Creating a Modern Retail Marketplace Together in 2018

[alan@ebay]

Thanks for joining.

Today we’re asking sellers to read the latest blog from Bob Kupbens and submit your questions on this thread.

Before you submit your question, we would like to remind users that all posts made in The eBay Community need to be respectful of others. Please keep in mind the Community’s Rules of Engagement when you post. Non-constructive, disrespectful/harassing comments will be removed by our moderation team so that the thread can focus on a productive discussion.

This is an opportunity to connect with Bob about the direction of eBay in 2018, so please keep your comments to that topic.

Here’s how it will work: please submit your comment or question to this thread. At 11 am PST on 2/14 we will close this thread, and Bob will answer a collection of them live via video, starting 12:30 pm PST that same day.

The live video will be shown on this Community thread, so make sure to 'subscribe' to this thread and check back around 12:30 on the 14th to watch live - right here in the Community. 

Thank you for participating!

Here's today's live broadcast with Bob Kupbens & Griff

[gracieallen01]

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@chrysylyswrote:

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

Ok I read the blog and now I have that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Data shows that 75% of buyers check return policies before purchasing*" I call bunk on this statement. Many don't read the description let alone policies. Care to publish that data?

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Even here on the boards in relation to changes of the boards, they often tell us 'the survey says ...' but they never tell us when, where or how the survey was conducted or who participated.  When asked, they either don't answer at all, or make some obscure reference.

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Surveys are wonderful things, for anyone that is determined on winning an argument. 

Ask the question(s) you want, in the way you want and you will get the answer(s) you want.

[cjbeez]

Since ebay aquired Terapeak with Sellers fees... Why not share that entire platform and information to all sellers with a store subscription?

I fear eBay controlling payments in the future.  They can't even get all the funtions to run smooth on the site. Been on here to long to know that most of what Bob said in his annoucement is smoke and mirrors. Sorry Bob, its true. I expect fee hikes in 2018, and and TRS discounts will be a thing of the past.

[cosi-shopper]

I have been with eBay since 1999, maybe it was '98, how time flies.

I would like to see rules eBay has alredy established enforced rather than new (and questionable) rules added.
1. No frame, no text on first photo, many seller ignore that. Why should we, sellers, be reporting that? Either enforce it with softwear that detects it, employees who are assigned to categories, or drop the rule.
2. I find it difficult to buy.
That scares me.
I go to a category (let's say Women; skirts), sort to lowest $, Buy It Now, and get 735,677 Results.
On the first page there are
*photos of 7 bare rear ends,
*28 "skirts" that if I click to buy they are actually panties, and
*2 ads blantantly are bras not even pretending to be skirts.

I have to go four to five pages to find some actual skirts being sold. Why as a buyer would I spend the time? I have, but I won't again.

[jason_incognito]

I'll share this. I'll use other sites by name, please don't get upset by that. It needs to be fixed here. This is something eBay needs to hear, and they need to know where their customers are going to buy the stuff they could be buying here.

I wanted vintage wallpaper. Literally, vintage. As in older.

I got tons of listings for the cheapest mass produced, ugliest stuff from china. Okay, I figure out how to filter US only......

now I still get page after page of junk sellers that clog the site. 

I spent a good hour on eBay (only because I'm an eBay person) then I finally realized it wasn't going to happen here. How many would take more than 5 minutes?

I went to Etsy. In less than 20 minutes I had placed 2 orders for what I wanted. It was hard to decide what to buy since there was a ton of options right there. How can they get it right and eBay get it so wrong? Etsy doesn't chase china or dropshippers?

I have been buying paint lately. I want general finishes. Look at my buys here. I bought alot. It all came in Amazon boxes. In the last few weeks I've gotten quite a few more Amazon boxes of paint. I went there and bought it myself. What possible benefit does eBay get from having so many sellers send out Amazon boxes to eBay's customers?Honestly, if it's something they carry over there I'd guess as much as 1 in 5 sales here ship from there. What company dropships from their competitor?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Bob, a list of questions, and , at the end, one important suggestion :

Can you describe (or perhaps even show is) the new ebay store template, and give us some idea of when that will be released?

Will we still have store categories? If so, will they still show up in our listings, or only on the store homepage?

Will we still have a store header (for branding purposes), or is that being retired or altered?

You call out photos and descriptions. Will we being new photo quality requirements? If so, will it be a basic requirement, or as a requirement we need to meet in order to rank higher in search, be TRS or whatever.

Descriptions: Will ebay require us to remove all text unrelated to the item itself, such as TOS? (Or, perhaps, will ebay itself remove it) Will descriptions be confined to a maximum character count? Can we expect descriptions to be removed entirely from some categories, to be replaced with item specifics and or catalog information? Will ebay provide a simple method for embedding video in descriptions, or will such links be entirely prohibited?

Promoted Listings: A number of sellers have noticed that promoted listings are not surfacing in search results with the same frequency they had been? Is this a glitch? Or is it part of a new strategy, to expand the surface area of exposure for Promoted Listings, with less emphasis on the search page and more on other page placements? Will we EVER see Promoted Listing impressions in Seller Hub again, or should we conclude, from the fact that it has been about five months or so since they vanished, that ebay's assurances that they will be returning soon have been quietly scrapped?

Promotions Manager placement: As many have mentioned, the new placement of PM promotions beneath the description seems counter-intuitive at best, and counter-productive in fact. Is this placement tied to the forthcoming changes to the store template/view item page? Or is it just another unannounced, bizarre change from ebay that defies explanation?

It has been an article of faith among ebay sellers that displaying the number of watchers on the view item page can help drive sales, as buyers may feel pressured to either buy (before someone else does, or to make a reasonable offer, and not a lowball offer). This may not have much impact on multi-item listings, but could ebay return this to at least single item listings?

When can we expect ebay to release an automated re-pricing tool for sellers?

Fixed price listings: Will the time period selection continue, or will ebay only offer GTC?

Which categories will be added to ebay's Authentication service this year?

When is ebay going to either remove the immediate payment requirement from the GD program, or add "request an invoice" so sellers can easily combine shipping for disparate items?

You wrote: " To address the unique needs of various types of eBay sellers, we’ll roll out services that better suit individual business needs." Can you provide some examples?

Are there any changes planned for TRS and TRS Plus qualifications?

You want us to think of you as our partner. Great. But then, how about treating us like a partner when you make changes? By actually ANNOUNCING them. I for one am tired of constantly playing the "ebay Guessing Game": Glitch, Test, or New Normal? I've been here 20 years or so, and I've listened to ebay execs tell me over and over again that you will do so, and over and over again there are unannounced changes that confuse us all. The change in PM placement to below the description? It is simply inexcusable that that was not announced. The level of unnecessary anxiety created by these unannounced changes just gets worse and worse.

Finally, I hope 2018 is a great year, for sellers and buyers and for ebay.

Oh, and Bob, it IS 2018. Been 2018 for a month and a half now. So, as your business partner, I'm going to make a modest suggestion, based on an issue I saw raised on the Tech Board. I think it's great that ebay provides us sellers with a Retail Merchandising Calendar. But I think we can all agree that , at this point, it would be far more helpful if ebay provided us with a 2018 Calendar, rather than a 2017 Calendar., which is what you are currently showing us:

https://ir.ebaystatic.com/pictures/aw/pics/holiday/Retail_Calendar_2017

[nawlinsron2]

A tech company is only as good as it's checklist.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@gracieallen01wrote:

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@chrysylyswrote:

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

Ok I read the blog and now I have that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Data shows that 75% of buyers check return policies before purchasing*" I call bunk on this statement. Many don't read the description let alone policies. Care to publish that data?

---

Even here on the boards in relation to changes of the boards, they often tell us 'the survey says ...' but they never tell us when, where or how the survey was conducted or who participated.  When asked, they either don't answer at all, or make some obscure reference.

---

Surveys are wonderful things, for anyone that is determined on winning an argument. 

Ask the question(s) you want, in the way you want and you will get the answer(s) you want.

---

That is leading and manipulation.

[b86fiero]

Intermediating Payments ~~ will eBay generate the required 1099-K IRS tax filing forms for sellers as Paypal currently does?

Will eBay deduct the appropriate state sales or income tax owed for each sale and remit those dollars to the appropriate taxing authority?  (Amazon & Etsy do).

Can we expect to see more detailed financial reporting month to month and year end? 

(example: total shipping paid per year, total sales tax collected). 

Thank you for addressing my concerns,

Bonnie Jo

[ittybitnot]

*2 ads blantantly are bras not even pretending to be skirts.

rofl

[lookng2015]

Don't give them any 'bright' ideas they haven't already thought of.

[va4vi]

"Make eBay the place where the world shops first"

There is no mention of SELL?

Unfortunately, eBay's policies have changed so that eBay will no longer be "the place where I SELL first".   All the talk about buying and selling sounds pretty but, in reality, profit is the reason for all business transactions.  eBay does all it can to maximize their profit by in reality taking it from the sellers.  Have all the buyers but if selling results in losses seller can't profit.  The ending statement of this VP says it all "where the world shops".  No mention of SELL.  All eBay policy changes over the last 10 years reflect this goal.

"Data shows that 75% of buyers check return policies before purchasing*"

My personal data shows that 99% of buyers know that eBay will override any seller return policy and eBay's MBG return policy will be forced onto sellers rendering the reading of a seller's return policy to be pointless and meaningless.  This is a 100% tangible and recorded policy that eBay shows to all buyers on every listing.    eBay's MGB return policy, however, is intangible, because it is based on a buyer's opinion, perception or feelings - not tangible facts, evidence or records.   No skin in the game for eBay or buyers.  No motivation to be honest.  No motivation for eBay to even define this policy with real and concrete words that can be seen and recorded.

How about a Study to compute and generate real data on eBay's claims on their Delivery time that appears on listings too?  This would be a Simple study with real and/or computable data along with real mathematics included.   Mere sellers like myself can even compute that a seller's 3-day handling time plus USPS's Priority Mail specified time of  1-3 days for most of the nation does not equal 4.  eBay never did THAT study which will show this to be scientifically and mathematically impossible to exist.  

Buyers and seller want eBay "studies" with concrete, repeatable and computable data .... not eBay style of research where the nebulous data supposedly shows what eBay wants it to show.

[alan@ebay]

Thanks all for the questions and discussion. We’re closing the thread now. Be sure to tune in at 12:30 pm PT today, right here on this thread to watch Bob discuss the blog post and answer your questions about our plans for 2018.

[alan@ebay]

Hi folks, 

Unfortunately, due to issues with our video provider, we're unable to stream live in the Community.

The video will be live on Facebook and we'll have a recording of the video available here on this thread in the next couple of hours. 

Sorry & thank you. 

[alan@ebay]

Here's today's live broadcast with Bob Kupbens & Griff

Thank you!