Email from Webinterpret saying Ive been opted in. Is this real? More fun stuff.

[soccerteeth]

I just woke up to 3 problems as usual. One big one is web-interpret cross border welcoming me and saying that ebay opted me in.   Im not clicking through anything and I know there were major issues in the past.   I never would opt in and have offered international shipping for 10 years.  Im at a point where I may stop all international shipping.  I had 2 - no pickups, 1 in Germany and 1 in the UK. Really Im at the point of about closing my store after almost 3 million in sales.

The last thing I want is being auto-opted into a program that is scammy. Also telling me I have to offer 30 day paid returns, which I will close my store before doing that. Ive always taken returns, Ive always shipped international but, I need to have some control over that. An overseas return is costly and buyers not wanting to pay customs is becoming common.

I want to sell to everyone, everywhere. Its in our best business interest but, when ever little thing is micromanaged poorly, we stand to lose more money and time which gives us no time to actually work on our store.

I called ebay while writing this and couldnt be told if I was opted in or not.  I was told to go to webinterpret and click a link and send a message and to report to spoof@ebay.   It seems rather antiquated that ebay couldnt tell me and that I have to write companies to see if Im opted in.  Its just one thing after another here.

Another issue some of you may be able to clarify for me.  Weve shipped everyday since the beginning.  Noone had to make us do this or threaten us with defects.  Yet of course they did. The most common feedback we get is super fast shipping or something like that.

it took us a long time to sort out usps as we had no full time carrier becasue our mail route was long and noone wanted it. For a long time, we were literally chasing carriers, running to the post office before close and always stressed out about something we already did but, to get that scan. We had 7 different carriers some weeks, all at different times. After a lot of begging, we got on a route for pickups becasue we did enough volume.  We have guy who comes everyday so it was a load off our shoulders.  Now we moved close by and the same guy comes and he's great.  The issue is now that due to our sales taking a dump, and some days we have 0-2 packages, it looks like we are losing our pickup.  USPS will not pickup on a route unless you do x amount of packages, which we no longer do and it is 100% ebays issues.  We never had blackouts and were on a constant climb until June 2018. 

Recently with the quadrupling of returns, we started charging shipping again. Things changed for the worse and free  shipping became an open invite to buy without thinking.  We have no discounts, I dont beleive anything we do can make Cassinni like us, so if we lose our carrier we will stop shipping daily. Not intentionally, as we will still do the packages but, we will not drive to the post office daily or have the stress of chasing down an unsuspecting mailman with a bunch of packages. We will have to put them out with scan sheet and cross our fingers.  We have a job box with a code and instructions on our porch. We can request pickups through the site again and add instructions but, we know how that worked out last time, which was sometimes packages wouldnt be picked up.  

This will surely tank our shipping % if a decent size load doesnt get picked up and I cant bare to call ebay everyday like the old days.  What will this do to our account ? We dont care about badges, weve been here long enough to have repeat customers and weve seen this terror ship coming at us for years so made lots of money and diversified, assuming that we wouldnt be selling here some day.  Of course I dont want to see the work weve put in to the store go away but sunk cost fallacy be damned.

So many unintended consequences have made doing business here harder.  We have almost always been 100% feedback sellers, we had all the discounts and shipped 6 days a week. 45k a month was average. Almost 3 million in sales.  Right now if 1 of of every item in our store sold, the value of current prices is 500k. much of that stuff we have in large quantities not listed on ebay. We also have enough inventory to quadruple the size of our store but, severely diminished returns if we go at it like we used to for much less. Many millions in inventory.

Weve done every edit and change over the years, weve tried free returns, done free shipping for years and now find ourselves selling much less but constant issues. The customer has almost become a unintended adversary. We block at the slightest hint of issue and look at feedback left by buyers when they ask questions.  This is the only protection we have when ebay stopped protecting us.  We have always been top sellers , never losing discounts and being crazy to get our scans and packages out as intended. Ebay has constantly made this harder to achieve through the one size fits all, treating us all like were crooks and not doing something right.  We used to rewards, now we get threats constantly. Psychologically, its pretty messed up. It doesnt matter if its un-intended, thats what it is. Constant problems, different solutions from different people and usually several cs calls or emails to get a halfway decent solution. 

This is different than what has ever happened here.  I would bet that some of us sellers were ebays best buyers as well. Now we see no reason to invest more and more time and money as the present and end looks bleak. I'll beleive seller protections when I see them. 

Started the day out with manufactured problems is becoming more the norm and it doesnt get ant easier, it just builds up until we are about to pop.

[gracieallen01]

I think that, perhaps, trinton has said all that is permissible on the topic.  Any more would just be redundant or maybe bring up more questions that aren't ready for prime time, yet.

[gracieallen01]

trinton@ebay wrote:

Again, this service is free and something we are happy to provide to our sellers to increase their visibility and ultimately boost their sales. @yesssika, it looks like the account you posted from is not a selling account so you may want to touch base with Customer Service to discuss account specifics for your selling account. It looks like you may be a member of our Concierge/Merchant Support programs, so should have a direct line to eBay for questions like the ones you have posed here. If you are ever concerned about an email potentially not being from eBay, you can forward it to spoof@ebay.com for us to review those concerns.

As in a song from 'Don Quixote',  'We're only thinking of you, .... '.

I finally realized why that looked wrong!  It should be 'Man of La Mancha'.  NOW I'll be able to sleep tonight! 

[goodluckselling]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@ittybitnot wrote:

Umm... so does this mean we're opted in automatically and have to manually opt out...? 

Sure looks that way.  You didn't get the "email" last month letting you know this day was upon you?  

Apparently, they were not getting enough volunteers clicking on the "learn more" button, so they have resorted to other unsavory tactics to increase participation. 

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We got an option to join in April, and then nothing until the email I just showed you.

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Since this is a third party app if you are enrolled in the feature I think it should show up in your subscriptions?  Check your subscriptions and see if it is there.

Good Luck Selling!

[goodluckselling]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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 I want to clear up a misconception I've seen mentioned here a few times - this program is free to sellers and something that will boost their visibility. We are not promoting this feature simply to increase the number of users, but instead because we have seen a high level of success with this program for the sellers who have been using it, and want to extend this further to increase our sellers sales. 

Honestly, I am a confused to see the level of negative reaction that I've seen here for a free service that only serves to increase visibility for those sellers who are already shipping internationally. It is simply a translation service and though I commend those who wish to educate themselves further, I want to encourage everyone to take a moment to review the information I've already shared to reassure themselves of what this program is and is not.

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@Anonymous

I want you to review the rating from a few articles

webretailer ratings for webintrepet  -  click here

webintrepet bait and switch tactic  -  click here

eBay is partnering with a third party company from France and giving them access to our seller account.  eBay you should know better than this especially since you nearly folded from your last security breach.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2014/05/21/ebay-suffers-massive-security-breach-all-users-must-their-change-passwords/#73b8132f7492

webintrepet will never gain the confidence of eBay sellers because of the sneeky practice eBay and webintrepet are engaging in.  eBay has entered the garden with a snake as partners.

I do not want a third party to have access to my active listings to use them in any way.

Good Luck Selling!

[a_c_green]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

It's interesting~your email says you were opted in, yet when you call, they say you aren't and Trinton confirmed, if I am not mistaken, that you are not...enrolled.  He also said no one is enrolled without their consent, yet it seems some are?  Perhaps Trinton will be back to further explain.

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I think I'm being accurate in the following summary of where things stand at the moment:

@soccerteeth has posted a message stating that his/her selling account has been "opted-in" [sic] to WebInterpret without permission, and is concerned that WebInterpret has already posted listings on other sites.

The account that @soccerteeth is concerned about is not the posting account here, and @soccerteeth does not want to identify it here, so the affected ID is being passed to @Anonymous behind the scenes so that he can investigate further. 

@Anonymous has stated that the account may be enrolled, but listings themselves are not reposted without the seller's participation.

@soccerteeth is reluctant to log into the unwanted WebInterpret account directly for fear of triggering a reposting process on other sites.

There has been a lot of hand-waving and digression onto other topics (a large part of which Yrs Truly is responsible for), but I believe that's where we are as far as the original topic is concerned.

[abfabvintage]

@goodluckselling 

Hi, Good...excellent, excellent post. Thank you very much...

[gramophone-georg]

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@city*satins wrote:

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

It appears that you (ebay) uses 'opt in' to mean enroll in, without a necessarily active or voluntary action.  

However, 'opt out' is a decisive voluntary, and seller decided, action to exit a program. 

How can that be?  Just which is the correct usage of the word 'opt'?

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Hi @gracieallen01, since words can mean more than one thing, I would counter that there is no correct or incorrect usage for the terminology we are discussing.

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“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

-- Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), Through the Looking-Glass (1872)

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@Anonymous wrote:
If you encounter a similar discussion in the future where eBay is stating they are opting a group in to something, understand that we are enrolling them.

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Yes! I would be good with "enroll" in this context. Certainly it's possible to be enrolled in something without your knowledge or permission, but it's pretty much physically impossible to opt-in to something without your awareness and cooperation. Let's go with "enroll" for the purposes of this discussion going forward. Thanks.

(I would have responded sooner, but I recently opted-in to a pizza and have only just finished it. )

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The new English apparently spoken at eBay would say that if you don't order a pizza, a pizza company can opt you in for one and arrive at your door with it.  Surprise!!!!

Apparently OPT  (root word OPTION) has been co-opted to refer to the merchant instead of the customer.  One of those 1984 thingies.  

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Agree. 'Opt In' and 'Enroll' both presume action on the part of the enrollee. None of that happened here.

Good grief, eBay- why the laughable, beyond weaksauce  spin? Just tell sellers which shaft they are getting TODAY.

[gramophone-georg]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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 I want to clear up a misconception I've seen mentioned here a few times - this program is free to sellers and something that will boost their visibility. We are not promoting this feature simply to increase the number of users, but instead because we have seen a high level of success with this program for the sellers who have been using it, and want to extend this further to increase our sellers sales. 

Honestly, I am a confused to see the level of negative reaction that I've seen here for a free service that only serves to increase visibility for those sellers who are already shipping internationally. It is simply a translation service and though I commend those who wish to educate themselves further, I want to encourage everyone to take a moment to review the information I've already shared to reassure themselves of what this program is and is not.

---

@Anonymous

I want you to review the rating from a few articles

webretailer ratings for webintrepet  -  click here

webintrepet bait and switch tactic  -  click here

eBay is partnering with a third party company from France and giving them access to our seller account.  eBay you should know better than this especially since you nearly folded from your last security breach.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2014/05/21/ebay-suffers-massive-security-breach-all-users-must-their-change-passwords/#73b8132f7492

webintrepet will never gain the confidence of eBay sellers because of the sneeky practice eBay and webintrepet are engaging in.  eBay has entered the garden with a snake as partners.

I do not want a third party to have access to my active listings to use them in any way.

Good Luck Selling!

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Good Luck: But then, we are talking about the same eBay that took 3 months to discover they'd been hacked and let users know they should change their passwords. Safety Third!! (or fifth, or 15th, or 95th, or something...)

[nocoolnamejane]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That being said, while language is a personal passion of mine, I won't be able to debate this point further - we will simply have to agree to disagree on this matter. 

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I think you’re confusing language and newspeak and this is all doubleplusungood.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

So I just checked our email and I found this from eBay: 

Umm... so does this mean we're opted in automatically and have to manually opt out...? 

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How DARE they...

I've read enough posts here about Webinterpret to know that one thing it's NOT - is "free". The trial may be but after the trial it causes all sorts of additional fees and issues for sellers.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

As an aside - all my IDs have been getting messages claiming You're In! but that was about Seller Hub. Though god knows why they feel the need to send these emails now when I've been dumped into Seller Hub already and have been for months...

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@hillbillymedia wrote:

Tagging to the end of the post

ebay doesn`t understand, for some reason, that sellers want to sell on their terms without surprises. headaches, workarounds etc. It doesn`t matter if the program is free. It doesn`t matter if it`s the best program on the planet, the seller wants some control and choices, not back-door enrollment.

Now sellers have the headache of opting out of something they never opted into and they just trust ebay just a little less then they did before. I would strongly suggest to ebay to quit playing games with sellers accounts and do something for once to try and gain your sellers trust back. You aren`t winning anyone over this way.

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Going off to check my one ID that does sell direct internationally.

[diamond_exchange]

I think what is the worst about all of this, is not actually knowing if you "are" or "aren't" signed up for this nonsense.  This page they give you to opt-out seems sketchy at best, you can literally just put in any username valid or not and it will just say "We're sad to see you go". 

There should be something in our user settings that allows us to disable this nonsense, I rather not be opted into something I can't even prove is active or not. For all, we know we opt-out and they still keep us opted-in without our knowing. How do we get proof we've opted in or out?

[gracieallen01]

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@diamond_exchange wrote:

I think what is the worst about all of this, is not actually knowing if you "are" or "aren't" signed up for this nonsense.  This page they give you to opt-out seems sketchy at best, you can literally just put in any username valid or not and it will just say "We're sad to see you go". 

There should be something in our user settings that allows us to disable this nonsense, I rather not be opted into something I can't even prove is active or not. For all, we know we opt-out and they still keep us opted-in without our knowing. How do we get proof we've opted in or out?

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Well, you have their 'word' on it.                          

Hmmmmm .... meh, wouldn't make ME feel all warm and fuzzy, either.

[dasarock]

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@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

So I just checked our email and I found this from eBay:

...

Umm... so does this mean we're opted in automatically and have to manually opt out...? 

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How DARE they...

I've read enough posts here about Webinterpret to know that one thing it's NOT - is "free". The trial may be but after the trial it causes all sorts of additional fees and issues for sellers.

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how dare they??  how they dare is easy-peasy,  it's all about the $$$ young lady.  with sellers slowly being forced into managed payments, it works right into the qUEST fOR dOLLARS that ebay is going for.  just think of how many fraudulent purchases done here and now add in webinterpret and the boocou  increase of same under their "managed" listings that are being reported.  now factor in that managed payments can charge fees for BOTH original transactions AND refunds.  (they got you coming and going).    i hope that i am wrong, but we all know that it is dOLLAR dRIVEN.