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w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
Welcome to the 2015 Fall Seller Update discussion thread. Myself and other eBay staff will read all your comments and do our best to respond as our schedules permit.
Thanks!
@mjwl2006 wrote:
It also further illustrates the point that we as CANADIANS SELLING ON EBAY.CA TO FELLOW CANADIANS cannot be held to the same standards as our American counterparts selling to Americans. We simply do not have the same tools.
Just a note on this, Canadian sellers selling to Canadian buyers are not held to the same standards as American sellers selling to American buyers. Domestic Canadian transactions are measured under the Global standards program, which has roughly twice the allowed defect rate compared to the US standards program.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
I have a new but related question regarding the specifics of handling time under the new policy. I merely seek confirmation that I am getting this straight.
A seller will have to get an acceptance scan before the end of their business day in order to be considered shipped on time with a tracked item. The business day ends at 11:59 pm, according to 2013 same-day best practices. Scan are only available at postal counters or offices, however, which may close at 6 pm. Does that mean that the new business day ends one minute before when an acceptance scan is no longer available?
(And thank you.)
Hi Maureen,
I wish I could give you some clarity there, but that's more of a question for Canada Post. As far as eBay is concerned, the acceptance scan will be considered valid for the day it gets recorded up to 11:59 pm. What happens at Canada Post, for example if you were to drop a parcel right at your branch's closing time and they scanned it past that time, is relevant to their practices, which I am not fully aware of.
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I've read on the .com boards that the new system may be retroactive. Is that true and if so, when will it be retroactive from and will a seller immediately lose TRS if they don't qualify under the new rules?
Nothing changes for anyone until the next February 20th evaluation. When we say retroactive, we mean that we're already tracking the new metrics so that when Feb 20th comes, sellers can be evaluated based on the new metrics right away.
Live with any monthly performance evaluation, sellers will either gain, lose or maintain their current status on February 20th 2016. Starting in November however, you will be able to see and track your own performance under the new rules in a Seller Dashboard preview (we did the same thing in August 2014 when the Defect rate came into effect).
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I haven't seen anything about how and when the shipping time metric is going to be figured out. Right now for the U.S. TRSplus uploaded/validated tracking time, the number is based on a 3 month time period regardless of sales. For those who aren't familiar with it, on Sept 20th, any transactions from June 1 - August 31 must show up to 90% of them had uploaded/validated tracking.
Will this shipping time metric have a similar lag time? It would need to be longer considering buyers have up to 60 days to leave feedback.Plus, is it going to be figured out on a 3 month or a 1 year time period?
The On Time Shipping metric will be measured against the same time frame as any other metric, meaning sellers are either on a rolling 3 or 12 months look back depending on sales volume.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@mjwl2006 wrote:
It also further illustrates the point that we as CANADIANS SELLING ON EBAY.CA TO FELLOW CANADIANS cannot be held to the same standards as our American counterparts selling to Americans. We simply do not have the same tools.Just a note on this, Canadian sellers selling to Canadian buyers are not held to the same standards as American sellers selling to American buyers. Domestic Canadian transactions are measured under the Global standards program, which has roughly twice the allowed defect rate compared to the US standards program.
Is that under the current system of evaluation, the new one, or both?
The rule that governs which transaction gets measured in which program is the same under the old & new programs. The difference in allowed defect rates is a bit less than double today (the new rule is a bit more generous in the Global program).
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
@mjwl2006 wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@mjwl2006 wrote:
It also further illustrates the point that we as CANADIANS SELLING ON EBAY.CA TO FELLOW CANADIANS cannot be held to the same standards as our American counterparts selling to Americans. We simply do not have the same tools.Just a note on this, Canadian sellers selling to Canadian buyers are not held to the same standards as American sellers selling to American buyers. Domestic Canadian transactions are measured under the Global standards program, which has roughly twice the allowed defect rate compared to the US standards program.
Is that under the current system of evaluation, the new one, or both?
I believe that he is referring to the new program. But I don't see a difference that would relate to 'double'. There is a 2 percent difference in shipping time metrics between global and U.S. standards. However, U.S. standards rate only U.S. domestic transactions. For us, Global standards rate domestic and international transactions.
To qualify for Top Rated seller status in the Global Standards program, Canadian sellers can have a maximum of 0.5% of transactions with defects and a maximum of 5% of transactions with late shipments.
To qualify for Top Rated seller status in the US Standards program, the threshold will be a maximum of 0.5% of transactions with defects and a maximum of 3% of transactions with late shipments.
Note: Canadian sellers won't be required to meet Top Rated Plus returns, handling, and tracking requirements in order to benefit from the 20% Final Value Fee discount for Top Rated sellers. However, they still need to meet these requirements in order to see the Top Rated Plus seal on their listings with eBay.com. Learn more.
To meet minimum performance requirements in the Global Standards program, Canadian sellers can have a maximum of 2% of transactions with defects and a maximum of 9% of transactions with late shipments (that do not meet the new on-time shipping requirement).
To meet minimum performance requirements in the US Standards program, the thresholds will be a maximum of 2% of transactions with defects and a maximum of 7% of transactions with late shipments. Learn more
Note: In addition to meeting the requirements for the new defect rate and on-time shipping, all sellers will still be required to maintain a maximum of 0.3% of closed cases without seller resolution.
I guess I was stretching a bit when I said "almost double". Apologies.
@rose-dee wrote:
You mentioned in a post above that: "If the acceptance scan was recorded within your stated handling time, we look no further."
If I understand this properly, if a seller has either an acceptance scan or a delivery confirmation (i.e. on tracked shipping), the buyer will not be asked about late delivery at all -- is that correct?
This means that if there is a valid acceptance scan within handling time, the delivery scan and question to the buyer don't matter.
@rose-dee wrote:
If so, here is my question (and a possible suggestion to save your Canadian sellers):
Could our lovely people at .ca not negotiate with Canada Post on our behalf to see if there was some way to get an acceptance scan only for non-tracked parcels, especially Light and Small Packet Air to the USA?
You have said that a Post Office date/receipt stamp on a copy of the Paypal label, scanned and uploaded by the seller, would not be allowed by eBay as proof of parcel acceptance. I can see there might be some (small) room for abuse and falsifying such a system.
However, why not use the capacity Canada Post already has to scan the bar code on those labels in order to generate an internal CP dated acceptance code/receipt (or some such thing) that would be automatically uploaded to the seller's Venture One account (or whatever CP calls it now), or -- even better -- directly to the Paypal shipping information. Surely this would be sufficient for eBay's purposes as proof of acceptance of a parcel? Incidentally, my Canada Post clerk already generates a digital receipt that she hands to me with each parcel dropped off. This is just one small step beyond that capacity.
Of course, this method would require sellers to have a CP small business account (free at the lower level), and probably also require the use of Paypal labels. It might even be reasonable to have sellers pay a small fee to Canada Post (say $0.50 per parcel?) for the scan.
Surely though these factors would be negotiating tools in eBay Canada's favour if they were to approach Canada Post.
If such a system were implemented, not only would Canada Post be assured of the continued business of thousands of Canadian sellers (who might otherwise leave eBay if the new on-time policy downgraded their status), but Canada Post could also make money from the scanning fees.
I can't think of any good reason why this couldn't be made workable, except for eBay HQ itself refusing to recognize such scans. This would be a method for eBay to allow Canadians to keep selling effectively, make buyers happy, and yet still meet the new rules. That is, unless eBay has some other agenda behind pushing tracking on sellers everywhere.
This is one chance eBay Canada may have to save many thousands of us before we start racking up the late defects and dropping like flies. Please don't say on principle that it can't be done. I worked as a lobbyist to government on behalf of the arts for years, and if we could get concessions for that cause, eBay Canada can do this. Sometimes you just need someone with the will and the right idea.
Please pass this on to the top echelons of eBay Canada, with a plea to at least consider it seriously.
As I said earlier, we are in constant contact with Canada Post and such things have already been discussed, at length. Ultimately we aren't in control of what they can and can't do. And although I can't speak to their own product capacities and limitations, I am pretty sure that implementing acceptance scans on untracked products is more complicated than just scanning a barcode.
One thing I'd like to point out regarding the On Time Shipping metric and what it means for Canadian sellers is, we have started tracking that metric from real life data since August and although I am not at liberty to share any numbers yet (the data is still too young to draw any conclusions), I can say this: starting in November, you'll be able to see for yourself how you will fare under the new rules via a Seller Dashboard preview. This means that starting in November, your dashboard will start showing you what would happen to your account if the new rules were already in effect. Once you see that, you may find that it's not as bad as it may seem today.
In any case, I'll be here to discuss it all with you 
On that note, good evening, I'll be back tomorrow.
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