I want to start by saying that I have enjoyed selling on ebay and plan to continue into the near future. My largest concern has been a constant interruption in the flow of business due to the bugs that consistently interrupt sellers working with the ebay platform. For more than a year now I have had problems with my inventory changing, items being doubly listed, items being erased, not being able to publish listings, not being able to make corrections or changes in listings already published, not being able to follow a command by the system when prompted to do so when creating a listing, the app not being consistent with the information shown in a listing, a number of accounting errors made with no reasoning offered by staff. These are just a handful of items that come directly to mind of the challenges I have had with this platform for more than a year now. These challenges have cost me money in the form of time spent dealing with these issues including hours and hours in a given week at times. To this day the column in Seller Hub that identifies shipping cost is not correct? This information being inaccurate has an impact on any changes I may make in price when shipping is included and free or calculated. Either correct the problems with why this feature is not working or take it away. I believe a new computer server is needed to handle the kind of growth ebay has been experiencing or the above mentioned problems and more would not be such a consistent issue with the platform. I personally have spent a lot of time on the phone with ebay trying to be part of the solution and am continuously met with frustration as I don't ever seem to get answers. I feel strongly that I am paying for a service and if that service is not working the way it should be then sellers should be compensated as a result.
I have had the perspective that ebay's fees that I pay are like paying rent if I had a brick and mortar store. If there was a problem and I couldn't use my rental property to sell effectively and efficiently in my store, well rent would be adjusted or prorated to the amount of impact a problem would have on my selling in my store. The amount of hours I have lost because of the above problems listed and the amount of hours I have spent on the phone with ebay trying to be a part of the solution have been exhaustive. There comes a point where if the problem/s don't get fixed then sellers should be compensated with a reduced fee or credit of some kind for hours and hours spent dealing with these issues. I understand and respect that some of those hours are the cost of doing business, but to this extent is unrealistic and unfair to ask sellers to just keep dealing with the problems/bugs.
To date, my concerns have not been acknowledged, heard, or validated by ebay except for one time where a general $15 credit was provided to a number of sellers. There is a larger issue going on here and we as sellers need to agree to come together in order for a the solution to come forth and ebay to take responsibility for the antiquated servers that are no longer useful in serving the amount of people using the ebay platform in any given time. We would have to collectively come together by doing something that would make ebay take note of our concerns. Something like putting our stores on vacation every Tuesday for the month of January 2020 (I chose January for those of us who would not consider sacrificing holiday sales) The truth is unless we sacrifice something like a vacation blackout on every Tuesday in January, February, and March to start or until which time ebay answers to and takes responsibility for the losses we have had as a result of not finding the solution to hours and hours of our time being lost and sales being lost day after day and week after week for a platform that is hardly ever is in consistent working condition is just unacceptable. We are already making the sacrifice in the form of our time and lost sales due to the above mentioned computer issues.
All I am seeking is to get what I pay for or for and for ebay to stand up and say we have identified the problem (not the most recent bug in the system) but the problem in its totality and make a commitment to fix it. Getting to the ultimate solution as opposed to these "bandaid quick fixes" should be the only acceptable solution. This unfortunately does not seem near and we as sellers need to take a stand to get ebay to listen to our concerns. If enough of us come together and follow through with the Tuesday vacations in January then the numbers in ebays reports to the board of directors will reflect that and questions will be asked.
I really have enjoyed ebay aside from the computer challenges that have had such an impact on the platform, but with monthly service fees, listing fees, selling fees, and promotional fees I pay more than my fair share with regards to using a broken platform and it is time to do something about it. I will post again at the end of December to confirm my commitment to put my store on vacation for every Tuesday until ebay commits to the solution behind all the problems that have had a consistent negative impact on my work with ebay. The only way ebay will respond in a way that we agree with is if we come together collectively as a group. It is the only way our voice will really be heard. We are the cornerstone of ebays' success and fixing the platform once and for all will benefit everyone involved. It has been put off, we have been put off for too long. If you are up for the challenge and want your voice to be heard then lets do this. I for one would enjoy spending those wasted hours delaing with all the issues, bugs, problems with the software/program/servers by listing more items and growing my business that would make us all more money. Let us hold ebay accountable. It is time my peers, it is time!
Regards,
