eBay

raphael@ebay.com · ‎11-26-2014

Good morning everyone,

Welcome to the last Weekly Board Hour for the month of November! Please start posting at your convenience, we will join you at 1 PM Eastern as usual.

rose-dee · ‎11-26-2014

Hi Raphael!

Has there been any further information about the lack of access to the seller performance report? You may recall I asked about this a couple of weeks ago. My understanding from the Spring Seller Update was that sellers would be able to get a detailed breakdown of DSR ratings in order to help better improve problematic areas of service.

When attempting to access that feature, I get this error message (this has been happening for months now). Could you also confirm whether this is perhaps only an issue on eBay.ca, and not .com, i.e. whether Cdn sellers can access this feature via .com? (I haven't tried yet, sorry!) --

pierrelebel · ‎11-26-2014

Good morning.

Once again eBay has a promotion (ending today) offering "free listings" to sellers:

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/2014/1121/ListFree.html

Once again - and quite frankly I am getting tired of repeating the same thing over and over again - I did not receive an email from eBay announcing the promotion nor did I find the message in "My Messages".

We all know this is a very old problem - related to being a "legacy member" (a Canadian who signed on eBay in 1998 before eBay.ca existed) - and nothing has yet been done to correct the situation.

One would think eBay would go out of their way with experienced sellers - those who are still around sixteen years later - instead of ignoring them.

So my question to Rodney today is the same it has been for a very long time: since you know the problem exists, when will it be corrected?

berubegirl · ‎11-26-2014

We reported at the beginning of the month that many potential USA ebay buyer where messaging us stating that they could not purchase our listing and where receiving invalid messages stating we did not ship USA or other idiotic rhetoric regarding shipping.

All of our listings are from templates and all were verified to ensure they displayed valid USA shipping fee. Very time consuming to say the least. Our ebay sales dropped by approx 50% during this period even though we had re-acquired our "top rated seller" status.

So we communicated with ebay rep on phone and absolutely NOTHING was done whatsoever besides being told that everything was fined. Shortly after this phone more messages from multiple USA buyers stating they can not purchase, even returning USA buyers messaging us. At that point we tried a new thread here in discussion forums. Nice and helpful responses from fellow ebay sellers where greatly appreciated but still no help whatsoever from any ebay rep whatsoever.

After many hours of verifying our records we were finally able to spot the weak spot in this antiquated software platform ebay offers to its users. Problem is in the bulk relist tool when using IE. We have since switched to Mozilla and stopped using the bulk relist tool and our sales have returned.

My question is: Why did me and my staff have to waste nealry two days to figure this out when this is clearly a problem with this software used by ebay, And now we will have to pay fees for services we performed...shame on you ebay.

Why during this entire process we were never able to get any technical or any other help whatsoever from any ebay rep?

Also ebay claims they are trying to help their sellers achieve good performance but in the meantime loads our listings with outside competitor's ads for identical product we are trying to sell. Ebay considers this helpful to our potential sales???????

ryanne@ebay.com · ‎11-26-2014

@rose-dee wrote:

Hi Raphael!

Has there been any further information about the lack of access to the seller performance report? You may recall I asked about this a couple of weeks ago. My understanding from the Spring Seller Update was that sellers would be able to get a detailed breakdown of DSR ratings in order to help better improve problematic areas of service.

When attempting to access that feature, I get this error message (this has been happening for months now). Could you also confirm whether this is perhaps only an issue on eBay.ca, and not .com, i.e. whether Cdn sellers can access this feature via .com? (I haven't tried yet, sorry!) --

Hi @rose-dee,

I filed a bug report for that and the link was supposed to be removed. Let me follow up on that.

Thanks,

Ryanne

raphael@ebay.com · ‎11-26-2014

@rose-dee wrote:

Hi Raphael!

Has there been any further information about the lack of access to the seller performance report? You may recall I asked about this a couple of weeks ago. My understanding from the Spring Seller Update was that sellers would be able to get a detailed breakdown of DSR ratings in order to help better improve problematic areas of service.

When attempting to access that feature, I get this error message (this has been happening for months now). Could you also confirm whether this is perhaps only an issue on eBay.ca, and not .com, i.e. whether Cdn sellers can access this feature via .com? (I haven't tried yet, sorry!) --

Hi rose-dee,

When I look at your seller dashboard, I see you have 0 defects for all your transactions over the past 12 months, in both the Global and US programs. Before I go any further, I'd like to congratulate you for this exemplary record!

Regarding the faulty report, can you be more specific as to which link you click to get this error message? I'll happily look into it.

raphael@ebay.com · ‎11-26-2014

@berubegirl wrote:

We reported at the beginning of the month that many potential USA ebay buyer where messaging us stating that they could not purchase our listing and where receiving invalid messages stating we did not ship USA or other idiotic rhetoric regarding shipping.

All of our listings are from templates and all were verified to ensure they displayed valid USA shipping fee. Very time consuming to say the least. Our ebay sales dropped by approx 50% during this period even though we had re-acquired our "top rated seller" status.

So we communicated with ebay rep on phone and absolutely NOTHING was done whatsoever besides being told that everything was fined. Shortly after this phone more messages from multiple USA buyers stating they can not purchase, even returning USA buyers messaging us. At that point we tried a new thread here in discussion forums. Nice and helpful responses from fellow ebay sellers where greatly appreciated but still no help whatsoever from any ebay rep whatsoever.

After many hours of verifying our records we were finally able to spot the weak spot in this antiquated software platform ebay offers to its users. Problem is in the bulk relist tool when using IE. We have since switched to Mozilla and stopped using the bulk relist tool and our sales have returned.

My question is: Why did me and my staff have to waste nealry two days to figure this out when this is clearly a problem with this software used by ebay, And now we will have to pay fees for services we performed...shame on you ebay.

Why during this entire process we were never able to get any technical or any other help whatsoever from any ebay rep?

Also ebay claims they are trying to help their sellers achieve good performance but in the meantime loads our listings with outside competitor's ads for identical product we are trying to sell. Ebay considers this helpful to our potential sales???????

Hello berubegirl,

Sorry you had a bad experience. I'm happy to help you with any specific questions you might have about the issue.

ryanne@ebay.com · ‎11-26-2014

ryanne@ebay.com wrote:

@rose-dee wrote:

Hi Raphael!

Has there been any further information about the lack of access to the seller performance report? You may recall I asked about this a couple of weeks ago. My understanding from the Spring Seller Update was that sellers would be able to get a detailed breakdown of DSR ratings in order to help better improve problematic areas of service.

When attempting to access that feature, I get this error message (this has been happening for months now). Could you also confirm whether this is perhaps only an issue on eBay.ca, and not .com, i.e. whether Cdn sellers can access this feature via .com? (I haven't tried yet, sorry!) --

Hi @rose-dee,

I filed a bug report for that and the link was supposed to be removed. Let me follow up on that.

Thanks,

Ryanne

OK I don't see the offending error anymore. The link now redirects to the current Seller report.

Let me know if you see something different.

Thanks,

Ryanne

msmaggie060 · ‎11-26-2014

Hi Raphael,
I currently have a buyer saying that she has bought a number of items from me but I have no notices of her purchases in ebay or in PayPal. Just wondered if you have ever heard of this happening before?

She previously asked me about combined shipping before purchasing so we have been messaging through ebay. Is it possible for someone else's items to show as mine? We are still trying to figure out what the problem might be.

Anonymous · ‎11-26-2014

@pierrelebel wrote:

Good morning.

Once again eBay has a promotion (ending today) offering "free listings" to sellers:

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/2014/1121/ListFree.html

Once again - and quite frankly I am getting tired of repeating the same thing over and over again - I did not receive an email from eBay announcing the promotion nor did I find the message in "My Messages".

We all know this is a very old problem - related to being a "legacy member" (a Canadian who signed on eBay in 1998 before eBay.ca existed) - and nothing has yet been done to correct the situation.

One would think eBay would go out of their way with experienced sellers - those who are still around sixteen years later - instead of ignoring them.

So my question to Rodney today is the same it has been for a very long time: since you know the problem exists, when will it be corrected?

Hi pierrelebel.

So sorry you didn't get your notification for the promotion!

There is no software fix we can make for this. It's a matter of human error on the part of the folks defining the business requirements and or the database queries involved in setting up the promotion. We catch these when we can, but particuarly when there are fast moving promotions like this, mistakes can get made.

We will continue to try our best to prevent these errors and make sure the right people know to consider Canadian .com legacy users like yourself. People who have been with us for so long deserve to be at the front of the line for promotions, so it is disappointing when these things happen.

We have raised the issue internally and are addressing as best we can. But there is no guarantee that it can't happen again at some point.

In the meantime, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on the promo container in My eBay.

Thanks for pointing this out!

raphael@ebay.com · ‎11-26-2014

@msmaggie060 wrote:
Hi Raphael,
I currently have a buyer saying that she has bought a number of items from me but I have no notices of her purchases in ebay or in PayPal. Just wondered if you have ever heard of this happening before?

She previously asked me about combined shipping before purchasing so we have been messaging through ebay. Is it possible for someone else's items to show as mine? We are still trying to figure out what the problem might be.

Hi msmaggie060,

I have never heard of something like this. Perhaps the buyer has more than one account and is contacting you with the wrong one? Did the buyer provide any item numbers? If you have any data I can look at please send it, preferably in a private email so we keep other people's identity confidential.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-26-2014

Good afternoon,

I've been busy and haven't been reading the boards as much as usual lately but not long ago on the U.S. boards it was stated that when a buyer made a purchase from an international seller, opened a claim for a nad item and was told to return the item there was no mention (to the buyer or seller) of the seller paying return shipping costs even though the MBG stated that was what was to happen.

How are things set up on .ca as far as international sellers? If a Canadian purchases an item from China and then is asked to return it because it is nad, does the seller have to pay return shipping costs and if so, how is it determined which method of shipment the seller has to pay for?

I suppose there is the same question for Canadian sellers. If I have a U.S. or overseas customer wanting to return for a nad, is there a system set up that tells us and the buyer how do arrange for that since obviously someone in Canada can't arrange for a label in another country to be issued?

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-26-2014

@Anonymous wrote:
@pierrelebel wrote:
Good morning.

Once again eBay has a promotion (ending today) offering "free listings" to sellers:

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/2014/1121/ListFree.html

Once again - and quite frankly I am getting tired of repeating the same thing over and over again - I did not receive an email from eBay announcing the promotion nor did I find the message in "My Messages".

We all know this is a very old problem - related to being a "legacy member" (a Canadian who signed on eBay in 1998 before eBay.ca existed) - and nothing has yet been done to correct the situation.

One would think eBay would go out of their way with experienced sellers - those who are still around sixteen years later - instead of ignoring them.

So my question to Rodney today is the same it has been for a very long time: since you know the problem exists, when will it be corrected?

Hi pierrelebel.
So sorry you didn't get your notification for the promotion!

There is no software fix we can make for this. It's a matter of human error on the part of the folks defining the business requirements and or the database queries involved in setting up the promotion. We catch these when we can, but particuarly when there are fast moving promotions like this, mistakes can get made.

We will continue to try our best to prevent these errors and make sure the right people know to consider Canadian .com legacy users like yourself. People who have been with us for so long deserve to be at the front of the line for promotions, so it is disappointing when these things happen.

We have raised the issue internally and are addressing as best we can. But there is no guarantee that it can't happen again at some point.

In the meantime, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on the promo container in My eBay.

Thanks for pointing this out!
A comment on this....So far in 2014, I've been able to participate in about 3/4 of the promotions but have only received 1 or 2 emails and/or ebay messages letting me know about a promo. Since I'm not a legacy member, it has nothing to do with that and it is obviously not just a once in a while thing. Each time there is a promo there are quite a few posts about sellers not receiving the info even though they are able to use it so this seems to be quite a widespread problem.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-26-2014

msmaggie....You probably already thought about this but is it possible that the buyer hasn't purchased the items but just has them in her cart and is not using the request total link in the cart?

msmaggie060 · ‎11-26-2014

Thanks, if we can't sort it out between us I will send some more info to you. There is a slight language problem although she is a long time buyer with a U.S. address (although it could be a forwarding address I guess) but I will keep communicating with her.

raphael@ebay.com · ‎11-26-2014

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

How are things set up on .ca as far as international sellers? If a Canadian purchases an item from China and then is asked to return it because it is nad, does the seller have to pay return shipping costs and if so, how is it determined which method of shipment the seller has to pay for?

Hello pjcdn2005,

In your scenario, as long as the item was purchased on a site covered under eMBG, the seller would be responsible for return shipping and which carrier & shipping service to use would be up to the buyer & seller to decide. If the seller became unresponsive or uncooperative and the parties were unable to come to an agreement as to which carrier to use, the buyer would then use a carrier of their choosing and the seller would be on the hook for the cost.

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I suppose there is the same question for Canadian sellers. If I have a U.S. or overseas customer wanting to return for a nad, is there a system set up that tells us and the buyer how do arrange for that since obviously someone in Canada can't arrange for a label in another country to be issued?

Taking the US buyer scenario as an example, when working to make it right in case of a NAD item being returned, you could actually go to the USPS site yourself and obtain an electronic label which you can mail to the buyer. If the buyer was in a country with no online carriers who offer the same, you would then ask the buyer to just ship the item themselves and refund that cost along with the item cost + original shipping.

We improved our eMBG announcement page to cover most of these scenarios. Check it out here:

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/fallupdate2014/ebaymoneybackguarantee.html

msmaggie060 · ‎11-26-2014

Hi pj, yes already thought of that. The items she mentioned sound similar to mine but not exactly. Mostly Christmas fabrics. I have asked her for item nos. but you know how hard those are for a buyer to find, especially if they need reading glasses! Plus, the broken English doesn't help and she says she won the items and mine are mostly BINs.

Oh well, hopefully it will work out. But I wish that they were my sales!

Anonymous · ‎11-26-2014

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@pierrelebel wrote:

Good morning.

Once again eBay has a promotion (ending today) offering "free listings" to sellers:

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/2014/1121/ListFree.html

Once again - and quite frankly I am getting tired of repeating the same thing over and over again - I did not receive an email from eBay announcing the promotion nor did I find the message in "My Messages".

We all know this is a very old problem - related to being a "legacy member" (a Canadian who signed on eBay in 1998 before eBay.ca existed) - and nothing has yet been done to correct the situation.

One would think eBay would go out of their way with experienced sellers - those who are still around sixteen years later - instead of ignoring them.

So my question to Rodney today is the same it has been for a very long time: since you know the problem exists, when will it be corrected?

Hi pierrelebel.

So sorry you didn't get your notification for the promotion!

There is no software fix we can make for this. It's a matter of human error on the part of the folks defining the business requirements and or the database queries involved in setting up the promotion. We catch these when we can, but particuarly when there are fast moving promotions like this, mistakes can get made.

We will continue to try our best to prevent these errors and make sure the right people know to consider Canadian .com legacy users like yourself. People who have been with us for so long deserve to be at the front of the line for promotions, so it is disappointing when these things happen.

We have raised the issue internally and are addressing as best we can. But there is no guarantee that it can't happen again at some point.

In the meantime, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on the promo container in My eBay.

Thanks for pointing this out!

A comment on this....So far in 2014, I've been able to participate in about 3/4 of the promotions but have only received 1 or 2 emails and/or ebay messages letting me know about a promo. Since I'm not a legacy member, it has nothing to do with that and it is obviously not just a once in a while thing. Each time there is a promo there are quite a few posts about sellers not receiving the info even though they are able to use it so this seems to be quite a widespread problem.

Thanks pjcdn2005.

Some of our promotions are targeted, so are not sent out to all sellers. But it is odd that you aren't getting seemingly ANY notifications. Raphael just checked and you are opted in to receiving marketing messages from eBay, so this isn't a permissions issue.

Literally only 2 emails regarding promotions in calendar 2014?