Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 18.10.23 @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, 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. 

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

[anita@ebay]

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@ducatimondo wrote:

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anita@ebay wrote:

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@ducatimondo wrote:

About 2 weeks ago, I asked for the contact details of your VAT department in the weekly chat.

I instead got a link to the generic "help your self" contact us page.

Can I have the contact information for your VAT department please.

Thanks 

Russ

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Hi @ducatimondo , thanks for your post.

I can confirm that this is the correct way to contact our VAT team via Help & contact page here, just scroll down at the bottom of the page > Contact us. There is no specific email address or other way of contacting them.

Thanks,

Anita

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Hi Anita,

Thank you for your reply.

That does not work!!

All you get is the automated bot pop up on the sidebar that does not help anything.

Do I need to remind you of your obligations as a company registered in England under several pieces of legislation that you are obligated to provide contact information prior to the incpetion of any contract or contractual obligation being in place.
I have been shrugged off that "it works and we are not changing it", like I have been flicked off the table such as a pea that has dropped off someone's dinner plate.

I would like the contact information for the VAT department, please provide this.

Thank you

Russ

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@ducatimondo, thanks for your reply.

I have just tested, and the contact option is working for me. If you are still not seeing it, please type in `Agent` in the chat box and it should give you further options.

Thanks,

Anita

[katie@ebay]

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@ak_craft_crazy wrote:

Hi Katie thank you for your response.

Ignore the EDD now, please use common sense when answering this question.

An item due for dispatch on the 16th October sent via 2nd class delivery is it possible for it to arrive on the same day?

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Hi @ak_craft_crazy,

Generally speaking, yes it can be. In some cases a seller may use another shipping method over a period of time to avoid defects or they may inflate their dispatch time. The system sees this as their performance, their items may typically arrive earlier. 

In your case here I understand that this is not what's taking place. The timeline given to the buyer is from the 16th to the 19th to give them a better guideline of when this will happen. The ability to open an item not received or mark an item as late is on the last date here. 

Thanks,

Katie 

[lincolnshiremarine]

Hi Marco

It is not just that item number that is the issue for Global shipping.  Something has happened with ebay and Global shipping programme.

We sell lots of outboard parts (some very small) that lots of our friends from overseas would like to buy.  Sales have gone to zero from those people and we have messages from people stating they cannot buy them from us.  We have checked the following:

1: The Global shipping is ON, on the listing.

2: The country is viable for Global shipping.

I can only think that ebay has done something to stop this from working.  I think it is a coincidence that once you changed the categories this all happened.

Please ebay help your sellers, we want to sell and look to ebay for help and advice after 16 years of being a loyal customer, which you always point out to us.

Many thanks for you time.

[ducatimondo]

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katie@ebay wrote:

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@ducatimondo wrote:

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katie@ebay wrote:

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@ducatimondo wrote:

Are eBay planning on joining in with Black Friday this year?

Cheers

Russ

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Hi Russ,

Over that weekend, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday there will be offers across the site. 

I don't have the specifics and there will be a wide range for both buyers and sellers.

The best thing to do here is to ensure your communication preferences are set up to allow emails of this kind.

Thanks,

Katie 

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Hi Katie,

Thank you for your reply.

I wasn't asking what sellers are doing, I was asking if eBay are joining in the black friday sales.

Considering it is next month, I don't think I am jumping the gun by asking if eBay are taking part in the largest sale event of the year.

Are eBay joining in this year?

Thanks

Russ

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Hi Russ,

Sorry if my first answer wasn't clear, eBay will be supporting sellers with promotions.

As eBay doesn't house any inventory all Black Friday sales would run through sellers, some can have assistance from eBay but I don't have the details.

In terms of eBay fees and free listing promotions I do not have information if there will be any. Traditionally there has been. We like to promote this beforehand so if I get any details on this I'll do my best to share in advance of the weekend.

Thanks,

Katie 

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Hi Katie,

I have been on eBay for more than 20 years.

I do not remember the details of when Black Friday was started here, but to date, eBay have never given any sale of discount to sellers in fees or promotions.

To my knowledge, the seller's make the whole sacrifice and eBay take normal FVF's without any discount or otherwise incentive.

Hence my question, are eBay actually going to join in or just rake in the extra money from the huge increase in sales and let the sellers make all of the discounts themselves?

Thanks

Russ

[ak_craft_crazy]

Hi,

But as you and others explained EDD works on MY dispatch time with MY previous performance and not that of another seller. EDD should not be taking into account other sellers for MY item.

If i say it takes 2 working days to dispatch an item it takes 2 working days so the 1st EDD should not be the same day as dispatch, even more so when the buyer has chosen 2nd class delivery it is litterally impossible for it to arrive on the same day. Hence EDD is broken and not working and needs to be looked at, from a common sense prospective and not a lets show unrealistic delivery times to attract more busyers prospective.

[bojangled]

katie@ebay 

Hi Katie

Any progress on the exchange we had on the weekly chat a few weeks ago re promoting small business sellers?

Regards

Jo

[marco@ebay]

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@lincolnshiremarine wrote:

Hi Marco

It is not just that item number that is the issue for Global shipping.  Something has happened with ebay and Global shipping programme.

We sell lots of outboard parts (some very small) that lots of our friends from overseas would like to buy.  Sales have gone to zero from those people and we have messages from people stating they cannot buy them from us.  We have checked the following:

1: The Global shipping is ON, on the listing.

2: The country is viable for Global shipping.

I can only think that ebay has done something to stop this from working.  I think it is a coincidence that once you changed the categories this all happened.

Please ebay help your sellers, we want to sell and look to ebay for help and advice after 16 years of being a loyal customer, which you always point out to us.

Many thanks for you time.

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Thanks for your reply, lincolnshiremarine. 

If that is the only available example you have at the moment, that's all we can review at this time. We will get that reviewed, and will provide an update on it here when I get one.

Thank you,

Marco

[anita@ebay]

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@messier44000 wrote:

161476479701

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@messier44000, thanks for sharing the item number.

I have checked and this item has customs restriction in the US, therefore buyer from US won’t be able to purchase it.

Thanks,

Anita

[katie@ebay]

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@ak_craft_crazy wrote:

Hi,

But as you and others explained EDD works on MY dispatch time with MY previous performance and not that of another seller. EDD should not be taking into account other sellers for MY item.

If i say it takes 2 working days to dispatch an item it takes 2 working days so the 1st EDD should not be the same day as dispatch, even more so when the buyer has chosen 2nd class delivery it is litterally impossible for it to arrive on the same day. Hence EDD is broken and not working and needs to be looked at, from a common sense prospective and not a lets show unrealistic delivery times to attract more busyers prospective.

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Hi @ak_craft_crazy,

It does work of data from your account along with the item, the courier the buyer and a whole host of other pieces of information collected.

We continue to send feedback about dynamic EDD's but I do have to reiterate that this feature is working as designed. To tell you otherwise would be misleading and I do want to be as transparent as possible.

Thanks,

Katie 

[ak_craft_crazy]

But its not working and evryone can see it apart from eBay its not rocket science 

[ducatimondo]

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marco@ebay wrote:

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@ducatimondo wrote:

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marco@ebay wrote:

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@ducatimondo wrote:

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marco@ebay wrote:

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@ducatimondo wrote:

What is an epid?

Cheers

Russ

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Hi ducatimondo, thanks for your post.

That would be a product ID number, esentially speaking. It means eBay product ID.

Thank you,

Marco

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Welcome back Marco,

Thank you for your reply.

Is that like a product identifier then, so if 2 items have the same epid, then eBay consider them to be the same item?

Thanks

Russ

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Thank you, ducatimondo. 

Yes, that is the number linked to our catalog.  Unless the seller selects the same item from our catalog, the numbers would be different, but that would be the seller's responsibility when entering the correct details.

Thanks,

Marco

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Thank you for your reply Marco.

You seem to have added confusion where it needed not exist.

A simple yes or no was what I was looking for.

Is the product the same, according to eBay, if 2 or more different listings have the same epid?

Yes or no?

Thank you

Russ

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Hi ducatimondo,

I said yes above, so if the items have the same epid number in the catalog, then it would be the same item.

Thank you,

Marco

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Hi Marco, thank you for your clrification.

So if that is the case, why is that when I report items that sellers have listed more than 400 duplicates of the same item, then eBay does not remove them, yet they all share the same epid?

So it is clear that the policy department responsible for managing duplicate listing do not know what they are doing and that is the reason why nothing happens to duplicate listing from these sellers that damage the platform so much by doing this.

The duplicate listings are:

against eBay policies

create a type of cartel activity that eBay become complicit in if they fail to address if when asked to do so.

ruining the eBay market place for buyers

ruining the eBay market place for sellers that follow the rules

hugely demoting eBay in Google as Google really doesn't like duplicated content.

All in all creating an unlevel field for sellers that are following the rules.

Why do the policy department not see this?

Thanks

Russ

[katie@ebay]

Hi Russ, 

To reiterate I don't have the full details. Our teams work with a huge amount of sellers to organise and promote items across the weekend. In some of these cases fees can be helped or eBay even subsidises some of the discount.

All promotions available to sellers will show on their account and they can vary from seller to seller.

Thanks,

Katie 

[marco@ebay]

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@ducatimondo wrote:

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marco@ebay wrote:

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@ducatimondo wrote:

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marco@ebay wrote:

---

@ducatimondo wrote:

---

marco@ebay wrote:

---

@ducatimondo wrote:

What is an epid?

Cheers

Russ

---

Hi ducatimondo, thanks for your post.

That would be a product ID number, esentially speaking. It means eBay product ID.

Thank you,

Marco

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Welcome back Marco,

Thank you for your reply.

Is that like a product identifier then, so if 2 items have the same epid, then eBay consider them to be the same item?

Thanks

Russ

---

Thank you, ducatimondo. 

Yes, that is the number linked to our catalog.  Unless the seller selects the same item from our catalog, the numbers would be different, but that would be the seller's responsibility when entering the correct details.

Thanks,

Marco

---

Thank you for your reply Marco.

You seem to have added confusion where it needed not exist.

A simple yes or no was what I was looking for.

Is the product the same, according to eBay, if 2 or more different listings have the same epid?

Yes or no?

Thank you

Russ

---

Hi ducatimondo,

I said yes above, so if the items have the same epid number in the catalog, then it would be the same item.

Thank you,

Marco

---

Hi Marco, thank you for your clrification.

So if that is the case, why is that when I report items that sellers have listed more than 400 duplicates of the same item, then eBay does not remove them, yet they all share the same epid?

So it is clear that the policy department responsible for managing duplicate listing do not know what they are doing and that is the reason why nothing happens to duplicate listing from these sellers that damage the platform so much by doing this.

The duplicate listings are:

against eBay policies

create a type of cartel activity that eBay become complicit in if they fail to address if when asked to do so.

ruining the eBay market place for buyers

ruining the eBay market place for sellers that follow the rules

hugely demoting eBay in Google as Google really doesn't like duplicated content.

All in all creating an unlevel field for sellers that are following the rules.

Why do the policy department not see this?

Thanks

Russ

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Thanks for your reply, ducatimondo.

Once an item/listing is reported, this is reviewed, and then a decision is taken. The listing can be removed if it breaches any of our policies, or it can remain if there is nothing wrong with it. Please continue to report those that you believe are against our policies, and we will review them and take actions accordingly.

Thank you,

Marco

[anita@ebay]

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@ducatimondo wrote:

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anita@ebay wrote:

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@goingfishinguk wrote:

Good afternoon.

I've asked the question here https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/eBay-Search/m-p/7496734#M301958 and got a reply from Anita, thank you.  However this reply unfortunately is not accurate, or in theory may be accurate but the evidence is telling a different story.

So again may I ask is the search function as it is (or has been recently) working as designed or is it broken and glitchy? 

The main reason I ask as if it's the former, i.e. working as eBay want it to then it's pointless trying to grow a business on eBay or even have one as the above thread proves time after time eBay are currently hiding up to 96% of possible listings for search queries.  A lot of this is down to the lowest price cut off appearing to be at the £40 mark.  So if you are selling items less than £40 you are at a huge disadvantage.  Like I said many detailed experiments have been conducted and the conclusive proof is clear - eBay are hiding massive amounts of PAID FOR listings.

So please for the sake of mine and many other's mental health, wellbeing and businesses can we have a truthful answer because me for one am rather exhausted banging my head against the eBay wall trying to find out why my business is failing again.  Like I've said, I've watched all the videos, done all the hoop jumping and done it all again.  It does not work.  My sales are dropping week on week and now next to nothing.  These are NOT market forces at play here, this is eBay doing 'something' to stop my listings being seen or caps placed on my account.  Like I said I respect the sentiment but the evidence totally contradicts it.  

Many thanks.

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Hi goingfishinguk, thanks for your post.

I want to confirm, that there is currently no known technical issues in relation to the search function. However, I have read this thread and sent the information to the relevant teams.

If I do hear back from them, I will update the thread.

Thanks,

Anita

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Hi Anita,

Thank you for help in regard to this matter.

If there is nothing wrong with the search, why can I not find my own items listed on eBay?

I have also been discussing the search, that it does not work at all in some of the other threads.

The technical team are clearly working on something in the background as sometimes is sort of works, badly, but other times it does not work at all.

Please can you find out what they are actually doing, rather than the normal "we are not aware on any issues" cut and paste.

Any information you can find will be helpful.

Thank you 

Russ

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Hi @ducatimondo,

It sometimes takes up to 48 hours for the item to display in the search results once it’s been listed. If it’s been more than 48 hours and it’s still not visible, please create a new thread on one of our boards and we’ll look into it for you.

Thanks

Anita

[anita@ebay]

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@bojangled wrote:

katie@ebay 

Hi Katie

Any progress on the exchange we had on the weekly chat a few weeks ago re promoting small business sellers?

Regards

Jo

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 Hi @bojangled, thanks for your post.

We are always working on promoting small businesses, your feedback is greatly appreciated and was passed on to the relevant teams.

Currently we host different events as Roadshow and eBay Open to help sellers grow their business. Also, if you’re eBay shop subscriber, you can personalize your shop and use it to promote your business, see here for more.

Thanks,

Anita

[marco@ebay]

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@lincolnshiremarine wrote:

Here is the item number: 203065552381.

They are several other items that people cannot buy via Global shipping but I cannot find the messages to provide you the item numbers.

I am wondering now that ebay have changed some of the item categories, this has caused the issue to send overseas.  Not all items we sell are heavy and big items and will fit in small boxes.

As said never had any issues before, but sales are down to overseas customers, and customers are letting me know they cannot buy them via the Global shipping.  We always had the protection of Global shipping when sending items.

Something has happened and we really need some expert help on this and not the standard reply from Ebay.  We have been with ebay for 16 years, and never have we had sales so bad as now.

Come on ebay help your sellers out please.  We want to sell to customers.

Thank you for your time.

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Hi lincolnshiremarine,

After review, the item 203065552381 is not part of our GSP, and also there is no postage specified for Sweden (the buyer you were referring to wanted the item shipped to Sweden, not Norway). So, that's why the buyer in question wasn't able to purchase the item. This item was originally listed back in 2020, so probably before you enrolled for our GSP. If you do a brand new listing again for this listing, and the item is within the permitted category, size and weight, the item should be listed with our GSP no problem.

We compared this to a different listing you have (item 204296834465), and that item was listed recently and it is part of our GSP no problem. 

Thank you,

Marco