eBay

velvet@ebay · ‎07-06-2022

Hi Everyone! This month's chat you’ll have an opportunity to talk to specialists from our Seller Tools team and is themed around “How to reach your customers”. Let them know your questions here, so they can have a chance to review them before the Monthly Chat on July 13th at 1:00 pm PT.

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Edit: Thanks for joining us for the Monthly Chat with eBay Staff and the Seller Tools Team.

The chat thread will remain open until 2 PM PT at which point we'll close it from additional responses. After that time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that might still be unanswered.

To post your question, click Reply in the lower right corner of this post, type your question, and hit submit between 1-2 PM Pacific Time. The format of our chat mirrors the format of our Community Discussion Boards, where each post will appear in the thread chronologically. The (specialist name) and Community Team will review each question as it comes in, and will quote the original question in our reply. This quote and the reply will appear later in the thread, so just keep scrolling down to see our answers.

As a reminder, we want (specialist name) to be able to get to as many members as possible during the allotted hour, so we have a few things to ask of you:

Keep on topic
Scroll through the list of questions to see what has already been asked to decrease chances of redundancy
Keep the message/question simple and no more than one to two items. If you include multiple questions in a post, please be aware that they may not be addressed during the chat and (specialist name) will do their best to follow-up with it after the chat has closed

Missed the chat? Send your questions to the podcast by calling 888-723-4630 or email us at podcast@ebay.com and maybe your questions will make it on the air! Or listen to past episodes while you wait for next month!”

Velvet,

backpacktreasures · ‎07-10-2022

I would like to reach my customers in 2 ways.

1. After a sale, I would like to reach out to them to see if they may be interested in other similar products that I may acquire in the future or that I may be on the lookout for specically for them. How would I be able to do this as we do not have their email and the sales history disappears after 3 months and there is no other way to contact them. How can I build up potential repeat buyers?

2. After a sale, there are certain of my items that do not have the original instructions. Am I allowed to contact the buyer and send them a URL link to the instructions? I would like to send them a PDF, but it does not seem possible to do so.

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Edit: A response to your question(s) can be found here.

josie46d · ‎07-11-2022

I'm a newbie, looking forward to the chat!

driftermikey · ‎07-11-2022

Great questions as this is something that I struggle with too. I do have a workaround for #1, I ask buyers if they are satisfied with their purchase and if they want me to contact them if I find something they may want. I keep their info on a spreadsheet and use eBay's messaging system when I want to contact them. This is clunky but it is all I can do as their info vanishes 90 days after a sale.

For #2 could we use something like dropbox and restrict it to inside eBay only?

Thank you!

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Edit: A response to your question(s) can be found here.

devon@ebay · ‎07-12-2022

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

velvet@ebay Before we get too far along here, could you provide a list of the "Seller Tools" that ebay considers "Customer reach" tools?

Hey @my-cottage-books-and-antiques. the Seller Tools Team Said:

We will be discussing the following customer reach Seller Tools during the chat session:

Coded Coupons
Buyer Groups
Send Offers to Buyers (also called Seller Initiated Offers)
Social Sharing

Devon,

beachislandtreasures · ‎07-12-2022

I would like to know why I cannot share an item on social media immediately after listing it as I have in the past. I continue to get the eBay has directed you too many times error. I contacted eBay over a week ago and again Saturday. I cleared cache, and cookies restarted my computer and tried another browser with no success. I have read this has happened before and it's a technical issue that eBay needs to fix. I feel I'm losing money here and it's causing more work for me when I could be listing more items instead of dealing with this.

Also, it's a constant loop trying to sign up as an eBay affiliate partner. It tells me to sign in, I do, then it loops back to the page telling me t sign in again. As an affiliate, it helps to share without a redirect error s well.

dhbookds · ‎07-12-2022

devon@ebay

I thought the whole point of announcing the subject a wk in advance was so we could ask questions before hand if we couldn't be here.............the question concerning "Seller tools" was asked on the 6th.......we got an answer on the 12th.......the day before MONTHLY chat.........and the subjects are a SMALL portion of Seller Tools.....

Going to have to ramp up the pregame info in my opinion, if you want this to work........

onefootflipper · ‎07-12-2022

So a recent change is now kicking back literally any title that gives the idea that you are possibly selling more than one trading card in a listing in a singles card category.

However, unless something has changed recently they don't allow standard envelope shipping in the lots categories, despite the fact that the standard envelope allows up to 15 cards.

There are also many cards with official names that will now be impossible to list because of this change.

This change makes the site actively worse for both buyers and sellers in these categories. It is helping no one.

I am not sure why ebay needs to category restrict standard envelope shipping in the first place. Category restrictions on it only hurt both buyers and sellers and cause paper items to get listed in the wrong categories. They sure allow media mail in hundreds of categories that have ZERO items that would qualify for it, and then block it in categories that have items that qualify.

devon@ebay · ‎07-13-2022

@mr_lincoln wrote:

velvet@ebay One question is this, why did eBay take away our ability to see who is following us? I never got a straight answer on this from the Weekly chat way back when and would appreciate one. It would be great to be able to add notes to those Follower's IDs like what kind of stuff they purchased, etc. THAT would also help any type program this month's specialists will present on how to reach customers.

sheila@ebay For future Monthly chats is there any kind of a schedule on topics and departments that will be joining us?

Hi @mr_lincoln the Seller Tools Team said:

The ability for sellers to have access to user information on their followers without their consent was seen as a privacy rights violation, and is why we had to remove that feature. We understand sellers need the ability to directly market to their followers AND maintain this connection with consent, and will continue to look at opportunities to address this need.

Devon,

dhbookds · ‎07-13-2022

Any info you can give on the "buy rate" with coded coupons?....... We've sent several 100 at 10-15% rate....with no takers......

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Edit: A response to your question(s) can be found here.

elizabeth@ebay · ‎07-13-2022

@dhbookds wrote:

With others on "what" tools we are talking about?...... Ebay specialists are so divided, I'm just not sure what would apply........ I'd speak on Store newsletters/store home page.....but doubt these guys are involved with those...... But what about listing page? or social media?

I presume Promoted listings, coupons, etc are included.....but without definite info.....too much trouble to expound and then probably get a "we will refer it, etc"............

Hi @dhbookds! The Seller Tools Team said:

We will be discussing the following customer reach Seller Tools during the chat session:

Coded Coupons
Buyer Groups
Send Offers to Buyers (also called Seller Initiated Offers)
Social Sharing

Elizabeth,

mr_lincoln · ‎07-13-2022

devon@ebay wrote:

@mr_lincoln wrote:

velvet@ebay One question is this, why did eBay take away our ability to see who is following us? I never got a straight answer on this from the Weekly chat way back when and would appreciate one. It would be great to be able to add notes to those Follower's IDs like what kind of stuff they purchased, etc. THAT would also help any type program this month's specialists will present on how to reach customers.

sheila@ebay For future Monthly chats is there any kind of a schedule on topics and departments that will be joining us?

Hi @mr_lincoln the Seller Tools Team said:

The ability for sellers to have access to user information on their followers without their consent was seen as a privacy rights violation, and is why we had to remove that feature. We understand sellers need the ability to directly market to their followers AND maintain this connection with consent, and will continue to look at opportunities to address this need.

Thank you devon@ebay but I am a little confused ... what "user" information is violated in one member's ability to see the Feedback profile of another member? We can already do that ... example would be a member placing a bid on one of my items, I can check their Feedback history through the bid list.

Mr. L

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Edit: A response to your question can be found here.

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-13-2022

When PLA was first announced, PLA placement was confined to the top slot in search results. Without any announcement that I have seen, ebay has now made the TOP FOUR SLOTS eligible for PLA placement. A couple questions:

Sellers who do not use PLA are still in competition with PLA sellers. In other words, this change effects ALL sellers.

1. Why was there no announcement?

I use PLS. I do not use PLA.

2. How will ebay determine whether a PLS can make it into a top 4 slot? Or will they always be reserved for PLA, and a PLS or Organic listing will ONLY be eligible for a top 4 slot if there are NO competing PLA listings?

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Edit: A response to your question can be found here.