💬 Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 06.09.23 @2pm

[community-team@ebay]

Hi everybody!

The Community Chat will open at 2pm and will remain open until 3pm on Wednesday. After that it will be closed for further questions. Of course, we will continue to take care of answering any questions that may still be unanswered—We’ll get to everything as quickly as possible. 

Please ask your questions in the thread below. In order to be able to answer your questions as quickly as possible, we ask you to have one question per post. Of course, you can make as many posts as you like in the Chat- the more the merrier!

Our eBay Community Team is made up of marco@ebay , dave@ebay , and katie@ebay . Between us, we have knowledge in Buying, Selling, ProTrader, Fulfilment, Parts & Accessories, Payments, and the Community itself. Anything we aren’t sure on we’ll know the people who will be! Please ask us any questions you may have and we’ll do all we can to support. 

To ask your question, click Reply in the lower-right corner of this post, type your question, and click Reply between 2pm and 3pm. The community team will answer each incoming question in chronological order, and will quote the original question in each answer. 

Please note that any reply without a question to the community team or discussion replies may be removed from the chat. We want to keep on track to get through as many questions as possible. We welcome all discussion to be moved to the discussion boards. 

If you missed the weekly chat time, please ask your question in the community boards and tag us or we will be back next week with another chat! 

Many thanks,

Your eBay Community Team

[dave@ebay]

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@sumnites wrote:

I have been told there was a glitch sorted now, that is is completely random which it isnt, i have been told ebay decided too many listings were made during fvf promos which resulted in less buying! so they reduced them. All ebay have to do is a blanket fvf offer to all private sellers then if the February sellers dont get it we know there is a flaw in the system. It is too much of a coincidence that a large number of sellers have not had offers since February.

---

Hi @sumnites 

Im not aware of any tech issues with promos, its possible there there was one in the past. There is usually a budget for these promos so it may not be possible to send a blanket invite.

Thanks,

Dave

[bojangled]

Katie,

Thank you, really appreciate that.

Jo

[sumnites]

Re accounts and promos it is obvious that something changed in February as my accounts that received fvf without fail stopped and CS have checked and nothing wrong or changed re my performance and too many have had no promos since February. I keep getting promises of emails and escalation to techs that never come. If there is a policy to reduce fvf promos then fair enough but to give them to others without fail is discriminatory especially when absolutely no difference in account or performance. To try saying random is disingenuous.

[marco@ebay]

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@petals-and-paws wrote:

Thank you Marco.

Could I then ask in what scenario feedback would be removed, if it's delivered past eBays estimates but within the carriers estimates? It does state in your own feedback policy that this would be the case, yet you've clarified it wouldn't be removed - so perhaps the removal policy needs to be revised if this isn't actually the case?

Thank you for your help.

---

Thanks for your reply, petals-and-paws.

If the feedback says "late" only or something similar like that, the feedback will not be removed in any scenario. The reason why is because the buyer is given an estimated delivery date, which would be for example, 06/09/2023. If the buyer doesn't receive their order by then, it would be understandably late for them. Removing that feedback wouldn't possible cause the buyer it is stating that it was late, when it was as per the EDD, that's why it wouldn't qualify for removal.

Thank you,

Marco

[petals-and-paws]

When negative / neutral feedback is received, eBay always encourage sellers to respond so other potential buyers can see 'our side of the story'. However, responses to feedback are not visible on the app.

Is this going to be resolved any time soon?

[ak_craft_crazy]

It would be nice if we could have a postage selected on the orders page for when customers upgrade postage as at the moment there is nothing to say postage choice. So it is impossible to say which order has upgraded postage unless we click on each one individually.

For those who don't use ebay labels we need something we can see from the orders page if this can be passed on

[katie@ebay]

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@sumnites wrote:

Re accounts and promos it is obvious that something changed in February as my accounts that received fvf without fail stopped and CS have checked and nothing wrong or changed re my performance and too many have had no promos since February. I keep getting promises of emails and escalation to techs that never come. If there is a policy to reduce fvf promos then fair enough but to give them to others without fail is discriminatory especially when absolutely no difference in account or performance. To try saying random is disingenuous.

---

Hi @sumnites,

Promotions are distributed by our marketing teams. These promotions can change based on the market, time of year, types of accounts and many other factors in this ever-changing ecommerce world.

Although it may seem random these are business decisions made by eBay teams but due to the nature of marketing we have no way to predict when and if a seller may get one and we would not want our sellers to make business decisions on aspects we cannot guarantee. 

Thanks,

Katie 

[ak_craft_crazy]

But if the carrier says 3 working day delivery and it arrives on the 3rd working day it is not late. But as eBay states unrealistic delivery dates in their eyes its late. But in the world of reality it isnt late however eBay feel the need to punish sellers for something that is out of their control.

[marco@ebay]

---

@petals-and-paws wrote:

When negative / neutral feedback is received, eBay always encourage sellers to respond so other potential buyers can see 'our side of the story'. However, responses to feedback are not visible on the app.

Is this going to be resolved any time soon?

---

Hi petals-and-paws, thanks for your post. 

We don't have any information on this at moment, but I will make sure to pass your feedback along, so this can be taken into consideration for future app updates. 

Thank you,

Marco

[dave@ebay]

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@kempseykate wrote:

---

dave@ebay wrote:

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@kempseykate wrote:

Some time ago on the weekly chat I suggested having a tick box for craft patterns (knitting/crochet) to show if it was original or a photocopy.

I was told the usual - no plans currently, pass it back to team for future review - but it was suggested that I could add my own item specific (not very helpful if I'm a buyer, rather than a seller!).

Out of interest I ran a search for 'original knitting patterns' the other day ... and found a load of photocopies in the return, simply because some sellers are using the IS to put 'This is a copy of my original pattern'.

How is this allowed? If it's a copy, it's a copy, using the word 'original' is keyword spamming (no point reporting, because there is no option to say what the spamming is).

Can I list a replica football shirt, as long as I put 'This is a copy of my original shirt' in the IS?
Or a bootleg DVD/CD? Or work of art?

---

Hi @kempseykate 

If you have added a specific a buyer can search for that term and they will be able to find the listing, they just cant filter by that term. 

A replica shirt may run the rick of being removed if the the rights owner does not allow replicas to be sold. This may also be the case with knitting patterns but this would be down to whoever is the rights owner for the pattern. You could reach out to the owners of the patterns and they could advise if this practice is allowed. 

Thanks,

Dave

---

Why are sellers able to put 'This is a copy of my original'?

I'm talking as a buyer - I want to buy ORIGINAL knitting patterns, I don't want illegal copies.

If I am searching for a first edition book, I do not expect to see something come up in my searches because the seller has put 'this is not a first edition'.

---

Hi @kempseykate 

Its possible that there could be no trademark for these patterns and its OK to copy them. You can also report these listings and the policy team will review them to check if the listing breaches a policy.

Thanks

Dave

[ducatimondo]

Explanation of what is wrong:

The International postage where eBay are IOSS does not work properly.
eBay have been doing this since 1st July 2021
This has been wrong since 1st July 2021
I first told eBay about this on 2nd July 2021
I have lost count of how many times I have spoken to eBay about this, on the phone, on live chat and on here.
It is still wrong and has been wrong for more than 2 years and by now, probably affected several million transactions, if not several hundred million transactions.

eBay are knocking the VAT off the transaction for those that are in the IOSS system, where eBay become VAT controller for the transaction.

Where they go wrong is, they originally knocked the EU VAT rate from the UK sale, from the spoils they gave the seller.

So if an item went to Ireland and was 23% VAT, instead of knocking 20% VAT off what they gave us, they knocked 23% off and gave us the rest, less several different fees.

Same was true to Denmark, but knocking off 25% instead of 20%, as they have a 25% VAT rate.

At some point they seem to have corrected the amount it took off the item, but no amount of asking eBay to restore the wrong transactions led to anything being done, so we got left short changed.

It does however still not work, as it turns out that they don't know what they are doing.
The reason they don't know what they are doing is because they are knocking VAT off something that does not contain VAT.

If we have a postage rate of £12 to France or Germany or where ever, that is the rate.

There currently is no VAT in any international post.
There has not been any, in any postal or courier service from any provider since 1st January 2021

eBay however knock off VAT at the buyer's rate from that aforementioned £12 and give you wrong amount, less several different fees.
eBay became IOSS on 1st July 2021 and have been continuously doing this wrong since then.

So your first problem is that they are knocking VAT off something that does not contain VAT.

Your second problem is that they are knocking off a different VAT rate than is applicable to the transaction or the UK at all.

I have asked and asked for them to fix this and to date, they are not even acknowledging the problem.

One eBay colleague just said, increase the price to cover it and then it will be right when we knock the amount back down. Seriously, this is what I was told, to change our prices to counter the mistake they were making...

Yeah, well when it comes to misappropriation of VAT, I'd rather not join in if that is okay with all of the other parties involved.

This is a transaction showing the advertised postage rate, then the shown rate we got in the transaction which is clear as day 16% less, because of 16% VAT in Luxembourg

This is again basic programming that does not work now and never has worked for more than 2 years since it was originally implemented.

Question:

Can someone explain why this was never fixed and tell us when they will fix it?

Thanks
Russ

[nicme_9294]

Thankyou! I didn't think it was right, do you know will I definitely be charged the 16p and not the customer? as printed a label once I had the original response,

will switch to click and drop from now on where the 16p is already added 🙂

[marco@ebay]

---

@ducatimondo wrote:

Explanation of what is wrong:

The International postage where eBay are IOSS does not work properly.
eBay have been doing this since 1st July 2021
This has been wrong since 1st July 2021
I first told eBay about this on 2nd July 2021
I have lost count of how many times I have spoken to eBay about this, on the phone, on live chat and on here.
It is still wrong and has been wrong for more than 2 years and by now, probably affected several million transactions, if not several hundred million transactions.

eBay are knocking the VAT off the transaction for those that are in the IOSS system, where eBay become VAT controller for the transaction.

Where they go wrong is, they originally knocked the EU VAT rate from the UK sale, from the spoils they gave the seller.

So if an item went to Ireland and was 23% VAT, instead of knocking 20% VAT off what they gave us, they knocked 23% off and gave us the rest, less several different fees.

Same was true to Denmark, but knocking off 25% instead of 20%, as they have a 25% VAT rate.

At some point they seem to have corrected the amount it took off the item, but no amount of asking eBay to restore the wrong transactions led to anything being done, so we got left short changed.

It does however still not work, as it turns out that they don't know what they are doing.
The reason they don't know what they are doing is because they are knocking VAT off something that does not contain VAT.

If we have a postage rate of £12 to France or Germany or where ever, that is the rate.

There currently is no VAT in any international post.
There has not been any, in any postal or courier service from any provider since 1st January 2021

eBay however knock off VAT at the buyer's rate from that aforementioned £12 and give you wrong amount, less several different fees.
eBay became IOSS on 1st July 2021 and have been continuously doing this wrong since then.

So your first problem is that they are knocking VAT off something that does not contain VAT.

Your second problem is that they are knocking off a different VAT rate than is applicable to the transaction or the UK at all.

I have asked and asked for them to fix this and to date, they are not even acknowledging the problem.

One eBay colleague just said, increase the price to cover it and then it will be right when we knock the amount back down. Seriously, this is what I was told, to change our prices to counter the mistake they were making...

Yeah, well when it comes to misappropriation of VAT, I'd rather not join in if that is okay with all of the other parties involved.

This is a transaction showing the advertised postage rate, then the shown rate we got in the transaction which is clear as day 16% less, because of 16% VAT in Luxembourg

This is again basic programming that does not work now and never has worked for more than 2 years since it was originally implemented.

Question:

Can someone explain why this was never fixed and tell us when they will fix it?

Thanks
Russ

---

Hi ducatimondo, thanks for your post.

We will check this for you, and get back to you when we have an update on this.

Thank you,

Marco

[marco@ebay]

Hi ducatimondo,

I've just got an update on this, please see below.

eBay’s tax methodology is to remove the VAT at the rate specified by the seller on the item, and then add VAT based on the delivery country.

The logic for this is that if a seller has listed a VAT inclusive price, then they no longer are responsible for the VAT and instead eBay has to take responsibility.  

Example:

VAT registered Seller lists item GBP100, and indicates that they have applied 20% VAT.  As the UK works on an inclusive pricing, this means GBP100 is the VAT inclusive price (100% seller revenue + 20% VAT).

We impute UK VAT out at 20%, giving seller revenue of GBP83.33, VAT of 16.67

We then calculate the VAT payable by eBay based on the delivery address e.g. 23% based on IE buyer address.  So buyer with an IE delivery address will be charged 102.50 – 83.33+IE VAT 19.17

It is for this reason we ask VAT registered sellers to provide the VAT rate that they use in their pricing when listing items; if the seller provides a different VAT rate (e.g. a rate of 25% for Denmark) then we impute that rate. 

This is the logic that has been in place since 1 January 2021 for the UK and 1 July 2021 for the EU. 

Regarding VAT on postage, Royal Mail (or a similar universal postal operator) does not charge VAT.  However, the seller wouldn't be a postal carrier and so is required to account for VAT on their postage charges.  Our logic therefore assumes that a seller's shipping pricing is based on a VAT inclusive price for postage also.  HMRC have some guidance here which may be of help.

Please note that you will not able to reply here, as this chat is already closed.

Thank you,

Marco