eBay

Anonymous · ‎11-12-2019

Join the Community team here at 1 PM PT on November 13th for our Weekly Chat with eBay Staff. We don't have a set topic this week, so please bring any general questions you may have on buying or selling.

The chat will be open for questions from 1-2 pm PT, at which point we'll close thread. While no additional questions can be submitted after this time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that may 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 help!

vrykalak · ‎11-13-2019

I'm really annoyed about Item Specifics having to be retyped from scratch every time I change the category.

It is especially annoying for clothing, because there are now about a dozen required "specifics" for clothing.

If the item was a shirt, it still is a shirt,

If it was made by Hanes, it still is made by Hanes.

If it had a collar and short sleeves, it still has a collar and short sleeves.

If it was blue, it still is blue.

Since all those Item Specifics exist in all clothing categories that refer to shirts, there's no reason why they all get erased if I change the category

...to list in both Men's and Women's category, now that Unisex categories are gone.
Also, when the item is in the catalog, why doesn't the system fill in the Item Specifics that are in the catalog entry?

doug@ebay · ‎11-13-2019

Hi @hioctane62 here's a link to our current holiday TV ads: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRjGZp9Hk7D6rWAXeJtX86382VtNjXqUg

@hioctane62 wrote:

At this point in the season, you can't watch TV for an hour without seeing holiday ads for the big "A". Does eBay plan on doing ANY advertising this holiday season, or are we pretty much on our own? Remember, everybody needs somebody!

tyler@ebay · ‎11-13-2019

@maxoptical wrote:

On my Seller Hub I see a new option for Listing Site. What do I need to do to have my listings show up on these other eBay sites?

Hi @maxoptical - in order to appear in other sites' searches you just need to offer a shipping method to that country. For instance, if you offer international shipping to the UK, your items are going to be surfaced automatically on eBay.co.uk.

That particular dropdown is referring to the 'listing site' of the item - meaning which site it was created on, not which site it offers shipping to.

So if you were to build a business of items listed directly on eBay.co.uk Seller Hub now lets you quickly filter your Hub to view just those listings. Does that make sense?

Tyler,

brian@ebay · ‎11-13-2019

@mdw13 wrote:

A buyer alerted me to this last week. Both of these items are set up with USPS First Class Shipping, with the weight specified as 2 ounces. I have combined shipping turned on, with the setting selected that says the shipping calculator should combine weights. These items have identical shipping methods and not only are they easily combine-able, doing so should yield a result of 4 ounces, meaning the buyer should literally pay $0.00 extra shipping for the second one because first class mail 4 ounces or less is all the same price. These are set up this way for this exact reason. I have been seeing these kinds of problems with shipping calculation/combination regularly since June, but this is the most egregious thing I've seen so far.

I posted this last week in the forums, tagging Trinton and Brian and got no response.

Hi @mdw13, sorry that we missed your original post about this! I'm not seeing a reason why these items shouldn't be coming, so I'm going to report to this to our developers for further review. Thanks!

Brian,
Community Team

doug@ebay · ‎11-13-2019

Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques here's the link to the current holiday ad commercials: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRjGZp9Hk7D6rWAXeJtX86382VtNjXqUg.

I'm not sure about what else may be coming yet, or the theme or focus.

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
Just want to add to hioctane's post... I've seen hints that the ad campaign (whenever it actually starts) will have a little more emphasis on vintage/used stuff than previous recent ad campaigns. Any truth to that? Also, I think once the TV ads or other videos start to appear, it would be REALLY nice if the Community Team posted links here so we could watch them (and perhaps provide our feedback).

Anonymous · ‎11-13-2019

@vrykalak wrote:

I'm really annoyed about Item Specifics having to be retyped from scratch every time I change the category.

It is especially annoying for clothing, because there are now about a dozen required "specifics" for clothing.

If the item was a shirt, it still is a shirt,

If it was made by Hanes, it still is made by Hanes.

If it had a collar and short sleeves, it still has a collar and short sleeves.

If it was blue, it still is blue.

Since all those Item Specifics exist in all clothing categories that refer to shirts, there's no reason why they all get erased if I change the category

...to list in both Men's and Women's category, now that Unisex categories are gone.
Also, when the item is in the catalog, why doesn't the system fill in the Item Specifics that are in the catalog entry?

Hi @vrykalak, you can email sdsupport@eBay.com with examples of catalog entries that are not populating the listing form with the appropriate item specifics. They will be happy to look into this and get back to you with an update.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎11-13-2019

doug, Those videos were last updated in late September. It's now mid November. Maybe time for something new?

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎11-13-2019

Doug, OK, well, will you let us know when new videos are released?

brian@ebay · ‎11-13-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:

Have there been any updates regarding the issues with Markdown Manager Promotions that I reported in the weekly chat on 10/9?

Those delays and problems with promotions continue to be an ongoing issue for many sellers, which is especially concerning with Black Friday/Cyber Monday approaching and the rest of the holidays following soon after. Many sellers depend on running promotions during these peak times and right now the Promotion Manager is not working as it should.

Hi @autopiacarcare, the Community Team definitely knows this is an important issue, especially at this time of year. We are continuing to send reports we find to the Markdown Manager team. While that team is looking into it, we do not have an update yet.

Brian,
Community Team

mam98031 · ‎11-13-2019

I've seen zero commercial on TV. I of course could have missed some as it isn't like I watch TV all the time. But I haven't seen any.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

vrykalak · ‎11-13-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
@vrykalak wrote:
I'm really annoyed about Item Specifics having to be retyped from scratch every time I change the category.
It is especially annoying for clothing, because there are now about a dozen required "specifics" for clothing.
If the item was a shirt, it still is a shirt,
If it was made by Hanes, it still is made by Hanes.
If it had a collar and short sleeves, it still has a collar and short sleeves.
If it was blue, it still is blue.
Since all those Item Specifics exist in all clothing categories that refer to shirts, there's no reason why they all get erased if I change the category
...to list in both Men's and Women's category, now that Unisex categories are gone.
Also, when the item is in the catalog, why doesn't the system fill in the Item Specifics that are in the catalog entry?
Hi @vrykalak, you can email sdsupport@eBay.com with examples of catalog entries that are not populating the listing form with the appropriate item specifics. They will be happy to look into this and get back to you with an update.

Forget the last sentence. Answer the rest of the complaint.

mendelsons · ‎11-13-2019

@mdw13 wrote:

A buyer alerted me to this last week. Both of these items are set up with USPS First Class Shipping, with the weight specified as 2 ounces. I have combined shipping turned on, with the setting selected that says the shipping calculator should combine weights. These items have identical shipping methods and not only are they easily combine-able, doing so should yield a result of 4 ounces, meaning the buyer should literally pay $0.00 extra shipping for the second one because first class mail 4 ounces or less is all the same price. These are set up this way for this exact reason. I have been seeing these kinds of problems with shipping calculation/combination regularly since June, but this is the most egregious thing I've seen so far.

I posted this last week in the forums, tagging Trinton and Brian and got no response.

___

This issue has been going on for a long time but don't worry eBay techs are aware of it. Looks like since its a non issue with most eBayers they might fix it next year.

dtexley3 · ‎11-13-2019

I posted on the Tech forums earlier today, but I think this is something that really needs to be disseminated to sellers.

When a buyer requests an invoice and you change the shipping method drop down THE SHIPPING COST DOES NOT UPDATE. So if I change it from SmartPost to Priority at the customer request, it doesn't adjust to the Priority rate. This nearly cost me a significant amount of money today and explains a couple cases in recent weeks where the label cost me more than the buyer paid.

The invoice used to update the shipping when you changed the dropdown. Now it doesn't. Sellers should be notified of this issue until it can be fixed.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

buyselljack2016 · ‎11-13-2019

@mendelsons wrote:
@mendelsons wrote:
So I've been reporting issues with eBay's App related to the shipping calculator for over a year now. Shipping rates for combine shipping on multiple quantities are wrong - way wrong and here's what buyers are saying.

This question came in this morning:

Buyers Q: I want to buy 20 of these contacts and would like to combine shipping. What should I do? Ebay wants to charge me 59.00 to ship a 8oz package. Thanks, G
The buyer is seeing USPS 1st Class rates 20 times the cost of one of them.

We've had internet issues all day and now we just got this message:

Buyers Q: It is getting toward the end of the work day and the shipping calculator is still messed up. It shows me $11.69 for shipping to 19605 which I am fine with but when I go to my shopping cart it doesn't give me the $11.69 shipping option. I will try again in the morning tomorrow, maybe your internet will work better and we can get this purchase completed. Thanks, G

When is someone going to fix this problem? We are losing sales because of it and its making buyers run to other sites as well.

Rick
Hi @mendelsons, as we've discussed previously, the details of your report have been passed along to our tech teams and will be reviewed. Changes during the final part of the year are something we generally avoid unless there is a widespread issue with no available workarounds, so you may not see an update on this specific topic until the new year. I know that we've been investigating this with you for quite some time and can only reiterate our apology for the frustrations this has caused.

____

Glad to know we have a time frame when it will be fixed. Part of this problem is also the hiding of other shipping options where as eBay is purposely hiding shipping options, cheaper options. Makes no sense but since this is a non issue for most ebay sellers / buyers - its been shelved for several more months. Unreal.

As others have posted. this has been going on for quite some time with no fix.

Does not work for all, but what I have done is to note in my listing that more than one is available, but as the shipping will not combine/calculate correctly that a buyer desiring more than one should contact me for a total shipping cost. I state that I will set up a listing for them if desired with the desired amount, and correct shipping.

I have no expectations of a quick fix to the issue basically because it has been going on for an extended time.

wooden_flower · ‎11-13-2019

Hi there,

Your answer about listing site reminded me to ask - is there a way to look at a listing and know the listing site, or the site where it was purchased?

Questions come up from time to time about cases that can't be opened because the member is on the wrong site, but he doesn't remember which site he was on when it was purchased 🙂

thanks!

Sue

wooden_flower Volunteer Community Mentor.
eBay member since 2001.