If you have notice any bugs on ebay

[surplusdealdude]

or glitches, or have an idea that could make the system run better, Kalvin has posted a thread on CTS looking for input;

http://forums.ebay.ca/topic/Canada-Town-Square/Ebay-Bugs-38/500048879#1279077100709

This is our chance to impress on ebay management what our concerns are, where the bugs are that drive us all nuts, and offer any suggestions that will make life a little more simple.

Let's not blow it.

If you have any suggestions, please post them.

[dipmicro]

Dude, are you kidding me? The last thing I want to do is to impress eBay. eBay has not been impressing me much lately.

We have been reporting bugs for years and these reports have been ignored for years. All they have to do is to read the boards.

Instead new changes, new restrictions, new rules, new BS while system is crashing into itself. They *#$^&$^ed up and now they are hectically looking for computing cloud contract with Microsoft.

Since yesterday the GetSellerTransactions does not send containing order anymore despite "IncludeContainingOrder" being set and my system cannot combine invoices with multiple lines. Fortunately a developer friend (an eBay seller, not employee) responded to me within 10 minutes that Download from SMP still contains these records so I was able to rig something up to get missing info from there and get orders out of the door. I cannot imagine the fiasco for 10x bigger operation than mine.

Tell eBay to fix first what they know about, stop *^&*#&*#ing up what works and then come for more.

[surplusdealdude]

We have been reporting bugs for years and these reports have been ignored for years

So, now that they're ready to listen, you want to stop?

Opportunity is knocking - if you want things to get better, you have to grab the chance while it's there.

You know perfectly well that ebay is not going to comb the boards looking for bugs - they don't think anything is wrong yet.

If we hit them over the head with hundreds of glitches, it might be a wake-up call for them.

[pierrelebel]

"This is our chance to impress on ebay management what our concerns are"

An identical thread was started several years ago on CTS. It was tacked on top for years. It was still there until a few days ago when it disappeared.

It even had a few posts by eBay employees stating they were short-staffed and too busy to find the time to handle those concerns. They would try to read the thread if time allowed.

It all started with "good intentions" and quickly faded away without any useful input by eBay.

Unfortunately, I do not expect a change as history usually repeats itself at eBay.

[dipmicro]

Regarding bug reports. Unless there is an official eBay announcement about bug collecting program, any responses to over-active CS rep are simply waste of time. If they really wanted to collect bug reports, it's cheaper to comb the boards than keep asking and verifying the new ones. The CS job is to show-up and look interested in our problems, thus making us feel that eBay cares.

I don't say that eBay does not care, but they are probably flooded with requests, bug reports, issues and people calling for $0.50 refunds and spending 30min on the phone. eBay ineffectiveness is easily observed on the boards where people report spending 30 minutes on the phone on minor things. Occasionally some odd case goes through, undeserved FB is removed - which shows the system works, just desperately plugged.

Now they try to resolve their own ineffectiveness by punishing the sellers and automating mediations (which is one thing that should never be automated), by driving the small sellers away and focusing on larger ones in hope they will not be bringing so many silly issues.

The formula is simple - if someone calls about $1 issue, researching it costs more than simply giving it back to customer. All these problems can be solved in a minute with 100% satisfaction and I suspect most of the "small sellers" issues fall into this category.

If someone calls about $10 issue - researching or talking about it for an hour is cost ineffective, so bring up the invoice, do basic 2-min verification and issue a credit.

People often whine about the "undeserved" FB. eBay brought this upon themselves by making FB a parameter in selling cost formula. Let the market figure out the negative FB and remove the FB from selling cost and reward selling performance instead of politeness or random issues like charge-backs or low DSRs from buyers who do not understand eBay ratings. System would be self-adjusting with zero cost to eBay. Bad sellers will not perform and thus they will pay higher tier fees, undeserved FB will be easily spotted by potential buyers and ignored and calls to eBay about "Please remove my undeserved FB" will drop to close to nothing.

Now these are the real issues. eBay has taken too many tasks and they cannot handle it.

[dipmicro]

And yes, get rid of the Best Match and stop giving asian sellers free listings.

[surplusdealdude]

If we do something, things may not change.

If we do nothing, things will definitely not change.

What do we have to lose except a few bugs?

[pierrelebel]

God grant me the serenity to accept
the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

[dipmicro]

Surplus, read your own signature. "We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same"

The average amount of work reporting a bug to eBay with follow ups and examples and about 1% of getting it adressed - 1hr. The amount of work finding a workaround or ask people who actually know - 1hr.

I never whine to eBay, called them once in my life. They will know when I am unhappy when I leave.

[dipmicro]

And Surplus ... when we leave, that's actually the only way to get their real attention. Unfortunately it does not help those who are leaving.

[femmefan1946]

dipmicro

I found the suggestions in Post #4 very sensible.

I think a lot of the problems reported with anguish on the Boards are a result of members jumping into selling with no idea of the principles of commerce.

Especially the "time is money"one. So often a seller faced with her first neg or return goes into a total panic or becomes personally insulted. The result is never pretty. And waaay more time is spent on the problem than it deserves.

By the way re post #5 are Chinese sellers still getting free listings? I thought that was a short term thing to get a toe into the Mainland online auction market?

[surplusdealdude]

dipmicro and femme,

Generally, I agree with both of you.

It is not in my nature to give up - German heritage, I guess.

I keep banging at the wall until I make a hole in it or me.

We may not have succeeded last time, we might not even succeed this time, but, if we keep it up, we'll succeed at some point.

If nothing else, we outnumber the guys in head office - we can wear them down with repetition.]:)


So often a seller faced with her first neg or return goes into a total panic or becomes personally insulted.

Agree a whole bunch with that. A lot of the sellers dealing with 21 day hold issues are going that route. I keep telling the, it's not personal, but it goes in one ear and out the other.

[femmefan1946]

Way too many of the women just wimp out. They say "I don't want to hurt the seller/buyer." Meanwhile, the other guy has stolen her goods, her money, her dignity, and left the kitchen sink full of unwashed dishes.

The guys just erupt.

Which gives me a chance to post this.

[westernstargifts]

It is not in my nature to give up - German heritage, I guess.

:-) Are you also a Taurus?

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Lao Tzu

"Never, never, never....give up."
Sir Winston Churchill

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."
Beverly Sills

"I never worry about action, but only inaction."
Sir Winston Churchill

"The man who says he can and the man who says he can't are both right."
Read on a sign on a local hotel owned by a very successful businessman.

I don't mean to preach. I do give surplus credit for trying.

[surplusdealdude]

No, I'm a Pisces - The Dreamer.

I suppose it fits.

But I have found that you can win if you keep trying. I am like the tide - I just wear the opposition out ( some people have noticed that in my postings.

I just keep coming back until the other side wants their life back so much they give up.

Which is really embarrassing when I'm wrong.....:^O

[dipmicro]

Seems the GetSellerTransactions API bug has been fixed. between yesterday and today.

The bug must have been pretty major and some diamond seller probably made huge stink out of it since they fixed it so fast. I did not report anything.

Basically, the idea is, that if the bug is something diamonds can live with, so can we. If it's something that affects them, they get it fixed much faster than us. Rest is just noise and waste of time.

[pierrelebel]

"if the bug is something diamonds can live with, so can we"

I wish a "diamond" seller puts his eBay store "on vacation" for two weeks! 😉

[surplusdealdude]

Perhaps we're working through the wrong guys?

Maybe we need to co-opt one of the diamond sellers - we could have ebay fixed in a month!

[dipmicro]

Keep in mind that the bug with API was really sever and possibly prevented majority of sellers using 3rd party or own software generating proper multi-line invoices. It would not affect invoices with single item, only combined ones. It did not affect sellers who print invoices off eBay or PayPal, but no serious seller does that.

[pierrelebel]

"It did not affect sellers who print invoices off eBay or PayPal, but no serious seller does that."

????

I print ALL my invoices using MS-Excel

That's the only way I can add my GST/HST number, and provide advertising for my website