Community Chat, March 27 @ 1:00 pm PT - General Topics

[alan@ebay]

Happy Wednesday! 

Join the Community Team here today at 1 PM PT for our Weekly Community Chat. Bring any general buying and selling questions you might have to discuss 

Thanks & see you then. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I went to print an ebay shipping label today, and lo and behold, my "classic" view (which I was using until today) is finally gone and I had no choice but to use the new label. I managed just fine. But I'm wondering: has ebay set a definite time frame for ending Classic view for everyone? Has it been announced? I think sellers who still like the old label will want to know.

[brian@ebay]

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@mam98031 wrote:

I’d like to share some ideas on potentially making GTC listings Better and/or more Palatable for those that are skeptical about using this format as well as those of us that have used them for years.

GTC listings don’t currently state the time left on the listing before it ends its current duration [one month].

The 30 day FP listings had this date showing in a listing when a buyer would view the listing.

IMHO it would help many with this transition if Ebay were to insert this into all GTC listings.

When a GTC renews, it currently will not appear as a newly listing item.  This one has pros and cons to it.  There is good argument for keeping it this way as buyers will be able to see what is truly a new listing.  But there is also good argument that it may bury listings as well as sellers lose the ability to have repeating GTC listings be seen if searched by Newest listed.

Granted we would all be in the same boat as we are all running GTC listings but are there any tips or options to utilize the GTC in a more effective way?

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Thanks for the suggestions, @mam98031!

[krys888]

Why do you require we click an age group in order to complete a survey? Why is there no prefer not to answer option? I understand you’re wanting marketing data, but to require it in order to send you my entire survey results gives the impression that you were only interested in my age demographic, not the concerns I spent time explaining in the survey. I felt I had a choice to either answer honestly, which I feel is none of your business unless I choose to tell you, OR lie and just randomly pick something, which would completely blow your age data relative to my other answers in the survey. I wanted you to know my concerns, but I shouldn’t be REQUIRED to give my age. Thank you kindly.

[Anonymous]

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@vrykalak wrote:

"There are eyes on your item! Go for the sale." No way!
Sometimes the person buys it, at the very last second.

Sometimes they make an offer within a few hours of the end.

If they don't, I RAISE the price when I relist it.
I can't think of any scenario where it would benefit me to lower my price just because someone is watching.

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Hi @vrykalak, the choice to lower the price is yours to make. If you find that an item has watchers, but hasn't sold for some time, your buyer's may be holding back because of the price. Lowering the price by 5% or more results in a message being sent to your buyers to prompt a purchase. If you raise the price and get a sale afterwards, that is great! If you raise the price and continue to not sell the item, you may want to consider adjustments that entice your customers to buy.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

In last week's Weekly Chat, Brian told us:

"Hi @fern*wood, the 1 year mark is the timeframe to be aware of. Listings that have gone unsold for longer than 1 year may be removed ended and moved to the Unsold section. "

That seems to imply that a one off, long tail item listed as GTC basically has 12 months to find a buyer. Will ebay end it at the end of 12 months? You say listings "may" be ended...that seems to suggest wiggle room on eBay's part, but raises the question: under what circumstances would it be "may be" rather than "will be"?

Also, will ebay be providing any sort of warning? Say, at the 11 month mark, something like that?

As for multi quantity listings, would it be correct to say that ebay starts the 12 month countdown only at the point when the listing is showing zero sales? In other words, for a listing with 1000 items, selling 1 a day, it would be well over 12 months before the seller would need to worry about ebay ending the listing....

At one point, I believe ebay sellers were seeing warnings in Seller Hub about listings that were 16 months or older.....will that sort of thing be ended now? Or will we continue to get reminders?

Also: If I list a one off, long tail item but revise it every few months....tweaking the title here, adding item specifics there, maybe changing the gallery photo.....do those revisions have any effect on the countdown?

And finally: If ebay ends my listing after 12 months and puts it in the Unsold folder, will I be able to relist it, just like any other item from my Unsolds?

[tyler@ebay]

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@7cardboardjungle7 wrote:

Hello, seller question from a 20-year eBay user. 

What will it take to return the time length for fixed price listings from forced GTC to choice of the seller?

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Hi @7cardboardjungle7 - welcome to the chat!

At this point in time the change to duration options is permanent and there are not plans to adjust it. We believe that it will be the best format to attract and retain buyers to your businesses. However, if that proves not to be the case we could see things change in the future. Thanks!

[midcentureager]

Could eBay clarify their policy on buyer privacy during a transaction? I had unwanted contact from a seller who somehow obtained my unlisted home number and called early in the morning on a weekend, left a message and asked me to call him back. It was about a question he could easily have answered himself on Google in less than a minute. No seller has ever called me at home before, which I consider a breach of privacy. I reported this to eBay by phone but am unclear if any action will be taken. Surely eBay does not allow sellers to call buyers at home? Did eBay give this seller my phone number? Did eBay also give him my home address? I would appreciate clarification.

[wooden_flower]

One for me - if you post something for CS on facebook, do they ever acknowledge the post?

I detailed an issue with orders being split into multiple payments when there is no reason for them to be split. I did not expect a solution, but I thought they might let me know they received my post.  I posted a follow up asking for acknowledgement, but didn't get a response to that either.

I'm thinking the only solution for me right now is to opt out of guaranteed delivery.

Thanks!

Sue

[brian@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
GTC: Any update on the addition of a day count column to Active Listings in Seller Hub? As I recall, we are supposed to have it by the end of this month? Still on track for that deadline?

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Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques, I don't have any new information on this feature, but I'll look into it and let you know what I find. 

[tyler@ebay]

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@wooden_flower wrote:

Hi,

One question that comes up on the M2M board is why aren'y variations allowed in all categories? 

Is there any plan to allow them in more categories?

thanks!

Sue

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Hi @wooden_flower! Variations aren't available in all categories as there are some where they don't quite make sense. However, the team in charge of them does monitor and look at adding categories regularly. Are there any in particular that you've come across that you feel could be useful?

[coffeebean832]

I use Seller Hub. I can filter listings to show out of stock, but I can't find a way to include out of stock variations in that view. How can I achieve a view that includes out of stock variations?

I can't find a way to sort and show just variation listings whether out of stock or not. How can I achieve that view, as well?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Hi Brian, Thanks! The reason I asked is, the end of the month is almost here, so it would be good to know if the deadline is going to be met or not....

[krys888]

Confirmation of that answer is what I was looking for here. I was at 99% out the door, but holding out 1% hope that ebay recognized the error of removing our CHOICE on that one. I sell (and buy) collectibles. Thank you for answering honestly.

[vrykalak]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@vrykalak wrote:

"There are eyes on your item! Go for the sale." No way!
Sometimes the person buys it, at the very last second.

Sometimes they make an offer within a few hours of the end.

If they don't, I RAISE the price when I relist it.
I can't think of any scenario where it would benefit me to lower my price just because someone is watching.

---

Hi @vrykalak, the choice to lower the price is yours to make. If you find that an item has watchers, but hasn't sold for some time, your buyer's may be holding back because of the price. Lowering the price by 5% or more results in a message being sent to your buyers to prompt a purchase. If you raise the price and get a sale afterwards, that is great! If you raise the price and continue to not sell the item, you may want to consider adjustments that entice your customers to buy.

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In my 15 years selling on eBay, I seem to see that watchers who come back to a relisted item, and find the price raised instead of lowered, are more likely to buy ... often after making an offer at or below the previous price.

[wooden_flower]

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tyler@ebay wrote:

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@wooden_flower wrote:

Hi,

One question that comes up on the M2M board is why aren'y variations allowed in all categories? 

Is there any plan to allow them in more categories?

thanks!

Sue

---

Hi @wooden_flower! Variations aren't available in all categories as there are some where they don't quite make sense. However, the team in charge of them does monitor and look at adding categories regularly. Are there any in particular that you've come across that you feel could be useful?

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I would tell them anything that comes in sizes, colors, etc is a good candidate. As soon as you think it doesn't apply, someone can tell you why it could.

The one I answered yesterday was water pipes that came in different colors 🙂

Sue