mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@Anonymous wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:Good afternoon everyone.
I was recently on a thread which was discussing some of the more current policy changes by Ebay. We got into a discussion about the Service Metrics and some very experience sellers were not aware of the minimum 10 rule. Which brought up an old subject I've brought up a few times.
Ebay expects sellers to always be aware of the current rules that govern the site. But in some cases Ebay works against us in this goal by changing policies with zero notification to sellers. Which the change in the Service Metric rules that happened since the Seller Update that notified us of this new policy. In Ebay initial notification to us about this program, it did not say anything about each seller must have a minimum of 10 SNADs in any given category in the eval period BEFORE the Service Metrics would kick in for comparison to our Peers and the potential penalty fee.
A very important change to many as this gives some real breathing room to small sellers.
So here is my repeated suggestion that I think solves this issue and many others. IMHO Ebay should create an exception report on changes, additions and deletions of ANY policy in a given period. Let's say a once a month email. If Ebay would do this, I think it would build more confidence between Ebay and sellers as well as keeping us informed. It is always disturbing to run accross a change, especially those of an important issue. Or to be speaking on a thread trying to help another member only to find out that what you are saying has been changed or no longer applies.
This creates frustrations with Ebay that just don't need to be there. We are held to the rules but Ebay far too often makes a change that is NOT relayed to us in any way. We are left to discover them on our own, which really isn't acceptable since we are responsible to adhere to these rules. Sometimes rules that we know nothing about since Ebay has not kept us informed.
So an exceptions report would solve this problem entirely and IMHO promote a healthier and happier community.
Hi @mam98031, I love this idea for improving communication with our sellers and will be happy to pass this along for consideration. We do have a variety of regular emails that go out and I think adding this kind of information or creating a new repeating email would really provide some benefit! Thanks for the feedback
Thank you Trinton. I firmly believe if Ebay started a monthly exceptions report on the rules and policies of Ebay that the money Ebay spends creating this reoccurring email will be money well spent. Sellers would have more confidence in their knowledge of the current rules, Sellers would feel more respected by Ebay, Sellers would make less errors and I feel it would decrease the calls to the call center.
Right now because Ebay makes changes without any type of notification to sellers on some policies it creates an atmosphere of distrust which I know isn't something Ebay desires, but it is a fact.
I love my Ebay branding shipping supplies. They are very useful to me and I take advantage of my coupon every quarter. I'm very glad Ebay started this benefit to sellers.
With that said, lets talk about Sales Tax Charged on the supplies. I live in the state of Washington and I'm being charged sales tax on whatever I order in Ebay shipping supplies. Which is NOT correct.
Like other states, Washington does NOT require registered business operators to pay sales tax on shipping supplies. Washington and some other states consider shipping supplies as becoming part of the end product sold and therefore if you have an active business license in the state of Washington, sales tax is NOT required on shipping supplies purchased.
So how do we fix this. They are collecting a tax that is NOT owed? I'm confident it isn't on purpose, but it is a matter that needs some immediate attention.
@vintagedivashop wrote:
Agree!!, I use the iPad to re-list or "sell similar" and takes me double the amount of time as before to list an item because now I have to remove all the options I don't want. Why cant they have all the options off and then I can check them if I want ... The other thing that I see is that when I list on my PC, using "sell similar" the Gallery plus gets checked by it self, specially if I change the category, then I uncheck it, but sometimes it charges me the $1 anyway... Again, everything should be checked off, let me choose the options that work for me!! And I Love Ebay… but I can't keep working double time
Thanks for your feedback, @vintagedivashop! I'll pass this along to the team.
I want to clarify the Gallery Plus feature. This feature is free in these categories: Collectibles, Art, Pottery & Glass, and Antiques. Because of this, it will be automatically added to any items listed in these categories. If you relist or sell similar an item that was in one of these categories, Gallery Plus will be defaulted on the listing even if you change the category. If you don't plan on keeping the relisted item in one of those categories then it's best to either create a new listing or do a sell similar from an item that was not listed in one of these categories to ensure Gallery Plus is not added. I hope this helps!
@mam98031 wrote:
I love my Ebay branding shipping supplies. They are very useful to me and I take advantage of my coupon every quarter. I'm very glad Ebay started this benefit to sellers.
With that said, lets talk about Sales Tax Charged on the supplies. I live in the state of Washington and I'm being charged sales tax on whatever I order in Ebay shipping supplies. Which is NOT correct.
Like other states, Washington does NOT require registered business operators to pay sales tax on shipping supplies. Washington and some other states consider shipping supplies as becoming part of the end product sold and therefore if you have an active business license in the state of Washington, sales tax is NOT required on shipping supplies purchased.
So how do we fix this. They are collecting a tax that is NOT owed? I'm confident it isn't on purpose, but it is a matter that needs some immediate attention.
Hi @mam98031 - I've seen a few reports of this happening now. I know it's been reported but we haven't heard back as yet. I'll see what I can find out and update you as I hear back!
@gracieallen01 wrote:
Well, brian.t, that really does sound like a, 'so, take your toys and go'.
In regards to generally having more benefits, may one ask what benefits and to whom? It definitely doesn't sound like they are for the seller.
Hi @gracieallen01, I apologize if my response came across that way. I just wanted to be sure that everyone knows this was an intended change as well as some of the reasoning behind it.
In my previous reply, I linked to a response from the mobile team in which they provide some of the benefits of a longer duration. Those benefits are, " longer durations perform better, provide more buyer predictability, and index more easily in search engines". These amount to more visibility for sellers items which in turn give a better chance for items to sell.
I do want to mention again that I have passed feedback about this change over to the mobile team. They are reading the feedback and taking it into consideration. Thank you for providing your feedback on this!
tyler@ebay wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:I love my Ebay branding shipping supplies. They are very useful to me and I take advantage of my coupon every quarter. I'm very glad Ebay started this benefit to sellers.
With that said, lets talk about Sales Tax Charged on the supplies. I live in the state of Washington and I'm being charged sales tax on whatever I order in Ebay shipping supplies. Which is NOT correct.
Like other states, Washington does NOT require registered business operators to pay sales tax on shipping supplies. Washington and some other states consider shipping supplies as becoming part of the end product sold and therefore if you have an active business license in the state of Washington, sales tax is NOT required on shipping supplies purchased.
So how do we fix this. They are collecting a tax that is NOT owed? I'm confident it isn't on purpose, but it is a matter that needs some immediate attention.
Hi @mam98031 - I've seen a few reports of this happening now. I know it's been reported but we haven't heard back as yet. I'll see what I can find out and update you as I hear back!
This isn't new. Well let me restate that. It isn't new for me as they have charged me sales tax the last few times. I just thought they would eventually figure out they aren't suppose to be doing that. But they don't seem to know. And I have seen some other sellers reporting they are getting charged sales tax for the first time and per their state, like mine, it is NOT owed.
