Dear Eve

[suelel1968]

It would be good to see everyone else's "Dear Eve" letters here. I can't post the email addresses, but just ask copilot. Feel free to copy mine, post the one you have already written. Even if you are just quitting the platform, don't tell us on the forum, tell her. It's high time we got some answers.

Dear Ms. Williams,

As a private seller on eBay UK, I’m reaching out with a simple request: please listen to the voices of individual private sellers.

One pressing concern is the rollout of Simple Delivery. Whilst we know it is here to stay the message is not being heard. Many private sellers feel it adds complexity and cost without improving the experience. 

May I draw your attention to one of my listings below. Currently listed at £4.25 with £1.55 Large Letter Royal Mail postage. If I try to list anything similar or relist this one it converts to SD at a minimum £2.70 postage. You can see from the listing photo, the item is 1 1/2" long and 1/4" wide and weights less than 20 grams. It won't sell with an extra £1.15 on postage.

Private sellers are a vital part of eBay’s identity. We bring character, variety, and uniqueness to the marketplace. I hope you’ll take time to hear our concerns.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[goodibags]

You just know already that all food will be tracked and the 'Unlimited Cake' option will require some costly upgrade. Besides, the food may well arrive 5 days late, so you'll only have to arrange where it can be left on your doorstep or behind bins outside.

[suelel1968]

@goodibags I was going to get my costume on eBay too, but although it says 5 days from Luton it will probably be 3 weeks from China and then be lost in the post.

[sunflowers4me59]

I emailed Eve also, got same response as pegr-834437, had an email from "one of her team", useless.

[suelel1968]

Hi Sunflowers @sunflowers4me59  That's good to know. They should at least respond.

Todays thread got me thinking about all the times I have emailed CEOs and success is achievable, but it is usually about a one off issue that affects just you. I will take as a win it if she wants to add my drills to the exempt list, (which would be the sensible course of action, Eve!)

I contacted the CEO of my water supplier after the the combined sewer got blocked and found an outlet via my dishwasher and garden. The CS blamed my dishwasher brand for not having a non return valve and that i should replace it. The outcome was 8 years worth of water bills paid for by them. 

But no she never contacted me herself either.

Usually they don't like to risk a fuss being made when they have been informed of something. Perhaps Eve is past caring.....

[goodibags]

Either beyond caring OR it genuinely is Ebay policy to be messing up postage and certain categories. After all, they do have all the stats. They know which buyers are likely to be happy to pay and in which categories. Even which businesses have been lobbying hardest to stop being undercut by private sellers with cheaper prices. Not sure if DIY bits fit the bill there?

That's not to say Eve won't make a personalised concession IF you complain nicely. I had 2 months of free electric AND a £200 bribe because my new energy supplier fiddled with the smart meter, as they inevitably do these days. That was via the Energy Ombudsman though so not quite the same.

Rather than 8 years of free water how about a £10 Ebay voucher? To put towards that costume, maybe? The one that'll arrive 2 days after that event in Birmingham? Ebay will suggest it goes in a large letter, prompting the seller to cancel. 😉

[theelench]

"Usually they don't like to risk a fuss being made when they have been informed of something.  Perhaps Eve is past caring....."

I think you'll find that "caring" only applies to those relatively senior execs. still fighting their way up the greasy pole.

Once they get to Eve's level they've 'Made It', and reached the top of the career ladder.  They've got the Golden Hello and generous re-location expenses.  The 6 figure salary, the super-delux medical plan, the share options and the regular bonuses.  Probably been signed-up by a manager for Speaking engagements at a few thousand a pop.

Edited to add.  I forgot to mention the generous contributions to her pension-pot. 

If / when it all goes wrong and she has to "spend more time with her family", she will have negotiated a Golden Handshake and another dollop of relocation expenses.  If she has any sense she will already be looking for the next greasy pole to climb and all that interests her about ebay now is how long she can cling on to this one, rather than how much good she can do while she has the position.

[suelel1968]

@theelench hi Lench, you make her sound like a prime candidate to become Dame Eve Williams.... 

[suelel1968]

"Not sure if DIY bits fit the bill there"

Surprisingly DIY bits do qualify, the category the drill type takes you to, does not. Does category matter, well only for SD purposes it seems. 

[kyanyama]

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@lord_and_lady_m wrote:

You could also head over to Birmingham in September for the ebay open. She's usually there.

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I wonder if she will show her face this year?  I very much doubt it!

[ralphs-retro]

She's full of flubber and DEI Social Science and politics awards...forget it... She's bound to think Biden was sharp

[suelel1968]

Flubber, an embarrassing mistake or blunder.......True that she is in charge of mistakes and blunders.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a phrase used when describing the state of diversity and inclusion in organizations and other groups. Social science research indicates that DEI helps groups and individuals succeed. .....no, I don't see that as a criticism to aim at anyone and she could do more to stop eBay SD from penalising the housebound and disabled.

Thinking Biden is sharp is all a matter of who he is compared to.......

What she does lack is the ability to send a reply or have the support of a good team to respond on her behalf. "Jamie" managed to reply Eve but my dad's tools still cannot be properly listed with custom delivery.

[pegr-834437]

I've said it before and will say it again, Jamie and the team within that department are just customer service agents who copy and paste replies. Its genuinely a waste of time sending them a message as it doesn't get passed above them. I spoke to Eve at the open event in Birmingham and mentioned 3 pretty major things I had conversations with the executive escalations department (I think thats what Jamies office is called) and she genuinely had no clue about them. If anyone just wants to get stuff off their chest and rant go ahead and email Jamie but if you want anything doing then you will have to search a lot harder to get emails of people who arent going to copy and paste replies. 

The 2 things eBay and Eve should and could do is have managers join the Q&A and have business sellers go to HQ and give insights to how it is running a business on eBay. At the open event they all said they sold and bought on eBay but they couldnt show me 1 current business seller who is high enough within eBay to get the issues to the right people, they are missing a huge open free market for insights. 

[suelel1968]

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@pegr-834437 wrote:

I've said it before and will say it again, Jamie and the team within that department are just customer service agents who copy and paste replies. Its genuinely a waste of time sending them a message as it doesn't get passed above them.

- I'm a little worried about how deluded you must think I am🤔 I did put Jamie in quotation marks and follow up by saying Eve does not have a good team around her, because "Jamie" replied, "Eve" did not. 

I spoke to Eve at the open event in Birmingham and mentioned 3 pretty major things I had conversations with the executive escalations department (I think thats what Jamies office is called) and she genuinely had no clue about them.

-As I said she does not have a good team around her.

If anyone just wants to get stuff off their chest and rant go ahead and email Jamie but if you want anything doing then you will have to search a lot harder to get emails of people who arent going to copy and paste replies. 

- I had a phone call from the Executive Team "Jamie", not a cut and paste reply at all. Sadly the chat was not followed up with the actions they said they were "already putting in place".

- The only thing guaranteed to achieve nothing, is doing nothing. Not an approach I take and if the Forumites had not taken to the boards, not just these boards, and sent letters and emails and made a fuss the changes that have been made to SD and BPF would almost certainly not have happened. 

Now, "Eve" about my original post about the tiny weeny little 20gram drill bits that cost £2.70 to send on SD and cannot be sent on Custom Delivery even though they are all under £20....... sort it out would you?

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[ralphs-retro]

email the head shed in USA, he reads them honestly. He at least has integrity unlike the stoopid hire in the UK

[pegr-834437]

I wasn't thinking you were deluded at all, sorry if you thought I was, I put the name is quotations as its not a real person and many on here, especially the SD threads at the beginning thought it was and they thought emailing them would be great. Sorry they arent cut and paste on phone calls they are read and repeat, they dont ever go off track, they say sorry you feel this way and we do care deeply about what you are saying, so deeply infact that they dont change anything. So deeply that Eve never actually gets told things so whilst they are obviously not cut and paste on phone calls as thats impossible they are read and repeat. 

You can do the same thing 100 times with zero changes and thats as good as doing nothing, its like asking the young lad selling pies at Old Trafford to change the playing style of the team, you think you are doing something, not matter how small but really its as much use as doing nothing. You need to bypass the levels which have zero power and go for the top few levels, emailing executive complaints is like I said as much use as doing nothing when its a serious problem. 

I'd email the head of shipping for that, again you wont get action by emailing the people that cant change anything.

[suelel1968]

@pegr-834437 you do you. 

You went to a conference and nothing changed. It might have done, as you said, you felt that the management were not aware.

It was not a scripted conversation I had on the phone at all, but again it changed nothing.

I'm open to ideas , if you have an email for head of shipping send it to me. But please don't throw cold water over other people's efforts. That is disrespectful to everyone who has added weight to the arguments against SD and BPF and some changes have happened. 

[pegr-834437]

I obvious cant give you the emails of people at eBay, but if you look they arent the hardest people to find. Im not pouring cold water in my opinion, I'm just letting people know not to waste their time on activities that will lead to little to no change and spend that on doing something that may actually change things. 

You say its not scripted but they cant go off what eBay say, thats the issue, if you are speaking to lower/middle level they are stuck as to what they can and can not say. They refer back to the help pages, reporting function and the T&C's. I'm all for people fighting their corner but pick your battles. If you wish to fight the same corner each day then you do you, we have different outlooks on how to change things.

[suelel1968]

-You say its not scripted but they cant go off what eBay say, thats the issue, if you are speaking to lower/middle level they are stuck as to what they can and can not say. They refer back to the help pages, reporting function and the T&C's. 

Well I now know what "Mansplaining" is, at least. It's all in good humour I know, but your explanation of what they did, was not what they did.

Lets just agree to disagree.

I only replied to this post again because someone was rude about Eve! Thats not nice. Perhaps my defence of her will win me some brownie points for a small win on the tools.....

[pegr-834437]

Heres hoping you get a win, no matter how small a win against eBay is huge. Fully agree on the being rude about an actual person, she was good to talk to at the Open Event I was just shocked at how little she knew about the issues people were having.