Not a small or isolated problem

Hi Rafael or whomever monitors this message board (hopefully someone!).

 

I got a message from a customer this morning 

 

 

I know this issue has been raised with eBay before and I know it's largely been written off as a small problem affecting a small group of buyers/sellers.

I am one seller who's been dealing with this constantly. I am thankful this customer and several others have chosen to contact me to figure out a solution to the cart functionality issue.

At the same time, I expect a similar number of potential customers are opting for the easier approach, walking away from a transaction what would create revenue for myself and eBay.

I hear we're supposed to tell customers to log on to eBay.ca where all problems will be solved.

Maybe.

But only if they contact us to ask.

 

Please don't write off the problem as small and insignificant. Please have your tech department give it the full attention it requires.

 

Thanks

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Not a small or isolated problem


@barbsplace66 wrote:

[...] I will let you know with the customer that purchased today as soon as they get back to me, 


Thanks -- it would be very helpful to know whether we also have a problem on the Canadian side (that is, a buyer on the .ca site having trouble with the .ca cart).  

 

Then what would we do?  It doesn't make much sense to offer things for sale that the site won't allow customers to pay for! 

Message 21 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem


@barbsplace66 wrote:

I have now placed yet another call into ebay, woke up this morning to a Canadian buyer who made 10 purchases today, while I am happy to have sales it also means  9 refunds on the shipping,   and yes had Ebay confirm that my listings were all set up to combine multiple purchases so for those sellers posting in there listings special notes to have a buyer go to our Canadian side to complete there purchases should also include Canadian buyers along with US buyers and International as well. 


What shipping promotion do you have set up for multiple purchases? I do see that you have one for free shipping if a buyer purchases 15 items but this buyer just purchased 10 so you must have other shipping promotions set up? Or, are you saying that this buyer or other buyers were unable to ask you for a combined invoice?

 

When you posted before I put 15 of your items into a cart on .ca and it gave me free shipping so that was working correctly.

Just now I put 3 items in the cart and if I was going to make the purchase, it shows that I can click on request total from seller. I haven't clicked on that to see if that request would go through because I believe that I would then have purchased the items.  If you want to do a test we can go through with the sale and then I will request a cancellation so that you aren't charged fees.   I'm curious if there is a problem and if there is, is the problem with the request total function.

Message 22 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

I like that...very well written.

Message 23 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

Yes I offer two options: if a buyer buys 2 to 14 post cards they are charged a flat rate shipping charge of say $1.35 US this is for just a standard regular mail envelope, 

 

Option 2 is > purchase 15 items or more and the shipping is free.  

 

I received a call back from Ebay today and they confirmed that those 10 sales I had from one buyer > I indeed  had the correct  combined shipping details needed but they did not combine for this customer  however my buyer messaged me back saying they can not remember whether they were on the states side or on the Canadian side,  

Message 24 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

if a buyer buys 2 to 14 post cards they are charged a flat rate shipping charge of say $1.35 US this is for just a standard regular mail envelope

 

This is set up under shipping discounts or that's what you charge if they request an invoice? When I click on your shipping tab I see "Free shipping on orders of 15 or more eligible items from barbsplace66." but there is no other promotion listed.

 

 

Message 25 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

Hi pjcdn2005,  my shipping discount is set up for the first option ( 2 to 14 post cards)  flat rate shipping charge $1.35 US most buyers usually purchase between 2 and 14, my regular buyers usually get the free shipping and that is listed in the description area   the free shipping I have to do manually,  I will give you an example try theses two transaction numbers 171723181758 and  171723683468.

Message 26 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem


my shipping discount is set up for the first option ( 2 to 14 post cards)  flat rate shipping charge $1.35 US most buyers usually purchase between 2 and 14,

 

barb - I see that you mention in your description that there is a flat rate for shipping 2 -14 postcards but it does not show that shipping discount when I click on the shipping tab. Also, when I put those two items in a cart they do not reflect any shipping discount.

 

my regular buyers usually get the free shipping and that is listed in the description area   the free shipping I have to do manually,  

 

As I mentioned before, I was able to get free shipping when I put 15 cards in my cart, it didn't have to be done manually. Plus, unlike the 2 -14 card discount, I do see a mention of the 15 card shipping discount when I click on the shipping tab in those listings.

 

Perhaps both the 15 card discount and the 2-14 card discount is set up properly but I don't understand why only the 15 card discount is mentioned when I click on your shipping tab.(do you see what I am referring to when you click on the tab?)  I am guessing that either that area won't show more than one discount or else only one type of discount is set up.

Message 27 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

Hi Picdn2005 Thank you for taking the time to check those two transaction numbers for me, these two listings were set up prior to calling Ebay a few days ago, here is what it says under create shipping discounts for those two listings:

 

Flat rate shipping rule subtract an amount from each additional item US 1.25 then it says shipping discount profile and a number that follows (not sure if i can post that number etc)

 

When I spoke to  the   Ebay  rep she  looked at the 10 sold listings on that day as the customer had to pay for each card one at a time, I then had the rep  look at  the two transactions I listed  new that day and confirmed that I had those listing set up as noted above that if a customer buys those two  or up to 14 cards it should of  subtracted any additional shipping charges, she also confirmed that I had nothing in the shipping details about free cards except for three listings which were set up different because I had 20 identical advertising cards in one listing>  those cards sold this week combined with no issues only because each listing of those three had a quantity of 20 identical cards in each listings,  

 

 

 

Message 28 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

Hi 'barb' - If I understand you correctly then, does this mean your automated shipping discounts are not working properly, even for a Canadian buyer (logged onto .ca)?  

 

If that's the case, I'd urge you to bring this up with Raphael this Wed. because he seems to be convinced the .ca Cart works perfectly.  I'm not so sure -- the tests I've run seem to get different results, sometimes my shipping rules work, sometimes not.  

 

We need to keep bringing every such "bug" to his attention until he realizes there may also be a problem with the Canadian cart not properly "reading" sellers' shipping discount rules. 

Message 29 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

Hi Rose Dee, Yup i am one of the unlucky sellers that have no wheels on my shopping cart,  I'm getting the same shipping results as you get, some go through with no problems, Ebay thinks that as long as some go through it's not a big issue,   Advising my US Buyers  to log onto the Canadian side has never had success, listing on the states side has also created other issues, especially when it comes to item location and shipping times, I like your idea of  the screen shots of your listings so my next question would be is how do I take a screen shot like you did,  this way I can be more vocal on the discussion board.





Message 30 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

I am not being unsympathetic, that is not my point. You can be as loud and as vocal as you want. Complain to the end of time as much as you want. That is not going to do any good. eBay.com does not care. They are never going to care.

 

Keep giving Raphael complaints. He keeps passing them on to the same people that will never listen.

 

The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Consider that the cart is never going to work in Canada, never. What are you prepared to do about that, for your business?

 

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Message 31 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

As we use mostly free shipping, I am not sure whether I have had any problems in this regard or not.

 

Definitely a huge drop in sales to U.S. buyers over past few weeks. No complaints.

 

This type of situation is so typical.

 

The principal that Raphael and Elm are illustrating so well is probably 99% of the reason why Target failed in Canada.

 

Too many corporate yes-persons right up the line to ever allow the right information to get through to the right people.

 

I'll just let you all imagine the next three or four deleted paragraphs for yourselves 🙂

 

Message 32 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

 

This is turning into a GSP Thread.

 

I've never had a problem with buyers making multiple purchases, they just message me first & I make the adjustments necessary.

 

Bingo, bango, done.

 

If they are really interested in the items, I'm sure they will let you know.

 

Again no disrespect to anyone, but how much money in lost sales does one really think a seller is losing out on.

 

I'm pretty sure the percentage adds up to nickels over the year.

 

One must find a way to make it work, other large, high volume Canadian sellers seem to have found a way with no complaints.

Message 33 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem


@bb_cool_stuff wrote:

 

This is turning into a GSP Thread.

 

I've never had a problem with buyers making multiple purchases, they just message me first & I make the adjustments necessary.

 

Bingo, bango, done.

 

If they are really interested in the items, I'm sure they will let you know.

 

Again no disrespect to anyone, but how much money in lost sales does one really think a seller is losing out on.

 

I'm pretty sure the percentage adds up to nickels over the year.

 

One must find a way to make it work, other large, high volume Canadian sellers seem to have found a way with no complaints.


The prevailing method seems to be complaining and believing that will work.

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Not a small or isolated problem

Again no disrespect to anyone, but when complaining turns into whining, people just stop listening.

 

Remember when people were whining when they changed the eBay logo, or the store door colour, or, or or.

 

We have always found a way to make it work, this we can work around also.

 

 

Message 35 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

Raphael has already said that eBay has stopped listening to this and that they will not listen.

Do you really believe Raphael is passing this complaint along? He has been told not to.

As I see it, there are pretty much two choices. Keep on complaining with zero chance anything is ever going to happen, or, change the way you do things.

My last employer was buying new point of sale software. They wanted to customize it. ALL the suppliers said "NO". Customizing the software would cost millions extra and then it would not work. Two choices. Keep the 15 year old out of date software that is not supported by any technology anywhere, or, adapt to what the market provides.

The software works for 90-95% of the market. They are not going to invest any time or money into the 5-10%.
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Message 36 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem


@bb_cool_stuff wrote:

 

I've never had a problem with buyers making multiple purchases, they just message me first & I make the adjustments necessary.

Bingo, bango, done.

 

If they are really interested in the items, I'm sure they will let you know.

Again no disrespect to anyone, but how much money in lost sales does one really think a seller is losing out on.

 


'bb' , Please understand that the whole reason this issue is a concern is that none of us will ever know how many prospective buyers have tried and been unable to get through the checkout process. There is no way of quantifying lost business.  For eBay generally, it could be very substantial as a result of this flaw.  

 

We know about the buyers who are keen enough to contact us, but what about the ones who are just interested enough to buy, maybe not your specific item, but something comparable?  If they try and fail to be able to checkout and pay on eBay, will they go to another site?  Very possibly. 

 

We'll never know how many have tried, failed, and gone elsewhere.  There are lots of other options for buyers these days.  That's why this issue potentially affects every Canadian seller who has US (or UK and possibly other) customers.  

 

Every U.S. buyer who gets frustrated with trying to make the eBay checkout work and leaves eBay.ca to go to back to the "comfort zone" of .com may represent a future lost sale for other eBay Canada sellers.  However, if those buyers leave eBay entirely, then that's a really big problem for eBay, period.  

 

I think that's something Raphael (and we) need to be worried about.  So far, the real problem has been that the eBay.ca staff don't seem to have fully acknowledged how significant this issue is, not just for Canadian sellers, but for US buyers and sellers too.  If we can make them see how this affects eBay's wider interests, they may actually be able to convince eBay HQ to do something about it.  

 

This isn't comparable to the GSP at all.  It's not a programme designed for a purpose (at least I hope not!), it's a serious flaw in a fundamental part of eBay's online features for buyers that can and should be fixed.  And I think it will if we can make the eBay.ca staff understand that it doesn't just affect a small minority of Canadian sellers.  

 

If US (and UK, etc.) buyers discover they can't check out and pay for their purchases, how many are going to stick around?  Will they understand it's a problem with the US cart communicating with eBay.ca?  No, I doubt it, they'll either blame the Canadian seller, blame eBay Canada, or blame eBay itself.  

 

Please take a look at the screen shot flow I posted at this past Wed. Board Hour.  Do we really want our buyers to be confronted with this?  Does San Jose really want their US buyers to see this sort of mess?  It makes eBay look very, very bad compared to other sites.  

 

I don't subscribe to Mr. E.'s philosophy that this will never be dealt with.  It will be dealt with if we can convince the eBay staff to see it for the serious affect it can have on eBay as a whole, so that they are making the right arguments to eBay HQ. 

 

 

 

 

Message 37 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

True, they are not going to invest any more capital into the cart, the numbers don't support it, much like eBay Bucks.

 

We have always found a way to sell with or without the cart.

 

If my numbers drop, it is more due to my product than the inability to add multiple items to a shopping cart.

 

 

Message 38 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem


@mr.elmwood wrote:
Raphael has already said that eBay has stopped listening to this and that they will not listen.

Do you really believe Raphael is passing this complaint along? He has been told not to.

As I see it, there are pretty much two choices. Keep on complaining with zero chance anything is ever going to happen, or, change the way you do things.


Mr. E. (and 'bb') -- there is an enormous difference between mere complaining (or whining) and advocating in the hope that having enough voices heard often enough with enough detail will move the powers that be to make some changes. 

 

I'm not saying this is a simple task.  Raphael et al have been a bit entrenched in their view that this issue is limited to a very small minority of Canadian sellers because they have been looking at it as a "bug" or "glitch" that affects very few.  I think many of us have demonstrated to him that this isn't the case.  Once we have enough evidence (for lack of a better word), the next step is to try to appeal to him (and the whole .ca staff) that it's critical to pass the message along to eBay HQ more forcibly than they have been doing. 

 

Think about it -- why would eBay HQ bother prioritizing a problem that even the eBay.ca staffers are telling them affects a very small minority of Canadians?  In that context, both of you are right.  The problem is, the eBay.ca people have a completely wrong perception, and I think it's up to us sellers to make sure they see the issue clearly enough to be able to argue on our behalf.    

 

No one is going to convince the powers that be that a problem is important enough to take action on if they aren't first convinced themselves.  The more we sellers can put examples of what we find in front of Raphael (or the others), the clearer the gravity of this problem will be.  

 

For example, 'bb', the next time a buyer has to contact you directly to get help in paying for/checking out with more than 1 item, bring that to Raphael's attention.  There is a reason behind why buyers are doing this, and the reason is within eBay's power to fix.  

 

I don't despair of it ever being fixed, I just think this one is going to take quite some time.  

 

By the way, if ever there was a desperate cause, it's the arts in this country.  I was a professional "lobbyist" on behalf of the arts for several years, both to the BC provincial and the federal governments.  If we could argue and present a case for support there, we can get this fundamental and critical issue fixed here.  

 

 

Message 39 of 70
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Not a small or isolated problem

I don't disagree Rose, I can understand the frustrations, but you can't spend so much time on What Ifs, it will drive you crazy.

 

We still continue to sell even though the cart is missing a wheel.

 

.ca seems to have shut this down for now, unfortunately additional posts are not going to change anything at this time.

Message 40 of 70
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