eBay

go-bad-chicken · ‎02-26-2020

WHAT THE HECK!

The 2020 Spring Seller Update Community Discussions Boards are already LOCKED AFTER ONLY 7 HOURS!

eBay I am feeling abandoned.

dhbookds · ‎02-27-2020

@twnpopcards wrote:
@dhbookds wrote:
I have never seen any business basically throw a tantrum and shut off the lights like that.

I missed the tantrum........what was it? Didn't they originally say the boards would only be open from/to certain hrs?
@dhbookds

If they did, I truthfully never saw anything about it. Could you provide a link to where that was announced prior to them closing the discussion boards when it was time for them to go home for the night? If they did I still think it is bad policy to not even allow those that work during the day to have a chance to ask a question and have it answered, but I will back off of criticizing it so much.

This is meant only as a question not anything negative on your comment as I really have not seen anything other than the announcement that the boards were closed.

It's in the announcement itself

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Your-Spring-Seller-Update-is-here/ba-p/30706242

See all updates here and join the conversation here to ask the eBay team questions between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm Pacific about the updates.

bar-29368 · ‎02-27-2020

Yes but previously, even if the blues were only available on the Update threads for limited hours the boards would still stay open so people could post.

equid0x · ‎02-28-2020

@go-bad-chicken wrote:
@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
Yes, it would have been useful to have a longer time for discussion . It seems like the Community discussion boards are handled differently every time there's a seller update: format, duration, participation, etc.

In hindsight, the Announcement board comment "See all updates here and join the conversation here to ask the eBay team questions between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm Pacific about the updates" apparently was telling us that's all the time that there would be to discuss the changes.
As an internet merchant I feel like I really do try to do my best to stay on top of these types of announcements regarding important changes that may or may not have a meaningful impact in how I conduct my buisness on 3rd party marketplaces such as eBay.

But it takes time for me to read through the new policy updates and then a lot more time to digest those updates, and then still some more time to try and figure out how those changes might potentially affect the way that I conduct my business here on eBay.

How long did it take eBay to prepare this recent update? Days, weeks, months?

And we (the sellers) get a miserly 7 hours to engage eBay employees regarding all of these important changes. This isn't a discussion on Twitter this is business.

I took the 5 question survey regarding this recent update and this is what I shared with them.

Question #3.
Are Seller Updates useful in how you manage your eBay business?

"Yes and no. The dedicated 2020 Spring Update community discussion forum has been locked after only 7 hours. As an eBay seller I feel that those discussion boards need to stay open and manned by eBay employees for a minimum of 72 hours after a regular policy update announcement, so that sellers have the time and the opportunity to digest the newly announced changes, and then engage eBay employees as well as fellow eBay sellers to better have an understanding of what lies ahead. 7 hours feels miserly."

IMHO leaving them open, with active coverage by eBay to provide responses, for something like a week is probably reasonable.

7 hours is a joke, but then, I think that's actually much longer than they've been left open in the past.

chapeau-noir · ‎02-28-2020

I recall a lot of us mentioning here that a headsup when the new updates would be released (i.e., the date) would be very helpful so that we would know when to clear some time to review, ask questions, etc., and I think it was the mods said they would do that. It was much appreciated because even if the update Q&A was short, I knew when to start reviewing the update itself, look at questions, etc.

So hopefully that will continue. There was nothing to me earth-shaking about the update, some of the questions I did get to read led to clarification of some points. TBH, I was far more frustrated by that Town Hall business which is a separate subject.

“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” - Henry Kissinger

"Do not obey in advance." Timothy Snyder "On Tyranny"

equid0x · ‎02-28-2020

@chapeau-noir wrote:
I recall a lot of us mentioning here that a headsup when the new updates would be released (i.e., the date) would be very helpful so that we would know when to clear some time to review, ask questions, etc., and I think it was the mods said they would do that. It was much appreciated because even if the update Q&A was short, I knew when to start reviewing the update itself, look at questions, etc.

So hopefully that will continue. There was nothing to me earth-shaking about the update, some of the questions I did get to read led to clarification of some points. TBH, I was far more frustrated by that Town Hall business which is a separate subject.

I agree with you on that. I remember that.

I didn't see anything spectacular in the update either. As far as recent updates have gone, this one was pretty tame. Its more lockdown of the marketplace, but I'm not at all surprised, and things have been going in that direction for a couple years now, anyways.

dhbookds · ‎02-28-2020

Yes but previously, even if the blues were only available on the Update threads for limited hours the boards would still stay open so people could post.

Didn't they say to post on this board and blues would answer? I really can't see what all the fuss is about.

abfabvintage · ‎02-28-2020

it would be much much more organized if they had kept the Q and A open by Subject rather than now we will see random threads here, disorganized and harder to find. unless they create a duplicate thread citing those same subject categories we can post in...would also make it easier for Blues to respond.

I ain't got the brains to make this up (Fantastic Beasts)

fern*wood · ‎02-28-2020

Weird they had this change of heart. In the past, all threads/posts here would get moved.

dhbookds · ‎02-28-2020

More organized? Come on....... The longer any thread stays up the more non topic posts are made....... the ONE thread on this board about return requests is now discussing Ebay versus Amazon...........

ersatz_sobriquet · ‎02-28-2020

Apparently you support censorship.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎02-28-2020

I must say, the Town Hall closing early is new, but they did say it would be open for certain hours for the blues to answer questions. In my experience, in the past, the blues were actively answering questions for a limited time, and then left the Boards open, and they usually went off track pretty quickly. AND people then complained because the Blues didn't come back to answer the new questions (many of which weren't really on topics anyway). To me, this was cleaner. Blues responded to most of the relevant questions, there wasn't a ton of off topic stuff in part because they divided it into sections based on the Update itself, and, this time at least, most of the changes were pretty clear to anyone who took the time to read them carefully. When they closed it, they suggested Update questions could be discussed here, and look around: there hasn't really been much discussion here about the Update....probably more posts about closing the Board early than about particulars of the Update itself.

I believe they have also announced that the Update will be the topic of the next Facebook Podcast (this coming Tuesday) and I'd guess this coming Wed follow up questions can be asked at Weekly Chat (if there are any questions) Some of the stuff announced doesn't actually go active until later in the year, so it isn't as if we needed answers right this very minute.

My guess is, if this Update had clearly generated a ton of questions, they might have extended the time. But it didn't. I'm on a number of Facebook groups and other off ebay groups, and most of them were about the same...a little discussion, and that was that. This just wasn't an update filled with controversial and confusing stuff.

My suggestion: If people really needed more time to discuss this update, bring the discussion to this thread and have at it. Or start a new "Unofficial Selling Board Discussion of 2020 Spring Update" thread.

chapeau-noir · ‎02-28-2020

This is the update, not the Town Hall - different subject.

The organization of the question time was good, and tended to keep things on topic. Having that running for longer with questions being answered (as possible) would have been better and more efficient IMHO - it wouldn't need to be an intense affair, but similar to the Member to Member board where the mods or whomever would stop in and answer a question or clarify a point for couple of days. Having random posts and unofficial threads on the board just leads to focus creep.

But I do agree - this update wasn't a huge one, mostly refinements.

“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” - Henry Kissinger

"Do not obey in advance." Timothy Snyder "On Tyranny"

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎02-28-2020

chapeau, Yes, sorry, I meant to say the Update Board, not the Town Hall.

chapeau-noir · ‎02-28-2020

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
chapeau, Yes, sorry, I meant to say the Update Board, not the Town Hall.

LOL - whole separate set of issues and I had visions of the thread boinging off in that direction.

I think I was still nettled about the Town Hall business with the seller update. I'm due for a vacation, I think.

“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” - Henry Kissinger

"Do not obey in advance." Timothy Snyder "On Tyranny"

twnpopcards · ‎02-28-2020

@dhbookds wrote:

@twnpopcards wrote:
@dhbookds wrote:
I have never seen any business basically throw a tantrum and shut off the lights like that.

I missed the tantrum........what was it? Didn't they originally say the boards would only be open from/to certain hrs?
@dhbookds

If they did, I truthfully never saw anything about it. Could you provide a link to where that was announced prior to them closing the discussion boards when it was time for them to go home for the night? If they did I still think it is bad policy to not even allow those that work during the day to have a chance to ask a question and have it answered, but I will back off of criticizing it so much.

This is meant only as a question not anything negative on your comment as I really have not seen anything other than the announcement that the boards were closed.
It's in the announcement itself

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Your-Spring-Seller-Update-is-here/ba-p/30706242

See all updates here and join the conversation here to ask the eBay team questions between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm Pacific about the updates.

Thank you for that information and link. If Ebays statement is to be taken literally you are absolutely correct, but this is the shortest amount of time that discussion has been available and is really not fair to those that work a regular job to not be able to ask questions of these moderators that could have been answered the next day so they could read them after getting home from work.

But you are correct and I appreciate the link.