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Hello everyone,
Welcome to our last weekly session for November. Please go ahead and start posting, I'll be here for most of the day.
Here are the issues I am currently tracking:
- Gallery pictures missing from live listings (jt-libra)
- UPC codes suddenly not recognized on live listings (mjwl2006)
And the issues for which I have had news:
- SYI form stripping weight value when switching currency - The team is working to figure out a solution to this.
- Full shipping FVF charged on combined orders with discounted shipping (dutchman48) - The billing team is investigating on this.
- SYI preventing relist and Sell Similar if the original listing had a non compliant photo (pierrelebel) - problem has been identified and work has begun.
@dmil8030 wrote:
Hello 'raphael',
We often hear on the boards here how eBay owns Kijiji, - indeed, there are endless posts from members expounding
the virtues of Kijiji (and other online sites, too, for the matter of that.)
Yet some others clearly believe that any mention of Kijiji is an unpardonable breach of board etiquette.
How, though, is anyone to imagine that praising the utility of Kijiji (where better to get a cast iron stove or an upright
Bell piano?) when an eBay employee posts an invitation to not only discuss the site, but to use Kijiji:
"We encourage you to visit the Kijiji site", we are told by this representative of eBay. Now wouldn't that be
tantamount to "Enabling, encouraging, or instructing others to leave eBay so that they can sell, buy, or participate on sites
other than eBay that includes the sale of merchandise, auction-style listings, or services, such as off-eBay forums, off-eBay
groups, and other sit/es" ?
It's one thing if an ordinary schmuck such as myself unknowingly makes such an egregious gaffe but for an eBay employee
to so flagrantly violate policy is simply unforgivable, a most inexcusable offense for which only complete and utter
dismissal would be appropriate.
You see, based on the 'encouraging' and 'instructing' by that eBay representative suggesting we should all feel free to
"post a classified" on Kijiji, I would think imparting knowledge of Kijiji would be perfectly acceptable. Even welcome,
for pick-up items like speed boats.
EBay is the best ever for mail order parcel/package items. But large-sized pick-up items? Not so much. I used Kijiji
last year to sell a large upright freezer. Or would folks here truly be daft enough to suppose I ought to have listed it
on eBay and 'mailed' it to someone?
(I'm not even going to mention the endless posts by members applauding - and naming - other online shopping sites).
But for future reference, because clearly everyone on the boards (me especially) needs to be informed, - both members
and moderators alike,- and in light of the enthusiastic encouragement from eBay itself as demonstrated in the above link,
. . . is it permissible to talk favourably about using Kijiji?
Hello 'dmil8030',
I don't really meddle in board moderation issues. We have a 3rd party partner contracted for this task. They are instructed to apply the board usage policy as it is written, and members are expected to follow their guidelines.
As the policy states, it's not allowed to engage in discussions that aim to drive traffic or business off of eBay, no matter who owns the other company mentioned.
As for the comments posted by the eBay employee which you linked to, that is a post from August 2005 which aimed to announce the launch of Kijiji. I don't think it's fair to compare that to a member telling other eBay sellers how much success they have enjoyed on another platform.
@rose-dee wrote:
One more question, please.
I currently have 2 active promos running on .ca. One, which was issued earlier, is for 1,000 free listings (no listing fees). The other, which is a bit more recent, and which represents a far larger potential savings for me, is for a $10 cap on Final Value Fees on 100 listings. Here's the link:
http://pages.ebay.ca/promo/2015/1122/BlackFriday.html
Can you tell me how I can be sure that an item I list will be counted under the FVF promo?
I tried (as a test) to list an item using "Sell Similar", but it didn't show up on that FVF promo counter. I'm wondering if it's necessary not only to create a brand new listing, but also to have used up all 1,000 of the earlier promo before the counter begins on the FVF promo?
I guess that's really 3 questions in 1...
The counter on the free listings promo will go down every time you list an eligible item but the counter on the FVF promo won't go down until items sell and the FVF is applied.
@rose-dee wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
Hi Maureen,
As I mentioned before, we have protected sellers in the past when large scale events have disrupted the eBay business. Such palliative action is decided upon on a case by case basis, so it's hard for me to promise anything ahead of time.
Raphael, are any such accommodations being made by eBay at the moment to allow for the obvious delays that will be involved in shipping to western Europe? Belgium and France are virtually shut down, and delays and backlogs are inevitable as border services step up the monitoring of incoming parcels and airports and train stations are shut down or delayed.
You'll recall eBay put up a banner on the FB pages after Hurricane Sandy warning buyers of shipping delays to the east coast. Will it be doing the same with regard to shipments to Europe?
At this time I'm unaware of any plans to put up a banner for this occurrence. Keep in mind that when we do put such measures in place, it is usually in response to a measured impact on actual transactions, not as a preemptive measure on issues that could occur.
@rose-dee wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
Concerning 'mj's' question concerning domestic shipping times:
"Beyond that, please remember that the reason we don't hold seller accountable for a 100% record on any metric is because we know that sometimes, mishaps are inevitable."
Yes, but if I understand 'mj's' concern, this is not a mishap. This is an error on eBay's part that will, regularly and predictably, cause mishaps for sellers who ship to far-flung places within Canada. I don't understand why eBay is ignoring this reality. What your answer says is that eBay is not leaving the matter to sellers to do their best based on fair metrics, but on buyers to continue to be beyond fair and understanding even if parcels arrive later than eBay says they should.
With all due respect, a better response from eBay would be that it will adjust its Canadian shipping timelines in line with Canada Post's. Why is that so impossible?
Making domestic delivery estimates better on eBay.ca is something we have been, and continue to work on. Until we're able to get the necessary investment to make that a reality, there is a bit of a silver lining in the fact that we have observed no such issues in the data we have been gathering since August.
<<the comments posted by the eBay employee which you linked to . . . aimed to announce the launch of Kijiji.>>
Right, and that eBay employee encouraged ebay members to use Kijiji. If we can't take our guidelines from
eBay employees, how can we know what is correct or not? The way you explain it, it seems to be based as much
on self-appointed board monitors' preferences and the mood swings of the Lithium Moderation staff.
<<I don't think it's fair to compare that to a member telling other eBay sellers how much success they have enjoyed
on another platform.>>
It wouldn't be, if that's what I had done. As you point out, << the policy states, it's not allowed to engage in discussions
that aim to drive traffic or business off of eBay>>,
which means that a whacking great number of people are in clear violation of policy because every week there are
other members praising alternate online shopping sites.
I had wondered why the mention of Kijiji seemed so upsetting yet these other posts remain unchallenged.
But if I may be so bold, you have not answered my question. Shall I take it this means you don't know? 
raphael@ebay.com wrote:The counter on the free listings promo will go down every time you list an eligible item but the counter on the FVF promo won't go down until items sell and the FVF is applied.
I'm sorry, I think I'm still a little confused (not unusual 
).
Do you mean then that this FVF is unlike the previous FVF promo, which did keep a counter of the new listings I posted? Those were the ones that actually got the free FVF offer applied, not any others.
So if I'm understanding correctly, this current FVF promo will simply apply at random (but only for items actually listed during the promo period -- is that correct? That is, in whatever order such newly listed items may sell, so I have no choice over which will specifically apply? If none of the newly-listed items sells, then the promo won't apply?
I'll have to hope my next 100 listings/sales are the most expensive items. 
@dmil8030 wrote:
<<the comments posted by the eBay employee which you linked to . . . aimed to announce the launch of Kijiji.>>
Right, and that eBay employee encouraged ebay members to use Kijiji. If we can't take our guidelines from
eBay employees, how can we know what is correct or not? The way you explain it, it seems to be based as much
on self-appointed board monitors' preferences and the mood swings of the Lithium Moderation staff.
<<I don't think it's fair to compare that to a member telling other eBay sellers how much success they have enjoyed
on another platform.>>
It wouldn't be, if that's what I had done. As you point out, << the policy states, it's not allowed to engage in discussions
that aim to drive traffic or business off of eBay>>,
which means that a whacking great number of people are in clear violation of policy because every week there are
other members praising alternate online shopping sites.
I had wondered why the mention of Kijiji seemed so upsetting yet these other posts remain unchallenged.
But if I may be so bold, you have not answered my question. Shall I take it this means you don't know?
As I said, I don't meddle in discussion boards moderation issues, which is what this is. This weekly chat session is for discussing the eBay business and related issues. Thanks!
@pocomocomputing wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
Good afternoon Raphael. I have one question that is not meant to be a trick or a joke, but is of critical concern to many smaller, traditional, or "boutique" sellers like myself and has been the subject of a lot of discussion. I imagine you won't like the question, but I hope you can provide an honest answer:
Do intentional "blackouts" exist on eBay? (I'm sure you will know what I'm referring to by "blackouts").
Hi rose-dee,
We never intentionally disrupt the normal course of business on eBay. That would be really bad for business!
Rest assured, if there ever comes a time when a scheduled downtime is necessary, the community will be amply notified. But there are no such plans that I know of, near of far.
There are plenty of unintentional blackout these past weeks, lol.
As for intentional blackouts, no, Best match is selecting what to show a buyer in search. I just think there are so many listings to show a buyer when using eBay criteria to select in Best Match. One sale can be enough to trigger sales for a seller as it makes their listings higher in rank.
A buyer may try Best Match to find an item but has little control over what they will see even if they add more keywords to filter out results. A more search savvy buyer will try searching by Newly Listed to catch items just being listed and buying them before others see them. The same savvy buyer will search by ending soon (especially for auctions) to find items they are interested. The savvy buyer will try other search methods to find things on eBay.
As far as I know, searching by other options other than Best Match will not filter out any results that match the search criteria since the search is defined by a know method (Ending soonest, Newly Listed, Price + Shipping Lowest, etc.).
My question to Raphael is whether what I just posted about non Best Match searches true. Do listing searched by ending soonest for example all show up somewhere in the search results assuming the search keywords match in all listing. To me, it should since the criteria is meet as it is based on listing time in this example.
Hi pocomo,
Best Match never hides listings, it only sorts them. So all sorting methods should theoretically yield the same lineup of items.
What determines whether an item shows up in Search at all are its shipping parameters and in some cases, category (for example, items listed in Adult Only will never show up in regular search).
@rose-dee wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
The counter on the free listings promo will go down every time you list an eligible item but the counter on the FVF promo won't go down until items sell and the FVF is applied.
I'm sorry, I think I'm still a little confused (not unusual
Do you mean then that this FVF is unlike the previous FVF promo, which did keep a counter of the new listings I posted? Those were the ones that actually got the free FVF offer applied, not any others.
So if I'm understanding correctly, this current FVF promo will simply apply at random (but only for items actually listed during the promo period -- is that correct? That is, in whatever order such newly listed items may sell, so I have no choice over which will specifically apply? If none of the newly-listed items sells, then the promo won't apply?
I'll have to hope my next 100 listings/sales are the most expensive items.
The promo will be applied not at random, but on any items matching the promo criteria during the time it is in effect.
Let me make sure I also understand it correctly and I'll come back to confirm.
<<As I said, I don't meddle in discussion boards moderation issues,. . .This weekly chat session is for discussing the
eBay business and related issues.>>
Fair enough, perhaps I don't see it quite so narrowly. When we click on the community.ebay.ca page we are told,
Join the Weekly Board Hour where eBay Canada staff will be available every Wednesday to answer questions
from 1PM - 2PM Eastern.
No mention about it being exclusively reserved for "the eBay business and related issues". But now we all know.
Wouldn't it be nice if there were someone, then, who we could contact with other serious issues and questions, - someone
who would be willing and able to respond to our queries.
But thank you anyway for your time. I'm sure it can't always be fun.
@pocomocomputing wrote:
Any news on the new eBay Seller Hub Beta. I am using it on eBay.com and like it. I especially like the new SYI form, a one page lister with no popup for adding pictures and no leaving the main SYI page to add a category.
When will it be coming to eBay.ca. I assume it will be delayed a few months to allow the programming of the English/French requirements for ebay.ca. I also assume it will be an opt in to try as it has a learning curve.
By the way, why did eBay.ca never add the new picture uploader to the SYI form that ebay.com has for a long time in the current SYI form.
I really wish I could give satisfactory answers to "why" questions... 🙂
The Seller Hub is planned to get rolled out to other country sites in 2016, with Canada behind such countries as UK, Germany and Australia. I can't give you an estimate of when it will be rolled to us with any certainty.
@mjwl2006 wrote:
I'm afraid that I can. There were threads that arose as a result, one that I created while in the throes of a two-day meltdown about it, as well as another from a member who discovered it later the same day that I did. They are: http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/No-Restocking-Fee-Set-on-My-New-Sold-Re-Listing-Without/m... which is mine and http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Restocking-fee-option-in-Return-policy/td-p/319088 which belongs to maximus7001. The crashes indicated then remain intermittent now.
I can't find any mention of crashes on the two threads you linked to.
I see that your restocking fee was set to "no" when the feature was rolled to you, and that because you already had a returns term that textually stated you might charge a restocking fee, that created a discrepancy for your listings. Sorry about that, but I'm happy you found a way to set the restocking fee appropriately.
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