Community Chat, August 14 @ 1:00 pm PT - General Topics

[tyler@ebay]

Join the Community team here at 1 PM PT on August 14th for our Weekly Chat with eBay Staff. We don't have a set topic this week, so please bring any general questions you may have on buying or selling.

The chat will be open for questions from 1-2 pm PT, at which point we'll close thread. While no additional questions can be submitted after this time, we'll continue to work on responding to any queries that may still be unanswered.

If you're new to the chat, welcome! Simply Reply to this post with your question from 1-2 PM Pacific Time and we'll be happy to look into it with you 

[theshoppingmom2]

So I have a question.... Ohhh Gasp... LOL

Anyway, I was trying to look in seller hub for the link to opt out of cross promotion  but I think it has been removed.

The reason why I was looking for it is because I have several sellers that are also buyers that are saying that when they buy something they also get an email from eBay showing them the same exact item at a lower  price.

I think  it is because they are opted in  the cross promotion but I am not 100% sure... I spend  a lot of time yesterday looking for it and I cannot find it... I think is not there anymore ... am I right?

[b86fiero]

"The transaction was ambiguous"

This is the reason a buyer claimed when filing a charge back against my account.  Another seller posted on the managed payments board that they also had a charge back initiated with the same "ambiguous" reason.

Short history for mine ~ Buyer ordered 2 identical items, paid for them with one payment.  I shipped the same day, buyer received before estimated delivery.  Buyer then opens a charge back using "the transaction was ambiguous" reason. 

Buyer never opened a return request.  Buyer never contacted me.  eBay sent me a message saying eBay would handle it for me.

Charge back was found in buyer's favor.  Why?  Buyer kept my merchandise and got their money back.  I lost my merchandise plus cost of shipping and shipping materials.  Probably a charge back fee will show up on my monthly invoice.  I did everything right but still lost.

Is "the transaction was ambiguous" a new means for buyers to open charge backs with automatic wins?  What can sellers do to protect themselves from this?

And what exactly does ambiguous mean in this context?

[tyler@ebay]

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@bargainbigly wrote:

Hi, saw in the most recent update that regarding the new "service metrics", sellers will now be able to appeal the multitude of false INAD's that we receive. Can you confirm this?

Also, will "service metric" INAD's be automatically removed for top rate sellers who offer free returns, or will manual removal request be required?

Thanks

---

Hi @bargainbigly - additional protections are coming October 1st for Top Rated sellers. Those protections do include service metric protection for false claims filed by a buyer. You can review in more detail here. You will need to report the buyer in order to be eligible for such protection, but the removal is automatic once that's done. Thanks!

[theshoppingmom2]

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@mendelsons wrote:

Its not a huge problem but something I've been noticing for several weeks when replying to buyers questions.
The page will not load all the way.  I've tried a chrome and firefox  - acts the same way.  It will not give me the Enter Text Here so that when you click your mouse on that text it disappears.
Like I said not a huge deal but annoyance factor is growing.

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@mendelsons 

Ohhh thanks for posting this , since it is also happening to me.... I thought it was me doing something wrong

[Anonymous]

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@mendelsons wrote:

Its not a huge problem but something I've been noticing for several weeks when replying to buyers questions.
The page will not load all the way.  I've tried a chrome and firefox  - acts the same way.  It will not give me the Enter Text Here so that when you click your mouse on that text it disappears.
Like I said not a huge deal but annoyance factor is growing.

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Hi @mendelsons, can you give me an item number example where you've seen this happen? If you have screenshots, feel free to share them here as well (if not I can certainly test it out on my end as well).

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I've been having the same problem with replying to buyer messages....usually I've been able to correct it by reloading, but it is a bit of a PITK.

[tyler@ebay]

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@mam98031 wrote:

I keep forgetting to mention this about the Ebay shipping supplies. 

A few times on the Chat over the past year or more I've suggested that the padded envelope that is about 9 x 11 1/2 was just slightly small to accept 8 1/2 x 11"  books and stuff of that size.  It was a design issue.  Plus the flap that you use to close the envelope, the glue didn't go completely from one side to the other.  So it kind of created wings of sort.  An area that the package could get caught on things it should.

Well the have finally redesigned this padded mailer.  The overall size is the same, but they changed the flap from two to one glue strip that the glue goes side to side [no more wings] and because they went to one glue strip they increase the inside of the envelope just enough to comfortably fit an 8 1/2 x 11" item.

I like it and I thank you for getting our suggestions over to the right teams.

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Glad to hear that they work better for you now @mam98031! 😄 

[mam98031]

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@b86fiero wrote:

"The transaction was ambiguous"

This is the reason a buyer claimed when filing a charge back against my account.  Another seller posted on the managed payments board that they also had a charge back initiated with the same "ambiguous" reason.

Short history for mine ~ Buyer ordered 2 identical items, paid for them with one payment.  I shipped the same day, buyer received before estimated delivery.  Buyer then opens a charge back using "the transaction was ambiguous" reason. 

Buyer never opened a return request.  Buyer never contacted me.  eBay sent me a message saying eBay would handle it for me.

Charge back was found in buyer's favor.  Why?  Buyer kept my merchandise and got their money back.  I lost my merchandise plus cost of shipping and shipping materials.  Probably a charge back fee will show up on my monthly invoice.  I did everything right but still lost.

Is "the transaction was ambiguous" a new means for buyers to open charge backs with automatic wins?  What can sellers do to protect themselves from this?

And what exactly does ambiguous mean in this context?

---

That is down right scary.  I've never lost a chargeback in PP when I've proved the shipment was received at the address of the card holder.  But then I've never had a reason like you describe used.    I have found that most of the chargebacks I get are just buyers that didn't recognize the name that came across on the CC statement so they disputed it.

[mendelsons]

@mendelsons wrote:
Its not a huge problem but something I've been noticing for several weeks when replying to buyers questions.
The page will not load all the way. I've tried a chrome and firefox - acts the same way. It will not give me the Enter Text Here so that when you click your mouse on that text it disappears.
Like I said not a huge deal but annoyance factor is growing.

Hi @mendelsons, can you give me an item number example where you've seen this happen? If you have screenshots, feel free to share them here as well (if not I can certainly test it out on my end as well).

Ask me a question on any of our items just to test it. I don't have an example right now as the way I have been fixing it is just by refreshing the browser screen usually two times and then it gives me the prompt where I can enter my text to reply to the buyers question.

Thanks,

Rick

[carlqsportscards]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@carlqsportscards wrote:

Thanks for raising my selling limit to 200 million dollars!

Is it ever going to say the correct amount again?

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Hi @carlqsportscards, these are the correct limits that have been placed on your account. Many sellers have incredibly limits like what you are describing, so this would not be an error or issue in of itself. Can you elaborate for me on the issue you are seeing if I'm missing something?

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Wow. That never occurred to me. It used to be like 10 thousand or something, so I assumed it was some sort of glitch. Thanks for the info.

[theshoppingmom2]

@Anonymous  when it happens to me I just go back to the message in my email and click respond... it usually solves it

[Anonymous]

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@theshoppingmom2 wrote:

Hey we have another eBay Upfront coming up!!! in Chicago!!! I highly recommend attending one... it is FREE and there is so much information!!

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Hi @theshoppingmom2, so exciting! For anyone interested, here is the link for the event.

[Anonymous]

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@rosevelyn wrote:

Hello, Tyler.

The Customer Service page that contains the call-in number with code also tiles photos of my recent orders, but when I click on the one I am calling in about, there is no item number with it, and the first thing the customer service rep needs is the item number. The item number needs to follow through onto that page.

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HI @rosevelyn, great suggestion! I will get this passed on to the appropriate team 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

200 million dollar limit. Meet that limit! Goals, my friend, goals! LOL

[alan@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

A question or two as a result of this week's podcast:

Mohan said this about a pilot program ebay is running, which sounds a little like the guides ebay discontinued a while back. Can you get us some more details about this? And, since it is a pilot, can you point me to an example of this actually being used on ebay right now?:

"And then the last thing I want to share, which I'm super excited about and we shared this today, doesn't even have a name. It's a new experience that we're trying to build of bringing content and commerce together. Which is really allowing our buyers to stay engaged on the platform. If you're into comic books, if you are into trading cards, if you're into baseball cards or if you're into clothing, if you're into camping. It is bringing interesting articles, content videos, that's off platform outside of eBay, allowing our buyers to read about it. But then showing items that they read about it in the article. How to have your first camping trip with your son. Great article. Here's 10 things you need. Here are all the items to buy on eBay. Now we're doing this as a small pilot in certain areas, but my ultimate goal is to give that to sellers so you as sellers can write about the areas that you guys are honestly the experts. We're not the experts. You are the experts. You can write about anything out there that you're passionate about, that you know more about. And you can actually say and here are the items that if you really like this you can buy to go learn something or you can put a recipe to go sell the goods that you're selling. That is where I think really the community comes together. The sellers are providing content that points to their items and buyers are coming to eBay because the content is fresh."

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Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques., 

Thanks for listening to the podcast! 

What Mohan showcased on stage was a new category experience that is in the works for to the eBay mobile app.

Say for example that you are into comics - you will be able to switch from today's classic view of eBay on your app to a comic focused eBay app, with a totally new look & feel. The comic feed will pull in content and articles, some from eBay staffers, some from outside eBay and it will showcase items that you may find interesting. 

The new experience is not yet live, so there's nothing that I can point you to today. 

Keep an eye out on announcements for more information on this. 

Thanks!