Community Chat, March 11 @ 1:00 pm PT - General Topics

[tyler@ebay]

Join the Community team here at 1 PM PT on March 11th for our Weekly Chat with eBay Staff. We don't have a specific 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]

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@globalautodistributors wrote:

Hi Tyler, Alan, and Brian -

I'd like to suggest an improvement to the technical / shipping teams concerning the estimation of delivery date for USPS Priority Mail Express.  In other words, the date shown to the buyer if they select the USPS Express Mail shipping option.

I've experienced cases where the date shown was inaccurate, because the eBay system doesn't take into account key factors such as USPS cutoff time for Express Mail, as well as the destination zip code.

So some buyers are expecting their Express delivery overnight, when in reality it's a 2-day service.

I hope in the future the system will become 'smarter' and take into account origin/destination zip codes, as well the shipper's and USPS's cutoff time for Express mail.   Right now, I have to proactively reach out to every buyer to let them know the correct date to expect their package, to prevent any misunderstanding or disappointment.

Thank you for your consideration!

-Bonnie

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Hi @globalautodistributors - thanks for this suggestion! Do you have any specific example item numbers you run into this more frequently that I can submit along with your feedback?

[gwzcomps]

When will eBay update their shipping system to modern standards? Still problems with people exceeding the character limit for the address they supply. Also for quantity orders it would be nice to be able to print a quantity of labels all at once. Like with FedEx you can print 5 labels for one order with packages all being the same size. Then the labels will show 1-5 on them so the buyer knows what to expect. The label quantity thing is different that my question from last week not to cause any confusion 🙂

[cortezer]

Hello, I am wondering what to make of this. A potential buyer from Indonesia is asking for me to send 2 - 30 pound folding bicycles to China. The exact request reads -

"Would you ship it to Singapore?

I will pay the shipping cost and any extra cost

thanks

harry "

My listing states 'local pickup' and no mention of shipping (anywhere, to any location let alone China)

I suppose this buyer who has been a member for less than 11 months with 20 all positive feedback, could be on the up and up. But sending $700 worth of vintage bicycles, is this a good idea? As I write this message my gut tells me no. Not worth all the potential issues that could arise.

Thanks to anyone for your thoughts - good or bad.

[brian@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
Hi Tyler,

I've been using Terapeak for years, and like it. However, all those years have started to catch up with me, and my declining vision. The Terapeak thumbnails are WAY too small for some of us older folks. Any chance the Terapeak team will enlarge them?

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Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques, I'm not aware of any plans to increase the size of the thumbnails. Increasing the "zoom" in your browser would likely increase the size. I'm also happy to send a suggestion to the team to see if the thumbnail size can be increased in the future 🙂

[Anonymous]

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@mam98031 wrote:

I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe!!!!

I would like to extend my THANK YOU to Ebay for implementing the ban on certain supplies that are in short demand due to the worldwide crisis we find ourselves in at this time.

I know that Ebay needs to do this as it is mandated by law for most states that have declared a State of Emergency [12+ so far].  But with the quick reaction to this by Ebay it also shows their concern for the community worldwide.

We are now starting to see significant price gouging on products that are not on the banned list.  I'm not looking to ban all these products, but a better way to report listings that are clearly price gouging.  Like $200 for toilet paper, $150 for a few disposable gloves, etc.  IMHO this needs to stop too as it breaches the Ebay rule and it is just plain WRONG.

The current Report a listing is inadequate at best and there really is no reason on the predesigned list to accommodate this issue.  Most ways of reporting don't allow for a comment to be posted.

Anyway is there a better way to do this?  One that will get more immediate attention!!!

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Hi @mam98031, thanks for the well wishes, we are all being extra conscientious to wash our hands and drink lots of water 😊

As for other items that are beginning to see rising costs, I can assure you that we are actively reviewing the site for potential abuse and will take appropriate action. While there isn't a way to report these kinds of concerns to us directly from the listing, rest assured we are keeping an eye on the situation. I will be sure to pass along the feedback you've provided, and in the meantime I can provide our Help Page on the disaster and tragedy policy that may apply to these kinds of items.

[greg213213]

I don't know what she was searching for exactly, but she was using the US only filter and stuff was coming up from sellers that were not in the US. She was only looking for NEW and it also showed NEW OTHER. When she clicked on one of the NEW OTHER the description showed and stated it as being slightly used. I think she was looking for drapes and in the mix it has curtains which are not drapes. Is this the seller spamming using wrong keywords or does the search pick up on everything?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Hi Tyler,
I listened to the podcast on Tuesday, and have a question about the new International Shipping program. As I understand it, my package goes to a transfer point in the US, and then eBay basically ships it out of the country from there. ebay protects me up to $100.00. Does that protection begin when I first ship the item, or does it cover the fate of the item only after ebay has shipped it out of the country? And if the latter, if my package goes missing between my local PO and the ebay point, would that be covered by USPS Insurance? (assuming the package is insured with USPS)

[globalautodistributors]

I echo @wooden_flower 's sentiment about the estimated delivery date shown to buyers.  I've had a few situations where a buyer messaged me, wondering why the initial delivery date estimate was X, but changed to Y after payment.  

Sue, by chance do you know what exact date the tracking number shows it was 'accepted' by the carrier? Was it 3/6? Or later?

My guess is, depending on the date the package was actually accepted/scanned by the carrier, then that determines the real-time updated delivery date shown.  

[mam98031]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe!!!!

I would like to extend my THANK YOU to Ebay for implementing the ban on certain supplies that are in short demand due to the worldwide crisis we find ourselves in at this time.

I know that Ebay needs to do this as it is mandated by law for most states that have declared a State of Emergency [12+ so far].  But with the quick reaction to this by Ebay it also shows their concern for the community worldwide.

We are now starting to see significant price gouging on products that are not on the banned list.  I'm not looking to ban all these products, but a better way to report listings that are clearly price gouging.  Like $200 for toilet paper, $150 for a few disposable gloves, etc.  IMHO this needs to stop too as it breaches the Ebay rule and it is just plain WRONG.

The current Report a listing is inadequate at best and there really is no reason on the predesigned list to accommodate this issue.  Most ways of reporting don't allow for a comment to be posted.

Anyway is there a better way to do this?  One that will get more immediate attention!!!

---

Hi @mam98031, thanks for the well wishes, we are all being extra conscientious to wash our hands and drink lots of water 😊

As for other items that are beginning to see rising costs, I can assure you that we are actively reviewing the site for potential abuse and will take appropriate action. While there isn't a way to report these kinds of concerns to us directly from the listing, rest assured we are keeping an eye on the situation. I will be sure to pass along the feedback you've provided, and in the meantime I can provide our Help Page on the disaster and tragedy policy that may apply to these kinds of items.

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Thank you Trinton.  Let them know there are a whole lot of us out here that would help Ebay locate these items and we are more than willing to help.

This type of crisis leaves lots of us feeling helpless because we can't really help others that are in the thick of this issue.  So anything we can do from afar to help, you will find lots of volunteers to do so.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

brian, increasing the zoom does increase the size, but it then becomes blurry. So, thanks for forwarding my suggestion....it would really be helpful!

[tyler@ebay]

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@gwzcomps wrote:
When will eBay update their shipping system to modern standards? Still problems with people exceeding the character limit for the address they supply. Also for quantity orders it would be nice to be able to print a quantity of labels all at once. Like with FedEx you can print 5 labels for one order with packages all being the same size. Then the labels will show 1-5 on them so the buyer knows what to expect. The label quantity thing is different that my question from last week not to cause any confusion 🙂

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Hi @gwzcomps - the shipping team is always working to update and improve the label process. 

With that being said, there aren't any plans I'm aware of to introduce multi-quantity shipping labels in a 'X of Y' type style, but I'm happy to recommend it!

The character limit situation is one that we're working to address, but there are limitations. Currently we return errors when a buyer's address exceeds USPS's 40-character limit (if USPS is the selected shipping method), but if a different shipping service is stated (or a generic placeholder is used), that limit wouldn't apply. Thanks!

[wooden_flower]

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@globalautodistributors wrote:

I echo @wooden_flower 's sentiment about the estimated delivery date shown to buyers.  I've had a few situations where a buyer messaged me, wondering why the initial delivery date estimate was X, but changed to Y after payment.  

Sue, by chance do you know what exact date the tracking number shows it was 'accepted' by the carrier? Was it 3/6? Or later?

My guess is, depending on the date the package was actually accepted/scanned by the carrier, then that determines the real-time updated delivery date shown.  

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There is a UPS pickup scan on 3/9.  I didn't check the estimate on 3/9 - I checked it on 3/10 since that was the first estimated date, after changing from the guaranteed date 😀

Sue

[mam98031]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
brian, increasing the zoom does increase the size, but it then becomes blurry. So, thanks for forwarding my suggestion....it would really be helpful!

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Just a question.  Isn't that driven by the pixels in the picture that is being zoomed?

[Anonymous]

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@wooden_flower wrote:

I have a question on estimated delivery dates.  I purchased an item on 3/5. Before I clicked buy now, I saw a guaranteed delivery date of 3/9. Nice, since I should have ordered this supply sooner.

During/after payment, it changed to estimated 3/10 - 3/12. Not as good, but still OK.

Seller entered a tracking # on 3/5, but had not shipped.  So yesterday I look for an update, and the estimated date had changed to 3/13.  This is realistic, but had this been the original estimate, I would have purchased elsewhere.

I thought the original estimated delivery date was never changed?  What prompted the update?

thanks,

Sue

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Hi @wooden_flower, the date we use as a reference for our Guarantee never changes, as this is the promise that is made to you at the time of checkout. That being said, the estimated delivery date may change to reflect the date the item is expected to arrive to you on so you have accurate information no when to expect your package. If we didn't allow this information to update, buyers would not know when to expect their shipment and may not be able to arrange for someone to be available to receive the package when this is desired. Customer Service is able to review the original date shown to you if there is an issue or you need to pursue compensation for a delayed shipment.

That being said, I am concerned that the date changed initially from the time you looked at the listing to the time you completed payment. While updates to the estimate are normal as we receive more information about the shipment, there shouldn't be changes in the short amount of time you described unless the time from viewing the listing to completing checkout extended beyond the seller's shipping cutoff time frame. I'm happy to take a closer look if you can provide me with the item number for this example.

[globalautodistributors]

Hi Tyler,

No specific item numbers -- as this situation occurs with any and all of my items.  It's not an item-specific issue, but a technical, information-technology issue with the system, whereby origin/destination zip codes and shipping times are apparently not being accounted for in order to give the buyer an accurate delivery date estimate for USPS Priority Mail Express.

Thank you, and feel free to ask if more clarification is needed.

 -Bonnie