💬 Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 17.05.23 @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 kat@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

[tenovuscancercare]

I wanted to ask why there is now additional listing fees to run auctions on anything other than a 7 day timescale please?

We are a charity account and used to be able to prepare listings on a weekday and set the time to run so they would finish on the weekend, which is supposed to be the best time for an auction to end, however we have noticed there is now a 18p charge for this.

There is some discussion on this matter on the ebay charity connect forum on facebook and some charities say they have had these fees removed when queried, but this isn’t consistent.

Can someone here help me with this ?

[ccla3379]

Hi,

Can I find out if you intend to fix the problem with "Print invoices and more.." option in FireFox (up-to-date  - i.e. v113.0.1 64-bit, on Win 10 22H2 inc 2023-05 cumulative update) ?
The PDF preview doesn't appear to work and it just kicks off a download to the PC each time you adjust an option.

Problem has been visible since the delivery of the 'improved' packing slip changes a few weeks ago.

Many thx.

[whf-southampton]

Hi,

I would like to ask why the returns process doesn't allow for adjusting the postage on refunds that include postage discounts for multiple purchases.

We sell footwear and have a postage policy of a nominal amount of £3.95 postage cost on the first item with the second and subsequent items being free shipping. However as people buy two for fit and then send one back, the return refund should be for the cost of the item ONLY. Your system apportions the postage over both items thereby giving the part of the postage cost back as well. It means the buyer ends up paying less postage on the first item being kept.

This is wrong.

When I asked CS about this I was told that ebay policies override the sellers policies so us sellers are being unfairly targeted because of ebay's poor programming.

I understand that the legislation is unclear on remorse returns on part orders so your system may not be correct, should you try to say buyers are due to have postage costs refunded in this situation.

[kat@ebay]

Hi @ccla3379 ,

Thank you for providing the details and screenshot. I will follow this up with tech to have it investigated. Once I have an update and further information from them I will update you.

Thank you,

Kat

[eshopforce01]

On the return system, would be nice to have an "exchange" option to offer time for the seller to send back the right item.

[pg_kicks]

Hi, 

Sorry in advance if this has been questioned and answered (just not solved) but do eBay have any plans to solve the very large issue of businesses using private accounts, I don't mean the ones who sell a lot of second hand items which could be argued that they are just emptying a relatives house or the ones selling a large collection of items (stamps/glass) but ones who have 300 brand new recently released sneakers, or 200 items of clothing (different sizes/sexes) all with tags on. 

I know you can report these but nothing happens, not only are they screwing over genine business sellers who pay the correct fees but most importantly they are trading illegally and stopping customers from returning the item which is the law.

The report system just doesnt seem to work for many issues so giving this as the possible solution just isnt really acceptable tbh, thats just ebay agreeing there is an issue but then accepting they will not solve it exactly the same as how many fake items are still being sold on eBay even though many users report.

[dave@ebay]

---

@tenovuscancercare wrote:

I wanted to ask why there is now additional listing fees to run auctions on anything other than a 7 day timescale please?

We are a charity account and used to be able to prepare listings on a weekday and set the time to run so they would finish on the weekend, which is supposed to be the best time for an auction to end, however we have noticed there is now a 18p charge for this.

There is some discussion on this matter on the ebay charity connect forum on facebook and some charities say they have had these fees removed when queried, but this isn’t consistent.

Can someone here help me with this ?

---

Hi @tenovuscancercare 

We made the change as part of the last seller release. With this we doubled the amount of free 7day auction listings while charging for longer durations. 

I understand this is not ideal for the way you're set up and I'll send this feedback on to the policy team to review.

Thanks,

Dave

[kat@ebay]

---

@whf-southampton wrote:

Hi,

I would like to ask why the returns process doesn't allow for adjusting the postage on refunds that include postage discounts for multiple purchases.

We sell footwear and have a postage policy of a nominal amount of £3.95 postage cost on the first item with the second and subsequent items being free shipping. However as people buy two for fit and then send one back, the return refund should be for the cost of the item ONLY. Your system apportions the postage over both items thereby giving the part of the postage cost back as well. It means the buyer ends up paying less postage on the first item being kept.

This is wrong.

When I asked CS about this I was told that ebay policies override the sellers policies so us sellers are being unfairly targeted because of ebay's poor programming.

I understand that the legislation is unclear on remorse returns on part orders so your system may not be correct, should you try to say buyers are due to have postage costs refunded in this situation.

---

Hi @whf-southampton,

I understand the situation your are advising of on this.  As customer support have advised the system is set up a certain way to override.  I'll share your example as feedback to the relevant department for review. While we cannot guarantee any changes to the policy we will share for consideration for future changes.

Thank you,

Kat

[tenovuscancercare]

Thanks Dave, I wasnt aware of the change TBH and it is a lot of extra cost for a charity to absorb. Yes we can list more auctions for free during the week, but we will surely miss out on the best conversions? Thanks for taking it back to the team - if they could also check into cliams some charities are getting these fees refunded when raised and others arent? 

[dave@ebay]

---

@eshopforce01 wrote:

On the return system, would be nice to have an "exchange" option to offer time for the seller to send back the right item.

---

Hi @eshopforce01 

At the moment as you know this is more of an informal process with the buyer and seller, I'll send this back to the development team as a possible site improvement for future updates.

Thanks,

Dave

[tenovuscancercare]

Can I please check something on returns ? If a customer orders multiple items and then received the parcel to find say 1 item missing ( 3 ordered, only 2 received) when they wish to open a claim, there isn't an option for them to specific that one item of 3 was missing ? So in the past we have had to just take it from their message and send another item to them? Surely this should be captured into the Ebay system rather than just via message ? Hoping Ive got that right 🙂 Thanks Savina 

[kat@ebay]

---

@pg_kicks wrote:

Hi, 

Sorry in advance if this has been questioned and answered (just not solved) but do eBay have any plans to solve the very large issue of businesses using private accounts, I don't mean the ones who sell a lot of second hand items which could be argued that they are just emptying a relatives house or the ones selling a large collection of items (stamps/glass) but ones who have 300 brand new recently released sneakers, or 200 items of clothing (different sizes/sexes) all with tags on. 

I know you can report these but nothing happens, not only are they screwing over genine business sellers who pay the correct fees but most importantly they are trading illegally and stopping customers from returning the item which is the law.

The report system just doesnt seem to work for many issues so giving this as the possible solution just isnt really acceptable tbh, thats just ebay agreeing there is an issue but then accepting they will not solve it exactly the same as how many fake items are still being sold on eBay even though many users report.

---

Hi @pg_kicks ,

I understand the frustration with these accounts.  There is alot of action taken on such accounts but its not always visible to yourself or other users due to not being able to share when such action is taken.  Each time we get a report we share this forward as well so we do push as much as we can. However the process right now is to report the listings through the site and this is the process that needs to be followed. This allows the reviews to be done by the correct team.

Thank you,

Kat

[dave@ebay]

---

@tenovuscancercare wrote:

Thanks Dave, I wasnt aware of the change TBH and it is a lot of extra cost for a charity to absorb. Yes we can list more auctions for free during the week, but we will surely miss out on the best conversions? Thanks for taking it back to the team - if they could also check into cliams some charities are getting these fees refunded when raised and others arent? 

---

Hi @tenovuscancercare 

These could be courtesy credits or there may have been another reason for the credit being processed by Customer Support out of the norm. This is usually on a case by case basis but without seeing the details of the transaction I wouldn't be able to comment on what happened.

Thanks,

Dave

[pg_kicks]

Hi Kat,

Thanks for the reply, sadly it just seems pointless, like i mentioned in the question, we are reporting the sellers, yet they are still selling on eBay. The process as it stands is not fit for purpose, it needs to either be radically changed or more staff/quicker dealing with the reports, currently have multiple accounts I've reported over a month ago still selling, sorry thats not acceptable, eBay know the law is being broken and nothing is getting done.

[whf-southampton]

Thank you for your response however this has been an issue for some considerable time now and we have re peatedly highlighted it to customer support for some years.

Some have adjusted the postage on our behalf (as there is no appropriate faciliity to do so in the deductions,)  and some flatly refuse to do so suggesting that the policy is not clear amongst the customer services staff either!

Due to the inconsistency of this problem and the lack of effort to resolve it, we have taken the decision to remove the multiple purchase postage discount from all our listings so now, both buyer and seller lose out - how is that helpful to either party????

For the fees we pay, we deserve better than this sloppy programming.

[nat_pol]

Basically I have an issue with negative feedback left for me. The short story is: I had request for an item not as described and there was technical issue related to that request and I contacted ebay representative regarding this. After investigating it they decided to close the case without me needed to refund the buyer, but ebay refunded themselves.  It was ebay decision and after that I received negative feedback from angry buyer stated they left without item and refund (but I seen notice refund was issued by ebay). I contacted ebay again and ask to remove that feedback as it absolutely was not my decision to close that case in this particular way and it was not my fault. Feedback removal was refused. I just want to know why it happened this way?

[kat@ebay]

---

@whf-southampton wrote:

Thank you for your response however this has been an issue for some considerable time now and we have re peatedly highlighted it to customer support for some years.

Some have adjusted the postage on our behalf (as there is no appropriate faciliity to do so in the deductions,)  and some flatly refuse to do so suggesting that the policy is not clear amongst the customer services staff either!

Due to the inconsistency of this problem and the lack of effort to resolve it, we have taken the decision to remove the multiple purchase postage discount from all our listings so now, both buyer and seller lose out - how is that helpful to either party????

For the fees we pay, we deserve better than this sloppy programming.

---

Hi @whf-southampton ,

We understand that you have to make business decisions based on this policy. Right now with whats within our control here is to share your examples forward as feedback with our teams that deal with policies.

Thank you,

Kat

[dave@ebay]

---

@nat_pol wrote:

Basically I have an issue with negative feedback left for me. The short story is: I had request for an item not as described and there was technical issue related to that request and I contacted ebay representative regarding this. After investigating it they decided to close the case without me needed to refund the buyer, but ebay refunded themselves.  It was ebay decision and after that I received negative feedback from angry buyer stated they left without item and refund (but I seen notice refund was issued by ebay). I contacted ebay again and ask to remove that feedback as it absolutely was not my decision to close that case in this particular way and it was not my fault. Feedback removal was refused. I just want to know why it happened this way?

---

Hi @nat_pol 

Unfortunately we don't  deal with feedback from here, you will need to speak to the guys in CS. It sounds like the feedback may not have been removable because there was initially an issue with the transaction but I wouldn't be able to provide a better answer because I don't have access to the systems to view the details. 

Thanks,

Dave

[eshopforce01]

1.  Search issue : Too many worldwide result despite the "default" location selected.

2. Too many fakes.

3. People abusing the variation system to build strong and unbeatable listing (in the video game category and probably more categories)