eBay

Anonymous · ‎05-08-2019

Hi everybody!

Join us here at 1 PM PT on Wednesday, May 8 for the Weekly Community Chat with eBay Staff. No set topic this week, so feel free to share your general buying and selling questions.

community_team · ‎05-14-2019

Below you will find a recap of our Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team for May 8, 2019. We hope to see you at our next chat!

Images and text

Is another seller on eBay able to use the photos from my listing?

Our image and text policy states that images listed on eBay may be used in our catalog and other members. Our VeRO team can look into taking action when images from outside of eBay are used on our site, and the right’s owner contacts us to investigate. More information can be found here.

Why does eBay have this policy?

While sellers do need to describe their items accurately, which includes photos and text that properly represent what they are selling, many times the photos and text already available on eBay will correctly match the item being sold. If a seller on eBay is using your intellectual property and you have never uploaded the photos or text that you own to eBay, our VeRO team will be happy to review. Go here for more information on how to report violations of your intellectual property rights.

PayPal Fee Credit

I heard a rumor that PayPal is reversing their decision to not credit the transaction fees when a seller issues a refund. Do you have an update on this?

We don't have any information or insights regarding this. It could just be speculation or misinformation shared, so recommend you contact PayPal for up to date details.

Top Rated Seller Requirements

I offer several shipping options and when my buyer selects a cheaper option with no tracking, eBay counts this against me. Why is this?

In addition to buyers wanting to see the status of their order, shipping with tracking is a way for you to protect yourself against any Item Not Received requests that may come up, and is also a requirement to be considered Top Rated (tracking uploaded and validated metrics). Offering a service that does not provide tracking/delivery confirmation can help you to reduce your business costs, but would mean you take responsibility for any items that your buyer report never arrived. Additionally, if more than 5% of your transactions do not have tracking uploaded on time and scanned by a carrier you would not be eligible to be a Top Rated Seller.

You would need to weigh the pros and cons of not offering tracking on your items to determine what is the best decision for your business. If you feel you make more money when you have a cheaper shipping option or offer free shipping that does not require you to cover the cost of tracking than you would from the Top Rated Seller discount and associated benefits, then you may not need to worry about this metric. If you feel the Top Rated Seller program provides you with benefits and savings that offset the cost of tracking, then you may want to cover this cost yourself to grow your business overall. Only you can determine if this is right for you based on the cost of your items and overall profit margin.

I still feel that I am not supported. Why am I being penalized for offering options to my customers?

Definitely want to clear this up; the Top Rated Seller program is an optional program with incentives for those sellers who are utilizing practices that create the best possible experience for their customers. Though tracking is considered a best practice for sellers, it is not required, and that status is not necessary in order for you to run a successful business on eBay. Some items and business models may not benefit from the added cost of tracking (ie. low weight items such as baseball cards, stamps, etc), and a seller would need to determine what is best for them. While you can't be a Top Rated Seller if you don't use tracking, there is no negative impact or defects associated with not providing tracking information.

Reviews

I’ve left a review recently that has been removed by eBay. Why is this?

We will look into your specific situation for an update. You can review our community content policy for more information on what is allowed in a review and what is prohibited.

Clothing Category Suggestions

Clothing categories should be by type of item, and subtype if applicable, then by adult or child, then by men or women, boys or girls. And it should be possible to choose adult or child without specifying gender. Can you pass this feedback along?

We can look into how changing the category tree may be of benefit and pass along recommendations that would enhance the buyer’s experience. As far as gender goes, while there may be some reasons why being able to not specify a gender could be an improvement for some members, the majority of buyers search for clothing by selecting a specific gender category. Removing this option could make it more challenging for most buyers to find the clothing they are looking for.

Easy Relist Option & Out Of Stock Feature

The text for this option says it applies to single-quantity listings, but it doesn't say anything about sellers who use the out of stock option. When I have a single quantity listing and the buyer requests a cancellation, will I have a pre-selected checkbox to relist?

Great question! We'll reach out to the experts and update you as I hear back.

Waiting In Cart Notifications

I have received messages from eBay that prompt me to lower the price on items that are in buyers carts. Why am I getting these messages for items have that already sold?

Often times the process to gather information and the process to send emails are separate and subsequently there may be a delay between the first step and the second. This may result in some messages being received after an item has already been purchased. You are welcome to disregard these messages when the item has already sold.

Can you add a column in Seller Hub that shows what items are in buyer’s carts so I can use this information for sales and offers to watchers?

This is a fantastic idea and we are happy to pass it on to the Seller Hub team!

Listing Revisions

When I edit a listing either individually or in bulk and I see the changes reflected on the site, is this what everyone else will see or is there a delay before my buyers see updates?

Sometimes when a revision is submitted either for a single listing or in bulk, the change can take up to 24 hours to update, but you wouldn't see this yourself until this happens. If you are revising a very large number of listings at once, these adjustments may be staggered in multiple batches over the following 24 hours. When you see an update take effect on one of your listings, all other members will see the same thing.

What about if I put my items on vacation, effectively hiding the listings. Does this change happen immediately too?

Putting your store on vacation and effectively hiding your listings is immediate, though their reappearance in search may take up to 24 hours once you return and take your store off of vacation.

If a seller needs to make changes to a Fixed price listing that result in the listing being re-indexed, is it better for the seller to create a new listing or make changes to the existing listing?

Anytime an item is listed, relisted, listed via sell similar, or revised it may go through an indexing process before being visible in search results. We moved to the Good Til Cancelled duration to maintain listing URLs, sales history, and overall engagement from buyers. The more engagement a listing has (such as views), the more prominently the listing may appear in search results both on and off eBay.

If you need to make updates to an item you are selling, we recommend you use the revision process to ensure the listing’s history and URL remain the same. This will ensure the best visibility and increase your chances of a successful sale.

Recently I updated the handling time in all of my listings at 7:30PM, but Customer Service said I changed them around 3:00AM the next morning. Why the discrepancy?

Our internal tools are primarily set to reflect the UTC time zone and this may be why you were given a different time for the revision. We will review your conversation with Customer Service to ensure any appropriate coaching is provided.

Unpaid Items

Can you add to buyer’s best offer page a disclaimer that lets them know they are entering into a legally binding contract by either accepting the offer or if the seller accepts their offer?

Happy to let you know the best offer submission/acceptance page already informs a buyer they are entering into a contract to pay for the item if the offer is accepted.

Shipping

I’ve run into some issues with the new label process. Can you bring the old flow back?

While we have no plans to go back to our previous tool we will continue to monitor for any issues and work on refining this tool to be the best for our Community.

I’ve noticed sometimes in the “Your item sold” email from eBay that the ship-by date in the message will change if I change the handling time in my listing. Can someone look into this?

The emails we sent should not be updating if changes are made to the listing. We’ll look into this and see what might be going on.

Frequently the display in Seller Hub that sales from Friday, Saturday or Sunday will show that I need to ship by Tuesday. I know this is supposed to say Monday, but other sellers may be confused and ship late. Can you look into what might be going on?

We are aware of this issue and are currently investigating.

Seller Hub

I have a few suggestions I would like to have passed on to the Seller Hub team:

When buyers purchase multiple items (not multiples of the same item) and a seller combines shipping the delivery status is not updated on the Seller Hub Orders page. I can click on the tracking number to see that all items were delivered, but the status on the Orders page is stuck at Shipped. This started a couple of months ago for all multi-item orders.

Please submit feedback to add a search filter showing all orders that do not have a delivered status. It will help to manage any orders that have shipping delays.

On all other Hub pages (like active listings) we can show or minimize the search filters at the top of the page. On the orders page the ability to minimize the search filters went away when the new reports feature was added. Can you ask them to add back the ability to hide the search filters on the Orders page?

Thank you for the suggestions! We'll get it to the Seller Hub folks, no problem.

The new orders page in Seller Hub does not have an option to cancel the order within the dropdown for each order. Can you pass this feedback on to the right team?

We can definitely get that feedback to the right team. Thanks!

Some of my accounts can send offers to watchers and others cannot. Is this rolling out slowly? Can I do anything to get this option on all of my accounts?

This should be rolled out to everyone by now - we’ll reach out to the appropriate team to get this addressed for you.

Search Results

I’m searching for a 100% leather wallet and my search results are filled with PU leather. What’s going on?

Without knowing the search terms you used it's difficult to determine why you are seeing the results you are seeing. Since the term 'leather' is present in PU leather items, those listings will show up when using 100% leather in the search field. With that said, using the filters on the left side of the screen (such as the specific “Leather” filter for Material) can help narrow down results. An Advanced Search can also help fine tune search what you are shown. If you find listings that describe the item as 100% leather but are actually selling PU leather, please report them to us for review.

Variation Listings For Books

Please consider allowing variation listings in the Books category.

Happy to pass along this suggestion!

View Best Answer in original post

tyler@ebay · ‎05-08-2019

Hi everyone -

The chat is open for your replies!

Tyler,

topqualityclothes · ‎05-08-2019

I had an interesting discussion last week via email with Preston P. and Meagan S. of eBay's VeRO team. Here's the situation:

I sell brand new items. Mostly clothing. It's not uncommon for other sellers to take photos from my listing and use them as their own. In the past, if I saw someone stole my photos, I would fill out a NOCI form, contact eBay's VeRO department, and they would remove the infringing listings.

However, when I recently noticed someone using my photos, Meagan and Preston of eBay's VeRO department informed me that the practice of taking and using another seller's photos was no longer a violation that they would take action on.

My photos are how I differentiate my items from other seller's items. I take very good photos. I have invested a lot of money and time into building a photo studio and learning to take good photos. Now, it seems that a seller can simply steal my photos profit off of my labor. If this is the case, why would I continue to invest time and money into my photography? It is more profitable for me to just take someone else's photos and use them as my own.

I am hoping someone from eBay can clarify their company's stance on this situation. Is it now acceptable to screenshot or right click and save another seller's original photo, and then use it to represent your own listing? Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

mam98031 · ‎05-08-2019

Hello everyone.

There is a thread going about this recent policy change about PayPal. I realize that the team here deals with the Ebay policies and rules, but I just was interested if any of you guys have heard anything about there.

There is some competing information from a couple members that have spoken with PP CSRs. One reported that PP has decided to reverse their decision to the May 7th policy update which states that they will no longer refund any fees to sellers on partial or full refunds.

Another member spoke with a CSR at PP and they told them the policy implementation has been delayed, not reversed. But no details were given.

Anyone have any additional information?

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

vrykalak · ‎05-08-2019

f I offer several shipping options, and my buyer chooses the one that is at least $3 cheaper than the next possibility, I shouldn't get a defect for offering it. The buyer chose it.

But I do automatically get a defect, because the cheaper mode doesn't have tracking.

I have over 100 paper items, that I can't sell because shipping costs almost $5 for even one ounce. Many would sell if I could offer plain First Class shipping, which costs less than $2.

...Defects are supposed to indicate poor customer service in some way.
I think offering $1.92 S&H instead of $4.75 S&H is GOOD customer service.

Could eBay take a look at this policy, and maybe revise it?

usrmaatra · ‎05-08-2019

I've recently run into a review issue. I purchased an item that wasn't as described & wanted to leave a review. Since there are more for sale I thought I would add a detailed review, KEEPING WITHIN ALL Ebay POLICIES, including photos of the item with its deficiencies. Every time I post the review, revise it, whittle it down to nothing, etc. , it gets deleted & put in my "Reviews not Published" section of my profile, where it stays without any Ebay notice. I've done this no less than 10-times. I even called support to tell them. They stated the folks reviewing the reviews have been lax in doing their job. I spent a good deal of time creating the review & it seems the seller is more concerned about their positive rating than the truth about fraudulent materials. It seems ridiculous that a seller & their cabal of friends can keep deleting legitimate reviews simply by pressing the "Report Inappropriate Content" button when the content is entirely clear, non derogatory, concise & follows all Ebay polices & NO ONE seems to be addressing the issue. This is a giant loophole that even several lengthy calls to support, & them reviewing my review in real time, only to be told, "Sorry, there's nothing we can do." Is there ANY way to bring this to any higher authority &/or stop a legitimate review from being removed??

alan@ebay · ‎05-08-2019

@mam98031 wrote:

Hello everyone.

There is a thread going about this recent policy change about PayPal. I realize that the team here deals with the Ebay policies and rules, but I just was interested if any of you guys have heard anything about there.

There is some competing information from a couple members that have spoken with PP CSRs. One reported that PP has decided to reverse their decision to the May 7th policy update which states that they will no longer refund any fees to sellers on partial or full refunds.

Another member spoke with a CSR at PP and they told them the policy implementation has been delayed, not reversed. But no details were given.

Anyone have any additional information?

Hi @mam98031,

I've seen that thread on the Selling board, can understand why there's interest in it. We don't have any information or insights regarding this. It could just be speculation or misinformation shared.

Thanks!

Alan - eBay Community Manager

If a member's response helped, please give it a Helpful. If you are the author of a thread and a member's response resolved your question, please click "Accept as Solution." More on Accepted Solutions.

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brian@ebay · ‎05-08-2019

@topqualityclothes wrote:

I had an interesting discussion last week via email with Preston P. and Meagan S. of eBay's VeRO team. Here's the situation:

I sell brand new items. Mostly clothing. It's not uncommon for other sellers to take photos from my listing and use them as their own. In the past, if I saw someone stole my photos, I would fill out a NOCI form, contact eBay's VeRO department, and they would remove the infringing listings.

However, when I recently noticed someone using my photos, Meagan and Preston of eBay's VeRO department informed me that the practice of taking and using another seller's photos was no longer a violation that they would take action on.

My photos are how I differentiate my items from other seller's items. I take very good photos. I have invested a lot of money and time into building a photo studio and learning to take good photos. Now, it seems that a seller can simply steal my photos profit off of my labor. If this is the case, why would I continue to invest time and money into my photography? It is more profitable for me to just take someone else's photos and use them as my own.

I am hoping someone from eBay can clarify their company's stance on this situation. Is it now acceptable to screenshot or right click and save another seller's original photo, and then use it to represent your own listing? Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

Hi @topqualityclothes, you were given accurate information. The image and text policy was updated some time ago. Images listed on eBay may be used in our catalog and can be used by other members. Our VeRO team can look into taking action when images are taken from a manufacturers web site or other web sites without permission.

Brian,
Community Team

tyler@ebay · ‎05-08-2019

@vrykalak wrote:

f I offer several shipping options, and my buyer chooses the one that is at least $3 cheaper than the next possibility, I shouldn't get a defect for offering it. The buyer chose it.

But I do automatically get a defect, because the cheaper mode doesn't have tracking.

I have over 100 paper items, that I can't sell because shipping costs almost $5 for even one ounce. Many would sell if I could offer plain First Class shipping, which costs less than $2.

...Defects are supposed to indicate poor customer service in some way.
I think offering $1.92 S&H instead of $4.75 S&H is GOOD customer service.

Could eBay take a look at this policy, and maybe revise it?

Hi @vrykalak - it's good to hear that you're offering your buyer choices in shipping!

Shipping with tracking is a way for you to protect yourself against Item Not Received claims, and is also a requirement to be considered Top Rated (tracking uploaded and validated metrics). If you choose to offer a service that does not offer shipping, and the buyer chooses that option, you are assuming the risk in the event that they open a Not Received request, as well as taking the ding in the tracking metrics.

If you are not comfortable with the risk that that generates, then I wouldn't offer that as an option.

For those items that are low-cost and you'd prefer to ship without tracking: that's just fine too! I would build some extra padding in your pricing to help mitigate any losses from INRs, and keep an eye on your tracking uploaded and validated percentage to make sure that those transactions don't push you too low to not be considered for the discount program.

Tyler,

vrykalak · ‎05-08-2019

want to complain again about the categories for clothing. I have a couple hundred t-shirts I want to list, and each one has to have at least two listings, one for men and one for women. A few have to have three listings, one for women, one for boys, and one for girls.

Clothing categories should be by type of item, and subtype if applicable, then by adult or child, then by men or women, boys or girls. And it should be possible to choose adult or child without specifying gender.

AND when I try to Sell Similar and just change the gender, I have to re-enter the Condition information and all the Item Specifics from scratch, even tho the only change is to show the women's size instead of the men's (or VV). Item specifics that are the same should be copied over when the category changes.

tyler@ebay · ‎05-08-2019

@usrmaatra wrote:
I've recently run into a review issue. I purchased an item that wasn't as described & wanted to leave a review. Since there are more for sale I thought I would add a detailed review, KEEPING WITHIN ALL Ebay POLICIES, including photos of the item with its deficiencies. Every time I post the review, revise it, whittle it down to nothing, etc. , it gets deleted & put in my "Reviews not Published" section of my profile, where it stays without any Ebay notice. I've done this no less than 10-times. I even called support to tell them. They stated the folks reviewing the reviews have been lax in doing their job. I spent a good deal of time creating the review & it seems the seller is more concerned about their positive rating than the truth about fraudulent materials. It seems ridiculous that a seller & their cabal of friends can keep deleting legitimate reviews simply by pressing the "Report Inappropriate Content" button when the content is entirely clear, non derogatory, concise & follows all Ebay polices & NO ONE seems to be addressing the issue. This is a giant loophole that even several lengthy calls to support, & them reviewing my review in real time, only to be told, "Sorry, there's nothing we can do." Is there ANY way to bring this to any higher authority &/or stop a legitimate review from being removed??

Hi @usrmaatra - I can definitely have this reviewed. I'll reach out to you directly for more information after the chat. Thanks!

Tyler,

topqualityclothes · ‎05-08-2019

Could you possible elaborate on the thought process behind this policy? I cannot really see a positive outcome, other than a reduced workload for the VeRO team.

The most likely outcome I see is items being falsely represented, since most sellers aren't going to take their own photos anymore. And, maybe a decrease in newly added high quality photographs. I'm sure it's to fall on deaf ears, but I think this decision is pretty horrendous.

mam98031 · ‎05-08-2019

alan@ebay wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
Hello everyone.

There is a thread going about this recent policy change about PayPal. I realize that the team here deals with the Ebay policies and rules, but I just was interested if any of you guys have heard anything about there.

There is some competing information from a couple members that have spoken with PP CSRs. One reported that PP has decided to reverse their decision to the May 7th policy update which states that they will no longer refund any fees to sellers on partial or full refunds.

Another member spoke with a CSR at PP and they told them the policy implementation has been delayed, not reversed. But no details were given.

Anyone have any additional information?
Hi @mam98031,

I've seen that thread on the Selling board, can understand why there's interest in it. We don't have any information or insights regarding this. It could just be speculation or misinformation shared.

Thanks!

Thank you for your quick response. I completely understand your position and it is currently my own as well. But I'm hopeful.

I did reach out to someone that may be able to find out the truth of this matter for us. If I hear anything, I will share it.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

coffeebean832 · ‎05-08-2019

I asked this on the seller update board but no reply yet. Question about easy relist-

The text says this applies to single-quantity listings, but it doesn't say anything about sellers who use the out of stock option.

When I have a single quantity listing and the buyer requests a cancellation, will I have a pre-selected checkbox to relist? Since I use the OOS feature it would be better if that box was not pre-selected since I already have an active listing. It's better to update the quantity on an existing listing than it is to relist and end up with a duplicate listing.

I don't see the out of stock feature addressed in the FAQ section.

pursesbrasplusmore · ‎05-08-2019

Wondering why is ebay sending “waiting in cart” messages on already sold single quantity out of stock items to lower the price? It would be much more helpful to have a “Waiting in Carts” column on my Active Listing Page, so that the seller would know right away when items were in carts.