Community Chat, January 29 @ 1:00 pm PT - General Topics

[tyler@ebay]

Join the Community team here at 1 PM PT on January 29th 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 about buying or selling.

The chat will be open for questions from 1-2 pm PT, at which point we'll close thread from additional responses. After this time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that might 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 directed to eBay Customer Service.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi everyone - 

The chat is now open for your replies. 

[gwzcomps]

I am still consistently getting inaccurate information from CS. What does this say about eBay's commitment to its sellers when we can't even get good support? At what dollar amount of sales does eBay start caring about their sellers?

[hebertsusedautoparts]

"My postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the postings, strategies or opinions of my employer"

Hi Team,
First I want to say thank you for your time and though I often can not make it to the chats irt, I do check them out and have found some great info.

I originally asked about this in the November 27th chat....post # 9 and Trinton suggested to go to a link he posted
https://www.ebay.com/help/seller-help?from=HELP_HUB to help solve the issue but I found no answers there or how to report the issue.

We are a top rated seller, offer free returns, free shipping, etc.

The problem is with Service metrics, We have many being counted against us from items that were never returned and closed in our favor with messages from eBay stating they will not be counted against us for one example return. There are others with messages from the customer stating they ordered the wrong part. We have gone through the process of reporting the abuse, waited until the next evaluation period for them to drop and they still remain.

We sell used auto parts and any one in this category knows it is almost impossible to get buyers to look at the compatibility charts or ask questions on fitment first so they often order parts that won't fit their year or model and we don't have an issue with that we take the approach on-line as we do in house "No hassle returns".

I am under the impressions that these should not be counted against us and if even the returns, where eBay has ruled in our favor for the parts that the buyer opened a case and never returned were removed that would put us close to the "peer average". If those along with the cases that were reported as abuse where in the return itself the buyer has said "does not fit", "didn't work", etc but then in the return details has a message like "I needed the other fan", or "I didn't want to have it reprogrammed" (on a module that there is no way around it as that is the industry standard and the listing clearly states it needs reprogramming) and one of my favorites "it didn't seem authentic" and there was a picture in the listing showing the manufacturer's logo embossed on the part, we would be well below the peer average.

basically what I am asking is can these be removed and if so what is the process.
Again, Thank you for your time it is appreciated.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

It's the end of January. Someone is going to ask this sooner or later, so it might as well be me. When can we expect the next Seller Update?

[papermoneyforme]

Questions concerning Canada, listing on Can & US sites, and managed payments.

If we live in Canada and list on .ca and .com, do we go under managed payments for .com or not until .ca goes on managed payments, if we do?

If we go to managed payments, will we be able to have .com payments deposited to a US bank account and .ca payments deposited to a Canadian bank account.

Managed payments seem to be a great big secret for outsiders, and we Canadians have been told stories by staff no longer with Ebay, so please find out the correct answers for me and other Canadians.

[dgn5009]

I wanted to inform you of a glitch in your "Send Offer to Buyers" feature. I recently had an antique advertising snowglobe (containing liquid) that i posted for sale in the US only, no international shipping options. It drew several watchers, and I used the send offer to buyers feature. I received an acceptance, along with a message "Please add shipping cost to Italy." Multiple problems, including that the liquid cant be shipped by air in the US, and ca only be shipped by air to reach Italy - where liquid is a problem on the import list. 

I called customer service, indicating that there were n international shipping options (indeed the item says "US only." Their quite insistent position was "you made an offer, buyer accepted, you will receive a defect if you cancel." I asked how the feature overrode shipping - again no international shipping options (including no GSP) were listed. Again - "You made an offer, you must honor it." I asked how I was to know the buyer was international since the offer was blind. Again - "you will receive a defect if you do not honor this offer." After five requests for a supervisor, the rep finally supported cancelling for a problem with the address. The buyer was also understanding.

In addition to pointing out the glitch, my question is this. Is it EBay's position, as stated repeatedly and agressivelty by the rep, that the blind offer overrides any shipping restrictions? That if a foreign buyer accepts, I must create new shipping options (also running the inherent risk of foreign shipping without GSP protection) or receive a defect? If so I won't be using it much. I imagine I am not the only one this has impacted.

[krys888]

I’ve been getting messages from ebay telling me if I make “changes” to a bunch of my listings using the “bulk edit tool” I can get top rated seal plus. But the message doesn’t tell me what the changes are that I would need to do. I am not trusting enough of ebay to just willy nilly click on something that might commit me to some function or act that I don’t want to commit to. Is there a way to find out what in the world they’re telling me to do without me having to do it first? I’m terrified to click it.

I did a thing a few months ago (same day shipping) that was supposed to get me something, but I ended that after a few weeks because it was a nightmare (and I ship daily anyway but at different times of the day so the same day thing didn’t work for me at all; it just hurt my shipping rating metrics thing).

Thank you.

[forgottenape]

is there a reason the download csv files numbers are text and not numbers? have I downloaded wrong?

and you can only go back 90 days will this change? anytime soon?

[Anonymous]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
It's the end of January. Someone is going to ask this sooner or later, so it might as well be me. When can we expect the next Seller Update?

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Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques, we do receive this question from time to time and I want to address it head on to clear up any confusion; the Community Team will never be able to give an answer to this question. Our Seller Updates are communicated via specific channels, such as the Announcements board, and our team is not able to provide any form of advance notice for Seller Updates. We would only be able to provide a date for the next update after this has been announced through the appropriate channels.

[mam98031]

I am TRS.

I had a return mid December that I did a partial refund for as when the item came back it was clearly used and slightly damage.  So I issued a partial refund to accommodate that fact.  During the return flow, after I did the partial refund there was a message on my screen that stated the buyer was reported to Ebay for abuse of the return flow or system.  I don't remember the exact words.

As of today, my $6 credit or any portion of the $6 has not been credited to my account.  I called Customer Service earlier this week and he said that I would not be receiving that credit but had no real explanation.  He said some stuff that contradicted the written / publish policy, but we came to no understanding at all.

He promised to do more research and call me in the next couple of days.  I told him I wasn't trying to be rude at all, but in my 20+ years on Ebay, when a CSR from the call center says they will call me back, it has NEVER happened.  He was a very nice fellow and I do think he was trying to help me and he assured me he would call.

I've received no call.

[mam98031]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
It's the end of January. Someone is going to ask this sooner or later, so it might as well be me. When can we expect the next Seller Update?

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If history is an accurate indicator, it will be late April.

[gwzcomps]

On a side note I just got an email about the new items specifics changes coming out. This is screwing up my listings and generating a headache for me just so the developers can justify their jobs. The changes to the electronics categories could have been made without messing up existing information. The changes that have been made don't make much sense, or contain inaccurate info. All and all this just makes things more difficult for sellers with nothing of value accomplished.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Thanks Trinton.

[brian@ebay]

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@gwzcomps wrote:

I am still consistently getting inaccurate information from CS. What does this say about eBay's commitment to its sellers when we can't even get good support? At what dollar amount of sales does eBay start caring about their sellers?

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Hi @gwzcomps, I'm sorry to hear that you've had some experiences with customer service that resulted in inaccurate information being shared. We continually train and coach our customer service teams as changes are made on the site and as coaching opportunities arise. If you receive inaccurate information from customer service you can call back and the agent can take appropriate steps to ensure a coaching is sent to the previous agent. You can also contact our customer service teams on Facebook or Twitter and they'll also be happy to answer any questions you have and send over coaching when needed. 

With that said, if the inaccurate information you receive is egregious then you can tag a member of the Community team and we'll be happy to send over a coaching as well.