Community Chat, Oct 21 @ 3 pm PT - Technical issues reported within Seller Hub, and items specifics

[alan@ebay]

Join us here at 3 pm PT where we will be joined by Ron from the Structured Data team to give us an update on the ongoing Seller Hub and Item Specifics issue. Ron will let us know the current status as well as address your questions. Please know that because this is a developing situation we may not have exact answers but it’s important we get your input and update you with all necessary information.

[extremefaith63]

Totally get that and appreciate all the hard work but many of us feel that mid summer where many of us are having slower sales or even on vacation ourselves already would be a more appropriate time. Please relay that to your team when discussing updates.

[doug@ebay]

Hi @gulfcoasthula sorry to hear you were given incorrect information. We're also working to make sure our customer care team has the most recent information. 

Despite what you may have heard or seen on social media or YouTube we have been working on the issues since day one, and continue to work to resolve them and provide updates.

We'll provide daily updates here: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Seller-News/ct-p/Seller-News.

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@gulfcoasthula wrote:

doug@ebay  in reply, I do believe that most sellers would LOVE to be able to get reliable and accurate answer from ebay, but I think many of our experiences with ebay have left us leery of trusting ebay.  For example, I called this morning and was clearly told that the item specific size deal was NOT even being worked on.  Then we read the prior announcement which says it will be today and now you tell me that it is already fixed, yet when I search it doesn't seem to be?  Know what  I mean?  I don't even care if the answer isn't what I want to hear - I just want it straight.  All the time.  Just honesty and transparency so we can figure out how best to move forward and feed our families.  Thank you all for your time. I do not envy your position.

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[ca_jackdaw]

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@krockett1 wrote:

Waaaaay too many item specs. Listing ia very harrowing and I just don't want to take so much time with all these specs. I don't think buyers need THIS MUCH INFO to simply find a relevant item. Look to Poshmark and Mercari - super simple to list and yet, people still find my items and buy them just fine. You're going back instead of forward. 

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Hi @krockett1 ,

We encourage you to focus on the required and recommended item specifics as these are most important to properly describe what you are selling as well as allow buyers to easily find your listing when searching and filtering.  You can use the item specifics in Additional if you feel they are relevant to your listing.   

Thanks 

[go-bad-chicken]

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Hello Ron

I am a book seller here on eBay. We spoke briefly at eBay Open this year regarding eBay's structured data initiative , item specifics, and how those impact the book category here on eBay. In my opinion your department has made some great improvements to the item specifics filter/fields recently within the book category. i.e adding filter/fields like publisher,  author, series, etc.

I wanted to followup with our conversation at eBay Open to see if there has been any decision yet to reintroduce the "Signed" field to the Special Attributes portion of the Item Specifics within the book category? eBay removed this field/filter about 21/2 years ago. That intern effected book sellers such as myself who specialize in selling signed books by removing buyers ability to search and filter signed books here on eBay. 

[moo*cow*corner]

@Anonymous 

Hi Ron! Thanks for doing this chat!

Will you drop a link here in the chat for the correct pdf document that we all should be referencing for all of the new IS changes and requirements? It seems that there's more than one link going around, and some are apparently outdated or incorrect. Can a date of issue be added to the doc so everyone knows that it's the "official" current document? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

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@dhbookds wrote:

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@ca_jackdaw wrote:

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@extremefaith63 wrote:

In all this has your team ever considered the fact that major updates like these should not be done in 4rth quarter which many of us sellers have been saying for years? 

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Hi @extremefaith63 

We wanted to ensure that these highly searched categories were optimized before the busy selling period.

Thanks

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Has anyone actually LOOKED at the item specifics........I really don't know how you can call them optimized.......

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Hi @dhbookds Yes. I have reviewed them myself. The process we used to refine the list of item specifics per category was multi-fold. We began by reviewing externals sites to see what they were doing. In addition, we looked at eBay search and browse volumes to see what buyers were interacting. Finally, we worked with category managers for each category to refine. But, please shoot me an example so I can dig in.

Thanks

[alan@ebay]

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@dhbookds wrote:

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@completeoutfitter wrote:

Hi @dhbookds 

New listings will need to have the required item specifics in order to list, if you revise an existing GTC listing then you will need to update the required item specifics. 

Thank you for your question!

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completeoutfitter doesn't seem to be denoted as an ebay employee.........Is this answer correct?

well looks like he may be...........so any revision to gTC will require it, I presume a price decrease, sale, etc.

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Hi @dhbookds, 

@completeoutfitter is staff. We've applied the staff designation to the ID. 

Thanks! 

[ittybitnot]

 but it appears it is only for Clothing Sellers........

No.  Item specifics are being rearranged (disarranged) for many other categories as well.  See up thread the screen shot re "dinnerware".  Another poster on the boards today had to put in a SIZE for a Panda Collectible...in order for it to go live...put in XXXXXXL or some nonsense.  Selling shoes?  "How many"....like duh shoes usually come in pairs???  No, lets sell them in lots of three now?  

It is NOT just clothing sellers. 

[gulfcoasthula]

doug@ebay  okay, thank you.  I will stay tuned, fingers and toes crossed =).

[penguins_dont_fly]

I know that I am a lone Home & Garden seller in a sea of clothing sellers here.

But H&G also has issues.

I'm seeing answers to questions posted after mine ... post 62

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Community-Chat-Oct-21-3-pm-PT-Technical-is... 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

"New listings will need to have the required item specifics in order to list, if you revise an existing GTC listing then you will need to update the required item specifics. "

If I run a sale with Promotions Manager, (Markdown Manager) and marks down the price for the sale, that would NOT be a revision, correct?

[go-bad-chicken]

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

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Hello Ron

I am a book seller here on eBay. We spoke briefly at eBay Open this year regarding eBay's structured data initiative , item specifics, and how those impact the book category here on eBay. In my opinion your department has made some great improvements to the item specifics filter/fields recently within the book category. i.e adding filter/fields like publisher,  author, series, etc.

I wanted to followup with our conversation at eBay Open to see if there has been any decision yet to reintroduce the "Signed" field to the Special Attributes portion of the Item Specifics within the book category? eBay removed this field/filter about 21/2 years ago. That intern effected book sellers such as myself who specialize in selling signed books by removing buyers ability to search and filter signed books here on eBay. 

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forgot to upload screenshots

[alan@ebay]

Thanks for joining us today.

We’ll continue to work through questions we haven’t got to yet. Make sure to ‘subscribe’ to this thread to receive notifications for responses posted later.

We will post a Seller News announcement with the latest information later on today on this board: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/bg-p/Announcements

[brian_burke@ebay]

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@gulfcoasthula wrote:

brian_burke@ebay  I don't think this is true, at least not for all accounts.  I tested over 30 of my clothing items all day today and if the new item specific required size field was not filled out, they were not coming up in search results.  When exactly did this move take place?  Unless it has been within the last hour, it has not updated my listings for sure.  I have been doing them manually.

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@gulfcoasthula I will look at your listings. But the Product team is going to stay focused on addressing the larger issues as opposed to looking seller by seller, I hope you understand. On the left NAV there is a "More Filters" that has size type. I can see your items, but I only looked for two, so will look at some more. Feel free to email an example to bburke@ebay.com - thanks

Brian

[ca_jackdaw]

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@coloradoreworn wrote:

For the required item specifics for clothing, the size is being mapped to be searchable on the left navigation for buyers.  The seller is still seeing this required item specific "blank" if we go to revise the listing.

If a seller leaves the new required item specific blank but the item has been mapped by ebay, will the listing automatically renew on a GTC listing?  If so, how long can we expect that to be the case for?

Is there a plan for eBay to transfer the old item specific into the new required field? If so, when can sellers expect to see this change?

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Hi @coloradoreworn ,

Yes, your listing will renew on a GTC listing.  We have no plans to end this mapping, but we do encourage you to start using the new item specifics as you start to revise your listings.  We are working on a one time copy of data from your old item specifics to the new field.  We expect this to start later this week, but it will take time for us to process all listings.  We are only able to do this for non-variation listings, so we encourage multi-variation sellers to move to the new fields. 

Thanks