March 13th Weekly Board Hour

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the Weekly Board Hour. Raphael (Country Product Manager), Bryan.ca (Country Product Manager) and I are here to answer your questions for the next hour. Fire away!

[my*quiet*place]

Firing!

Good Afternoon:

Referring to the http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policie...

Thanks.

[raphael@ebay.com]

Firing!

Good Afternoon:

Referring to the http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policie...and drawing your attention to the Not Allowed section-

Mailing cheques (checks) or money orders (except for items in categories specifically permitted)
These rules apply to all transaction-related correspondence between a seller and buyer as well as the listings.


Does such language expressly forbid a buyer from asking a seller if they will accept a cheque (check) or money order? Further, does it forbid a seller from accepting a buyer's offer of non-electronic payment?
If possible, please answer with both ebay.ca and ebay.com in mind.

Thanks.

Hello my*quiet*place,

Great question. The reason we extended the Accepted Payments policy to include cheques and money orders was so we can help mitigate the fraud risk that comes with such "less traceable" payment methods. Additionally, we removed these options from the payment methods available on the Sell Your Item form and other listing tools. Under that policy, any seller advertizing that they accept one of the forbidden payment methods would be in violation and see their listing removed. Beyond that, eBay has little control over what people choose to do of their own accord. The risk taken by agreeing to a payment method that is forbidden under this policy would be to end up not being covered by one of the Buyer Protection programs should any problem arise.

-- Edited by raphael@ebay.com at Mar 13, 2013 1:15 PM EDT

[parent_family]

Over the past year I have had to open over 120 cases for Unpaid items or canceling transactions.

How come we do not get the listing fees back? 

This is not fair to us, as we did nothing wrong. 

[pierrelebel]

Good afternoon.

Two questions today regarding eBay's Global Shipping Program

1) Are you aware the information is hardly visible to Canadian buyers when shopping on eBay.ca and eBay.com (slightly different views).  Are you working to make the information more visible to avoid many unhappy surprises to Canadian buyers?

2) Will you eventually offer a similar program to Canadian sellers shipping outside Canada?

[pocomocomputing]

Regarding my outstanding issue with Pay on Pickup option in the Payment section in the SYI form, it does not matter if calculated or flat rate shipping is used. The option does not exist in Add or Remove options. I just went through testing a few minutes ago. It is there on eBay.com but not on eBay.ca.

I tested with FireFox 18.0.2 today again a couple of hours ago. I am running Windows XP SP3 with all of the latest updates.

I did not get a chance to try another computer yet. I did try other browsers (IE 8 and Google Chrome) with no Pay on Pickup in Add or Remove.

Suggestions?

[pierrelebel]

"Under that policy, any seller advertizing that they accept one of the forbidden payment methods would be in violation and see their listing removed."

You must be kidding!

I have reported hundreds of listings over the years violating that specific rule and I have yet to see one taken down.

Once again, you are talking about eBay's theory, not the actual practice. 😞

[my*quiet*place]

Hello my*quiet*place,

Great question. The reason we extended the Accepted Payments policy to include cheques and money orders was so we can help mitigate the fraud risk that comes with such "less traceable" payment methods. Additionally, we removed these options from the payment methods available on the Sell Your Item form and other listing tools. Under that policy, any seller advertizing that they accept one of the forbidden payment methods would be in violation and see their listing removed. Beyond that, eBay has little control over what people choose to do of their own accord. The risk taken by agreeing to a payment method that is forbidden under this policy would be to end up not being covered by one of the Buyer Protection programs should any problem arise.

-- Edited by raphael@ebay.com at Mar 13, 2013 1:15 PM EDT

Excellent

I am a User, here long enough to recall the responses in the Workshops for (at that time) the new Accepted Payment Policy which specifically stated buyers could ask to make payment with Money Order, and sellers could agree to that buyer request,(risk acknowledged) in the spirit of accommodating buyer. (just not allowed for seller to state that in listing).

Thank you for your response

[lecoffre]

HI!

Do you think you will leave more place for Canadian sellers? Now, in many search results, chinese are on top. I know we are less seller in my categorie than chinese but it's now impossible for us to have an impact with our auctions ... We see them only in the 3rd or 4th pages.

An other seller told you about that issue last 2 weeks. After that, results changed to include canadians sellers. But, best match was not right, according to eBay policy for best match like I said last week. Now, they are back like the first issue ...

Many sellers complainted to eBay but still nothing ...

[parent_family]

I  noticed when leaving feedback for an item that I was unable to change the star for  communication .  It said something to the effect like "we see now emails through messaging, so the 5 stars are automatic...similar to free shipping.

Why can this not apply to a negative?  A buyer should not be able to leave negative without contacting the seller.  Have it programmed to block the buyer from leaving negative feeback at all unless mesaages show through eBay.

[pjcdn2005]

In relation to Pierre's post about Global shipping, please have a look at the difference in visibility on .com and .ca

Item 230764098462 on .ca

Item 230764098462 on .com

[bryan.ca@ebay.ca]

Hi pocomocomputing, I remember this question you had before. I just tested it myself and found the option in my add more options section. Can you tell me what the item you are attempting to list? Perhaps its a category issue. Please provide me the exact steps and flow you are using. Thanks.

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Over the past year I have had to open over 120 cases for Unpaid items or canceling transactions.

How come we do not get the listing fees back? 

This is not fair to us, as we did nothing wrong. 

Hi parent_family,

Insertion Fees are generally non-refundable, and is the case even with disputes.

Having said that, we do have a promotions in place - such as the 50 free auction style listings per month and others which we hope Sellers are able to take advantage of.

There's another one right around the corner, so keep an eye on the Announcement Boards for more details.

[raphael@ebay.com]

Hi pierrelebel,

2) Will you eventually offer a similar program to Canadian sellers shipping outside Canada?

This is something we are exploring but I don't foresee this happening before well after 2013.

[parent_family]

Having said that, we do have a promotions in place - such as the 50 free auction style listings per month and others which we hope Sellers are able to take advantage...

There's another one right around the corner, so keep an eye on the Announcement Boards for more details.

I have a store, so free listings are hard to come by.  Also  I use auctions generally.

eBay has long forgotten us store sellers who list by auction. 

Hope the new sale will include us for once.  Probably will just close my store.

[canadianfootballcards]

When is the spring seller update coming out?

Last year it was Feb. 28 and the year previous March 11.

I assume eBay is crafting something big.

[pjcdn2005]

The reason why there isn't as much information visible from the Canadian side is that at this time, since there is only a US outbound program in place, the experience to a Canadian buyer should, in theory, be pretty seamless compared to a traditional US import purchase.

Raphel,

With all respect that makes little sense. A Canadian is just as likely if not more likely to purchase from a U.S. buyer when  they are buying on .ca

[bryan.ca@ebay.ca]

HI!

Do you think you will leave more place for Canadian sellers? Now, in many search results, chinese are on top. I know we are less seller in my categorie than chinese but it's now impossible for us to have an impact with our auctions ... We see them only in the 3rd or 4th pages.

An other seller told you about that issue last 2 weeks. After that, results changed to include canadians sellers. But, best match was not right, according to eBay policy for best match like I said last week. Now, they are back like the first issue ...

Many sellers complainted to eBay but still nothing ...

Hi,

We are listening and testing against all your comments, sorry that it seems like its nothing but we do take action when required. I cant comment on what has or hasnt been change.

Again, if you have specific examples on the queries and results you are seeing that are not correct please let me know and we can review them. The only way we can fix issues is if you can point us to the specific issues you are seeing. Hope you understand, thanks again for your support and feedback.

Bryan.ca

[lecoffre]

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=iphone+4+case&rt=nc&LH_Auction=1

I included "auction only" option. You can see all the place chinese sellers take.

[kalvin@ebay.com]

In relation to Pierre's post about Global shipping, please have a look at the difference in visibility on .com and .ca

Item 230764098462 on .ca

Item 230764098462 on .com

Thank pjcdn2005,

I personally came across this very same concern the other day, actually. Messaging is available (though limited on the Search Results Page) on .com only right now. I'd guess that because this is currently only a US program, hence having more visibility on .com, but still waiting for confirmation.