Weekly Community Chat, May 24th @ 1pm PT - General Topics

[alan@ebay]

Hello! 🙌

Please join the Community team at 1pm Pacific this Wednesday for our weekly chat. We do not have a set topic this week so feel free to ask us your buying or selling questions or share what's on your eBay mind. 

Last week I shared a link to a survey we're currently conducting regarding the weekly chat format. Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to give us feedback, we've received some great insights and suggestions for improvements already! If you haven't yet taken the survey, please do so via this link.

Talk to you tomorrow! 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Sorry Tristan, but now I'm even more confused. From what you had said previously, I gathered (perhaps mistakenly) that if the seller receives the item back and it has been unsealed, the seller can issue a partial refund without any involvement from ebay whatsover. But now you say:" If the buyer has concerns about a partial refund they received that we allowed, they can discuss it with eBay. You would not be effected by this, nor would you typically be aware it even occured." What's tripping me up is this " a partial refund that we allowed"...which sounds like, as a seller, I'd have to get permission from ebay BEFORE issuing the partial refund?

[Anonymous]

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@vrykalak wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@odditiesandantiquities1 wrote:

Second item  I said to other sellers I would bring up is the problem with getting US eBay reps on Customer Service VS overseas US reps and the problems that occur, whether it's a problem with communication, understanding or generally just not beingpleasant.

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eBay is a global marketplace and as such you are likely to speak to our customer service agents around the globe when calling in. Some topics are the same from country to country and as such, are handled by all of our customer service teams around the world. Appropriate coaching can be provided for any specific issues if the sellers that voiced these concerns would like to reach out 🙂

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How does one "reach out" when the CS rep obviously doesn't understand the question.

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I was referencing the Community team - since @odditiesandantiquities1 is speaking for others, I can't ask them for more details here, but if they were present, start a thread or otherwise contact us, we can look into their concerns.

[mg152]

If I may direct the ebay staff to "knowledge base", my account. There's a post titled gratitude by Sheila a very happy ebay shopper. She wants someone from ebay to read her post. Can I link to it here? It's really inspiring

[carlmarxx]

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@vrykalak wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@carlmarxx wrote:

Hello Trinton ,  I ran to some issues with search system even after I used a key word  for the item . After item came up  other stuff showed up  that  had not thing to do with the item i was looking for  when it came up .

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Can you give me the specific keywords and the item you were looking for? Happy to look into this with examples.

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I have reported this problem several times on this forum. 
When I set up a search, I want to see exactly and only items that have ALL my keywords in the title. 
I often see items that have a few but not all of the stated keywords.
Occasionally, I see items with NONE of the keywords.
The last time I mentioned this, I was told eBay uses some kind of algorithem to determine what they think I REALLY wanted, and that's what they show me. 
Hate that!

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That would explain  why I had gotten some odd items .  

[Anonymous]

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@bigmotormania wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@upscale_shop wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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 If an item that has been marked down with one of the promotion tools meets one of these two criteria, it may show up in this filter. This filter is designed to help buyers find great deals on the site and I will be sure to pass along your suggestions 🙂

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Thanks, Trinton.

The keyword is "May" I'd assume. Not to sound cynical, but I tested it yesterday with prices below average selling price, and none of the items showed in the search using "deals and savings".

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Correct - as I mentioned, this search filter uses an algorithm to display results and does not automatically show every item that may be under the average price on eBay. This is in part because ti is looking at average sales prices outside of eBay as well. You may be under the average sales price on our site, however still not be beating the price point of other locations.

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If you don't mind my asking, what is the point then? If a deal isn't showing up when you search for deals, then why have a feature designed to show deals?

Savings are savings, omitting certain deals because of some abstract algorithm that decides willy nilly which deals it's going to show based on something unrelated to eBay kind of defeats the purpose, does it not? 

10% below average is a deal, 50% below average is a deal, but if someone loads up another site with items at 50% their value but not on sale then wouldn't that cause cassini to pick it up as being the "average"?

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I apologize if there has been some confusion - this search option is not for "All Deals", simply an option to show great deals. The purpose of the filter is to show buyers items that are of a great value to them. An item that is on sale on the site is still not necessarily a great deal compared to the market average price. The items displayed using this filter will consistantly represent savings for the buyer.

[bigmotormania]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@bigmotormania wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@upscale_shop wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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 If an item that has been marked down with one of the promotion tools meets one of these two criteria, it may show up in this filter. This filter is designed to help buyers find great deals on the site and I will be sure to pass along your suggestions 🙂

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Thanks, Trinton.

The keyword is "May" I'd assume. Not to sound cynical, but I tested it yesterday with prices below average selling price, and none of the items showed in the search using "deals and savings".

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Correct - as I mentioned, this search filter uses an algorithm to display results and does not automatically show every item that may be under the average price on eBay. This is in part because ti is looking at average sales prices outside of eBay as well. You may be under the average sales price on our site, however still not be beating the price point of other locations.

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If you don't mind my asking, what is the point then? If a deal isn't showing up when you search for deals, then why have a feature designed to show deals?

Savings are savings, omitting certain deals because of some abstract algorithm that decides willy nilly which deals it's going to show based on something unrelated to eBay kind of defeats the purpose, does it not? 

10% below average is a deal, 50% below average is a deal, but if someone loads up another site with items at 50% their value but not on sale then wouldn't that cause cassini to pick it up as being the "average"?

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I apologize if there has been some confusion - this search option is not for "All Deals", simply an option to show great deals. The purpose of the filter is to show buyers items that are of a great value to them. An item that is on sale on the site is still not necessarily a great deal compared to the market average price. The items displayed using this filter will consistantly represent savings for the buyer.

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I see, thank you for clarifying.

To expand on that, does that search option have the ability to choose savings percentage ranges? ie; 25-35% off, or 25-35% below "average" value.

If not, I would like to add this as a suggestion, not because it impacts me or affects me at all, but simply for the fact that it would make sense to do so.

[mg152]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@mg152 wrote:
What's going on with 0 or - views & watchers? Sales are nearly non existent. I had my store on vacation because of my father in law passing, I took it off to find views & watchers messed up. I've had a couple sales this week so I know there aren't 0 or - views. I'm not the only one either.

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I'm so sorry to hear about your loss and am here to help look into this for you. I've been working with your tech teams to investigate a negative number of watchers being displayed but have not yet received reports of negative views. I'll reach out via email to get specific examples from you here shortly.

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Thank you! It seems like my items have a few views now but I didn't check every listing. Glad to help if I can. It's a glitch I know & not a big deal to me but some members are very unhappy & voicing their unhappiness all over social media. In 4 days will be my 18 the year on eBay so I know about little glitches & I usually just roll with it. I was mainly posting for others that "sweat" the small stuff.

Thank you for your condolences. It's been hard. My FIL made a fortune on eBay back in the day. He talked me into joining. Now his account lies dormant because he had Dementia & couldn't remember his info. My MIL has been given less than 6 months now so we are doing it all over. They were married 62 yrs this march. He was a Korean War vet & according to him he won that war all by himself. 😀

[hidy-hoo]

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@victorjunkman55 wrote:

Why are political posts allowed on help boards ? When a newbie seller can't even find eBay's phone number, they somehow find the Community members board, Only to be greeted with Dark printed headlines such as "Hillary Having Trumps Baby" from this "soapbox". Or word games, or other non eBay stuff. These help boards should be used to help eBayers and not the lastest news from TV. Any comments on this Alan?

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@victorjunkman55  Because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?

As Alan mentioned in his reply to you, the "off topic" threads are only found in the groups, and not on the "help boards" and I would love to see the old "off topic" eBay Boards placed in a more accessible location so they could be easily found, along with some of the more popular old eBay Boards, like Pottery & Glass, Jewelery, Music, etc.,.  Those boards are missed by many and a better location would bring much needed diversity, imo, to the Community.

...and FYI, I thought you enjoyed sharing your story of how you came up with your user ID in the A Part Time eBay Sellers Group ~ it was heart warming! 

[tyler@ebay]

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@lintbrush* wrote:

Oh - is Best Offer the default setting on the quick listing form still?  and it's not shown on the form to remove/add it?

There are posts from buyers who are making best offers to sellers who are turning them down outright and saying their price is firm.  While it may be convenient to eBay and keeps the quick form simple, it's not good for eBay as a whole.  Sellers are upset because they didn't want it in the first place and can't get it off easily - but it's ticking off buyers. 

We need to not tick off buyers over something like this.  Bad buyer experience.

This is also how I feel about the automatic renewal (GTC) on the quick form with no duration available.  Lots of sellers are going to have to end their item early and buyers will start wondering where it went.

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Best Offer is still an un-editable default in the quick listing tool. Based on feedback  that has been shared there are planned edits to add an 'advanced settings' tab for the quick listing tool. Currently there isn't a date for release on that however. 

We don't want anyone feeling frustrated - that was not what the intention was by any means. However, it's what could happen and we want to get that sorted. Thanks for your input! 

[vrykalak]

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tyler@ebay wrote:

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@vrykalak wrote:

bought insurance for a Media Mail package [ebay seller / process / shipping]

among other things, the "contract" said:
- void if any label on the box indicates what's in it

...useful, but not scary

- void if the carrier is not liable for damage or loss

...scary, because the insurance is not with USPS, and USPS is NOT liable for damage or loss of Media Mail.

Is that true: that buying eBay's insurance for Media Mail is a complete waste of money?

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From what I can see there are some caveats to your statements (http://pages.ebay.com/insurance/shipping/coverage.html) - mainly that you can't indicate contents unless required by Postal Law and shipped Parcel Post. Additionally, from what I can see the specific wording is 'coverage is contingent upon the Carrier being liable for loss..'. For me that indicates that if it's a carrier loss, damage situation, your insurance through this program would be covered, but an Act of God would not be. However, for specific coverage questions regarding the program I'd encourage you to reach out to Shipcover directly (http://www.pipinsure.com/ShipCoverContacts.aspx). Thanks! 

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I can and will do that, but your reply misses the point:
if a First Class or Priority Mail package--or basically anything other than Media Mail--is lost or damaged in transit, USPS will search for it, and may give a refund. But if it's Media Mail, they are not responsible in any way. That's the whole point of the question.

[alan@ebay]

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@mg152 wrote:
If I may direct the ebay staff to "knowledge base", my account. There's a post titled gratitude by Sheila a very happy ebay shopper. She wants someone from ebay to read her post. Can I link to it here? It's really inspiring

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Yes, please do.

[vrykalak]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

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@vrykalak wrote:

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@carlmarxx wrote:

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@vrykalak wrote:

bought insurance for a Media Mail package [ebay seller / process / shipping]

among other things, the "contract" said:
- void if any label on the box indicates what's in it

...useful, but not scary

- void if the carrier is not liable for damage or loss

...scary, because the insurance is not with USPS, and USPS is NOT liable for damage or loss of Media Mail.

Is that true: that buying eBay's insurance for Media Mail is a complete waste of money?

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@vrykalak wrote:

bought insurance for a Media Mail package [ebay seller / process / shipping]

among other things, the "contract" said:
- void if any label on the box indicates what's in it

...useful, but not scary

- void if the carrier is not liable for damage or loss

...scary, because the insurance is not with USPS, and USPS is NOT liable for damage or loss of Media Mail.

Is that true: that buying eBay's insurance for Media Mail is a complete waste of money?

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The USPS is Liable  for lost or damge  for all parcels ,if you bought USPS shipping insurance .  As for the ship cover insurance offered by ebay,  I don't know their  policy's  for media mail  . 

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Er...that's why I asked.
Will Ship Cover pay if a Media Mail package gets lost, or won't it?
If not, eBay should warn sellers they need to use USPS insurance for Media Mail.

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I did some checking . Yes Ship cover will cover you , but you would have much quicker time with USPS insurace  , since their Pay out time frame is little faster .

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Thanks. Ignore my reply to your earlier response.

[doug@ebay]

Hi @bigmotormania, this is a current bug Lithium is working on. It IS annoying! Once this is fixed, you will exit back into a current board, or current category page when you cancel a message. We don't have a timline yet, but will let the Community know when it is fixed.

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@bigmotormania wrote:

Oh, another thing, when I go to cancel a post on the boards it does not take me back to the post I was originally going to reply to but takes me to the community home page and I have to navigate my way back.

Is this intended? I have been meaning to ask for awhile now but I kept forgetting but it's getting really annoying.

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[mam98031]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@golfingaddict wrote:

More details about the guaranteed delivery program were announced this week. 

I have more questions about this program.  I've read the FAQ's but I still feel that I am missing a bit. 

Would it be possible to have the "team" in charge of this program hold a Q and A before it is time to sign up?

Thank you.

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@golfingaddict

I didn't see that notification, would you please share a link to it.  Thank you in advance.

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I know the thread is about to close for the week.  But would someone please post a link to this weeks announcement regarding the guarantee delivery program.

[golfingaddict]

Trinton, Alan, Tyler, Heidi

Have a safe and restful Memorial Day weekend.