💬 Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 02.08.23 @2pm

[community-team@ebay]

Hi everybody!

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

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

Our eBay Community Team is made up of marco@ebay and dave@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

[kempseykate]

Regarding Item Not Received cases, the help pages say:

When you can ask eBay to step in
Once you've requested a return or reported that an item hasn't arrived, the seller should respond within 3 business days. After that, you can ask us to step in and help.

Yet I opened an INR on Monday morning 31st July, and the seller added the tracking number shortly afterwards, but it says in the case details:

Updated tracking details are now available. If the issue is still unresolved by 5 Aug, you can ask us for help.

Surely if it is 3 days, as per the help pages, then that should be Thursday 3rd?

[ri-services]

We've been having issues with the promotions which we understand is a known issue as there is currently a test which is finishing on the 7th, however, we had promos running throughout the month and even a phone call from the marketing team to go over the best way to suceed with promotions, however, at no point were we made aware that there was a global issue until last week when we looked on the forums (still not communitcation on eBay's side to let us know they were having issues) and at that point we had spent 3k+ on promotions, whats happening with compensation for this? As our sales have dropped to almost 0 and our selling cost at one point was 57% of our sales. This is not good enough for sellers who are doing everything eBay ask of us. 

[pg_kicks]

Hi,

With regards to the beta test that has been mentioned by a user on another thread, which seems to fit perfectly with the numerous issues that have been raised on the weekly chats and other threads on the discussion boards which we are still waiting to hear back from the team and eBay, is there any way for us customers of eBay to give feedback on how we have found this test? As a valued customer (we get told this every single phone call with cs) I feel it would be extremely beneficial to both eBay and its customers (that's us) to be able to share our feelings of what has happened.

All of this is indeed if the beta test is indeed correct, as like I mentioned we are still waiting to hear about it from eBay even though its been asked multiple times. If its not a beta test then please just ignore this message.

[marco@ebay]

---

@kempseykate wrote:

Regarding Item Not Received cases, the help pages say:

When you can ask eBay to step in
Once you've requested a return or reported that an item hasn't arrived, the seller should respond within 3 business days. After that, you can ask us to step in and help.

Yet I opened an INR on Monday morning 31st July, and the seller added the tracking number shortly afterwards, but it says in the case details:

Updated tracking details are now available. If the issue is still unresolved by 5 Aug, you can ask us for help.

Surely if it is 3 days, as per the help pages, then that should be Thursday 3rd?

---

Hi kempseykate, thanks for your question.

Yes, that's right, normally the 3 business days start counting the following day after filing a case. So, if you filed a case on Monday 31st of July, you should be able to ask us to step in from Friday 4th of August. If this is not the case, could you please PM me the item number, and I will follow that up for you please? As soon as I get an update, I will update you on this post.

Thank you,

Marco.

[icecarmedia]

The MBG states;

Sellers are required to deliver the item to the address in the Order details, unless the buyer selected a local collection option.

If tracking shows a delivered to "safe place"(I.E. not delivered to the address but, possibly, somewhere nearby)

Why is that enough to show a successful delivery?

[dave@ebay]

---

@ri-services wrote:

We've been having issues with the promotions which we understand is a known issue as there is currently a test which is finishing on the 7th, however, we had promos running throughout the month and even a phone call from the marketing team to go over the best way to suceed with promotions, however, at no point were we made aware that there was a global issue until last week and at that point we had spent 3k+ on promotions, what happening with compensation for this? As our sales have dropped to almost 0 and our selling cost at one point was 57% of our sales. This is not good enough for sellers who are doing everything eBay ask of us. 

---

Hi @ri-services 

There is no technical issue causing an issues with impressions, I did see a post in one of the threads saying they spoke to the ads team and that they were told there was a test. I reached out to the Ads team for more information and I'm waiting on an update. Once I have one I'll reply on the main thread here.

As per the User Agreement we do not offer any compensation so we will not be in a position to to make any offers for this.

Thanks,

Dave

[kempseykate]

Thanks marco@ebay  I will keep an eye on it, and if it still isn't showing by Friday I will let you know.

It's still pretty confusing, though - to me 3 business days would mean Thursday, to you it's Friday and the case says Saturday! 

[dave@ebay]

---

@pg_kicks wrote:

Hi,

With regards to the beta test that has been mentioned by a user on another thread, which seems to fit perfectly with the numerous issues that have been raised on the weekly chats and other threads on the discussion boards which we are still waiting to hear back from the team and eBay, is there any way for us customers of eBay to give feedback on how we have found this test? As a valued customer (we get told this every single phone call with cs) I feel it would be extremely beneficial to both eBay and its customers (that's us) to be able to share our feelings of what has happened.

All of this is indeed if the beta test is indeed correct, as like I mentioned we are still waiting to hear about it from eBay even though its been asked multiple times. If its not a beta test then please just ignore this message.

---

Hi @pg_kicks 

I saw the post mentioning a test that may have been conducted with impressions at the moment I cant confirm this was the case. I've reached out to the guys to find out more and I'll come back with an update on that ASAP.

In regards to the feedback, Ive been dealing directly with the Promoted Listings team on this and they have been reading through the main thread. I have also been reporting this back to the different teams that deal with site issues.

Thanks,

Dave

[marco@ebay]

---

@icecarmedia wrote:

The MBG states;

Sellers are required to deliver the item to the address in the Order details, unless the buyer selected a local collection option.

If tracking shows a delivered to "safe place"(I.E. not delivered to the address but, possibly, somewhere nearby)

Why is that enough to show a successful delivery?

---

Hi icecarmedia, thanks for your post.

As long as you have a tracking number showing the item as delivered, and the tracking info matches the postcode/location of the buyer's shipping address, that would be enough proof that the item was delivered and you'd be covered in that scenario. We normally go with the tracking information, so as long as it shows as delivered and it matches the postcode/location of the buyer, it will be ok.

Thank you,

Marco

[ri-services]

I would like to point out I am taking about promotions not impressions.

I understand the agreement but surely eBay also has a responsibility to let us know about technical issues that directly affect money we poor into eBay when the money we are putting is, is optional and not manditory, as I said during this period we have had meetings with the marketing team in regards to promotions and had not been told there is a global issues, until last week we checked the forums and found this to be a known issue. We have also been told by various other staff members at eBay they are aware of this global issue, but will only tell you that AFTER you say you are aware. 

Where is eBay's responbility in all of this? our sales are down at our busiest time of year, our main source of income is from ebay...I guess it's time to look at other platforms at this point. 

[marco@ebay]

---

@kempseykate wrote:

Thanks marco@ebay  I will keep an eye on it, and if it still isn't showing by Friday I will let you know.

It's still pretty confusing, though - to me 3 business days would mean Thursday, to you it's Friday and the case says Saturday! 

---

Not a problem kempseykate, glad to help!

Just to clarify, the business days start counting the day after the case is filed. So, if you filed the case on Monday (July 31st), the first business day would be the following day (August 1st). We allow 3 full business days, so you can ask us to step in from the 4th business day onwards, which in this case should be Friday 4th August.

Keep an eye on it, and if you need further assistance, please feel free to create a post in one of our boards, and we will be happy to assist from there.

Thank you,

Marco

[pg_kicks]

Thanks for the reply, do you have any idea when you will know if this is indeed a beta test?

Do you agree that is seems extremely unprofessional that eBay are allowing their customers to find out about this via a fellow customer and not from eBay considering this has been an issue that has been brought up on the threads and the Q&A numerous times, especially if the team actively read the board, it seems to me that if indeed its a beta test they have known about it, sat on it and not told us anything and just hoped that it would pass over?

That's pretty poor standard of customer service directed towards us.

[icecarmedia]

---

marco@ebay wrote:

---

@icecarmedia wrote:

The MBG states;

Sellers are required to deliver the item to the address in the Order details, unless the buyer selected a local collection option.

If tracking shows a delivered to "safe place"(I.E. not delivered to the address but, possibly, somewhere nearby)

Why is that enough to show a successful delivery?

---

Hi icecarmedia, thanks for your post.

As long as you have a tracking number showing the item as delivered, and the tracking info matches the postcode/location of the buyer's shipping address, that would be enough proof that the item was delivered and you'd be covered in that scenario. We normally go with the tracking information, so as long as it shows as delivered and it matches the postcode/location of the buyer, it will be ok.

Thank you,

Marco

---

I'm asking as the buyer who is unaware of the whereabouts of this "safe place" and unable to gain info from either seller or courier.

[ojewellery]

Its human nature that we want someone to blame and to find logic/ a reason when things have suddenly changed. 

As part of your ongoing investigations on the communities behalf, please can I ask if its possible to identify/ confirm account involvement to individuals effected or state product groups that have been part of the alleged beta test?

[marco@ebay]

---

@icecarmedia wrote:

---

marco@ebay wrote:

---

@icecarmedia wrote:

The MBG states;

Sellers are required to deliver the item to the address in the Order details, unless the buyer selected a local collection option.

If tracking shows a delivered to "safe place"(I.E. not delivered to the address but, possibly, somewhere nearby)

Why is that enough to show a successful delivery?

---

Hi icecarmedia, thanks for your post.

As long as you have a tracking number showing the item as delivered, and the tracking info matches the postcode/location of the buyer's shipping address, that would be enough proof that the item was delivered and you'd be covered in that scenario. We normally go with the tracking information, so as long as it shows as delivered and it matches the postcode/location of the buyer, it will be ok.

Thank you,

Marco

---

I'm asking as the buyer who is unaware of the whereabouts of this "safe place" and unable to gain info from either seller or courier.

---

Thanks for your reply, icecarmedia.

In this scenario, the buyer would need to follow that up with the courier since they were the ones responsible for delivering the item. As a seller, you can try reaching out to the courier as well to see if you could get further updates. Alternatively, the buyer can try checking with their neighbours to see if they took in the parcel for them.

Thank you,

Marco

[pg_kicks]

Thanks for the reply dave@ebay

Do you know when you expect a reply, just we have been waiting for some sort of reason behind this for a while and the only communication we are getting is we have asked the team, now you say they read the thread, so basically they have been reading the thread and staying silent and we only know of this possible beta test because of another customer of eBay.

As you will know customer service have even told other customers to make a new account, the lack of information is a very big worry on this situation and the communication between ebay and its customers is not what I'd expect of a multinational company who thank us for our loyalty at any given chance. Add in the comminication between ebay employees is even more of a worry as it seems they are telling customers issues before telling staff who asked previously.

[dave@ebay]

---

@ojewellery wrote:

Its human nature that we want someone to blame and to find logic/ a reason when things have suddenly changed. 

As part of your ongoing investigations on the communities behalf, please can I ask if its possible to identify/ confirm account involvement to individuals effected or state product groups that have been part of the alleged beta test?

---

Hi @ojewellery 

Usually when tests are run its a random selection of accounts that meet the required criteria. The team would know the accounts in the test but its not something we would have access to.

Thanks,

Dave

[icecarmedia]

---

marco@ebay wrote:

---

@icecarmedia wrote:

---

marco@ebay wrote:

---

@icecarmedia wrote:

The MBG states;

Sellers are required to deliver the item to the address in the Order details, unless the buyer selected a local collection option.

If tracking shows a delivered to "safe place"(I.E. not delivered to the address but, possibly, somewhere nearby)

Why is that enough to show a successful delivery?

---

Hi icecarmedia, thanks for your post.

As long as you have a tracking number showing the item as delivered, and the tracking info matches the postcode/location of the buyer's shipping address, that would be enough proof that the item was delivered and you'd be covered in that scenario. We normally go with the tracking information, so as long as it shows as delivered and it matches the postcode/location of the buyer, it will be ok.

Thank you,

Marco

---

I'm asking as the buyer who is unaware of the whereabouts of this "safe place" and unable to gain info from either seller or courier.

---

Thanks for your reply, icecarmedia.

In this scenario, the buyer would need to follow that up with the courier since they were the ones responsible for delivering the item. As a seller, you can try reaching out to the courier as well to see if you could get further updates. Alternatively, the buyer can try checking with their neighbours to see if they took in the parcel for them.

Thank you,

Marco

---

Already stated "unable to gain info from either seller or courier."

Am I to assume tracking stating delivery to an unspecified "safe place" is acceptable and would negate a buyer's item not received claim?

[marco@ebay]

Thanks for your reply, icecarmedia.

As advised before, as long as the tracking information shows the item as delivered and it matches the postcode/buyer's shipping address, you will be covered as a seller in that scenario.

Thank you,

Marco