Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 03.01.24 @2pm | Chat with the eBay Community Team | eBay UK

Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 03.01.24 @2pm | Chat with the eBay Community Team | eBay UK

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Chat with the eBay Community Team

Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 03.01.24 @2pm

Hi everyone,

Our eBay Community Team is made up of @marco@ebay @katie@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.

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Your eBay Community Team

community-team@ebay eBay Staff

eBay Staff

eBay Staff0 View listings

Posted 2 years ago · Edited 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

45 comments

truly-personalised

·2 years ago

Sorry another question. When inoutting the tracking number to an order from Royal Mail, we used to be able to just copy and paste from RM, but now Ebay wonlt accept spaces in the number so we ahve to remove all the sapces. I don't understand how it used to accept it as it came from RM but now we have to remove spaces, it is quite time consuming for something which you used to do.

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@truly-personalised wrote:

Sorry another question. When inoutting the tracking number to an order from Royal Mail, we used to be able to just copy and paste from RM, but now Ebay wonlt accept spaces in the number so we ahve to remove all the sapces. I don't understand how it used to accept it as it came from RM but now we have to remove spaces, it is quite time consuming for something which you used to do.

Hi @truly-personalised, thanks for flagging this.

I will pass this on to the relevant team and hopefully this is something that can be improved.

Thanks,

Anita

truly-personalised

·2 years ago

Hi

It would be really useful if Ebay had a bulk way to edit variations. For example, I have 500 listings and I would like to remove 2 words out of each variation. I can't do it one by one it would take forever.

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@truly-personalised wrote:

Hi

It would be really useful if Ebay had a bulk way to edit variations. For example, I have 500 listings and I would like to remove 2 words out of each variation. I can't do it one by one it would take forever.

Hi @truly-personalised, thanks for your post.

That's a great suggestion. I will pass it on to the relevant team, so it can be taken into consideration for future updates.

Thanks,

Anita

eshopforce01

·2 years ago

Hi,

When i list, i want to select the category, eBay doesn't suggest any categories anymore.

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@eshopforce01 wrote:

Hi,

When i list, i want to select the category, eBay doesn't suggest any categories anymore.

Hi @eshopforce01, thanks for your post.

I just tested and wasn't able to replicate the issue. Does it happen on the eBay app or full site on PC/laptop? What item are you trying to list?

Thanks,

Anita

eshopforce01

·2 years ago

on PC.

Chrome and Firefox.

Video games and clothes.

I used to type "levi's Jeans Men's".... and get suggestions.

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@eshopforce01 wrote:

on PC.

Chrome and Firefox.

Video games and clothes.

I used to type "levi's Jeans Men's".... and get suggestions.

@eshopforce01, looking at your screenshot it seems that you are revising a listing that already has a Video games category, so it won't prompt a new category. If you start to create a new listing and type in 'Levi's Jeans Men's', it should recommend you a category 'Clothes, Shoes & Accessories > Men > Men's Clothing'.

Thanks,

Anita

contessa35

·2 years ago

A completely separate (and probably stupid, sorry!) question from me now - but hopefully easy to answer. I notice in the eBay Community Forums that in the member-to-member support section (sorry if I mangled the name), I see no reply buttons on the posts, so I am unable to participate in the rare event that I could add something helpful! What am I missing? I clearly have overlooked something. Other sections of the forums that I've looked at do allow me to participate.

katie@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@contessa35 wrote:

A completely separate (and probably stupid, sorry!) question from me now - but hopefully easy to answer. I notice in the eBay Community Forums that in the member-to-member support section (sorry if I mangled the name), I see no reply buttons on the posts, so I am unable to participate in the rare event that I could add something helpful! What am I missing? I clearly have overlooked something. Other sections of the forums that I've looked at do allow me to participate.

Hi @contessa35,

Thank you for your question. This part of the community allows for community mentors to reply to members who are coming from the help pages with questions.

Only the original poster and community mentors can reply. You can see more on the community mentor programme here.

Thanks,

Katie

contessa35

·2 years ago

Thank you Katie, that explains it - I hadn't realised that was how it works! My mistake.

eshopforce01

·2 years ago

It's nice to receive a message with the outcome of a report.

Nice feature.

boro006

·2 years ago

Hello

Can I ask about the situation regarding ebay supplying more info to the tax man as off January 1st in the UK. Is the information given as of Jan 1st or backdated for a certain time or is tax year?

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@boro006 wrote:

Hello

Can I ask about the situation regarding ebay supplying more info to the tax man as off January 1st in the UK. Is the information given as of Jan 1st or backdated for a certain time or is tax year?

Hi @boro006, thanks for your post.

This should only affect new accounts in 2024 and all accounts in 2025, who pass a yearly sales threshold on eBay.

However, if you do have any more questions at the moment, we recommend that you consult HMRC or

a tax advisor.

Thanks,

Anita

boro006

·2 years ago

Does ebay automatically pass earnings to HMRC when you pass the £1000 threshold, trying to do a tax return at the moment!

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@boro006 wrote:

Does ebay automatically pass earnings to HMRC when you pass the £1000 threshold, trying to do a tax return at the moment!

@boro006, what we can currently say is that, due to new legislation , it will require eBay to report a user’s sales to HMRC.

We may have more information that will be shared to users soon. However, as we are not tax experts, we always advise you to contact your tax adviser.

Thanks,

Anita

boro006

·2 years ago

Is that from January 1st 2024?

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@boro006 wrote:

Is that from January 1st 2024?

@boro006, that's correct.

Thanks,

Anita

boro006

·2 years ago

Sorry Anita, you have been very helpful and I appreciate you are not tax experts. Can i just clarify - is that reporting sales to HMRC that are sold from January 1st onwards?

bennotbill

·2 years ago

My question is about forum "policing". Maybe this is something that's not supposed to be questioned on the general forum but this is the Wednesday chat. Where questions get answers.

Particularly What are real criteria for post removals?

eBay may say customers are entitled to their opinions, all are valid. But that seems to only apply to sellers feedback and not to feedback about eBay itself. Not on the UK forum.

katie@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

Hi @bennotbill,

Discussing moderation actions is against our community guidelines.

If you would like to appeal a decision made by our teams, please private message me or email contactcommunity@ebay.com.

Thanks,

Katie

bennotbill

·2 years ago

@katie@ebay wrote:
Hi @bennotbill,

Discussing moderation actions is against our community guidelines.
If you would like to appeal a decision made by our teams, please private message me or email

That's the reply I fully expected. Just to add appeals are always pointless as getting a reply takes longer than the restriction .

contessa35

·2 years ago

Sorry to bring this up again, but is there any progress within eBay on fixing the strange issue where US sellers of items in several categories (including all their sub-categories) have no way of including the UK as a shipping destination if they are enrolled in eBay International Shipping (EIS being the new version of the Global Shipping Program in the US?). My collecting interest is in one of the affected categories (Dolls & Bears) and it's proving a frustrating problem, both for US sellers and UK-based buyers like me. There are plenty of reports of it in a long thread on eBay.com's discussion forums from US sellers. Responses from eBay support agents vary, from saying they're unaware of the problem, or that they're aware and trying to fix it, and even that it's an intentional block, though the reasons given for that one don't make much sense. It still looks like a bug to me, as the United Kingdom just doesn't appear in the country lists at all in listings in affected categories - it can't be selected by the sellers for ships to, but neither can it be picked to exclude it from shipping either - it's as if we don't exist on the planet any more. Generally, they hadn't changed any of their listings procedures from when they DID work with EIS, and working listings that auto-renew when unsold suddenly get affected too. There's no sign of an alternative name for the UK being offered instead, either, so that's not the cause. I'm told by US sellers that the UK is a surprisingly enthusiastic source of buyers (given the size of the country) so people are missing out on both sides of the equation due to this problem.

Thanks!

contessa35

·2 years ago

To add to the above, the issue I describe sometimes (but not always) just flat-out blocks bidding, buying or offering by a UK buyer as soon as we try, though some listings allow it and the fun starts if we win, as then trying to get eBay International Shipping to work proves impossible. Some sellers just give up at that point, rather than exploring other methods of shipping, as they may understandably only wish to use EIS - as might the buyer, too.

marco@ebay

eBay Staff

Admin2 years ago

@contessa35 wrote:

Sorry to bring this up again, but is there any progress within eBay on fixing the strange issue where US sellers of items in several categories (including all their sub-categories) have no way of including the UK as a shipping destination if they are enrolled in eBay International Shipping (EIS being the new version of the Global Shipping Program in the US?). My collecting interest is in one of the affected categories (Dolls & Bears) and it's proving a frustrating problem, both for US sellers and UK-based buyers like me. There are plenty of reports of it in a long thread on eBay.com's discussion forums from US sellers. Responses from eBay support agents vary, from saying they're unaware of the problem, or that they're aware and trying to fix it, and even that it's an intentional block, though the reasons given for that one don't make much sense. It still looks like a bug to me, as the United Kingdom just doesn't appear in the country lists at all in listings in affected categories - it can't be selected by the sellers for ships to, but neither can it be picked to exclude it from shipping either - it's as if we don't exist on the planet any more. Generally, they hadn't changed any of their listings procedures from when they DID work with EIS, and working listings that auto-renew when unsold suddenly get affected too. There's no sign of an alternative name for the UK being offered instead, either, so that's not the cause. I'm told by US sellers that the UK is a surprisingly enthusiastic source of buyers (given the size of the country) so people are missing out on both sides of the equation due to this problem.

Thanks!

Hi @contessa35, thanks for your post.

We are still reviewing this, and I've been adding all the samples I get to see on our boards. Due to the nature of the items, some of the might be eligible while other might not be eligible. However, I will let you know once we have confirmation on this. Thanks for following this up with us.

Thank you,

Marco

contessa35

·2 years ago

Thank you for the update, Marco. I really hope that collectable fashion dolls etc. don't fall into some new restricted category - I can't see why they should as any new safety laws (regarding UKCA vs CE for example) were effectively nullified for these types of goods by the UK government in August 2023 (hitherto, they'd said UKCA would replace CE, but only from the end of 2024, so still a way off anyway). But in August this was altered to say that CE or UKCA would both be acceptable, either one on its own or both, indefinitely, as they seem to signify the same level safety compliance anyway. CE was in effect since 1993 and had caused no problems and also didn't need to be applied retrospectively to older goods that pre-dated it. At least, that's my admittedly-limited understanding of it from the perspective of a buyer, anyway.

The strange nature of the issue (a total lack of the UK's existence in the country lists on affected categories) makes me hope it's just a bug and not an intentional block by eBay - the latter would be a problem as many collectible dolls were made by companies which didn't really have the resources to set up distribution in the UK and so concentrated on the US market (most were US companies in any case). Therefore many UK-based sellers just don't have them to offer.

Anonymous User

·2 years ago

Evri's postcodes for remote areas include AB35-AB38, AB53-AB56.
https://www.evri.com/location-charge-postcodes

I have a rate table that includes an extra charge for ALL areas that are options on ebay.

Recently I had a sale to an AB54 postcode - so there is a remote charge of 2.75 for this postcode by Evri.
Unfortunately ebay just charged buyer the regular postage, without the extra that I had set up for remote areas. I checked the listing to make sure I had set it up correctly - I had.

I contacted livechat and eventually had a response (in the usual gobbledegook) which suggests that ebay only add in postcodes in the Highlands and Islands region and AB54 is not in the Highlands.

If you look at the Evri link, the remote charge applies to areas in Scotland other than Highlands and Islands (in fact, they don't use that term for any of the remote regions). I would have been buying the Evri label via ebay/Packlink, so surely the ebay list should include ALL the areas that Evri have a remote charge for?

I do not need this specific case to be be forwarded to 'the team' as I have already had the usual 'everything is working as it should be, there is no glitch' response. What I would like to know is are there any plans to make the ebay list compatible with the Evri (and other couriers) list?

marco@ebay

eBay Staff

Admin2 years ago

@Anonymous wrote:

Evri's postcodes for remote areas include AB35-AB38, AB53-AB56.
https://www.evri.com/location-charge-postcodes

I have a rate table that includes an extra charge for ALL areas that are options on ebay.

Recently I had a sale to an AB54 postcode - so there is a remote charge of 2.75 for this postcode by Evri.
Unfortunately ebay just charged buyer the regular postage, without the extra that I had set up for remote areas. I checked the listing to make sure I had set it up correctly - I had.

I contacted livechat and eventually had a response (in the usual gobbledegook) which suggests that ebay only add in postcodes in the Highlands and Islands region and AB54 is not in the Highlands.

If you look at the Evri link, the remote charge applies to areas in Scotland other than Highlands and Islands (in fact, they don't use that term for any of the remote regions). I would have been buying the Evri label via ebay/Packlink, so surely the ebay list should include ALL the areas that Evri have a remote charge for?

I do not need this specific case to be be forwarded to 'the team' as I have already had the usual 'everything is working as it should be, there is no glitch' response. What I would like to know is are there any plans to make the ebay list compatible with the Evri (and other couriers) list?

Hi @kempseykate, thanks for your post.

Could you please confirm the item number, so I can review that for you?

Thank you,

Marco

Anonymous User

·2 years ago

@marco@ebay wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Evri's postcodes for remote areas include AB35-AB38, AB53-AB56.
https://www.evri.com/location-charge-postcodes

I have a rate table that includes an extra charge for ALL areas that are options on ebay.

Recently I had a sale to an AB54 postcode - so there is a remote charge of 2.75 for this postcode by Evri.
Unfortunately ebay just charged buyer the regular postage, without the extra that I had set up for remote areas. I checked the listing to make sure I had set it up correctly - I had.

I contacted livechat and eventually had a response (in the usual gobbledegook) which suggests that ebay only add in postcodes in the Highlands and Islands region and AB54 is not in the Highlands.
If you look at the Evri link, the remote charge applies to areas in Scotland other than Highlands and Islands (in fact, they don't use that term for any of the remote regions). I would have been buying the Evri label via ebay/Packlink, so surely the ebay list should include ALL the areas that Evri have a remote charge for?

I do not need this specific case to be be forwarded to 'the team' as I have already had the usual 'everything is working as it should be, there is no glitch' response. What I would like to know is are there any plans to make the ebay list compatible with the Evri (and other couriers) list?
Hi @kempseykate, thanks for your post.

Could you please confirm the item number, so I can review that for you?

Thank you,
Marco

Marco, as I said, it has already been reviewed, and in the response I was told ebay only use Highlands and Islands postcodes in the rate tables, NOT the full remote area postcodes that the couriers use.

My question was do ebay plan in the future to add ALL the remote area postcodes to the rate table to match the couriers.

marco@ebay

eBay Staff

Admin2 years ago

@Anonymous wrote:

@marco@ebay wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

Evri's postcodes for remote areas include AB35-AB38, AB53-AB56.
https://www.evri.com/location-charge-postcodes

I have a rate table that includes an extra charge for ALL areas that are options on ebay.

Recently I had a sale to an AB54 postcode - so there is a remote charge of 2.75 for this postcode by Evri.
Unfortunately ebay just charged buyer the regular postage, without the extra that I had set up for remote areas. I checked the listing to make sure I had set it up correctly - I had.

I contacted livechat and eventually had a response (in the usual gobbledegook) which suggests that ebay only add in postcodes in the Highlands and Islands region and AB54 is not in the Highlands.

If you look at the Evri link, the remote charge applies to areas in Scotland other than Highlands and Islands (in fact, they don't use that term for any of the remote regions). I would have been buying the Evri label via ebay/Packlink, so surely the ebay list should include ALL the areas that Evri have a remote charge for?

I do not need this specific case to be be forwarded to 'the team' as I have already had the usual 'everything is working as it should be, there is no glitch' response. What I would like to know is are there any plans to make the ebay list compatible with the Evri (and other couriers) list?

Hi @kempseykate, thanks for your post.

Could you please confirm the item number, so I can review that for you?

Thank you,

Marco

Marco, as I said, it has already been reviewed, and in the response I was told ebay only use Highlands and Islands postcodes in the rate tables, NOT the full remote area postcodes that the couriers use.

My question was do ebay plan in the future to add ALL the remote area postcodes to the rate table to match the couriers.

Thanks for your reply, @kempseykate.

I will double check this for you, and I'll reply here to you again by the end of the day to confirm this.

Marco

marco@ebay

eBay Staff

Admin2 years ago

Hi @kempseykate, thanks for waiting.

No plans at the moment for this, but I've just flagged this interanlly. So, this will be taken into consideration for potential future updates.

Thank you,

Marco

coopers-direct

·2 years ago

Afternoon,

Can you advise if an option for buyers to download/print their own receipt/invoice for a purchase is in the pipeline? As this would save sellers having to forward them onto cutomers.

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@coopers-direct wrote:

Afternoon,

Can you advise if an option for buyers to download/print their own receipt/invoice for a purchase is in the pipeline? As this would save sellers having to forward them onto cutomers.

Hi @coopers-direct, thanks for your post.

Once buyer makes the purchase, we send them an order email confirmation as well as they have their order details in their purchase history that includes all the purchase info, they can download it or print out.

Thanks,

Anita

coopers-direct

·2 years ago

Thanks for the response perhaps I was not clear in my question, it is in relation to business buyers requesting a VAT receipt, as I cannot see any VAT information included on the purchase history emails or within the purchase itself.

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@coopers-direct wrote:

Thanks for the response perhaps I was not clear in my question, it is in relation to business buyers requesting a VAT receipt, as I cannot see any VAT information included on the purchase history emails or within the purchase itself.

@coopers-direct, that's not an option at the moment, however, I will pass on your feedback.

Thanks,

Anita

bluespar

·2 years ago

I've got a potential buyer in Canada but can't change delivery options to allow him to bid

tressygirl

·2 years ago

Hi again bluespar, I have just answered your other question on this, but in case you missed it, you cannot invite international bidders now if you have not previously set your preferences for this, as you have a bid.

With bids, you cannot add or chnage any detail now.

marco@ebay

eBay Staff

Admin2 years ago

@bluespar wrote:

I've got a potential buyer in Canada but can't change delivery options to allow him to bid

Hi @bluespar, thanks for your post.

If there are bids in your auction or certain time has passed, I'm afraid you will not be able to change/revise the listing in question. For more information on this, you can click here. There you will be able to see when you can change and you cannot change/revise your auction.

Thank you,

Marco

j-4-jewellery

·2 years ago

Can I have visitors to my website directed to my ebay shop, live listings and show my feedback?

I would like if possible to drive visitors from my website to my eBay shop as I only use one e-commerce platform, eBay.

anita@ebay

eBay Staff

2 years ago

@j-4-jewellery wrote:

Can I have visitors to my website directed to my ebay shop, live listings and show my feedback?

I would like if possible to drive visitors from my website to my eBay shop as I only use one e-commerce platform, eBay.

Hi @j-4-jewellery, thanks for your post.

Absolutely, you can advertise your eBay store on your website as well as social media! Here is the direct link that you can add to your website to direct them to your store.

Thanks,

Anita

j-4-jewellery

·2 years ago

Many thanks!

Happy New year to all the team.

chefus36

·2 years ago

As a business seller, is there any plans for eBay to allow us to have a way of saving the seasonal items that we can relist next year? For example, this is my 2nd Halloween and I have unlisted and stowed away all my Halloween merchandise until August. I will then have to redo the whole listing all over again as it only saves for 90 days. I am sure many of us business sellers would pay for this kind of service and maybe could be a business seller only service to give us an advantage over private sellers.

marco@ebay

eBay Staff

Admin2 years ago

@chefus36 wrote:

As a business seller, is there any plans for eBay to allow us to have a way of saving the seasonal items that we can relist next year? For example, this is my 2nd Halloween and I have unlisted and stowed away all my Halloween merchandise until August. I will then have to redo the whole listing all over again as it only saves for 90 days. I am sure many of us business sellers would pay for this kind of service and maybe could be a business seller only service to give us an advantage over private sellers.

Hi @chefus36, thanks for your post.

At the moment, I would say no, as that is the way the site has worked for a while now. However, that is a good idea, so I will pass this on as feedback, so it can be taken into consideration as potential future update.

Thank you,

Marco

darth_baggins

·2 years ago

Marco, what about the Inventory feature? I've got products in there that I created many years ago.

marco@ebay

eBay Staff

Admin2 years ago

Hi @darth_baggins, thanks for your reply.

Their account don't have this feature available, which is why I didn't suggest it, but thanks for flagging this with me.

Thank you,

Marco