Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 06.11.24 @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, @marco@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

boundarycoins
·1 year agoCan eBay put out a GPSR video out explaining the ins and outs of how it is going to work for everyone.
It gets more confusing by the day reading different interpretations. Many of us will just switch EU / NI off in December as it stands.
marco@ebay
Hi @technthread, thanks for your message.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will pass this on, so that can be taken into consideration as well.
Thank you,
Marco
marco@ebay
Hi @technthread,
We did some digging and we noticed that we actually have a video on this, sorry I wasn't aware of this at the time of your suggestion. Hope that helps and that it is what you meant/were looking for. If you click here, you can see the video there.
Have a good weekend,
Marco
williabaxte7
·1 year agoGood afternoon. When I have entered the community chat board and exited again I have dropped into the .com site had to close page and go back into . Uk site .has this glitch been reported at all . As it has happened 3 times now . I am using Firefox ?
kat@ebay
Hi @williabaxte7 ,
We are aware of this issue that is happening with going to the US site. We have an open ticket with tech who are working on it to resolve. As soon as a fix is applied we will update the community.
Thank you,
Kat
custom-giftsuk
·1 year agoWas there any update or change to Premium Service Badge emails that went out this week?
I got 2 emails stating my listings werent eligable for PSB because I didnt offer 30 day return on % of my listings (note the missing number before the %) which is correct as I offer 60 day returns.
Also states that 8% of my listings offer tracked delivery service. Too which that is false as I offer tracked delivery on all of my listings.
So can you let me know if this was someone doing a beta test or really iffy results on an ebay wide message?
custom-giftsuk
·1 year agoBefore i get asked for a screenshot... here is one
kat@ebay
Hi @custom-giftsuk ,
Did you receive the premium badge prior to this email being received?
Thank you,
Kat
custom-giftsuk
·1 year agoyes I have the premium badge
funkybunnie-direct
·1 year agoIf a report about an item is made to ebay, it states that I will be informed of ebay's decision. How long does it take to make a decison, as I have reported over 30 since the beginning of October and have not received one email and zero action has been taken on any of the sellers ...
dave@ebay
Hi @funkybunnie-direct
Its worth checking your spam folder for replies to the mails as some providers can flag the mail and block it.
Depending on the action that was taken on reports it may not be possible to see it when you’re not the account holder. For example, its possible there were payment holds placed on the account or there were requests for more info and a time frame was set for them to reply.
Thanks,
Dave
funkybunnie-direct
·1 year agoWhen are ebay going to stop business sellers continue to list illegally as 'Private' sellers? Obviously seem to think this is ok. But with the new 'free selling' fees for private sellers it becomes totally unfair to the official business sellers - the ones that now are providing the majority of the fee income for ebay.
I have a competitor that has over 16,000 listings (with multiple copies of many) and 99% brand new. This would cost me aan extra £870 approx in listing fees on top of the £92/month subscription that I pay. And that's every month! over £10,000 a year. And on top of that they now have free selling fees - so can be more competitive and get the sale with no income to ebay
dave@ebay
Hi @funkybunnie-direct
This is something that we are currently working on, Im sure you have seen the many posts across the forums on it. It is something that is ongoing so unfortunately there is no date the I can give you as to when we will have them all actioned.
Thanks,
Dave
equinox-electronics
·1 year agoWhen will ebay be asking established accounts ( not accounts created this year )for NI & UTR numbers for the tax reporting to HMRC?
kat@ebay
Hi @equinox-electronics ,
Thank you for the question. They are currently in the process of asking accounts to provide those details. I don't have a specific date but they are working through accounts so you should receive a request for this in the next few weeks.
Thank you,
Kat
custom-giftsuk
·1 year agoThank you Kat, hopefully they'll get it sorted soon.
krafty-kreations
·1 year agoHi Marco
Not a reply to any question I have asked and I know you cannot do anything about the changes but....
We appreciate your feedback, and I can see where you are coming from. I will make sure to pass your feedback on, so this can be taken into consideration as feedback for the changes recently made on private and business selling.
This isn't feedback, this is business sellers who have had enough, business sellers who cannot compete with business sellers on private accounts, business sellers who will either have to start selling on a private account or sell elsewhere.
We need more than our feedback passed on
Reports are a waste of time and I read on the forums where one poster stated they had a warning for making too many unfounded reports even tho the reports were for business sellers on private accounts
I will be hanging around until Christmas, no change then I think I am just wasting my time and will close.
My question is are their any plans in the future for business sellers?
marco@ebay
Hi @krafty-kreations, thanks for your question.
For the moment, we're not aware of any changes. Should this change, we will letting users know as usual.
Thanks,
Marco
oakley_home_and_gifts
·1 year agoHow can item order on a Friday evening after 7pm reach a buyer on a Monday the same day it is being dispatched?
When asking customer service this question the reply is the couier might collect and deliver the item the same day.
We keep being told the system is working as designed. It might be time to either redesign the system or get a new designer as items don't get collected and delivered the same day based on any of my past tracking data with couriers like Evri, UPS and DPD.
At what point are ebay taking the data from as this seems to be causing the issues. Is the data being calculated when a parcel is dropped into a main hub? As my local courier does not have a pick up scan that ebay can see and only see Evri scans when it is scanned at the main depot which can be late evening or evening early the next morning which is long after I have closed the door and finishing dispatching and we don't dispatch on a weekend.
marco@ebay
Hi , thanks for your question.
Do you have the item number for a transaction where this happened, so we can take a further look for you to see what's happening there?
Thank you,
Marco
oakley_home_and_gifts
·1 year agoIt's not for a purchase but what ebay are displaying on a late Friday afternoon and evening to customers.
I have checked postage preferences and are set up Monday to Friday with a cut off of 2pm each day.
I dispatch everyday as a business across two ebay stores and other platforms. The courier TransGlobal Express I use for Evri does not show a scan till it is scanned at Evri main sorting hub usually in the evening or busy times the next day.
I am wondering if ebay are using this data to calculate EDD and then display to buyers on a Friday evening they may get an item delivered on Monday when in fact an item won't be dispatched till Monday and delivery is never going to happen on a Monday. Tuesday to Wednesday in local areas yes.
marco@ebay
Thanks for your reply,
I see what you mean. Since is not friday and we don't have an example, we wouldn't be able check now. However, I remember someone last week reported something very similar, but we couldn't replicate the issue. If you spot it again, please let any of us know, and we will take a look for you no problem.
Thank you,
Marco
darth_baggins
·1 year agoWe used to be able to look at our listings and sort them by something like 'over 'x' days without a sale'. There was also a report we could download for items without a recent sale over a certain length of time.
Both of these seem to have been quietly removed by eBay. Given that the advice from eBay is often to end 'stale' listings and relist/sell similar, it seems odd to no longer be able to use these useful tools.
Can you explain why they were removed? And is there any chance we can get them back?
dave@ebay
Hi @darth_baggins
Just so I understand the question. Its was available as a column on the active listings page?
I guessing this was from a while back, I know some of the teams could manually run a stagnant listings report. I'll send it on to the site team and ask if it can be added to seller hub as an improvement. Its definitely a useful view for sellers.
Thanks,
Dave
darth_baggins
·1 year agoYes, it was a filter on active listings. I can't remember the exact wording but it was along the lines of 'active for more than 180 days without a recent sale'.
There was also a downloadable report that showed listings without a recent sale.
dave@ebay
Thanks @darth_baggins
Ill pass this on to the guys.
Thanks,
Dave
pottsy62
·1 year agoWhen viewing categoris in ebay, if I select 'Distance - Nearest First', in some categories it returns the results using my postcode, in other categories it shows as 'Postage to GBR' and not based on my postcode. How do I get the search to return results basd on my location for all categories?
kat@ebay
HI @pottsy62 ,
It may be that there is no results for closest to your postcode for those searches so its showing you closed to the UK. Can you give an example of a search that you are doing?
Thank you,
Kat
pottsy62
·1 year agoGood AFternoon Kat,
Thanks for your response.
In Home Garden > Garden & Patio > Landscaping and Garden Materials, when I select the sort order as Distance: Nearest first, it shows as 'Postage to GBR'.
In Home Garden > Garden & Patio > Garden Structures & Shade, when I select the sort order as Distance: Nearest first, it shows as 'Postage to M25'.
One category uses my postcode the other doesn't, the auctions it returns are in the UK but the sort isn't location based.
kat@ebay
Hi @ pottys62,
Thanks for this example. Let me take it offline and have it looked into further.
Thank you,
Kat
auctiongabble
·1 year agoHi, I have raised the below via letter but thought i would post here too and hopefully get some answers
No fee policy for private sellers
I am disgusted with this and this shows no thought or care for business sellers by eBay.
You have given private sellers free reign to sell and provide them with shops, Why do private sellers need shops?
Business sellers should have a qty of free listings the same as private sellers, including a shop and reduced fees. The fees are horrendous for business sellers and now with private sellers paying nothing, they are in a greater position to undercut business sellers.
I questioned eBay’s change with the customer service and a complete waste of time, them saying well private sellers have had free listings reduced from 1000 to 300.....you still give them free listings and now no fees! CAN EBAY NOT SEE THE PROBLEM.....???
Business sellers dont get free listings as basic!
Business account: Fees to pay, shop to pay for, not able to sell to Europe due to GSPR, pay taxes due
Private account: no fees to pay, free listings, exempt from GSPR
EBay are going to see a major drop in international sales, less sales mean less money for eBay! Speaking to customer service, again pointless. I was told, nothing we can do about it….
The free to sell for private sellers was only introduced as competitors to eBay have this in place on their platform, they also provide free to sell for business sellers on vented pro too!
The 1 to 1 support offered to sweeten the impact of private sellers not paying fees is NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
The business loans offered to business sellers is also not good enough!
The increase charges for global shipping is also had an impact on international sales, it is now too expensive for potential buyers to purchase items from eBay UK. Again less sales, less income for eBay.
All we hear from customer services (people who have never even managed their own company) them telling us we need to pay for promoting…
EBay, you take commission from every sale, you should be promoting items anyway.
EBay is not the top selling platform it once was, eBay need to start reading the posts by dissatisfied members on their own forum.
Ebay UK site is flooded with oversea items being a priority on listing results, ebay need to make it default that if someone is searching for an item and based in UK, they only show items in UK as default.
Business sellers are now your only source of income, you need to start listening to the problems, improving and actioning them, improve the site for business sellers!
marco@ebay
Hi @auctiongabble, thanks for your input.
We appreciate your feedback, and I can see where you are coming from. I will make sure to pass your feedback on, so this can be taken into consideration as feedback for the changes recently made on private and business selling.
Thank you,
Marco
custom-giftsuk
·1 year agoI spoke with Kat last week in regards the Product Research section being broken. I had an email from eBay CS at the end of last week stating it had been fixed as I had reported it 2 weeks ago. So it seems to be back up and working. Yet it still is showing either no sales, random sales, defaulting to the US, or just nonsense data when doing a search. Is there any update on when or indeed if it is ever going to be fixed properly or should we just stop using Product Research?
kat@ebay
Hi @custom-giftsuk ,
They did advise it was working but also advised that at times there can be a two day delay with data. When there is a delay with the data updating this would be why you have no information showing for search. With regard to the defaulting to the US if you have an example search for that I can have that looked into.
Thank you,
Kat
custom-giftsuk
·1 year agoSure. So I did a generic search for a lot of items. and it comes up with lots of items, all the data is false anyhow because I know how many items I sell in a week and none of that data matches anything like the Product Research data and when you do a search for that particular item it says zero sales and defaults to the US site
You can see this from the image attached. So above the red line is a generic search for the category in question showing 53 sales in the last week for one particular item. When you do a search for a particular item number or listing title - it says zero sales and defaults to US dollars.
kat@ebay
Hi @custom-giftsuk ,
Thanks for this. I have seen another user on a thread mention about US results on one of his searches also. I'll have it checked with tech again to review.
Thank you,
Kat
j0hnnybi0nic
·1 year agoHello there!
I used to be able to offer two postage options, e.g. Evri (cheaper) or Royal Mail (faster).
I can't find a way to do that with the new listing tool. I've had to put a message in my listing asking the buyer to request an invoice if they want a different delivery option.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
John
marco@ebay
Hi @j0hnnybi0nic, thanks for your post.
You should still be able to do this. Can I just confirm if this is a case of the option not being there for you at all, or is it greyed out, or you get an error when you try to set it up?
Thank you,
Marco
j0hnnybi0nic
·1 year agoHello Marco,
Thanks for your reply
When I create a listing, in the section "delivery details", there's a drop-down "Postage policy", from which I can select only one, e.g. "Flat: UK_myHermesDoorToDoorService £3.10".
I can't work out how to add a second option (e.g. "Flat: UK_RoyalMailSecondClassStandard £3.75").
The new listing tool is very new, so maybe I'm missing something 🙂
Cheers, John
j0hnnybi0nic
·1 year agoHello again,
I think I've sussed out how to do it - it's always the way isn't it? Ask a question then find the answer out yourself 2 seconds later 🤣
I think I need to go into "Create postage policy", then "Add additional service"
I'll try that on my next listing and come back next week if I fail
Thanks again!
John
marco@ebay
Ah cool, thanks for letting us know @j0hnnybi0nic! 😂
I was suspescting it was either a postage policy or simple delivery being enabled, but good to know it was sorted. Anything else, feel free to let us know. 👍
Have a good one,
Marco
nakedkeg
·1 year agoLast week I raised a Late Delivery from my Service metrics that was clearly an error, but ebay wouldn’t remove it.
Dave replied saying he would flag it to the Shipping Team, and get back to me.
7 days on, it’s still there, I’ve heard nothing further, and I now have a second Late Delivery on my Service Metrics, clearly another error, order number 24-12250-54786
What’s going on?
I’m paying a subscription, ebay tells me I can expect certain seller protections, and have Service Metrics corrected if there is an error.
Why won’t ebay correct these obvious errors?
Thanks
@nakedkeg wrote:
Order number
11-12195-89571
I am the seller.
Dispatched via RM48 and tracking shows accepted at post office day after order placed.
Buyer then goes on line and asks RM to retain the item at their local delivery office for them to pick up, which they do 4 days later.
Why does ebay record that as a late delivery on my service metrics?
Why won’t ebay remove this?
Hi @nakedkeg
Ive passed this on the shipping team to review.
I’ll reach out to you directly when I hear back from them to let you know what they have said.
Thanks
Dave
dave@ebay
Hi @nakedkeg
I dont have an answer on this one yet, we dont have access to view the details of the transaction so I cant check it directly, we are not set up the same as the customer support teams.
I messaged one of the shipping team this morning for an update and I will of course come back to you as soon as I have some more on it.
Thanks,
Dave
nakedkeg
·1 year agoThanks for your reply Dave,
Having used the auto mated tool in seller hub, then reaching out to CS, and raising here, twice a week apart, please can you suggest any other route I can take to seek a resolution from ebay on this?
me sitting and waiting to see what happens coming into peak trade, while ebay is trashing my seller standards isn't an option for me.
What do you advise I do, to get eBay to resolve this ?
dave@ebay
Hi @nakedkeg
If your late delivery rate is spiking and you are in danger of falling below standard the best advice I can give you is to speak to Customer Support as soon as possible. The teams there can review your dashboard with you and suggest the best possible action.
Thanks,
Dave
nakedkeg
·1 year agoThanks Dave,
As I've already stated, I've spoken to CS, and other than being told that there is a known issue with Royal Mail interface/link with ebay, they weren't prepared or able to fix my issues.
Is there anything else I can do to get ebay to resolve this ?
dave@ebay
Hi @nakedkeg
If the issue was caused by a known tech issue any defects that it caused are usually removed whan a fix is rolled out.
Thanks,
Dave