a banner show up on top? 

There is a discussion on the Tech board......

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202273580621                30% off doesn't show up at top

https://www.ebay.com/itm/141916397741                     25% off Does show at top

https://www.ebay.com/itm/252342590681                 20% off Does show up at top

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Hi @dhbookds - Thanks for joining us today! There are quite a few factors we look at when it comes to promotions banners and their placements. Similar to Best Match, there isn't a singular way to guarantee your banner will display at the top of your listing. We would just encourage you to look at differing sellers and what they're offering to make sure your promotions are competitive to theirs. 

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Thanks Heidi......just an observation that this is going to create a real "favoritism" charge........why is his 20% off better than my 30% off?  I would also point out that these promotional programs are touted  as a benefit to all store "ownership"...  While new rules have been promulgated for MM sales, as far as I know, no qualifications or even suggestions to % off offers have been published.  It seems unfair that one shows to a better advantage than another.

[tyler@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

Hi Alan,

I think I can understand the rationale behind the new 14 day rule for Markdown Manager.

However, for a seller to keep track of which items are eligible to participate in a sale and which are not is obviously not very practical. Yet, when I launch a sale, eBay obviously can instantly determine which items are eligible and which aren't. So, wouldn't it be a good idea for ebay to provide us with a new tool that enables us to find the eligibility date for each listing IN ADVANCE of creating a Markdown Manager Sale?

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Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques - you're right that we can determine what items do and don't qualify at the time they're added to the sale. To help with that, the promotions manager has been adjusted to regularly check an item's eligibility and to mark the item down when it qualifies to do so. 

There's not currently a tool that will do that outside of a Markdown sale event though, thanks! 

[dhbookds]

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tyler@ebay wrote:

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

Hi Alan,

I think I can understand the rationale behind the new 14 day rule for Markdown Manager.

However, for a seller to keep track of which items are eligible to participate in a sale and which are not is obviously not very practical. Yet, when I launch a sale, eBay obviously can instantly determine which items are eligible and which aren't. So, wouldn't it be a good idea for ebay to provide us with a new tool that enables us to find the eligibility date for each listing IN ADVANCE of creating a Markdown Manager Sale?

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Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques - you're right that we can determine what items do and don't qualify at the time they're added to the sale. To help with that, the promotions manager has been adjusted to regularly check an item's eligibility and to mark the item down when it qualifies to do so. 

There's not currently a tool that will do that outside of a Markdown sale event though, thanks! 

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I can see adding an item to the sale when the sale only has 3 days left to run would NOT please many........since that kills the ability to offer it again on sale for 14 days...............  is there a way to turn OFF that feature????

[brian@ebay]

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@funfactorychannel wrote:

Please clarify how sellers be able to run sales.

Current settings that are enforced:

1. new items cannot be on sale for 14days.

2. items coming off of sales cannot be on sale for 14 days.

How does this benefit? I never seen any store retail or ecommerce that tries to restrict sales as it is one of the major tools for any business to make sales.

So a person who has all the items coming out of sales cannot put a sale on the 4th of July Weekend?

Sellerse with over thousands of listings, how is best for them to handle sales? Keep track which one was on sale? Tools ebay has isn't very helpful, are there new tools plan or we stuck with good luck?

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Hi @funfactorychannel, we know this change requires a lot of adjustments to how sellers run and manage sales. The main goal with the 14 day timeframes is to build buyer confidence in item pricing and discounts on eBay. If an item doesn't currently quality for a sale, it will automatically be added to that sale (if the sale is still active) once it does qualify. We are passing sellers feedback to the Markdown team and they are taking it into consider as we move forward. I'm happy to take your suggestion and send it over too. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[beauty_at_your_tips2013]

Does this mean that I need to abandon my 30 day listings for good until cancelled listings? Because I now have old items that I can't put on sale because they have been relisted.

[Anonymous]

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@fern*wood wrote:

I would like some clarification and details about the additional FVFs ebay has floated will be added to sellers' fees this fall based on their INR/SNAD return percentages.

How will this percentage be determined?  Will sellers be compared to sellers with the same number of sold items?  Will the additional fees only be added to sold items within categories with the higher percentage or across the board for that seller?

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Hi @fern*wood - Additional fees would only apply if you have a high 'Not as Described' return rate. Estimated delivery dates may be extended due to 'Item Not Received' concerns but fees wouldn't be charged. For more information on how these percentages are calculated and when the fees/extended delivery dates apply, please see the FAQs we shared with our latest Seller Update.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Hi Heidi,

You say,

"There are quite a few factors we look at when it comes to promotions banners and their placements. Similar to Best Match, there isn't a singular way to guarantee your banner will display at the top of your listing. We would just encourage you to look at differing sellers and what they're offering to make sure your promotions are competitive to theirs."

This seems to contradict what Bob said recently, in which he ASSURED sellers that only REALLY lousy offers would have the banner below the listing. I don't see a 10% off sale as really lousy. For Heaven's sake,  at least give us some guidelines...more than "look at other sellers"....Bob made clear, ebay doesn't want us running lousy sales. Fine. TELL us what ebay considers a lousy sale. I don't understand why this company thinks making everything into a guessing game for sellers is conducive to effecient selling. Can you explain that?

When I signed up for a store, I did it in part because of Promotions Manager and the ability to promote my sales. You know, some of this stuff, it starts to feel almost like a bait and switch after a while.... "sign up for stores! Promote your Markdowns! Signed up? Great! Oh, we're now going to make it impossible for you to know in advance whether your sale will actually be promoted in your listing or not..."

Come on, you guys can do better than this!

[nc-daydreamer]

I'll second the problems already noted.  So no need to say more about them as there are some fine writer's in the Community.

So I will ask what I hope to be a very refreshing, easy question for you of an important matter, but not actually business related.... 

In April an announcement was made about a contest for a pair of all expense paid tickets to the Open.  Who won? And by what margin did they win? As I recall the metrics were based on acceptance of the number of solutions one received.  I have not seen an announcement on this, but am curious.  It would be an encouragement to all I think to know that there really are winners to these occasional contests, rather than have it appear that such things really don't  happen.

Thanks for a response...

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Tyler,

You say "There's not currently a tool that will do that outside of a Markdown sale event though, thanks! "

Right. That's what I said. We SHOULD have such a tool. eBay has the ability to create such a tool.

Is there a reason eBay prefers to surprise us all? "Oh, look! I thought I was putting 50 items on sale, but only 20 made the cut! Wheeee! What fun it is to be surprised!"