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.
I have been struggling with estimated delivery times for some time. I have always tried to be a good seller and ship as fast as I can in order to get and maintain happy customers. But it seems like I have painted myself into a corner and now, no matter what I do: i.e. changing handling times, ebay still expects me to ship same day in order to meet eBay's estimated delivery dates.
I need to change my handling time sometimes. 3-4 day golf trips, long weekends or vacations. But now I know that I am going to have many unhappy customers because the estimates do not take into consideration that I might not be able to ship same day or next day.
Could someone explain to me how the attached estimated delivery date makes sense or how I am suppose to work with it? Recently my town had a pretty sever snow event. My area was without power for a day, we had roads closed due to trees being down and no mail delivery for 4 days. I knew it was going to happen so I adjusted all my handling times and the above estimate is what I got?
How is that right?
Thank you for having these chats.
I hope you are having a great week.
@hebertsusedautoparts wrote:
"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.
Hi @hebertsusedautoparts - happy to provide some context!
Firstly, as a distinction, I want to mention that your Service Metrics are considered separate from your 'Seller Performance' which is a rating and evaluation we perform every month. If a return is found in your favor we wouldn't count that in your seller performance under the metrics 'Cases Closed without Resolution'.
Service Metrics consider any Not Received request that's opened and all Item Not As Described returns opened, regardless of outcome, with few exceptions.
The exceptions are:
If you offer Free Returns>accept the return>Report the Buyer within the return
If (after October 1st 2019) you are Top Rated and offer 30 day returns>accept the return>Report the Buyer within the return
A Help Page regarding these protections is here.
To your specific example, a return from that long ago isn't going to be something Customer Service would be able to assist you with, but if you have any returns that are currently open that fall into the scenarios you describe I strongly encourage you to report the buyer from the body of the return. This will automate any service metric removal, as well as determine if you qualify for a shipping label subsidy credit. Thanks!
@papermoneyforme wrote:
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.
Hi @papermoneyforme - there are no currently available details for how managed payments will work for Canadian members. This is because the program is focused on .com members with a US registered address who meet other eligibility criteria.
We expect the vast majority of members to be enrolled in managed payments by 2021, so I would imagine that we have more details as the program expands.
Until that time, no one will be able to provide you with those details - whether they are currently or formerly employed with eBay. Thanks!
@dgn5009 wrote:
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.
Hi @dgn5009, buyers shouldn't be able to purchase or accept offers on listings if you've set up an exclusion list that includes their country, so it sounds like you may not have an shipping exclusions set up. You can either set up an exclusion list within the listing (screenshot below of that options) in your eBay Site Preferences. You'll also want to block buyers in locations you don't ship to by turning that setting on here.
I also want to clarify that it is OK for you to cancel an order if the buyer is in a location you do not ship to. The situations you've described does qualify for a "problem with buyers address" cancellation reason. You do not need customer services approval to do this as you are able to cancel transactions directly on the site. I hope this information helps!
@forgottenape wrote:
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?
Hi @forgottenape, if I'm understanding you correctly, and if you are using Microsoft Excel, you'll need to format the Item Number cell and set the decimal place to 0. Doing this will cause the item numbers to display as you'd expect. A 90 day download is currently what's available. To my understanding we do not have plans to change this, so you'll want to do a download at least once every 90 days to ensure you have all the data you need.
