💬 Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 29.03.23 @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 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. 

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

[a-touch-of-sparkle]

The dreaded EDDs.

I only post on a Monday and Thursday afternoon due to home and work commitments.

I have 3 day dispatch set up, only use RM 2nd class delivery, which is dropped at the post office in my home town of Broadstairs in Kent.

Can somebody please explain how I can stop getting buyers sending me messages as their item has not arrived on the Tuesday ( for Monday post)  and Friday ( for Thursday post) as that is when Ebay are telling them it should arrive please?

I have attached my EDDs for the items scheduled and sent out this Monday, and it makes no difference when they purchased, or how far away they are - the dates appear to be random. They all go in the same bags.

[kat@ebay]

---

@mteconlineshop wrote:

Hi

Can it be explained please why eBay have now removed the buyers contact phone number when they ask for a delivery to a drop shop, i.e Argos etc

Due to the shops or eBay not contacting the buyer a text to there mobil is a great solution. Now causing isses with phone number being removed

---

Hi @mteconlineshop ,

This would be due to privacy and security regulations .The ecp number is what is needed for these transactions for collection orders. If there is an issue with the shop not putting the ecp number into their system ( generates a notification to the buyer) then the buyer can reach out to eBay to escalate.

Thank you,

Kat

[vjm-supplies]

Thank you for your reply.  I'm not sure if you are missing my point.

The issues I am experiencing are being felt by huge numbers of sellers across ebay.  Therefore the issue cannot be with my listings.  If I'm honest i could spend hours 'optimising listings' and it wouldn't make one bit of difference.  The problem with everyone's huge decrease in sales is not a individual seller issue but an ebay issue.

But as usual ebay never admit that the real issue is a bigger site wide one.  Until this changes things will only get worse and worse for us sellers.

Please can you answer why if I search for something on ebay it automatically chooses the category of the search results that I am shown.  Therefore customers may not realise this and will not be seeing all of listings for the products they are searching for.  Why can't the search results return results within 'All categories' rather than trying to guess the category?

[dave@ebay]

---

@a-touch-of-sparkle wrote:

Ending auctions early / the law?

I am sure you will have seen the news about the chap having to pay £12000 to a buyer because he ended an auction early, as apparently UK law states that bids are legally binding. With this in mind, how can we as sellers make sure that we do not get  hit for this? Obviously accidents happen, so sometimes auctions need to be cancelled.

The flip side is- if somebody bids and wins one of our auctions, surely that is legally binding, but they can get away with it if we insisted on honouring the sale and sending the item.  They can then  claim that the item arrived damaged and get a full refund. How would we prove that the item was not damaged when sent, as some unscrupulous buyers will maliciously damage the item just to get the return postage paid?

---

Hi @a-touch-of-sparkle 

I cant advise you on UK law and what what is legally binding. I understand there can of course be issues with items after its been listed. We always advise you to put as much information in the listings as possible. If you're sending items internationally try to confirm postage costs and if the item can be posted to the chosen locations. If something happens to the item always reach out the bidders before cancelling the bids to let them know what happened. 

If you cant resolve an issue with a buyer you can ask us to step in by escalating the return. We'll review your case and will try to resolve it in the fairest way possible. We normally resolve the case within 48 hours, though occasionally it might take longer if we need more information. Once we've found a resolution, we'll send you and the buyer an email to let you know.

Thanks,

Dave

[a-touch-of-sparkle]

Thanks Dave, it was more of a general query on the logistics. It seems to show that if we follow your advice to end a listing, we open ourselves up to being sued for "loss of bargain" in UK law. Perhaps Ebay need to look into this and put more dire warnings when you are looking at ending a listing? 

[elcon_europe_ltd]

From the information link you provided: 

• For sellers where eBay collects EU VAT on the transaction under OSS or IOSS rules, eBay will issue sellers with either a transaction document (imports) or a self-billing invoice (valid VAT registration number on file, with goods sold from within the EU) as appropriate
  This document will show details of the transaction for which eBay has taken on VAT responsibility, and can be used for the seller's own records as evidence that eBay has collected VAT.

Where is the "transaction doument" please??

[katie@ebay]

Hi all,

Quick reminder: 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. 

Thanks,

Katie 

[kat@ebay]

---

@a-touch-of-sparkle wrote:

The dreaded EDDs.

I only post on a Monday and Thursday afternoon due to home and work commitments.

I have 3 day dispatch set up, only use RM 2nd class delivery, which is dropped at the post office in my home town of Broadstairs in Kent.

Can somebody please explain how I can stop getting buyers sending me messages as their item has not arrived on the Tuesday ( for Monday post)  and Friday ( for Thursday post) as that is when Ebay are telling them it should arrive please?

I have attached my EDDs for the items scheduled and sent out this Monday, and it makes no difference when they purchased, or how far away they are - the dates appear to be random. They all go in the same bags.

---

Hi @a-touch-of-sparkle ,

I understand there is a lot of frustration around the EDD's. We have checked and confirmed on many occasions with the shipping team and with examples provided and they have advised it is being calculated correctly with the model that it used.  Please also note alot of users do not dispatch according to what they state on their listings. Alot of factors are involved in the calculation. Dispatch, handling, the delivery courier, past delivery performance, carrier performance( constantly changes) and location of item and buyer location. 

Thank you,

Kat

[dave@ebay]

---

@774paulr wrote:

Hi Dave

Thanks for your reply - However, please at least do me the decency of a proper answer to my SPECIFIC question and not some "copy & paste" reply!

Where is the PRECISE report I asked for please?

Last year I had to pay my accountant £400 + VAT to work out the hideous report supplied by eBay!

Regards

Paul

---

Hi @774paulr 

Is this in relation to the question from @elcon_europe_ltd ?

You can find the information for the sales through the reports tab as above. As this sounds like its not suitable for your needs you my need to use some accounting software to track these sale. 

Your accountant might be able to advise you of some suitable options for this.

Thanks,

Dave

[kat@ebay]

---

@vjm-supplies wrote:

Thank you for your reply.  I'm not sure if you are missing my point.

The issues I am experiencing are being felt by huge numbers of sellers across ebay.  Therefore the issue cannot be with my listings.  If I'm honest i could spend hours 'optimising listings' and it wouldn't make one bit of difference.  The problem with everyone's huge decrease in sales is not a individual seller issue but an ebay issue.

But as usual ebay never admit that the real issue is a bigger site wide one.  Until this changes things will only get worse and worse for us sellers.

Please can you answer why if I search for something on ebay it automatically chooses the category of the search results that I am shown.  Therefore customers may not realise this and will not be seeing all of listings for the products they are searching for.  Why can't the search results return results within 'All categories' rather than trying to guess the category?

---

Hi @vjm-supplies ,

With regards to the search it is working like this as it is trying to provide the buyer with the most streamlined route. This can be based on factors like sales and item specifics. 

Thank you,

Kat

[dave@ebay]

---

@elcon_europe_ltd wrote:

From the information link you provided: 

• For sellers where eBay collects EU VAT on the transaction under OSS or IOSS rules, eBay will issue sellers with either a transaction document (imports) or a self-billing invoice (valid VAT registration number on file, with goods sold from within the EU) as appropriate
  This document will show details of the transaction for which eBay has taken on VAT responsibility, and can be used for the seller's own records as evidence that eBay has collected VAT.

Where is the "transaction doument" please??

---

Hi @elcon_europe_ltd 

We don't have any access to the financial systems from here but the Payments Team should be able to help you with with issuing documents. 

You can request a callback through the Contact us section at the end of this page.

Thanks,

Dave