Community Chat, Jan 10th @ 1pm PT - General Topics

[Anonymous]

Please join us today at 1 pm Pacific today for our weekly chat with the Community Team. There is no set topic this week, so feel free to ask us any of your eBay buying & selling questions.

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

Looking forward to hearing from everyone today! 

[fern*wood]

I pretty much stopped shipping internationally, but had a recent customer talk me into it.  The package is supposed to be going to Italy, but tracking shows it is on the way to its destination --- Salt Lake City UT.

Has the address formatting changed lately, which makes 5 digits numbers in foreign addresses appear in the same location and appearance as domestic zip codes?  The address looked different than I recalled from the past when I never had this issue.

I also found a recent thread where other sellers are now having the same problem---international shipments are going to domestic locations with the same "zip".

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

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@fern*wood wrote:

A couple weeks ago I brought up the possibility that a couple common issues, which are posted on a regular basis on the boards, might easily be fixed by ebay.

The one about a clarification for store owners wishing to use the vacation settings I feel still needs more done.  Instructions at the point where a seller actually sets up their vacation settings should clearly explain that handling times need to be adjusted if one wishes to leave their items visible.

I was told it is explained under "Knowledge Base" and Commonly asked questions.  While this is true, I don't think most sellers would look there to find out how to set their store vacation settings.   They might after having a problem, but frankly, I've been here a long time and never once had I looked there for anything.

Just in the last two days, unknowing sellers have posted about receiving ontime shipping metric hits, and one even had INR cases opened against them, since they knew nothing about adjusting the handling times.  

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I agree, this should be clairfied on the settings page as well.  A short statement with a link to the Knowledge base article would help a lot.

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A bolded note reminding sellers to CHANGE THEIR HANDLING TIME to reflect the length of their vacation if listings aren't hidden would work better than what's there now, which is nothing.

[dtexley3]

Which reminds me, is it intentional that even when a seller hides their listings if someone has the item in their watch list they can purchase anyway?

(a good reason for always updating the handling time for vacations)

[doug@ebay]

Hi @househunt35_0, you have joined the chat by posting here! You may be used to a different chat format. This is a discussion board based chat, which we call a chat, because it is live and we respond live. Hope this helps, and answers your question.

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@househunt35_0 wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to join this community chat? I've made it as far as the board where I can read peoples questions and replies, but there is nothing anywhere that tells me how to ask a question?????

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[southern*sweet*tea]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

Which reminds me, is it intentional that even when a seller hides their listings if someone has the item in their watch list they can purchase anyway?

(a good reason for always updating the handling time for vacations)

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AFAIK that loophole has been closed. The last time I tried to buy from my watch list and a seller was on vacation, I got a message saying the seller was on vacation, the item wasn't available for purchase and to check back later. (or something like that)

[mallontown]

I will contue to follow up on this as I think its an important issue
Can I get an explaination of why ebays shipping estimates were so inaccurate?
please read post as it was sent to the shipping team with no further reply.
I will try each week until I get an answer


@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. 

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. 

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 26th."

Thank you! 

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Hi Alan

Thanks for getting back to me.

There are major flaws in the shipping teams response.

First they assume I only checked my zip code 17929 when in fact I checked multiple zip codes including

04569 Christmas Cove, Maine

47579 Santa Claus, Indiana

32709 Christmas, Florida

97641 Christmas Valley, Oregon

All of these showed delivery before Christmas

99705 North Pole Alaska and 00901 San Juan Puerto Rico were the only 2 that I checked that had an extended delivery with multiple dates as the estimate (shown on ebay as expected delivery between X and Y dates which included a date after Christmas)

Second is what historical data are they using? Data for the 4th quarter,data starting 1st week of December? Since I checked on this issue on the 20th only data from that date should apply and USPS informs everyone that delivery takes longer than usual. Did the shipping team only use data from 12/20 of the previous year(s)?

Third is the shipping team erroneous statement about same day handling by me. I researched the various zip codes as shown above and posted the question between 4:00 and 5PM EST . Since the shipping department researched my items and saw that I offer same day shipping they should also know that my cut off time for same day shipping is 8:15 am EST Which is a full 8 hours after my checking delivery times and posting the question. So the statement  "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." is an unrealistic statement.

Here is the true question on this issue.

Is ebay providing buyers with unrealistic ship arrival dates in order to compete with other venues that have fast shipping.

Thanks again Alan for addressing the issue and if you can forward this back to the shipping team it would be appreciated.

Since I can't post to a locked thread I will start a new one and reference the original community chat

Happy holidays

Deb

I just checked 4 am 12/24 and  here are the totals of my first class shipments made on 12/20 which ebay guarenteed a delivery date of 12/23 or sooner

13 arrived 12/23 or sooner

19 have not arrived by 12/23

The ebay shipping team stated

"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."

60% of the items shipped first class did not arrive by the date ebay said they would.

The ebay shipping team must have a diferent definition of the word accurate than I have.

That is not a good buying experience for buyers and will make people wary of buying from ebay sellers in the future.

If you found my reply useful, please give it a Helpful. If my response assisted in resolving your question, please click "Accept as Solution."

[gramophone-georg]

I habitually buy multiple items from the same seller- sometimes as many as 20 at a time. For the last few months, I have constantly run into the brick wall of ebay forced IPR... which means I have to buy each item individually INCLUDING FULL SHIPPING COST.

Loading them in the cart and then requesting a total gives me a "this seller does not offer combined shipping" message 100% of the time... even when the sellers listing says they DO combine!

Not only is this incredibly and needlessly inconvenient for the buyer, the only workaround for the seller is to refund the excess postage with PayPal which, it seems, *may* or *may not* trigger an out of stock defect, but most certainly guarantees that the seller will be forced to pay FVFs on the entire shipping amount which winds up being quite ludicrous.

Twice just in the last week I've walked away from big buys for my record collection simply because I'm not willing to pay for each item individually and endure the hassles, and possibly be forced to wildly overspend on shipping by eBay as a reward for all the time I've wasted going click click click click click click trying to make what should be a simple multiple item purchase.

Could someone fix this, please? Thanks.

[vrykalak]

have 5 'tracking indicates late shipping' on my record.
Two of them were late because the buyer wanted to buy two items, and wanted them shipped together. Two of them were submitted and scanned on time, and I have USPS receipts for them. One actually was late because I was on vacation, and thought I had changed all my shipping to 3-day, but apparently missed this one.
I can understand that eBay isn't interested in late shipment because of combined shipping (even though, in one of those cases, the buyer requested the shipping delay in an email). But i can't understand why they won't accept a receipt from the Post Office proving that items were scanned on time.
I bring it up, because it happened again last week: I have a receipt showing that the package was scanned on 2Jan, but the FIRST entry on the tracking page says it was "Accepted at USPS regional facility" the next afternoon. If it arrives "late"--which it probably will, because I live in the middle of nowhere, and everything takes longer to ship--I'll get another undeserved ding, which may cost me my TRS status.

[Anonymous]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

I am looking for some info on how eBay sends messages to buyers. I have a few questions and they all relate to the same areas, so I will ask them here. I am Okay with whatever the process is, I am just trying to understand the working of eBay better.

1. Does eBay send the buyer a "Your item has shipped" message the instant the seller marks the transaction as shipped? If not then a delay happens and
2. I am wondering how long a general delay is?
3. and does eBay just bundles lots of shipped messages from different sellers and bulk sends out these message?
4. I also want to understand what eBay considers shipped? Does shipped mean the item is shipped once a seller purchase a shipping label on eBay or marks the transaction as shipped manually?
5. Does eBay see an increase in buyers contacting customer service because they thought when they got the shipped message that means the seller has released the package to the carrier?
6. Is it possible for buyers to opt out of receiving any kind of message from eBay or the seller about "Your item Shipped"?
7. I think I saw in the site preferences that a seller can opt out of sending this message to buyers and I am wondering if this is still an active options and when this happens does that also mean that eBay will not be sending a buyer this message as well?

I am sorry for all the questions in one post but I did not see any disclaimer in the opening remarks from the community team.  I do not know what current options are as I rarely have time to attend this chat session.  If you can only answer one question could someone PM me the other answers?  I do not have the time to stick around for any replies but look forward to your answers.

Thanks

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Hi @goodluckselling, when a label is purchased on eBay or the item is marked as shipped, the buyer is notified that "Your item has shipped". We've gathered some feedback over the last few weeks on this notification and are working on potential changes - something along the lines of "A shipping label has been printed," or "Your item has been marked as shipped" both with context to allow time for tracking to update if it is available. Buyers can turn off emails within their site preferences, but I haven't found an option in the seller's account to turn off shipping information updates. You can see the message that is sent here and have the option of adding a message of your own to the content of the email. 

This is definitely something we are looking into based on recent feedback. Keep an eye out for possible enhancements in the future!

[brian@ebay]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

So, question from a forum thread. 

Is it allowed under eBay rules:

1) For a seller to automatically enroll a buyer in their (non-Ebay) newsletter mailing list (ie OptIn) during a purchase.  It's definately not allowed under US and CN law anymore, but what about eBay Policy?

2) Use their (non-Ebay) newsletter to drive sales to a non-eBay site for future purchases?

Thanks.

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Hi @dtexley3, sellers shouldn't have have the option to opt buyers into their newsletter. This is something a buyer needs to subscribe themselves. If you receive unsolicited emails from a seller outside of our system then you'll want to report it to the proper enforcement agency and block future emails from them.

[dtexley3]

Has any progress been made on fixing the shipping label issue preventing us from printing a FedEx smartpost label when shipping to a PO box?  I was able to finagle a FedEx.com account with SmartPost, but it wasn't easy and not everyone can do this.  It's come up in a couple threads again recently.

[alan@ebay]

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mallontown wrote:

60% of the items shipped first class did not arrive by the date ebay said they would.

The ebay shipping team must have a diferent definition of the word accurate than I have.

That is not a good buying experience for buyers and will make people wary of buying from ebay sellers in the future.

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Thanks for your continued feedback on this topic, @mallontown. I'll share it with our Shipping team. 

[ittybitnot]

Hello. 

I just read today on a news/information ecommerce website that ebay is now going to charge the final value fee to a seller when the item is removed due to a "VERO" takedown.  The letter sent by ebay was included in  the article for all to see.  

Is this true, or some sort of "fake news"?  Has there been an announcement or policy change that we can view?

Thank you. 

[vrykalak]

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@househunt35_0 wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to join this community chat? I've made it as far as the board where I can read peoples questions and replies, but there is nothing anywhere that tells me how to ask a question?????

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@househunt35_0, what  I do is: go to msg #2, that says the thread is now open for comment, and click REPLY.

[dtexley3]

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@gramophone-georg wrote:

I habitually buy multiple items from the same seller- sometimes as many as 20 at a time. For the last few months, I have constantly run into the brick wall of ebay forced IPR... which means I have to buy each item individually INCLUDING FULL SHIPPING COST.

Loading them in the cart and then requesting a total gives me a "this seller does not offer combined shipping" message 100% of the time... even when the sellers listing says they DO combine!

Could someone fix this, please? Thanks.

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Yea! Someone else's turn to bring up my favorite issue!  haha