1st to Answer a Community Question

[moldy5]

Time to ask but feeling kinda dumb. It must be easy but I don't see how to answer a Community person's post if nobody else has answered before me. There's nothing there to click on! What the heck am I missing? Thanks eBay professionals.

[emerald_door]

At the lower right of the question are two boxes -- quick reply and reply.  Maybe you have to be logged in to see them.  

[kensgiftshop]

There are some categories that only certain people can respond to questions.

Then there are some you have to subscribe or join the group to respond.

[moldy5]

Well crud, 1st responder told me about the 2 box choices. Reply & quick reply. Neither have ever been there when a new question was listed needing answers. You tell me I need to join a group & only certain people can reply! Wowsers, no idea yet on how to be 1st to reply. Can you tell me how to subscribe (to what) or what group I need to join? I am already a Community member, I can ask & answer questions. But help me find out how to answer 1st! Thanks. I'm sure it must be simple but crimony, I can't figure it out!

[fern*wood]

What board are you talking about?  There are some boards that are set up to only have approved posters/mentors that can answer.   I believe you have to be approved to be a mentor.

[mysalonsavings]

This board. I had wondered about that also. A lot of the postings dont give us an option to answer a question. Some do. Figured it is because we have not been selling long enough. Don't know?

[moldy5]

I pretty much post on selling only. But often find random other boards to reply to. I guess probably the new to eBay sections. Don't really pay attention to the extra stuff. (like which category question is under).
Gosh, just feeling more dense as this goes on! All I know is sometimes I see a question I can answer but when I go to do so, there's nothing to click on to let me do so 1st. Only if someone else answered already.

[maylen37]

Great question! I’ve also wondered about this.

[this*old*attic]

Really? I stopped selling for 5 years but could post right away.

On the other hand, I couldn’t figure out how to rate anyone helpful. Turns out I had it blocked in my settings.

[moldy5]

Thankyou so much for your post!!! Confirms I'm not the only one. I have sold here for 10 years. Is that long enough?

[fashunu4eeuh · Accepted solution]

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@moldy5 wrote:
Thankyou so much for your post!!! Confirms I'm not the only one. I have sold here for 10 years. Is that long enough?

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Length of time on the platform isnt tied to participation—everyone is free to post and discuss topics. Except for certain question-and-answer board(s). For that, you must be invited or approved to post answers. So there is no reply button on those questions. It is called the Community Mentor program. There is a link below to request membership and learn more:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Community-Mentors/ct-p/Mentors

[nobody*s_perfect]

Maybe it's a browser issue.

 I don't think this is related to the "mentor" status which requires pre approval to post responses on the Member-to-Member board. On that board, only pre-registered Mentors can post ANY reply, not just the first. If you're not signed in on a Mentor account, there will be no reply button (just as you are describing for the regular unrestricted boards).  So the only possibilities I can think of for all the other boards are that you are not signed in, or browser problems.

[mysalonsavings]

Nope, signed in and no browser issues. Some have reply attatched and some do not. Only really selling about 6 months but Ebay since 2007.

[lacemaker3]

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@mysalonsavings wrote:
Nope, signed in and no browser issues. Some have reply attatched and some do not. Only really selling about 6 months but Ebay since 2007.

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Please post a link to one of these questions, that you can't respond to. So we can take a look.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@mysalonsavings wrote:
Nope, signed in and no browser issues. Some have reply attatched and some do not. Only really selling about 6 months but Ebay since 2007.

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That's not proof that it isn't a browser issue.  

The amount of time on eBay and what you have sold doesn't matter.  All Community members have equal access to all boards (at least in theory) except for boards with specific pre-screening criteria such as the Member-to-member board, where replies are limited to prescreened "mentors".