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Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 02.10.24 @2pm
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, @anita@ebay and @anita@ebay. Between us, we have knowledge in Buying, Selling, Fulfilment, 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
technthread
·1 year agoHi @returns_andexdisplay ,
We were able to see a good increase in buyers to the site when it was launched in the German market so introducing this to the UK should yield the same. I'll share your feedback regarding unlimited listings
Thank you,
Kat
This sounds good but how many of those accounts were ex business accounts who just did a phoenix on private accounts. It is too tempting to switch to private accounts now due to the gulf in fees.
kat@ebay
Hi @technthread ,
It will be part of the process to have these accounts reviewed.
Thank you,
Kat
pg_kicks
·1 year agoFinal point for the day.
Can we please stop saying/copy and pasting please use the report feature for a business on a private account and just fix the reporting system? All it does is annoy us even more, I'd rather be told its broken and it doesnt actually work or that eBay dont really care that much than be told to use the system again (for the 100th time) when it doesnt actually work? If it worked we'd not need to mention it every single week.
charleysshop
·1 year agoAs a business seller of three years trading on here, I am very disappointed with what seems to be a disrespectful attitude to myself and other businesses, who are all crying out for help, mainly for more sales and less fees in the face of adversity and another booming platform taking sales.
I would like to ask....
With all of the hardship in the UK, we are working 24/7 to make a valid business run, can eBay please send us a morale boost to encourage us all to keep our business account with you please? Before it's too late for many of us to shut up shop.
marco@ebay
Hi @charleysshop, thanks for your input.
I see what you are coming from. However, we've introduced the benefits we've mentioned already (enhanced seller protections, free 1:1 support with seller clinics). If this changes and we decided to take further actions, we will let you know.
Thank you,
Marco
returns_andexdisplay
·1 year agoWhen ever I go to a ebay roadshow or watch events online we are always told what buyers want to give them great experience. With things like free postage and free returns etc.
When are ebay going to listen to business sellers and start giving us what we want which is a better shop offering. The latest relase is great for private sellers and hopefully will see some benefit with more buyers coming to the site. ebay should be protecting sellers from fradulent returns as standard, we expect this not think it is some added bonus and some new benefit.
Real benefits and improvements to a shop would be to have more listings available to match similar shop subscriptions from likes of Amazon and Shopify where I can get unlimted listings all for around £25 - £30 a month.
kat@ebay
Hi @returns_andexdisplay ,
We were able to see a good increase in buyers to the site when it was launched in the German market so introducing this to the UK should yield the same. I'll share your feedback regarding unlimited listings
Thank you,
Kat
jazz_up_your_shop
·1 year agoIt's now 3 weeks since Marco promised me an update on the issue I posted about regarding a delivery 'running behind' when it clearly wasn't. In other words more evidence the EDDs are broken.
I shall consider myself fobbed off. It seems the majority of responses on this board are just lip service with cut and paste promises to pass it on to the relevant team and to come back with an update.
From what I've seen, you rarely come back with an update, if ever.
What's the real point of this weekly chat if nothing every actually gets done?
marco@ebay
Hi , thanks for your reply.
I understand this is not ideal, but we work with a queue system, and we will provide you with an update as soon as possible. We haven't lost your case, and I still do follow ups on it, I just haven't had any updates yet. As advised before, once they update me on your case, I will let you know as soon as possible.
On the other hand, if you check, we do come back to everyones queries. This can be confirmed by checking previous chats, and sometimes we private message users directly, just like I did with you a couple of weeks ago. Again, I understand the waiting time is not ideal, but we will update you on it as soon as we can.
Thank you,
Marco
bojangled
·1 year agoHello community team
I completely understand the need to drive traffic to the platform, and I really don't have an issue with the free to sell announcements .
Surely an incentive for the backbone of the platform ie business sellers, enabling them to list more for less, a discount in shop fees for Q4 or similar, so they can take advantage of this increased 'footfall' is viable?
Im afraid the 1:1 and the seller protections are fluffy. Having just listened to the R4 piece Kirsty did nothing to assure me small business are valued.
marco@ebay
Hi @bojangled, thanks for your reply.
Absolutely understandable, and I will be happy to pass on your feedback, so this can be taken into consideration. Should this change, we will let everyone know as usual, but thanks for sharing your thoughts and feedback with us, anything else, please let us know.
Thank you,
Marco
dwtrading2015
·1 year agoWhat disincentive is it for business sellers masquarading as private to simply have 'restrictions' placed against them? Surley there should be outright bans. This was a serious violation before the sudden elimination fees for these private sellers yesterday, a move I can only describe has a horse kick in the teeth to honest business sellers.
These private account scammers have been rewarded with zero fees and the complete lack of action to deal with the many reported fake private accounts means they have nothing to fear. 300 listings? I have 40 and have to register as a business and can't have a private account for private sales.
Why is there not a rule that states if somebody has a quantity of items greater then 2, or keeps relisting an identical item after a sale, that this should be a red flag? Private sellers do not have a stock of items and should therefore never have a quantity greater than 1. Why is it so obvious to identify a business trader masquarading as private yet NO action is taken that impacts the cheat?
Read through the chat rooms, many are in shock and gutted by this.
dave@ebay
Hi @dwtrading2015
There is currently an ongoing process to combat this. There are a number of threads across the different boards where you can see we have been actioning these accounts. This is a priority and we are currently working on ways to ensure we have fairness for all sellers.
I do understand your frustration with this and I will share your feedback to the relevant team. I will share any updates from them as they become available.
Thanks,
Dave
everyfone-uk
·1 year ago@marco@ebay
Marco and Anita,
My late delivery metric has not been adjusted for the 186 late deliveries caused by the recent bad weather in the uk during sept 2024 and now it jepodizes my selling performance in the UK. Please could you bulk remove all my late delivery defects as ebay stated they would- as per link below and havent done. Please help! ive tried calling CS so many times and they only remove 5 at a time! Please help!
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Announcements/Deliveries-impacted-by-severe-weather-conditions-September-2024/ba-p/7680318
marco@ebay
Hi @everyfone-uk, thanks for your question.
Unfortunately, we don't do customer service over here, so this is something we would not be able to help with. However, we have a protection plan announced here. If you contact customer service for the ones that were not removed automatically, they can assist you further.
Thank you,
Marco
everyfone-uk
·1 year agoI have tried calling customer serices many many times and they WONT REMOVE THE DEFECTS!
Please help! I thought tahts the point of this weekly chat??
Customer Services wont remove the defects despite ebay saying they will.
This is the 1st time ive come on this weekly chat because CS wont help!
Whats the point of this weekly chat if you guys dont help us?
marco@ebay
Hi @everyfone-uk, thanks for your reply.
The community team will help where they can, and we will assist as much as we can. However, the weekly chat as per the guidelines/rules of the chat is for you to ask us questions, so we can clarify any queries you may have, or tell you what's the best thing to do in any different scenario that you could share with us. However, we do not provide customer services over this channel.
Defects will only be removed under the protection programme, if they cannot be removed, maybe your transactions were not impacted, I cannot confirm this since we cannot see the orders in question. In order for you to get help, you'd need to contact customer services.
Thank you,
Marco
leadhills_scot
·1 year agoWhen are business sellers going to get free listings/FVFs?
dave@ebay
Hi @leadhills_scot
Im not aware of any plans to offer free listings or FVFs for business sellers. We always looking for new ways to improve the experience and deliver what our customers want so I will pass this suggestion to the relevant teams to review.
Thanks,
Dave
leadhills_scot
·1 year agoWell as that is the case come Christmas after 24 years I'm leaving ebay.
Anonymous User
·1 year agoWhy are private sellers (and I'm one myself!) allowed to sell multiples? There is a seller that makes copies of craft patterns to sell. They have currently sold nearly 900 identical copies from one listing with a whole load more available.
How can it be possible for someone to be a private seller if they have nearly a thousand (+) identical items for sale/sold?
I would have thought it would have been a good idea in the T&Cs of the new 300 free listings to restrict the number of multiples for private sellers - or stop them altogether.
marco@ebay
Hi @kempseykate, thanks for your question.
If you think there is an account that is not in compliance with our policies, you can report them using this link here under the reason The seller has violated one of eBay’s policies. We will then review the report and take actions accordingly.
Thank you,
Marco
krafty-kreations
·1 year agoHi Marco
If you think there is an account that is not in compliance with our policies, you can report them using this link here under the reason The seller has violated one of eBay’s policies. We will then review the report and take actions accordingly.
I have reported quite a few, all still trading on private accounts, seems pointless.
marco@ebay
Hi @krafty-kreations, thanks for your input.
I will be happy to pass on your feedback on this, in the meantime, please continue to report them as usual.
Thank you,
Marco
krafty-kreations
·1 year agoHi @krafty-kreations, thanks for your input.
I will be happy to pass on your feedback on this, in the meantime, please continue to report them as usual.
Thank you,
Marco
Sorry Marco, I honestly do not see the point, all that happens is the same response, if we take action you won't see, well I would because they would be made to upgrade to the business account they should be on!!
I am losing faith that eBay will ever do anything about it and it is really unfair to expect us to compete with these sellers with NO selling fees at all.
marco@ebay
Thanks for your reply, @krafty-kreations.
We are always reviewing these reports, and actions are being taken, that's why we saw a number of threads from accounts being requested to upgrade to business, this is all actions being taken from our end. I understand where you're coming from, and I get that it can be frustrating, but just because we cannot share further information, or you cannot see what actions are taken, that doesn't necessarily mean that nothing happens when you issue your reports.
Thank you,
Marco
Anonymous User
·1 year agoI have reported them, and others, quite a few times, Marco - they are still private sellers with an unlimited stock of identical items. And now they are having a big laugh at ebay's expense (literally), because they don't have to pay a bean.
marco@ebay
Thanks for your reply, @kempseykate.
I would still encourage you to continue to report these accounts, I can guarantee you that they are reviewed, and while we cannot share what actions are taken, this is definitely the best thing to do.
Thank you,
Marco
renozu
·1 year agoClick & Collect as a seller. If I do not use tracked mail, does the eCP code mean I am told when it arrives? EBAY only states "When it's ready for collection, we'll notify the BUYER"
Is the SELLER notified too?
marco@ebay
Hi @renozu, thanks for your question.
Technically speaking, the eCP code is not for tracking purposes, and it doesn't provide tracking information. However, when you are a seller, you'd only receive that code when the item is delivered to the collection point. So, if you receive the code, it'd mean that the item was delivered ok to the collection point.
Thank you,
Marco
renozu
·1 year agoThanks for this - exactly what I wanted to know.
So ... I will nbe notified when it reaches the collection point, but,
obviously, no cover until it does arrive.
p.s. I cannot see this answer in the Weekly Chat...
pps. *vyolla*
<> on
the forum states that the seller ISN'T notified?!?
David
marco@ebay
Hi @renozu, thanks for your reply.
No problem, glad to clarify that for you.
What you mean you cannot see the answer, could you please elaborate that further? Is it my answer or a different one?
Thank you,
Marco
moonspender
·1 year agoI was told yesterday by one of your consierges that private sellers are not investigated unless they do over 10000 euros of sales a year ... why is this so much more than HMRC's amount that potentially triggers investigation?
kat@ebay
Hi @moonspender ,
There is no set number like 10,000 so I will have that checked for incorrect information. We do have internal measures that we cannot share due to security reasons.
There are other measures such as
popular and/or high-priced items are subject to sales limits. In some cases, only previously verified sellers or only a certain number of these items can be sold.
We regularly review our sellers’ trading activities. If we have reason for suspicions, we’ll take action. These can vary and are not visible to outsiders.
We have the following options – depending on the severity of the violation and their frequency:
As I did advise before which I appreciate causes frustration is that action taken is not always publicly visible.
eBay also cooperates with authorities (e.g. tax office) and supports them in investigations in this regard.
Thank you,
Kat
dwtrading2015
·1 year ago"If we have reason for suspicions, we’ll take action. These can vary and are not visible to outsiders."
Exactly, all the other private sellers see this and know they can act with impunity. These sanctions are extremly weak and pretty meaningless to those with 20 private accounts already set up ready to switch sales.
There is only one appropriate course of action. Suspension and then they prove they are legit. It is very easy to spot a business account - they have identical items for sale in multiple quantities.
pg_kicks
·1 year agoHello eBay community team and people reading from Dublin and around the UK and Ireland.
As per the attached file found by another user (sorry for taking the imagine) can you please report to anyone who has some say that communication really needs to be at the forefront of eBays mind when the highlighted issue is discussed anymore.
Also with the revelations that the no fee's for private sellers has been many months in the making and made possible through the hard work and collaboration of teams across the company dont you think it would have been decent customer service to actually let both the customer service team and the community team know some of the points to it so they could answer questions. Leaving everything as a surprise till the day it is released is both terrible planning and not how a genuine business should treat its customers (thats us businesses who actually pay for the site).
Hopefully we can have some (any) communication regarding the buyer fee prior to the day it is launched as with most things eBay launches it will be full of bugs and customers wont have a clue whats happening.
All we need is half decent communication, I cant believe I have to point this out to a company that is turning over billions of dollars but it seems whoever is running that department has taken their eye off the ball massively. Also please please pass onto management that whilst they may be great at creating charts and reports they dont understand how the site is broken, your customers are the ones who see the issues but we are being ignored on a huge scale.
Hopefully you all have a great day and the messages can be passed onto the relevant teams who take it on board and improve.
dave@ebay
Good afternoon @pg_kicks
I hope you're keeping well.
We will of course pass on any updates as soon as possible. We've been monitoring the different threads on these updates and have been forwarding the sentiment to various different teams that are responsible for the changes.
I will add this to the report we send after the chat so it will definitely be seen by the appropriate teams.
Thanks,
Dave
pg_kicks
·1 year agoThanks, this is by no means a direct attack on you but that release to the sec clearly states many teams have worked on the free listings for months yet yourself and the person I spoke to who I think we can agree is not entry level at eBay both said that auto relisted listings would count from the 300 as I quote from conversation so might not be word for word but 'it would be stupid if it wasnt' yet eBay have taken that stupid idea and now allow private accounts to have 3600 listings a year with no selling fee's these 3600 can be variation listings so easily have 36000 items. If we (your customers) ever ask about how to alert eBay we get a copy and paste stock answer of please report, yet the reporting system is not fit for purpose otherwise accounts selling food (against eBay policy as a private account) that has sold over 15k items would have been closed as its been reported hundreds of times.
We are all business owners, yet we get replies like we are in nursery asking us to complete the same task thats been completed hundreds of times before with zero change. Like I say this is by no means an attack on you as I believe we have a decent enough rapport but the constant negative moves from eBay are sadly becoming more often and the failure to mention such a high profile thing like free listings for all at the Open Event just showed how little eBay care about businesses as long as we pay.
dave@ebay
Hi @pg_kicks
I never feel attacked when reading these posts, you raise some good points and we are always looking for honest feedback. It helps shape future updates.
The reporting system has come up several times and I can assure you it is something that we are looking in to. The site team are working in the background to make improvements on how these reports are routed.
I understand it can sometimes feel we are not actioning the feedback from you guys but there's a lot of processes that need to be followed before any changes go live to site. Even though it seems to be repeating the same procedures with no results, they are going tot he correct teams and being are actioned.
Thanks,
Dave
moonspender
·1 year agoI feel really unsupported as a business seller especially now private sellers pay no fees and i have to directly complete with these " private sellers " one for example has 3500 items listed ... with vinted pro going live with no fees for business sellers why shouldnt i just move my business to vinted ?
kat@ebay
Hi @moonspender ,
We understand the sentiment around the new changes for private sellers. eBay will be improving their measures in reviewing private sellers trading activities. Even if these measures are not always publicly visible, they are still very effective because they have a direct impact on the respective user.
We are also adding new benefits for business sellers which I'll include below.
Thank you,
Kat
pg_kicks
·1 year agoHi Kat, sorry to jump in but is that really all eBay are using to convince business sellers that its a fair and equal playing field? some extra credit when we are conned by buyers, how many extra credits as I sell hundreds over the year and it happens once or twice so extra credits isnt really what we need and more customer services who any time we have phoned in the past tell us to increase advertising spending?
Also marco just mentioned the open events? seriously the biggest news ebay has had in years yet nothing was mentioned about it at the open event, shows how much they care for business accounts?
kat@ebay
Hi @pg_kicks ,
I completely understand where your coming from on this. eBay announced the information on the day it was going live as that is how it was planned. We are taking all of the responses and sentiment from yourself and other users across the boards over the last few days and feeding these back.
Thank you,
Kat
dwtrading2015
·1 year agoDo please ensure chat like this is included - it somehow became a focal point. The title is
kat@ebay
Hi @dwtrading2015 ,
All the threads and discussions across the boards have been shared as feedback. We have and continue to monitor the sentiment and share it with our management.
Thank you,
Kat
moonspender
·1 year agoYou can tell them many of us are going to vinted pro ... i tried to set up an account early but couldnt get on it was so busy ! Ebay does not care about business sellers ... take that from one who's been with you 20+ years ... so sad .... loyalty is worthless
kat@ebay
Hi @moonspender ,
I will share this as feedback.
Thank you,
Kat
krafty-kreations
·1 year agoWe are also adding new benefits for business sellers which I'll include below.
I would prefer all business selling on private accounts shut down, that would be more useful.
I think the changes are a great, hopefully more private sellers means more buyers, but how many of those buyers will be buying from businesses using private accounts that undercut the genuine business sellers?
kat@ebay
Hi @krafty-kreations ,
This is a really valid point with the recent changes brought in. What I can advise at this stage is that eBay is monitoring private sellers accounts and will enhance on how they are doing this going forward. I know there is frustration when the results are not visible but they are being monitored.
Thank you,
Kat
krafty-kreations
·1 year agoThis is a really valid point with the recent changes brought in. What I can advise at this stage is that eBay is monitoring private sellers accounts and will enhance on how they are doing this going forward. I know there is frustration when the results are not visible but they are being monitored.
Thank you,
Kat
Sorry Kat, I don't mean to keep banging on about this, yes I am frustrated, and I don't understand why you are monitoring these accounts, if you buy or make to sell you should be registered as a business seller, yet there are many many accounts selling brand new products in multiple sizes, colours, variations, whatever, so what exactly are you monitoring for?
kat@ebay
Hi @krafty-kreations ,
Its ok, I get the frustration. Monitoring includes actions being taken but again the action is not always visible.
Thank you,
Kat
Anonymous User
·1 year agoGood Afternoon
With the new free to sell for all private sellers offering yet more incentives and rewards to private sellers (both genuine and business sellers looking to exploit free listings) there is now more business sellers on the site particularly the smaller ones looking to either cease trading or move over to other platforms that offer far greater incentives for businesses.
I must add that I and nobody else has any issue with real private sellers getting free listings to drive traffic to the site.
However Private sellers both real and fake can now undercut small business sellers due to the savings they make on costs to sell, meaning an already difficult selling market is made all the more difficult. I myself have not been on here long (2 months) and i'm already looking at other platforms that will look after its registered and compliant business sellers, not hinder them.
Vinted pro is now live offering free listings for businesses along with many other platforms such as Amazon, Etsy, hosting your own website etc. Can you tell me what is the incentive now for a small business to continue to operate on this platform when all that is promised to them in return is a clamp down on fraudulent returns and on false private sellers which are not rewards, these are standard things eBay should be doing anyway.
My question is other than the promise to clamp down on fake private sellers and false returns Is there any tangible incentives coming for business sellers or are they to continue paying subscriptions and high selling fees whilst others get a competitive advantage on a promise to cut out private sellers gaming the system?
Many Thanks
Stay Safe
marco@ebay
Hi @emilyandarchie, thanks for your question. Absolutely understandable.
For business sellers we will now be offering enhanced seller protections, we’ve expanded the number of credits seller can receive for the cost of postage if a buyer falsely claims that an item is not as described.
Free 1:1 support with Seller Clinics, Business sellers can now take advantage of free Seller Clinics, to get
easy access to growth support. Simply book a phone call appointment and you’ll be paired with an
expert Marketplace Advisor, who will provide personalised advice on any topics you’d like to discuss.
These new benefits complement our existing programmes, tools and resources available to sellers, such as the ability to become an eBay Top Rated Seller, use of third-party tools and software, our eBay premium service, and being a part of our vibrant business community with eBay Business Roadshows and eBay Open UK.
For the moment, this is what is available, but if this changes and further benefits are introduced for business sellers, we will communicate it as usual.
Thank you,
Marco
charleysshop
·1 year agoHi,
I use Royal Mail mostly tracked 48. Items are delayed in my area resulting in my account being affected. If I use 2nd class through eBay there is no tracking now.
Why has the tracking for 2nd class been removed please?
dave@ebay
Hi @charleysshop
If there are known delays in an area the EDD calculation should factor that in. I'll forward this to the shipping team to see if its something they are aware of. I'll also get clarification on the tracked option.
Leave this one with me and Ill come back to you as soon as I have an update.
Thanks,
Dave
charleysshop
·1 year agoThank you Dave
cobwebcottage
·1 year agoHi all,
I hope you are well on this busy week,
There is a lotof confusion over the 300 listings limit for private sellers. Can I ask if the answer given to the question last week is still correct?
Hi @pg_kicks
All good here thanks, I hope all's well on your side.
The limits will still work the same so if for example you have 150 active listings, when they relist the following month it will take 150 from that months 300 limit.
If you PM me a link to where you're seeing it worded differently I'll have a look into it.
Thanks,
Dave
kat@ebay
Hi @cobwebcottage ,
Thank you for following up on this.
The correct information would be that renewed listings will not count towards the free listing allowance. I'll include the details on that below
Thank you,
Kat
equinox-electronics
·1 year agoHi
What's Ebay's stance on ebay resellers on YouTube that are bragging about been on a private account, avoiding fees even though they are running a full time business on Ebay? Saying to his followers to stay on a private account
One example yesterday uploaded a video clearly goading and laughing at sellers on business accounts. Surely this goes against some sort of ebay T&C?
And like was mentioned on the email us business users got yesterday this clearly falls into the false private seller category. Got an account with over 600 listings and posts what they buy and sell for profit
Obviously I won't post the details about the seller or youtube link here. But will more than happily PM one to you
marco@ebay
Hi , thanks for your question.
All accounts trading with the wrong type of account will be restricted. If you see any account that you believe is not in compliance, you can report it here under the reason The seller has violated one of eBay’s policies.
Thank you,
Marco
Anonymous User
·1 year ago@marco@ebay
Ignore! The seller had a different ID on the listing to the one shown on feedback. I corrected that and the report has now gone through!
marco@ebay
Thanks for your reply, @kempseykate.
Perfect, that will be reviewed and actioned accordingly. Please note that any outcome taken can only be shared with the account holder for privacy and security reasons.
Thank you,
Marco
Anonymous User
·1 year agoWell, they are an unregistered business seller, so the only two appropriate actions would be they change to a business or their account is closed - both of which will be visible. So I look forward to seeing the result soon!