Be careful of vacation setting and 24hr shipping setting

[krichjmfish]

I have been a top rated powerseller for the last 10 years, until this happened.  I set my vacation settings as usual, but when I returned because I had not turned off the 24hr shipping ( thought vacation setting covered everything ) and I had some sales as usual.  I shipped out all  sells the moment I returned only to find out because I had not turned off the 24hr shipping option all sales while I was on vacation setting were marked late download and late shipping.  As a result I lost my Top Rating and Power seller rating.  I called eBay and worked my way up the ladder finally talking with one of the big bosses and was told too bad you must turn off your 24hr shipping also.  He sent me a email with instruction how to become a top rated seller.

[kensgiftshop]

The vacation setting is nice, but they don't tell you that you also have to adjust your handling time.

Looks like they would program it so it will automatically adjust the handling time for you.

[wallacewins]

Happened to me too. Ebay gives you a tool to use and then penalizes you for using it because they didn't think it ALL thru first. Vacation settings and handling time need to be merged. Or, turn off the ability for a buyer to buy instead of changing all your shipping and handling times and you lose your TRS anyway. Somehow nothing ever works with ebay. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

The vacation setting option has been around since long before eBay started using shipping time as a performance evaluation measure.  So the basic vacation setting is nothing more than an "Away" notice.  We see posts like this about late shipping nearly every day; clearly eBay needs to make a better effort at informing sellers about this limitation.

[judydu2]

Vacation mode does have the ability to hide listings so that no purchases can be made.

[southern*sweet*tea]

When you go on vacation and leave your listings showing, you're still expected to ship within your stated handling time. You need to extend your handling time a sufficient length to cover the time you're unable to ship.

It's best to hide your listings, that way nobody can see them or buy any fixed price listings. Auctions will still run to completion and you're still expected to ship within your handling time, unless you decide to end them totally.

[stonecirclespirit2012]

This exact thing happened to me just a month ago... got 5 defects !!!

It really is a heart breaker.

[inceptions]

eBay does tell you that you need to meet your stated handling time while on vacation if you don't hide your listings.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-stores/manage-ebay-store?id=4090&st=3&pos=1&query=Manage%20yo...

If you decide not to hide your fixed price listings, make sure you can still meet your stated handling and shipping times. Consider extending the handling time on your listings—you can do this on the Active selling page on My eBay.

[nobody*s_perfect]

But that awkwardly-worded warning is on the Help page.  Sellers who are just using the vacation settings won't see it there.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@inceptions wrote:

eBay does tell you that you need to meet your stated handling time while on vacation if you don't hide your listings.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-stores/manage-ebay-store?id=4090&st=3&pos=1&query=Manage%20yo...

If you decide not to hide your fixed price listings, make sure you can still meet your stated handling and shipping times. Consider extending the handling time on your listings—you can do this on the Active selling page on My eBay.

---

Yeah, that needs to be under the option for allowing listings to show because commonsense would say if a big banner at the top of a seller's store says shipping may be delayed until XYZ and one has activated vacation settings, one would think the shipping setting would also be set to the same shipping delay (with an option to change it), given that it's the same function, but no, it's backwards.

[inceptions]

Agreed, eBay needs to do a better job of informing sellers since so many of them don't know, but I wanted to point out where they make the statement.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@inceptions wrote:

Agreed, eBay needs to do a better job of informing sellers since so many of them don't know, but I wanted to point out where they make the statement.

---

Yes - I understand - I'm just thinking they need to replicate that by the vacation settings because it seems counter-intuitive, and not doing so seems, in and of itself, counter-intuitive.

[fern*wood]

That is really unfortunate.  We have complained about this not being clear for ages.  We were assured that something would be done to make this clear, but all that was done was some q&a in the knowledge section or blog post or something that would never be seen when a seller is setting up the vacation setting.