w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
Hello Canadian eBayers,
Welcome to the last Board hour for this winter! Please go ahead and start posting at your convenience, I'll be flying solo today and join you at 1 PM Eastern.
... and here's the rest (sorry for the length) ...
I ran some tests last week to see what a U.S. buyer would encounter when trying to purchase more than one item from my store. I logged onto .com with my alternate ID as if I were buying from my store.
I don’t mean this by way of a rant. I think there may have been some changes in the .com checkout flow recently that are of great concern. I’m posting the results for your review and comment as you stated previously that the “cart disconnect” problems are limited to a minority of Canadian sellers. I disagree, based on my recent experiments. I apologize for all the screen shots, but I think they make things clearer than lengthy explanations.
For example, is eBay.ca aware:
- That U.S. buyers who try to purchase more than 1 item from a Canadian seller are now being deliberately directed to a Cart that doesn’t work (making it impossible to check out)? See screen shots 2) & 3) below.
- Or that once they do go to the Cart, items are shown as “Up for auction” which in fact are not?
- Or that the error message shown in the final screen shot appears if a buyer tries to find out what “eligible items” means?
- Or that once a U.S. buyer adds more than 1 item in this manner, as directed by eBay, it will be impossible for the buyer to check out and pay for the order?
- Has eBay.ca made eBay.com fully aware of these specific (new) factors?
Please read my notes in blue before each screen shot.
The discount issue aside, I can’t see how US buyers would be able to make any multi-item purchases from any Canadian seller using this checkout flow – it appears they are now being specifically routed to use a Cart that doesn’t work.
I am trying to point out that this is a much more fundamental and widespread problem than mere discounts and order combining. It appears that no U.S. buyer trying to purchase more than 1 item from a Canadian seller will be able to check out and pay for their order through the route being offered by eBay. This is indescribably bad for Canadian sellers in general and for a whole lot of US buyers as well.
1) I logged onto .com on March 13 and clicked BIN on one of my own items. (Note that there is no “Add to Cart” button):
- 2) Clicking on "Buy it Now" on March 13, a pop-up appeared. (I've blanked out my address). At first I thought this was a link to send U.S. buyers to the Canadian cart, but not so -- see 4) below).
Note that U.S. buyers are being told they will get any available seller discounts by using the Cart, but as we know, this isn’t the case.
3) Today, when repeating the same steps in 1) and 2) above, I got this (the pop-up didn’t appear, but message at top right says: “To buy more items add to cart” (“cart”= a link). At this point (1 item only), checkout is still possible by choosing “Continue”.
4) Clicking on "Add to Cart" button, or “Cart” link brings up this screen (note text in red -- "This Item is Up for Auction”). The "Item Not Available" problem we’ve already heard about.
Checkout with 2 items is now impossible from this point (i.e. once 2 or more items are in the cart). This is the most serious issue.
5) I added one more item. Item 1 says: "Add 4 more to qualify" (my "Buy-5 get free shipping automated discount). This doesn’t produce the promised discount (I tried it to confirm). This is the missing discount problem we were previously aware of.
(Note that 2 items are now "Not Available", one shown as "Up for Auction").
The 3rd line in item 1 is a link: "See all eligible items". I clicked on it -- see note 6) for results.
6) Finally, clicking on "See all eligible items" in item 1 above brings up this error message. It reads: "This Offer is not valid anymore". I believe this is a new issue too.
Sorry, I forgot the screen shot for question #1) in my first post:
@rose-dee wrote:
Hi Raphael, I'm in the middle of a blizzard here, so I'm posting my questions early in case the power goes out and I can't get back today.
I have a few questions today (to start, at least):
- Do you know why “Free International Shipping” is appearing when I log onto .com and do a search on my own items? Is the .com site recognizing that I’m located in Canada? If not, U.S. buyers will see this and wonder why they don’t get free shipping. A sample screen shot is below:
- Is there any update on the missing store categories (on item view)? Do you know if a fix is being worked on? If so, any ETA?
- Have you been able to look into why an automated shipping discount didn’t get picked up by the eBay.ca cart? (See my question last week with screen shot). Do you know yet whether this is a bug and if so, whether it will be fixed? Any ETA?
- Has eBay done any analysis on, or have any insight into, why buyer Feedback rates have dropped off? Is mobile buying a factor for people not coming back to leave FB? I realize FB is entirely voluntary, and that eBay does have methods in place to remind buyers. I’m just interested in what might account for it. Many sellers have wondered and speculated about this.
- Lastly, will eBay.ca post an announcement if and when the US/Canada “cart disconnect” is ever resolved? Otherwise sellers will have no idea whether or when it’s been fixed. A notice on a Wed. board would be good or – even better – on the .ca Seller Central board. Will you agree to do this please? (I’m assuming it will actually be fixed someday).
Hi rose-dee,
Hope the storm isn't too crazy!
1. That's right, you see "Free international shipping" there because you listed on eBay.com, you offer free shipping to Canada AND you are a buyer located in Canada. US buyers don't see that if you don't offer free shipping to them.
2. No further update there, the work ticket is still open which means the team is still working on it.
3. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get anyone to look into that yet. Still working on it.
4. I am unaware of FB rates dropping. Keep in mind that in a big marketplace like eBay, what some users see as a trend might not be observed everywhere else. I'll investigate but will only update if I see anything conclusive.
5. Of course we will update everyone as promised, either via the discussion forums or other means, as soon as we get this prioritized, and when the work has been done as well.
@rose-dee wrote:
... and here's the rest (sorry for the length) ...
I ran some tests last week to see what a U.S. buyer would encounter when trying to purchase more than one item from my store. I logged onto .com with my alternate ID as if I were buying from my store.
I don’t mean this by way of a rant. I think there may have been some changes in the .com checkout flow recently that are of great concern. I’m posting the results for your review and comment as you stated previously that the “cart disconnect” problems are limited to a minority of Canadian sellers. I disagree, based on my recent experiments. I apologize for all the screen shots, but I think they make things clearer than lengthy explanations.
For example, is eBay.ca aware:
- That U.S. buyers who try to purchase more than 1 item from a Canadian seller are now being deliberately directed to a Cart that doesn’t work (making it impossible to check out)? See screen shots 2) & 3) below.
- Or that once they do go to the Cart, items are shown as “Up for auction” which in fact are not?
- Or that the error message shown in the final screen shot appears if a buyer tries to find out what “eligible items” means?
- Or that once a U.S. buyer adds more than 1 item in this manner, as directed by eBay, it will be impossible for the buyer to check out and pay for the order?
- Has eBay.ca made eBay.com fully aware of these specific (new) factors?
Please read my notes in blue before each screen shot.
The discount issue aside, I can’t see how US buyers would be able to make any multi-item purchases from any Canadian seller using this checkout flow – it appears they are now being specifically routed to use a Cart that doesn’t work.
I am trying to point out that this is a much more fundamental and widespread problem than mere discounts and order combining. It appears that no U.S. buyer trying to purchase more than 1 item from a Canadian seller will be able to check out and pay for their order through the route being offered by eBay. This is indescribably bad for Canadian sellers in general and for a whole lot of US buyers as well.
1) I logged onto .com on March 13 and clicked BIN on one of my own items. (Note that there is no “Add to Cart” button):
- 2) Clicking on "Buy it Now" on March 13, a pop-up appeared. (I've blanked out my address). At first I thought this was a link to send U.S. buyers to the Canadian cart, but not so -- see 4) below).
Note that U.S. buyers are being told they will get any available seller discounts by using the Cart, but as we know, this isn’t the case.
3) Today, when repeating the same steps in 1) and 2) above, I got this (the pop-up didn’t appear, but message at top right says: “To buy more items add to cart” (“cart”= a link). At this point (1 item only), checkout is still possible by choosing “Continue”.
4) Clicking on "Add to Cart" button, or “Cart” link brings up this screen (note text in red -- "This Item is Up for Auction”). The "Item Not Available" problem we’ve already heard about.
Checkout with 2 items is now impossible from this point (i.e. once 2 or more items are in the cart). This is the most serious issue.
5) I added one more item. Item 1 says: "Add 4 more to qualify" (my "Buy-5 get free shipping automated discount). This doesn’t produce the promised discount (I tried it to confirm). This is the missing discount problem we were previously aware of.
(Note that 2 items are now "Not Available", one shown as "Up for Auction").
The 3rd line in item 1 is a link: "See all eligible items". I clicked on it -- see note 6) for results.
6) Finally, clicking on "See all eligible items" in item 1 above brings up this error message. It reads: "This Offer is not valid anymore". I believe this is a new issue too.
We have observed this as well recently. We've already engaged with the cart team to see what can be done here. My colleague who is leading this is away from the office today unfortunately, I can only ask about it tomorrow. Please come back in a couple of days to see what he's told me.
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Hi Raphael,
Would you prefer that spring update comment/questions be written on that particular thread or is it ok to comment on this thread?
Hi pjcdn2005,
It might be preferable to keep things sorted, so that other people reading about the Spring Update can see everything we say about it. Thanks!
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
This was brought last year by another poster so perhaps you could ask someone to look into it again. There are still cases where the gsp is charging taxes to Canadians for non taxable items. For example, grocery food items are not taxable yet listing 321313904089 is charging tax.
Fine silver coins are not taxable in Canada but item 271787136561 is charging tax. I am fairly sure that bullion bars are not taxable either yet here is just one example of the gsp charging tax. 351324327580
Thanks for bringing this up. I sent your comment to the GSP team.
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
"We have observed this as well recently. We've already engaged with the cart team to see what can be done here. My colleague who is leading this is away from the office today unfortunately, I can only ask about it tomorrow. Please come back in a couple of days to see what he's told me.We have observed this as well recently. We've already engaged with the cart team to see what can be done here. My colleague who is leading this is away from the office today unfortunately, I can only ask about it tomorrow. Please come back in a couple of days to see what he's told me."
He might already be aware of this but if not, please mention to him that it seems that if a listing has been done in Canadian dollars, that particular 'add to cart' choice does not come up on the .com cart. It seems to only happen with .ca listings done in U.S $ which makes sense since that is the only currency that cart can work with.
Thanks. I will pass on the info.
This concludes our weekly chat for today. Remember, if you want to discuss the 2015 Spring Seller Update, you can do so at any time right here:
http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Updates/2015-Spring-Seller-Update/m-p/296534#U296534
I visit there every day as much as possible.
Thanks and see you next week!
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