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Hello everyone,
Welcome to my last Canadian weekly chat! It's a bit bitter sweet for me, as I really loved helping you all as much as possible.
Obviously I won't be able to close all the items below before I move to my new role, but know that I have passed the list to a colleague who will keep track of these and hopefully see them all resolved. You may not get a successor on the boards right away, but that time will come for sure, as more Canadian employees will come chat with you very soon.
Open issues:
- Review Economy Intl Shipping EDDs for Canadian items listed on eBay.com
- Browse pages and Search pages showing different results for same category
- "Apply my Combined Shipping Discounts" option unavailable on Revise
- Incomplete ID History
- Some Search pages show watchers, some don't
- Items missing from combined invoice
- Request Total unavailable
Updates:
- Link to Community located on Feedback page points to eBay.com - Global issue. There is a team on this and a fix is coming late 2016 or early 2017.
- Search results page shows shipping costs inconsistent with what's on the item pages - Shipping team working to fix
- Shipping Calculator returning erroneous rates - Report sent to Pitney Bowes and Canada Post for investigation
- Selling limits live items count discrepancy - We are investigating further.
- Missing Tracked Packet destinations - still no update from PayPal and Pitney Bowes
- Combined shipping offers not shown to international buyers - ticket open
If anything is missing, please let me know. Thanks!
Oh dear, this is a sad day, you'll be missed Raphael. I want to personally thank you for having patiently run the gauntlet on this board for years, and for almost always having an answer (or at least a suggestion). I'm sure all of us who come here wish you the very best in your future!
OK, and now forgive me for pouncing on you first thing -- I've been saving these questions up. 
*********************************************
I have two very worrisome issues to ask about, both of which can result in unfair defects for unsuspecting sellers. I’ll put these issues in 2 separate posts for clarity.
First, some Canadian sellers (including me) have reported recently that the eBay delivery estimates for Australia, when using “Economy International Shipping from Outside the U.S.”, listing on .com, are being shown as “8 to 16 days”. I believe this was not the case previously. Here is the link to the thread if you’re interested: http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Economy-International-Shipping-8-16-days-again/m-p/359092...
Few of us can count on anything arriving in Australia within 16 days. For those of us who rely on Light Packet (or Small Packet) International without tracking, this is practically a defect guarantee.
Why should “Economy” shipping on .com be shown with a delivery time this short? You’ll recall recently we had recently had a problem with “Economy” shipping to the U.S., which has apparently been fixed. Could you possibly have someone look into this new issue urgently and let Canadian sellers know if this can be, or has been, fixed? Otherwise many of us may have to stop shipping to Australia.
Since I still list some items on ca, I was able to check those as well. I notice that eBay’s delivery estimate for Canada Post Small/Light Packets Air is displayed on some of my .ca listings as 7 to 14 days or 8-15 days – no better than the U.S. “Economy” international shipping estimate, considering that we Canadian sellers will be using the same service to Australia (Light/Small Packet Int’l), regardless of where we list.
For an example, check my listing #162067531226 (a .com listing) and 161472143150 (a .ca listing) for delivery times to Australia. The delivery times are displayed both up front on the listings and under the “Shipping” tab.
Below is my summary of eBay delivery times, based on spot-checks of a few of my listings. Why New Zealand gets the “Varies for items shipped from an international location”, but Australia gets an unreaslitically short time frame, makes no sense, nor does it seem logical to have a specific time frame for Germany and Norway and none for, say, Denmark. Why not just leave the "Varies..." message for all international economy destinations?
Even where eBay has actually specified times for European destinations, they are too short, in my experience. In fact, it certainly looks from this table as if eBay is just taking the Light/Small Packet estimates from .ca, adding a day or two and using them for "Economy outside U.S." on .com.
It would at least be fairer to use these estimates only for “Standard outside U.S.” on .com.
Destination | Listing on .ca with “Light/Small Pkt” shipping | Listing on .com with “Economy Int’l” shipping |
Australia | 7-14 days | 8-16 days |
New Zealand | “Varies…” | “Varies…” |
Hong Kong | “Varies…” | “Varies…” |
France | 7-14 days | 7-14 days |
Denmark | “Varies…” | “Varies…” |
Germany | 6-21 days | 6-19 days |
Norway | 6-12 days | 7-17 days |
U.K. | 6-14 days | 6-14 days |
Adieu from Winterpeg.
March of 1966, Winnipeg from Burton Cummings Facebook newsfeed.
I don't think it's Burton Cummings himself. Guess Who? I have no idea.
@rose-dee wrote:
Oh dear, this is a sad day, you'll be missed Raphael. I want to personally thank you for having patiently run the gauntlet on this board for years, and for almost always having an answer (or at least a suggestion). I'm sure all of us who come here wish you the very best in your future!
OK, and now forgive me for pouncing on you first thing -- I've been saving these questions up.
*********************************************
I have two very worrisome issues to ask about, both of which can result in unfair defects for unsuspecting sellers. I’ll put these issues in 2 separate posts for clarity.
First, some Canadian sellers (including me) have reported recently that the eBay delivery estimates for Australia, when using “Economy International Shipping from Outside the U.S.”, listing on .com, are being shown as “8 to 16 days”. I believe this was not the case previously. Here is the link to the thread if you’re interested: http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Economy-International-Shipping-8-16-days-again/m-p/359092...
Few of us can count on anything arriving in Australia within 16 days. For those of us who rely on Light Packet (or Small Packet) International without tracking, this is practically a defect guarantee.
Why should “Economy” shipping on .com be shown with a delivery time this short? You’ll recall recently we had recently had a problem with “Economy” shipping to the U.S., which has apparently been fixed. Could you possibly have someone look into this new issue urgently and let Canadian sellers know if this can be, or has been, fixed? Otherwise many of us may have to stop shipping to Australia.
Since I still list some items on ca, I was able to check those as well. I notice that eBay’s delivery estimate for Canada Post Small/Light Packets Air is displayed on some of my .ca listings as 7 to 14 days or 8-15 days – no better than the U.S. “Economy” international shipping estimate, considering that we Canadian sellers will be using the same service to Australia (Light/Small Packet Int’l), regardless of where we list.
For an example, check my listing #162067531226 (a .com listing) and 161472143150 (a .ca listing) for delivery times to Australia. The delivery times are displayed both up front on the listings and under the “Shipping” tab.
Below is my summary of eBay delivery times, based on spot-checks of a few of my listings. Why New Zealand gets the “Varies for items shipped from an international location”, but Australia gets an unreaslitically short time frame, makes no sense, nor does it seem logical to have a specific time frame for Germany and Norway and none for, say, Denmark. Why not just leave the "Varies..." message for all international economy destinations?
Even where eBay has actually specified times for European destinations, they are too short, in my experience. In fact, it certainly looks from this table as if eBay is just taking the Light/Small Packet estimates from .ca, adding a day or two and using them for "Economy outside U.S." on .com.
It would at least be fairer to use these estimates only for “Standard outside U.S.” on .com.
Destination
Listing on .ca with “Light/Small Pkt” shipping
Listing on .com with “Economy Int’l” shipping
Australia
7-14 days
8-16 days
New Zealand
“Varies…”
“Varies…”
Hong Kong
“Varies…”
“Varies…”
France
7-14 days
7-14 days
Denmark
“Varies…”
“Varies…”
Germany
6-21 days
6-19 days
Norway
6-12 days
7-17 days
U.K.
6-14 days
6-14 days
Hi rose-dee,
I'll miss you all too! And it has been my pleasure to help.
Regarding the EDDs attached to listings created on eBay.com, I just want to reiterate that generic services such as "Economy Intl Shipping" have EDDs set with US sellers in mind (as they should). There may be some wiggle to adjust the estimated dates if the system can differentiate between US and non-US items for that particular service, something I'm not sure of, so I'll ask the team to look into it. Forgive me in advance if I can,t get a solid response in time to be able to communicate it back to you, but I'll it on the master list so that it doesn't fall through the cracks.
Cheers, from Annapolis Royal, NS (I'll stop pestering you now 
)
(Looking out over the bay from Annapolis Royal to Granville Ferry actually).
Raphael, thank you for everything, you will definitely be missed.
Just a note on the generic economy and standard delivery times listed on .com. They might want to revisit some counties as some of them just don't sound realistic, even for American sellers. For example, with a one day handling time Portugal has an estimate of 4-9 bus days for standard shipping. Denmark has a 3-8 bus day estimate. I find it difficult to believe that either country would have more than a minuscule chance of receiving a package in that short of time. Hong Kong gives a maximum of 9 Days delivery with one day handling which also seems a hit short. If I change my listings to show that I am using USPS Priority International, most countries show up at 7-11 bus days so it seems odd that ant standard times given are less than that.
Also, the delivery times for standard and economy are often the same or just a couple of days difference. Perhaps there should be more leeway there? I have to run but to show what I am referring to I've posted a list that poco did in February based on one day handling. Please pass it along if you can..now need to reply. Thanks again!
@rose-dee wrote:
The second issue is that a number of sellers are reporting that even when placing their stores on “Vacation” mode with “hidden” specified, those hidden listings are ending up selling, causing defects (or potential defects) due to the seller’s inability to deliver within eBay’s time frames.
Here is the thread in which this was brought up: http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/To-close-store-or-not/m-p/358370#U358370
So the question is this: Are “hidden” listings supposed to be able to be sold? If so, what is the point of having this feature, if it can’t protect a seller against sales during a vacation period?
Are buyers able to purchase items on their watch lists even if “hidden” by the seller during a store vacation? Or is this some sort of temporary bug that should/can be fixed?
A related question -- will eBay CS remove defects caused by this issue (whether a glitch or deliberate), since the whole point of the "hidden" feature is, I presume, to protect sellers against unwanted sales during an absence.
As you can imagine, this is a serious concern for sellers, particularly at this time of year.
The Vacation setting is meant to help a seller manage their business if they are away for a while, but it doesn't completely halt sales. For starters, the setting only affects Fixed Price listings (Auctions continue running as normal) and any buyer who either made a purchase on a multi-quantity listing or put an item on their watch list will still be able to purchase from these listings. Here are all the details on how the Stores vacation setting works: http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/placing-store-vacation.html
If a seller goes away for long enough that they can't continue running their business even with the vacation setting turned on, they should consider ending all their listings or zeroing out their inventory. That's the only way to ensure that no sales are made while they are away.
Hi Maureen,
@mjwl2006 wrote:
It is indeed a sad day for us as Canadian ebay sellers. You will be missed, but I am certain you won't miss the Canadian winters! Best of luck to you as you move forward in your career. Thank you for your assistance and advice through the years.
My immense pleasure! Thank you.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
I won't barrage you with problems today but I wanted to double check what is happening with the ebay Calculated Shipping tool and that problem with Tracked Packet being sold to buyers when the item exceeds the dimensional limit. Is that what you are referring to as, "Shipping Calculator returning erroneous rates - Report sent to Pitney Bowes and Canada Post for investigation" in your post?
Yes, that's the one. There was a change of staff at PB which has been slowing me down in finding who I need to address this. Hopefully I have news soon.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
And on the topic of shipping, I have some concerns about the Estimated Delivery Date being displayed for Tracked Packet to Australian buyers. Canada Post Corporation says it takes 11 business days as the standard for service by Canada Post Tracked Packet to Australia but ebay is promising a delivery estimate of six to ten business days. So, even at its longest number of delivery days, it's still too short to meet what Canada Post says it will, in reality, take. At Christmas, this can mean life and death to parents shopping for toys.
For tracked services like Tracked Packet usually have very sharp EDDs because eBay knows when they actually get delivered. Canada Post says it may take up to 11 days to ship via that service to Australia, but according to our own tracking data, the highest percentage of items on that route get there in 10 days. Also remember that the seller's handling time will be added to the EDD seen by the buyer before they purchase.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Also, I like to see the tag 'You'll Get This by Christmas' on listings from Canadian sellers on ebay.ca to Canadian buyers and even American ones BUT it's inappropriate to show that to buyers in the UK or overseas. That ship has sailed. Canada Post says the Holiday 2016 deadline for International Tracked Packet was Dec. 2. It's five days past that now. This is going to lead to some major problems for buyers and sellers. Why did ebay decide to promise buyers something that the carrier publicly stated it cannot deliver? Surely ebay cannot claim to know how long it takes Canada Post to deliver things better than Canada Post knows it takes to deliver things?
Again, as a toy seller at Christmas, this causes me no small worry. All my listings state the CPC recommendations for Holiday Deadlines in my Payment Instructions while ebay is directly contradicting me with this tag. Like I said, that tag is nice to see displayed for Canadian buyers from Canadian sellers on ebay.ca. Even Americans buyers because they are still within the CPC blessed zone. Not great to make that same promise made to people overseas at this time. Especially buyers in Australia that are getting incorrect EDDs from ebay to begin with. If even CPC says it takes 11 business days to get to Australia from Canada, there's no reason to think it will take less, and certainly not five fewer days.
The "get this before Christmas" should only be seen by buyers if the item can actually make it based on the item location, the buyer's default shipping address and the shipping services selected. In 3 years doing this, I haven't really seen this fail, but if there is a specific item for me to look at to verify what I'm saying, I'm happy to do so.
@pr*emerald wrote:
Hello all, I've never participated in a chat session but was referred by another member to join in today, because I'm experiencing site issues only for eBay, not for any other internet site
Issues are constant freezing, every time I'm on the site, it gets worse the longer I'm on. I've notice it's only happening on pages that have ads, never on community pages (like this one) or help pages. However, as soon as I return to MyeBay or start searching, the freezing starts up. I often get a message on my page that an issue with eBay site has caused the page to close and reopen, or I'm getting a message that the page has closed due to a long running script (ad likely). It's gotten to the point where I can't be bothered to be on ebay any longer.
I'm using IE engine and this happens on several different computers, with different providers. I'm not really interested in switching search engines, others have commented they are experiencing the same on firefox as well, not sure about googlechrome. As soon as I close ebay, issues vanish and I can continue on with whatever other site I'm on, issues are soley with ebay.
hopefully this issue can be resolved
Seems you will be missed Raphael, good luck with your new endeavors. cheers
Hi pr*emerald,
Welcome to the weekly session! Too bad it's the last one for a while 🙂
The first thing I'd want to test out is whether the loading delays are caused by ads or not. I would try installing an ad blocker to your browser and see if that solves the problem. If it does, we will know an ad is the problem, and if the page still freezes, we will know it isn't an ad and to look elsewhere.
Next, I'd recommend clearing your cache and cookies and trying again with IE. If that's inconclusive, I'd want to try out different browsers.
Please let me know how that goes!
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