Is there a way to permanently remove "Respond to questions" in the seller hub?

[therapy_dragon]

I don't believe there is a single human being in the world that actually uses the "Respond to questions" in the Actions column of the seller hub. 

To me, it just gets in the way of making edits to the listing. Having to click the tiny arrow dropdown box to find the edit option is as anti-human a design choice as it gets. 

[heckofagame]

You could respond to the questions?

[wastingtime101]

No, there isn't @therapy_dragon , nor is there an option to 'mark as answered' using the bulk tools even though sellers have been asking for it for years.

It's really annoying to have fully answered buyer questions then have 20 listings with 'unanswered' questions because the buyers replied to say thank you, and we cannot mark those 20 listings as answered using bulk tools.

Edit: The only 'permanent' solution would be to disallow questions from buyers in your site preferences.

[chapeau-noir]

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@therapy_dragon wrote:

I don't believe there is a single human being in the world that actually uses the "Respond to questions" in the Actions column of the seller hub. 

To me, it just gets in the way of making edits to the listing. Having to click the tiny arrow dropdown box to find the edit option is as anti-human a design choice as it gets. 

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I guess I'm that single human being.

Just check the drop-down next to the listing. Why would the site have a bulk response option? What kind of criteria would be used to code that?

[wastingtime101]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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Why would the site have a bulk response option?

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Is that directed at me? If it is, I believe you misunderstood my post. Bulk response would be pointless. I was referring to a bulk action to 'mark as answered' when no response is necessary.

Example:

Buyer: Hi do you offer discounts?

Seller: Yes, discounts for this listing are automatically applied when you add multiple items to your shopping cart.

Buyer: Thanks

Because buyer responded to say 'thanks' that triggers the unanswered question / respond to questions prompt. You have to go listing-by-listing to 'mark as answered'. My above post says we should have the ability to 'mark as answered' in bulk when questions do not need replies.

[chapeau-noir]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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Why would the site have a bulk response option?

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Is that directed at me? If it is, I believe you misunderstood my post. Bulk response would be pointless. I was referring to a bulk action to 'mark as answered' when no response is necessary.

Example:

Buyer: Hi do you offer discounts?

Seller: Yes, discounts for this listing are automatically applied when you add multiple items to your shopping cart.

Buyer: Thanks

Because buyer responded to say 'thanks' that triggers the unanswered question / respond to questions prompt. You have to go listing-by-listing to 'mark as answered'. My above post says we should have the ability to 'mark as answered' in bulk when questions do not need replies.

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Yes, it was an honest question to anyone who could answer it, though I should have said how. I see the utility of it for very large sellers who have to field tons of questions, but doing so I think would involve content discovery - what criteria would anyone use to decide if a question needs to be answered or not save by actually looking at the content? How would that be done?

[wastingtime101]

That would be on the seller to manage.

I know when I've gone through every buyer message by end of day, anything remaining as 'unanswered' does not need to be answered so I could safely mark all as answered using bulk tool if it was available.

Or, if I had a question I couldn't answer until the next day for some reason, I could use the unanswered questions filter to show all listings awaiting answers, bulk select every listing then uncheck the single listing awaiting a response and bulk mark as answered all the remaining ones.

[chapeau-noir]

I understand the  concept, I'm just wondering about execution.  I suppose that could be implemented in the bulk listing display as another column. We'd still have to read it, though.

ETA: And I'm still not sure WHY the "respond to questions" should be removed from the seller hub. It's a handy shortcut.

Oh well - time for more espresso...or maybe I've had too much already.

[wastingtime101]

OK sorry I guess I'm not clear what you've been asking. If you're asking how the option would be implemented:

The idea is 'mark as answered' would be added to the top level bulk Actions button. Check off multiple listings, then at the top click actions button and select 'mark as answered' from the drop down.

[gloryglorygifts]

If it less than 90 days since it was asked you can just click on the drop down menu under it and say that it was answered. You have to do it from your active selling hub and not in bulk tho. 

[chapeau-noir]

Thank you - I understand you and how that piece of it would work - I'm wondering where the content of the questions would be displayed in a bulk scenario in order to make that decision. I'd have to know if it's just a handshake or courtesy question, or something I'd actually have to answer. I'm just thinking that all listings with questions could be checked and then opened in the bulk edit option and the question text would displayed. One could go down the list that way.

I may be misunderstanding the original question. It's OK - I go down these rabbit holes periodically.

[wastingtime101]

Ah, OK. I don't think content needs to be displayed in bulk. That thought never occurred to me so perhaps that's why I'm disconnected in understanding your posts. 🙃

As I mentioned above, I'd go through my messages (meaning my messages folder and/or my email copies) to make sure I've addressed anything that needs to be addressed before using a bulk 'mark as answered' action.

Interesting idea to display messages in some kind of bulk format, but with eBay programming I feel like that would create more issues than it would potentially solve. 😉