So is the video upload bug really a bug or just a labor crisis thing?

[gurlcat]

  
      Here's the TLDR: Is there REALLY a bug fix going on, or is there actually a manpower issue, one that will always hinge on quantity of videos needing review versus quantity of employees available to review them?  Also does anyone happen to sell on Etsy and how does it work there?  I see that their videos autoplay (nothing to click, no popup viewing screen, no play button), nor do they have any audio, nor the ability to pause videos, so it would make it harder for sketchy sellers to include contraband audio or insert freezable spam screens or whatever.  

      I don't yet know how to tag admins here in the forum so if anyone reading this knows, would you mind either creating a tag in your reply or instructing me on how to do it (I'd rather you teach me to fish but I'll take a fish, lol). 

     I can't remember where I saw someone saying that everyone will be onboarded to the New Listing Tool (hereafter 'NLT') in August, or if they stated a specific date, or if they said where they saw that info.  All I know is today is Aug. 1st, and although I see the NLT has been improved somewhat since the first time I tried it (all the item specifics can be completed on the page as opposed to 'edit' popup screens), all the other sections still require popups, plus some other features that are either missing or inferior to Classic listing.  But I don't mean to start a discussion about the NLT as a whole presently, just the one feature that ever makes it advantageous over Classic, which is the ability to upload a video of the item. 

     Or I should say, that WAS the feature that stood out, and back when I first tried it and created 3 listings with videos (this was soon after the rollout), they all showed up within 15-30 minutes after the listings went live.  Now if I were to be uppity about it, even that amount of time can be a concern if the item's category is so saturated that new listings literally post by the minute, and savvy buyers sort by 'New' for that reason.  But now I only WISH 15-30 minutes was typical.   About a week ago when I decided an item that I had would be a good video candidate, I took the time to shoot a good one, pinched my nose to make the temporary switch to NLT, went through the slow process of completing all the sections, and hit 'List.'  I believe something like 20 hours went by with the video not showing (in the 'revise' view I could see that it was "under review") before I made a post about it here, and from the excellent replies learned that the feature has gotten completely unreliable.  

     In subsequent days I found other posts about it here, also other online forums, and even reached out to Ebay For Business on Facebook.  What I've learned is, the stock answer is the "up to 48 hours" thing, but also "or up to 7 days" (why not just say up to 7 days?).   And if at some point (?) while waiting you think the video is never going to show up, you can go down the rabbit hole of opening a ticket: Using the multi-step rigmarole process of getting a phone call via Help/Contact and submitting your username, the item number, and reference i.d.  of the "known bug", which you would only have if you've found that discussion thread here in the forums. 

     That would be a tiny minority of sellers trying to use the feature, and bear in mind, you won't even have an item number if the listing is still in Drafts.  -I was told by a member here that the review process DOES happen even while an item is in Drafts, so that was what I tried, to avoid the listing getting live-old before opening a ticket.  As of right now, I haven't even seen proof that opening a ticket works.  And if/when/how joy finally comes, does that video file have permanent 'approved' status, or would ending/sell similar'ing the listing render the video on hold for scrutiny all over again? 

     Here's my guess and I HOPE I'm wrong, so someone please tell me if I am.  I'm picturing Ebay being more worried about the optics of a disastrous video rollout if some sellers abuse it (submit videos including something prohibited, like spam or who-knows-what) than they are worried about terrible functionality to all sellers who may want to use it, so they're having all videos reviewed by real human eyes and ears.  If that's the case, then it's no wonder I had a short wait on those first 3 listings, back when the feature was new, but as it more sellers began using it, the queue has piled up.  Heck for all I know there's not even a real queue in the sense of 'first come, first serve' like maybe submissions over X number of hours get sidelined to a "only if the seller creates a ticket" dead pile.   

      I don't suppose my one voice will make a lick of difference, but if any admin with access to the powers that be happen to see this and consider it worth passing on: If Ebay forces everybody onto the NLT, well I guess you'll see where those cards fall, and I suspect it's going to be ugly.  But while it is still optional (with the ability to switch back to Classic), I won't be using it again until there's FAST, RELIABLE video inclusion.  If I had to put an exact time quantity on this deal-breaker position, I'd say 12 hours.  It really should be as instantaneous like it is with still photos, but anything longer than half a day, to me the loss of newness in search results would make it not worth the time and missing features in the NLT.  

[valueaddedresource]

@gurlcat  sorry I don't have more to offer in the way of "help" on this one but I do believe you are right in thinking it's more of a labor crisis than a technical issue.

Either way, to me the issues we're seeing with video processing/approval times shows that eBay hasn't been willing to invest the resources (manpower or technical) necessary to make this feature really work well for users.

As for tagging users here's a fishing lesson for ya. 😉 When you type the @ symbol it should pop up a list of suggested users to tag (usually ones already participating in the discussion)

If the user you want to tag isn't in the list, just start typing their user name.

Just make sure there are no spaces after the @ and it should turn it into a tag automatically when you type it or you can select from the list that pops up as you type.

[gurlcat]

Thank you ever so much!!!  I often see the admin username 'velvet'-something, but I'm not sure if they're the techie admin or if another one would be a better choice to tag.  Do you happen to know that?  

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@gurlcat 

devon@ebay 

Devon, OP needs you!

[valueaddedresource]

Velvet, Devon, and Elizabeth are all eBay staff here who can answer questions or pass info on to internal teams for technical issues or feedback.

Current list of eBay community staff, their roles and user names to tag here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/About-the-Community/About-Community/m-p/26164272#M1

[devon@ebay]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@gurlcat 

devon@ebay 

Devon, OP needs you!

---

Thank you for the tag @silverstatetreasureboxes.@gurlcat we do apologize about the issues that you are experiencing when trying to upload videos to your listings. There is a known issue on the site and can been seen here on our tech board. If you were to reach back out to customer support you can let them know you are experiencing ALERT13862. I can go ahead and pass along all of the feedback and information that you have provided to the correct team so they can look into it. If they reach back out needing more information I will be sure to reach back out to you. And just as @valueaddedresource has mentioned you can tag myself, Elizabeth and Velvet so that way we all are notified in the case one of us are not available. 

[ckimodog]

@valueaddedresource 

That's what I was thinking.  I think many sellers are trying to add this feature as it is very proactive, however whom ever are the ones who approve these videos may be back logged, behind and haven't gotten around to many of them.  One poster here waited 10 days and still nothing.  Their listing ended.  

[gurlcat]

Yes the post on that tech board is what I read and referenced in my post here.  It seems the only thing it provides is instructions on what to do about a video not posting (open a ticket), but that's not very promising if it happens every time, and I haven't even seen people saying that opening a ticket got their video to post, not to mention other concerns I raised in this post.  
Is it really an actual glitch (that has apparently not been fixed since April), or is it a lack of enough employees to manually view the videos in a timely manner? 

[gurlcat]

     I'm literally on the verge of tears, not because I can't get one video to show on one listing, but because I have wasted such an unbelievable amount of time and energy doing everything suggested to get one video to show on one listing, only to get the feeling of being the butt of a joke. 

     To be clear, my first attempt to get help was on Ebay For Business, since that's USUALLY a better go-to than their regular customer service.  Or I should say, it USED to be, but I think this itself has become an under-staffing issue, considering the more sellers who know about it, the more contacts that team is receiving, and I've seen the speed and quality of responses slipping there, over the past year or so.  Anyway in this instance, the first employee I got said they were submitting a ticket for me (with the info about the specific item).  I started checking occasionally after that, didn't see the video go live, so after another 48 hours replied to the message thread, and got a different employee, 'Paige.'  Despite my previous conversation still being visible in the message thread (to me anyway), she seemed to think I was just asking about the glitch in general, and gave this response, complete with the insulting "In the meantime, I suggest you focus on ...." (the most newbie basics of listing creation and search result optimization).  I couldn't believe it.  



So today I decided to try the live chat assistance.  I included all the ticket items that I could by regular text: my username, the known tech bug alert number, the item i.d., but had to go through a whole ordeal, as instructed by 'Kyle', to submit a screenshot of the item because there's no image upload option in the chat window, had to use some outside website I've never seen before, but apparently it worked and he said he could see my screenshot.  And after all that, I THOUGHT he and I were on the same page of what I was requesting.  Oh, no no no no noooo.  



So who knows what, if anything, he actually did.  In fact I'm wondering what on Earth an employee sees when they enter ALERT13862.  Could it be the wrong number by a digit or something???  Kyle seemed to think my request had nothing to do with that i.d. number! 

By the way, are all Ebay employees named either Kyle or Paige nowadays?  Or are those two among only a few employees they have nowadays?  I sure have gotten them a lot! 

And just think, this is with me KNOWING it's not just me or just this listing, that this is an ongoing sitewide problem, me knowing about EFB, being a Community member keeping tabs on this, knowing about the tech board post and the ticket items needed, knowing how to get a live agent for Chat, etc etc etc.  --Just think how many of those things the average Ebay seller doesn't know!  What I really wonder is how it works on Etsy, not because I'm thinking of migrating (though maybe I should, for a variety of reasons), but because I have to wonder if Ebay even bothered investigating how video embedding is done on Etsy or any other sites.  Like how could they be so late to this game AND so inept at it?!!  With it being a longstanding feature on other sites, it should be a CAKEWALK to implement it here!!