2016 Fall Seller Update

Hello Canadian sellers,

 

Today we have published the details of the 2016 Fall Seller Update. You can read the details here, and use this thread for any questions. I'll do my best to reply as time permits.

 

Thanks!

Message 1 of 79
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78 REPLIES 78

2016 Fall Seller Update


@dutchman48 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@dutchman48 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@theodoreides wrote:

If I opt into the Seller Hub on .com as you are recommending, can I list on .ca in Canadian $$ from there? 


You can only list on eBay.com from eBay.com, so no.

 

What I'm suggesting is to test drive Seller Hub since it's available on eBay.com.


So, how will it work for sellers that list on .com and .ca. With TL it would be no problem at all


TL is going away, better get used to the idea.

 

I'm not sure of what you are asking. Sellers will have to log into eBay.ca to list on eBay.ca, and log in to eBay.com to list on eBay.com. On either site, they'll have what tools are available on that site. Same as today. 


I am well aware it is going away, that is not the issue.

 

What you are saying is to use the Hub, if it works, will require listing from both .ca and .com instead of one location.

 

In other words, more areas to have things go wrong, and more work??


If you're a TL user, then yes, once TL goes away you'll have to list on eBay.com to put items on eBay.com and list on eBay.ca to put items on eBay.ca.

Message 41 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update


@around_again_records wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@around_again_records wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@around_again_records wrote:

Where do we find this Seller Hub.

 

I too have thousands of listings on Turbo Lister, and would like to figure out this Hub thing before I continue adding listings to Turbo Lister.

 

Will I be able to store my database on my computer like I do with Turbo Lister?

Will I be able to transfer listings in Bulk from Turbo Lister to the Hub, without a lot of mucked up data that has to be rechecked and re-done, or do I have to, or am I better off to just start over again (That's a depressing thought)

 

So many questions, I guess I'd like as much information as possible about transferring from Turbo Lister to the Hub. 


Hi around_again_records,

 

Seller Hub is only available on eBay.com for now.

 

I'm not sure how much of the stuff you have in Turbo Lister you'll be able to move back to eBay, as Seller Hub will work slightly differently in terms of how it'll manage your inventory and listings. One thing for sure, the listings that are live will be there in Seller Hub and you'll be able to duplicate/save/copy from them without problems. The part I'm unsure about would be templates that you may have in TL.


What would be my best action to start preparing right now. There is no point in continuing to use Turbo Lister and I have been making up many new listings and plan to make many more.

 

I am not familiar with Selling Manager. Would it be better for the switchover if I started using that now for any new listings, and also to try and bring my current Turbo Lister items over into Selling Manager?

 

If the above would be a good idea, can you give me a link to Selling Manager. Something that will show me how to set it up and get started with it.

 

Does selling Manager store my listings in a database like Turbo Lister? Can the database be on my computer so I can work offline rather than working on the eBay site which when I've tried it before seemed very slow going.


Seller Hub and Selling Manager don't work like Turbo Lister at all, in that they are 100% web based.

 

My best advice would be to start exclusively using Selling Manager for all your listing management needs, meaning to create new listings, revise existing ones and relist old ones. If all the listings you have in your TL database are live on the site, you won't have to import anything as they will all appear in SM without having to do anything.

 

Getting used to Selling Manager will help when you get to Seller Hub as they work in a similar way.

 

You can subscribe to Selling Manager here (it's free): http://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBay&CurrentPage=MyeBayManageSubscriptions


Thanks a lot Raphael. I will get started with Selling Manager. Hope there is Promo day after all this Postal Strike business is over. Then I will list everything I have and get it into Selling Manager.

LOL, You will probably be getting a lot of questions from me in future Wednesday Meetings. It will take me awhile to get a system going again. I have problems with things that other people set up. I prefer organizing things my way, not to mention, I've kind of lost trust in computer programs that try to do everything for everybody - too complex to get everything right and too much time wasted trying to make someone else's system work for me. 


Happy to help whenever I can. I'm sure you'll love Selling Manager.

Message 42 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update


@ypdc_dennis wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@ypdc_dennis wrote:

All the Category Changes sub-pages show the changes taking place in 2016

except for Entertainment Memorabilia which is dated June 2010

 


Could you give me the link to the page in question? Thanks!

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/fallupdate16/category-and-item.html

 

which has a link to:

 

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/growing/categorychanges/entmem.html


Thanks for the links. This is probably just an oversight as some of these pages get recycled with each seller update. Whomever updated this one likely missed updating the date. I'll let the Content team know.

Message 43 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update


@around_again_records wrote:

Raphael: I've subscribed to Selling Manager and have been looking around.

 

I noticed under Listing Tools that Turbo Lister is still there. I hope you plan to remove that. It doesn't seem right to encourage people to start using a program when it is going to be discontinued in a few months.

 

Actually I kept running into Turbo Lister information in quite a few different areas when I was trying to find information on Selling Manager. I can understand keeping help files up there, but there seem to be a lot of place where it is still advertised as a Listing Tool, and there are no warnings that it won't be viable in a few months. 


Thanks for the suggestion, I'll pass it along.

Message 44 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update


raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

I have serious misgivings about the integrity of the Product Catalogue. On the rare occasion where I have had a match, the Item Specifics are grossly incorrect and contaminate my pristine listing with mis-information. What assurance is ebay giving to sellers that these egregious errors will be rectified before we are forced into using them on all our listings? If I allowed them to stand on mine, buyers would easily win SNAD as a result of the Product Catalogue details.

 

For more information, please see:

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/eBay-to-Announce-2016-Fall-Seller-Release-Today/td-p/3490...

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/BEWARE-THE-BULK-EDITOR-ADDS-PRODUCT-CATALOGUE-DETAILS-TO-...

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Site-Issues/Bulk-Listing-manager-Malfunction-on-Product-Identiifers/m-p/...

 

 


Hi Maureen,

 

As far as I know, the issue with the bulk edit tool changing item specifics has been resolved.

 

In terms of guaranteeing accuracy in the catalogue, all I can say is we will correct errors as they show up. There is a team 100% dedicated to making sure that product identifiers connect to the right catalogue products. If you run into this kind of issue, please report the error promptly via the link provided on the product page.


Unless that happened within the last two weeks, no, it has not. I spent an more than an hour trying to get rid of it from one of my Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment listings one lovely August weekend.

 

Where do I find the 'link' on the Product Page? I am assuming it will allow me to do so before I incorporate that corrupt data to my listing? Can you show me a screenshot, please? 

 

Thank you,

Maureen


Sorry, I gave you the wrong info. The link on product pages was the old way to report errors in the catalogue.

 

The process now is to email dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com to report erroneous information on catalogue products. As usual, I'd advise on being as detailed as possible when describing the issue and to provide the correct information that should replace the wrong one.


Hey, Raphael. Have you ever seen a movie starring Tom Hanks? 

 

You know how in most of his movies (except perhaps Forrest Gump) he plays pretty much the same character, an even-tempered reasonable guy who at some point due to the sheer absurdity of whatever is happening around him has a trademark freak-out where he goes from Mr. Calm Nice Average Guy to Mr. Raging Maniac Waving His Arms Over His Head and Yelling Like a Looney?

 

Well, that's me and it's the Product Catalogue to blame.

 

When yesterday you said to my point about the Bulk Editor overwriting incorrect Product Catalogue details over correct seller-created Item Specifics and you said, 'I thought that was fixed'? Well, I didn't even begin to suspect what you meant was, hey wait, it will only get much worse in the very near future. 

 

It used to be that a seller could maintain the integrity of their listing by individually revising their items

 

That no longer works.

 

Today, I went to remove by hand the text on the bottom of each of my listings that speaks to the Canada Post labour disruption. This should be a happy day. We should all be celebrating. Instead, I remove that text, review all my changes to ensure everything is correct and then press submit. But when I go to check my listing, it's all wrong. How did that happen? The Product Catalogue overwrote my details, the ones I had just personally examined moments ago, without warning. Sure enough, I click revise again and there it is. 

 

Wrong Photo.

 

Wrong Model.

 

Wrong name.

 

Wrong everything.

 

I did not add it to my listing. Not ever, nor was I warned this would happen when I was working on it.

 

I deselect Product Catalogue details and submit again.

 

Now I have no details.

 

All my original data is lost.

 

All my work is lost. 

 

From a pfd I print of all my listings after they are submit, this is what it is supposed to say:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.19.44 AM.png

 

This is what it says now that I have no details:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.02.54 AM.png

 

This is what ebay's Product Catalogue is trying to tell people it is:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 10.51.03 AM.png

 

There are so many things wrong with this entry that I don't even know where to start.

 

Adding insult to injury, from the moment the plan for Structured Data was announced, I flagged this enormous problem with Hot Wheels to ebay. Why has nothing changed? Because the people running the Product Catalogue don't care. There are literally thousands of low-cost Hot Wheels released in a calendar year, all with subtle differences that don't matter to people who know nothing about Hot Wheels but matter immensely to people who do: the ones who come to ebay to Buy and Sell them.

 

By all means, proceed with Structured Data but HAVE THE DECENCY TO WARN SELLERS TO CHECK THEIR LISTINGS TO SEE WHETHER THEY WANT THE CATALOGUE DETAILS ADDED FIRST SO THEY CAN CHECK TO SEE WHETHER THEY ARE, IN FACT, CORECT.

 

That is NOT the car I am selling. I would lose a SNAD and ebay would be alienating a buyer with their structured data sloppiness. This problem applies to every. single. Hot Wheels diecast. in the catalogue. If there is a match found it is wrong. Fully and completely wrong.

 

Please tell the (four letter word that starts with the letter T and is used to refer to individuals of limited intelligence) that they should leave diecast cars alone and go work on coffee pots or something. 

 

My next workaround for this problem will be 84 point Capital letters in Red at the bottom of each diecast car listing I have that states potential buyers should ignore anything they read under Item Specifics as it was provided without my consent by ebay's fatally flawed Product Catalogue and to please rely on my Item Description only for an accurate representation of the item in question. Who do you think will be embarrassed by that? Not me. I will be providing a service to buyers where the structured data Product Catalogue is failing utterly to do so. 

 

 

 

 

Message 45 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update

This is what is does to any Hot Wheels diecast it sees is related to the movie Toy Story. I would like to note there are approximately 30 different Hot Wheels in this product line, based on individual characters in the movie. That they are all identified Rex Rider is absurd. This is what ebay did to my Lotso diecast 331772052924 after I tried to alter the price on it. 

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.52.32 AM.png

 

To again state the abundantly obvious, I should not have to stare over my shoulder each time I touch one of my impeccable listings to double-check ebay isn't wrecking it with falsehoods I didn't agree to add. This is time-consuming, soul-draining, and self-destructive. 

Message 46 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update

Adding insult to injury, the Product Catalogue states that Lotso character is Rex in one place and Woody in another. 

 

How can ebay expect buyers to trust them when they incorporate such sloppy work into the site? 

 

And WITHOUT an option to even be able to check it as the seller before it goes live? That is inexcusable.

 

Message 47 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update

@lucitabby wrote:

For product id, it states:  "By February 2017, for most categories, newly-created listings will require at least one type of product identifier (e.g. UPC, GTIN, one of the above, etc.). Also, note that the options “Does not Apply” and “NA” will no longer be available for the majority of items." 

Most of my items are either old, antiques, collectibles or "stuff" with no UPC,  What does one put  for these items? 


If you're listing in a category that requires a product identifier and that the item you're listing doesn't have a UPC or equivalent code, you'll be able to create your own whenever Not Applicable isn't available as an option.

________________________________________________________________________________________

hmmmm,

Create my own code???

What if I create code 1-111-11111-2 for my old book and Femme creates the same code for her old book which are not the same books.

 

Are there any guidelines for creating your own code??  Would a Canada Post HP code work?  Should the first number indicate your Province??  Would all zeros work???

Message 48 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update

I also have concerns about the upc etc requirements as the majority of my items are in the categories that will require them.  I'm certain that they all have/had UPC codes but I have hundreds of items that did not come with that information when I purchased them. For jewelry and handbags its common to buy items with a retailers price tag but with little or no other information even when purchasing from major online or brick and mortar retailers.

 

Even if there is a source that has a record of all UPC codes for the past 10 years, unless a person has an identifying name or numbers  for those items, it would be impossible to find the correct codes.  For example, searching for a brown leather purse by Fossil isn't going to get me very far.

 

As far as setting up my own code, what does that involve and what is the purpose of it?  People aren't going to search for something using my own made up code.

 

 

Message 49 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update


@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

I have serious misgivings about the integrity of the Product Catalogue. On the rare occasion where I have had a match, the Item Specifics are grossly incorrect and contaminate my pristine listing with mis-information. What assurance is ebay giving to sellers that these egregious errors will be rectified before we are forced into using them on all our listings? If I allowed them to stand on mine, buyers would easily win SNAD as a result of the Product Catalogue details.

 

For more information, please see:

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/eBay-to-Announce-2016-Fall-Seller-Release-Today/td-p/3490...

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/BEWARE-THE-BULK-EDITOR-ADDS-PRODUCT-CATALOGUE-DETAILS-TO-...

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Site-Issues/Bulk-Listing-manager-Malfunction-on-Product-Identiifers/m-p/...

 

 


Hi Maureen,

 

As far as I know, the issue with the bulk edit tool changing item specifics has been resolved.

 

In terms of guaranteeing accuracy in the catalogue, all I can say is we will correct errors as they show up. There is a team 100% dedicated to making sure that product identifiers connect to the right catalogue products. If you run into this kind of issue, please report the error promptly via the link provided on the product page.


Unless that happened within the last two weeks, no, it has not. I spent an more than an hour trying to get rid of it from one of my Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment listings one lovely August weekend.

 

Where do I find the 'link' on the Product Page? I am assuming it will allow me to do so before I incorporate that corrupt data to my listing? Can you show me a screenshot, please? 

 

Thank you,

Maureen


Sorry, I gave you the wrong info. The link on product pages was the old way to report errors in the catalogue.

 

The process now is to email dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com to report erroneous information on catalogue products. As usual, I'd advise on being as detailed as possible when describing the issue and to provide the correct information that should replace the wrong one.


Hey, Raphael. Have you ever seen a movie starring Tom Hanks? 

 

You know how in most of his movies (except perhaps Forrest Gump) he plays pretty much the same character, an even-tempered reasonable guy who at some point due to the sheer absurdity of whatever is happening around him has a trademark freak-out where he goes from Mr. Calm Nice Average Guy to Mr. Raging Maniac Waving His Arms Over His Head and Yelling Like a Looney?

 

Well, that's me and it's the Product Catalogue to blame.

 

When yesterday you said to my point about the Bulk Editor overwriting incorrect Product Catalogue details over correct seller-created Item Specifics and you said, 'I thought that was fixed'? Well, I didn't even begin to suspect what you meant was, hey wait, it will only get much worse in the very near future. 

 

It used to be that a seller could maintain the integrity of their listing by individually revising their items

 

That no longer works.

 

Today, I went to remove by hand the text on the bottom of each of my listings that speaks to the Canada Post labour disruption. This should be a happy day. We should all be celebrating. Instead, I remove that text, review all my changes to ensure everything is correct and then press submit. But when I go to check my listing, it's all wrong. How did that happen? The Product Catalogue overwrote my details, the ones I had just personally examined moments ago, without warning. Sure enough, I click revise again and there it is. 

 

Wrong Photo.

 

Wrong Model.

 

Wrong name.

 

Wrong everything.

 

I did not add it to my listing. Not ever, nor was I warned this would happen when I was working on it.

 

I deselect Product Catalogue details and submit again.

 

Now I have no details.

 

All my original data is lost.

 

All my work is lost. 

 

From a pfd I print of all my listings after they are submit, this is what it is supposed to say:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.19.44 AM.png

 

This is what it says now that I have no details:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.02.54 AM.png

 

This is what ebay's Product Catalogue is trying to tell people it is:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 10.51.03 AM.png

 

There are so many things wrong with this entry that I don't even know where to start.

 

Adding insult to injury, from the moment the plan for Structured Data was announced, I flagged this enormous problem with Hot Wheels to ebay. Why has nothing changed? Because the people running the Product Catalogue don't care. There are literally thousands of low-cost Hot Wheels released in a calendar year, all with subtle differences that don't matter to people who know nothing about Hot Wheels but matter immensely to people who do: the ones who come to ebay to Buy and Sell them.

 

By all means, proceed with Structured Data but HAVE THE DECENCY TO WARN SELLERS TO CHECK THEIR LISTINGS TO SEE WHETHER THEY WANT THE CATALOGUE DETAILS ADDED FIRST SO THEY CAN CHECK TO SEE WHETHER THEY ARE, IN FACT, CORECT.

 

That is NOT the car I am selling. I would lose a SNAD and ebay would be alienating a buyer with their structured data sloppiness. This problem applies to every. single. Hot Wheels diecast. in the catalogue. If there is a match found it is wrong. Fully and completely wrong.

 

Please tell the (four letter word that starts with the letter T and is used to refer to individuals of limited intelligence) that they should leave diecast cars alone and go work on coffee pots or something. 

 

My next workaround for this problem will be 84 point Capital letters in Red at the bottom of each diecast car listing I have that states potential buyers should ignore anything they read under Item Specifics as it was provided without my consent by ebay's fatally flawed Product Catalogue and to please rely on my Item Description only for an accurate representation of the item in question. Who do you think will be embarrassed by that? Not me. I will be providing a service to buyers where the structured data Product Catalogue is failing utterly to do so. 

 

 

 

 


Realizing that I'm beating a dead horse here, please LOOK AT POST #5 http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Weekly-Chat-Session/June-24th-2015-Weekly-Board-Hour/m-p/305738#M2485

Message 50 of 79
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2016 Fall Seller Update

And some people wonder why I hate to use any new tools and info Ebay supplies.

 

They test nothing and just say here you go, or it's the greatest.

 

It ia absolute garbage in most cases and sellers suffer greatly but Ebay and their staff could care less.

Message 51 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update

Each listing on ebay states the following: "Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing."

 

Ebay cannot then secretly overwrite a seller's listing with data that does not apply which a seller is powerless to prevent or alter.

 

The Product Catalogue is incorrect each and every place it makes a match to my listings. Adding insult to injury, this has been known for more than a year. Adding even MORE insult to injury, it's done sneakily now with no way that a seller can avoid it. 

 

That is outrageous. Sellers cannot be held accountable for the accuracy of listings that they did not create.

 

Buyers also deserve clear direction to what they are buying! This too seems so very obvious the I cannot believe I am saying it aloud. 

 

 

 

 

Message 52 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update

Ebay really does not care what happens to sellers other than the mega sellers and Chinese.

 

It gets worse every year and with every update. Also happening more often.

 

Ebay refuses to admit that their system is obsolete and outdated and needs to be put to rest (RIP). Their idiotic programmers can just keep doing what they are doing with no accountability!

 

I truly feel sorry for sellers having to meet these idiotic requirements that are a mess. Hopefully it won't show up in all categories but I won't hold my breath.

 

And another site I am playing with comes right out and says if no UPC, etc, just put EXEMPT, very simple!

Message 53 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update

With this new seller hub will there be a limit on how many listings you co create and have waiting to upload and how long will unsold items be available

Message 54 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update


:
:
:

Seller Hub and Selling Manager don't work like Turbo Lister at all, in that they are 100% web based.

 

My best advice would be to start exclusively using Selling Manager for all your listing management needs, meaning to create new listings, revise existing ones and relist old ones. If all the listings you have in your TL database are live on the site, you won't have to import anything as they will all appear in SM without having to do anything.

 

Getting used to Selling Manager will help when you get to Seller Hub as they work in a similar way.

 

You can subscribe to Selling Manager here (it's free): http://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBay&CurrentPage=MyeBayManageSubscriptions


Thanks a lot Raphael. I will get started with Selling Manager. Hope there is Promo day after all this Postal Strike business is over. Then I will list everything I have and get it into Selling Manager.

LOL, You will probably be getting a lot of questions from me in future Wednesday Meetings. It will take me awhile to get a system going again. I have problems with things that other people set up. I prefer organizing things my way, not to mention, I've kind of lost trust in computer programs that try to do everything for everybody - too complex to get everything right and too much time wasted trying to make someone else's system work for me. 


Happy to help whenever I can. I'm sure you'll love Selling Manager.


Ok, so I've subscribed to Selling Manager and am muddling my way around. The Manager has a few things I've found so far that are nice, but most things were there already just in a different place.

 

My main concern though is the listing form, and listing in General. I have a couple questions

 

1. I like to prepare listings ahead of time. I take it Drafts is where I would store these. My question is: How many drafts can I store, and for how long?

 

2. You say Selling Manager will pick up anything that I list, so hopefully between now and when Turbo Lister becomes obsolete, I will have listed all my old items so Selling Manager can pick them up. My Question is: How long do they remain in Selling Manager? I've read 90 days. If that is correct, does that mean after 90 days I would have to start from scratch and make the listing all over again?

 

I'll keep it at those 2 questions for now. Some of the other problems I'm having I might figure out as I keep working on it. The Manager part is fine, it's the listing form that is giving me fits. 😞

Message 55 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update


@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

I have serious misgivings about the integrity of the Product Catalogue. On the rare occasion where I have had a match, the Item Specifics are grossly incorrect and contaminate my pristine listing with mis-information. What assurance is ebay giving to sellers that these egregious errors will be rectified before we are forced into using them on all our listings? If I allowed them to stand on mine, buyers would easily win SNAD as a result of the Product Catalogue details.

 

For more information, please see:

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/eBay-to-Announce-2016-Fall-Seller-Release-Today/td-p/3490...

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/BEWARE-THE-BULK-EDITOR-ADDS-PRODUCT-CATALOGUE-DETAILS-TO-...

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Site-Issues/Bulk-Listing-manager-Malfunction-on-Product-Identiifers/m-p/...

 

 


Hi Maureen,

 

As far as I know, the issue with the bulk edit tool changing item specifics has been resolved.

 

In terms of guaranteeing accuracy in the catalogue, all I can say is we will correct errors as they show up. There is a team 100% dedicated to making sure that product identifiers connect to the right catalogue products. If you run into this kind of issue, please report the error promptly via the link provided on the product page.


Unless that happened within the last two weeks, no, it has not. I spent an more than an hour trying to get rid of it from one of my Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment listings one lovely August weekend.

 

Where do I find the 'link' on the Product Page? I am assuming it will allow me to do so before I incorporate that corrupt data to my listing? Can you show me a screenshot, please? 

 

Thank you,

Maureen


Sorry, I gave you the wrong info. The link on product pages was the old way to report errors in the catalogue.

 

The process now is to email dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com to report erroneous information on catalogue products. As usual, I'd advise on being as detailed as possible when describing the issue and to provide the correct information that should replace the wrong one.


Hey, Raphael. Have you ever seen a movie starring Tom Hanks? 

 

You know how in most of his movies (except perhaps Forrest Gump) he plays pretty much the same character, an even-tempered reasonable guy who at some point due to the sheer absurdity of whatever is happening around him has a trademark freak-out where he goes from Mr. Calm Nice Average Guy to Mr. Raging Maniac Waving His Arms Over His Head and Yelling Like a Looney?

 

Well, that's me and it's the Product Catalogue to blame.

 

When yesterday you said to my point about the Bulk Editor overwriting incorrect Product Catalogue details over correct seller-created Item Specifics and you said, 'I thought that was fixed'? Well, I didn't even begin to suspect what you meant was, hey wait, it will only get much worse in the very near future. 

 

It used to be that a seller could maintain the integrity of their listing by individually revising their items

 

That no longer works.

 

Today, I went to remove by hand the text on the bottom of each of my listings that speaks to the Canada Post labour disruption. This should be a happy day. We should all be celebrating. Instead, I remove that text, review all my changes to ensure everything is correct and then press submit. But when I go to check my listing, it's all wrong. How did that happen? The Product Catalogue overwrote my details, the ones I had just personally examined moments ago, without warning. Sure enough, I click revise again and there it is. 

 

Wrong Photo.

 

Wrong Model.

 

Wrong name.

 

Wrong everything.

 

I did not add it to my listing. Not ever, nor was I warned this would happen when I was working on it.

 

I deselect Product Catalogue details and submit again.

 

Now I have no details.

 

All my original data is lost.

 

All my work is lost. 

 

From a pfd I print of all my listings after they are submit, this is what it is supposed to say:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.19.44 AM.png

 

This is what it says now that I have no details:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.02.54 AM.png

 

This is what ebay's Product Catalogue is trying to tell people it is:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 10.51.03 AM.png

 

There are so many things wrong with this entry that I don't even know where to start.

 

Adding insult to injury, from the moment the plan for Structured Data was announced, I flagged this enormous problem with Hot Wheels to ebay. Why has nothing changed? Because the people running the Product Catalogue don't care. There are literally thousands of low-cost Hot Wheels released in a calendar year, all with subtle differences that don't matter to people who know nothing about Hot Wheels but matter immensely to people who do: the ones who come to ebay to Buy and Sell them.

 

By all means, proceed with Structured Data but HAVE THE DECENCY TO WARN SELLERS TO CHECK THEIR LISTINGS TO SEE WHETHER THEY WANT THE CATALOGUE DETAILS ADDED FIRST SO THEY CAN CHECK TO SEE WHETHER THEY ARE, IN FACT, CORECT.

 

That is NOT the car I am selling. I would lose a SNAD and ebay would be alienating a buyer with their structured data sloppiness. This problem applies to every. single. Hot Wheels diecast. in the catalogue. If there is a match found it is wrong. Fully and completely wrong.

 

Please tell the (four letter word that starts with the letter T and is used to refer to individuals of limited intelligence) that they should leave diecast cars alone and go work on coffee pots or something. 

 

My next workaround for this problem will be 84 point Capital letters in Red at the bottom of each diecast car listing I have that states potential buyers should ignore anything they read under Item Specifics as it was provided without my consent by ebay's fatally flawed Product Catalogue and to please rely on my Item Description only for an accurate representation of the item in question. Who do you think will be embarrassed by that? Not me. I will be providing a service to buyers where the structured data Product Catalogue is failing utterly to do so. 

 

 

 

 


Hi Maureen,

 

I agree this must be tremendously frustrating. Please use the email I provided, or this one DL-eBay-SDSupportSubmission@ebay.com to report catalogue issues, and copy me. I've been assured this is the way to do it and will follow up on your reports.

Message 56 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update


@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I also have concerns about the upc etc requirements as the majority of my items are in the categories that will require them.  I'm certain that they all have/had UPC codes but I have hundreds of items that did not come with that information when I purchased them. For jewelry and handbags its common to buy items with a retailers price tag but with little or no other information even when purchasing from major online or brick and mortar retailers.

 

Even if there is a source that has a record of all UPC codes for the past 10 years, unless a person has an identifying name or numbers  for those items, it would be impossible to find the correct codes.  For example, searching for a brown leather purse by Fossil isn't going to get me very far.

 

As far as setting up my own code, what does that involve and what is the purpose of it?  People aren't going to search for something using my own made up code.

 

 


Hi pjcdn,

 

I'm trying to get a hold of someone in the structured data team to address this question about seller-created codes. I'll update the thread as soon as I can.

Message 57 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update


@newfoundland_store wrote:

With this new seller hub will there be a limit on how many listings you co create and have waiting to upload and how long will unsold items be available


Hi newfoundland_store,

 

May I ask for clarification on what you mean by 'listings you co create and have waiting to upload' ? Do you mean drafts?

 

Unsold items, I think, should be available up to 90 days like they are today. Not 100% sure though, I'll ask the SH team.

Message 58 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update


around_again_records wrote:

 

1. I like to prepare listings ahead of time. I take it Drafts is where I would store these. My question is: How many drafts can I store, and for how long? 

 


You can have up to 5000 drafts in Selling Manager and as far as I know they last up to 90 days (expiry may vary depending on what tool is used to create the drafts)


around_again_records wrote:

 

2. You say Selling Manager will pick up anything that I list, so hopefully between now and when Turbo Lister becomes obsolete, I will have listed all my old items so Selling Manager can pick them up. My Question is: How long do they remain in Selling Manager? I've read 90 days. If that is correct, does that mean after 90 days I would have to start from scratch and make the listing all over again?


What I meant was, any listings that are currently live or recently ended (90 days) will appear in Selling Manager. So to transfer your listings from TL to SM, all you have to do is publish them and then start managing them from SM going forward.

 

Ended listings (sold or unsold) will show in Selling Manager for up to 90 days. If you relist or Sell Similar from those listings before they reach the age of 90 days, you're essentially creating new listings from them which will, in turn live for another 90 days during which time you can relist them, so on and so forth.

Message 59 of 79
latest reply

2016 Fall Seller Update


raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

I have serious misgivings about the integrity of the Product Catalogue. On the rare occasion where I have had a match, the Item Specifics are grossly incorrect and contaminate my pristine listing with mis-information. What assurance is ebay giving to sellers that these egregious errors will be rectified before we are forced into using them on all our listings? If I allowed them to stand on mine, buyers would easily win SNAD as a result of the Product Catalogue details.

 

For more information, please see:

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/eBay-to-Announce-2016-Fall-Seller-Release-Today/td-p/3490...

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/BEWARE-THE-BULK-EDITOR-ADDS-PRODUCT-CATALOGUE-DETAILS-TO-...

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Site-Issues/Bulk-Listing-manager-Malfunction-on-Product-Identiifers/m-p/...

 

 


Hi Maureen,

 

As far as I know, the issue with the bulk edit tool changing item specifics has been resolved.

 

In terms of guaranteeing accuracy in the catalogue, all I can say is we will correct errors as they show up. There is a team 100% dedicated to making sure that product identifiers connect to the right catalogue products. If you run into this kind of issue, please report the error promptly via the link provided on the product page.


Unless that happened within the last two weeks, no, it has not. I spent an more than an hour trying to get rid of it from one of my Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment listings one lovely August weekend.

 

Where do I find the 'link' on the Product Page? I am assuming it will allow me to do so before I incorporate that corrupt data to my listing? Can you show me a screenshot, please? 

 

Thank you,

Maureen


Sorry, I gave you the wrong info. The link on product pages was the old way to report errors in the catalogue.

 

The process now is to email dl-ebay-catalogsubmission@ebay.com to report erroneous information on catalogue products. As usual, I'd advise on being as detailed as possible when describing the issue and to provide the correct information that should replace the wrong one.


Hey, Raphael. Have you ever seen a movie starring Tom Hanks? 

 

You know how in most of his movies (except perhaps Forrest Gump) he plays pretty much the same character, an even-tempered reasonable guy who at some point due to the sheer absurdity of whatever is happening around him has a trademark freak-out where he goes from Mr. Calm Nice Average Guy to Mr. Raging Maniac Waving His Arms Over His Head and Yelling Like a Looney?

 

Well, that's me and it's the Product Catalogue to blame.

 

When yesterday you said to my point about the Bulk Editor overwriting incorrect Product Catalogue details over correct seller-created Item Specifics and you said, 'I thought that was fixed'? Well, I didn't even begin to suspect what you meant was, hey wait, it will only get much worse in the very near future. 

 

It used to be that a seller could maintain the integrity of their listing by individually revising their items

 

That no longer works.

 

Today, I went to remove by hand the text on the bottom of each of my listings that speaks to the Canada Post labour disruption. This should be a happy day. We should all be celebrating. Instead, I remove that text, review all my changes to ensure everything is correct and then press submit. But when I go to check my listing, it's all wrong. How did that happen? The Product Catalogue overwrote my details, the ones I had just personally examined moments ago, without warning. Sure enough, I click revise again and there it is. 

 

Wrong Photo.

 

Wrong Model.

 

Wrong name.

 

Wrong everything.

 

I did not add it to my listing. Not ever, nor was I warned this would happen when I was working on it.

 

I deselect Product Catalogue details and submit again.

 

Now I have no details.

 

All my original data is lost.

 

All my work is lost. 

 

From a pfd I print of all my listings after they are submit, this is what it is supposed to say:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.19.44 AM.png

 

This is what it says now that I have no details:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 11.02.54 AM.png

 

This is what ebay's Product Catalogue is trying to tell people it is:

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-31 at 10.51.03 AM.png

 

There are so many things wrong with this entry that I don't even know where to start.

 

Adding insult to injury, from the moment the plan for Structured Data was announced, I flagged this enormous problem with Hot Wheels to ebay. Why has nothing changed? Because the people running the Product Catalogue don't care. There are literally thousands of low-cost Hot Wheels released in a calendar year, all with subtle differences that don't matter to people who know nothing about Hot Wheels but matter immensely to people who do: the ones who come to ebay to Buy and Sell them.

 

By all means, proceed with Structured Data but HAVE THE DECENCY TO WARN SELLERS TO CHECK THEIR LISTINGS TO SEE WHETHER THEY WANT THE CATALOGUE DETAILS ADDED FIRST SO THEY CAN CHECK TO SEE WHETHER THEY ARE, IN FACT, CORECT.

 

That is NOT the car I am selling. I would lose a SNAD and ebay would be alienating a buyer with their structured data sloppiness. This problem applies to every. single. Hot Wheels diecast. in the catalogue. If there is a match found it is wrong. Fully and completely wrong.

 

Please tell the (four letter word that starts with the letter T and is used to refer to individuals of limited intelligence) that they should leave diecast cars alone and go work on coffee pots or something. 

 

My next workaround for this problem will be 84 point Capital letters in Red at the bottom of each diecast car listing I have that states potential buyers should ignore anything they read under Item Specifics as it was provided without my consent by ebay's fatally flawed Product Catalogue and to please rely on my Item Description only for an accurate representation of the item in question. Who do you think will be embarrassed by that? Not me. I will be providing a service to buyers where the structured data Product Catalogue is failing utterly to do so. 

 

 

 

 


Hi Maureen,

 

I agree this must be tremendously frustrating. Please use the email I provided, or this one DL-eBay-SDSupportSubmission@ebay.com to report catalogue issues, and copy me. I've been assured this is the way to do it and will follow up on your reports.


 

Okay but in the meantime, what am I supposed to DO with these listings? I cannot touch them. They need to be revised yet when I do so, they are contaminated with incorrect item specifics and I am powerless to stop it no matter how I try to go about doing that revision. Am I supposed to leave them alone until the Product Catalogue is fixed? If it will take me three days of solid work to explain in emails everything that is wrong with every listing where the Product Catalogue is matched, how long is it going to take them to fix it? It affects thousands of items. And I mean EVERY DETAIL of EVERY ITEM where the Product Catalogue has made a match in INCORRECT. Not a little bit, like a lot. 

 

 

Message 60 of 79
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