eBay

Anonymous · ‎09-11-2019

Join the Community team here at 1 PM PT on September 11th 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 look into it for you

forgottenape · ‎09-11-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
@chasearooauctions wrote:
I’ve had two poor experiences recently with customer support regarding buyer returns. The first was a buyer that returned a different smartphone than the one that was shipped to him. The second was a buyer that return a phone but left her icloud lock on the phone making it worthless for resale. In both instances after following the original advice given by customer support, and providing all the documents, I was declined an appeal or resolution in my favor. Why is so difficult to protect sellers in obvious cases of buyer abuse? Who can I talk to and get these resolved?
Hi @chasearooauctions, these kinds of situations can be frustrating and we do offer protection in some situations based on the details of the transaction and the history of the accounts involved. Often times additional documentation cannot be taken into consideration as there are challenges with verifying the documents or knowing definitively that the documentation provided is related to the item that was sold, or that the issue you are reporting was because of your customer.

We put our trust in our sellers to describe what they shipped accurately in the listing, and we put the same trust in our buyers to describe what they received accurately. If there is a discrepancy between these two descriptions, a return would be expected. Each member has an opportunity to provide their description of the item and additional information is rarely able to be taken into consideration.

Contacting Customer Service is the appropriate route to take to pursue protection, this simply won't always be an option. Every business has to deal with loss/shrink, factoring the cost into their business model. I know this is not the answer you may have been hoping for, but if Customer Service has reviewed your appeal and found that we are unable to provide compensation then this would be our final decision unless a mistake was made in the original case decision (ie. the buyer admitted in messaging to altering/damaging the item, sending back a different item, or taking some action that would disqualify them for protection).

they received the phone back that has been altered by the buyer thus making it non functioning they may as well have gotten a rock back in the box. does the buyer share no responsibility for making an item useless before returning? on small inexpensive items I would agree chalk it up to a loss but tech has become so expensive that a buyer who knowingly alters an item before returning to seller should be responsible for some of that.

Anonymous · ‎09-11-2019

@golfingaddict wrote:

Regarding the new seller protection that is set to roll in October. Are there limitations for sellers that use the new protections? For example, if a seller reports a buyer and gets the $6.00 shipping credit, is that credit limited to a certain number per quarter or year?

When the seller reports a buyer, does the buyer get any notification or "strike" Is it possible for a buyer to appeal or get that report off their record?

Will sellers be penalized for false reports in any way? For example, too many cases, buyer appeals, bad metrics?

I might be wrong, but I fear that some of even many sellers will file this for every case or claim that arises, which has the possibility of ruining a good thing for sellers. Then what happens to seller metrics standards? Would it skew the peer averages if some sellers get every case removed?

And I do think this is a good thing for sellers but like anything else, there seems to be potential for abuse.

Thank you.

Hi @golfingaddict, while there is not a specific limit set for the number of credits that can be applied to a seller's account, as with all account activity, we will monitor the use of this protection option and may inform a seller they are no longer eligible for the credit if we have reason to believe there it is being abused. This determination would be made based on a variety of factors, such as transaction count, buyer account history, and the rate of credits requested by other sellers.

As for reporting a buyer, this would not create a "strike" in the way you are describing it; it would flag the buyer's account for review, and we would take action based upon that review. Though a history of seller reports is a part of that investigation and could be reason to support a history of abuse, the reporting process for a buyer's account does not function like the defect process for a seller. In short, a buyer could be reported numerous times and no action would be taken on their account if we do not find indications of abuse, or a buyer could be reported one time and we would take action if we find reason to believe they are abusing our protections/sellers.

Sellers should report concerns they have anytime they come up, as this is something that could be used to substantiate action on a buyer's account. There is no risk of corrective action being taken on a seller's account for reporting concerns they have, we simply may not apply protection if there is no indication of abusive behavior on the buyer's account and instead it seems the seller is abusing the protections we offer.

If we find evidence of abusive behavior on the buyer's account, all sellers they have interacted with would receive appropriate protections. Our Seller Protection team is aware of the concerns raised by our Community regarding seller metric calculations and will monitor the impact of these protections to ensure no seller is unfairly impacted.

This all being said, we've offered similar protections to those who offer Free Returns for quite some time and have not identified concerns. Again, we will monitor for abuse and take appropriate action when necessary, but we are confident that the upcoming expansion of protections will have a positive impact for our Community.

jsfindustrial · ‎09-11-2019

I would like to clarify; A lot of my items that I sell, I offer free shipping. When someone from Guam buys an item, I'm held to the free shipping, but when it comes to shipping the item, the rates are way more than they would be to the lower 48 states. While I do add Alaska, Hawaii and P,R, to the surcharge list, I cannot add Guam and my shipping rates are too high to complete the deal.

brian@ebay · ‎09-11-2019

@dentalsales4u wrote:
When are they going to get non loading message page fixed?
It's very time consuming when it won't load. You have to refresh the page 5 or 6 times before it finally loads just to be able to answer a question from a buyer.

Hi @dentalsales4u, I'm not aware of an issue like this effecting Messages. If you can give me more details (are you getting an error message, does the message open but just appear to have no content, when clicking on a message does it direct you to the Messages page instead of opening the message) then I'll be happy to look into it and get it reported.

Brian,
Community Team

golfingaddict · ‎09-11-2019

Last week I had an order come in while I was printing labels and preparing packages to ship. I went ahead and printed the label, packed up the item and then returned to my main computer and found a message from the buyer asking me to cancel the transaction.

Apparently this came in between her order and while I was getting it ready for shipping.

No problem I thought. I could void the label, process the cancellation and provide what I thought was what the customer wanted.

However, it wasn't so easy.

Once I printed the label on ebay, it marked the item shipped, sent a message to the customer that I would not cancel. To make things worse, there was no way to process the cancellation and I ended up calling CS to have them help me with what should be a simple procedure.

Is there a reason why we can't cancel a transaction after ebay "thinks" we have shipped? In my case, I surely did not want to send the customer an item that they did not want, incurring shipping fees for sending it back and forth.

The CS rep couldn't find a way to cancel and he ended up directing me to refund through paypal and he manually credited me with the fvf's for the item.

Is this something that can be looked at or suggested for change. Make it easier for us to take care of our customers. Thank you.

Anonymous · ‎09-11-2019

@jsfindustrial wrote:

Can Ebay add Guam to the list along with Hawaii, Alaska and P.R. for a surcharge when listing?

I have to keep cancelling deals with people of Guam because they are recognized as a U.S territory, but in reality It's much more expensive to ship here and is not part of the surcharge list.

Hi @jsfindustrial, I'll be happy to look into this for necessary enhancements, no problem!

mam98031 · ‎09-11-2019

When we process a return for a buyer and refund their payment. On the Seller Hub this transaction will then show up as Eligible for Unpaid item case. Why? It will drop off in 30+ days, but still why does the program do this.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you." Quote from Edward I Koch

dentalsales4u · ‎09-11-2019

@brian

When I click to reply to a message, it takes me to it, but the page won't load to the point that you can type your response.

I attached a screen shot so you can see.

You can't do anything until the page loads.

autopiacarcare · ‎09-11-2019

Hi @dentalsales4u, I'm not aware of an issue like this effecting Messages. If you can give me more details (are you getting an error message, does the message open but just appear to have no content, when clicking on a message does it direct you to the Messages page instead of opening the message) then I'll be happy to look into it and get it reported.

brian@ebay - https://community.ebay.com/t5/PowerSeller-Business/Anyone-else-had-issues-with-pages-not-loading-whe...

carlqsportscards · ‎09-11-2019

In the sports cards categories, why was "autograph" removed from the choices for "card attributes"?

It seems like something people would want to search by.

autopiacarcare · ‎09-11-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:
Hi @dentalsales4u, I'm not aware of an issue like this effecting Messages. If you can give me more details (are you getting an error message, does the message open but just appear to have no content, when clicking on a message does it direct you to the Messages page instead of opening the message) then I'll be happy to look into it and get it reported.
brian@ebay - https://community.ebay.com/t5/PowerSeller-Business/Anyone-else-had-issues-with-pages-not-loading-whe...

And yes, I have experienced this issue as well.

papermoneyforme · ‎09-11-2019

tyler@ebay wrote:
@papermoneyforme wrote:
Hopefully, not getting myself in trouble or stepping on toes.

Last fall there were some issues with postings on the Canadian boards from a staff member that is not longer with Ebay in regards to changes on the US site and when Canada could expect them.

One in particular concerned the store tier changes that the US got I believe in May of last year.

Canada was told it would be in the fall of 2018 which never happened and then told late January or early spring which also never happened. I could not get anything further and you should know the reason why.

I will ask here, why are we not getting the same updates as the US, and why are we told information that never materialized. Is Canada going by the wayside?

Will we ever get the new store tiers the US has had for about 1 1/2 years and we were told we would get them a year ago and then 9 months ago?

This is only one instance of issues but a very blatant one.

Hi @papermoneyforme - eBay Canada isn't going anywhere. 🙂

I don't have an update on the store tier-rollouts that were announced in 2018. Currently there have been no retractions or announcements that these store levels are not coming to the platform, so I'm hopeful we'll see them in the future. I do not have a timeline or a reason why there has been a delay.

I know that you don't like small talk, so I've kept it brief. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Tyler

The same thing is happening with more current issues.

We also have no support and when we call CS about anything in Canada most have no idea things are not the same in the 2 countries.

This is not longer fair to Canadians and maybe it should be addressed between the heads of the US and Canada instead of empty answers and statements.

Anonymous · ‎09-11-2019

@carlqsportscards wrote:

In the sports cards categories, why was "autograph" removed from the choices for "card attributes"?

It seems like something people would want to search by.

Hi @carlqsportscards, I'll be certain to look into this to ensure that this attribute was not removed in error. I can add, though, that we do remove options that are not regularly utilized and you may be surprised by which attributes are/are not used by buyers. I've seen some reports from various categories of the top and bottom 5 attributes used in searches and while I can't give specific examples, the options that drives sales and the options that have little to no impact were not what I would have expected.

My first instinct for your example is that autograph would be a commonly used term/filter, but I will check on this either way

golfingaddict · ‎09-11-2019

@Anonymous

and

@brian.t@ebay

and tyler@ebay

thanks for the help/chat today.

Have a great week.

tyler@ebay · ‎09-11-2019

@mam98031 wrote:

When we process a return for a buyer and refund their payment. On the Seller Hub this transaction will then show up as Eligible for Unpaid item case. Why? It will drop off in 30+ days, but still why does the program do this.

Hi @mam98031 - This is a known issue that has been reported to the Seller Hub team - if a return and refund has been processed through eBay it should not be advising you to open an Unpaid Item (UPI) case.

You're right that it will disappear after the window for a UPI has closed, but it definitely creates a pain point. Thanks!

Tyler,