Community Chat, Jan 3rd @ 1pm PT - General Topics

[Anonymous]

Please join us today at 1 pm Pacific today for our weekly chat with the Community Team. We don't have a set topic for this week, so feel free to ask us your eBay buying & selling questions.

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

See you then! 

[dtexley3]

And my periodic soapbox, please change it so that buyers can request an invoice, even when they include an item with free shipping or that is on sale.  Buyers wheel and deal and sometimes I accept offers on multiple items, but not every buyer is willing to wait for a refund.  Many also don't trust the Cart and purchase process to correctly apply combined shipping and want an invoice before paying to see that it was adjusted correctly.

[tyler@ebay]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Just want to jump in here, Trinton, and say that the shipping label has been printed has been proposed.

I started a thread on both the Buying and Selling Boards for both perspectives on this message since you asked for links and I could not locate any.  Had read several threads from buyers that felt the seller was scamming when they got that message but the item clearly had not shipped, and I felt badly for them.  It hurts both Ebay and Ebay sellers when buyers think they are being scammed.

I believe I called you and Alan to the threads.

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Hi @castlemagicmemories - thanks for this and I'll work with Alan and Trinton to get that reviewed, thanks for soliciting input for us! I appreciate the input of @vrykalak, @chrysylys and @odditiesandantiquities1 too! It would be nice to see a more clear message with appropriate expectations sent to prevent as much confusion as possible. 

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Just want to jump in here, Trinton, and say that the shipping label has been printed has been proposed.

I started a thread on both the Buying and Selling Boards for both perspectives on this message since you asked for links and I could not locate any.  Had read several threads from buyers that felt the seller was scamming when they got that message but the item clearly had not shipped, and I felt badly for them.  It hurts both Ebay and Ebay sellers when buyers think they are being scammed.

I believe I called you and Alan to the threads.

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Didn't want to step on your toes Castle but I didnt see you in here earlier. I did mention you in the post.

[disneyshopper]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

Or "The seller has printed the shipping label, they have indicated that they will deliver this to the shipping service on ../../...."

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That makes sense to me, since when we print the shipping label, we can only specify up to 3 days in advance, so ebay KNOWS when we plan to ship, so can't that date be used, since you already know it!

[golfingaddict]

I have one day  handling.

Sometimes I am able to ship same day.  The items get purchased, paid and shipped on the same day purchased even though I have one day (next business day) as my handling time.

How does that affect me?

1. Does the guaranteed delivery date change to an earlier date?

2. Does my expected delivery time change for "late shipping"?

3.  Am I getting shorter delivery estimates based on same day shipping even though I have one day handling (next day shipping)

I ship fast hoping to satisfy my customers and give me a cushion on late deliveries due to carrier issues.  Am I getting credit for that or is ebay just adjusting the expectations?

Thank you.

[fern*wood]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@fern*wood wrote:

Are buyer questions/answers no longer being shown on listings when the box is checked to show them, or is it my browser?

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Hi @fern*wood, questions and answers from buyers are now located under the "Contact Seller" option to the right of the photo. When a buyer selects to Ask a Question, any previous questions the seller has elected to make available publicly will be visible through this process.

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Wow, that was buried and not obvious to find at all.  I finially found the question under "other" and then had to scroll through lots of general questions where some of the answers posted were alarming to me.  

I found this statement under "What is your return policy" :I try to describe items as accurately as possible. Sellers should ask any specific questions before bidding or buying. Generally I don't accept returns but each situation will be handled on a case by case basis.

That sounded like something I wrote years ago when I first started selling.  Where did it come from now and why is this posted now and how do I fix that?

Then under returns it statement something else:  my normal 30 day return policy  (so two different answers were present on this one listing.)

[vrykalak]

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@chrysylys wrote:

Tagging on the end of the line ...

Monthly (or so) reminder that Multi-variation abuse is running wild with no apparent end in sight. 

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Someone suggested a while back that variations should be limited to items with the same price. 
I violently agree (as my contractor used to say).

They also suggested that variations be restricted to colors or sizes only. 
I would oppose that almost as vehemently. 
I often show multiple similar items, possibly varying in pattern, shape, etc, but all serving the same purpose, and want to show those as variations. (e.g., pill boxes)
I would like to be able to do that. 

[Anonymous]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Last week we were chatting about INRs.  There were suggestions on how some of us feel we can make the process better and less expensive to process for both Sellers and Ebay.

Now there is reality on how the INRs are currently processed.  This particular story is not mine, but of a friend that asked me to share it here because she was unable to attend today.

She had an INR from a customer, normal stuff.  In researching the problem she found that this was being shipped to a reshipper [typically not a problem] and the buyer apparently didn't know the reshipper was no longer at the address the buyer provided, therefore the item was returned to sender.

The INR was updated by the seller with both the tracking and a note to the buyer regarding the incorrect address as well as the item being returned to sender.  In the meantime of corresponding with the buyer regarding the claim the item arrived to the seller's address in good order.  The buyer was informed.

The seller notified the buyer via the claim that they would get the INR closed and then issue them a refund for the item, but not the original shipping.  The buyer responded that this was acceptable to them.  The seller did this because she felt it was fair even though the Ebay rules do not require the seller to refund anything.  

The seller then called Ebay to get the claim closed.  The seller informed the CSR as to what she intended to do and that the buyer had agreed inside the claim to the partial refund.  The CSR stated that the claim could not be closed yet and to call back in a day or two.  The seller didn't understand why the claim could not be closed and asked again.  The CSR stood his ground so to speak and was being rather forceful with his voice according to my friend.  So she hung up and called me.

I suggested that she call again as all to frequently this is necessary to get the attention needed to a problem.  I know it should not be that way, but it is the reality of things.

The next CSR was much nicer to my friend and she explained that there was a 3 day waiting period for closing the claim.  So she would need to call back after that period had lapsed to get the claim closed even though the tracking shows that it was returned to sender due to a bad address.  She got off the phone with the CSR and then called me again.

I was surprised.  Has something changed.  I know that I've closed INRs on the same day I've received them with no contact with my buyer and with the tracking showing delivered.  Has this processed changed?

My friend called back late the next day and got the INR closed.  She then went into PP and processed a partial refund to the buyer [holding back original shipping].  She was happy and the customer was happy.  Yet the story isn't quite over.

The next day she went into her PP account and noticed that the $$ balance on this transaction was still on hold.  She couldn't get to PP yesterday via phone for answers as PP was having phone issues.  I haven't heard from my friend today as to why this happened.

The claim was not opened in PP!  The claim was closed by Ebay!!  Why in the world would PP have the right to continue to hold funds on a transaction Ebay deems to be complete???  I know you may not have these answers regarding PP, but I find this very strange.  Would they old it forever since the seller had not intended to refund the original shipping?

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Hi @mam98031, happy to clarify this process. We have made changes to a sellers ability to escalate a claim early. We found that there were patterns of abuse related to cases being escalated before three full business days had passed and, while I can't be specific about what this abuse looked like, we made the decision to only allow for an earlier escalation in very few situations; primarily in instances related to restricted or suspended accounts and unauthorized transactions.  As it stands, we absolutely offer protection for sellers when delivery or an attempted delivery has been made, but would not be able to escalate the case before three full business days have passed since the request was open. 

As for the hold on the funds that is placed, this is generally released within 48 hours of the case decision being made. If this time has passed and the funds are still on hold, I would encourage a seller to contact eBay so we can look into the payment hold and see what can be done.

[brian@ebay]

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@thegreenhouse2 wrote:

Hello and Happy New Year,

In Seller Hub, under manage active listings, one data item that you can customize on your list is "Shipping Cost".    This either shows as "Calculate" or "Free".  This is very helpful information (at least for me and especially for help in planning markdown or other promotions).  BUT, the "Free" is not accurate as it only shows "Free" if flat rate shipping is selected when you set up the item for sale.  The programming should be such that if calculated or flat is selected and free is ticked off on the first shipping option then it should show "free" as the shipping cost.    Could this please be fixed, it would probably only be a few lines of code that the tech team would need to remove.    I have attached an example of calculated with free ticked and an example of free with flat ticked.    

Thank you,

Lisa

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Happy new Year to as well, @thegreenhouse2! I'm happy to pass along your suggestion to the appropriate team. You can also use the 'Comments' link in the upper right of most Seller Hub pages to submit feedback directly to the Seller Hub team. They review these comments and use the feedback when making future improvements. 

[Anonymous]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Oh excuse my rudeness !!!

Happy New Year to ALL !!!

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Happy new year, @mam98031! I hope that you have some great resolutions for 2018 

[mallontown]

@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

trinton@ebay@  @trinton

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.

Additionally, our goal is to provide as many options as possible for our buyers. As a global marketplace, this will include items sourced from our international sellers. We do provide filters on the left side of the search page to narrow down search results and filter by item location.

I know that staying competitive can be challenging in an ever changing market, particularly around the Holidays. I encourage you to review our Seller Center for tips on improving your listings and growing your business. 

Following up previous chat from above

Thanks for the tips but it really does not address the problem.

Also it should be 365.25 days

here is 1 search disney necklace , are there any on the whole page that are not fake/counterfiet knockoffs or whatever other name you want to use ? I can do this with 100"s if not 1000's of searches

If you click on the link you gave about "do not allow fake items" on the site it takes you to an ebay page where a report can be made but if you click on it here is what you get

[go-bad-chicken]

Hello I am a book seller here on eBay as well as other online sites specializing in book sales.

I have been paying very close attention to eBay's build out of its new product catalog, as well as how eBay starting to use this catalog information that its creating, across various operating systems such as IOS, Android, and PC devices.

As a book seller I feel that I have a lot of skin in the game with regards to the accuracy of the catalog information that is being applied to the books that I sell here on eBay, is accurate.

While I see a lot of potential for the new product catalog, that potential and the catalog's success is based on the information that is associated with each product as being accurate.

So I have a few questions that I am hoping that you can answer.

1 - Are there professionals involved from each specific eBay category working with the catalog team that is based out of Israel?

2 - For example in the book category is there someone with a background in publishing or a librarian that is reviewing the catalog team's data entries and product page titles?

There are thousands of mistakes that currently exist and could create a lot of returns for sellers as buyers are seeing incorrect information applies.

Here is an example:

This is the product page for

The Gunslinger by Stephen King (1982, Donald M. Grant, Hardcover)

ISBN 10: 0-937986-50-X

ISBN 13: 978-0-937986-50-9

The listing that is shown is not a first edition, nor are 30%-40% of the other listings that are associated with this product page, because grant used the same ISBN's for the second edition (2nd printing) in 1984 that it used for the first edition which was printed in 1982. Their is a large difference between the two editions, with regards to their values.

https://www.ebay.com/p/The-Dark-Tower-The-Gunslinger-Bk-1-by-Stephen-King-1982-Hardcover-1st-Edition...

I am currently going through all of my listings and removing the ISBN numbers from the books that I have listed that are not first editions but that are currently being represented as such by eBay's catalog information, to protect myself from possible INAD from trusting buyers, until this can be remedied.

[vrykalak]

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@onlinedeals-2016 wrote:

It happens when the label, for some reason, cannot be scanned.  But it does not mean that the package is not in transit and may even be delivered.  Contact your buyer to find out if he/she received it. 

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@vrykalak wrote:

I carried a parcel to the post office, stood there while they scanned it, and got a receipt.

No, 20+ hours later,  it still doesn't show as having been scanned or accepted.

I'm concerned because, if it didn't get scanned yesterday, I'll be liable for a late shipping defect...or at least be in danger of losing my TRS status.

Living in the middle of nowhere as I do, I often have packages delivered "late" even though they were sent "on time." So being sure I get credited for when I turned the package in is important.

I called eBay to ask about that, and they said if it doesn't show up on the USPS site as having been scanned yesterday, the defect is unappealable! because they can only go by what the computer says.

I said I have a receipt showing exactly when it was scanned at the PO. The agent says it doesn't matter. If the computer says it's late, I'm stuck with the defect.

Does that make sense? Has that happened to anyone else?

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Would the post office be able to give me a receipt for it if the label could not be scanned?

[buyselljack2016]

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@tsme35 wrote:

Another postage increase in Janaury, I see ebay notigated better discounts

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Smoke  and mirrors.  Discount, to my understanding it is the same price anyone pays when shipping online as opposed to retail.

[alan@ebay]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Oh excuse my rudeness !!!

Happy New Year to ALL !!!

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Happy New Year, @mam98031! Wishing you a prosperous 2018.