eBay

voguevintage · ‎07-09-2023

This is one of the most ham fisted and confusing things eBay has ever done in my view and that says a lot.

For one, I don't understand why they can't make this change for us. The way etsy is doing it is they're just going to keep calling it First Class but change it so the rates are Ground Advantage rates. Sellers don't have to do anything. That's smart and it makes sense.

Second, the web page where they explain it is terribly confusing. At one point it says that Ground Advantage will replace First Class mail services, which is how I've understood it all along, and we'll have to update all those listings ourselves. But then later, on the same page, it says USPS will continue to offer First Class as a stand alone service. Huh!?

Third, as is often the case, they haven't properly trained or even informed their Reps yet about this change. On Thursday I called the Anchor Store number with some questions. Now keep in mind, this is the A team we're talking about here. The lady I talked to was very nice, as they always are, but she told me -- I'm not kidding -- "we don't know a lot about it yet and just were really informed about it a couple of days ago".

WHAT!?

After that she literally read the same page I read to try and answer my questions and came away as confused as I was saying things like "it sounds like..." and "I guess..."

So, yeah, par the course for eBay but Jesus this one has been bad.

I am WORRIED right now because every time there's a major change like this eBay always seems to glitch out and sales take a nose dive.

downrightspecialkids · ‎07-09-2023

Now trying to bulk edit and got the "woops, this is embarrassing. Try again later."

Why am I surprised?

bw14850 · ‎07-09-2023

I just did a listing and saw this

5 oz package

First Class .. $5.40 - $5.85

Ground Advantage .. $6.99 - $9.03

can this be real? Like you said no one is going to spend $7 to buy a $7 shirt. This means I have to go through and lower all my prices?

nobody*s_perfect · ‎07-09-2023

@bw14850 wrote:

.... Ground Advantage .. $6.99 - $9.03
can this be real? Like you said no one is going to spend $7 to buy a $7 shirt. This means I have to go through and lower all my prices?

No, it's not real. It's a glitch in the listing form -- it's still showing yesterday's prices. So for weights up to pound, it's showing the old Parcel Select 1 pound price.

jbai2933 · ‎07-09-2023

I have been actually weighing my items to see what I can do since this was coming. If it seems to be off on worth, value profit versus postage, I either add it with a like item or just not bother on here. I see why so many are selling on multiple platforms. Because your right, same as a t shirt, no one is going to want to pay a ton on a pair of earrings or equivalent.

chlipp-78 · ‎07-09-2023

They should have done more to inform buyers about the change. There should be a big "NEW!" icon next to the Ground Advantage shipping details explaining exactly what the service is. They hyped up Ground Advantage when informing sellers about the change, why not do the same to buyers? Would also get sellers to update faster as everyone wants to offer what's perceived as a better service to buyers. Instead they did the opposite, they grouped Parcel Select and Ground Advantage together and are now displaying it as "Parcel Select / Ground Advantage" on listings with zero explanation. Lots of buyers are going to think we downgraded from First Class. Many think negatively of Parcel Select and they're going to associate that negativity with Ground Advantage for a while now. Should have just listed it as Ground Advantage and promoted it as USPS' great new service. Or if they wanted to slowly phase out terminology they should be showing Ground Advantage / First Class / Parcel Select on listings since it's all part of the same service now anyway.

theteamsetguy · ‎07-09-2023

@agemelee ,

If you change everything to Priority mail then you will HAVE to ship via Priority mail per eBay policy. You cannot offer Priority mail and down grade to USPS Ground Advantage. It is a big no no.

stainlessenginecovers · ‎07-09-2023

@chlipp-78 wrote:
They should have done more to inform buyers about the change. There should be a big "NEW!" icon next to the Ground Advantage shipping details explaining exactly what the service is. They hyped up Ground Advantage when informing sellers about the change, why not do the same to buyers? Would also get sellers to update faster as everyone wants to offer what's perceived as a better service to buyers. Instead they did the opposite, they grouped Parcel Select and Ground Advantage together and are now displaying it as "Parcel Select / Ground Advantage" on listings with zero explanation. Lots of buyers are going to think we downgraded from First Class. Many think negatively of Parcel Select and they're going to associate that negativity with Ground Advantage for a while now. Should have just listed it as Ground Advantage and promoted it as USPS' great new service. Or if they wanted to slowly phase out terminology they should be showing Ground Advantage / First Class / Parcel Select on listings since it's all part of the same service now anyway.

@chlipp-78

They have been showing that this change is coming for well over a week (right where the 1st Class' is).

This is all really no big deal.

1st- they are 'doing whatever' for the next 30 days

2nd- you can easily 'bulk' edit any 'verbiage' in the descriptions of ALL your items

3rd- you can easily 'bulk' edit ALL items that USED TO STATE 1st Class to Ground Advantage.

electrola_man · ‎07-09-2023

I just shipped my first package by Ground Advantage today. It came up as the buyer's choice, and offered $100 in insurance that First Class did not. I printed the label and all went fine.

agemelee · ‎07-09-2023

Correct. I would ship priority mail.

snk-guru · ‎07-09-2023

I went to the USPS site and checked the pricing there, for a 5oz or less package that I would normally ship via first class, it shows up as $5.25 on their site for Ground Advantage but ebay still shows the $6.99-$9.03 so it's definitely on eBay's end. I freaked out this morning and just took down all my products until it's fixed.

anjofak · ‎07-09-2023

It would be so nice to be able to use bulk editing but I don't think there has been a day this year our shipping dimensions and weights haven't been changed from what we actually scale and measure, it's like building a house of cards then handing it to our twin toddler's to drive down the road in the back of the 4x4..

chlipp-78 · ‎07-09-2023

@stainlessenginecovers wrote:
@chlipp-78 wrote:
They should have done more to inform buyers about the change. There should be a big "NEW!" icon next to the Ground Advantage shipping details explaining exactly what the service is. They hyped up Ground Advantage when informing sellers about the change, why not do the same to buyers? Would also get sellers to update faster as everyone wants to offer what's perceived as a better service to buyers. Instead they did the opposite, they grouped Parcel Select and Ground Advantage together and are now displaying it as "Parcel Select / Ground Advantage" on listings with zero explanation. Lots of buyers are going to think we downgraded from First Class. Many think negatively of Parcel Select and they're going to associate that negativity with Ground Advantage for a while now. Should have just listed it as Ground Advantage and promoted it as USPS' great new service. Or if they wanted to slowly phase out terminology they should be showing Ground Advantage / First Class / Parcel Select on listings since it's all part of the same service now anyway.
@chlipp-78

They have been showing that this change is coming for well over a week (right where the 1st Class' is).

This is all really no big deal.
1st- they are 'doing whatever' for the next 30 days
2nd- you can easily 'bulk' edit any 'verbiage' in the descriptions of ALL your items
3rd- you can easily 'bulk' edit ALL items that USED TO STATE 1st Class to Ground Advantage.

They have been showing sellers, not buyers. When sellers go to print a label for an order they see a note mentioning GA replaced First Class and Parcel Select, but when buyers look at a listing or go to checkout they see nothing about it. For such a major change with USPS and eBay there should be a note for the next 30 days to quickly spread awareness to buyers, too.

Bulk editing is easy for you because you offer free shipping on all your listings. I use flat rate and pricing isn't the same across all listings, so it's not so easy. I'd rather do it one by one anyway to make sure the change takes and nothing gets screwed up by some random new bug.

toomuchstuffagain35 · ‎07-10-2023

Yep, can't wait for the first outraged FB from a buyer that "I paid for First Class and the seller shipped by Ground".

"If a product doesn't sell, raise the price" - Reese Palley
"If it sold FAST, it was priced too low" - also Reese Palley

norskmediashop · ‎07-10-2023

for sellers and stores with hundreds to thousands of listings, ebay has to change the first class, otherwise many of us will be be forced out. all of this is ridiculous that first class cant automatically change over, yet parcel select is. And even though they say otherwise maybe this will still end up happening since everything is a muck of mud mess. were calling again today about it.

natoman777 · ‎07-10-2023

I did shipping on July 9 and all my first class labels all were set for USPS Ground Advantage. I could still choose First class, but I didn't. No worries on my end as it was automatic. My listings of course were set for First Class, so nothing needed to be done to the listings