Community Chat, November 13 @ 1:00 pm PT - General Topics

[Anonymous]

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!

[millcreekrescue909]

Right. And what about the “Immediate Payment Required” issue?

[Anonymous]

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@greg213213 wrote:

Why does a seller have to accept a return request from a buyer who used a brand new item and damaged it? The policy says that all items must be returned unused and in the same condition as received. I have a request open and the buyer admits he wore it and now claims it as defective after he wore the coat for Halloween and claims it is falling apart per his return request comment.

I spoke with a CSR this afternoon, and all I got was I have to accept it.

I also asked why am I being charged over $4.00 more for a return shipping label from eBay, than what the buyer actually paid for shipping. She didn't know and only that I have to accept the return. WHAT?

I have to accept a return for a BUYER damaged item and PAY MORE for a shipping label. What is with this? Are the return policies outdated or what?

---

Hi @greg213213, if you have concerns with a buyer abusing our return program, you can report this to us directly through the site. We will review and take action to protect our marketplace if we find a pattern of abuse is present. Depending on the status of your account there may be additional options available to you for a return like this. Those sellers how offer free returns or qualify for our Top Rated Seller protections can deduct up to 50% of the refund amount based on the state of the return. For other sellers, we would typically expect a full refund be issued when the return is received. We can recommend that you review our Seller Protection Help Page for more information on available protections.

As for the cost of return shipping, this is the cost of the return shipping label issued to your buyer. Sellers can provide their own return shipping compensation if they would like, but when a seller is responsible for the cost of return shipping and no alternative arrangements are provided, eBay will supply a return shipping label for eligible transactions and the seller will be invoiced for the cost of the label.

[mendelsons]

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

[autopiacarcare]

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.

[tyler@ebay]

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@millcreekrescue909 wrote:

Third week with a completely unusable account due to the “Immediate Payment Required” issue. It is bad enough that my account is completely tied up and, at this point, my holiday sales are in the toilet. But the way eBay has handled this is despicable. No updates. No ETA for a fix. No resolution. So much for transparency! And, on top of all of that, eBay is unwilling to credit our store fees for an unusable store. I have lost all faith in eBay!

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Hi @millcreekrescue909 - I know this has been beyond frustrating for you. If we had more updates or workarounds to share with you other than the ones we have for the last several weeks (1, 2, 3) we absolutely would. I appreciate your patience while this continues to be worked on. 

[gwzcomps]

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@gwzcomps wrote:
What is eBay doing to regain the seller's trust they have lost through eBay's inability to manage their own site and deal with bad buyers? Between the constant site issues, broken search engine, and fraudulent buyers it is hard to say anything positive about the site anymore. At this point many of us are getting ready to dump eBay for more reputable platforms.

---

Hi @gwzcomps, 

We're sorry about the disruption and frustration caused by the recent high-impact site issue. We will be posting an announcement soon regarding the item specifics issues and what eBay is doing moving forward to work harder for our sellers. That announcement will go out here https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/bg-p/Announcements. If you subscribe to that board, you'll receive a notification when all new announcements go live. 

Thanks. 

---

I'm sorry but I have seen time and time again that these apologies are nothing more than placations.  We don't get cut any slack as sellers, but it seems eBay can do as they please.  We are expected to pay our fees and provide timely and accurate services.  I don't feel it is too much to ask eBay to maintain a functional site.  Taking months to years to fix demonstrable and repeatable issues is not acceptable.  I don't know about others, but I don't see any way eBay will win back the seller's trust.  It is quite clear even at $200k in sales a year that isn't enough to be a valued member.

[brian@ebay]

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@forgottenape wrote:

now that winter is upon us will us northern flyover sellers get any protection due to big snow storms? I know its not a fire or a hurricane but sometimes a lot of us are trapped for a day or two due to road conditions. it seems like we are always passed over for seller protections especially in the winter

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Hi @forgottenape, we review natural disasters/severe weather conditions and their impact to sellers and shipping carriers on a case by case basis. While we can't say what protections may be provided prior to an event occurring, it's something we definitely review at the time of the occurrence. Ultimately, we'll review if local post offices are open for business or not due to disasters/weather conditions.

If you know in advance that you not be able to get packages to the shipping carrier due to weather then updating the handling time on listings would be one way to protect an account. Placing a Store on vacation and hiding listings is another option.

Stay safe, I know it's getting cold this week! 

[hioctane62]

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!

[gwzcomps]

With the way things currently seem to be working we will have to pay for our own TV ads, but they will only show them on eBay 😐

[millcreekrescue909]

Thank you, Tyler, but I have no faith that anyone is even working on this particular issue.

[Anonymous]

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@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.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

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).

[tyler@ebay]

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@maxoptical wrote:

I am trying to get a better understanding of Outside eBay Page Views.

On my  current seller hub report I am almost getting as many views from outside than from within eBay.

Is there any way to identify were these views are coming from?

Could they be google, amazon and microsoft spyders?

The days I had large outside eBay views I also had good sales.

---

Hi @maxoptical - definitely an even split on traffic those days, that's really interesting!

I don't have a direct way for you to access exactly where the traffic was coming from, but I can tell you that we classify the following things as sources of external traffic:

• Direct access from a bookmark
• Links from external websites
• Links from social media
• Traffic from search engines such as Google and Bing

Thanks!

[mam98031]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@greg213213 wrote:

Why does a seller have to accept a return request from a buyer who used a brand new item and damaged it? The policy says that all items must be returned unused and in the same condition as received. I have a request open and the buyer admits he wore it and now claims it as defective after he wore the coat for Halloween and claims it is falling apart per his return request comment.

I spoke with a CSR this afternoon, and all I got was I have to accept it.

I also asked why am I being charged over $4.00 more for a return shipping label from eBay, than what the buyer actually paid for shipping. She didn't know and only that I have to accept the return. WHAT?

I have to accept a return for a BUYER damaged item and PAY MORE for a shipping label. What is with this? Are the return policies outdated or what?

---

Hi @greg213213, if you have concerns with a buyer abusing our return program, you can report this to us directly through the site. We will review and take action to protect our marketplace if we find a pattern of abuse is present. Depending on the status of your account there may be additional options available to you for a return like this. Those sellers how offer free returns or qualify for our Top Rated Seller protections can deduct up to 50% of the refund amount based on the state of the return. For other sellers, we would typically expect a full refund be issued when the return is received. We can recommend that you review our Seller Protection Help Page for more information on available protections.

As for the cost of return shipping, this is the cost of the return shipping label issued to your buyer. Sellers can provide their own return shipping compensation if they would like, but when a seller is responsible for the cost of return shipping and no alternative arrangements are provided, eBay will supply a return shipping label for eligible transactions and the seller will be invoiced for the cost of the label.

---

My opinion is that @greg213213 was asking more about why Ebay wasn't giving sellers the ability to decline a INAD if it is clear that the item will be coming back in a different condition than sent.  Or if they receive it in a different condition than sent.  Which is supported by Ebay policy, it is just not supported by the current way Ebay is applying the return system.  Big difference.

I do already know the answer which is that TRS and sellers with Free Returns can issue a partial refund.  TRS can also get a $6 account credit for shipping as well if they report the buyer.

In some cases this will work just fine as the item is still sellable, just at a reduced amount so the discounted refund to the buyer will help the seller recover some or all of the loss.  However the same isn't true if the item comes back in an unsaleable condition, something completely different was received, or an empty box was received.

I know we have discussed this many times and I do understand Ebay's position.  I just don't agree with it for what that is worth.

[mendelsons]

@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.