How does THIS help sellers SELL ?!? >> Help answer a question from the eBay community

[cynthealee2]

I woke up this afternoon to TWELVE questions about items in my store... guy wants to buy all 6 of the purple variations left up in my store... Wanted to know what my lowest price was with free shipping.

I think WHOO WOOOO SALE!!!!! and I can get rid of 6 more of these figures.

Till I wake up a bit more... and realize I have NO WAY, none what so ever of talking to THAT buyer.

The stupid email I got was sent to EVERY seller of THAT particular item because of the "ask question" on the PRODUCT page. The email does NOT contain the buyers name anywhere so I can sent a message through eBay's system, and I'm quite sure that my ANSWER to his questions are going to go into the clouds as well. (ROFL bet half those sellers are trying to figure out what "purple" the buyer was talking about. )

ALLLLLLLL because eBay thought it was a BRILLIANT idea to put a Q and A on the PRODUCT page and NOT telling the buyers what it was for, how it worked, or that their questions would not go to an INDIVIDUAL seller that could actually work with them to buy the items they are looking for.

Those questions the buyers ask go into the clouds (cause I can't find where they post either on the product page OR in the Q&A section of community), the answers I send back on them go into the clouds cause they never get "approved" and posted on the product page (or in the boards).

What was the POINT eBay????? to tick off the buyers AND the sellers all in one go?

Cause I know that buyer is ticked I have ignored his TWELVE questions sent to me discussing the various figures and the purple variations over a 3 hour time span.

Last Email from the "buyer":

An eBay member has a question for you.

A buyer is interested in the product you’re selling but they have a question. Can you help them out?

The question:

“Hi checked out your store you have 6 different purple variants 2 anakins # 2 & # 28, agen kolar # 20, bail organa # 15, Chewbacca # 5, chancellor palpatine # 14 what price can you give if I buy all 6 purples with free shipping.?”

Without a NAME of the buyer or a way to contact the individual seller from the product page what in hades was the point in putting the Q & A on the PRODUCT page!!!!!

Do I need to put a blurb in bright red at the top of my listings "Do NOT try and contact the seller from the product page, we will not be able to respond to you, please contact me through eBay messages instead".

PS you guys can @ who ever you want to or THINK is at least going to listen. I'll start the ball rolling

@syedmhaq

[jonathankirkland]

This is going to create HUGE problems for everyone. I seriously cannot believe ebay did this.

[pantlandia]

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@jonathankirkland wrote:

This is going to create HUGE problems for everyone. I seriously cannot believe ebay did this.

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That, my friend, will NOT be the last time you say that 🙂

It is very confusing. I almost used it earlier to ask a seller a question and stopped myself before hitting send. 

[partial*eclipse]

Took me a while to catch on, too.  

How clever of eBay to introduce it at the same time as they removed the longstanding link for asking the seller a question, and put it in the same position at the bottom of the listing, so at first glance it just seems like a new format for the ASQ.

[jonathankirkland]

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@syedmhaq wrote:

@cynthealee2 Can you please point me to the listing and product page?

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Am I the only one wondering if @syedmhaq is going to weigh in here with any type of response?

[lookng2015]

And WHY (for those who do have a link to it) did they change it to "contact seller" rather than keep the 'ask seller a question'? Just to muddy the waters even more?

[lookng2015]

Cyn, maybe YOU need to "ask the seller a question" on the same product stating that feature is not used to ASK YOUR seller a question? (though I doubt the buyer will see it as they're expecting YOU to answer THEM)

[cynthealee2]

Moot point now...

The rest of the listings fell off today.

I wasn't planning on putting them back up till AFTER I sent in the excel file and they fixed the ones that are messed up.

When they go back up I'll change different sections to HAVE the dang link to talk straight to ME.

Not going to help the REST of you guys though unless the fripping do some combo of my post # 9:

There needs to be a way for the buyers to

A) Know it's going to ALL the sellers of this item

And / Or

B) A way for the buyer to contact the exact seller they are talking to from that product page

And / Or

C) A way for the buyer to leave their eBay name so messages can be sent straight to the buyer.

Or a way for the sellers answers to go to the buyer IF the question is not relevant to the item itself and won't be posted.  (ie shipping combination questions, price reductions, ect)

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Jebezus they need a few SELLERS at ebay so when they have these BRILLIANT ideas some one can go through and show them why it will work and why it WON'T unless they do this that or the other.

75% of the sellers on the community boards could have told them WHY they needed a few more features on this mess OR why they didn't need to confuse the buyers and the sellers.

The CONCEPT (as usual) would be fine... the REALITY (again as usual) is messed up, and works no where near the way they wanted it to.

I swear they "test" to see if the thing WORKS technical wise but they don't test to see if works for REAL TIME BUYING experience.   How fast are they chasing off buyers with this mess, but they will blame the sellers for it.... you know they will

[cynthealee2]

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@lookng2015 wrote:
Cyn, maybe YOU need to "ask the seller a question" on the same product stating that feature is not used to ASK YOUR seller a question? (though I doubt the buyer will see it as they're expecting YOU to answer THEM)

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PS  it won't work... the question isn't relevant to the product itself... so again it won't post to the product page.

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Ugg I'm angry all over again.... I sell 2-3 of these each time I put em up... every 6 months or so... and to lose a sale on SIX of the **bleep** things just completely ticks me off.

@syedmhaq

Why in HADES am I working on the stupid catalog and getting the product pages to look and work right if they are just going to COST me sales in the long run... silly me, I thought the point was to HELP sales increase not DECREASE.

[goodluckselling]

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@cynthealee2 wrote:

@goodluckselling

I agree in CONCEPT with every thing you stated... up to a point.

My buyer wasn't asking me how to play with the figure, or what play sets it goes with, or when it was made, or how to use the item...  All relevant questions to the item itself.

My buyer wanted info on shipping combo's and making a deal with him when he buys several at one time.  Not relevant to the item itself, so I don't think it will be "posted" and frankly it should NOT be posted to the product page... So buyer and seller are stuck behind a wall neither able to talk directly to the other.

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The reason it should NOT be posted is because I'm willing to do 45 to him with free ship IF he's in the US... if he's in Canada he's paying shipping. 

I may be willing to do the deal but Joe's Figures isn't going to do that deal, but it will be on the product page and possibly at the bottom of your listing under "questions" just like "reviews" are at the top now.

Susan's Star Wars Collection may be willing to wrap hers in star wars gift wrap as an added bonus at Christmas... I don't have the paper nor am I wrapping your present for you, but it'll say I do in the Q and A Section

But if they don't 'post' or the messages don't go through to the right seller or back to the buyer buyers are behind a wall and they walk.

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@cynthealee2  Just a couple simple question.  Based on all the details and the explanation  - 

• What makes you think you are the only one able to accomodate the request from the buyer? 
• How do you know the question was specifically for you? 
• Shouldn't all sellers on these items have the opportunity to make an offer to fulfill the request?  The seller who can not will simple not reply.  Seller may have the inventory as request but not listed.

The new eBay (cataloged shopping)  will not be slanted toward single indiviudal sellers, but all sellers of the exact same item will have the chance to earn the sale and because if this all sellers of the exact same item should have the chance to help a buyer who has a question.

Good Luck Selling!

[goodluckselling]

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@cynthealee2 wrote:

There needs to be a way for the buyers to

A) Know it's going to ALL the sellers of this item

And / Or

B) A way for the buyer to contact the exact seller they are talking to from that product page

And / Or

C) A way for the buyer to leave their eBay name so messages can be sent straight to the buyer.

Or a way for the sellers answers to go to the buyer IF the question is not relevant to the item itself and won't be posted.  (ie shipping combination questions, price reductions, ect)

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On other marketplaces I sell that uses this same cataloged approach, buyers can message sellers directly.  Time will tell if eBay has a path to do this but there is no reason I can think of that eBay would not create that path,  but that does not mean they will or know how to.  As a buyer I kind of like having all the sellers of the same item competing for my business based on a question or series of questions I might have. 

As a buyer who might ask the exact question you described a seller might see the question and reply with a better offer then I the buyer requested or give me even more options than I asked for.

This is what I mean by

• competing,
• being proactive and responsive,
• knowledgeable about the products in question
• having some marketing experience to entice the buyer to buy from you.

Good Luck Selling!

[cynthealee2]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@cynthealee2  Just a couple simple question.  Based on all the details and the explanation  - 

• What makes you think you are the only one able to accomodate the request from the buyer? 
• How do you know the question was specifically for you? 
• Shouldn't all sellers on these items have the opportunity to make an offer to fulfill the request?  The seller who can not will simple not reply.  Seller may have the inventory as request but not listed.

The new eBay (cataloged shopping)  will not be slanted toward single indiviudal sellers, but all sellers of the exact same item will have the chance to earn the sale and because if this all sellers of the exact same item should have the chance to help a buyer who has a question.

Good Luck Selling!

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I am the only one selling the "Purple Variants" of these figures (listed as such, some buyers may HAVE a purple head vrs blue head but they aren't LISTING them as such)

Buyer listed all 6 of the purple variants I had listed at the time and asked what kind of deal I would make him.

Buyer went through MY store and stated he had found all 6 of the ones I had listed.

If I'm the only seller listing them as such, and the buyer asks a question about the variations I have up for sale I'm going to think he was talking to ME...

If the rest of them have FREE shipping (dunno if they do this is just for example), and mine have shipping added and a question comes though "can you do a deal on the shipping" I'm gonna figure they are talking to me... but because the question is not relevant to the ITEM itself the questions and answers are not going to post (and should not) to the product page.

Each listing tells them I want to "make deals" simply click "ask seller a question" and tell me what you want.   Buyer did or at least thought they did.

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Now if the OTHER sellers figure out they have the purple head (backer board for the figure), and not the BLUE head and then list them as such then have at; some ones got sold and the buyer is happy, and continues to shop on eBay.

What I do NOT want is ticked off buyers going off eBay to buy the items cause the "sellers on eBay are rude and don't answer their questions"

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Shouldn't all sellers on these items have the opportunity to make an offer to fulfill the request?  The seller who can not will simple not reply.  Seller may have the inventory as request but not listed.

YES EVERY one should have a shot at selling THEIR items... got no issue with it again in THEORY.

But when eBay gets between sellers and the buyer and loses the sale then I got issues.

Cause again SHIPPING discounts, and COMBO deals are not RELEVANT to the product itself so those questions and answers will not POST ANYWHERE (currently), will go unanswered, and the buyers go elsewhere (not eBay) to buy them.

[cynthealee2]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@cynthealee2 wrote:

There needs to be a way for the buyers to

A) Know it's going to ALL the sellers of this item

And / Or

B) A way for the buyer to contact the exact seller they are talking to from that product page

And / Or

C) A way for the buyer to leave their eBay name so messages can be sent straight to the buyer.

Or a way for the sellers answers to go to the buyer IF the question is not relevant to the item itself and won't be posted.  (ie shipping combination questions, price reductions, ect)

---

On other marketplaces I sell that uses this same cataloged approach, buyers can message sellers directly.  Time will tell if eBay has a path to do this but there is no reason I can think of that eBay would not create that path,  but that does not mean they will or know how to.  As a buyer I kind of like having all the sellers of the same item competing for my business based on a question or series of questions I might have. 

As a buyer who might ask the exact question you described a seller might see the question and reply with a better offer then I the buyer requested or give me even more options than I asked for.

This is what I mean by

• competing,
• being proactive and responsive,
• knowledgeable about the products in question
• having some marketing experience to entice the buyer to buy from you.

Good Luck Selling!

---

ALLLLLL of this would be fine with me cause that means the BUYERS are happy and staying on ebay.

Another seller wants to make a better deal have at... mine will sell sooner or later.

Yes I'm mad I lost a sale of 6 figures... but I'm MADDER about the fact that I can't help the buyer at ALL.  I'm upset cause the BUYER thinks the seller (me) is rude and not answering the questions. NONE of the sellers even if they had the items could answer the guy cause the question wasn't relevant to the PRODUCT the question came through on so they aren't going to post, and neither are the answers.

I'm upset cause this may cause the buyer to go to facebook, or Amazon or where ever and buy the item cause they can't get responses to their questions on eBay.   We are already seeing this on different threads. (as Labs pointed out)

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I know several different ways to get around the catalog, product pages ect and completely by pass this entire mess... But I want to work WITH the system, I want the system to WORK, and I want to keep buyers on eBay whether or not they buy MY items.

[swenson8781]

Some days it seems to me that the 'upgrades' & 'improvements' done on this site are making it more and more complicated to use.  Searching items is not the worst, but takes some know how (which first time buyers might not have if not familiar with the site).  The return policy is complicated to figure out how to initiate, they've made the button smaller again, and now buyers cannot easily directly ask a specific seller a question either.  SMH 

THAT will surely drive buyers away.  I hope they start focusing on ease of use, and simplicity.  We need good buyers to stay, not to come here and be frustrated with having to figure out how to find items, ask a question, or return something.

[syedmhaq]

@cynthealee2 @jonathankirkland I agree that this is a confusing experience.

Once you click into a particular item for a product, you're in the context of that specific item. So naturally the buyer will think he's asking a question about that particular item, not that product in general. Nobody will bother to read the fine print. 

I'm trying to locate the person who designed and launched this experience and will follow up when I have more information. 

[cynthealee2]

@syedmhaq

Did you figure out what is going on and if this mess is permanent?

Cause as you saw with the screen shots I sent you, nothing goes through back to the buyer if the question is not about the item itself.   If the question is about making a deal with multiple items, or about shipping rates both the question and the answer go out into the netherland.

I've completely stopped working on the excel file for the catalog, and editing of listings... cause if this is the new normal then I have to redo more than I thought and I'm NOT redoing these more than once on Auctiva.