Weekly Community Chat, July 19th @ 1pm PT - General Topics

[alan@ebay]

Hi Community, 

Please join us here for our weekly Community chat at 1 pm Pacific on Wednesday 7/19. There isn't a set topic this week so feel free to ask us your eBay buying & selling questions. 

Talk to you then!

[Anonymous]

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@bigmotormania wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@bigmotormania wrote:

Hello, Alan.

I have an inquiry in regards to the IPR thing.

Considering only one of my items is actually over $1000, I was curious since I haven't actually been able to ascertain exactly how this works.

So, if an item from a seller like myself (small seller) is less than $1000, then it's eBay that requires the IPR, yes? Meaning I cannot remove this IPR at all, period.

My reasoning for asking this is if I were to start doing lot sales of multiple types of small items (motorcycle parts; o-rings, specialized nuts and bolts, gaskets, piston rings etc) which are generally cheap, but I put them up for say, $15 for a lot of 20 items, for example, and then I get a buyer who wants to purchase for example, 10 lots, but they cannot combine them because eBay's IPR won't allow for them to request an invoice, then that certainly poses a problem, yes?

Basically what I am asking is, is this an absolute requirement, is this how it works, and if the answer to either of those questions is "yes" "for the most part" "pretty much" "something like that" "it can be summed up that way" "essentially" "indeed" "quite so" "basically" or any answer along those lines, is eBay doing anything to fix buyers not being able to use the cart to request an invoice for multitudes of these items?

Thanks.

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Hi @bigmotormania - Your buyers are able to request an invoice through the cart when your item automatically qualifies for IPR. If your buyers are asking for more lots than you have in the listing, you shouldn't be including those on an invoice after purchase. Instead, you'll want to list the number of quantities you have available so buyers can select how many they'd like to purchase ahead of time.

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I see. Though I should note that was hypothetical and in the event I did do such a thing not all of the lots would be the same items but that doesn't mean they wouldn't fit the same motorcycle.

Hence why I was wondering. I'd be opening myself up for a heck of a lot of SNADs if I listed 10 lots under the same listing and each lot had different items.

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Hi @bigmotormania - There would be some concerns from buyers if that's what you did. If these buyers are reaching out to you wanting additional lots, I would encourage them to use the cart feature and have you list the additional lots they want to buy. That way any combined rules you already have set up are applied or you can edit the invoice before they checkout. 

[mam98031]

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@wendybac wrote:

Is IPR forced for auctions also?

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No.  

[mg152]

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@timemachine777 wrote:

I believe it is long past due about having a major community discussion about revamping the Community Guidelines as they are very Draconian, and many of the individual rules are ambiguous and vague at the least. We as a community are affected by these rules that have little interpretation. And any appeal process is pretty well none exist.

So too protect members there should be checks and balances, or some measure of a stop gap, to prevent over reach and an abuse of power. These rules have shed the boards of many good members in the past, and just sends them to post on private forums about eBay issues and out of the reach of any retaliation due too their unwelcome views by a few.

Posting accounts should not be able to be severed due to minor back and forth squabbling, baiting into and argument, joking around, etc. They should be only for severe offenses. Like blatant none stop stalking of members, disgusting and filthy posts that are blatantly vile and vulgar in a more extreme context. An not from a basically tasteless and or contentious position.

Because, if the latter were truly the rule of thumb here, then I could cite close to a 1000 recent posts over the last couple of months that would qualify for removal, and board banning. It just seems that all is not equal when these ambiguous rules are applied or executed. There needs to some form of semblance.

Great examples of Ambiguity and Draconian measures:

4. Be respectful. Content that is harmful, hostile, threatening, abusive, baiting, vulgar, defamatory, harassing, or includes hate or racist speech, name calling or profanity will be edited or removed. Read more about our Profanity policy here; information on our Threats of Bodily Harm policy is available here.

7. No naming and shaming. We will not tolerate posting about listing or member violations. Item numbers, auction links, negative/neutral feedback scores, other members ID or contact information posted for the purpose of shaming another member will be edited or removed. Read more about this policy here. (Note: The wrong link is embedded here. The link is in relation to "contact info".) http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/identity-contact.html

10. Do not discuss or post about moderation actions. Discussion of moderation actions, reposting of deleted posts or discussion of suspended or no longer registered members. It is not permitted to discuss or repost removed content. It is inappropriate to talk about others who are suspended from the community or eBay.

These are the primary topics though the other rules have issues within their group also. I just wanted to highlight the ones that affect the most posts here. If all these rules were enforced equally on these boards. There wouldn't be any members left to post. We'd all be banned forever in less than a month, as the violations would stack up in a good day of posting here, or one good argument,which happens all the time.

There really is no definition as too how any of rules even apply to the context of a typical post. Nothing is defined. Example: Content that is baiting...Define baiting. Same with harmful, hostile, threatening, abusive, vulgar, defamatory, harassing.There are all levels of these examples from minor to extreme that are passed over in loads of posts, by both members and mods, without a care less. Is what defines which terms violate the rules and in what context?

We need to remove the draconian heavy handedness elements of these rules and the ambiguity surrounding the implementation rules and punishment and the terms themselves. I can't even find a reference as to the time frames for each ban in succession.

If a new member or one just not familiar with site gets banned they can't even access the guidelines in the link provided within the ban, nor the announcements pages, which everyone should have 24/7 access too, regardless of being currently banned from posting. The announcements can effect members business choices at the moment of release, and should have no connection with board usage.

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Hi @timemachine777

We completely rewrote our guidelines in October 2016; there are no current plans to rewrite them again. 

I wouldn't agree that they're "draconian." We have thousands of active users in our Community each day who do not experience post removal or moderator action.

Our team has a duty to keep all users in the Community safe, and posters in the Community have a duty to ensure that they adhere to our usage guidelines when posting. 

The eBay Community Team regularly meets with the Lithium moderation team to review all moderation action taken. 

We do not enjoy moderating, but having a safe and enjoyable environment is very important to us. 

If you ever have concerns with moderation action taken on your ID, you can contact me via Private Message, and I will personally review the situation. 

Thanks. 

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I rarely get a warning but when I do, I know I deserve it. I make a point of thanking the mods for the work they do, I tell them to have a good day every now & then (I know they're super busy) wish them happy holidays etc... They are always grateful & I appreciate them but some posters are way too rude & mean. Something needs to be done about it. What can be done about the people that are reported over & over? I can think of a few people that don't belong within a mile of this community. I won't rat them out but I do report them every time they are rude or mean. It runs people off.

[Anonymous]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
trinton, I remain confused by this. So, a few questions:

What are the mechanics at work here? I use SixBit, the latest version. No matter the price of my item, SixBit continues to give me the option to include or not include Immediate payment. Will eBay be removing the option from listing software? Or will ebay simply ignore the listing's choice: that is, if a seller has chosen IP, ebay will do nothing, but if the seller has chosen NO IP, eBay will insert it anyway. once the listing goes live?

More importantly, many of my listings currently have IP required per my choice. Are you saying that if a buyer puts them in his cart, and goes to checkout, he will NOT be able to "request an invoice"? He will ONLY be able to "request and invoice" if ebay has provided the IP?

So, if I want my buyers to be able to "request an invoice" on IP items I will NEED to remove my own IP from all my listings and wait for whenever it is that eBay will add them to my listings, which is some completely unspecified time in the future?

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These are great questions! So, IPR is still applicable for items that are not eligible for our automated process, such as items of high value. They would remain listing options that you can select, however, even when this is not selected we will apply it automatically for items that fit our criteria (outlined here). If you have IPR selected, then the buyer would not be able to request a total from the cart as you have indicated you require immediate payment on the item. Removing this option on your eligible listings for items that you would like the buyer to be able to request a total on would be your next step. 

[automotivepartsrecyclrs]

When is Ebay gonna test something ALL sellers would like to see:

Having to communicate with a seller to make things right or atleast be known of a problem with a order prior to leaving neutral or negative feedback?

We got a neutral the other day and all it said was did not fit and they made it fit. 51 days after delivery!!!

Another cussed us like a dog and then the usps actually took the package to him/her and handed it to them telling them it was their fault.

Buyers need to reach out to a seller prior to bad feedback to make it right then if its not corrected yes bad feedback but feedback is the total sale.

[vrykalak]

related to the post on GSP: Have a setting in International Shipping that selects exactly and only the countries where International First Class and small Priority Mail packages can be tracked.
Right now, a seller has to search the USPS site to see what the 15-20 countries are where IFC can be tracked right now, then go to eBay and turn OFF international shipping to the 200 or so countries where no tracking is allowed. This is monumentally annoying.
Two possible solutions:
1. have a switch that turns off shipping to all the countries that do not have IFC tracking, or
2. turn off shipping to ALL 200+ countries, and let sellers turn back on the ones that allow tracking.

[tunicaslot]

I find it funny that one of the ones who likes to stir the pot is posting a thread about the community. Your friend with 5 or 6 different posting IDs - who would kudo your posts under every ID as well as promote his own negative posts by kudoing them was a disruption to the community.

The discussion boards are no longer discussion boards but Ebay Bash boards. Memebers who try to help people with their problems are accused of stalking when all they are trying to do are help a post formulate their listings so they'll be picked up in search or we try to help them rethink their business policies which may not make them as attractive to buyers.

The purpose of the boards is to help sellers with problems - not to make them feel good about their rants when we know many times they themselves are causing their own problems.

A suggestion may be to have a board where posters can ask questions concerning the tin foil hat theories like regional sales, blackouts ect... and maybe the blues stopping by to explain the situations and either why they occur or explain why they are nonsence.

We have lost many good posters due to some on the boards attacking them because they didn't follow the blame Ebay for everything train of thought. Copper has left due to being attacked. Castlemagic has left after an altercation - and I'm on my last leg as my patience is wearing thin.

I was one of these negative nellies a few years back until I smartened up - took advice from the supposed Ebay plants and changed my listings to get better views in search and be more appealing to a buyer. Too much time is lost complaining instead of trying to do something - often simple steps - to make things better. 

Every business has faults, every business does what they have to do to make money - every other venue has it's share of problems and dissatisfied sellers if you look at their discussion forums. Ebay is no better and no worse - but it's where I have sales because I have learned to adapt and listen instead of complain about everything.

[mg152]

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@bigmotormania wrote:

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alan@ebay wrote:

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Hi @timemachine777

We completely rewrote our guidelines in October 2016; there are no current plans to rewrite them again. 

I wouldn't agree that they're "draconian." We have thousands of active users in our Community each day who do not experience post removal or moderator action.

Our team has a duty to keep all users in the Community safe, and posters in the Community have a duty to ensure that they adhere to our usage guidelines when posting. 

The eBay Community Team regularly meets with the Lithium moderation team to review all moderation action taken. 

We do not enjoy moderating, but having a safe and enjoyable environment is very important to us. 

If you ever have concerns with moderation action taken on your ID, you can contact me via Private Message, and I will personally review the situation. 

Thanks. 

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I would note that subjectivity has been seen as a factor in the moderation of messages, it seems some messages get removed when they were simply stating fact, but other extremely toxic and hostile messages were allowed to stay, for reasons unbeknownst to myself.

This might be where the word "draconian" came from in regards to how some of the policies work.

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All I can say to that is Amen!

[caesars_ghost]

The seller Hub update last week removed view of the "Automation Rule" from the Manage Active Listings Page. Can no longer see at a glance what items have automation rules and what they are. Not a good idea! Please restore!

[tyler@ebay]

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@mg152 wrote:
People are still having trouble listing & there are complaints that buyers can't pay. Do you know anything about this? Thank you!

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Hi @mg152 - when it comes to listing trouble there isn't a single issue that I'm seeing reported that is resulting in people not being able to list. We'd encourage members not able to list to clear cache/cookies, try from a different browser and contact us or CS with any specific error messages they're running into. 

When it comes to being unable to pay, I'm in a similar boat: there isn't a single tech issue preventing payment. If a member is having trouble paying for items we'd ask them to contact CS with any error numbers or messages they receive so we can help them out. Thanks!

[timemachine777]

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alan@ebay wrote:

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@timemachine777 wrote:

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I'll do that.

In regards to keeping the community safe...There have been issues regarding over reach and plain overkill. 

Lets say a member goes and clicks on a thread to see what it's about, and while doing so, they are redirected to the main posting page without knowing why. So they ask the community if the sites glitching. Based on the current rules...They get a whack for asking that question. That's Draconian.

An that's just one example of numerous ones.

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I don't understand the scenario you're describing here. It doesn't sound like something we should be taking action on. PM me and we'll dig deeper into it. 

Many thanks. 

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I'll dig up the info on it and send it to you.

[Anonymous]

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@autopartspuller wrote:

Good Afternoon!

My question is regarding combined shipping and GSP.

I have recently expressed my frustration with the warning messages regarding offline sales.  I have had answers and I have worked out the sales with that specific buyer. However, it has occurred to me that the underlying issue is that not all items can be combined in the cart With GSP.  This is not the first time I have run into the issue and have always made it a policy to just make a special listing when requested.  Now that Ebay is sending out these messages, I would like to find a way to manage GSP through the cart and avoid the extra listing altogether.

Usually this happens when I have items that would normally ship a couple different methods (ie a large item that ships fedex along with a small item that ships first class)

Is there a way to get around this?  If not is there something in Ebay's plans to fix the issue? 

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Hi @autopartspuller - Your buyer should be able to use the cart in these situations but I may be misunderstanding. I'm going to send you an email here shortly asking for more info. If you could get back to us when you can, we'll see what we can find out for you! 

[alan@ebay]

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@mam98031 wrote:

A few weeks back you ask for some ideas of additional shipping products that we'd like to see Ebay add to it's line up.  I think Thank You stickers would be great.  Currently there are Ebay stickers, but I think the words Thank You should be on the sticker with the Ebay logo faintly in the background or something.  I don't think it should be bold because the buyer is having the transactions with me on the Ebay site.  I don't think we should confuse the buyer as to whom they are buying from.

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LOVE IT! I think it would be a super nice touch. I'll share it with the Shipping team. 

Thanks. 

[Anonymous]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

I have a question relating to the Ebay catalog pics.  

There is a series of perfumes that I can't seem to carry on Ebay.  If I post them sometime in the near future I will get a Vero violation for my pics.  Granted they are stock photos provided by my supplier, but they are the SAME photos that MANY other sellers use, yet in the years that have followed this problem, they are all still using them and apparently not having any problems in doing so.

Now in Ebay's catalog are many of these same pics that I got in trouble for using.  How and why is this happening.  Why can Ebay and other sellers use the pics, but I'm not allowed.  It makes no sense to me.

This is all regarding to a line of perfumes produced by Bond No. 9.

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A VeRO related listing removal would be due to the direction we received from the rights owner. I recommend reaching out to the rights owner using the contact information provided when your listings were taken down to discuss these other listings that you feel may be in violation. They also may be authorized by the rights owner to use these photos, as the rights owner can designate authorized resellers as they see fit.

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Thank you for the info.  I tried that back when this originally happened to me.  They were non responsive even after several attemps. 

As for others having "permission" to use the photos, while certainly large sellers may have done that, but for most on Ebay, they would not have.  I have several friends on Ebay that are perfume sellers and they aren't big nor have they received permission to use the photos other than through their suppliers like I have.  Yet they are freely using stock photos without Vero interference.

But really all that wasn't really my question.  How is Ebay absorbing these photos for their catalog without Vero issues?  So if I use the stock photo from Ebay's catalog, then will Vero leave me alone or am I'm opening myself to more issues with Vero?  

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It is possible the rights owner simply hasn't reported these other photos, such as those your friends have been using. We have to comply with the request of the rights owner, so it would be up to them to determine what they wish to report. 

As for the bolded section of your post, this is a fantastic question! I want to get you more information on this, and will need to reach out to our catalog team. I will touch base with you via email to get the details of an example so we can get a solid answer.

[mg152]

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tyler@ebay wrote:

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@mg152 wrote:
People are still having trouble listing & there are complaints that buyers can't pay. Do you know anything about this? Thank you!

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Hi @mg152 - when it comes to listing trouble there isn't a single issue that I'm seeing reported that is resulting in people not being able to list. We'd encourage members not able to list to clear cache/cookies, try from a different browser and contact us or CS with any specific error messages they're running into. 

When it comes to being unable to pay, I'm in a similar boat: there isn't a single tech issue preventing payment. If a member is having trouble paying for items we'd ask them to contact CS with any error numbers or messages they receive so we can help them out. Thanks!

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Thank you! We've told them to clear the cache. It works for some but not all.