Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 05.06.24 @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 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

[dacoa_59]

Hello,
My account was hacked and was used to post fraudulent gift cards. Because of this, Ebay decided to shut down my account. They also decided to punish me with fees to the sum of £75 on actions not commited by me.

Even if I wanted to pay back this amount, I cannot because my account is now closed. If that wasn't bad enough, Ebay is now sending me threatening e mails about debt collectors becoming involved if I do not pay.

I've been a good customer for 17 years and have now lost my account permanently because of this. This is causing me a great deal of worry and stress and I really wish they could just forgive the outstanding balance which was incurred on the actions of fraudsters (which supposedly had already been done during one of my calls to customer service).

I can provide all the account information you may need. (I've been forced to make a new one)

Thank you for your time. 

[lincolnshiremarine]

Good afternoon

Whilst I understand a feedback revision is not your department, can you tell me if it is AI bots looking at the requests to remove feedback.? 

I submitted a request for a feedback removal and within 10 minutes it said it would not be removed, despite the parcel being delivered and the buyer using threats of negative feedback if we did not meet their demands.

Best wishes

[stortvalley]

I have investigated why I never get NAD description problems on other channels.
It is because we have the bullet points on the same level as the main image, Not a page and a half scolling down and looking through the verbiage and other peoples listings.

Most customers think that the TITLE IS THE DESCRIPTION and do not bother to scroll down a page and a half.

Try signing out of your account and look at your listings, you will see them as potential buyers see them with other sellers items being displayed which is very confusing.

I wonder if we could make a suggestion to eBay to make bullet points on the same level as the main image available. I cannot imagine eBay would be a bad actor if they realised the problem.

People need detailed information before they buy.

[eshopforce01]

Hello,

When I list from a template, it automatically uploads the page to the description instead of the top photo section. Is it possible to fix this?

Thank you.

[anita@ebay]

---

@dacoa_59 wrote:

Hello,
My account was hacked and was used to post fraudulent gift cards. Because of this, Ebay decided to shut down my account. They also decided to punish me with fees to the sum of £75 on actions not commited by me.

Even if I wanted to pay back this amount, I cannot because my account is now closed. If that wasn't bad enough, Ebay is now sending me threatening e mails about debt collectors becoming involved if I do not pay.

I've been a good customer for 17 years and have now lost my account permanently because of this. This is causing me a great deal of worry and stress and I really wish they could just forgive the outstanding balance which was incurred on the actions of fraudsters (which supposedly had already been done during one of my calls to customer service).

I can provide all the account information you may need. (I've been forced to make a new one)

Thank you for your time. 

---

Hi @dacoa_59, thanks for your post.

I appreciate it's been a stressful situation and you want this resolved. In this case you will need to speak to our security team.

Please call this phone number 00442086100157, explaining the situation and they should be able to help you.

Thanks,

Anita

[marco@ebay]

---

@lincolnshiremarine wrote:

Good afternoon

Whilst I understand a feedback revision is not your department, can you tell me if it is AI bots looking at the requests to remove feedback.? 

I submitted a request for a feedback removal and within 10 minutes it said it would not be removed, despite the parcel being delivered and the buyer using threats of negative feedback if we did not meet their demands.

Best wishes

---

Hi lincolnshiremarine, thanks for your post.

It is reviewed by both agents, and AI. In this case, because the buyer was expressing their buying experience, the feedback wouldn't qualify for removal, I'm afraid.

Thank you,

Marco

[marco@ebay]

---

@eshopforce01 wrote:

Hello,

When I list from a template, it automatically uploads the page to the description instead of the top photo section. Is it possible to fix this?

Thank you.

---

Hi eshopforce01, thanks for your post.

I am not quite sure I understood correctly what's happening when you're listing, you think you could take a screenshot and share it with me, so I can take a further look?

Thank you,

Marco

[krafty-kreations]

Good Afternoon,

Sorry, the old business sellers selling on private accounts

Is something ever going to be done about this?

As a business seller I pay for my shop, and extra listings if needed so I am already having to charge more than those who get the free 1000 listings but sell the same as me, They can also list a lot more than me giving them more chance of sales, then along comes promotions and all that jazz, so I am finding it pretty pointless right now.

I do not see any benefits to being a business seller on eBay, there are no advantages for business sellers, I don't see any nice offers like 80% off FVF's these business sellers on private accounts take advantage of.

Why is this allowed to carry on? 

[lincolnshiremarine]

Hi Marco

The message from the sellers was: " your feedback will be the worst I can give you as you have not arranged for another set to be sent. 

The ebay tracking clearly shows it was delivered with a photo of proof.   

Surely that comes under the ebay policy of extortion feedback "buyers are not allowed to use threats of negatitve feedback" plus it shows the item was delivered. 

Best wishes

[darth_baggins]

Does eBay not have any kind of quality control when sending out emails? I got this nonsense a few days ago, and I know I'm not the only one.

Honestly it just makes eBay look so amateurish. Does nobody actually check these things before they're sent?

[eshopforce01]

When I click "Create a Listing" from a template, the page loads and lands on the description section instead of the top photo section as it used to.

[technthread]

On eBay's fees for business sellers page (last updated 8th April) it says that Terapeak Sourcing Insights are only available to accounts with a basic shop or higher. My understanding is that Terapeak was recently renamed Product Research and is actually available to all users, private or business.

Some months I could save money on a pay as you sell account, but I have been paying more to keep access to Terapeak. Unless there is an updated business seller fee page that I am not seeing it looks like it needs an update. It is very misleading to someone weighing up the pros and cons of no shop vs a shop.

As this perk of having a shop is now open to all, I'm not seeing the benefit of a basic shop that I used to. I'm thinking an eBay packaging voucher for a basic shop for example would be a fair compromise, or maybe the fee should be reduced.

Just out of interest, do private sellers need 3 years of sales data and analytics on product research if they are just clearing out their wardrobe?

[marco@ebay]

---

@krafty-kreations wrote:

Good Afternoon,

Sorry, the old business sellers selling on private accounts

Is something ever going to be done about this?

As a business seller I pay for my shop, and extra listings if needed so I am already having to charge more than those who get the free 1000 listings but sell the same as me, They can also list a lot more than me giving them more chance of sales, then along comes promotions and all that jazz, so I am finding it pretty pointless right now.

I do not see any benefits to being a business seller on eBay, there are no advantages for business sellers, I don't see any nice offers like 80% off FVF's these business sellers on private accounts take advantage of.

Why is this allowed to carry on? 

---

Hi krafty-kreations, thanks for your question.

While I understand where you are coming from, I can tell you that we are constantly looking into this, reviewing reports, etc. If you get to see more accounts that could be potentially breaching our policies, please continue to report them as this is very well appreciated and help us go through these accounts that could be potentially against our policies.

Thank you,

Marco

[anita@ebay]

---

@stortvalley wrote:

I have investigated why I never get NAD description problems on other channels.
It is because we have the bullet points on the same level as the main image, Not a page and a half scolling down and looking through the verbiage and other peoples listings.

Most customers think that the TITLE IS THE DESCRIPTION and do not bother to scroll down a page and a half.

Try signing out of your account and look at your listings, you will see them as potential buyers see them with other sellers items being displayed which is very confusing.

I wonder if we could make a suggestion to eBay to make bullet points on the same level as the main image available. I cannot imagine eBay would be a bad actor if they realised the problem.

People need detailed information before they buy.

---

Hi @stortvalley, thanks for your post.

It is indeed always a good idea to look at your listings from buyer's perspective as that may help to spot the things that can be improved in the listing.

As for the bullet points though, I can make sure to pass that feedback on, however please be advised that not all suggestions can be implemented. 

Thanks,

Anita

[kempseykate]

This is the message I received shortly after reporting a listing for fee evasion today:

What happened:

We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

The listing in question had only one photo, and that was a picture of the seller's name, address and contact details. The seller had a postage charge of £200 and stated they had put that so that no one hit the 'buy' button. (I can DM a community staffer the item number if you would like to check it out)

So, basically, if anyone wants to buy one of these, they just have to contact the seller on the number/email shown in the listing (there is no photo of the item), and the sale can then take place outside ebay with the seller not having to pay fees.

Apparently, according to the message, this is not in violation of ebay policy.

Can someone confirm that if I list the stuff I currently have on Facebook (collect only items) on ebay, with a picture of my contact details, £200 P&P and a message saying not to hit the 'buy' button, I will also not be falling foul of ebay policy?

[marco@ebay]

---

@lincolnshiremarine wrote:

Hi Marco

The message from the sellers was: " your feedback will be the worst I can give you as you have not arranged for another set to be sent. 

The ebay tracking clearly shows it was delivered with a photo of proof.   

Surely that comes under the ebay policy of extortion feedback "buyers are not allowed to use threats of negatitve feedback" plus it shows the item was delivered. 

Best wishes

---

Thanks for your reply, lincolnshiremarine. 

I see where you are coming from. However, by looking at the feedback left it wouldn't qualify for removal. Also, since you have submitted an appeal already and this one correctly denied, I'm afraid that no further actions could be taken at this stage.

Thank you,

Marco

[anita@ebay]

---

@darth_baggins wrote:

Does eBay not have any kind of quality control when sending out emails? I got this nonsense a few days ago, and I know I'm not the only one.

Honestly it just makes eBay look so amateurish. Does nobody actually check these things before they're sent?

---

Hi @darth_baggins, thanks for flagging this.

I'm pretty sure everything is checked, however, it may have been some tech issue/broken code, so I'll flag this to the relevant team.

Thanks,

Anita

[pg_kicks]

Hi,

Could you please tell the senior management in whichever department are constantly looking into this, reviewing reports, etc that the staff and AI they have created is not fit for purpose, as I have mentioned numerous times I can supply you with a list of accounts who are breaking multiple policies yet eBays' world breaking AI and constant looking and reviewing is not fit for purpose as they are still allowing them to continue.

If you could tell me the same and or contact details of this department I will happily send a document outlining all their failures to comply with the law.

Regards

[lincolnshiremarine]

Marco

This is not fair at all, we spoke to ebay live chat to ask what we should do in this situation and they advised to ask the customer to raise an item not received case, they did not.  Then sent a message about leaving feedback if we did not meet their demands.  The item shows delivered on ebay and on the yodel tracking to the customers safe place.

We have had no email notification that the appeal has not been successful, we were told it would take 24 - 48 hours to be informed.  Are you now informing me that it will not be removed and someone has reviewed it again?

Best wishes