Average Message Response Time Shown In Feedback Module - Another Test?

[valueaddedresource]

Noticed today that on the View Item page in the Feedback module for some sellers eBay is showing an average message response rate.

It's not showing for all sellers and I'm not sure what the criteria is - I don't think it's only for sellers that are particularly fast because I'm seeing anywhere from 1 hr to 24 hrs.

devon@ebay kyle@ebay  - any insights on this you can share?

[mam98031]

I have not ran across a seller's account that has that "responds" box on their account.  Would you please tell me what the little icon to the left of it says.  Thank you in advance.

@valueaddedresource 

[wastingtime101]

It's just a clock icon, not an info prompt. It doesn't say anything @mam98031 .

Your listings say "Responds within 6 hours"

[mam98031]

Thank you.  Well darn it, that even makes it worse.  I was hoping it was something that told the buyer that it was just an average time for the seller to respond not a hard and fast rule which this test makes it seem to be.

This simply is not acceptable, period.

[wastingtime101]

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@mam98031 wrote:

I was hoping it was something that told the buyer that it was just an average time for the seller to respond not a hard and fast rule which this test makes it seem to be.

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When eBay rolled out something very similar back in 2018 (the thread I linked above), after FB was escalated from this community eBay changed it to "usually" responds within X hours.

Make your voice heard to eBay and maybe they'll do the same thing again? 🤷

That's all I've got. I'm out of juice. Have a good night.

[mam98031]

TRUST me I'm already on it.

[gurlcat]

Whew!  Mine says 12.  I actually tend to check my account several times a day and answer messages immediately, but maybe the occasional "ignore the jerk" thing has given me some wiggle room.  I'll take it! 

[mam98031]

That would mean you couldn't leave your house for more than 12 out of 24 hours, unless you use the App.  Which I do not.

So if you get a little shut eye, have an appointment first thing in the morning and you are late answering the buyer's email by a couple of hours, what will happen?  Will the buyer be mad because life got in your way?  Or maybe they will just be disappointed that you have a life that takes priority over their message?  Buyers can be funny people and expect us to be available to them 24/7.

This is just a BAD idea all the way around.

[gurlcat]

I absolutely agree, it's stupid.  These "usually responds in ___" messages are normally on on websites of WHOLE BUSINESSES with employees, and even still its time frames of at least 24 hours.  

If someone in a far off time zone writes (Europe, Asia, Australia, etc) then it's more than likely I'm asleep.  

I was just celebrating that (at this time) mine says 12 hours, rather than 1 or 6.  I'd rather people NOT expect me to be a 24/7 email responding machine, ha.  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I don't see it as a problem.

[chapeau-noir]

Etsy has something like this, and looks like eBay is reviving it, also. These two sites remind me of a pair of dogs going in circles sniffing each other's hindquarters.

I suspect for nonsense questions or individuals one doesn't want to engage with, just clicking 'question answered' in the drop down will satisfy the criteria. I answer questions as promptly as possible, but the only reason I do that is I've become so orientated to deadlines in my corp job that I jump on everything 'promptly'. But if I happen to be hiking out of cell phone range it's not gonna happen.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

Will eBay be providing it's sellers with SAT phones so we can uphold our timely obligations to this firm?

[dhbookds]

I "think" I remember something similar before 2018.......when DSRs were the end all/be all.....and sellers could be sanctioned for getting below a 4.5 (?).  For communication, they had a rule one had to answer within x hrs. to get an auto 5.  

Griff & Burke talked about "Ebay Live" on the last podcast...the "name" for the streaming stuff.......  As they said, it makes sense......and probably no one working at ebay now remembers that Ebay Live referred to the annual convention.  Just proves that Ebay has no institutional memory and we are doomed to go thru the same "new" ideas over and over.....

[gymbo_limbo]

What if you've already answered the buyer and they were the last one to respond to the thread not needing a further response? Is that going to somehow make it look poorly on you like you don't answer questions?

[valueaddedresource]

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@gurlcat wrote:

I absolutely agree, it's stupid.  These "usually responds in ___" messages are normally on on websites of WHOLE BUSINESSES with employees, and even still its time frames of at least 24 hours.  

If someone in a far off time zone writes (Europe, Asia, Australia, etc) then it's more than likely I'm asleep.  

I was just celebrating that (at this time) mine says 12 hours, rather than 1 or 6.  I'd rather people NOT expect me to be a 24/7 email responding machine, ha.  

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@gurlcat I blurred out the names in those screenshots but I was actually surprised that many of the large major brand names that sell directly on eBay had the longest times of any that I saw - many of them were at 24 hours.

Like you, I would have expected larger multi-channel businesses that likely have customer service teams operating during business hours to have a lower average.

Not sure what, if anything, my small sample size really says - while larger companies do tend to have more staff, I also think many small sellers in general probably care more about being responsive and providing excellent service, so maybe those trends make sense.

Either way, I think the weight of concern for having to respond quickly and keep up with new buyer expectations this may set is going to fall disproportionately on smaller sellers for sure.

[valueaddedresource]

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@gymbo_limbo wrote:

What if you've already answered the buyer and they were the last one to respond to the thread not needing a further response? Is that going to somehow make it look poorly on you like you don't answer questions?

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@gymbo_limbo that's a great question! 

As others have mentioned, Etsy does something similar and I know I see a lot of complaints from sellers over there about how not responding to some messages affects their Star Seller status.

Hopefully Devon or Kyle will be able to provide us some detailed information about how eBay is calculating this statistic and the proper way to handle messages that don't need a response.