October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Hello Canadian eBayers,

 

Welcome to our weekly chat. Please start posting at your convenience, we will join you at 1 pm Eastern.

Message 1 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

The free listing promotion starting today is not working.  The listings are coming out of my monthly allotment.

Message 2 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

This is more of an observation than a question, but many of us sellers have noticed that the "3x-free Relist" feature that was available for the past few weeks has suddenly been changed to "Relist 1 time for free".  Can you comment on why this was done?  Do you know why sellers weren't informed?  

 

Many of us found out by accident when revising or listing new items.  It's very discouraging, to say the least, being given a feature that is actually helpful and useful, and then having it clawed back a few weeks or months later.  If this was a pilot project of some kind, why not tell us in advance?  

 

Incidentally, to echo what the previous poster mentioned, the current promo didn't work for me either when I tested relisting an auction item.  It appeared on my monthly count, not on the promo count. 

Message 3 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Regarding the problem with today's listing promotion, I've just tried listing 3 items (all 7 day auction listings, with no upgrades).  All 3 have been added to my monthly counter, none to the promo counter.  

 

Here is one of the items if it helps to take a look: 171502680708

Message 4 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

 

 

Message 5 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Doing a search on eBay.com……. This does not happen on eBay.ca… yet…..

 

The search does not show all categories  with listings ... in the left navigation column

 

Examples…  Doing a search for the cities …..Winnipeg, Toronto, Edmonton,  or Fenton as in Fenton glass…. No category for books is shown…. In the left navigation column

 

And then when I do a search for Winnipeg Jets….  No category for  books shows up in the left navigation column…..

 

How is a potential buyer going to find books about the Winnipeg Jets?  Or those other searches.    My selling category is books….Subject History

 

The search on eBay.com is being selective in not reporting certain categories  that used to be shown in a search… in the left navigation column…

 

The understanding was that certain listings may not be shown in a search

 

However,  now  there are certain categories not being shown… in that navigation column

 

Trying to streamline the search results with whole categories of items not being shown in a listing of search results …..creates a void for certain sellers….who focus on one category of item ….such as books…..across eBay 

 

The search protocol is making a choice for a potential buyer…..  However, in so doing  the search very deliberately ignores certain categories  of listings….categories which can make or break a seller…

 

Whole categories of items appear to be hidden from a potential buyer……Why?

 

The search used to show all categories with listings in the left navigation column… and the potential buyer chooses where to go… Why did this change?

 

I sell books in support of many non-book categories… and it now appears that potential buyers may not find my listings..    A very specific  example is that Winnipeg Jets book…

 

Message 6 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@pauline5473 wrote:

The free listing promotion starting today is not working.  The listings are coming out of my monthly allotment.


hi pauline5473,

 

We're investigating on what is happening with this promo. I'll update this post as soon as we figure this out. Rose-dee I'm looking at your account as well for the same issue.

 

Thanks for your patience.

Message 7 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

I also was charged special duration fees for 10 day auctions, and the auctions counted against my monthly free listing allotment instead of counting as part of the promotion.

 

This morning I talked to eBay CS who took over 27 minutes to look into this, including wondering if because these items had been listed in the past, they did not qualify as "new listings created for the promotion".  Finally, I was told I qualified (as I already knew, having received both emails and eBay Messages, as well as having the promo show up on my Summary page).  And I was told the entire promotion was not working for .ca, and that I would be credited the fees and my selling accounts would be "fixed".  The CS rep told me she would be opening a "ticket" for the technical dep't for my eBay sellilng accounts, and she would be calling me back to confirm when my selling accounts would accept listings for the promotion.  ???? My account has still not been credited (in the past, credits have shown up even as I spoke to CS reps), and I am left in limbo.  How frustrating to be wondering...Can I take advantage of this promotion?...Do I need to wait until someone from eBay calls me back?...How do I plan my workday?

 

I do question the method and training of this eBay CS, as she seems to have added an unnecessary layer of complexity to the situation, and to be looking for an individual fix when it appears to be a problem across the .ca site.  When will eBay have a fix for this?

Message 8 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@rose-dee wrote:

This is more of an observation than a question, but many of us sellers have noticed that the "3x-free Relist" feature that was available for the past few weeks has suddenly been changed to "Relist 1 time for free".  Can you comment on why this was done?  Do you know why sellers weren't informed?  

 

Many of us found out by accident when revising or listing new items.  It's very discouraging, to say the least, being given a feature that is actually helpful and useful, and then having it clawed back a few weeks or months later.  If this was a pilot project of some kind, why not tell us in advance?  

 

Incidentally, to echo what the previous poster mentioned, the current promo didn't work for me either when I tested relisting an auction item.  It appeared on my monthly count, not on the promo count. 


The reason we had to make changes to the Auto Relist feature is, simply put, to make it work better. While it may look like reducing the amount of times an item gets relisted for free might seem counter productive to that goal, one should also consider that if an item is unsuccessful after 2 consecutive runs, there is little chance that it will sell with an additional 2 runs (we have data to prove this, without sharing numbers I can tell you we know for sure that if an item doesn't sell with 2 tries, it's highly unlikely it will sell unless something is changed in the offer). At this point a seller should consider alternate listing formats and approaches, such as a BIN listing with best offer for example, and if that still isn't successful, think about a lower price. These further options are things we are looking at building into the AR feature but we are still far from that at this time.

 

Another thing I'd like to point out here is that the other benefit we gain from reducing from 3 automatic relists to 1 are much less diluted search results. No one gains from having search results flooded with less desirable items (which we know to be less desirable if they need 4 runs to actually sell). This forces sellers to be more creative in how they offer their items, for example with the options I described earlier.

 

Lastly, sorry if we didn't announce such changes to the AR feature, it's a decision that was implemented quickly.

Message 9 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

I recently had to report a buyer who purchased new items more than once, then each time left glowing Positive feedback with less than 3 for description DSRs.

 

According to the ebay Feedback Protection policies:

Buyers are not allowed to manipulate a Seller's Feedback score or detailed seller ratings through things like a combination of repeat purchases and low DSR's.

 

I reported and received an email from ebay that said "based on your report you are advised to contact Customer Support." I have since called and talked to someone in Customer Service and was told that they would be starting an investigation on the buyer.

 

Do you know if this takes a long time to investigate? How do I know if I need to call back? Have I done all I can or is there anything else I should do to have this corrected?

Message 10 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Posting an issue for someone else topic in Site Issues

 

Here is their topic first post

 

Oct. 14 2014 : New "Order Detail" doesn't show phone number anymore !

 

Hello !

I always create my customers with phone number in my "In House" software + I ship 95% of the time with UPS and they require a phone number.

What's up with the new "Order Detail" page ?

 

More issues in the topic link below

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Site-Issues/Oct-14-2014-New-quot-Order-Detail-quot-doesn-t-show-phone-nu...

 

 

Message 11 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@cumos55 wrote:

Doing a search on eBay.com……. This does not happen on eBay.ca… yet…..

 

The search does not show all categories  with listings ... in the left navigation column

 

Examples…  Doing a search for the cities …..Winnipeg, Toronto, Edmonton,  or Fenton as in Fenton glass…. No category for books is shown…. In the left navigation column

 

And then when I do a search for Winnipeg Jets….  No category for  books shows up in the left navigation column…..

 

How is a potential buyer going to find books about the Winnipeg Jets?  Or those other searches.    My selling category is books….Subject History

 

The search on eBay.com is being selective in not reporting certain categories  that used to be shown in a search… in the left navigation column…

 

The understanding was that certain listings may not be shown in a search

 

However,  now  there are certain categories not being shown… in that navigation column

 

Trying to streamline the search results with whole categories of items not being shown in a listing of search results …..creates a void for certain sellers….who focus on one category of item ….such as books…..across eBay 

 

The search protocol is making a choice for a potential buyer…..  However, in so doing  the search very deliberately ignores certain categories  of listings….categories which can make or break a seller…

 

Whole categories of items appear to be hidden from a potential buyer……Why?

 

The search used to show all categories with listings in the left navigation column… and the potential buyer chooses where to go… Why did this change?

 

I sell books in support of many non-book categories… and it now appears that potential buyers may not find my listings..    A very specific  example is that Winnipeg Jets book…

 


Hi cumos55.

 

We have been collapsing the available category filters and showing the most populated and popular subset for some time. There is a “more” link which buyers can click on to see additional categories.Why do we do this? We started doing this because it tested positively in increasing overall purchases. More sales = we all win, right?

 

For what it's worth, even though not all the category refinements are shown by default in the left navigation bar, all items that match a search query still show up in the actual search results, so a buyer should never miss out on the items they are looking for.

Message 12 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:

I also was charged special duration fees for 10 day auctions, and the auctions counted against my monthly free listing allotment instead of counting as part of the promotion.

 

This morning I talked to eBay CS who took over 27 minutes to look into this, including wondering if because these items had been listed in the past, they did not qualify as "new listings created for the promotion".  Finally, I was told I qualified (as I already knew, having received both emails and eBay Messages, as well as having the promo show up on my Summary page).  And I was told the entire promotion was not working for .ca, and that I would be credited the fees and my selling accounts would be "fixed".  The CS rep told me she would be opening a "ticket" for the technical dep't for my eBay sellilng accounts, and she would be calling me back to confirm when my selling accounts would accept listings for the promotion.  ???? My account has still not been credited (in the past, credits have shown up even as I spoke to CS reps), and I am left in limbo.  How frustrating to be wondering...Can I take advantage of this promotion?...Do I need to wait until someone from eBay calls me back?...How do I plan my workday?

 

I do question the method and training of this eBay CS, as she seems to have added an unnecessary layer of complexity to the situation, and to be looking for an individual fix when it appears to be a problem across the .ca site.  When will eBay have a fix for this?


Hello maggiebvintage2010,

 

As I said earlier in the thread, we're investigating for possible issues with the promo, specifically why the listings don't seem to go towards the promo listings count.

 

With that said, please note that the promo does not cover listing upgrade fees such as special duration (10 days) fees. Those are charged despite the promo giving you the listing for free.

 

CORRECTION: I was wrong about the 10 day fee still being charged. This one should also be covered by the promo. As stated before we will investigate and make the necessary adjustments on sellers' invoices.

Message 13 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@msmaggie060 wrote:

I recently had to report a buyer who purchased new items more than once, then each time left glowing Positive feedback with less than 3 for description DSRs.

 

According to the ebay Feedback Protection policies:

Buyers are not allowed to manipulate a Seller's Feedback score or detailed seller ratings through things like a combination of repeat purchases and low DSR's.

 

I reported and received an email from ebay that said "based on your report you are advised to contact Customer Support." I have since called and talked to someone in Customer Service and was told that they would be starting an investigation on the buyer.

 

Do you know if this takes a long time to investigate? How do I know if I need to call back? Have I done all I can or is there anything else I should do to have this corrected?


Hello msmaggie060,

 

Please note that CS isn't allowed, under the eBay User Privacy Notice, to discuss details from another user's account with you. Hence, after you reported the buyer, you would not be told what the outcome of the CS investigation is and what action was taken.

 

When it comes to DSR removal, that would be handled separately, e.g. if the DSRs qualify for removal, they would be. That is all I can say without seeing the case details. If you would like to discuss the more private aspects of your case, please contact me via email.

Message 14 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

The ...See More     action

 

Shows more topics with a category... but does not show more categories.

 

The missing categories do not show up.

 

The end result will be sellers putting items in categories  where they do not belong....  in order to get exposure in a search.

 

----------------------------------------------------

 

See More not mean See More categories of results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 15 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

Corrections....

 

See More ......does not mean see the missing categories.

Message 16 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@pocomocomputing wrote:

Posting an issue for someone else topic in Site Issues

 

Here is their topic first post

 

Oct. 14 2014 : New "Order Detail" doesn't show phone number anymore !

 

Hello !

I always create my customers with phone number in my "In House" software + I ship 95% of the time with UPS and they require a phone number.

What's up with the new "Order Detail" page ?

 

More issues in the topic link below

 

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Site-Issues/Oct-14-2014-New-quot-Order-Detail-quot-doesn-t-show-phone-nu...

 

 


Hello pocomocomputing,

 

I'm not part of the team that drives buyer-side changes, but if I look at the big picture and recent events, I'm willing to bet that taking the buyer's phone number away from the Order Details page is meant to further safeguard our users' privacy.

 

The only answer I have to this is that if a seller requires a buyer's phone number for the shipping service they use, they should ask the buyer for it.

Message 17 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour


@cumos55 wrote:

Corrections....

 

See More ......does not mean see the missing categories.


It's definitely working differently on eBay.com, as you point out. Since we mainly focus on the CA site, this isn't something we are familiar with unfortunately, so it's hard to comment. We have engaged with our US counterparts to make sure everything is working as designed.

Message 18 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

What happens on .com... usually ends up on .ca

 

Do a test search for Fenton  on eBay.com  and see what happens...

 

 

 

Message 19 of 20
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October 15th, 2014 Weekly Board Hour

This concludes our weekly chat for today. Thanks everyone for joining and see you next week!

Message 20 of 20
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