10/11 Weekly Chat - Did anybody really get a question answered?

[b86fiero]

Umm.... I kind of feel that was a big ol' waste of an hour.

[dhbookds]

Yep, that was the worst one yet.........seems like all he/she could do was tell us to submit to dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com which is different from the one the other guy used......

If people don't get feedback on this stuff........why try to submit it..... and what do you do when the answers you do get seem to ignore what really needs to be done? 

The cookbook thing is really irking. 

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@dhbookds wrote:

Yep, that was the worst one yet.........seems like all he/she could do was tell us to submit to dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com which is different from the one the other guy used......

If people don't get feedback on this stuff........why try to submit it..... and what do you do when the answers you do get seem to ignore what really needs to be done? 

The cookbook thing is really irking. 

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You should be pleased with your efforts. Your points were spot on and you kept them coming.

[dhbookds]

Thanks........I tried to be prepared for this one for once.  I just wish we could hear some progress......the idea that the spokesperson doesn't know anything about the cookbook problem is discouraging.....

[nawlinsron2]

ebay has a policy of not discussing warts, or showing them...it's unwritten, but it's there.

[d-k_treasures]

I knew I missed something today, but after reading the one from yesterday, I figured today was going to be just as useless.

Edit - well, almost as useless, anyway. 

[keziak]

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@dhbookds wrote:

Yep, that was the worst one yet.........seems like all he/she could do was tell us to submit to dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com which is different from the one the other guy used......

If people don't get feedback on this stuff........why try to submit it..... and what do you do when the answers you do get seem to ignore what really needs to be done? 

The cookbook thing is really irking. 

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Was the cookbook issue about how mega sellers have dumped thousands of books into the cookbooks category thanks to the way the book catalog routinely uses the wrong categories? And we can change them?

[sharingtheland]

Today is Wednesday?  I totally forgot.  Should I go read it?  Or just do something, anything else?

[victorjunkman55]

I have always believed the eBay employees who run these chats would serve eBay better by answering the phones. Just a total waste of time.

[d-k_treasures]

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@sharingtheland wrote:

Today is Wednesday?  I totally forgot.  Should I go read it?  Or just do something, anything else?

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Don't bother. 

I just wasted 1/2 hour reading ..... nothing. 

[keziak]

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@keziak wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Yep, that was the worst one yet.........seems like all he/she could do was tell us to submit to dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com which is different from the one the other guy used......

If people don't get feedback on this stuff........why try to submit it..... and what do you do when the answers you do get seem to ignore what really needs to be done? 

The cookbook thing is really irking. 

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Was the cookbook issue about how mega sellers have dumped thousands of books into the cookbooks category thanks to the way the book catalog routinely uses the wrong categories? And we can change them?

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meant canNOT change them anymore.

[odditiesandantiquities1]

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@victorjunkman55 wrote:

I have always believed the eBay employees who run these chats would serve eBay better by answering the phones. Just a total waste of time.

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Unfortunately, that was very obvious today. 

[sharingtheland]

I just read it and did pick up this nugget (which we already knew, of course):

On of the benefits to product identification is that when creating a listing, if there is existing catalog information on the GTIN (UPC, ISBN, EAN) you are listing with, eBay will prefill listing attributes to speed up the listing process and make product information more consistent.

I just had a brainlight moment - this is why ebay will never get rid of feedback for sellers.  How else to for ebay to decide which seller's widget was "good" and which supposedly identical widget was "bad."   

Years ago I spent quite a bit of time with prefilled attributes in HBA; ebay's attempts to create that catalog using standard product information were stupendously incorrect.   If I didn't use the UPC, I could work around the pre-filling but sometimes even just the title would trigger those erroneous fill-ins.

The best part was - well, there were so many "best parts" that I shouldn't pick just one - the seller was able to click "NO, I don't want to use the catalog info/photos/descriptions."  Then, a day or two later the seller would notice that the seller's correct information was gone and, yep, ebay had filled in the catalog doodoo.

I had a lot of listings that said, "Some of the information you see was automatically inserted by ebay and is incorrect."  

This was, I don't know, 4-5 years ago?

[b86fiero]

Sherry, you have a good point.  I remember well the snafu's with the Catalog in listing HBA products.

Most of us regulars on the boards know the eBay catalog is full of misinformation.

Policy updates state UPC and MPN are required in more and more product categories.  Billions of products imported to the US have no UPC or MPN or brand name attached.  (Bulk nuts, bolts, screws, hand tools, crafts, scrapbook supplies, jewelry making supplies, etc.).  And of course, UPC's are recycled from old discontinued products and reused by manufacturers for new products.  Previous posts abound on the boards about Catalog issues.

eBay written policy requires UPC/MPN in certain categories but eBay staff on Chat say ignore that and use "does not apply" instead.  Right after that eBay Customer Support staff tells you over the phone that you have a UPC in order to list the item and that if you don't have one, don't list the item.  Confusing.

Problem is when those 30 day listings with automatic relist fail to relist due to missing product identifiers.    The UPC box is highlighted in red.  Some report the same problem with GTC listings and some say they are fine.  How many relist failures due to these type of issues before the seller's account gets a time out?

The weekly chat was a disappointment.  

Thanks to everybody who took time to post there.  

BonnieJo