eBay

brian@ebay · ‎07-14-2021

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,
Community Team

tyler@ebay · ‎07-14-2021

@bimmerpc1 wrote:

tyler@ebay wrote:

@bimmerpc1 wrote:

eBay return shipping labels:

eBay has stopped printing seller-provided RMA numbers on eBay generated return shipping labels.

Can someone please look into why this is happening?

Hi @bimmerpc1 - thanks for letting me know. I'm not certain if this is an intentional change or a tech issue - do you happen to have an item number of a recent return I can grab a screenshot of for shipping? If not, no worries, I'm just trying to head off the inevitable "we need an example" reply if it's not a change. 😉

No, but I can tell you that the label displays the eBay Order Number and the eBay Return ID in the space that used to contain the seller-provided RMA . We have seen this on all return labels in the last few weeks.

Thanks @bimmerpc1! I'll see what I can find out.

Tyler,

b86fiero · ‎07-14-2021

brian@ebay wrote:
@b86fiero wrote:
Listing Question

I use Sell Similar for some of my items - why reinvent the wheel right?

I am listing new kitchen towels right now. I use one of my current listings for the same brand and click Sell Similar. I update the Title, photos, myriad item specifics and description.

After the listing goes live I check it for accuracy. For the past few days not all of the item specifics - same or updated or newly added - transfer to the new listing. For instance, an original listing had 14 item specifics filled out. Sell Similar new listing created for same brand different design has only 5 item specifics showing. Some missing specifics not transferring include size, pattern, color, etc. Important info for buyers. Why are not all item specifics transferring to the new listing?

The same has happened when I use Sell Similar to list new bowls and plates.

Thanks for any help you can give.

@b86fiero hmmm... my guess is that since a large number of Item Specifics were updated in the last few months the listing used for the Sell Similar might have old internal data that can't transfer over to a new listing. If you don't mind sharing the item number of the listing you used for Sell Similar and the new listings item number then I can get it reported in the hopes of getting an answer to this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your guess just might be the correct answer. I've been listing items almost daily and never considered my older listings could be active but internally outdated. That actually makes sense to me. Some of my listings have sold out and when I acquired new inventory I just reactivated them by updating the quantity available. I updated all my listings with the newly required item specifics. Then probably used one of the oldest listings to Sell Similar.

I'm going to navigate the newest, longer version of the SYI form to list a few new items, then try the SS again. See what happens. I might be the cause of my own listing bug 🙂

vrykalak · ‎07-14-2021

Thank you for finally answering my question about Time Away vs Vacation mode.

It makes sense: expanding the availability of this idea to all sellers.

However, it really did me harm, because I was in hospital or otherwise away from home for medical reasons for more than 9 months, and all of a sudden my listings opened up to the world, and several people bought things.

I had to disappoint them...and some others who bought in the gap between one 30-day Time Away and the next and/or were willing to wait 30 days to get their purchase, not realizing that I would simply extend the Time Away for another 30 days.

I wish you would talk to the PTB, and ask them to relax on the 30-day limit.

There must be others like me who don't want to lose all the data in their stores, but for whatever reason cannot resume selling for an indefinite period.

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Edit: A reply to your comment can be found here

brian@ebay · ‎07-14-2021

@paxilill wrote:

The fees are now just stupid. I got hit with $53.89 in fees on a $265 dollar sale. I think it's time to cue Boyz II Men End of the Road.

@paxilill we definitely want sellers to know what our fee structure is, and you'll find a breakdown of that structure here. Keep in mind that Final Value Fees are charged on the total cost of the transaction, which includes item price, shipping price, and sales tax.

Brian,
Community Team

tyler@ebay · ‎07-14-2021

@vrykalak wrote:

Thank you for finally answering my question about Time Away vs Vacation mode.

It makes sense: expanding the availability of this idea to all sellers.

However, it really did me harm, because I was in hospital or otherwise away from home for medical reasons for more than 9 months, and all of a sudden my listings opened up to the world, and several people bought things.

I had to disappoint them...and some others who bought in the gap between one 30-day Time Away and the next and/or were willing to wait 30 days to get their purchase, not realizing that I would simply extend the Time Away for another 30 days.

I wish you would talk to the PTB, and ask them to relax on the 30-day limit.

There must be others like me who don't want to lose all the data in their stores, but for whatever reason cannot resume selling for an indefinite period.

I'm sorry to hear about your hospitalization @vrykalak, and I hope you're doing better!

I will make sure this suggestion is made!

Tyler,

alcoforever · ‎07-14-2021

@gwzcomps wrote:
Being under "Results matching fewer words" is not the 5th spot. That is the spot to get people to ignore the listing thinking it isn't relevant to their search.

That may be true for you but not necessarily for the rest of us. Many times I have noticed items in the "Results matching fewer words" that are exactly what I was looking for. So, I always continue looking down thru those items.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-14-2021

I see the Stores team has made some changes to Stores. I'm glad to see these. But I'm a bit mystified by this one, the new "Store Hub". What exactly is the point behind this? I'm guessing maybe I'm missing the point because this is an early stage, work in progress, but I'd really like to know why ebay has more or less resurrected something that ebay had pretty much killed off after store listings were finally folded into the main search function some years back. Any insights you can provide would be helpful.

https://www.ebay.com/b/Stores-HUB/bn_7004224522

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Edit: A reply to your question can be found here

mam98031 · ‎07-14-2021

@paxilill wrote:
The fees are now just stupid. I got hit with $53.89 in fees on a $265 dollar sale. I think it's time to cue Boyz II Men End of the Road.

There was also $125.00 for shipping. Was there any sales tax too? The FVFs on shipping have been part of the fees we have paid as sellers for over 10 years now. Long before MP.

So before sales tax [if any] the fees are calculated on the $390. amount. I suspect there was some sales tax too.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you." Quote from Edward I Koch

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-14-2021

Also, want to recommend you guys have the stores team here for a Weekly Chat. And, I'll mention yet again, it would be very helpful to have the Adult Policy team here, too.

As far as I can see, there's been zero announcement about the changes to stores.

_____

Edit: Reply to this post can be read here

brian@ebay · ‎07-14-2021

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

Also, want to recommend you guys have the stores team here for a Weekly Chat. And, I'll mention yet again, it would be very helpful to have the Adult Policy team here, too.

As far as I can see, there's been zero announcement about the changes to stores.

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques no guarantees, but it's something we can try to arrange 🙂

Brian,
Community Team

soh.maryl · ‎07-14-2021

Shipping on that item was $125 and you also neglected to mention if there was state sales tax on that sale.

tyler@ebay · ‎07-14-2021

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

I see the Stores team has made some changes to Stores. I'm glad to see these. But I'm a bit mystified by this one, the new "Store Hub". What exactly is the point behind this? I'm guessing maybe I'm missing the point because this is an early stage, work in progress, but I'd really like to know why ebay has more or less resurrected something that ebay had pretty much killed off after store listings were finally folded into the main search function some years back. Any insights you can provide would be helpful.

https://www.ebay.com/b/Stores-HUB/bn_7004224522

Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques - your guess is as good as mine on this one, but I think you hit the nail on the head: this will be a launching point for the 'improvements and updates' we've been teased about all year. I hope we don't have to wait much longer before we get some further updates or announcements on what they've been working on (they're proving very cloak and dagger about it, so I'm hopeful it will dazzle us).

Tyler,