eBay

tyler@ebay · ‎07-15-2020

Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us for the Weekly Chat with eBay Staff. We don't have a specific topic this week, so feel free to share any general buying or selling questions you may have!

The chat thread will remain open until 2 PM PT at which point we'll close it from additional responses. After that time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that might still be unanswered.

To post your question, click Reply in the lower right corner of this post, type your question, and hit submit between 1-2 PM Pacific Time. The format of our chat mirrors the format of our Community Discussion Boards, where each post will appear in the thread chronologically. The Community Team will review each question as it comes in, and will quote the original question in our reply. This quote and the reply will appear later in the thread, so just keep scrolling down to see our answers.

Tyler,

vrykalak · ‎07-15-2020

Hi @gwzcomps, our delivery estimates are based on the shipping service, location of both buyer and seller, and historical data. That being said, if you are seeing instances where the estimated delivery date is within your stated handling time, be sure to report the details for review.

----

The only way EDD would be within the stated handling time is if eBay ignored the seller's handling time. Oh, wait, yes, that's exactly what they do!

Note: The answer to this question can be found here

mam98031 · ‎07-15-2020

@gwzcomps wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@gwzcomps wrote:
So eBay is well aware of the MP deadline yet they can't seem to manage to have enough support staff. Why is it that eBay continues to hide behind the pandemic excuse yet sellers are expected to keep trucking along like everything is normal? My understanding is there are no extensions for us yet your MP team lacks the bodies to do their job...
Hi @gwzcomps, I'm not sure what you are referring to in regards to the pandemic, but I can confirm that recently our managed payments teams have experienced an incredibly high increase in call volume, which has led to long wait times (sometimes exceeding 6 hours) and resulted in us having to shut off the option to call us or have us call you at times. This is something we have had to do from time to time for various topics when the number of calls for that topic result in excessive wait times.

Obviously we strive to maintain staffing at a level that meets the needs of our customers, and we are working to address any spikes in volume at this time. We appreciate your patience while we support our Community through this transition and recommend that you continue to check the related help page for your question to see available contact options.
I guess it is just extremely frustrating someone didn't have the foresight to increase the number of people available to prepare for this forced rollout. The limited support that is available can't give straight or consistent answers, which I suppose is on par for eBay...

I'm not so sure that was the issue. I've never been unsure as to why all the policy pages weren't written and ready to go from the moment the invitations were sent out 3 months ago. But clearly they weren't and the team has been working hard to get them done. Which takes them away from having time to spend supporting sellers with questions and concerns. Along with all the additional questions because the help pages are ready for us.

I personally think a few things played into this and not necessarily not enough staffing but not enough planning and execution is likely the issue.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you." Quote from Edward I Koch

bouncemobiletech · ‎07-15-2020

Please help - I tried to refund a seller the day after return was delivered but received a message saying "There was a problem issuing this refund." I tried the refund again the next day and received the same message. On day 3 (July 4th) my card was charged and I now have a defect for this return - how can I get this defect removed?

Is there any way to get in touch with a live person at eBay right now to help me resolve this? When I call the main customer service phone number in it just directs me to the help website, live chat is not available, and the email I sent has not yet been answered. This is VERY disappointing for a nearly 20-year eBay member/15-year seller (top rated for as long as I can remember), who is now facing demotion from "top rated" to "below standard" over this.

All the details are below:

This item was returned because the buyer changed their mind, there was nothing wrong with the item. The return was delivered on July 1st. On July 2nd, I attempted to send a refund through the "issue refund" button in my email from eBay. However, when I attempted to do so, I received an error on eBay's website stating "There was a problem issuing this refund." I tried to send a refund again on July 3rd and received the same message. On July 3rd I also tried searching eBay Help to resolve this matter, I could not find any information there to assist me. I also tried calling eBay customer service, but it appears it is not possible to talk to an eBay representative over the phone - I only received a recorded message directing me to your help website. Furthermore, I replied to the email with the "issue refund" button to request help, and never received a reply to that email.

In the early morning hours of July 4th, I received an email that the buyer had opened a case for this transaction, then a couple hours later another email from eBay that my credit card had been charged for this case. I am happy to have my card charged for this case, but there is no reason a defect should be issued. The defect from this case will change my account status from "Top Rated" to "Below Standard" on the July 20th evaluation. This is very concerning, as I have been selling on eBay for nearly 15 years, and I work hard to take good care of my customers and to earn "Top Rated" status. I tried multiple times to refund the buyer and to contact eBay for help, and was not able to do so because of issues with eBay, not any failure on my end. Please remove the defect for this transaction.

Also, my last defect prior to this one occurred on Apr 07, 2020 22:09 - during the time frame that due to COVID-19, "Seller Performance Standards will not be negatively impacted during this period". Is this April 7th defect eligible for removal as well"

Edit: Reply to your comment can be found here

bouncemobiletech · ‎07-15-2020

Above quote is from eBay here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Protecting-your-seller-performance-during-COVID-19/ba-p/...

brian@ebay · ‎07-15-2020

@vrykalak wrote:

My dashboard says 3 of my listings do not qualify for TRS+. When I click on the only link available there (which says "See Exceptions"), hoping to see which 3 listings don't qualify, all I see is an article about TRS+. How can I see what the 3 listings are that don't qualify?

@vrykalak if you go to this page and view the 'Selling reminders' section, there should be a link to view the listings that don't qualify for Top Rated Plus. This should show you which listings need to be updated 🙂

Brian,
Community Team

gwzcomps · ‎07-15-2020

@Anonymous

Ok found the comment on this thread:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Seller-Protection-HOW-and-WHY/m-p/31070757/highlight/true#M1619350

golfingaddict · ‎07-15-2020

@vrykalak wrote:
Hi @gwzcomps, our delivery estimates are based on the shipping service, location of both buyer and seller, and historical data. That being said, if you are seeing instances where the estimated delivery date is within your stated handling time, be sure to report the details for review.
----
The only way EDD would be within the stated handling time is if eBay ignored the seller's handling time. Oh, wait, yes, that's exactly what they do!

You mean like this?

tyler@ebay · ‎07-15-2020

@cpm555 wrote:

No replies?? This chat looks like a sham. Sellers have no protections left or ability to communicated with eBay. Shameful. Are there other eBay-like sites sell with protection for sellers with stores? Send replies to eBay seller cpm555. Bailing soon.

Hi @cpm555 - a reply to your question can be found here.

Tyler,

windhaze · ‎07-15-2020

"Any issues you are seeing within the Community can be reported to us here on the boards."

I just did here I suppose I can repost them on another board then.

Thanks anyways.

Note: The answer to this question can be found here

Anonymous · ‎07-15-2020

@mam98031 wrote:

A question regarding the announcement today on the restructure of the free listings as of August 1st.

Will Ebay allow sellers to downgrade their store subscription without penalty? For example, I have a Premium store, with the changes coming to the store listing allotments, I would be fine with a Basic Store.

So will be have a grace period here in which we can downgrade our stores without penalty?

Hi @mam98031, there has been no announcement about a grace period to cancel or downgrade. Generally this would only be offered if the terms & conditions of the store subscription has been changed. We'll be sure to pass along your feedback for consideration and can recommend you keep an eye on our announcement board for any changes that may come in the future.

Anonymous · ‎07-15-2020

Thanks for joining us today! The chat is now closed from replies and we will continue to work on responding to any outstanding questions. See you next week 🙂

papermoneyforme · ‎07-15-2020

@mam98031 wrote:
@gwzcomps wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@gwzcomps wrote:
So eBay is well aware of the MP deadline yet they can't seem to manage to have enough support staff. Why is it that eBay continues to hide behind the pandemic excuse yet sellers are expected to keep trucking along like everything is normal? My understanding is there are no extensions for us yet your MP team lacks the bodies to do their job...
Hi @gwzcomps, I'm not sure what you are referring to in regards to the pandemic, but I can confirm that recently our managed payments teams have experienced an incredibly high increase in call volume, which has led to long wait times (sometimes exceeding 6 hours) and resulted in us having to shut off the option to call us or have us call you at times. This is something we have had to do from time to time for various topics when the number of calls for that topic result in excessive wait times.

Obviously we strive to maintain staffing at a level that meets the needs of our customers, and we are working to address any spikes in volume at this time. We appreciate your patience while we support our Community through this transition and recommend that you continue to check the related help page for your question to see available contact options.
I guess it is just extremely frustrating someone didn't have the foresight to increase the number of people available to prepare for this forced rollout. The limited support that is available can't give straight or consistent answers, which I suppose is on par for eBay...
I'm not so sure that was the issue. I've never been unsure as to why all the policy pages weren't written and ready to go from the moment the invitations were sent out 3 months ago. But clearly they weren't and the team has been working hard to get them done. Which takes them away from having time to spend supporting sellers with questions and concerns. Along with all the additional questions because the help pages are ready for us.

I personally think a few things played into this and not necessarily not enough staffing but not enough planning and execution is likely the issue.

That should all of been done 2 years ago when MP was introduced period.

tyler@ebay · ‎07-15-2020

@windhaze wrote:

On the message I just posted? When I hit preview this popped up as well: "This widget could not be displayed."

Another glitch? Also the post # sequences are all out of order too and no I haven't changed my settings at all.

Thanks.

Hi @windhaze - thanks for letting me know about the error message you're getting. The numbering issue is one we're aware of and working on (it's definitely confusing for all of us!). Thanks!

Tyler,

tyler@ebay · ‎07-15-2020

@golfingaddict wrote:

regarding estimated delivery and USPS could you please explain to me why the date that ebay gives does not match the date that the USPS gives on estimated delivery. You have told us for months that ebay uses the post office delivery dates to give estimated delivery. Here is an example of one of my problem transactions and the dates don't Match. You can clearly see that the ebay estimate is Monday the 13th and yet the post office suggests the estimate is July 11

Thank you.

Hi @golfingaddict - thanks for this. I'll be requesting additional information from you when I contact you for more detail to pass your feedback on to the shipping team. Thanks!

Tyler,

Anonymous · ‎07-15-2020

@backroomnoir wrote:

With the announcement of the new insertion fee structure, how soon before the store fees are raised accordingly?

Hi @backroomnoir, no announcement has been made about changes to store fees. This kind of news would be communicated out, so keep an eye on eBay messages, our announcement board, and any future Seller Updates.