04-08-2015 09:56 AM
Hello Canadian eBayers,
Welcome to our weekly discussion. Please start posting at your convenience, I'll join you at 1 PM Eastern as usual.
04-08-2015 11:11 AM
With the new free listing promotion, there were issues activating it on ebay.ca after midnight EDT but before midnight PDT.
Please read this topic
Question "Is it safe to use this promo?"
04-08-2015 12:11 PM
@pocomocomputing wrote:
With the new free listing promotion, there were issues activating it on ebay.ca after midnight EDT but before midnight PDT.
Please read this topic
Question "Is it safe to use this promo?"
Hi pocomocomputing,
Yes it's totally safe to use this promo. It's certified organic with zero trans fat and 100% gluten free. 🙂
Joking aside, it was only the activation link in the email that had a problem. The Promo team will be sending a follow up email with the good link shortly.
04-08-2015 01:03 PM
This promo has a condition that says "New Listd Items ONly". Previous previous promos this year have had similar restrictions like "No Sell Similar" and or "No Relists". So far using Sell Similar to list UnSold items "defeats" the no Relists and also "No Sell Similar".
What is the purpose of the restrictions. Is it to stop the relisting of old listings that rarely sell and "flood" the site during these promos? I assume this is the purpose.
Is ebay trying to make getting around the restrictions more difficult using ebay online tools like My ebay and Selling Manager (basic and Pro)? It seems unfair if ebay does this because third party tools like SixBit Solutions are offline and can make a listing look new at the push of a button?
Is eBay going to use their tolls for detecting Duplicate listing to prevent listing UnSold items?
I know you probably cannot answer these questions but comment on what you can.
04-08-2015 01:08 PM
Hi Raphael
Just two questions today:
1) Has there been any further information about the .ca cart problem (items with mixed free/not free shipping not properly picking up automated discount rules)?
2) This is more of a comment than a question: The new eBay sign-in really caught me by surprise. I don't recall seeing any advance warning that it was being so radically changed. To be honest, I thought my computer had been hacked and I'd been led to a nefarious "pseudo-ebay" sign-in page.
As a seller I had no choice but to log on, regardless of my fears. Don't you agree that buyers might be scared off by suddenly seeing a completely unfamiliar sign-in page? Whatever the rationale for the change, I think it was a very unconsidered move not to clearly announce this radical change everywhere on the site a week or so prior. Don't you agree? We don't need anything more to scare buyers away!
04-08-2015 01:11 PM - edited 04-08-2015 01:14 PM
Still on the subject of Promos, there were changes in the last month or so to the Promotional Offers section in My eBay and Selling Manager. There is a row header with options for Active and History of promos.
What is this for?
The history is interesting in that it list past promos (how far back I do not know) and if you click on the number under Used, it is a hyperlink to a list of listing item numbers. This seems to a rather useless bit of information.
What is the purpose of this list of listing numbers.
Is this still being developed and more to come.
Last, why are such things never announced? If some significant like this is implemented, why not say why somewhere.
I am tired of constant seemingly meaningless changes to the site. The constant changes to the look and feel of the site to sellers and buyers is not conducive to members staying. I hate looking for things that I already knew how to use or find. My patience with eBay is wearing very thin. I am not alone in this feeling. Many sellers and buyers are just plain tired of eBay and constant change (daily it seems something changes like the login page recently).
PS And then there is the constant glitches which are at a frequency and pace I have never seen before on eBay. This year alone has seen more issues than in other past years. And the time to fix them is way too long if at all.
04-08-2015 01:13 PM
04-08-2015 01:16 PM
@pocomocomputing wrote:
This promo has a condition that says "New Listd Items ONly". Previous previous promos this year have had similar restrictions like "No Sell Similar" and or "No Relists". So far using Sell Similar to list UnSold items "defeats" the no Relists and also "No Sell Similar".
What is the purpose of the restrictions. Is it to stop the relisting of old listings that rarely sell and "flood" the site during these promos? I assume this is the purpose.
Your assumption sounds about right 🙂
@pocomocomputing wrote:
Is ebay trying to make getting around the restrictions more difficult using ebay online tools like My ebay and Selling Manager (basic and Pro)? It seems unfair if ebay does this because third party tools like SixBit Solutions are offline and can make a listing look new at the push of a button?
Every listing tool, whether they are eBay or 3rd party, have their respective pros and cons depending on the user. This is true with promos as well, I really don't think this is unfair.
@pocomocomputing wrote:
Is eBay going to use their tolls for detecting Duplicate listing to prevent listing UnSold items?
The definition of what is a duplicate listing remains the same, promo or not. This has no bearing on this promo's terms; if Sell Similar is allowed, it is allowed on unsold items.
04-08-2015 01:17 PM
rose-dee, I also had a hard look at the new login page. It had changed 2-3 days before on ebay.com when I had to look at it carefully. When the change came to eBay.ca I knew it was okay.
As mentioned in my post, something like this should be announced somewhere so that it can be verified as being an eBay change.
04-08-2015 01:19 PM
When might the 'Sales Maximizer' link lead to something?
04-08-2015 01:28 PM
Hi rose-dee,
@rose-dee wrote:
1) Has there been any further information about the .ca cart problem (items with mixed free/not free shipping not properly picking up automated discount rules)?
This issue was fixed last week. Now all items are counted in the amount needed to get free shipping if a seller has such a promo rule in place.
By the way this was not a shopping cart problem, it was a shipping discounts issue.
@rose-dee wrote:
2) This is more of a comment than a question: The new eBay sign-in really caught me by surprise. I don't recall seeing any advance warning that it was being so radically changed. To be honest, I thought my computer had been hacked and I'd been led to a nefarious "pseudo-ebay" sign-in page.
As a seller I had no choice but to log on, regardless of my fears. Don't you agree that buyers might be scared off by suddenly seeing a completely unfamiliar sign-in page? Whatever the rationale for the change, I think it was a very unconsidered move not to clearly announce this radical change everywhere on the site a week or so prior. Don't you agree? We don't need anything more to scare buyers away!
What you're seeing is part of our effort to make the site more mobile friendly. I appreciate that you might have been surprised by the change, but in case of any doubt there are other ways to make sure the page you are on is a genuine eBay page, as front end design is going to change from time to time. For example, the URL should be secure (starts with https) and look like it's really from the eBay domain (example: https://something.ebay.ca/etc). You can find more info on how to avoid phishing emails and sites here:
http://pages.ebay.ca/securitycentre/Yourself/phishingtutorial.html
Why is making the site more mobile friendly important? eBay has seen a tremendous growth in the percentage of buying activity that happens via its mobile channels. Without giving away numbers, I can say that we are far ahead of our competitors in terms of mobile adoption. Making the site behave better for mobile is something that just make sense for both buyers and sellers.
04-08-2015 01:36 PM
@pocomocomputing wrote:
Still on the subject of Promos, there were changes in the last month or so to the Promotional Offers section in My eBay and Selling Manager. There is a row header with options for Active and History of promos.
What is this for?
The history is interesting in that it list past promos (how far back I do not know) and if you click on the number under Used, it is a hyperlink to a list of listing item numbers. This seems to a rather useless bit of information.
What is the purpose of this list of listing numbers.
Is this still being developed and more to come.
Last, why are such things never announced? If some significant like this is implemented, why not say why somewhere.
I am tired of constant seemingly meaningless changes to the site. The constant changes to the look and feel of the site to sellers and buyers is not conducive to members staying. I hate looking for things that I already knew how to use or find. My patience with eBay is wearing very thin. I am not alone in this feeling. Many sellers and buyers are just plain tired of eBay and constant change (daily it seems something changes like the login page recently).
PS And then there is the constant glitches which are at a frequency and pace I have never seen before on eBay. This year alone has seen more issues than in other past years. And the time to fix them is way too long if at all.
I really can't speak to the specific changes to the promo box that you're bringing up. With that said, I would hardly call this one significant. I feel the same way about the sign-in page, even if some might disagree.
Usually, we only announce ahead on things that will require for sellers or buyers to make significant changes in their work flow or if item revisions become necessary. If we announced every little change that is made to the site, you would become inundated in notices, which would probably make it very hard to keep appraised of the really important stuff. Some updates are just too small and happen too fast for it to be appropriate to announce.
04-08-2015 01:37 PM
@msmaggie060 wrote:
Did something happen to our promotional emails that we send out to customers upon request. I had mine set to send out bi-weekly but nothing was sent since March 16th. I went in and reset everything today and hopefully they will be sent out again starting next week.
However, I don't seem to have received my promotional emails from other sellers that I have signed up for either. Is this a wide-spread problem and do we all have to reset our Marketing settings and if so, how are sellers to know to do this?
Hi msmaggie060,
Unfortunately I don't know enough about how seller marketing emails work. As I recommended to you in a previous session, please get in touch with eBay CS about this. They have Seller Tools experts who can address this much better than I could. Sorry for the inconvenience.
04-08-2015 01:38 PM
@mjwl2006 wrote:
When might the 'Sales Maximizer' link lead to something?
Hi mjwl2006,
Can you tell me more about where you see that link?
Thanks!
04-08-2015 01:41 PM
Sorry. I'm on a laptop which is unfamiliar to me.
Marketing Tools |
04-08-2015 01:44 PM
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Sorry. I'm on a laptop which is unfamiliar to me.
Marketing Tools
Thanks. That link shouldn't be there as Sales Maximizer isn't available in Canada yet, something we have been working on. I'll work with the appropriate team to get this rectified (removing the link until we launch this in Canada).
04-08-2015 01:50 PM - edited 04-08-2015 01:51 PM
Thank you. I look forward to seeing what methods can be recommended in order to 'maximize' my sales. There are a few features which I anticipate being able to put to good use. Is there a tentative launch date that you might share?
04-08-2015 01:53 PM
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Thank you. I look forward to seeing what methods can be recommended in order to 'maximize' my sales. There are a few features which I anticipate being able to put to good use. Is there a tentative launch date that you might share?
Unfortunately, there is no launch date for now. As for the features, you can see the Sales Maximizer on eBay.com and if you list one or more items there, you can try it out.
04-08-2015 02:00 PM
This concludes this week's chat. Thanks for joining, see you guys next week!