Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

Hello all -

 

I think those of us who have been following the boards all know about the discussions and complaints concerning what I call the "cart disconnect" between eBay.ca and other eBay sites.  I've had some very illuminating responses from Raphael in follow-up to this week's board hour (which wasn't terribly productive itself).  Please see my Post #39 in http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/buyers-saying-item-is-unavailable-when-trying-to-purchase... for my summary of his comments.  

 

Essentially, he finally made it clear that the carts are site-specific, were not intended to be universal across all eBay sites, and that a "universally workable" cart is not realistically feasible due to eBay's decades-old and complex site design. Basically, WYSIWYG.

 

However, eBay apparently believes the "cart disconnect" is not an issue for the vast majority of Canadian sellers.  My view is that the reason for this is because we can't be aware of something we don't see -- how do you measure the number of buyers from other sites (e.g. eBay.com, eBay.UK) who may have tried making a multiple purchase using their own site's cart, failed and given up?  

 

So, given the fact that we're stuck with what we have, I know my multiple orders were working fine before the .ca cart was introduced.  Perhaps --- just maybe -- if enough Canadian sellers ask for it, I wonder if the .ca cart could be pulled completely? 

 

It would be very interesting to hear from Canadian sellers on this thread as to:

 

1) Have you seen a significant downturn in multi-item orders from non-Canadian buyers since about mid-summer of 2014 (in comparison to earlier months or years)?

 

2)  Have any non-Canadian buyers contacted you to tell you they're having trouble getting through the checkout/payment process when attempting to make a multi-item purchase? 

 

3)  Do you sell regularly to U.S. buyers? 

 

A "yes" or "no" to each of the above would be enough -- I just thought it would be interesting to gather some numbers.  Whether it will do any good or not, well...  

 

Thanks! 

 

 

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers


@mjwl2006 wrote:

 

I received a message from a buyer in Australia this morning who is 'trying to purchase four items from your shop but each time I go to buy one item, it doesn't allow me to keep shopping for more than one item' so which site do Australians use? 


Wow, aha!  So it's not just eBay.com and UK, but also eBay.au.  Yes, they have their own site, and so obviously your experience indicates that, contrary to what the eBay staffers are saying, the problem isn't restricted to the U.S. cart.  My guess is that if it affects eBay.au, it may also be true of eBay.fr and .de, and who knows how many others. 

 

I haven't had a sale to OZ in so long, let alone a multi-item order, that this hasn't come up for me since the whole cart issue started.  Thank you for posting this.  

 

My suggestion: save your customer's message (don't delete it from eBay) and consider bringing this occurrence to the attention of the eBay.ca staff next Wed.  I would be interested in their comment in the face of what clearly seems to be the same problem we're having with U.S. buyers using their cart.  (By the way, as you probably know, you can't post the customer's actual message on the discussion board, but you can  paraphrase as you have here, and the eBay people can look at your eBay Messages inbox to confirm). 

 

Good for you at least that your buyer contacted you!  I always wonder how many of mine have just given up in disgust. 

Message 61 of 201
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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

I guess I don't concern myself much with this issue.

 

If potential buyers are interested in multiple items they either buy them & I refund the shipping difference if I'm at work.

 

When home, I receive numerous messages regarding multiple purchases.

 

I just revise the item with the appropriate shipping costs & they buy the multiple items.

 

Bingo, Bango, Done.

 

Am I missing out on sales, doubtful.

 

If I am missing out on sales due to the Cart Disconnect, I'm sure it adds up to a very small percentage of my yearly sales.

 

I have found if potential buyers are interested in multiple items in My Store, they always send a message if there is a problem making a purchase.

 

One has to ask " How Many Sales are you really losing out on in regards to this concern? "

 

No disrespect to anyone, but its probably best to look at the Big Picture.

 

 

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

I wonder if the cart issue has something to do with the grouping of sites for TRS.  There is an eBay USA TRS, an eBay UK + Ireland TRS group, a Germany Austria Switzerland TRS Group, a Global TRS (Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Netherlands, maybe more). Australia used to be part of the Global TRS group but they seem to be a separate group now but not official when you look at your seller dashboard in My eBay. I asked about why Australia is no longer part of Global TRS in the weekly sessions months ago. No one know why but it is per the Australia site help pages.

 

So I wonder if sites grouped by TRS cannot share carts outside their group and only sites within a group can share the cart.

 

Just thinking out loud.

 

PS I am not saying that TRS has anything to do with the issue, just the grouping of similar sites within a TRS group.

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

They haven't yet taken away the 20% TRS discount for Canadians, but what they have done, through the defect system (especially as it relates to shipping time, INRs, MBG, etc.) is to make it much harder for Canadian sellers to keep that discount.  That struggle is one more nail in the coffin that I forgot to mention earlier. 

 

 

What's your defect percentage? Are you really having a problem keeping TRS?  You keep mentioning how difficult it is yet I've never seen you mention getting a defect yet. Are you speaking from experience or more from a 'what if' train of thought?

 

You also keep mentioning the MBG as some evil thing. The real only difference in that and the Paypal buyer protection is that sellers pay return shipping on snad.  How many return shipping have you had to pay so far?  I'm sure that you like many of us, would pay return shipping without being prompted to if you made a mistake describing an item but do you not realize how many sellers would not do that unless they are required to?  I suspect that you have had not to pay return shipping because you describe your items properly. There are going to be some buyers who take advantage of the system and I think that ebay needs to work on that but my point is that sellers like us should not find this to be a huge problem so why are you so sure that it is such a horrific thing?

 

As far as US sellers having it easier to keep TRS...you should read the U.S. boards once in a while and try to see things from another perspective. I'm not saying that either perspective is right or wrong but I am sure that they don't think that they have things 'easy'.

 

Oh, but isn't it more interesting to indulge in conspiracy theories than to imagine we're simply dealing with a bunch of bamboozled dunderheads in San Jose?  

 

Honestly? No...I find the conspiracy theories and negativity very frustrating and not productive in any way.  As others have suggested the powers that be in San Jose are looking at a different picture than you are. That doesn't make them dumb although I do think that they tend to jump in and do things without looking at all of the consequences.

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

 

I received a message from a buyer in Australia this morning who is 'trying to purchase four items from your shop but each time I go to buy one item, it doesn't allow me to keep shopping for more than one item' so which site do Australians use?

 

 

They must have been using the U.S. site. Both the Australian and Canadian cart work together.

Message 65 of 201
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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

Wow, aha!  So it's not just eBay.com and UK, but also eBay.au.  Yes, they have their own site, and so obviously your experience indicates that, contrary to what the eBay staffers are saying, the problem isn't restricted to the U.S. cart.  My guess is that if it affects eBay.au, it may also be true of eBay.fr and .de, and who knows how many others. 

 

 

Perhaps you should sign into those sites yourself (including the Australian site) so that you can see that multiple .ca items can be added to their carts. Then you wouldn't have to make assumptions.

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

It`s at the point where all our efforts are going no where. The problem is they don`t think it is a problem. It was suggested to me at one point starting a blog and begin a social campaign. I contacted ebay through Facebook last month, I did get a response but was informed the info would be passed along and no updates would be provided. Damage to our sales, big or small, it is clear potential buyers are being driven away from Canadian sellers because of the cart issue. 

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

I don't for a moment think there will ever be a universal cart that works, meaning that I don't think this malfunction of the system will be resolved. On this topic, we've been told at Board Hour on multiple occasions that while ebay Canada feels this is an issue which much be addressed, the number of sellers who are adversely affected is minimal. Translation: it doesn't matter enough to fix. eBay is an elephant-sized corporation and we are but ants underfoot. If an ant is squished, to whom does that matter to other than the ant? 

And I think the problem is more complex than we realize, as there are many variables at play. First of all, the ebay site on which the seller is registered, followed by the ebay site on which the buyer is registered and, finally, the site where the transaction is taking place which could be one of the two or a third altogether. With the Australian buyer who made contact with me yesterday morning, I have no way of knowing where he or she was experiencing this error because they evaporated and no purchase was made. It would have been a $150+ sale but to whom does that matter but me? Will ebay miss my $15 in final value fees? I hardly think so. 

 

Once Canadian sellers who list on ebay.ca accept that (a) the .com and .co.uk carts will never work for us and (b) ebay doesn't care how we feel about it only then can (c) we move forward to find a way to fix this for ourselves. Education is key, I think. An experienced buyer already knows that 'Not Available' message means 'Cart Malfunction' and 'Go to Seller's Original eBay Site to Checkout' so if ebay could simply tell people the cart/bag/basket is not universal, shoppers will stop expecting it to be and take the proper course of action to complete their transactions. Or sellers must do the education for them. Or abandon this ship en masse. I have begun to investigate alternative sales platforms and certainly none are simple or straightforward but it is very interesting to compare how they handle the logistics of international sales and various individual country sites. 

 

So that's my two cents on the topic. It's all I have to spend.

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

(Or we wait two weeks to see what the Spring 2015 update brings only to discover we will face a whole new slew of problems that make this one look like a walk through the park on a sunny day.) 

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

I too initially worried a little what the Money Back Guarantee might mean to ebay Canada at first but ebay.co.uk has had it for at least a year before us (or the USA) and many of my buyers are from overseas and none have ever needed to use it with me. (Knock on wood.) Also, I have to say the move to the defect system has not been a complete disaster. In fact, it has been heartening to me to see some big BIG big sellers in my field with a terrible number of negatives for all good reasons lose immediately their Top Rated status under it. Has it kept me doubly on my toes? Yes. But I was already fairly paranoid about my level of customer service meeting or exceeding all reasonable expectations.

 

eBay has progressed toward creating a fair marketplace for all buyers and sellers but I think it still has a way to go. There are too many sellers still who take liberties and too many buyers able to exploit the system as it stands. For example, I'd like to see the Trust and Safety Department double in size. And to step in more often in a meaningful fashion when things go awry. I have no doubt it is tiresome to deal with a million buyers and sellers complaining about each other but that's the business they signed up to do. I should not have to report a stolen item listing picture more than once before it is investigated and removed. Neither should random users be allowed to repeatedly send me inane and profane messages and/or threats after they've been blocked. Just to name a few sore points for me. 

 

Whenever I file a Report, I have visions of it speeding along fibre optics cables until it lands in an empty, dimly-lit room and dumped into a garbage can with flies buzzing around it. 

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers


@mjwl2006 wrote:

 

I received a message from a buyer in Australia this morning who is 'trying to purchase four items from your shop but each time I go to buy one item, it doesn't allow me to keep shopping for more than one item' so which site do Australians use? 


I thought I could do an experiment on this, if you don't mind.  I'm going to log onto eBay.au and attempt to buy four items from your store.  I'll let you know what happens. 

 

I just didn't want you to get too excited and think you'd made a sale! Woman Wink

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

I logged into eBay.au using my alternate ID, as noted above, and tried to make purchases from your store. Here are the results: 

 

1)  Using the .au cart only, I was able to add 4 items from your store.  So my initial conclusion from what you reported was wrong, at least in this respect (but see #2 and #3 below); 

 

2)  I tried the same thing logged onto .com, and of course got the issues we're all becoming aware of (see my post below for more).  Although it may be that the .au Cart works with the .ca Cart, if an Australian buyer is logged onto eBay.com to buy from you, they'll run into the problems you reported.  The problem I see is that many Australians (like many Canadians) may not even realize they have their own site. 

 

3) Out of interest, I tried logging onto eBay.au (Australia) using my alternate ID and put a mix of 5 items from my own store (rose-dee) into the Cart.  My automated shipping discount (buy 5=free shipping for the whole order) didn't appear.  This is the same problem with the eBay.ca cart that I've been reporting at the Wed. board hour.  

 

I hadn't logged onto the .au site before, but it's an interesting detour.  For example: 

 

1) When I did a keyword search under a common description for one of my categories, I discovered that my items do not show up at all in the main portion of the search screen.  I think Canadian sellers have been aware of this for some time actually,as I recall seeing it mentioned on the boards.  

 

Where they do show up is way down the page, past a whole list of "Sponsored" links to outside selling sites, under "International Sellers", i.e. invisible unless a buyer scrolls way down.  This is the way the .ca site used to look, so I'm not surprised my Australian sales have dried up, even though my item prices and shipping rates are very competitive with their domestic listings.  

 

2)  The front-end ads are quite different!  It's worth a look.  It's a vast place and Aussies like their cars.  

 

3)  Notice the "G'day!"  instead of "Hi..." at the top left of the main page.  Rather cute I thought. 

 

4)  Prices in a couple of my categories are far higher than I see on .com or .ca., and Australian domestic shipping rates don't seem cheap either.  I can only assume somebody must be making money down under to keep the site going.  

 

I hope this may help you if you get another Aussie trying to buy.  If you can message them before they disappear, tell them to log onto their own site.  I suspect many will be surprised there is such a thing.  

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

I've done some further experiments today.  In each of these, I was logged on the eBay.com site, using my alternate ID.  I thought it was worth recording the whole checkout experience that buyers on .com would see, so forgive me for all the screen shots.

 

Some of these results may surprise sellers: 

 

1)  As most of us know, a buyer on .com attempting to purchase one item from a Canadian seller will not see a "Cart" button.  This is probably confusing for U.S. buyers right off the bat.  What they get is this: 

 

Mar13(1)-No Cart(.com).jpg

 

 

2)  If they do click on "Buy it Now", what they get is this.  I've blanked out my address, by the way.  (At first I was excited, thinking eBay had put up an appropriate link to send U.S. buyers to the Canadian cart, but not so -- see 3) below also) -- 

 

Mar13(2)-Add to Cart Pop-up.jpg

 

 

 

 

3)  So, if our U.S. buyer now clicks on "Add to Cart", they see this (see text circled in red).  I have no idea why "This Item is Up for Auction" would show up.  The "Item Not Available" we already know about.   

 

Mar13(3)-2 items in .com Cart.jpg

 

 

4)  Now I added one more item.  More surprises.  You may not be able to read it, but item 1 says: "Add 4 more to qualify" (my "Buy-5 get free shipping automated discount, as indicated by the line below that).  The 3rd line in item 1 is a link that says: "See all eligible items".  I clicked on that link -- see my note 5) below for results.  

 

This is a big problem -- U.S. buyers may see the message about getting free shipping for the order and wonder why they're not getting free shipping for the order once there are 5 items in the cart.  This looks really bad, very confusing and chaotic.  By the way, I added 5 items to the cart to confirm this, but didn't bother posting the screen shot here -- the discount doesn't work.  

 

Note that we now have two items showing "Not Available", one of which is shown as "Up for Auction".  

 

Mar13(4)-3 items in .com Cart.jpg

 

 

 

 

6)  And finally, here's what our U.S. buyer sees if they click on "See all eligible items" in item 1 above.  In case you can't see it clearly, it says: "This Offer is not valid anymore".  

 

I'll let Canadian sellers draw their own conclusions.  

  

 

Mar13(5)-See All Eligible Items results.jpg

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

This is a big problem -- U.S. buyers may see the message about getting free shipping for the order and wonder why they're not getting free shipping for the order once there are 5 items in the cart.  This looks really bad, very confusing and chaotic.  By the way, I added 5 items to the cart to confirm this, but didn't bother posting the screen shot here -- the discount doesn't work.

 


Since the items would be showing as unavailable I don't think that they would be thinking about the 5 free shipping discount. I'm sure though that they would be wondering why the items kept showing up as unavailable even though they were still listed.

 

That add to cart screen shouldn't be coming up for items on other sites at all. Raphael wasn't aware of it but is supposed to look into it. It has to be a fairly recent addition otherwise we would have heard about that problems months ago.

 

As far as the not being able to see eligible items, that is confusing too but since they can't actually get that discount I can understand why there is no access to the list of items. However,  they do need to delete that add to cart button in the second screen because as you said...it just makes things even more confusing. Once they do that, then the buyer won't see the other screens. Of course it doesn't help the multiple item issue but it stops this particular problem.

Message 74 of 201
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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

If eBay won't fix the .com cart then they could at least add a button for either a .ca cart checkout without having to log into .ca.....or give the .com buyers the option to continue shopping without a cart.

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers


@pjcdn2005 wrote:

 

Since the items would be showing as unavailable I don't think that they would be thinking about the 5 free shipping discount. 


I disagree.  That's precisely what many of my buyers may be thinking about as they try to check out and pay (remember that I, and many other Canadian sellers, offer items that attract multiple purchases -- or at least used to).  

 

It's particularly upsetting to think that, after having advertised (through my automated shipping discounts) that they will get free shipping on an order of 5+ items, my U.S. buyers will get this result when they attempt to actually buy 5 items.  

 

It looks like some sort of scam on the face of it.  Not only are items suddenly unavailable, but the promised shipping discount has been rescinded for no apparent reason.  

 

If I were a U.S. buyer and I got this screen after the 3rd item, I think I'd just say the heck with it, either this seller has tried to lure me in under false pretenses, or eBay's checkout system is in chaos.  Either way, I frankly wouldn't blame them for not coming back. 

 

I'm seriously considering removing my automated shipping discounts entirely.  Clearly, from the experiments I've done this week, they neither work for U.S. nor even for Canadian customers.  What a broken mess. 

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

I thank you very much for taking the time to do this. I have no alternative ID so I'm going to have to commandeer one from a relative to take a look at it, and I'm going to have a closer look at your screenshot experiences from your later experiments in the day to see what insight I might have to share.

 

I can say right now that I too had noticed with unpleasant surprise recently that my items dropped to well beneath anything that might be considered important on the Australian site. (It might be that the Australians were complaining that non-domestic sellers were eating up too much of their site.)

 

As it is, however, with combined shipping discounts I had long assumed the combined shipping discounts whether calculated or flat-rate or promotional were NOT intelligent to override any existing free shipping items. I just don't think the site can handle that. 

 

What I'm going to do right now is this:

 

(a) educate my potential buyers about the cart/bag/basket malfunction the only way that I can which is within my own listings under payment instructions which I do realize is a big waste of time;

(b) experiment to see precisely what errors arise and where because I think too that adding International Site Visibility to a listing may also affect it;

(c) wait for the Spring Update because I have an uncomfortable feeling that there are changes underway as a result of the ebay/paypal divorce that are going to be so huge they will completely overshadow this problem and

(d) continue to research other sales platforms available for my segment of the market.

 

It occurs to me that I am wasting a great deal of effort in making ebay work for me when, in reality, I am doing little more than working for them. I have been driving new ebay users to my store on the site for a few years now through my own local advertising and why? My sales at this time of year do traditionally dip but this month is especially lean. I feel like the 13th child in a family where there is only six seats at the dinner table. 

 

 

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers


@mjwl2006 wrote:

 

It occurs to me that I am wasting a great deal of effort in making ebay work for me when, in reality, I am doing little more than working for them. I have been driving new ebay users to my store on the site for a few years now through my own local advertising and why? My sales at this time of year do traditionally dip but this month is especially lean. I feel like the 13th child in a family where there is only six seats at the dinner table.

 


I feel like the 13th child in a family where there is only six seats at the dinner table with no food but crumbs left on the table to eat when I get to the table to sit!

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers

You've got it, exactly. The first seating of six goes to ebay.com and the second seating goes to ebay.co.uk and then, whatever might be left, probably to be found on the floor....? Well, that's for Child #13. Otherwise known as ebay.ca.

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Cart "Disconnect" issue - A poll for Cdn sellers


@mjwl2006 wrote:

 

[...] wait for the Spring Update because I have an uncomfortable feeling that there are changes underway as a result of the ebay/paypal divorce that are going to be so huge they will completely overshadow this problem [...]

 


Yes, I've been nervously watching for the impending and inevitable Sword of Damocles too.  One Spring Seller Update too many, and all my wish to make eBay work may be moot anyway.  

 

I personally don't think the eBay/Paypal schism will be the main subject, since I suspect there are probably contracts in place between the two that will keep services steady for some time (just my opinion).  On the other hand, I sometimes wonder what else those guys in San Jose can possibly think up to monkey around with.  We'll soon know.  

 

I empathize with your comment on the time and effort you've put into eBay.  It occurred to me that I spend more time trying to sort out, solve, understand or work out problems and complications on this site than on the other site I sell on.  There, on the other hand, it's just click, click, click and I'm done, everything works as expected, the site doesn't shape-shift every 2 days, people pay with no problems, OMG it's heaven compared to this gargantuan fiasco.  

 

Like you, I've also been trying to drive buyers my way (to eBay), through my own website and social media, but I've also begun to rethink that strategy lately.  If I hadn't invested so much time and so much effort over the past few years trying to be a good little eBay seller, and if eBay weren't still the most visible site in the world, I'd have a hard time justifying continuing.  

 

However, soon I'll start my new year of store subscription, and I'll be pretty much committed for another few months unless I want to lose even more money.  I'm just hoping this Spring Seller Update will allow me to stay in business a little longer here.  

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