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.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@sharingtheland wrote:

it states that "Wenig brings "significant expertise in technology, global operations and strategic planning" to the automaker's board." so perhaps his role will be a more active one

Nah, that's pr.  Have to make him look good to justify naming him to the BofD.

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Probably one of those BOD appointments that's "jobs for the boys"

[gracieallen01]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

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@jocli76 wrote:

Ebay reps respond like a deer in the headlights; they don't understand why many ebay abhor the cozy and  mutually beneficial and corrupted eBay/WebInterpret collusion.

Glitches my donkey.

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I think you're naive, or maybe just generous with that sweet dear analogy. I think they understand very well but are paid, and probably well, for the words ebay chooses to misconstrue. To not tow the party line is surely instant death. 

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One has to be smart to successfully play dumb.

[ittybitnot]

opting users in even when they didn't click any links, difficulty in unsubscribing to something that users never subscribed to in the first place...

I am hoping tomorrow that one of the eBay staff @Anonymous  or one of the others return and give explicit instructions on how to "opt out" of this.  It was mentioned upthread that some did not have an "opt out" button in their announcement of their "auto enrollment" by eBay instead of being able to volunteer or not.  Screen shots with those "red arrows" would be good. 

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Definition of "volunteer" is another word definition needed for this thread because ebay seems very confused and perhaps needs an English language refresher course. 

[castlemagicmemories]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

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@jocli76 wrote:

Ebay reps respond like a deer in the headlights; they don't understand why many ebay abhor the cozy and  mutually beneficial and corrupted eBay/WebInterpret collusion.

Glitches my donkey.

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I think you're naive, or maybe just generous with that sweet dear analogy. I think they understand very well but are paid, and probably well, for the words ebay chooses to misconstrue. To not tow the party line is surely instant death. 

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One has to be smart to successfully play dumb.

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Huh?  

(Sorry, couldn't resist!)

[Anonymous]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Additionally, from what I have read, it isn't easy to opt out.  The token placed by Webinterpret reappears, and multiple attempts to stop this service may not be successful.  If you read of the problems in those threads, you will understand why there is such a negative reaction.  The fact that just clicking on See Details opted many in when they were just looking for info was very disturbing.

Speculation about there not being enough sellers signing up was my thought because many were aware of the negative experiences of others from threads; thus it seems possible that if people weren't clicking on see details anymore, then an automatic opt in might be eBay's answer, to get more participation.  That's all.

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Hi @castlemagicmemories, your reference to the token reappearing indicates that the sellers reporting issues with opting out are not opting out correctly. The steps to opt out are on the FAQ I have included before - simply removing the authorization on eBay's end will not opt a seller out, so it makes sense that it would reappear. Actually contacting Webinterpret with the steps we outline on the site is a simple process and will easily opt a seller out without issue.

[Anonymous]

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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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HI @a_c_green, we've fully established what the I mean when I say a seller has been opted in. I will continue to use this phrasing and trust that anyone encountering it will understand what I mean. Language evolves, official Terms & Conditions will contain the full details if anyone is concerned with the terms of the contract, and I cannot possibly interact with our Community with word choices that will satisfy everyone. I can only clarify when needed and reiterate that further conversation about word choice is off topic for this thread.

Any additional comments in this thread about semantics or word choice will be removed.

[zamo-zuan]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Additionally, from what I have read, it isn't easy to opt out.  The token placed by Webinterpret reappears, and multiple attempts to stop this service may not be successful.  If you read of the problems in those threads, you will understand why there is such a negative reaction.  The fact that just clicking on See Details opted many in when they were just looking for info was very disturbing.

Speculation about there not being enough sellers signing up was my thought because many were aware of the negative experiences of others from threads; thus it seems possible that if people weren't clicking on see details anymore, then an automatic opt in might be eBay's answer, to get more participation.  That's all.

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Hi @castlemagicmemories, your reference to the token reappearing indicates that the sellers reporting issues with opting out are not opting out correctly. The steps to opt out are on the FAQ I have included before - simply removing the authorization on eBay's end will not opt a seller out, so it makes sense that it would reappear. Actually contacting Webinterpret with the steps we outline on the site is a simple process and will easily opt a seller out without issue.

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I'm confused now.

The "opt out" button is a simple link that if you click takes you to a screen that says you are successfully opted out.

Now are we supposed to contact Webinterpret with additional steps? Under the impression I was given, we were already opted out (though I knew to take a screenshot since I don't trust this company).

If this is not correct and there's additional steps, that's just another example of why this whole situation should not be happening. We shouldn't be told we're opted out by clicking that button, if it is not actually true?

This is why I wasn't happy to be auto enrolled to begin with. I've heard about the nightmares trying to remove Webinterpret. If there's "additional steps" we must do, it's only proving those nightmares to be true. Especially if eBay's email sent on behalf of Webinterpret does not even give proper instructions and false notifications of being opted out. 

[jocli76]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

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@jocli76 wrote:

Ebay reps respond like a deer in the headlights; they don't understand why many ebay abhor the cozy and  mutually beneficial and corrupted eBay/WebInterpret collusion.

Glitches my donkey.

---

I think you're naive, or maybe just generous with that sweet dear analogy. I think they understand very well but are paid, and probably well, for the words ebay chooses to misconstrue. To not tow the party line is surely instant death. 

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I am being generous.

I don't think these are glitches.

A deer seen in the headlights is confused, and you cannot depend on them to take the correct path when confronted (with a vehicle). 

[Anonymous]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

opting users in even when they didn't click any links, difficulty in unsubscribing to something that users never subscribed to in the first place...

I am hoping tomorrow that one of the eBay staff @Anonymous  or one of the others return and give explicit instructions on how to "opt out" of this.  It was mentioned upthread that some did not have an "opt out" button in their announcement of their "auto enrollment" by eBay instead of being able to volunteer or not.  Screen shots with those "red arrows" would be good. 

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Hi @ittybitnot, the instructions to Opt Out are available in the FAQ I have provided previously. 

[Anonymous]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Additionally, from what I have read, it isn't easy to opt out.  The token placed by Webinterpret reappears, and multiple attempts to stop this service may not be successful.  If you read of the problems in those threads, you will understand why there is such a negative reaction.  The fact that just clicking on See Details opted many in when they were just looking for info was very disturbing.

Speculation about there not being enough sellers signing up was my thought because many were aware of the negative experiences of others from threads; thus it seems possible that if people weren't clicking on see details anymore, then an automatic opt in might be eBay's answer, to get more participation.  That's all.

---

Hi @castlemagicmemories, your reference to the token reappearing indicates that the sellers reporting issues with opting out are not opting out correctly. The steps to opt out are on the FAQ I have included before - simply removing the authorization on eBay's end will not opt a seller out, so it makes sense that it would reappear. Actually contacting Webinterpret with the steps we outline on the site is a simple process and will easily opt a seller out without issue.

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I'm confused now.

The "opt out" button is a simple link that if you click takes you to a screen that says you are successfully opted out.

Now are we supposed to contact Webinterpret with additional steps? Under the impression I was given, we were already opted out (though I knew to take a screenshot since I don't trust this company).

If this is not correct and there's additional steps, that's just another example of why this whole situation should not be happening. We shouldn't be told we're opted out by clicking that button, if it is not actually true?

This is why I wasn't happy to be auto enrolled to begin with. I've heard about the nightmares trying to remove Webinterpret. If there's "additional steps" we must do, it's only proving those nightmares to be true. Especially if eBay's email sent on behalf of Webinterpret does not even give proper instructions and false notifications of being opted out. 

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No, @zamo-zuan. The opt out button is all you need to do. My response to another poster is in reference to those sellers who remove the authorization token and are not taking the appropriate steps to opt out. There are no additional steps, simply the correct steps that need to be followed. If you use the opt out button and received confirmation that you are opted out, then there is no reason to believe you need to take additional steps.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

Additionally, from what I have read, it isn't easy to opt out.  The token placed by Webinterpret reappears, and multiple attempts to stop this service may not be successful.  If you read of the problems in those threads, you will understand why there is such a negative reaction.  The fact that just clicking on See Details opted many in when they were just looking for info was very disturbing.

Speculation about there not being enough sellers signing up was my thought because many were aware of the negative experiences of others from threads; thus it seems possible that if people weren't clicking on see details anymore, then an automatic opt in might be eBay's answer, to get more participation.  That's all.

---

Hi @castlemagicmemories, your reference to the token reappearing indicates that the sellers reporting issues with opting out are not opting out correctly. The steps to opt out are on the FAQ I have included before - simply removing the authorization on eBay's end will not opt a seller out, so it makes sense that it would reappear. Actually contacting Webinterpret with the steps we outline on the site is a simple process and will easily opt a seller out without issue.

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Thank for clearing that up, Trinton!

[diamond_exchange]

What is funny is my friend that also sells on eBay Opted Out before they could even opt him in, and 2 days later (today) his "account manager" of which he NEVER heard of suddenly contacted him with a scripted email that specified this

"I'd like to connect with you one more time as your account has gone live."

oddly he has NEVER connected with this person in his life, and suddenly his account is live with WebInterpret with no consent what so ever?

Now what is disturbing about this, is that fact this clearly is a mass sent message, nothing about the message makes it unique to him, and more than that, is that fact this "account manager" has clearly stated that they had already enrolled him without his consent and if he wants out of it he needs to opt-out of all this nonsense that he never agreed to sign up for in the first place.


Moreover, the friend of mine told me he has never heard of this so-called account manager before and never has been assigned an account manager ever in his ample years on eBay.


There is some really shady stuff going on here, I wouldn't trust this webinterpret company at all. 

[soccerteeth]

I was taken out of the program today and it was just a bunch of seller time wasted that we could have used for actually selling and trying to sell around the crud that is happening here. 

I wrote webinterpret and explained why. Got an email from ebay, while letting me iout, still selling the program. Then just got one from webinterpret selling the program, confirming im out and looking forward to my reasoning and explanation. The one I provided already in my message to webinterpret.

Somehow inefficiency ,must make money for ebay becasue we know it takes money from us.  Our time is our most important resource and its constantly wasted figuring out workarounds, whats wrong, calling cs and re-explaining ourselves. 

Ebay will make more money from us if we are not tired and anxiety ridden from dealing with manufactured issues. Not by constantly messing with us, they make less and we make less, here anyway. 

[soccerteeth]

Now time to change a bunch of passwords.  Its nice to know someone got our login credentials without our permission except something we probably agreed to in the unreadable word-salad TOS.