eBay

community_team · ‎02-16-2024

Hi sellers,

We wanted to let you know that we're making a couple of updates to the way we communicate site changes and topics with our sellers. We've decided to retire the monthly chat’s current format. Instead, we will schedule our chats with eBay staff around timely updates and recent changes. Moving forward, we will host the chats in the Buying & Selling boards depending on the appropriate topic, and you will have a week to submit your questions.

As always, our Community team will be focusing on keeping you updated and addressing any questions or concerns you may have in the meantime.

We know staying up to date is important, so we recommend attending our quarterly eBay Seller Check-In. Register for Spring Seller Check-In here. This way, you'll be able to hear from eBay executives and staff and ask any questions you may have in real time. Don't worry, we'll still be providing educational content and useful tips through our Announcements and What's New posts.

As always,

Thank you for being a part of the eBay community

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎02-18-2024

@a_c_green wrote:
@wastingtime101 wrote:
It was also posted on the monthly chat board (before it was posted on the selling board), but it was not pinned on that board. Since eBay did not de-pin the January monthly chat, you and @dhbookds probably did not see the post on that board, 2nd in line.
Well, it's pinned there now. Interestingly, it is also not locked (yet), in case anyone wants to post a followup comment there:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Monthly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Monthly-Chat-Update/m-p/34294877#M30392

Wonder if this means on last date all the previous open questions that were waiting for answers will be answered and resolved? Or like @simply-the-best-for-you stated so eloquently, would that be an afterthought? Stay tuned!!

=Lotz

To quote Robert Palmer...Looking for clues at the scene of the crime

quicksilverdiecast · ‎02-18-2024

I think the best thing you can do is STOP whatever you are doing period, and leave things alone that work. The only ones who benefit from it is your competitor's platforms

elizabeth@ebay · ‎02-19-2024

@wastingtime101 wrote:

@community_team wrote:

Moving forward, we will host the chats in the Buying & Selling boards depending on the appropriate topic, and you will have a week to submit your questions.

Thanks for the update! Does this mean the live chat format will be retired?

Will questions be answered throughout the week or just at the end of the week?

If it's at the end of the week, will there be no opportunity for follow up questions as are often necessary in this type of format?

Hi @wastingtime101, great question! The chat wont be the one hour live session as prior chats, however, the Community team will work diligently to get the questions answered as quickly as possible as they come in. Also, if there are follow up questions once the chat is closed these can just be asked the way all other questions are addressed (through tagging us) in a post.

Elizabeth,

elizabeth@ebay · ‎02-19-2024

@go-bad-chicken wrote:

@community_team wrote:

Hi sellers,

We know staying up to date is important, so we recommend attending our quarterly eBay Seller Check-In. Register for Spring Seller Check-In here. This way, you'll be able to hear from eBay executives and staff and ask any questions you may have in real time.

As always,

Thank you for being a part of the eBay community

Can I ask selling questions regarding the categories that I sell in during the Spring Seller Check-In even though they do not appear on the Check-In's agenda? i.e. I don't sell fashion, I know how to do my taxes, and Terapeak doesn't work very well for what I do but I have that part of my business covered by other outside 3rd party applications.

Hi @go-bad-chicken feel free to ask those questions at any time (even outside of check-in) and we will do our best to get them answered as quickly as possible by the right team. Just be sure to tag kyle@ebay, devon@ebay, or myself elizabeth@ebay so we see your question.

Elizabeth,

valueaddedresource · ‎02-19-2024

elizabeth@ebay wrote:
@wastingtime101 wrote:
@community_team wrote:
Moving forward, we will host the chats in the Buying & Selling boards depending on the appropriate topic, and you will have a week to submit your questions.
Thanks for the update! Does this mean the live chat format will be retired?

Will questions be answered throughout the week or just at the end of the week?

If it's at the end of the week, will there be no opportunity for follow up questions as are often necessary in this type of format?
Hi @wastingtime101, great question! The chat wont be the one hour live session as prior chats, however, the Community team will work diligently to get the questions answered as quickly as possible as they come in. Also, if there are follow up questions once the chat is closed these can just be asked the way all other questions are addressed (through tagging us) in a post.

Respectfully, elizabeth@ebay , many of us have noticed tags on many topics are increasingly going completely unanswered and unacknowledged - not even so much as a "we'll pass that on to team".

So telling us we can still ask questions and tag community staff "the way all other questions are addressed" does not give a lot of confidence that doing so will result in those questions actually being addressed.

a_c_green · ‎02-19-2024

elizabeth@ebay wrote:
Hi @go-bad-chicken feel free to ask those questions at any time (even outside of check-in) and we will do our best to get them answered as quickly as possible by the right team. Just be sure to tag kyle@ebay, devon@ebay, or myself elizabeth@ebay so we see your question.

Hi elizabeth@ebay (and kyle@ebay and devon@ebay),

Perhaps we could have a little meta-discussion here about what your processes are these days. I get the feeling some expectations might need adjustment. (I'm not going to ping all three of you every time; I just wanted to be clear that you're all invited to respond.)

Just off the top of my head:

When you refer a problem to some particular "team," do you get a timely acknowledgement (even if it's not an answer right away), such as a case number?
Is there some fixed or approximate time to wait before you go pinging them with a reminder?
Do you have a means of escalating a problem that seems to be going unresponded? For example, there has been a lot of complaining about the new "Most Relevant" Feedback ordering, but no response from anyone as to why that is the default, or (in particular) why it cannot be offered as a "sticky" setting, so that users who prefer the Most Recent ordering can keep it that way.
Are you able to follow up with individuals by name within the company, or is communication about various issues limited to contacting "team" aliases only?
In the case of the Technical Issues group in particular, does anyone on the Engineering side actually read that forum themselves, or do they rely on a moderator to send a heads-up all the time? I have in the past gone into full-geek Engineering mode when using that group to report a bug, with screenshots, Steps to Reproduce and so on, only find little or no response later on (except for the occasional replies from other users, such as "Hey, that happened to me too!"). 🙂

I know in this day and age where no one goes into the office anymore, we rely more heavily on Zoom, email, problem-tracking systems and such, as opposed to just walking over to someone's cubicle and working stuff out in person, but when it comes to significant issues about important problems on this site, eBay seems to be really dropping the ball on communication (if not deliberately moving in the opposite direction). I really wish we could improve that.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎02-19-2024

elizabeth@ebay @valueaddedresource

On the topic of seller engagement, I'll just add that, based on comments I've been seeing on social media, I would say many sellers are discouraged by what they see as a lack of true seller engagement. One simple suggestion:

In the "you spoke, we listened" department, sellers have been asking ---literally for years---for advance notice of Seller Updates. SO, maybe that would be a good place to start?

First by answering this question:

Will ebay be continuing to release periodic Seller Updates (usually 3x a year) or is that practice also being retired, like monthly chat?

If the practice is going to continue, please provide the date for the next update.

Thanks in advance.

elizabeth@ebay · ‎02-20-2024

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

elizabeth@ebay @valueaddedresource

On the topic of seller engagement, I'll just add that, based on comments I've been seeing on social media, I would say many sellers are discouraged by what they see as a lack of true seller engagement. One simple suggestion:

In the "you spoke, we listened" department, sellers have been asking ---literally for years---for advance notice of Seller Updates. SO, maybe that would be a good place to start?

First by answering this question:

Will ebay be continuing to release periodic Seller Updates (usually 3x a year) or is that practice also being retired, like monthly chat?

If the practice is going to continue, please provide the date for the next update.

Thanks in advance.

Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques. Seller updates will continue as per usual and is not impacted by the monthly chat change. The process in which we release information regarding them will also not be altered.

Elizabeth,

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎02-20-2024

elizabeth@ebay Thank you for your response.

dhbookds · ‎02-20-2024

elizabeth@ebay not picking on you, but this type of answer from everyone has been in my craw for sometime.

Throwing my 2 cents in on communicating with people. I've notice a tendency that questions aren't clearly answered.........i.e.

Question.........If the practice is going to continue, please provide the date for the next update.

Answer..........The process in which we release information regarding them will also not be altered

a direct answer should have been........As in the past, we cannot/will not provide dates for the updates in advance.

Most people who have been on ebay for sometime, would understand the original answer.......but new sellers don't have the experience of previous processes.........

I'd like to urge EVERYONE.....staff and posters.......to Answer the Questions asked.........as clearly and succinctly as possible.

teeastreasures · ‎02-21-2024

part of the up and coming layoffs

janet9988 · ‎02-24-2024

Slowly getting rid of the whole idea of chatting with ebay staff. Don't sugar coat it. We are not stupid.

Lift your left leg at midnight to start off on the right foot. Happy new Year!

rongorange · ‎02-25-2024

I have been on eBay for a while now. The traffic in my store used to be better for a while, but now it has been declining significantly, which is very uncomfortable. I don't know how to increase exposure.😭😭

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎02-26-2024

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
elizabeth@ebay @valueaddedresource

On the topic of seller engagement, I'll just add that, based on comments I've been seeing on social media, I would say many sellers are discouraged by what they see as a lack of true seller engagement. One simple suggestion:

In the "you spoke, we listened" department, sellers have been asking ---literally for years---for advance notice of Seller Updates. SO, maybe that would be a good place to start?

First by answering this question:

Will ebay be continuing to release periodic Seller Updates (usually 3x a year) or is that practice also being retired, like monthly chat?

If the practice is going to continue, please provide the date for the next update.

Thanks in advance.

@community_team

@valueaddedresource

@dhbookds

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques

Maybe there should be some kind of forum/place to find when long standing features/tools/options are being suddenly removed...seems like in dark of night. The majority of those situations are being discovered entirely by accident. Difficult to confirm for sure if they are intentional (ie permanent) or glitches (accidental consequences). Or is there a workaround/new method/replacement?

-Lotz