eBay invite.........

[bimm_corp]

Received an email (not through eBay's email system) with an invite to join a live webinar about joining "eBay US Customer Support Services". Email was titled "Earn money helping other sellers on eBay". Went to the link in the email and the page appeared legit. Anyone else get this email? TIA.

[nuclearomen]

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@no_zero369 wrote:

I think with that level of "pay" I'll stick with "helpfuls," badges and the occasional bash over the head by disgruntled types. 😋

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exactly my thoughts. Why should I subject myself to hours upon hours of work for less pay then working part time at McDonald's? Plus waste time away from my business, tax my system adding more apps etc... I can do the same thing here, on the community with: "No commitments, no schedules" + they want you to use this Limitless, which means those seeking help will have to download/install this also to communicate with you - How many ebay users will be willing to download and install an app just have a question answered when they come here, to community, no app needed, no new password to memorize etc... and have 20 people help them for one question? Seems, pretty idiotic to me. 

[go-bad-chicken]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

I found this interesting case study regarding the UK program.  I'm guessing they are expecting similar results for US.  https://www.limitlesstech.com/clients/ebay/ 

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As an exercise in learning let's hypothetically say that an "expert seller" who is invited decides to give this program a go.

Looking the screenshot that you posted above and at the part that states "Going forward eBay are considering using their Seller Experts to train their AI to improve their search capabilities.......", are sellers who participate in this program going to receive residuals for the concise and correct answers that they provide to new sellers that ultimately end up training eBay's AI and that is later adopted by the eBay's AI as the correct answer for a given situation?

If the answer is yes, then this could be a real money maker for a seller whose answer is adopted by eBay's Ai as the correct answer.

If the answer is no, then the seller who chooses to participate in this program, is going to end up getting paid dog sh*+ for training eBay's AI and providing it with the correct answers.

Speaking for myself, my rate doubles when I have to train stupid robots. 😉

[nuclearomen]

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

are sellers who participate in this program going to receive residuals for the concise and correct answers that they provide to new sellers that ultimately end up training eBay's AI and that is later adopted by the eBay's AI as the correct answer for a given situation?

If the answer is yes, then this could be a real money maker for a seller whose answer is adopted by eBay's Ai as the correct answer.

If the answer is no, then the seller who chooses to participate in this program, is going to end up getting paid dog sh*+ for training eBay's AI and providing it with the correct answers.

Speaking for myself, my rate doubles when I have to train stupid robots. 😉

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better question is, who decides if the hundreds or answers provided is deemed the "right" answer to situations that maybe similar but have thousands of possibilities, each issue seemingly the same are not hypothetically the same. Who trains the AI to differentiate between those slight or large similarities and respond with the "correct" answer?  

We all know regardless, that any program allowing you to supply "correct" answers and aid in development of a system like ebay's AI - any "answers" you supply in help of a users questions becomes property of Ebay for the sole benefit of AI development - in other words, by participating, you agree and relinquish any right to credit to it's development. That would be the fine print at the very bottom of the page. 

[mam98031]

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@ronsam-197 wrote:

Then why don't they just ask the "mentors"?

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What makes you think they didn't?

[go-bad-chicken]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

are sellers who participate in this program going to receive residuals for the concise and correct answers that they provide to new sellers that ultimately end up training eBay's AI and that is later adopted by the eBay's AI as the correct answer for a given situation?

If the answer is yes, then this could be a real money maker for a seller whose answer is adopted by eBay's Ai as the correct answer.

If the answer is no, then the seller who chooses to participate in this program, is going to end up getting paid dog sh*+ for training eBay's AI and providing it with the correct answers.

Speaking for myself, my rate doubles when I have to train stupid robots. 😉

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better question is, who decides if the hundreds or answers provided is deemed the "right" answer to situations that maybe similar but have thousands of possibilities, each issue seemingly the same are not hypothetically the same. Who trains the AI to differentiate between those slight or large similarities and respond with the "correct" answer?  

We all know regardless, that any program allowing you to supply "correct" answers and aid in development of a system like ebay's AI - any "answers" you supply in help of a users questions becomes property of Ebay for the sole benefit of AI development - in other words, by participating, you agree and relinquish any right to credit to it's development. That would be the fine print at the very bottom of the page. 

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Exactly!

As @valueaddedresource posted above

"Pay is $1.20 for every answer that is either accepted by the "asker" with a 4 or 5 star rating, or positively voted by other Experts.

If multiple Experts work together on the answer, peer review by other Experts determines how the $1.20 is divided up between the contributors."

So let's say that an eBay "Seller Expert" might possibly believe that if they could answer one new seller's question  every 5 minutes and provide that new seller with the "correct answer"; that they could possibly make $14.40 an hour.  Whether or not a seller believes that that $14.40 an hour is an acceptable wage is neither here nor there.

What is important is that the potential $14.40 an hour made for providing the correct answer, could get crowd sourced down to $0.15 per correct answer provided, due to the fact that 8 "Expert Sellers" in total contributed to the correct answer, and now the "Expert Seller" finds that they ended up making approximately $1.80 per hour. 

And then there is this part that @valueaddedresource also posted above:

"Initially, access to request help from this program will only be available through the listing form page and Experts are limited to only answering questions about "getting started" and "creating a listing" - all other topics must be directed back to eBay customer service.

Limitless has a Knowledge Library available and you can also use links to eBay policy & help pages, enhanced with your own personal experience as a seller, to answer questions in a "positive, professional tone".

Experts are encouraged to tell sellers that adding Best Offer to the listing is a great way increase their chances of a successful sale."

What happens when a new seller asks the "Expert Seller" should I offer Free Shipping? eBay states on their "Shipping Best Practices" page that

"Free shipping"

"Buyers love and expect free shipping when they shop online. They’re much more likely to choose an item with free shipping over an item with a shipping charge even if the total cost is the same. Give buyers what they want. Offer free shipping by simply adding the shipping cost into the item’s price."

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/shipping/shipping-best-practices.html 

What do you think "Expert Seller"?

Answer: Well um........um........um......Ok here's the truth. Free shipping is a big fat lie. It will cost more than one third of your buyers more money, and you will end up paying eBay more in final value fees due to the fact that buyers located in 18 states do not pay sales tax on shipping charges as long as those shipping charges are itemized separately from the sale price of the item. 

So essentially by offering "FREE SHIPPING" you are actually costing over one third of your prospective buyers MORE MONEY, and you the seller are going to pay eBay more in Final Value Fees because of the fact that you are offering "Free Shipping"

10 minutes later.......

eBay & Limitless program managers:

"Dear go-bad-chicken Thank you for participation but unfortunately your services are no longer required for this program. "  😂

[mam98031]

Simply filling out the application / questions they give doesn't guarantee you a spot as an expert to help other members.   ALL sellers will be vetted and from the applications, they will be reviewed and those they want in the program will get selected.

[mam98031]

It is also important to know that this program is ONLY for questions/help requests from sellers while they are using the Listing Form.  There are no other places at this time that questions will be submitted to this team of sellers.

[nuclearomen]

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

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Exactly!

As @acc756 posted above

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All that is based off a notion that would imply $1.20 is what would be paid out...the truth is that $1.20 is the maximum that would be paid out, not a guaranteed amount. It's stated as up to $1.20 per answered question... what it fails to mention is a minimal, which potentially means could be $0.01. I highly doubt anyone will be making $14+ an hour "helping" people in this program, in fact, it's absurd to even enlighten the notion of it. Sure people will make some pocket change, but the reality is no one will put in that time to make anything worth mentioning... if they do I feel sad for them when they can be devoting that time to making 3000% more just selling or working a normal job. 

Help being limited to making a listing doesn't leave much room for need for this program either, hate to say it, but if one can't figure out how to make a listing, especially with the simplified tool, maybe they shouldn't be selling at all...it's pretty self explanatory to begin with. Even if they can't, I have no interest to hold their hand in an age many people don't even know how to address an envelope. 

[nuclearomen]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Simply filling out the application / questions they give doesn't guarantee you a spot as an expert to help other members.   ALL sellers will be vetted and from the applications, they will be reviewed and those they want in the program will get selected.

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I feel overwhelmingly certain this entire thing will be huge and epic fail. 

[mam98031]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

Simply filling out the application / questions they give doesn't guarantee you a spot as an expert to help other members.   ALL sellers will be vetted and from the applications, they will be reviewed and those they want in the program will get selected.

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I feel overwhelmingly certain this entire thing will be huge and epic fail. 

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It worked well in the UK.  I might be different here, but I think for sellers trying to learn the listing form or are new to Ebay it will be extremely helpful.  

Sellers have enough issues trying to get questions answered.  It is my sincere hope this does work well so that at least some of the sellers can get timely answers for their needs.

[nuclearomen]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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It worked well in the UK.  I might be different here, but I think for sellers trying to learn the listing form or are new to Ebay it will be extremely helpful.  

Sellers have enough issues trying to get questions answered.  It is my sincere hope this does work well so that at least some of the sellers can get timely answers for their needs.

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I don't see how, how many people really need help making a listing? Is it really that hard? Maybe just me, this whole thing is just silly. But hey, if it works and helps, then fine, whatever, great. 

[go-bad-chicken]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

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Exactly!

As @acc756 posted above

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All that is based off a notion that would imply $1.20 is what would be paid out...the truth is that $1.20 is the maximum that would be paid out, not a guaranteed amount. It's stated as up to $1.20 per answered question... what it fails to mention is a minimal, which potentially means could be $0.01. I highly doubt anyone will be making $14+ an hour "helping" people in this program, in fact, it's absurd to even enlighten the notion of it. Sure people will make some pocket change, but the reality is no one will put in that time to make anything worth mentioning... if they do I feel sad for them when they can be devoting that time to making 3000% more just selling or working a normal job. 

Help being limited to making a listing doesn't leave much room for need for this program either, hate to say it, but if one can't figure out how to make a listing, especially with the simplified tool, maybe they shouldn't be selling at all...it's pretty self explanatory to begin with. Even if they can't, I have no interest to hold their hand in an age many people don't even know how to address an envelope. 

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I agree 100%. In my post (#51) I wanted to point out for other sellers benefit that the pay ceiling  would be $14.20 an hour ASSUMING THAT EVERYTHING WENT ACCORDING TO PLAN! And as you stated my belief is that it won't, and even if it did is $14.20 per hour a good wage?

In fact the more that I think about this program the more I am coming to realize is that any experienced eBay seller who would qualify for this program would more than likely make 5 TIMES AS MUCH as this programs hypothetical pay ceiling, by simply taking their knowledge and expertise and producing "How to sell  on eBay" videos on You Tube. And going that route at the very least sellers would have a pay scale that constantly improves as they get better at their trade craft.

[valueaddedresource]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

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Exactly!

As @acc756 posted above

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All that is based off a notion that would imply $1.20 is what would be paid out...the truth is that $1.20 is the maximum that would be paid out, not a guaranteed amount. It's stated as up to $1.20 per answered question... what it fails to mention is a minimal, which potentially means could be $0.01. I highly doubt anyone will be making $14+ an hour "helping" people in this program, in fact, it's absurd to even enlighten the notion of it. Sure people will make some pocket change, but the reality is no one will put in that time to make anything worth mentioning... if they do I feel sad for them when they can be devoting that time to making 3000% more just selling or working a normal job. 

Help being limited to making a listing doesn't leave much room for need for this program either, hate to say it, but if one can't figure out how to make a listing, especially with the simplified tool, maybe they shouldn't be selling at all...it's pretty self explanatory to begin with. Even if they can't, I have no interest to hold their hand in an age many people don't even know how to address an envelope. 

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@nuclearomen  @go-bad-chicken - I caught the "up to" language as well on that initial registration page.  Interestingly though, if you go through the onboarding/quizzes, the "up to" is not there.  Here's one example, but throughout this whole section, every reference is to $1.20, not "up to".

It will be interesting to see which one of those is correct. 🤔

[valueaddedresource]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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I don't see how, how many people really need help making a listing? Is it really that hard? Maybe just me, this whole thing is just silly. But hey, if it works and helps, then fine, whatever, great. 

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@nuclearomen  that was my thought as well.  It seems to me that most of the complaints we see about the listing process have more to do with it being a tedious process, or some technical issue that makes it not work right or something like that - not necessarily that people don't understand how the listing form is supposed to work or the "best practices" that eBay is already pointing sellers to on the form itself or their existing help pages.

Maybe there is a great need for the kind of hand holding through the listing process this program will provide and we just don't typically see that as much here in the community? Having that help available directly from the listing form might give some interesting insights into exactly what kind of obstacles and friction points sellers face in the listing process.

[mcdougle4248]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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I don't see how, how many people really need help making a listing? Is it really that hard? Maybe just me, this whole thing is just silly. But hey, if it works and helps, then fine, whatever, great. 

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@nuclearomen  that was my thought as well.  It seems to me that most of the complaints we see about the listing process have more to do with it being a tedious process, or some technical issue that makes it not work right or something like that - not necessarily that people don't understand how the listing form is supposed to work or the "best practices" that eBay is already pointing sellers to on the form itself or their existing help pages.

Maybe there is a great need for the kind of hand holding through the listing process this program will provide and we just don't typically see that as much here in the community? Having that help available directly from the listing form might give some interesting insights into exactly what kind of obstacles and friction points sellers face in the listing process.

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I wonder whether or not the introduction of the "New Listing Form" will generate questions and requests for help.  I don't have the new version available yet on my account, so have no pro or con thoughts regarding the ease of use.  A few other posters have indicated that they do not like it at all and find it cumbersome and not user friendly at all.  

ETA:  I registered for the program.  Curiosity got the best of me 🤔