eBay

Anonymous · ‎11-29-2017

Hi everyone!

Come join tyler@ebay, brian@ebay, doug@ebay and myself this afternoon for the weekly chat. No specific topic is planned for today, so feel free to bring your general buying & selling questions

tyler@ebay · ‎11-29-2017

@mam98031 wrote:

On November 28th, I had 3 listings coming up for renewal that did NOT relist automatically, instead Ebay ended them completely. It may be because they were about 18 months old, however the listings did have a sale on each of the listings.

Now I accidentally ran across these 3 listings. Ebay did NOT send an email letting me know they did not renew. So my guess would be that I have more of these, but I am just not aware of it. For me, this means that during the Holiday season I now must take time to go through ALL my inventory and make sure what I intended to have posted is actually posted for sale. This is NOT a small task.

Why would Ebay create such work unnecessarily? What purpose does it serve?

Hi @mam98031 - that seems really unusual (as you know if we aren't able to relist we should be sending you an email letting you know why). This wouldn't be done intentionally, but I'm happy to see what I can do to get more information. Would you mind sending me the items/listings you came across so I can review?

Tyler,

brian_burke@ebay · ‎11-29-2017

@thegreenhouse2 wrote:

Hello, I am wondering about how the Ebay listings interface with Google. I have recently noticed that it is hit or miss for some of my listings to show up on a Google search - I haven't an issue in several years but now suddenly seeing some show and some not. I make sure to do concise titles and item specifics. An example of one item not showing up is ebay item 202109743511 which the key words I use on the Google search is Vogue 6464 (the brand and MPN). You will see this does not come up in any results on google and on Google Shopping; one does show up but it is not my item but another one listed on Etsy which is at a higher price and not as good of condition as mine.

An example of one that is working and showing up on Google Shopping is Vogue 7804, ebay item 201730444718. Both these items are relatively new listings.

I called customer service 2 weeks ago about this problem and found several more examples of listings not showing on Google and ones showing on Google. The rep. felt I was not doing anything wrong with my listings and said that Google decides what to show. However, the rep. did feel it was odd that some were not showing on Google and pushed the issue on to Tech and gave them the examples.

I have not heard anything back and problem still persists. I don’t recall having issue before. And, I am a little concerned that my competition on can get their similar listing to show via another site and especially during the heavier retail months.

@thegreenhouse2 Google determines what they include in their search results. See the following for their best practices.

Some info:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/eBay-for-Business/SEO-me-Top-4-search-tips-for-sellers/ba-p/26163441/j...

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/searchstanding.html - our best match best practices will help with other search engines as well.

Thanks for selling on eBay.

Brian

Join us at eBay Open this September! eBay.com/ebayopen

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎11-29-2017

Brian, I looked at the one that does show up on the Product page AND is in the Collectibles category. Brand is an ebay IP there, but, as you say, no UPC. Still, his item IS showing up, and mine wasn't. (I just now changed my cat to his cat, and again added my own IS for the UPC. Will wait to see if that fixes it.)

Do you really think sellers should have to do this much extra work to figure all this stuff out? Is that really an efficient use of seller's time?

d-k_treasures · ‎11-29-2017

Still wondering that ~~since~~ if 'all sellers have to follow the same rules', why is a large toy seller allowed to have links to their own store shopping site in their listing?

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

tyler@ebay · ‎11-29-2017

@carlmarxx wrote:
Brian I can use some help with my issue. thanks

Hi @carlmarxx - I responded to your post a moment ago. we get to your questions as quick as we can - we haven't forgotten, we just need your patience while we work on other's replies. Thanks!

Tyler,

mr_lincoln · ‎11-29-2017

brian@ebay

brian@ebay wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
brian@ebay
Good afternoon Brian,
Two Chats ago (11/15) you were going to look into the Local Paick up questions I had and email me with some feedback, if you sent an email I did not see it. Here's the fer from 11/15 for your convenience.

@mr_lincoln wrote:
Local Pick up questions:

I recently had a local pick up sale and messaged the Buyer to ask if my address comes up for them to find me ... they said no and then included their cell phone number in the message. Fortunately, we have not received any messages about sharing personal info, selling off the site or account closures or restirctions. BUT, this begs the question, is it okay once a Local Pick up order has been placed for the Seller to 1) message the Buyer with personal contact info as well as the address, 2) mention Seller will send a letter in the mail with the contact info, etc..
2. On a non-Local Pickup sale the Buyer's email address is available in PayPal but on this recent one for me the Buyer's email did not appear in the PayPal transaction ... is that normal?
3. Paying cash: okay, a while ago I asked that when a Local Pick up order is placed that payment through paypal be blocked forcing cash at pick up ... since eBay has not effected that change (yet) is it permissible to cancel the PP order, refund the $4 and wait for pick up for the cashola? That is what I have read here in The Community that others recommend ... is that right and acceptable?
Hi @mr_lincoln, I'm going to get more clarification about questions 1 and 3. I'll send you an email when I have more details.

I believe PayPal is no longer providing contact information within PayPal transactions. You'll want to contact PayPal for a definitive answer, however.

Hi @mr_lincoln, thanks for following up with me. I actually received answers to these questions recently, though I hadn't sent an email to you just yet. If your listing has the local pickup option and the buyer has committed to buy the item (they use Buy It Now or use the Request total from seller option in the shopping cart) then it is OK and within policy to share contact information before the buyer goes through checkout. This means that paying cash on pickup can be facilitated as well, since checkout isn't required in order to share contact information.

If we see a full refund issued through PayPal and tracking isn't uploaded, a defect will be issued.For this reason, I don't recommend refunding buyers that pay through PayPal.

Regarding the buyers email address in PayPal, my understanding is that PayPal recently made a change and will no longer show the buyers email address. PayPal will have more concrete information about this, however.

Hey Brian, first, sorry that the copy and paste re-numbered the original post today so all items were No 1 ...

In response to your comment (in red above) ... the advice received here in The Community on Local Pick up is just to have the Buyer pay Cash ... and other members have stated to Fully Refund the order and wait for the Buyer to pay cash at pick up ... there is NO Way to create the Listing so the Buyer is FORCED to pay cash at pick up and NOT through PayPal ... no check box for it, does not exist and THAT is really what is needed for Local Pick up sales. Your explanation above makes it sound like if Sellers take that advice they will receive a defect. I know the eBay Team has previously stated they want the Buyer to be covered for Buyer protection but I contend that the Buyer inspects the item when they pick it up and if they don't like it they walk away but if they leave with it they own it, no return or refund available to them at that point.

I have only had a few Local Pickup sales but every ... single ... one of them was paid through PayPal ... nothing I could do to prevent it and there in lies the problem.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

carlmarxx · ‎11-29-2017

tyler@ebay wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
On November 28th, I had 3 listings coming up for renewal that did NOT relist automatically, instead Ebay ended them completely. It may be because they were about 18 months old, however the listings did have a sale on each of the listings.

Now I accidentally ran across these 3 listings. Ebay did NOT send an email letting me know they did not renew. So my guess would be that I have more of these, but I am just not aware of it. For me, this means that during the Holiday season I now must take time to go through ALL my inventory and make sure what I intended to have posted is actually posted for sale. This is NOT a small task.

Why would Ebay create such work unnecessarily? What purpose does it serve?
Hi @mam98031 - that seems really unusual (as you know if we aren't able to relist we should be sending you an email letting you know why). This wouldn't be done intentionally, but I'm happy to see what I can do to get more information. Would you mind sending me the items/listings you came across so I can review?

Hi: Yyler I forgot ask if brian could also look into that program with you ,about CSR manger told me about the new program. Thanks .

Anonymous · ‎11-29-2017

@vrykalak wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@chrysylys wrote:

Seeing a lot more of these threads where Sellers are abusing 'buyer requested cancel':

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Bidding-Buying/Sellers-lying-about-cancellation-reason-quot-The-buyer-asked-to/td-p/27780826/jump-to/first-unread-message

How are these Sellers held accountable for doing this?

Hi @chrysylys, we keep a close eye on cancellations and will take appropriate action when there are signs of abuse. If a buyer ever has concerns about the reason for a cancellation, they are welcome to contact customer service to have this reported.

Does the buyer get a message when a sale is canceled?
If so, does the message include the information above: how to report the seller if the buyer did NOT request the cancellation?
...If no such message is sent, why not?

Hi @vrykalak, a message is sent to the buyer with details on the cancellation reason. If a buyer disagrees with the reason selected or has concerns, they would need to contact Customer Service to report this.

carlmarxx · ‎11-29-2017

tyler@ebay wrote:
@carlmarxx wrote:
Brian I can use some help with my issue. thanks
Hi @carlmarxx - I responded to your post a moment ago. we get to your questions as quick as we can - we haven't forgotten, we just need your patience while we work on other's replies. Thanks!

Hi: No problem .

brian@ebay · ‎11-29-2017

@thegreenhouse2 wrote:

Hello again, I have another question about the bucket listed with my item on ebay. Item in questions is 202127393886. It is Simplicity 2509. It has a link now on it that says “2 new & refurbished from $5.85. When you click on that link you find two completely different patterns how does this help the Seller or Buyers? Can it be fixed so other patterns in the bucket are based on more than just two keywords. These are completely different items.

When did this start anyway? Seems new to me. Does this mean some items will not show up on the main search results like the way Amazon does it, of course, with Amazon they are properly matched items. Can you please advise. Thank you, Lisa

Hi @thegreenhouse2, this feature is designed to give similar listings more exposure in search results. It does not mean that some items will not show up on the main page. After reviewing the listings, it appears the model numbers are the same which lead us to advertise them. We're always looking to make improvements, so I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

Brian,
Community Team

vrykalak · ‎11-29-2017

@*eponymous* wrote:
@mr_lincoln wrote:
brian@ebay
Good afternoon Brian,
Two Chats ago (11/15) you were going to look into the Local Paick up questions I had and email me with some feedback, if you sent an email I did not see it. Here's the fer from 11/15 for your convenience.

@mr_lincoln wrote:
Local Pick up questions:

I recently had a local pick up sale and messaged the Buyer to ask if my address comes up for them to find me ... they said no and then included their cell phone number in the message. Fortunately, we have not received any messages about sharing personal info, selling off the site or account closures or restirctions. BUT, this begs the question, is it okay once a Local Pick up order has been placed for the Seller to 1) message the Buyer with personal contact info as well as the address, 2) mention Seller will send a letter in the mail with the contact info, etc..

On a non-Local Pickup sale the Buyer's email address is available in PayPal but on this recent one for me the Buyer's email did not appear in the PayPal transaction ... is that normal?

Paying cash: okay, a while ago I asked that when a Local Pick up order is placed that payment through paypal be blocked forcing cash at pick up ... since eBay has not effected that change (yet) is it permissible to cancel the PP order, refund the $4 and wait for pick up for the cashola? That is what I have read here in The Community that others recommend ... is that right and acceptable?
Hi @mr_lincoln, I'm going to get more clarification about questions 1 and 3. I'll send you an email when I have more details.

I believe PayPal is no longer providing contact information within PayPal transactions. You'll want to contact PayPal for a definitive answer, however.

That is incorrect. PayPal's system uses email addresses for payment processing. I'm sure there is also some sort of federal requirement for the sake of transparency (and, say, proof for the IRS) that requires payment processers to provide the email address of the payee to the payor.

Some notices from PayPal just say "you got a payment" in the title, instead of giving the item number, and the eBay ID and email of the buyer.
I'm told that's because they paid THROUGH PayPal, but not using PayPal funds.
The eBay ID and email of the buyer are buried in the body of the email...and you can also see them on the PayPal site.

buyselljack2016 · ‎11-29-2017

@thegreenhouse2 wrote:
Confirm, I am having same problem. Ebay emails coming through days later or not at all. Pay pal emails are working fine.

Same thing here.

This AM I got one saying that I had sold an item. I thought great, but when I checked it was just the email notification from an item sold about 13 hours previous. ( I have duplicates of the item)

Happened again today. This time the email was only delayed about 3 hours:)

PayPay notice coming in OK .

d-k_treasures · ‎11-29-2017

@mam98031 wrote:
@coinslabz26 wrote:
I have a very high number of buyers who are buying items "by accident" or telling me that they did not in fact buy the item in question and are requesting cancellations. What is causing such a high volume of error buying?
The upcoming Holiday season. It might be because they found the item elsewhere for a cheaper price. It happens a lot this time of year.

Especially when they find that cheaper price after the purchased it, usually from another ebay seller that never came up in their initial search ............

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

tyler@ebay · ‎11-29-2017

@coinslabz26 wrote:

I have a very high number of buyers who are buying items "by accident" or telling me that they did not in fact buy the item in question and are requesting cancellations. What is causing such a high volume of error buying?

Hi @coinslabz26 - while I don't have a single 'silver bullet' answer for you I can say that we have an influx of seasonal buyers this time of year and they may not be as savvy as the buyers you're used to.

@mam98031 has another factor that may be at play as well too.

If you do come across a specific hindrance or feedback from your buyer that leaves you feeling like there is a trend please reach out so we can address it!

Tyler,

chrysylys · ‎11-29-2017

@golfingaddict wrote:
Today I was looking at a list of sellers and a few of them had a URL as their user ID.

As I am a dinosaur, I recall when it was perfectly legitimate to have a URL as a user ID and I also recall when ebay banned this. I realize that some users were "grandfathered" into this and were allowed to keep that as their ID. (and just for kicks, I also remember email addresses as user IDs)
brian_burke@ebay
So what is the status on the URL as a user ID now? What is that magic date for grandfathered ID's?

And with all the changes to contact info and crack down on member to member messages that have any hint to contact info, is there a plan to ban those user ID's that are URL's?

Thank you.

Per this page, November 2001:

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/identity-user-ids.html

I have also reported a number of IDs that were registered or changed well after that date. To my knowledge none of those reports have been acted on.

Forget keeping up with the Joneses. Be the Finklegrubers!
OK kids, time to get the Dodge loaded up again. I hear 'Poppy's By the Tree' calling. This trip might be a long one too.