eBay

brian@ebay · ‎07-08-2020

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 the thread 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 work 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.

Brian,
Community Team

coffeebean832 · ‎07-08-2020

Hey guys- I have some questions about sales to Puerto Rico.

The first question is why does it sometimes appear as an international sale and other times it's a domestic sale? They should all be domestic, right?

I noticed a sale yesterday that had PR in the state field and that's showing as domestic- and at least a dozen sales before that had Puerto Rico in the state field and those are showing as international. I don't know if that's related or just a coincidence.

I also would like to know if sales to Puerto Rico and other US territories will be considered international or domestic with managed payments fees- but I think you'll say I have to ask the payments team that.

And the last question- is there a way for eBay to force PR as the state instead of the full spelled out Puerto Rico? I don't know why, but Stamps.com kicks out every address as invalid when Puerto Rico is written out. When I manually change it to PR the address is accepted with no issue.

Edit: Reply to your question can be found here

tyler@ebay · ‎07-08-2020

@mr_lincoln wrote:

tyler@ebay wrote:

@mr_lincoln wrote:

MP sign up Incentives

eBay is doing a disservice to all Sellers who signed up for MP before the incentives to sign up started to appear. I signed up on the 6th and want whatever the highest incentive is eBay is offering. I see no reason why that shouldn’t happen ala retro-active.

eBay is also making a BIG MISTAKE in offering incentives … I mean just look at annual tax returns, other than this year tax returns are due on or before April 15 EVERY YEAR, yet many Americans still file for extensions … thinking that everybody receiving notification is going to sign up on time for MP is not a realistic expectation and offering incentives only means that on the next group eBay Indoctrinates, people are going to hold out LONGER for the highest incentives they can get … which again, is a disservice to all those who sign up in plenty of time.

If Sellers don’t want to sign up there is no amount of incentive that will change their minds so eBay needs to take their lumps and move on. Offering incentives is clearly a sign of desperation …

I signed up using the 3rd reminder … nos. 1 & 2 were read and deleted, no. 3 was read and saved … ALL the ones after 3 (and there were plenty) were deleted. Last week I got a call from a woman with a British accent, she said she was following up on the eBay message about signing up for MP … I said which one of the 10? I know the schedule, I know the sign up date and I don’t like the program … she was laughing at that point and didn’t have too much to say … end of conversation.

As of this writing apparently I have NOT been activated in to the program nor received ANY message or communication from eBay, I have explored Seller Hub to no avail on the promised fabulous support I am supposed to be getting … and I quote,

“Exclusive support: Get dedicated, expert payments support during the sign-up process and whenever you need help.”

There was NO option to speak to anyone during the Sign up process …

Hi @mr_lincoln - thanks for providing this insight, we'll make sure the feedback is shared with the right team.

When it comes to requesting support from a payments teammate, you should be able to request a callback from them via the Help Pages (here). Thanks!

tyler@ebay It just baffles me that a link like that is NOT in a prominent spot or wasn't part of the sign up process. I set aside an hour for the sign up process based on the alleged promise I would be supported DURING the process only to be frustrated when there was NO link or phone number supplied ... gee, I hope they call me back when its convenient for me ...

Hi @mr_lincoln - me too! Fingers crossed!!

Tyler,

Anonymous · ‎07-08-2020

@creativecrisis wrote:

Is there still a Stores "team" at eBay? If so, is there any possibility of getting them to participate in one of these chats?

I find it frustrating that store subscriptions are a paid service, yet eBay does little to give subscribers value for their money. The store format was refreshed a few years ago; nothing has been enhanced since then. And there's plenty of room for improvement. Some of the store features, such as the newsletter, are really outdated and clunky. Those templates haven't changed for 9 or 10 years. ☹️

How about providing a way for store subscribers to give some feedback?

Hi @creativecrisis, while we do not have a team that solely oversees our store feature, if you can give us some more details on what you'd like to discuss we can look into what teams may be able to discuss this in more detail. That aside, I want to clarify that the primary benefits of a store subscription are the changes to final value fees in certain categories, the increased number of free listings, and the dedicated phone support for those who subscribe at the Anchor store level and above. You can read more about the benefits of the various store levels here.

rainyaz · ‎07-08-2020

Hi Brian,

A few weeks ago Jordan posted which items were hot to sell on Ebay. This info has helped me with increasing my sales and want to ask:

Can we get this information weekly, for example in Sellerhub?

Thanks,

Stay Safe,

Ellen R.

RainyAZ

______________________________

EDIT: Reply to your question can be found here (Link)

coffeebean832 · ‎07-08-2020

@dhbookds wrote:
I'm reading that MP is now offering $50-400 credits for signing up for MP?

Are those sellers who "did the right thing" and signed up early going to get those credits or should we have held out to the last minute?

To be clear.......I'm ticked off........IF these incentives are being given.........VERY, VERY bad precedent..... Who among us will cooperate with Ebay in the future with signups.........UNTIL we get an incentive or are sure there won't be one given that we may miss out on........

Can you check with the MP to see what they say? I posted the same question on MP board, but no answer.......

______________________________

EDIT: Reply to your question can be found here (Link)

I signed up last year and have put in a lot of time in as a guinea pig and submitting feedback- much of which has been implemented and these improvements help many sellers. I wasn't offered a monetary incentive for those efforts and that was ok with me- but if people signing up late are getting something for their procrastination then I find that upsetting.

mam98031 · ‎07-08-2020

@coffeebean832 wrote:
@dhbookds wrote:
I'm reading that MP is now offering $50-400 credits for signing up for MP?

Are those sellers who "did the right thing" and signed up early going to get those credits or should we have held out to the last minute?

To be clear.......I'm ticked off........IF these incentives are being given.........VERY, VERY bad precedent..... Who among us will cooperate with Ebay in the future with signups.........UNTIL we get an incentive or are sure there won't be one given that we may miss out on........

Can you check with the MP to see what they say? I posted the same question on MP board, but no answer.......

______________________________

EDIT: Reply to your question can be found here (Link)
I signed up last year and have put in a lot of time in as a guinea pig and submitting feedback- much of which has been implemented. I wasn't offered a monetary incentive for those efforts and that was ok with me- but if people signing up late are getting something for their procrastination then I find that upsetting.

Did you have lower fees?

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

gwzcomps · ‎07-08-2020

@gwzcomps wrote:
@coinslabz26Have you tried PayPal's business support phone number? Been a while since I have called it, but it was working.

Edit: Well just called out of curiosity. Calling about seller protections got me hung up on...

@coinslabz26 Just a followup it is still possible to get phone support from PayPal. It just depends on the reason you pick. Saying agent a bunch of times seems to work 😉 Sounds like PayPal seller protection is not relevant with MP sales since MP is now the payment processor not PayPal.

tyler@ebay · ‎07-08-2020

@rainyaz wrote:

Hi Brian,

A few weeks ago Jordan posted which items were hot to sell on Ebay. This info has helped me with increasing my sales and want to ask:

Can we get this information weekly, for example in Sellerhub?

Thanks,

Stay Safe,

Ellen R.

RainyAZ

Hi @rainyaz - glad to hear that this was helpful for you! I can't make promises, but I will make sure that your suggestion is made.

It's not exactly the same as the 'What's Hot' posts, but have you tried the Sourcing Guidance tool in Seller Hub? It can give you some great input on pricing history and sales trends for items in various categories. You can see it in more detail here. Thanks!

Tyler,

go-bad-chicken · ‎07-08-2020

@coinslabz26 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@coinslabz26 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@coinslabz26 wrote:
Questions regarding ebay transactions related to the new paypal user agreement updates effective July 31st. As you know managed payments is not yet ready for the coin category but the paypal user agreement updates seem to take away seller protection from us.

Paypal states that "We are clarifying that our Seller Protection Program does not cover Unauthorized Transactions initiated in an environment not hosted by PayPal."

Does this mean ebay checkout hosted by ebay but processed by paypal are no longer receiving any seller protection, and that are ebay transactions are at our own risk in categories where paper payments are not allowed? Or are ebay transactions still going to be protected?

In the same policy update Paypal states

"We are adding payments made in respect of gold (in physical form or in exchange-traded form) to the list of ineligible items and transactions under our Seller Protection Policy."

Does this mean numismatic gold coins sold on ebay are no longer covered by any protection even outside the bullion categories where we aren't allowed to accept any payments other then paypal?

Does ebay have any plans to offer any coverage to help us sell safely?

Any additional or related information regarding safety of accepting payments on ebay where managed payments are not yet an option would be welcome. Thank you!
Hi @coinslabz26, PayPal protection policies are unrelated to eBay protection policies. I can confirm that there already exists a number of situations where eBay offers protection where PayPal may not, and vice-versa. Though we wouldn't be able to speak to PayPal policy, I can recommend that you contact PayPal and discuss your questions with them directly.
@Anonymous

Surely though you know if selling item on ebay will still be protected by seller protection?

Paypal will not address the question. They have no phone support and their email support tells me to email someone else that does not respond.

The question I am asking is only to do with ebay selling and if sales will still receive any sort of protection specifically if a buyer claims a purchase was unauthorized.

August 1st if I sell a coin to an ebay'er and I ship it to the address on file with the proper tracking and signature if required and the buyer claims they didn't make the purchase will I be reimbursed if the buyer wins a creditcard dispute?

August 1st if I make the same sale in the same instance and the base metal of the coin was gold but the gold value was $100 and the sale price was $1000 would I be reimbursed if the buyer were to dispute it as unauthorized with us creditcard company?

If you still can't answer this then how do I find out if I can't get ahold of paypal?
Hi @coinslabz26, I apologize if there was some confusion in my previous response - as I stated, PayPal protections would not impact the protections available on eBay. Our protection programs are separate. You've asked if the recent changes PayPal announced would result in a loss of protection on eBay, and I confirmed that the announcements from PayPal would not change anything about eBay protections. The specific example you have provided about seller protection for an unauthorized sale is not something we currently offer protection for, and the recent policy updates from PayPal wouldn't effect our available protections. Any changes in the future would be communicated to our Community.
Unfortunately I think you've left me more confused then I started. I can see you are clearly making a good faith effort to answer my questions and it is greatly appreciated but I am not sure we are on the same page here.

The platform has always protected us when a buyer claimed they didn't receive an item and the tracking shows delivered or when the buyer claims they didn't make a purchase but the tracking shows you delivered it to the address used at checkout. You are now saying this isn't currently offered and nothing is changing?

Exactly! eBay needs to allow sellers of gold the option of removing PayPal as an accepted form of payment for these types of listings. Because buyers will now be able to open an unauthorized charge on day 179, and the gold sellers will no longer have any form of protection in those instances. Because eBay's seller protections due not cover the types of instances.

So the only alternative that I can see is allowing the sellers to remove PayPal as a payment option from those listings involving gold.

coffeebean832 · ‎07-08-2020

@mam98031 wrote:
Did you have lower fees?

Lower fees compared to what? I signed up just after the cut off so I wasn't one of the sellers who had the 25 cent per listing fee waived. When a buyer purchases items from 5 listings in a single order, that's an extra $1.25- so not lower.

easterbasset · ‎07-08-2020

Agreed. I reported repeatedly a seller selling fraud medications, in addition to selling with fraudulent item location. Never saw removal of listings. Messaged seller after I contacting the company that sells the drug this seller was counterfeiting. The seller then then demonstrated through subversive tactics they could harm my selling. They bought a super cheap item from me. then left creepy feedback, although a positive grade overall. Then they messaged me using much innuendo of how they expected me to leave issue alone.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-08-2020

"want to clarify that the primary benefits of a store subscription are the changes to final value fees in certain categories, the increased number of free listings, and the dedicated phone support for those who subscribe at the Anchor store level and above. You can read more about the benefits of the various store levels here."

But the sad thing is, a store could be SO MUCH more than it is.....ebay could provide some real features to make stores more attractive to buyers....

mtgraves7984 · ‎07-08-2020

tyler@ebay ... it's me again!

I've checked my messages and emails for weeks now... no updates from you yet.

Did you ever find a way that I can list my ANSELL Gloves, saved in my Drafts folder? They are NOT pandemic related.

Should I start from another seller's listing, or can I use this one that was working until I ended it a few months ago?

______________________________

EDIT: Reply to your question can be found here (Link)

buyselljack2016 · ‎07-08-2020

I have sales in MP to PR. I list with USPS shipping, and all show up domestic.

brian@ebay · ‎07-08-2020

@maxoptical wrote:

The tracking numbers have not been available on the seller hub for many years now. This is a well know issue for larger sellers. This is me asking for a solution in this online chat. Calling support they said I had to call them every time to get the tracking number and there is no work around.

This is an unrealistic answer and I am asking for a method to get the tracking numbers for the label I purchased from eBay.

I am now getting emails from eBay to send a refund for a return that the seller hub is showing it has not been returned. Calling support they say they have access and they said the item has been returned and the seller hub is not showing correct information.

This is all too much work for a $24 return, I just need the ability to manage returns without calling tech support.

John Norman

@maxoptical my understanding is that return tracking information is available within the Returns themselves, not in Seller Hub. If that isn't the case then I can pass along your feedback. Thanks!

Brian,
Community Team