December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale

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!

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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@pmlinne wrote:

Just wanted to comment that like some other people, I have been experiencing difficulty with the Ebay site.... keep getting the message Ebay not responding.    I've noticed it happening in the past 6 weeks or so.  I have been using two different computers and two different browsers and it doesn't make any difference.   I have tried refreshing the page and logging in and out but the problem keeps happening.   Another website that I used to deal with had similar problems and in the end it got so frustrating that I finally stopped visiting it  (and making purchases).   As a seller it makes me wonder if potential buyers are being discouraged.   As a buyer, it makes me rethink whether or not I really "need" to put in a bid or make a purchase.  


Hi pmlinne,

 

From the other posts with similar reports and my own troubleshooting, it appears that there may be an ad in the current rotation that is creating these loading delays and failures. I've sent the reports to the Ads team who is investigating.

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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@lucitabby wrote:

Good bye Raphael,

Thank you for your patience and assistance over the years.  Also, thanks for your sense of humour in dealing with us sometimes grumpy, cranky sellers.  Our issues and frustrations were never directed at you personally.

 

The very best to you,

Regards,  Judith


Thanks lucitabby for the kind words 🙂 My time spent with you all was tremendously rewarding as well, if there is one thing I've loved doing above all in my almost 9 years at eBay Canada, it's being able to help members one on one, listen to your stories of hardship and successes and sharing the experience with you as well. As I move to my new role, I hope I still get to do that from time to time, and who knows, perhaps there will be the occasional cameo appearance on the Canadian forums too!

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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@pjcdn2005 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@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.


Raphael, years ago there was a glitch that allowed buyers to make a purchase even when the seller was on vacation but I was told a long time ago that the glitch was fixed and I know that I've never had an item purchased while my listings are hidden. Are you certain that information on that page is correct? As I mentioned in that threads, I thought that Griff had once said that the page was incorrect although perhaps I'm thinking of something else.

If that information is correct and some buyers can still make a purchase even when the seller has purposely 'closed' their store, they why can't that problem be fixed?


The current way the Vacation setting works, as I understand, is that items are taken out of Search but not made impossible to purchase. The listings are still live, so any buyer with a direct link to the listing, whether because they had it in their Watch list or saved any other way, can still make the purchase. With hat said, if Griff said otherwise, I would probably stand corrected.

 

I think the way the Vacation setting works may be revisited as eBay moves to the new generation of selling tools, but I don't have more info on that unfortunately.

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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@amcdc79 wrote:

Thank you raphael for helping many of us over the years, all the best in your new position. You will be missed!

 

If you can take all the struggles and issues you have witnessed first hand, or looked into for all the Canadian sellers, and enlighten the folks down south. We will consider losing you as short term pain for long term gain.

 

There really is no one else in ebay, more knowledgeable or qualified to be a spokesman for us. Of course that is only if given a chance, but we can always dream, can't we.

 

Good luck on your next step up the corporate ladder.  


Hi amcdc79,

 

Thank you. 🙂 No matter where I end up in the company, I could never stop being an advocate for Canadian sellers. I'm sure I'll have many opportunities to evangelize on your behalf, and I totally intend to! 

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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@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.


Raphael, years ago there was a glitch that allowed buyers to make a purchase even when the seller was on vacation but I was told a long time ago that the glitch was fixed and I know that I've never had an item purchased while my listings are hidden. Are you certain that information on that page is correct? As I mentioned in that threads, I thought that Griff had once said that the page was incorrect although perhaps I'm thinking of something else.

If that information is correct and some buyers can still make a purchase even when the seller has purposely 'closed' their store, they why can't that problem be fixed?


The current way the Vacation setting works, as I understand, is that items are taken out of Search but not made impossible to purchase. The listings are still live, so any buyer with a direct link to the listing, whether because they had it in their Watch list or saved any other way, can still make the purchase. With hat said, if Griff said otherwise, I would probably stand corrected.

 

I think the way the Vacation setting works may be revisited as eBay moves to the new generation of selling tools, but I don't have more info on that unfortunately.


Butting in again: Rose-dee and I have made a plan to put this to the test in the next week or two. I have Watched two of her items in advance and she is planning to take Vacation with her listings Hidden. When she does so, I will attempt to buy them from my Watch list. We will report back on the results. 

 

We really will miss you. I hope your final day at work is lovely. 

 

Take care and all the best,

Maureen 

Message 45 of 53
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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@mjwl2006 wrote:

I have to lob a serious gripe about Promos into your final foray, sorry.

 

I moved to GTC about six months ago and, as you know, listed in only CAD on ebay.ca for four years. I have also been a strong supporter of CAD and ebay.ca. 

 

Since the moment my 1110 to 1120 listings in CAD shifted from 30-day to exclusively GTC in CAD, I have been overlooked, passed over, not invited to every single listing Promo offered (by invitation only) on ebay.ca. That is nothing at all in the past six months. 

 

Nothing at all. Since I switched to GTC. A dozen promos went out but zero were for me.

 

This means I am paying out-of-pocket extra cash for 120 listings each 30 days above my 1,000 'free' listings per month which are included in my subscription to a Premium Store. I am paying more and getting less than others because I did as was expected: move to CAD and list in GTC. I see now that I am being punished for doing as was asked or recommended.

 

Please tell your Promo people that due to this, I will be cancelling 150 of my GTC at the end of their 30-day marks and returning to 30-day listings for them to be renewed only when free. I was invited to all the Promos I needed when I was running 30-day listings. And my sales performance was better. Ormaybe (gasp) I'll dump ebay.ca for those 120 listings and move them straight to ebay.com where I can be assured they will always be free as part of my Stores subscription.

 

I resent now being ignored for doing as was recommended: listing in CAD with GTC. 

 

I get that these promos are doled out as an incentive as opposed to a reward. Tell the ebay Canada Promo team that I say, "Thanks for nothing." And that I'll wave to them from ebay.com in USD. I've had enough of this waiting around for my turn to get a freebie bone thrown my way. 


Hi Maureen,

 

Sorry that you've not been invited to more promos for the past 6 months.

 

I'm asking the Promo team to look into it, but for now I would like to just rectify a few things:

  • The fact that you list in GTC over any other format can't put you in or out of promos. That's not a data point that we use for determining who gets invite and who doesn't.
  • If you moved your listings to eBay.com, as a Canadian seller there is a risk that your chances to get invited to promos would be lower.
  • There are many promos, especially this year, that were targeted to consumer sellers, which by default would exclude any seller with a Store.
  • The amount of promos being run has significantly decreased this year.

I'm certainly not suggesting that you haven't been missing out, I just wanted to point out some mitigating factors. I'll get back to you once I learn what's going on from the promo team.

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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@theodoreides wrote:

Why do buyers located in Canada looking at my Canadian Dollar listings (created on Ebay.ca)  on Ebay.com (but not for the US dollar items) get a Yellow Warning flag regarding delivery being greater than 2 business days. See picture attached.

This can be quite off putting to potential buyers.

 

Same warning flag occurs for US buyers looking at my US dollar listing (but not for the Canadian dollar items) on Ebay.com.


Hi theodoreides,

 

Managing buyer expectations is very important, especially in a world where free expedited shipping is more and more becoming the norm. If there is a way we can avoid a buyer omitting to read the estimated delivery date and expecting the item sooner than it can arrive, we should definitely do it. This is what you're seeing there.


Ahem. Yet ebay is promising buyers in the UK something that Canada Post says it cannot deliver? As in delivery by Christmas. Deadline Dec. 2 2016 according to CPC yet ebay promised it five calendar days later than that.

 


I would love to see the listing in question.

Message 47 of 53
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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@theodoreides wrote:

Why do buyers located in Canada looking at my Canadian Dollar listings (created on Ebay.ca)  on Ebay.com (but not for the US dollar items) get a Yellow Warning flag regarding delivery being greater than 2 business days. See picture attached.

This can be quite off putting to potential buyers.

 

Same warning flag occurs for US buyers looking at my US dollar listing (but not for the Canadian dollar items) on Ebay.com.


Hi theodoreides,

 

Managing buyer expectations is very important, especially in a world where free expedited shipping is more and more becoming the norm. If there is a way we can avoid a buyer omitting to read the estimated delivery date and expecting the item sooner than it can arrive, we should definitely do it. This is what you're seeing there.


Ahem. Yet ebay is promising buyers in the UK something that Canada Post says it cannot deliver? As in delivery by Christmas. Deadline Dec. 2 2016 according to CPC yet ebay promised it five calendar days later than that.

 


I would love to see the listing in question.


My listing? Or theodoreides? 

 

My example from today is 332007705536. Sold to an Australian this morning. Ebay says 6 to 10 days and the Order Details state Estimated delivery Sunday, Dec 18, 2016 Thursday, Dec 22, 2016 when Canada Post says 11 meaning it will arrive Dec. 26 if Boxing Day isn't recognized in Australia. And Dec. 27 if it is. 

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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@msmaggie060 wrote:

Re the problem with no TRS discount received last month: I do seem to be receiving my discount but my dashboard is still showing "no discount". When is this going to be corrected. Also, I did receive a message last month that my TRS is in jeopardy, but that isn't the case. Is everything messed up? It's very confusing.
I do appreciate all the help you have given us here on the boards and wish you the very best in your new position.

 

Raphael, an addendum to my above message, (sorry, my iPad doesn't like me doing quotes), I just checked again and I don't seem to have rec'd any adjustment yet  to the TRS discount on my latest bill from PayPal. I rec'd no TRS discount at all on my November bill. I did receive an email as others did saying that there was a problem and it would be fixed. Thanks.


Hi msmaggie060,

 

I had someone look into your case, and your TRS discount has been adjusted. For your dashboard, please ensure that you are looking at the right instance (Global or US). In one of these your prospected status for the next evaluation is different than the other. I won't elaborate on that publicly though because your privacy is important to me, but I just want to remind you that you'll get your TRS discount if you make TRS in either program.

 

Please reach out to me privately if you would like to discuss this more.

 

Thanks for the kind words!

Message 49 of 53
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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@mjwl2006 wrote:

I'm afraid I must harp on this Australia issue again.

 

I awoke this morning to another Tracked Pocked order to a buyer in Australia.

 

eBay's erroneously optimistic six to 10 business days tells that buyer their order will arrive in the nick of time on the last business day before Christmas (which is on a weekend this year) while Canada Post with their 11-day delivery standard means it will really get there on December 27, assuming Boxing Day is also a stat holiday.

 

Even if Dec. 26 isn't a stat holiday, the eleventh day is past Christmas.

 

With same-day dispatch, I literally cannot get this into the mail stream fast enough to have it arrive in time to save the day. It will be dispatched within eight hours of payment (2 am local time) and moving with the outbound mail before 5 pm instead of between 5 pm and 8 pm when I can still technically meet my same-day promise to ebay. Meaning it is being sent as fast as is humanly possible for me to do so.

And, due to the failure of Xpresspost to display any meaningful EDD data on the listing page, the buyer has no way of actually knowing that Xpresspost would have been the service to choose since the Deadline for Tracked Packet ship sailed a week ago. 

 

I want to know: When (not if) this buyer leaves me negative feedback because their toy arrived after Christmas, will ebay remove it when I call them to have that done?


Normally, eBay won't remove negative feedback for this reason. However I'd like to look at the order if possible. Can you send me the details privately?

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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@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.


Raphael, years ago there was a glitch that allowed buyers to make a purchase even when the seller was on vacation but I was told a long time ago that the glitch was fixed and I know that I've never had an item purchased while my listings are hidden. Are you certain that information on that page is correct? As I mentioned in that threads, I thought that Griff had once said that the page was incorrect although perhaps I'm thinking of something else.

If that information is correct and some buyers can still make a purchase even when the seller has purposely 'closed' their store, they why can't that problem be fixed?


The current way the Vacation setting works, as I understand, is that items are taken out of Search but not made impossible to purchase. The listings are still live, so any buyer with a direct link to the listing, whether because they had it in their Watch list or saved any other way, can still make the purchase. With hat said, if Griff said otherwise, I would probably stand corrected.

 

I think the way the Vacation setting works may be revisited as eBay moves to the new generation of selling tools, but I don't have more info on that unfortunately.


Butting in again: Rose-dee and I have made a plan to put this to the test in the next week or two. I have Watched two of her items in advance and she is planning to take Vacation with her listings Hidden. When she does so, I will attempt to buy them from my Watch list. We will report back on the results. 

 

We really will miss you. I hope your final day at work is lovely. 

 

Take care and all the best,

Maureen 


Thanks for this, please share the results with me and I'll ensure the info gets to the right place. 🙂 By email though please.

 

I will miss you too!

Message 51 of 53
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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale


@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@mjwl2006 wrote:

raphael@ebay.com wrote:

@theodoreides wrote:

Why do buyers located in Canada looking at my Canadian Dollar listings (created on Ebay.ca)  on Ebay.com (but not for the US dollar items) get a Yellow Warning flag regarding delivery being greater than 2 business days. See picture attached.

This can be quite off putting to potential buyers.

 

Same warning flag occurs for US buyers looking at my US dollar listing (but not for the Canadian dollar items) on Ebay.com.


Hi theodoreides,

 

Managing buyer expectations is very important, especially in a world where free expedited shipping is more and more becoming the norm. If there is a way we can avoid a buyer omitting to read the estimated delivery date and expecting the item sooner than it can arrive, we should definitely do it. This is what you're seeing there.


Ahem. Yet ebay is promising buyers in the UK something that Canada Post says it cannot deliver? As in delivery by Christmas. Deadline Dec. 2 2016 according to CPC yet ebay promised it five calendar days later than that.

 


I would love to see the listing in question.


My listing? Or theodoreides? 

 

My example from today is 332007705536. Sold to an Australian this morning. Ebay says 6 to 10 days and the Order Details state Estimated delivery Sunday, Dec 18, 2016 Thursday, Dec 22, 2016 when Canada Post says 11 meaning it will arrive Dec. 26 if Boxing Day isn't recognized in Australia. And Dec. 27 if it is. 


Thank you. I have relayed this to the shipping team.

Message 52 of 53
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December 7th 2016 Weekly Session - Raphael's Finale

Well, folks, one last time, this concludes our weekly sessions. It has been a great honour to be part of your community for the past few years. As I move to my new role, please know that I am still there to help. Keep my email and don't hesitate to reach out, I'll be happy to figure out a way to help, whether directly or by finding someone else who can help.

 

All the very best to all of you, I hope your sales break records and that we all meet as rich retirees on a beach somewhere someday.

 

Sincerely,

Raphael

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