March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Post your questions here and we'll be here at 1PM Eastern!

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

Message 1 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

SHOPPING CART - APP - INCOMPATIBILITY ISSUES WITH THE CANADIAN EBAY SITE

 

When is eBay going to rectify/fix/update the US & UK "Shopping Cart" & "app" INCOMPATIBILITY issues to align them with the OUTDATED Canadian eBay website.

 

INTERNATIONAL BUYERS ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO PURCHASE MULTIPLE ITEMS IN A SINGLE TRANSACTION from Canadian Sellers!

 

BUYERS ARE BEING FORCED TO PAY FOR THERE PURCHASES ONE ITEM AT A TIME (IF THEY EVEN BOTHER TO COMPLETE THE TRANSACTIONS) like many other CANADIAN SELLERS we are LOSING BUSINESS!!

 

I have been monitoring this issue on the "DISCUSSION BROADS" for weeks NOW, and ebay's response in these "Weekly Board Hours" is less than satisfactory to say the least.

 

Add to that as a SELLER I am overpaying PayPal transaction FEES as my Buyers have to pay for there purchases 1 at a TIME!! (EACH single payment is considered an individual PayPal transaction with it's own "unique" FEES)

 

IT is totally unacceptable to keep hearing the same "TIN CAN" replies from eBay and it's Employees!

 

"We are aware of the issue" "were listening" being your most favourite.

 

So I will be pursuing this matter myself including "in the public domain" if required as YOU ARE COSTING ME SALES with your outdated/incompatible websites.

 

FIX THE ISSUES - instead of giving excuses!! And, EXCUSES are all I see in these WEEKLY BOARD HOURS!!

 

As a SELLER I am obliged to follow all your ebay "RULES & POLICIES"

 

BUT,  you as the "SERVICE PROVIDER" are OBLIGED to supply US with the "ALL the SERVICES" for WHICH WE PAY YOU!!

 

IN MY CASE that is $100.00's of dollars per month I put in ebays POCKETS

 

INSTEAD OF GIVING 'WORK AROUND' ADVICE/SOLUTIONS fix the dam issues BUYERS are GETTING fed up with the "Tech" problems on the ebay sites.

 

How do I know that - Because more & more BUYERS (mine too) are asking/finding ways to complete more and more transactions OFF the ebay sites. They are using FACEBOOK & other Private WEBSITES and many other places to conclude their transactions.

 

Is this what eBay ultimately wants? An OUTDATED site with few SELLERS and FEWER BUYERS??

 

Brett

 

PS - AND I will not even bother to bring up the RIDICULOUS  "Global Shipping Program" ISSUES but I will say that when I contact US SELLERS to ask if they will ship not using the GSP service. I usually more often than not get a coded reply to contact them "off site" to conclude the transactions using their private email address. (I do not reply to those SELLERS) as I prefer to be "TRANSPARENT" in my ebay dealings.

 

 

 

 

Message 2 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Hi Kalvin, may not be around at 1:00 so here is my question:

 

A few months ago I started putting some countries on my do not ship to list in my preferences. I always had purchases from buyers in the UK and Australia and since then they have come to a complete stop. I notice that some sellers listings show where they DO ship to as well as the countries they don't ship to. Is there someplace to show the Ship To countries in a listing? I'm thinking of changing and removing the countries I don't ship to, to see if it makes a difference. I haven't raised my prices or shipping costs so its not that. Coincidence or?

Message 3 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Good afternoon Kalvin and all.

 

I have a question about visibility of our listings.

 

Recently, when announcing the Spring update, eBay stated "if you maintain a low defect rate, you’ll be rewarded with an enhanced position in Best Match search results. In general, the lower your defect rate, the better your position in Best Match."

 

Over the last few years, we have seen similar messages from eBay telling sellers that our listings will get better placement in Best Match if we offer one day handling.... refund policy offering returns within 14 days.... free shipping..... discounts through Markdown Manager... etc ...

 

It is all good.  Sellers doing the right things will be rewarded by better position (higher placement) in Best Match.

 

Does this really apply to us, Canadian sellers?

 

My question is: In all the criteria used to determine better position (higher placement) in Best Match is there not something favouring American sellers (closer proximity) when a search is made by an American buyer?


What can Canadian sellers do to level the playing field?  Or should we simply accept the fact we are dealing with a handicap that cannot and will not be removed?

 

Message 4 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

PS - When I say coded messages - THIS is an actual example of one I got this week in response to a request about Shipping to Canada NOT using the GSP

 

"I do use the gsp for overseas buyers. I found out the hard way that when I sell to canada that they also get stuck for shipping. I offer US shipping for 3.00 no matter how many they buy. When I had a Canadian sale ebay would not let checkout go any other way so it caused me a real mess. I actually sell more stuff direct so just contact me at *********** and add the yahoo.com connected to the last. I can also give a little off. I can't do the 3.00 combined but it will be a lot better. My last order to Canada was for about 5 whimsies and it was about 6.00 US. You can also call
*** *** **** Thanks ***

Sent from my iPad"

 

and, NO I will not report the Seller myself (from the reply you can easily see the FRUSTRATION for this SELLER too)

 

Pretending an issue is NOT an ISSUE will result in only 1 thing eBay losing in the long term.

 

I work very hard to OFFER the best service I can to my BUYERS - too bad that cannot be said of ebay towards it's BUYERS

 

THE CANADIAN SELLERS & BUYERS

Message 5 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@msmaggie060 wrote:

Hi Kalvin, may not be around at 1:00 so here is my question:

 

A few months ago I started putting some countries on my do not ship to list in my preferences. I always had purchases from buyers in the UK and Australia and since then they have come to a complete stop. I notice that some sellers listings show where they DO ship to as well as the countries they don't ship to. Is there someplace to show the Ship To countries in a listing? I'm thinking of changing and removing the countries I don't ship to, to see if it makes a difference. I haven't raised my prices or shipping costs so its not that. Coincidence or?


Hi msmaggie060,

 

There's a Change Country drop down menu in the Shipping and payments tab of each listing which shows all the countries an item is available to. You'll notice the exclusions list just above that menu, which lists countries the seller does not want to ship to. I'm thinking it's just a coincidence at this point, as we haven't had any major changes in the last little while that would affect UK & Australia specifically. I searched for a couple of your listings on both ebay.co.uk & ebay.com.au and they seem to be appearing just fine, so buyers are able to see your items. 

 

 

 

 

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

Message 6 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@pierrelebel wrote:

Good afternoon Kalvin and all.

 

I have a question about visibility of our listings.

 

Recently, when announcing the Spring update, eBay stated "if you maintain a low defect rate, you’ll be rewarded with an enhanced position in Best Match search results. In general, the lower your defect rate, the better your position in Best Match."

 

Over the last few years, we have seen similar messages from eBay telling sellers that our listings will get better placement in Best Match if we offer one day handling.... refund policy offering returns within 14 days.... free shipping..... discounts through Markdown Manager... etc ...

 

It is all good.  Sellers doing the right things will be rewarded by better position (higher placement) in Best Match.

 

Does this really apply to us, Canadian sellers?

 

My question is: In all the criteria used to determine better position (higher placement) in Best Match is there not something favouring American sellers (closer proximity) when a search is made by an American buyer?


What can Canadian sellers do to level the playing field?  Or should we simply accept the fact we are dealing with a handicap that cannot and will not be removed?

 


Hi Pierre, good to see you.

 

There is definitely a distance criteria used by Best Match when evaluating the relevancy of an item for a buyer. However, the search algorithms are very complex and proximity alone cannot rank down Canadian items enough to say that the statement about a lower defect rate gives you better Best Match placement is not true.

 

I won't dispute that there is a tangible handicap for Canadian sellers selling on to US buyers. However it's just the nature of the beast: the US eBay business is much larger than ours and we can't blame them for implementing rules to make their business better, even if that a lot of times plays against our sellers a bit. We continue to work at enhancing the eBay.ca offering and hope that we get to reduce that handicap as much as we can.

Message 7 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Thank you for acknowledging what most Canadian sellers already knew:

 

"the US eBay business is much larger than ours and we can't blame them for implementing rules to make their business better, even if that a lot of times plays against our sellers a bit."

Message 8 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@brettjet38 wrote:

PS - When I say coded messages - THIS is an actual example of one I got this week in response to a request about Shipping to Canada NOT using the GSP

 

"I do use the gsp for overseas buyers. I found out the hard way that when I sell to canada that they also get stuck for shipping. I offer US shipping for 3.00 no matter how many they buy. When I had a Canadian sale ebay would not let checkout go any other way so it caused me a real mess. I actually sell more stuff direct so just contact me at *********** and add the yahoo.com connected to the last. I can also give a little off. I can't do the 3.00 combined but it will be a lot better. My last order to Canada was for about 5 whimsies and it was about 6.00 US. You can also call
*** *** **** Thanks ***

Sent from my iPad"

 

and, NO I will not report the Seller myself (from the reply you can easily see the FRUSTRATION for this SELLER too)

 

Pretending an issue is NOT an ISSUE will result in only 1 thing eBay losing in the long term.

 

I work very hard to OFFER the best service I can to my BUYERS - too bad that cannot be said of ebay towards it's BUYERS

 

THE CANADIAN SELLERS & BUYERS


Hi Brett,

 

While Rodney is answering your other post, I'll give you an answer to this specifically.

 

The GSP team is working on a program enhancement specifically to allow US sellers to ship their GSP items to Canadians without charging the import tax and fees up front. The details of how this is going to work are still being figured out but we should see this implemented this year.

Message 9 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Anonymous
Not applicable

@brettjet38 wrote:

SHOPPING CART - APP - INCOMPATIBILITY ISSUES WITH THE CANADIAN EBAY SITE

 

When is eBay going to rectify/fix/update the US & UK "Shopping Cart" & "app" INCOMPATIBILITY issues to align them with the OUTDATED Canadian eBay website.

 

INTERNATIONAL BUYERS ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO PURCHASE MULTIPLE ITEMS IN A SINGLE TRANSACTION from Canadian Sellers!

 

BUYERS ARE BEING FORCED TO PAY FOR THERE PURCHASES ONE ITEM AT A TIME (IF THEY EVEN BOTHER TO COMPLETE THE TRANSACTIONS) like many other CANADIAN SELLERS we are LOSING BUSINESS!!

 

I have been monitoring this issue on the "DISCUSSION BROADS" for weeks NOW, and ebay's response in these "Weekly Board Hours" is less than satisfactory to say the least.

 

Add to that as a SELLER I am overpaying PayPal transaction FEES as my Buyers have to pay for there purchases 1 at a TIME!! (EACH single payment is considered an individual PayPal transaction with it's own "unique" FEES)

 

IT is totally unacceptable to keep hearing the same "TIN CAN" replies from eBay and it's Employees!

 

"We are aware of the issue" "were listening" being your most favourite.

 

So I will be pursuing this matter myself including "in the public domain" if required as YOU ARE COSTING ME SALES with your outdated/incompatible websites.

 

FIX THE ISSUES - instead of giving excuses!! And, EXCUSES are all I see in these WEEKLY BOARD HOURS!!

 

As a SELLER I am obliged to follow all your ebay "RULES & POLICIES"

 

BUT,  you as the "SERVICE PROVIDER" are OBLIGED to supply US with the "ALL the SERVICES" for WHICH WE PAY YOU!!

 

IN MY CASE that is $100.00's of dollars per month I put in ebays POCKETS

 

INSTEAD OF GIVING 'WORK AROUND' ADVICE/SOLUTIONS fix the dam issues BUYERS are GETTING fed up with the "Tech" problems on the ebay sites.

 

How do I know that - Because more & more BUYERS (mine too) are asking/finding ways to complete more and more transactions OFF the ebay sites. They are using FACEBOOK & other Private WEBSITES and many other places to conclude their transactions.

 

Is this what eBay ultimately wants? An OUTDATED site with few SELLERS and FEWER BUYERS??

 

Brett

 

PS - AND I will not even bother to bring up the RIDICULOUS  "Global Shipping Program" ISSUES but I will say that when I contact US SELLERS to ask if they will ship not using the GSP service. I usually more often than not get a coded reply to contact them "off site" to conclude the transactions using their private email address. (I do not reply to those SELLERS) as I prefer to be "TRANSPARENT" in my ebay dealings.

 

 

 

 


Hi Brettjet38.

Wow, that's a lot of capitals. 😉

 

We do have a workaround for this while we're waiting for a code resolution. I know you said you don't want to hear about workarounds nor about how we're listening and working on a solutions, but I'd like to try to share that info for the benefit of anyone else looking at this post and wondering what this is all about.

 

What Brettjet38 is referring to is a problem that impacts a small group of Canadian sellers. It arose as an unintended side effect of the changes introduced on North American eBay sites last year intended to reduce unpaid items for all sellers.

 

Sellers are impacted only if all of the following statements are true:

 

1. You list on eBay.ca

2. You export to US buyers.

3. You list in fixed price.

4. Using eBay's combined shipping discount tools, you have programmatically set up combined shipping discount rules that involve buyers purchasing from multiple different listings, and then paying for them all together.

 

Sellers are not affected if any of the following statements are true:

 

  • You list on eBay.com.
  • You do not ship outside of Canada. 
  • You have not set up any combined shipping discount rules.
  • You offer combined shipping discounts, but only for buyers purchasing multiple quantity from the same multi-quantity fixed price listing (e.g. on the same listing, save on shipping if you buy more than one item at the same time).
  •  You list only in auction format.
  •  You sell using Fixed Price but are not subject to automatic Immediate Pay (i.e. your item typically sell for more than $1000).

 

Timing of Resolution:

 

Still TBD.

 

Best workaround option in the meantime: 

 

List on eBay.com if you offer combined shipping rules spanning multiple listings. Buyers on eBay.com will be able to combine your items in the shopping cart on eBay.com and realize the automated discount from your shipping rule. We're still in the midst of ramping the shopping cart experience up on eBay.ca, and expect it to be fully deployed to all buyers around the end of March. Buyers on eBay.ca who have a shopping cart can also combine shipping in the cart.

 

Hope that helps. It's a very confusing issue, but with the help of some Canadian sellers, we've been able to isolate exactly what the cause is, and exactly what it will take to resolve completely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 10 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

THANK YOU!

 

I will be monitoring this implementation very closely.

 

I have avoided purchasing from many US BUYERS ever since this "Handling Service/Fee" was implemented by PB it causes nothing but unnecessary  "hassles" for the Canadian Buyer.

 

- Returns

- Refunds

- Duty Refunds

- Handling Fees (PB)

 

The stories I have read from Canadian Buyers & US Sellers on the discussion boards are enough to scare/dissuade any Buyer from shopping in the US period.

 

Brett

 

 

 

 

Message 11 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Thanks for the great questions, everyone! Chat again next week!

~Kalvin
eBay.ca Community Manager

kalvin@ebay.com

Message 12 of 13
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March 19th 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi folks.

 

I'd like to offer up a clarification on the answer we posted earlier on this thread regarding best match ranking factors.

 

Best Match is what we call the default sort order we use for search results on eBay. It is a highly complex, proprietary technology that is governed by a diverse and changing range of factors.

 

The purpose of Best Match is to help buyers find and buy what they’re looking for. Best Match puts our best foot forward in any search – to maximize buyer activity at a marketplace level by always trying to present the most relevant items for any given search query, at great prices, from sellers who have a track record of providing excellent customer service.

 

Distance from buyer is not in itself a factor within Best Match. However, distance does govern sort order when buyers switch from Best Match to a distance-based sort. Interesting to note - distance based sort works across borders. An item from Toronto will show up for a New York buyer ahead of an item from Las Angeles in distance sort, because Toronto is obviously much closer to New York than LA. Distance can also impact search exposure indirectly. For example, we don’t typically show items listed on eBay Germany to Canadian and US buyers.

 

So what are the controllable factors that matter to Canadians? How can Canadian sellers attain the highest possible ranking in Best Match on eBay.ca and eBay.com, and improve their sell-through rate? 

 

The best advice is to think like a buyer. Why would a buyer decide to choose your item over any of the other competing listings? Here are a few of my favourite tips, in no particular order:

 

1. Price plus shipping.

 

The lower the better. Smiley Happy A low price also helps when buyers change to a lowest price + shipping sort order.

 

2. Listing behaviour.

 

If you have the shelf depth to do so, list with Multi Quantity Fixed Price format and use the Good 'Til Cancelled duration whenever possible. Write clear, accurate titles, select the most appropriate category and use items specifics to describe your item. 

 

3. Specified shipping details: Especially Canada and USA.

 

If you haven't specified shipping details for US buyers, your item typically doesn't show up on eBay.com. And if you don't provide shipping details for Canadians, your listing typically will not show on eBay.ca. Whether you list on eBay.ca or eBay.com doesn’t matter, so long as you have added shipping details for both Canadian and US buyers.

 

4. Free shipping.

 

Offer free shipping for US buyers and it helps you on eBay.com. Offer free shipping for Canadians and it helps on eBay.ca. Offer free shipping to both countries if you can, and get the best possible position on both sites.

 

5. Seller standards - US program.

 

Offering great service for buyers is important. Your standing under the US seller standards program can influence your standing in search on eBay.com.

 

6. Seller standards - Global program.

 

Your standing under the Global seller standards program can influence your standing in search on eBay.ca.

 

Note that you can check your standing with regard to both the US and Global programs using your seller dashboard at any time.

 

7. Top Rated Plus.

 

Another way to offer great service is to meet all the requirements for your listings to be Top Rated Plus. On average, listings offering Top Rated Plus levels of service perform better in search on .com. The Top Rated Plus program does not exist on eBay.ca.

 

I hope this information is helpful. Good luck!

Message 13 of 13
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