Below you will find a recap of our Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team for July 17, 2019. We hope to see you on our next chat!
Local Pickup
I want to inspect some items too large to ship. Local Pickup. How can arrangements be made to accomplish this so neither buyer or seller gets penalized? I have no intention of buying a piece of furniture that I can't see before I pay for it.
On items that offer local pickup a buyer and seller can share contact information after the buyer commits to purchase the item. This means the item will appear in the buyers Purchase History and on the Sellers Orders page. At this point arrangements can be made to view the item before the buyers makes a payment. If there is a problem, then the seller can cancel the transaction, or the buyer can go through the Money Back Guarantee process if needed.
Seller Protections
I have a question about the new Seller Protections mentioned in the Spring Seller Update. It stated, "Your track record matters this summer, we will announce new seller protections that will be based on your track record and how we will protect you when you provide great service to buyers." When can we expect this announcement, or had I missed it somewhere? Is there any information available yet?
We will be announcing new Seller Protections this summer, which ends several weeks into September, so we still have some time for this announcement to be made. We look forward to sharing more details later
Update: Enhanced protections were announced at eBay Open. Details can be found here.
Why would offering free returns protect a seller from neg/neutral feedback for Not As Described returns, since a Not As Described falls under the eBay Money Back Guarantee?
To clarify, a return only falls under the Money Back Guarantee if the buyer or seller asks us to step in. When a seller accepts and return and issues a refund when the item is received back, they resolve the matter with their buyer instead of eBay needing to step in. The removal of negative and neutral feedback is one of the incentives we offer sellers for providing a service that our buyers are looking for. Our sellers ask for protection based on their performance and this is one of the ways we deliver it.
Technical Issues
I sold 2 items that eBay cancelled as the buyer "was no longer a registered user". I was told this a week after the item shipped and was delivered. Now my tracking report shows tracking was never uploaded, although they were delivered. I have been told this is a "bug" and it is trying to be resolved, but in the meantime, just let it fall off. Do you have any insight?
There is a known issue that our tech team is working to resolve. If a seller’s account standing is impacted, such as losing Top Rated Seller status, members can contact Customer Service to have the matter addressed.
Just a little bit ago I sold 4 different items to one buyer. The buyer submitted 4 separate payments. What is rather curious is only 2 of the 4 purchases show in my sold items. On the two listings that I have payments for from PP and no corresponding sale in Ebay, it also does not show up as a purchase on the listing. I did confirm that all payments were received in my PP account, so this is not an issue. I looked at the two items that do show up as purchases and on the purchase history, the member shows up as purchasing an item. On the other two there is not entry at all for the sales. These purchases happened at 12:06 PM PST today. So, what happens if someone else comes in and purchases something from one of the two listings that are not showing a sale and I don’t have the stock to cover both purchases??
That sounds unusual and not something that would be standard procedure (obviously). We’ll reach out to you for more detail so we can look at getting that corrected. If one of those two items are purchased by another buyer on the site then you would need to work with Customer Service directly as this is an out-of-the-ordinary situation.
What does eBay do to fix technical issues and make improvements on the platform, especially to improve search issues?
Our tech teams work hard to correct problems, review reports of possible tech issues, and work with appropriate teams to get member’s feedback about pain points and suggest future product enhancements. There are no widespread issues reported with our search engine at this time. We want to make sure that a buyer finds what they're looking for, when they're looking for it, regardless of the platform they choose to use (eBay's or an external search engine). That's one of the reasons why we've been aligning changes over the past few years to better expose seller's listings in outside search.
Returns and refunds
I bought an item and the Seller never claimed the payment and wouldn't reply to my messages. I ended up cancelling the payment. On PayPal it shows I was fully refunded, but on eBay it says I was partially refunded? My credit card confirms they received the refund, so I assume it is okay to just put this failed purchase into 'hidden' as it annoys me to see it on my list of purchases?
If you have confirmed that you've received a full refund, then it is OK to hide the order. After an order is hidden you will still have access to it if you need to reference it later. It will be in the 'hidden' section of the Purchase History.
eBay had to step in and issue me a refund because the Seller promised one and didn't do. I received the refund of the sales tax from eBay, but I haven't received the refund for the item. I can see that eBay sent it to PayPal, but it just sits there. I just want my refund and would appreciate any help in getting it. I do have a Reference # for this if needed.
That sounds like a headache, to be sure! While refunds issued do go back to the funding source used (ie, credit card, bank account), there are situations in which that may not be the case. In those situations, we send it to your PayPal balance, and you can move it to a funding source of your choice that is attached to PayPal.
Shipping
Someone asked me if I could mail an item they wanted to buy but apparently said Local Pickup only. When I looked at the item on my laptop, I saw the usual three shipping options, as well as Local Pickup. Where/why was he seeing Local Pickup Only?
Depending on several factors a buyer may not have seen all available shipping methods (for instance, if their default shipping zip or post code was set to an area or country to which you do not ship). Advising them on how to find shipping costs is the best course of action to take if folks have questions about available shipping methods in the future!
Why is the new Postal Page defaulting to an odd price for Priority Mail?
We are happy to investigate any odd behavior found on the shipping label creation page. Feel free to start a thread on the boards on this topic or contact Customer Service with an item number example.
The new Shipping form has been revised again as of either yesterday or today, this time putting the Ship From:, Return To: and Ship To: addresses in a separate pane to the left of the current layout. I notice that it is still listing Shipping methods that I did not actually offer to the buyer and is now also showing an "Expected" delivery date of today on an item the buyer purchased this morning. That date is defined via its Info popup as "The expected delivery date your buyer saw when they purchased the item." That would seem to suggest that the buyer is seeing the same incorrect information there that I am seeing. Is this a known issue?
We can confirm that buyers are given a different (more appropriate) expectation for delivery. While we’re unclear why the expected delivery date displayed in this scenario was the same date of purchase, we will get this reported to the shipping team for further review.
Report An Item
I’ve reported the same items several times over the last few months, but they have yet to be removed. These listings have 10-year-old parts, yet the seller is claiming they are new items. Why has eBay not taken these items off the site?
If the 10-year-old parts have never been used, then are still considered to be a ‘New’ condition. As such, listing these products as ‘New’ would not be a violation of policy. Using the ‘Report item’ feature found on listing is the best way to have the listing reviewed for possible policy violations. Every reported item is reviewed, and appropriate actions are taken. The outcome of these reports is not shared with the reporter in order to protect another member’s privacy.
Customer Service
I have a general question and frustration- when I call into CS, I feel I continually get different advice- simple things. Is there a general issue with training CS? I never call anymore because of the inconsistency- instead I bother you all here.
Customer Service does receive continuous training and they strive to give accurate information, but there may be occasions where an agent misunderstands a policy or gives incorrect information. We’re also always happy to answer general questions and clarify policy here on the boards.
Service Metrics
It was stated in the forum that no other eCommerce site punishes sellers for returns like eBay does. My question is why promote returns only to punish us for them? The few times I've purchased something on eBay, I received an email asking if I'd like to return the item- to me, it seems like eBay is encouraging returns. I understand eBay is a for-profit, but it seems returns are being advocated for only to punish us financially (5% FVF increase). Will there be an end to this, or a plan to make returns more equitable for sellers?
Our protection program and the way we monitor a seller's behavior is standard for the eCommerce industry. Notifying a buyer that they have protection options is not encouraging a return that the buyer does not want to make. A buyer that is satisfied with their purchase would receive an email like the one you describe and open a return simply because it is an option. Buyers return items because they are not happy with what they received. An increased final value fee for those who are Very High compared to their peers serves to encourage sellers to improve. There was a time that this kind of drop in performance may have led to a loss of selling privileges and as we now allow for more time to recover, we also want to ensure that this is not taken as simply more time to create poor experiences for our buyers.
Seller Tools
When and why did eBay remove the ability from the manage active listings page to sort listings by those with or without photos? As far as I know, it was the only way and easiest way to locate the listings that eBay has removed all the photos from. And yes, they have removed all photos from some older listings and some newer (as in the past 30-45 days or so). Please have them reset the photos column to sortable again! Without this ability sellers must view each listing page to find listings without photos.
All listings are required to have at least one photo, so the ability to sort by which listings do and do not have photos isn't something that would be particularly helpful. While there was a technical issue impacting photos last year, there have not been any recent issues reported regarding listing images. If you're coming across recent listings where photos have been removed, please contact Customer Service directly and they will investigate to see what may have happened.
Suggestions
Why doesn't Ebay have all the Asian/European sellers use inches and feet in their measurements rather than millimeters and centimeters? They are selling on a US Ebay Site so why are we having to do the conversions that a lot of us do not understand?
While eBay.com is generally used by those located in the United States, it is not exclusive to members located in the United States. eBay is a global marketplace and since most of the world uses the metric system, it is likely you will see those measurements. Measurement conversions only take a few moments with online tools or buyers can message the seller to ask for measurements in inches/feet, maybe even suggesting that they add these to their listing.
It seems like big businesses have a larger presence on eBay today than in years past. It would be nice for eBay to make another site just for mom and pop business and crafters, etc. like eBay used to be.
eBay began as a marketplace for small sellers to compete with big businesses. On eBay, everyone has the same opportunity for success. The wide range of business models and inventory makes us what we are - a place to be uniquely you. We don't have any plans to split our seller Community up by size and we encourage sellers to check out the Slow Sales Knowledge Base article for tips on how to stay competitive in a changing market.
mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
