Community Chat, Sept 20th @ 2pm PT - General Topics

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

We will be holding a special eBay for Business Facebook broadcast this week from 1pm to 2pm, so we've adjusted our chat time so that you are free to watch. This broadcast will be focused on our 2017 Fall Seller Update and will have Brian Burke and some of our staff experts in attendance. Be sure to check it out and then join us from 2pm to 3pm to discuss general topics with Community Staff.

[papermoneyforme]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

Fall Seller Update Question: Off eBay Selling statement in User Agreement

I received a message in Messaging that include the following statement about the User agreement update for the Fall Seller Update:

" The key update to the eBay User Agreement is that we’ve made it clearer how we address violations of our policy on offers to buy or sell outside eBay. Sellers who violate this policy may be charged a final value fee for the applicable item, even if it doesn’t sell."          

This happened on two accounts where I deleted Duplicate listings, is this being sent to every Seller or just those who delete a listing?  The other question I have about it is how does eBay plan to proove something was sold off the eBay site?  I personally don't do that so I am not afraid to ask the question.  I am more concerned that I delete a listing for some reason or another and then get charged a fee, THAT is what most concerns me with that statement.

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What would happen if we ended all our listings to leave this rat trap?

[a_c_green]

Quoting your Seller Update email here: 

"We recommend that you review your images and start removing watermarks immediately. "

Given that watermarks are, by their nature, permanent, what process for removing them does eBay have in mind? What do they believe that the seller can do to remove watermarks?

The whole point of having watermarkets in the first place is for them to be a permanent modifier to the document or image; the one thing they are not is removable. The only practical way to meet that obligation seems to be to re-shoot each and every image for which an unmarked original is not available.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Probably because they were on the special discussion board pretty much all day yesterday?

[carlmarxx]

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@papermoneyforme wrote:

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alan@ebay wrote:

The thread is now open. 

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With all the make work projects and no sales, why does Ebay not be honest enough to say many of us are no longer wanted on Ebay and pay us to go way?

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All of our announced changes are intended to improve the marketplace. For both buyers and sellers. Improving the buyer experience will result in more transactions on eBay. That's good news for all sellers. 

We do not want any of our sellers to go away. 

Thanks. 

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You mean for Both Sellers and Buyers!     Sellers  pay the fee's for money you and other get  in your paychecks   ,Not The Buyers . No sellers mean's no Buyers 

[golfingaddict]

I recently had a buyer ask to return an item due to not fitting.

No problem, return it with all original packaging and I will refund. 

The buyer returned an item but it was a completely different item/color.. And he returned used items instead of the new items that I shipped.  

I sent him an email informing him that I would refund him  when he sent back the correct (new) items.

He admitted in email that he switched the products.

I called ebay support and they told me that they could close the case by refunding the buyer as a courtesy credit. (my one time I was told)  What the heck? Even when the buyer admits he sent back the wrong product he gets a full refund?  The case was closed and I was told that ebay does not take sides.  (well clearly this is not the case because they did not believe me that I got old used items even when the buyer admitted it in ebay emails)

I was told that all feedback would be removed.  This was stated in the closed case email I received.

The feedback this guy left has never been removed from my account even though I was promised.

What can I do about this? And why would ebay pay off a guy that admits that he kept the new items and sent back something else?

I  did not feel like a valued customer.

[papermoneyforme]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
Probably because they were on the special discussion board pretty much all day yesterday?

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Sorry, that does not hold water as they COULD show up for Facebook so why not here as well.

What makes Facebook a better choice?

[Anonymous]

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@aluvz2shop wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

@re: Community Chat, Sept 6th @ 1pm PT - General Topics  Message 94 of 95

Hey trinton@ebay,

Never did hear from you!  

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I apologize for not getting in touch with you! I've sent an email just now for more details, happy to look into this.

[alan@ebay]

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@papermoneyforme wrote:

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@papermoneyforme wrote:

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alan@ebay wrote:

The thread is now open. 

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Are Burke and the gang here or were they only on Facebook?

If they are not here, why not?

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Not sure I understand the question. 

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I thought it was was a very simple question.

Were Burke and the gang not on the 1 hr facbook discussion prior to this chat?

Are they here as well to answer questions?

If not, why not?

Not everyone wants to use facebook.

Or is it just another way to make the chat useless.

If so, tell us we will have to go to facebook to learn anthing.

Simple enough now?

And yes, I and many others are completely PO'd at all the idiotic, time wasting changes!

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Hi @papermoneyforme, 

I'm presuming by "Burke" you mean Brian Burke. 

As I said in an earlier post, eBay staff are engaging across multiple channels; we will show up wherever our sellers are. 

We have had a team of subject matter experts monitoring and replying to the Community seller update board; we will continue to monitor and reply there, when necessary. 

If you would like to ask Brian a question, you can contact him at bburke@ebay.com

Thanks. 

[llllady]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@llllady wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@llllady wrote:

Hi, Alan (and anyone else who enters the lion's den)!

Why is there no way to make a partial refund (purchase price, less shipping) when a buyer purchases, seller ships, package is returned to seller as “Moved, Left no Address”?

This is what happened in a transaction that I got so entangled in that I’m not really thrilled right now with eBay.  Wasted time with PP, eBay CS, wasted money, can’t relist because the person might open up yet a third I.D. and circumvent my BBL and try to buy again.  You get the picture here?

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Hey @llllady, a partial refund would not be an option within an item not received case. If the item is delivered or the buyer is at fault for it's failed delivery, no refund is expected. If the item was not delivered successfully, a refund is expected. If you and the buyer would like to work out a partial refund, you can provide this directly through PayPal.

Additionally, if a buyer circumvents your BBL, we do not expect you to ship the item. Feel free to reach out to customer service in the future if this comes up so we can take actions to protect you.

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Wrong. The only option through PayPal was to send them a new invoice for the shipping charges, which they are not forced to pay.  eBay needs to have an avenue for a partial refund under the circumstances cited.  eBay knows who paid for the shipping and how much. eBay knows through tracking that the package was returned to the seller. 

This is on eBay's shoulders, and eBay is shirking it's responsibility to its SELLERS under these circumstances. 

I did not ship the second time and cancelled/refunded immediately. I did contact CS. Basically nothing more was done than to put the buyer on eBay's radar in case she pulls this stunt with someone else and then MAYBE something will be done.  More shirking of responsibility.

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You should be able to initiate a refund through the transaction in PayPal. I recommend reaching out to them for assistance with this if you would like to offer a partial. I feel there are details that I am missing, as the situation you describe is not something we would expect a partial refund to be provided in. I am unclear on the responsibility you are referencing, as the details you shared are not something we would typically expect a refund to be issued for. While refunding the buyer could be a great offer to make if you have the item back in your possession, if the buyer is at fault for failed delivery then you would not be accountable for reimbursement.

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I don't recall the exact terminology that was used, but it would not allow me to do it and said something to the effect that it was under review by eBay.  You guys are playing volleyball, and your seller here is the loser. 

Why would you not expect a seller to issue a partial refund?  You think the seller should eat the shipping fee when the buyer has a shipping address that is incorrect and the package is returned to the seller?  Why is the buyer entitled to a full refund and the seller is out the shipping fees because of their mistake? 

So what was I supposed to do?  The only choices I had were to refund in full or keep all of the buyer's money and my items.  I just want the money for the shipping, and if eBay provided an avenue to recoup that shipping through a partial refund, problem solved.  The shipping label was purchased through eBay. eBay knows the package was returned as undeliverable.  That makes it eBay's responsibility to ensure that the seller is not stuck with the shipping cost due to the negligence of the buyer.

[golfingaddict]

I called customer support to try to figure out an issue I was having and the customer support rep kept insisting that I have been a seller since 2015

I asked her to check again .. and again she insisted that it was 2015

I have actually been selling on this site since September 1998..  With no breaks or gaps and only a few week long vacations and even then I've had auctions running.

Where is this information coming from and is that why I am having trouble getting support?

I'm a Powerseller (forever it seems) and top rated seller since inception?

I think I know that I've been selling longer than 2015

[Anonymous]

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@golfingaddict wrote:

We need tools to help us meet all these new requirements.

For example, removing watermarks in the photos. 

Why is there no tool to identify listings that will be "blackballed" in March because they contain a photo with a watermark?  I have 250 listings on this ID and some of them have 40 or more photos in one listings!   

second example: Guaranteed delivery.

Why can't we have a tool that identifies which listings need to be updated to insure that they are ready for GD and why not a tool that tells us why they do not qualify.  As it is now, I am just flailing trying to figure out what the listings are missing or what they need or why they do not qualify.  REVISE REVISE REVISE REVISE and it could be all for nothing if I am not targeting the correct items or the specific issues.

eBay apparently has a tool to do this.  Why can't they tell us?  Why keep it a secret?

And lastly, in Seller Hub under Seller dashboard there is a part that tells me how many listings qualify for TRSplus discounts.  Today for some reason I had "two listings" that apparently do not qualify. 

There is a link to "edit and revise" but it just loops back to the same page.  No indication which two listings do not qualify.   I viewed all of my listings in a search page and all of them have the TRSplus logo.  ALL of them.  So where is eBay giving me this "two do not qualify" information ?

I feel like I am going in circles. What is the deal?

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Definitely can see how additional tools would be beneficial for you in these situations and will be happy to pass along this feedback.

As for the issue you are running into with Seller Hub, have you reported this to Customer Service for review? They can help troubleshoot problems like this and get a report filed with our tech teams if needed.

[vrykalak]

Re: checking how a listing will look on a mobile device:

I clicked on the button to check how my listing would look on mobile devices.
It said my photo was too large. I said fix it.
Then it gave me some other issue (maybe font too small?). I said fix it.
Then it said my photo was too large.

Whadaheck?

[aluvz2shop]

Received your email and will respond in a few minutes.

Thank you!

[dtexley3]

I have a question about FedEx SmartPost.  A lot of sellers hate it, I've had excellent results with it and I ship porcelain with VERY little issues.  However, I can't ship to PO Boxes.  Now FedEx SmartPost uses FedEx to ship the item to the nearest Post Office and then USPS completes the delivery.  Why would that exclude PO Boxes??????   I can understand it for straight FedEx but not SmartPost.

Just for clarity I have the shipping option set to Economy because I do compare to see what's the least expensive for the buyer.  But all the options use USPS for the final delivery.

[Anonymous]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@Anonymous

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

60 Day Return Policy

Last month I changed most listings to 60 day returns … my question is how does eBay facilitate a return after 30 days which is the current Resolution Center time limit?   While I will honor and work with Buyers between the 30 & 60 day marks please advise if there is a specific procedure to follow in order to get FVFs back as well as facilitate the Buyer’s request.

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Hey @mr_lincoln, while we are only able to enforce a return policy for up to 30 days beyond delivery, the buyer has up to 180 days through PayPal. If a seller is consistantly not facilitating returns from day 31-60 as they promise, a buyer can leave appropriate feedback and this will quickly prove harmful for the seller's business. As for the FVFs from the sale, Customer Service will be happy to review the fees for potential credits. Returns after the 30 day mark are much less common, but we are happy to review them when they do come up!

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Yes, I understand all of that but that was not the question.  The question was if  I offer 60 Returns and a Buyer wants a return from me through eBay (not PayPal) on day 51 how is that processed?  Does the item they purchased have a 60 day return link that generates a message to me and then I accept and issue a lable (or they pay shipping), and tracking is added to teh return file, etc.?  In essence, what is the step by step procedure to handle a return through eBay between days 31-60?  Or is eBay saying a return during that period has to go through PayPal and if it does how does eBay know so I can recover FVFs?

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Hey @mr_lincoln, as I mentioned before we are only able to enforce a return policy for up to 30 days. There would be not process after this time, which is why I was discussing PayPal. Additionally, I can reiterate thaet Customer Service would be happy to look into these FVFs. You would need to contact us for returns beyond 30 days to review fees for potential credits.