Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 09.08.23 @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

[marco@ebay]

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@oceanartsnorthdevon wrote:

Just as an update to my question above, you mention about the testing on site between 17th July to 29th July and this has now stopped, it is now the 9/8/23 but nothing seems to have changed  for a lot of sellers regarding these issues?

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Hi oceanartsnorthdevon, thanks for your reply.

We are currently monitoring all aspects on this to make sure this is working, if we find that this is still affecting some sellers, we will take actions accordingly.

Thank you,

Marco

[oakley_home_and_gifts]

There seems to be a issue now when accepting best offers, if the payment is not already set up automatacilly. When I go to send a invoice the postage option that is set in the listing is removed and reverted to collection in person, which I manually have to change back. When I send the invoice it then comes through to my own email address asking me to pay for my own item I have just sold. 

[keelinge]

Is it likely that ebay will secure better postage rates? Another site that is in direct competition with eBay has already proved it not only cheaper to list but it also cheaper on postage. So what are ebay going to do to compete? 

[dave@ebay]

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@lord_and_lady_m wrote:

Hi Dave

As this impressions issue was caused by ebay and having read through the t&c's, where do we go to ask for compensation?

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Hi @lord_and_lady_m,

We try to keep eBay and its Services safe, secure, and functioning properly, but we cannot guarantee the continuous operation of or access to our Services. As outlined in the user agreement we do not offer compensation for any issues that may arise as part of this. 

Thanks,

Dave

[marco@ebay]

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@goingfishing wrote:

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dave@ebay wrote:

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The test took place between 18th and 28th July and during this time some of our members had a different experience. 

This has completely stopped and how impressions are handled should now be back to normal. 

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Hi, can it be explained why if this is the case that sales/impressions etc continue to nose dive?  Is there yet another issue causing the continued problems?  If this test was finished on the 28th July why are things actually not 'back to normal' as you state.  In fact the evidence in front of me states quite the opposite, it's getting worse.

If this was finished on the 28th why was a member of eBay's staff not reporting back to the main thread stating such test had finished, consider how many people were/are affected and continued to be so?  Why the lack of respect for those concerned?  Sorry but this whole episode has been terribly handled from day one.

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Hi goingfishing, thanks for your reply.

We are currently monitoring that this is not affecting any more sellers, if we find that this is still affecting some sellers, we will take actions accordingly.

Thank you,

Marco

[dave@ebay]

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@ducatimondo wrote:

There is a glitch in the search results where chaotically it will show you the items have postage costs, when there is a default free delivery choice.

I have seen this for a little while, but the first time mentioning it.

Looks like these below, that both have a fee delivery option.

These are merely 2 random listings that I have seen this morning when looking for other things, just browsing eBay really, just how buyers would do.

This is obviously affecting sales on these listings, as it looks like the lowest postage cost is paid for extra, so would deter buyers from clicking the listing to find out the lowest shipping is actually free.

This will be affecting my listings as we have a free delivery option on all of our items, but will likely also be affecting countless other sellers.

Can you fix it please.

Ta

Russ

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Hi @ducatimondo,

This is something Ive been aware of for a while now. Its now been opened as a bug and the Tech Team are investigating the cause. 

Ive added the examples from here to the bug report. Unfortunately I don't have a time for the fix yet but I'll post back once I do.

Thanks,

Dave

[ri-services]

Hi Dave, 

As you will know for the orginal post in the forums it's definitely still happening to alot of sellers, is this going to take another month to fix? This is costing businesses, obviosuly eBay are making a gain out of this so it doesn't matter about sellers. 

[dave@ebay]

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@lord_and_lady_m wrote:

Thanks Dave. It states in the terms to contact CS

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Thanks @lord_and_lady_m. I have a contact in the promotions team so I'll be able to get them to look into it directly.

Thanks,

Dave

[lord_and_lady_m]

The user agreement actually states it  not liable for things that aren't reasonably forseeable. I firmly believe, if they have done this test, they would have had a hypothesis or success or no success. It would be reasonable to believe that if their little experiment of messing about with impressions didn't work then businesses would lose sales. Not only that it doesn't state in that section them not being liable for something they have purposefully done to selected stores.

User Agreement: Section 14

We (including our parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, agents and employees) shall not be liable to you in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for any business losses, such as loss of data, profits, revenue, business, opportunity, goodwill, reputation or business interruption or for any losses which are not reasonably foreseeable by us arising, directly or indirectly from:

• your use of or your inability to use our Services;
• pricing, postage or other guidance provided by eBay;
• delays or disruptions in our Services;
• viruses or other malicious software obtained by accessing, or linking to, our Services;
• glitches, bugs, errors, or inaccuracies of any kind in our Services;
• damage to your hardware device from the use of any eBay Service;
• the content, actions, or inactions of third parties, including items listed using our Services or the destruction of allegedly fake items;
• a suspension or other action taken with respect to your account or breach of the Abusing eBay section;
• the duration or manner in which your listings appear in search results as set out in the Listing conditions section; or
• your need to modify practices, content, or behaviour or your loss of or inability to do business, as a result of changes to this User Agreement or our policies.

Not only that, it then goes on to say, if they are found liable ...

If we are found to be liable, our liability to you or to any third party is limited to the greater of (a) any amounts due under the eBay Money Back Guarantee up to the price the item sold for on eBay and its original postage costs, (b) the amount of fees in dispute not to exceed the total fees which you paid to us in the 12 months prior to the action giving rise to the liability, or (c) £100.

As far as i'm concerned this does not mean ebay can do what they want to our accounts wiithout any redress. This was not an accident, this was an intentional experiment to the detriment of thousand of  sellers worldwide.

[returns_andexdisplay]

I know this has been a regular topic on here but ebay need to do more to help the small business which they keep claiming to support at any event sellers attend. 

How many policies do sellers like this one have to break before ebay actually take some action? 

Trading the same type of items off multiple accounts!

Clearly running a business so avoiding distance selling regulations!

Can pretty much guarantee it is the same person as picture/style are all the same, same location.

As a business I pay a shop fee and anything over 250 listings I am charged extra for each listing, yet accounts like this avoid all these fees by being a private account, getting lower final value fees, more promotions, and avoiding buyer remorse returns.

No mater how many times they get reported to eBay, they still trade the same way as a private account with no business information or buyer remorse returns accepted. 

[messier44000]

To help sellers understand how to get more visability, which of the two 

scenarios is favoured more by the eBay algorithm , and so, get higher in eBay search.

1 - Quality unique photo and professional description giving the potential buyer 

confidence they are buying from a specialist in the field.

2 - None of the above, but paying more in PL

[dave@ebay]

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@keelinge wrote:

Is there going to be a way to revert back to 3 columns in the seller hub. 2 just means lots of scrolling. 

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Hi @keelinge 

Just so I understand the question, do you mean columns in the overview page of the Seller Hub?

Thanks,

Dave

[marco@ebay]

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@oakley_home_and_gifts wrote:

Recently went on holiday last month and put store on holiday mode on the 17th July till the 27th of July yet ebay were showing potential buyers estimated delivery of 26th of July to 1st Aug. 

Why are ebay displaying a estimated delivery date before the seller is even back? It would mean I would of had to dispatch items around the 24th for it to get there on the 26th before I was even back off holiday. 

On my other store I changed the dispatch days to 10 days, obviously with this the date keeps moving the closer to the end of the holidays. Customers are less likely to order due to the longer delivery estimate. 

Which ever way a seller chooses it is not accurate or reflects the expected delivery times which ebay keep telling sellers to match in regards to dispatch and chosen delivery mothod. It seems the more ebay keep trying to manage everything the more complicated they make it and the more things go wrong. 

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Hi oakley_home_and_gifts, thanks for your post.

This probably happened because the listings were not hidden, if you don't hide your listings and they are still visible to everyone, there is no way for the time away setting to override the estimated delivery date (EDD). If this happens again, you can try hiding your listings, and that should be ok for you.

Thank you,

Marco

[pg_kicks]

Thanks for getting back to me, apologies in advance if you have only just received this information this morning but I'm slightly annoyed that it's taken 7 days and me asking again to get a reply when I asked in last week's and mentioned it in the thread that you said both you and that team directly read. It's not the customer service I'd expect. 

Also can you please find out how long a report should take to be actioned upon, not an exact time but some sort of guidelines would be great as its currently not fit for purpose, again I will happily send you a list of accounts trading illegally, selling fake items bypassing the authentication guarantee scheme if you wish. 

Thanks 

[returns_andexdisplay]

Marco, the whole idea of holiday setting is to either as you say hide your listings (close your shop) or have the ability to leave your shop open but tell sellers you are away and let them see the data I am back and then add the delivery time on. 

It is not the estimated delivery as you say, I was away for 10 days. My usualy dispatch is 2 days with 2 - 3 days delivery. So not sure how on the 17th a estimated delivery of the 26th can be shown? 

[rahrah9]

Hi, I have purchased an item from a seller on eBay. Consequently the item has proven to be stolen. I know this, as it's my original item that went missing in transit! Seller was going to offer a refund but has consequently changed their mind. I've tried to contact eBay customer services, but they've just opened a return item case. I don't want to return my item, I just want refunded. I've reported the seller to the police.

[marco@ebay]

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@oakley_home_and_gifts wrote:

There seems to be a issue now when accepting best offers, if the payment is not already set up automatacilly. When I go to send a invoice the postage option that is set in the listing is removed and reverted to collection in person, which I manually have to change back. When I send the invoice it then comes through to my own email address asking me to pay for my own item I have just sold. 

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Thanks for your post, oakley_home_and_gifts. 

If you send me a screenshot of the email you get asking you to pay for the item you sold, postage option being removed and then showing collection in person, and an item number, we can flag it with our IT team, so they can review that.

Thank you,

Marco

[dave@ebay]

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@qualitycardsandgifts wrote:

Can you please advise what happened to my account at the end of last year.   Sales were pretty consistent, but suddenly went into free fall to the point where my sales were down by 80%.   No bad feedback, top rated.   

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Hi @qualitycardsandgifts 

Unfortunately we cant do account reviews from here. If you reach out to Customer Support, they should be able to review what happened and advise you on any action that you may need to take.

Thanks,

Dave.

[dave@ebay]

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@keelinge wrote:

Is it likely that ebay will secure better postage rates? Another site that is in direct competition with eBay has already proved it not only cheaper to list but it also cheaper on postage. So what are ebay going to do to compete? 

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Hi @keelinge,

I don't have any visibility on how the postage rates are calculated but I'll pass this back to the shipping team so they are aware.

Thanks,

Dave

[dave@ebay]

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@ri-services wrote:

Hi Dave, 

As you will know for the orginal post in the forums it's definitely still happening to alot of sellers, is this going to take another month to fix? This is costing businesses, obviosuly eBay are making a gain out of this so it doesn't matter about sellers. 

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Hi @ri-services,

I have seen posts advising impressions are not retuning and we have been forwarding these accounts to the promoted listings team to be reviewed. When they come with an update on their findings I will post back on the main thread. 

Thanks,

Dave