Anyone else had fun with webinterpret today?

[toyshnip]

So a while ago webinterpret  asked me if I want to opt in. We said that we are not interested. 
Today we start getting e-mails with "Your eBay listing is confirmed". It seems like webinterpret  posted our listing on other ebay websites. 

So they managed to post just under 1,000 out of our 5k listings on e-bay. We canceled the listings and revoked webinterpret  from Third-party authorizations. 

Anyone else got opted in to webinterpret  today?

[wesk_36]

Here is one of many older threads about webinterpret.

Lots of people have said they are opted in without their permission, and many other "nightmares."

[toyshnip]

I read a lot of threads about them. That is why we said no.
However, they opted us in without our permission. So now we are fighting to clean up the mess. We have 5k listings, if they publish that in 3-4 websites, that is a nice big mess.
So we revoked their access and got an e-mail from them with:

"We have noticed that the connection between your eBay account(s) and Webinterpret is broken for:

toyshnip


A lack of synchronization means we are unable to manage your items on foreign marketplaces (e.g. item prices, descriptions, stock level). For instance, you might be selling a product you no longer have in stock which can lead to a violation of eBay policies and/or a bad customer experience. "


At least I know that revoking the token did the trick for now.

[ittybitnot]

Anyone else got opted in to webinterpret  today?

eBay was supposed to give a month's notice for the program of "enrolling" sellers automatically.   There was no need to "opt in" anymore, but rather one needed to opt out. 

[ittybitnot]

See post 16 here:  

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Email-from-Webinterpret-saying-Ive-been-opted-in-Is-this-real/...

[toyshnip]

1. I didn't get any notice.
2. ebay already contacted us, and we said we don't want to enroll.

[ittybitnot]

If you read through the thread I linked to above  ^^^^^^  The "promo" mentioned was supposed to start Sept. 4 , which is today. 

[toyshnip]

I remember that thread.
However, we never got an e-mail from ebay letting us know that they opting us in. We also opted out in the past. So they should know we don't want it.

We have 5,000 listings. If they take 50% and publish it into 6 sites, that is 2,500 * 6 = 15,000 listings.
So we will be going up from 5k to 10k. We have the anchor store, meaning we need to pay for the extra 10k at 5 cents a listing. That is an extra $500 a month.

What is more of an issue is duplicate sales. If we have 2-3 orders on the same items, and we don't have it in stock, it means we need to cancel with defects on the account. It is a nightmare to manage 20k listings without a good system (since Webinterpet posted the listing, it is not connected to our external inventory management system).

[toyshnip]

That explains why they opted me, and I guess many other sellers in.
However, they never sent me an e-mail about it, and I already informed them that I am not interested.

[gramophone-georg]

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@toyshnip wrote:
That explains why they opted me, and I guess many other sellers in.
However, they never sent me an e-mail about it, and I already informed them that I am not interested.

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Obviously eBay, in their arrogance, doesn't care that you are not interested.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

"Promo" in quotes sure is right.

It's called double-speak, 1984 (the novel for those who don't know) style. 

FORCING sellers into something is NOT a "promo". 

[toyshnip]

At least for me there was no harm done (I have many listings to spare in the store subscription).
But other sellers, who now need to pay listing fees will be annoyed. So if they opted-in many sellers, I have a feeling they will get many angry calls and more threads here on the boards.

[Anonymous]

Hello, 

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and feedback on this thread. 

The promotion, supported by Webintepret’s localization technology, is designed to help merchants grow their businesses worldwide. Only sellers who already export today are selected for this promotion, resulting in listings that are listed locally, language & currency translated where necessary, and made more visible to those buyers to be able to sell more. 

Webinterpret has been a trusted partner of eBay's since 2014 and we are excited to work with them and expand our seller's visibility in key export markets the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Australia.

Some notes on the program:

• To reiterate, this promotion is totally FREE to sellers (PayPal will charge +2.5% for the foreign transactions - same as today). Sellers can upgrade their service if they so choose.

• We emailed all sellers a month in advance to notify them that we would be opting them into Webinterpret services. Other than the select sellers we communicated with, we do not opt anyone into this service without authorization.

• Webinterpet tracks available inventory and product listings automatically synchronized across all sites. 

• This will NOT create duplicate listings and if for some reason violations occur, an appeal can be requested through normal channels via Customer Service, Concierge, Merchant Support etc. 

• To clarify, our commitment to address any potential fees or violations related to this promotion is not an indication that these will occur, simply an acknowledgment that IF an issue arises, we will be happy to address it.

• Revoking third-party authorization may not cancel the service with WebInterpret and may cause the product listings e.g. stock levels not being synchronized. That’s why we would recommend contacting Webintepret’s Customer Care Team. You can do that through here. 

• When creating international listings, sellers’ store subscription is taken into account, so you don’t exceed your listing level and incur any additional charges.

Thank you, 

The eBay Team

[southern*sweet*tea]

'ya know...

I'm not one for legal matters, suing people, etc., but I kinda smell lawsuit material here.

[a_c_green]

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@Anonymous wrote:

• We emailed all sellers a month in advance to notify them that we would be opting them into Webinterpret services.

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Please stop using the term "opt in" as a synonym for enrolling someone in your program without their consent. It has a clear and specific meaning, and that is not it. It was not an option for them, and they did not exercise any option of their own.

In particular, in the case of the Original Poster here, they have said that you were explicitly told that they were not interested. You had no business enrolling them without their consent.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Other than the select sellers we communicated with, we do not opt anyone into this service without authorization.

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That sentence is particularly ridiculous. You're essentially saying, "Other than the select sellers that we 'opted in' without authorization, we do not opt anyone into this service without authorization." You (or eBay on your behalf) communicated with the OP; you were declined; you went ahead and did it anyway. Is that correct?