Hello everyone,
Welcome to the first session of February 2016. This thread will remain open for most of the day and possibly into tomorrow, time permitting.
Here are the issues I'm currently tracking:
- Estimated Delivery discrepancy between View Item page and Order Details page
- Hard block on non compliant images only on relist/sell similar
-
Missing Tracked Packet destinations
- Odd missing gallery picture in search results
Updates:
- SYI: Form resets IS when switching currencies. - Problem identified, Dev team is working on a fix
- SYI: Form resets IS when trying to update handling cost - Problem partially solved. Complete fix upcoming
- Sold items going into Unsold container in Turbo Lister - TL team has been unable to reproduce the issue on the current version
- Safari browser SYI exhibiting erratic behaviour when trying to select text in description in Revise - under investigation
raphael@ebay.com wrote:@rose-dee wrote:Incidentally, is it possible to completely bypass "The Question" when leaving feedback? I haven't yet tried it, but I'd like to.
"Yes, buyers are able to leave FB but not respond to the shipping question."
If buyers can leave FB but are able to bypass "The Question", and if you really are passing suggestions along, please put this in the suggestion box: Include an option on the shipping question line that says: "I'd like to skip this question". 
Adding this option would conceivably show eBay how meaningful or irrelevant the whole question is to buyers to begin with. How about a test run?
My worry is that adding more difficulty and complexity to an already rather convoluted FB system is simply going to have the effect of turning off happy buyers from leaving FB and encouraging unhappy buyers to answer the "Question" with a "No", regardless.
Hi everyone,
I'm having a super busy morning but I'll have time to come reply to the remaining questions and close the thread in the afternoon. See you soon!
@femmefan1946 wrote:
All that is required for a seller to do if the item is reported to be not as described is to provide the buyer with means to return the item, as such, providing instructions usually suffice to satisfy eBay that the seller is working to resolve the issue for the buyer.
Okay.
What would be considered sufficient?
A Paypal transaction number from their Send Money service?
A written promise through eBay Messages to refund the buyer's return shipping payment?
We need more precision.
Return shipping is a big problem because the buyer is already unhappy and the seller is naturally reluctant to throw good money after bad.
And eBay just doesn't seem to understand that international return shipping labels are not a thing.
Hi femmefan1946,
Both of the example you provide should be acceptable. The policy says is that the seller has to provide the buyer with clear instructions at a minimum.
We know that cross-border return labels are not a thing, as you saw in the ecommerce bytes article you posted. That's something that will be looked at improving this year.
Hello musicyouneed,
@musicyouneed wrote:
1) Will ebay ever show the total amount of transactions to the buyer that the seller has had? I know that only 40%-60% leave feedback and that is going down every year. I know that my transaction count is over 1,450.
This is what a posted in a thread last year.
I made 1,432 sales since I started and if they counted every one. I have a lot of repeat buyers but not a lot of combined shipping so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Only 942 gave feedback, so missing 490 feedback. (Only 66% of my buyers gave feedback.) That percentage goes down every year, fewer buyers leave feedback for anyone.
My grand total would be 1,695 and I am at 1,083.
We never did show a seller's total amount of lifetime transactions and I don't know of any plans for it.
@musicyouneed wrote:
2) When I do research as to pricing, I check both the completed and solds. Sometimes, I will see in the completed items, items that show as sold but when I specifically look at the solds, the items they are missing. I usually have to double check to see if I did something funny but they are missing. So checking SOLD doesn't really tell me what actually got sold.
If you see this happen again please reach out to me with the specific search you were doing, so I can see for myself.
@musicyouneed wrote:
3. Do you keep track of buyers who claim INR. (Not that I have a lot, but 1 or 2 a year.) I just wondered it you kept track and if a buyer kept claiming INR, you might send them a warning to get better place to have their mail delivered or they will be kicked off ebay. I think there was a seller recently, who had sent something out to a buyer and they claimed INR, well it just so happened that the seller had tracking on that item and in fact the buyer had received it and were trying to get their money back. Gotcha. The 1 or 2 that I had, didn't file item not received but did it through ebay messages. Now that they don't count as a defect for me, I am going to request that they file an INR and advise them that ebay keeps track of INR's and addresses even if you don't. (I hope that this will discourage a bit of fraud)
Yes we keep track of any reports buyers and sellers make, so we can detect and remedy ant case of abuse. Buyers abusing INR might see their use of the eMBG program restricted or revoked, or could see their account suspended altogether.
Asking your buyers to use the proper channels when they report an INR is always a good idea.
@musicyouneed wrote:
4. I would really like if you would persist to the powers that be: on the issue of having a economy international shipping option like ebay.com. This would really help out quite a few of us that do quite a bit of international shipping. I know that you have a lot of your plate but this one directly affects me.
Working on it.
@pocomocomputing wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
Hi pocomo,
@pocomocomputing wrote:
What is the status of adding Economy Shipping option for International shipping on eBay.ca? Post 23 of last week.
The ask has been made, but I don't know when we can hope to get this live yet.
Raphael, I have been thinking about the request for an Economy Int'l shipping option. I am wondering what we are asking for and what ebay will give.
I have what eBay.com USA has for delivery time estimates for Flat Rate Shipping and Standard Int'l Shipping and Economy shipping options for countries like I showed for Canada above for Standard Int'l Shipping.
I see only a 2-3-4 day increase in the estimates or no increase at all and some with varies (which is good since it cannot be rated).
So when we request an Economy Int'l Shipping option on eBay.ca, what are we asking for? What will be getting? How will it be done?
It seems we are all hoping for some magic Economy Int'l Shipping option to save sellers with a longer estimate.
What would the Economy Int'l Shipping be based on? The Standard Int'l Shipping option which I have shown to possibly be flawed and inconsistent with 3 day padding added? Or is it based on actual shipping options from Canada Post?
The delivery time estimates are a farce. Sellers wants ways around it. ebay.ca Canada is rating Canadian sellers on a "Did the item arrive on time?" question based buyer opinions and memory and not on facts for all the non-tracked shipping options that eBay.ca Canada sellers have to use.
I can't see eBay.ca Canada offering an Economy Int'l Shipping option with longer estimates (or no estimates for some countries which is better) to partially circumvent the new seller rating system because doing so if just "fixing" the system which ebay.com will not like. The Economy option has to be based on some logical methods and facts somehow which I hope the Standard Int'l Shipping option is based on. Otherwise the delivery time estimates and the rating of the sellers is just a farce with no basis on fact.
The more I look into this and think about it, the more I realize that the new seller evaluation system based on shipping is a ridiculous thing to do for Canadian sellers shipping with Canada Post shipping options with no tracking available on many CP services sellers have to use.
The system is a terrible fit for Canadians.
I do hope that your reassurances that buyers will answer the "Did the item arrive on time?" question as yes for most sales is true based on what you see for sellers in the data already gathered. A lot is riding on this question since it is the only way ebay is measuring many sellers. I really dislike the fact that the sample size for evaluating sellers is based on feedback which is not being left by many buyers.
It looks like the only way to add time is by padding days with the handling time. Way too visible to buyers and creates ridiculous delivery time estimates to try to prevent the odd late delivery.
As I work with the shipping team to implement an unbranded Economy option for flat rate shipping, all I can say for now is that we'll do our best to ensure it makes sense and that it would be usable. I'll be able to tell more as we get closer to such time as it is available on the site.
@pocomocomputing wrote:
Selling Limits (not monthly free listings count)
I already emailed you about issues with account monthly Selling Limits not making any sense since they do not reflect what is active and sold. This was back in December and I never followed up.
On another eBay id, this is the limits module in Selling Manager Summary Page.
Here is the totals at the bottom of the Selling Manager Active Listing page
From experience I know both never match, the Selling Limits usually lower. I also believe Scheduled Listings count in the totals. Yesterday, I had 5 scheduled listings go active that were not finished (I forgot to change the scheduled date to stop them from listing, my mistake) so after they were ended, I had the totals above which are really out of sync with reality.
I know Selling Limits are based on an item count and not a listing count which can have more than one item.
I have to assume there is something bad in the programming of the Selling Limits. It is not adding or removing items and $$$ properly.
I am reporting this because if you go to the link "How selling limits work", there is a warning
Important: If you exceed the maximum amount you can list in a month, reduce the number of active listings you have on eBay to bring the number within your limit. We may end any listings that place you over your current limit. Good 'Til Cancelled listings count toward your selling limits, and won't renew automatically if you've reached the maximum amount that you can list.
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/sellinglimits.html
Now this warning should not be a problem since I seem to always be well under my limits but the threat of ending listing based on a faulty counter is not a good feeling.
Not sure what is happening here. I'll show this to the Selling Manager team.
@rose-dee wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:Incidentally, is it possible to completely bypass "The Question" when leaving feedback? I haven't yet tried it, but I'd like to.
"Yes, buyers are able to leave FB but not respond to the shipping question."
If buyers can leave FB but are able to bypass "The Question", and if you really are passing suggestions along, please put this in the suggestion box: Include an option on the shipping question line that says: "I'd like to skip this question".
Adding this option would conceivably show eBay how meaningful or irrelevant the whole question is to buyers to begin with. How about a test run?
My worry is that adding more difficulty and complexity to an already rather convoluted FB system is simply going to have the effect of turning off happy buyers from leaving FB and encouraging unhappy buyers to answer the "Question" with a "No", regardless.
Adding a 3rd option over Yes/No is adding complexity. 🙂
Just to reiterate: we haven't seen anything in the data that would suggest dissatisfaction from buyers with regards to the new system.
With that said, the Standards team is reading these forums and know of your suggestion.
@rose-dee wrote:
Hi 'poco' -- Why is it I can't find any of the selling limits information on my ID? Does this have to do with the fact that I've been around here too long (i.e. prior to the introduction of selling limits)?
I would certainly like to know exactly what my limits are -- maybe Raphael can let us "oldies" know how to find out. I'd also like to know if there is a way for longtime members like me to actually see the information you're seeing. Raphael, do you know?
Not sure why, but I can't find your Selling Limits module. It should be there on your Selling Manager Summary page. I'll ask someone to look into this.
@rose-dee wrote:
A follow-up question (and then I really will go away, I promise).
Is this "on-time delivery" evaluation system being imposed on other worldwide eBay sellers outside the U.S. (e.g. European, and especially Chinese sellers)? If so, is is under exactly the same conditions and rules?
Or are we Canadian sellers just lucky to be lumped in with the U.S.?
All sellers are being measured on timely delivery, under which program is determined by where the buyers are located. So inherently, Canadians are the largest group of non-American sellers to be measured under the US program.
@pocomocomputing wrote:
Note to Raphael, did you ever call eBay help? This is what ebay customers have to put up with. Terrible member experience most times like this when you contact eBay. I wonder how many customers abandon their call when going through this. It seems the poor CS experience is by design to get rid of callers.
Yes I have called in many times. It's not perfect but I'd call eBay CS over Bell or Rogers any day 🙂 But I may be a bit biased...
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