mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us for the Weekly Chat with eBay Staff. We don't have a specific topic this week, so feel free to share any general buying or selling questions you may have!
The chat thread will remain open until 2 PM PT at which point we'll close it from additional responses. After that time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that might still be unanswered.
To post your question, click Reply in the lower right corner of this post, type your question, and hit submit between 1-2 PM Pacific Time. The format of our chat mirrors the format of our Community Discussion Boards, where each post will appear in the thread chronologically. The Community Team will review each question as it comes in, and will quote the original question in our reply. This quote and the reply will appear later in the thread, so just keep scrolling down to see our answers.
Missed the chat? Send your questions to the podcast by calling 888 723-4630 or email us at podcast@ebay.com and maybe your questions will make it on the air! Or listen to past episodes while you wait for next Wednesday!
brian@ebay wrote:
@gwzcomps wrote:After weeks of complaining I have finally gotten hit with the thing I was worried about. As far as I can tell one INR due to eBay’s guaranteed delivery dates put me below standard. Now all my listings are showing 30-day handling times. I find it quite ridiculous that my peer group has 0% INRs even if it was pre pandemic. I have no recourse at this point and this is pretty much going to kill my sales for this month. I did everything I could to protect myself yet here I am.
@gwzcomps from what I can see you are still Top Rated, so everything looks fine there. Based on what you're post, it sounds like you are seeing the extended handling times we announced here.
You can be TRS and still be in trouble on the Service Metrics. That is two different ways Ebay evals a Seller. Heck you can be perfect on your Seller Dashboard and be TRS and Still get into the penalty box for the Service Metrics.
@valueaddedresource wrote:
Thanks tyler@ebay . Was this posted in announcements or sent out in an email to everyone currently in MP? I didn't see it anywhere and want to make sure I am not missing important updates.
Hi @valueaddedresource - I know that it was not an announcement, but I'm unaware if it was sent via email to members in managed payments. You could check with a payments teammate by requesting a callback or posting on the payments group!
@sahtantiv0 wrote:
Hello!
I have 4 questions for you.
1. How to be visible on the first page ebay on today' deals?
2.What is advantage for us to be a partner with ebay around communication, visibility and fee.
3.Is it possible to get a privilege person if we have any question or problem on Ebay like negative feedback unjustified.
4.can we participate to some event that can organise ebay in usa or somewhere else?
Thank you for the answer!
Stay strong and healthy!
🙏🙏🙏
@sahtantiv0 I'm happy to answer your questions!
1. You'll find information about Best Match and ways to optimize your listings here. We proactively seek sellers and inventory for our Daily Deals page, so there isn't a process to follow to get your inventory on that page.
2 & 3. If you subscribe to an Anchor Store then you'll have access to white-glove customer service through phone and email for any questions or concerns you have related to your eBay account.
4. There are many seller events across the USA. You'll find information about these events here and here 🙂
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
What is going on with the "About Me" page? (Or Member Profile page, or whatever it's called) At one time it included my followers and those I was following....that information has been removed from the page. Is this a glitch, or an actual change? And if a change, why was it made?
Also, there used to be a link on the Feedback page to the About Me page.....that link appears to have been removed. Same question: glitch or change? If change, why?
Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques - these appear to be changes made to align the experience to be consistent with the Feedback changes made several years ago in light of privacy concerns.
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
I'm not sure I have the latest ebay app on my phone (My Android version might be too old to support it), but recently Jamie (I think it was Jamie) mentioned that our stores were being shown on the app now. Can you explain this change? Maybe include a screen shot? I know the app has been more listing oriented than store oriented, so I'd be very interested in seeing any changes that will give our stores more presence on the app.
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques I apologize but I'm not familiar with the comment you are referring to. I'm not aware of Store being visible on the mobile app yet, but I'm happy to do some digging and get back to this thread if I get more details!
@2013fitzp wrote:
thank you. So, the monthly invoice will give a total number of the fees that were paid/deducted? I need it for accounting purposes.
@2013fitzp as of today 8-12-2020, my understanding is that it should have the total fees for the invoiced month.
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
This Month's podcast theme is about prepping for the Holiday Shopping Season. With that in mind, a couple thoughts:
I know this was not popular at the time, but would ebay considering bringing back---as an OPTION only--- "Extended Holiday Returns"---- As I recall, anything sold on Nov 1st would have a return window of about 90 days (till the end of January----which, frankly, could be reduced to, say, Jan 10th or something). This way, some one buying a gift on Nov 1st would be confident that if the giftee didn't open it until Christmas, the item would still be covered in the event of damage, etc I think with the mail delays we are already seeing, people may very well start their holiday shopping even earlier than usual, and this will provide a competitive advantage to the seller who offers this. There was a lot of confusion back then, with people thinking this was a 90 Day Return window, but in fact, the later the buyer bought, the fewer days in the policy, because no matter when the buyer bought, Jan 31st (or whatever date might be used this time) was the cut off....I don't remember all the details, but it wasn't as drastic as many people thought.....anyway, please pass on the suggestion.
Also, I think it would be great if ebay could create an easy way for buyers to designate a giftee's address as the shipping address, with no penalty for the seller who sends to that designated address.....with the pressure we're seeing on carriers, and many people probably still unable to travel to get together for Christmas, I think more buyer's will want to have us send directly to the giftee. (Maybe this could be at seller's option, a seller could choose to offer this as a service, and ebay could have a filter for this or other indicator on the Search Results Page) (And maybe seller's could also choose to offer giftwrap and/ or a card, either free or for a small extra fee)
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques I'm not aware of plans to bring back extended holiday returns, but I'm happy to pass along your suggestion on that and about giftee addresses 🙂
@mam98031 wrote:
tyler@ebay wrote:
@gwzcomps wrote:
There is still limited customer support and buyers/sellers continue to be very unhappy about this. When is eBay going to stop hiding behind the pandemic as an excuse for not providing adequate customer service? Considering how eBay has been manipulating and disregarding our handling times it is quite clear eBay expects sellers to operate as though nothing is going on. Yes I am aware of the recent shipping changes that eBay FINALLY did, but it is too little too late. It is hypocritical to be fine with lowering your standards as a company while still expecting sellers to uphold pre-pandemic standards.
Hi @gwzcomps - customer support is available for callback ('Have us call you'), email and chat support through the Help & Contact links in the upper left hand corner of any eBay page. In addition, proactive calls ('Call Us') is available for certain categories.
You can also use social media to contact support on Twitter or Facebook, and they'll be able to assist with most topics.
Thanks!
Problem with that is that some are reporting that it takes hours to get a call back if they get a call back. And some get that are getting the calls back a few hours later aren't at their phones waiting for the call so they miss the calls.
Mentors were asked not so long ago not to send people to twitter and facebook because they too were overwhelmed with how many people were seeking their attention. Has this improved now so we should send them there?
Hi @mam98031 - thanks for the input on this - I can add it to the others when sending it to the right folks.
RE: referring to social media, while things have improved it's still a channel for support that can experience delays, so I would be up front if telling folks to contact via that method. Thanks!
@golfchotzkies wrote:
Everything has gone relatively well. However, I used to use the sales record to record my individual cost of the item I sold and the shipping cost. The "sales record" is no longer associated with each transaction and I feel like I'm back to keeping track of transaction costs rather than inputting them and utilizing reports at the end of the month for my financial reporting. Why is the sales record disappear and what can be done about it?
Hi @golfchotzkies - the Sales Record view you're used to with Selling Manager Pro was replaced by the Order id in Seller Hub. While you can view the details of the transaction there is not a specific field for you to record your item cost. You could consider adding a note to yourself from the drop down of available options and putting the item cost there - but it's not clear to me if this would be something that you could then export for reporting purposes at the end of the month.
@valueaddedresource wrote:
@valueaddedresource wrote:
Thanks tyler@ebay . Was this posted in announcements or sent out in an email to everyone currently in MP? I didn't see it anywhere and want to make sure I am not missing important updates.
Also tyler@ebay - you may want to have someone update this page. https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822
The wording still makes it sound like it is supposed to be effective August 12th.
Thanks @valueaddedresource - I'll get this reported. Thanks!
@donsdetour wrote:
I saw a post today about a purchaser not getting tracking on a return item enteref by USPS on time and lost a case. They lost both item and money.
So if they appeal the case and it shows delivered will eBay reverse the case??
Same question for sellers that items are getting stuck of late tracking ??
@donsdetour when shipping an item to a buyer and for returns the items tracking needs to show delivery confirmation by the timeframe specified. If tracking shows movement within the last 7 days then customer service can usually place a hold on the case/return to allow more time for the package to be delivered.
In situations where a package shows delivered after a decision has already been made in a case then customer service can review the situation to see if there are any options available to help. However, the typical outcome is to honor the original decision made, but there may be times when exceptions can be made. Sellers / buyers would want to discuss this with customer service to find out their options.
@partsaholic wrote:
We have a refund that is due to a customer for a return, eBay expects us to refund the buyer within 2 business days.
The original sale was made with PayPal. We do not carry a PayPal balance. Historically, when refunding through eBay/PayPal, the amount would be removed from our bank account, directed by eBay through PayPal, and the return on eBay would remain pending until the funds cleared.
Because of some glitch between eBay and PayPal related to sales tax, this is no longer possible. The refund must be funded from the PayPal balance. When attempting to refund, eBay just faults out, saying, "There was a problem issuing this refund" AND THE RETURN STAYS OPEN.
The issue is that it takes 3-5 business days to move money from a bank account to PayPal.
There is no way for sellers to refund in eBay's time frame, short of paying to have a friend send funds to the account (PayPal's actual advice).
We contacted eBay support, they were useless and referred us to PayPal.
My question is: 1) What is eBay doing to fix this unannounced problem? 2) More specific to our example, what is eBay going to do so we don't get a seller resolution defect for something that is out of our control?
Hi @partsaholic - sorry to hear that this return got gummed up!
With regards to your specific questions:
1. We work with PayPal regularly to improve performance and address technical issues (should they exist). This does not appear to be a technical issue, but a change associated with the way a refund is processed where sales tax has been collected. The experience you describe is the expected outcome if you do not have sufficient funds in your PayPal balance to cover the refund in its entirety.
2. Account specific questions will need to be addressed by CS directly, so I'm not able to tell you what would be done with your account. In general, however, it may be a good idea to keep a certain amount of money in your PayPal account to cover unexpected or unanticipated refunds. If that's untenable, you could also consider initiating the transfer from your bank back to PayPal when you accept the return
@aldente28 wrote:
I don't know if my question got lost in the fray.
I'll try one more time, another way.
The issue is protection from INR Seller Metrics spikes due to USPS delays. I understand that Seller Metrics is a relative measure. There is a problem with it. It doesn't work 100% of the time, which makes sense due to the fact that it relies on averages.
I don't know how else to bring this to anyone's attention. I've been trying here for a few weeks.
I ship same day, 100% on time, 100% tracking uploaded. Here is an example of the system failing:
Hi @aldente28 - apologies for not getting to that aspect of your question! It's not clear to us (me and Brian) on whether or not those will be 'removed' completely. I've requested more information and I'll keep you posted when we hear back.
@mr_lincoln wrote:
Re: Managed Payments private board support ... or LACK OF
The MP support is horrible ... I posted issues with the Transaction CSV report over the weekend and JUST late this afternoon received a reply ... which basically said it would be passed on ...
I have another set of questions I posted yesterday about having the ability to CHANGED the Payout day from Tuesday to either Wednesday or Thursday ... still no response.
It was obvious back in June that eBay was not and would not and will not be able to support MP because of under staffing due to the Pandemic from China ... this is the biggest change in eBay's recent history involving MILLIONS of Sellers and for those who have been newly Indoctrinated, like myself, top of the line support is required but NOT being delivered.
Hi @mr_lincoln - thanks for getting me that feedback, and sorry that you didn't receive the level of service you expected in the payments group. While it is not a place to receive account specific support, it is a resource for you to connect with other payments-enrolled members and get input from the payments team.
To address your specific question regarding payout times: there is no option to change the weekly payout day. Weekly payouts are processed on Tuesday mornings (local time). Thanks!
