💬 Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 20.07.22 @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 kat@ebay , dave@ebay  and katie@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. 

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

[angie9966]

sorry wrong account

[calibreautopartsdirect]

Hi, are we talking to bots that are called Dave, Kat or Katie? We seem to get a pre-set response to the questions. Question: are these real people on the other side?

[mteconlineshop]

Pretty sure now the answers we are getting are just automated, may aswell forget what has gone on and try to re build our business going forward, cost me alot of money to re list most of my 3800 item which i only 5 days before re paid the montly listing charges, got to give eBay some credit as no doubt they have earnt well from this 

[dave@ebay]

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@carparts34 wrote:

Hopefully this is visible

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Hi @carparts34 

Thanks for the above. 

That was in reply to an issue in May where an email was sent to some sellers in error. The affected accounts were notified in a follow up email that this was an error. 

This was not related to the mail that was sent in June informing members that they needed to update their details. 

Thanks,

Dave

[katie@ebay]

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@calibreautopartsdirect wrote:

Hi, are we talking to bots that are called Dave, Kat or Katie? We seem to get a pre-set response to the questions. Question: are these real people on the other side?

---

Hi there,

We are members of the eBay Community Team. We're here to help and are doing what we can to get back to you all here.

Thanks,

Katie 

[thefantasycollectiongiftware2014]

Totally agree well were were all waiting for the 24 -72 hour response which never came so glad i didn't take the advice to not relist my shop but having said that selling 3 items today wouldn't make any difference .

UNBELIEVABLE !!!

[thefantasycollectiongiftware2014]

Dave

Ebay can't keep sending out the same emails Vat Needs Changing NO it doesn't yes it does.

Our main concern is providing an excellent service to our customers and fulfil there orders not spending hours on the phone to customers service some sorry not understanding your name to be put through several different deptartmnents then to be cut off .

COME ON !!!

[dave@ebay]

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@sethandcotrading wrote:

We have had no help at all and are getting different answers all the time regarding the VAT issue. Some customer service operators are giving false information that all the listing will go back to what they were. 

What is ebay planning to do ?

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Hi @sethandcotrading 

Thanks for reaching out.

We appreciate your questions regarding the VAT information.

We do need to advise this is not a technical issue. eBay have a legal obligation in our partnership with HMRC to ensure sellers are VAT compliant at all times.
Sellers were contacted via email in June and were notified of 30 days to update valid VAT info in order to keep selling on site.
We work closely with HMRC to ensure our sellers comply with their VAT obligations.
If we are informed by HMRC that a seller is not complying with these requirements we will take appropriate action.

We will continue to share further information here on the boards as it comes.

Thanks,

Dave

[pixiesen2012]

it was sent to the same sellers who were told that there wasn't a problem with their VAT details, they were told they didn't need to do anything, so why would they then have to change it a month later?

ebay need to accept that there was a major mistake made and deal with the problems it has caused

[thefantasycollectiongiftware2014]

I think were all being treated here like complete fools well i think we can all group together now and take legal action enoughs enough !!!

Theres enough off us to put a case forward .

[calibreautopartsdirect]

If you were informed by HMRC that we were not compliant, could we see evidence of that?

[calibreautopartsdirect]

Because I think that is a pretty stark accusation.

[thefantasycollectiongiftware2014]

I for one doubt they can fall back on the above, I had hoped someone would share the precise wording. On the balance of probabilities, for which a civil case would be decided, there is a clear argment that the losses are "reasonably forseable" from their direct actions. They require to have this wording as a blanket statement to avoid all liability would not be acceptable in many jurisdictions.

[kat@ebay]

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@rainbowtrax wrote:

Is there an estimated time for a fix on the listing date issue with relists? It seems to have been going on since March/April time and is still not fixed.

When you relist an item, the listing date in search results should show the date of the relist, not the date of first listing. This seems to show correctly when you search a certain seller's listings but incorrectly if you search all sellers.

This is an example from my own listings:

On 3rd April I listed an item which sold on 1st May here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/rainbowtrax/m.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=king%20crimson%20discipline%20...

On 8th July I had an identical item to list so I used the relist option on the sold listing. If I search for it in my own items, it shows the correct listing date: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?_ssn=rainbowtrax&_osacat=0&_odkw=king+crimson&_from=R40&_trksid=p2...

But if I do a search for it from all sellers, it shows the wrong listing date of 3rd April so never appears as a newly listed item, missing out on being seen at the top of newly listed searches:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/176985/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=king+crimson+discipline+lp+&LH_TitleDesc=0

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Hi @rainbowtrax ,

We did reply to the thread on this topic. After having following it up with the tech team it was found not to be a technical issue. It was a change that was implemented.  When an item is relisted it will no longer show the relisted date. It will be the original listed date.  Buyers were getting confused searching for newly listed items and then seeing had 100's of sales. 

I appreciate sellers have provided feedback that they are not happy with the change and some have provided examples of auctions listings being impacted.  The change is remaining but will be monitored.

Thank you,

Kat

[sethandcotrading]

Hi i am vat compliant ebay just did not recognise it . 

Ther must have been another way to sort this mess out it is simply miscommunication. I called in  June also and was told not worry???

[dave@ebay]

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@j_n_tee wrote:

I Also had this issue, in May received an ebay message that i need to update my details and add a VAT number (BUT i've been vat registered for over a year and is and has been on my account and displayed on my listings), Later that evening i get a message to say to ignore that message as it was sent it 'error', and since then the VAT number had not been displaying on my listings BUT did when i print invoice for buyers. Rang ebay a few days after again and agent said they are aware of a glitch, and that she's manually fixed it and should show up in 24hrs, heck it did, it still hasn't rang again, the agent said it's be escalated to the tech team as a priority and be fixed in 2 /3hrs, few days later still not showing on my listings, rang again, and agent said there is no update, raised it again and said it should be fixed in 24/48hrs and i'll get an email.

Did i - NOOOOOOO...

My fustration was i getting told different things, with varying timescales and each time i'm having to explain the whole issue from scratch.

I then put a thread on the technicial forum - Dave from ebay said he'll chase and report back

No-one did..

I rang again and finally got someone who knew what i was on about and gave me a fix! I put the fix up on the thread i had started..

My point having spoken to a number of agents who said they'll get it fixed, or there is no problem, but thankfully one agent knew the fix! ....Who is holding these agents accountable to what they are saying...as it was clearly lies! Ebay is letting their agents get away with saying what they want! Then there are some who actually care and worked through the issue! Time and time again Sellers are being let down or being screwed over. Estimated delivery dates is another bug bear which ebay is clearly not listening to sellers! ...What is the accountability look like to ebay.

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Hi @j_n_tee 

Thanks for reaching out. 

We appreciate your questions regarding the VAT information.

We do need to advise this is not a technical issue. eBay have a legal obligation in our partnership with HMRC to ensure sellers are VAT compliant at all times.
Sellers were contacted via email in June and were notified of 30 days to update valid VAT info in order to keep selling on site.

We work closely with HMRC to ensure our sellers comply with their VAT obligations.
If we are informed by HMRC that a seller is not complying with these requirements we will take appropriate action.

I'll look further into the VAT number not showing on the listings as this may be different to listings being removed. I'll reach out to you directly on this.

Thanks,

Dave

[kat@ebay]

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@unique-personalisedgifts wrote:

I concur; eBay's algorithim is also not taking into account the following (I got told they would feed this back but still no luck and still having to deal with unrealistic customer expectations due to eBay trying to pretend they are amazon!)-

Same day dispatch item - had to move it to 2 days as we had too much demand due to it being a teacher gift.

Algorithim still expecting us to send it same day and quoting customers arrival the following day after purchase (despite it also being 2nd class delivery which hadn't changed)

Thanks eBay, had to take all of my stock off of these listings - stopping all the profit you were making from me in fees and promoted listings because of your unrealistic times to buyers.

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Hi @unique-personalisedgifts ,

We are feeding back the examples provided by sellers for EDD's however its not a process that is changing for now.

Thank you,

Kat

[dave@ebay]

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@dancestationdirect wrote:

Ebay, you have destroyed my business along with countless other sellers!

I echo the comments from my fellow sellers throughtout this Chat and within the seller forum.

All of us are legitimate sellers registered with HMRC, we are not tax avoiding businesses.

So to pass this back to us and say it was our fault is insulting and infuriating, particularly when you know that we all received the email confirming that all of our details were correct and no further action needed.

Ebay, start by an acknowledgement of the unimaginable impact this is having on our livelihoods and tell us what you are going to do to help this large number of loyal sellers who have been with ebay for years????

I never expected this from Ebay and feel very angry as I know that this is going to take a long time, if ever to recover from.

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Hi @dancestationdirect,

Thanks for reaching out. 

We appreciate your questions regarding the VAT information.

We do need to advise this is not a technical issue:
eBay have a legal obligation in our partnership with HMRC to ensure sellers are VAT compliant at all times.
Sellers were contacted via email in June and were notified of 30 days to update valid VAT info in order to keep selling on site.

We work closely with HMRC to ensure our sellers comply with their VAT obligations.
If we are informed by HMRC that a seller is not complying with these requirements we will take appropriate action.

We will continue to share further information here on the boards as it comes.

Thanks,

Dave

[dave@ebay]

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@vespajets wrote:

At aprox 5.30pm UK time on Friday 15th July whilst listing on E Bay we noticed a notification box which was the first time we had seen this stating that my VAT details/business details were incorrect. Prior to this we have had no correspondence that there may be a future problem.

I had been working on my business page all day prior to this time.

I followed the link given to me on this warning box taking me to my business settings and checked my VAT number was correct, which it was.

Subsequently over the next hour I noticed all my 2500+ items listed had ended. Why did this happen and why did no one contact me directly or put my account on hold whilst this problem was under investigation at your end, as ending all the listings has now caused so many problems.

I contacted one of your call centre staff immediately and informed them of the problem. They instructed and guided me to change my VAT business name from Vespajets to Anthony Wright and assured me that everything would be back up and running between 24 & 72 hours.

At approx 10pm I re-checked my E Bay listings and to my horror all my listings were still starting to end but at this time I was given the option to relist them. I listed the first 200 items without any fees showing and when I went to list the 2nd 200 items, it then flagged up that I would have to pay to relist them.

I contacted the call centre and again the lady informed me that all my items would be restored in 24 hours with no cost to myself and reassured me everything would be ok.

My business 100% relies on EBay for sales and I am currently building an E Commerce web site that has been linked to E Bay for stock control and prices.

At approx 7pm on Saturday 16th July I contacted EBay via the on-line chat. I was directed to three different departments to solve the problem.

Please see below a link to the chat transcript:

Whilst relisting the items the reality of the problem unfolded that all the relisted items would have a new E Bay item number and would not be linked to the current stock on my Web page. I myself and the staff have spent over 4 month Linking my E Commerce Web site page to my E Bay business page to update stock quantities , weights and sizes.

I have currently put my E Bay shop and web site on holiday mode because when I sell something my stock levels will not change on either site.

This error has caused a catastrophic effect on my business. In order to move forward I need E Bay to relist all my products with the same item numbers as they were prior to E Bay ending my listing with no warning to myself.

I have also now laid off two members of staff as i have nothing for them to pack up to send off until i get all my listings up and running and re-connected to my woo commerce web site

when i do list my products i would not expect to pay to re-list them or that would be kicking us when we are down

I would like to speak to someone in charge who can help with this matter as all delays are losing our business revenue.

Regards Tony

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Hi Tony,

Thanks for reaching out. 

We appreciate your questions regarding the VAT information and I have also read your post on the Community Boards.

We do need to advise this is not a technical issue:
eBay have a legal obligation in our partnership with HMRC to ensure sellers are VAT compliant at all times.
Sellers were contacted via email in June and were notified of 30 days to update valid VAT info in order to keep selling on site.

We work closely with HMRC to ensure our sellers comply with their VAT obligations.
If we are informed by HMRC that a seller is not complying with these requirements we will take appropriate action.

We will continue to share further information here on the boards as it comes.

Thanks,

Dave

[kat@ebay]

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@ukhaberdashery wrote:

Looking at some of the ebays replies so far they seem to think the problem is to do with HMRC and compliance. We are not arguing about that, but the fact that eBay continually gave sellers the reassurance that their information was correct and they did not have to do anything. Ebay gave sellers the wrong information... Multiple times..... This has very little to do with HMRC but you seem to be fobbing people off with its because of them......NO, its because of you.

This afternoon 10 years of hard work were deleted by eBay.
We have been told they are unable to correct their mistake and won't be able to get listing back to how they were before.

10 years of individual product feedback... Gone.
10 years of How many sold (which gives customers reassurance in a product)... Gone
10 years of buyers' loyalty to certain items held in their watched list... Gone
1500 listing each with an average of 30 variations. 45000 items reset to nothing.
ie the images below. 1398 sold feedback that is 250 positive and no negatives. People won't see this on the relists/reupload, There will be nothing there for them to select us over other sellers, and since we are now below other sellers why should they buy from us. They will go elsewhere. We will lose money.

We are now starting from scratch because of ebay....On that item which is 5 years old, It will now take 5 years to get back to where I was before eBay messed it up. If that is even possible as increased sellers mean more competition and therefore harder to sell an item.

What am I supposed to say to my employees who are paid by the hours they work and will go from 6 hours a day to 3 or 4. Why are they taking a pay cut (and me as the owner) because of eBay?

I am sure you are well aware of the problem as there is an eBay presence on the forum (and surely the business sellers board must be frequented often), and yet no reply to the 2 threads there, one started on 16th July and the other the 18th of June.

There is even a forum post on the 19th of May titled "Update VAT Information email" where an eBay representative posted an answer saying "Hi All, I had a look into this and can confirm it was a tech issue. An automated email was sent out in error, I've added each of your accounts to the Tech Ticket. There's no action needed from your side. ......Thanks, ....... Dave

If eBay had dealt with the issues that started in the May post "Update VAT Information email" or even the June post ""Let’s reactivate your eBay account" email " a lot of us here now would be ok and selling as usual. We are not....... My guessing is next month there will be another lot of sellers having this done to them and their business is now failing.....Why was it not sorted 2 months ago?

It seems there has been a complete lack of eBay being able to resolve the issue and also giving out information that was 100% wrong.

When I first go the email 2 months back I called eBay and started a chat, and after a few questions was told my information was correct and when I asked so I should ignore the message I was told yet.....(I have the transcript if you want it but segments from it "Thank you so much for the information, Simon. I would like to share with you that your VAT details are verified."..."So I can ignore the message?"...."Yes, please that would be great.") ......Yet another eBay glitch it seemed...... This same story seems to be what happened to a lot of sellers asking the same question...just ignore it as your information is correct. This was wrong information given out by eBay employees.

There's a lot more to be said but if they cant get us to where we were before the blunder there is no other thing to talk about apart from compensation.

How is eBay going to compensate us for the short-term problem we have ie very few sales, time spent sorting out eBays mistakes ie paying staff to fix the mistake, time taken to figure out what to do now, loss of future sales ie a month, 3 months ahead. I think everyone is different so their profit loss is going to be different.

Maybe fees taken over the last 3 months should be refunded and may be fair to all with the issue.

Please don't insult us with a free month's shop subscription..... Just a note, when I was uploading the new products it seemed to be charging me even though I have 1500 free listings in my shop. So just relisting seemed to have cost me £90

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Hi @ukhaberdashery ,

We do understand all the questions on it. We are working with the internal teams to get as much details and clarity as we can.  We will share the information as soon as we have it.

Thank you,

Kat